Great performance last night. Some of the football was beautiful. I have always said football has the ability, like a beautiful painting, to take your breath away. I thought our 3rd goal last night was like that. Impossible to fault any player last night. Loads of great performances. I wanted to see Pritch and Roberts up their game and they did it. Certainly Roberts was unplayable I thought. Clarke is such a good played I never expected him to do anything than take a touch and pass it home. I thought the lads at ths back were great, Alese was comfortable all night. Evans and Neil together are starting, in my opinion, to look immense. I know people might look at the physical attributes and worrg but they are developing such a good understanding we at times look like we have 3 in their not 2. What Dan Neil is now bringing to his game is a real engine off the ball, and a physicality to match to match up against the so called big centre midfielders. His quality on the ball is there, and his 2 contributions for goals last night were very good (his ball for Clarke is absolutely inch perfect and weighted magnificently) but I was just as impressed with his work rate. Special mention to Mattete - I thought he did a brilliant job when he was on. It was also good to see Bennette make an impact. I dont want to get carried away but boy he has the attributes needed to be a threat. Good subs from the gaffer as well. I said before the game I just wanted a performance. They did that and it was a pleasure to watch. Nobody less than 8/10.
Given the past 2 fixtures, just avoiding defeat on Saturday will be a good return from 3 tricky away games.
Ince was pretty good in his post match comments, said he could see the players were basically thinking they are better than they are based on the league position, in a roundabout way.
They have some decent players but their tactics were difficult to work out, I've absolutely no idea what it was they were trying to achieve ... ... it reminded me of the Lee Johnson. 'overcoaching' era when it was all confusing.
Brilliant performances all over the pitch, Bath just oozes calmness and it seems to rub off on the lads around him, he has been a real good signing. Really pleased for Alese, he needed that game and performance, he looked real classy.
Few questionable decisions early on, soft free kicks given on both sides but generally didn't notice him, which is usually a good sign
What a wonderful night to be a SAFC supporter, take nothing away from the lads, several have said that Reading were poor but how many times have you seen a side demoralised after conceding 2 quick goals, especially ones that basically carved them apart. According to the pre match chat and stats offered by Sky, Readings previous 4 home wins all came from them having low possession stats, I think the average was 34%, allowing teams to come on to them and then hitting them on the break, they tried that last night and the first 20 minutes were bland from both sides. The injury to Simms, rather than breaking us forced us to play more on the ground, without the usual 'hold up' play, simply running and passing through them. Two brilliant goals finished off with class by Roberts shook them to the core and they never recovered, or more correctly, we never allowed them to recover. The class and skill shown by our players, in attack but also in controlling the game was a treat to watch, the commentators said we just didn't allow Reading a chance to play, which again makes their heads drop, they weren't bad, we made them look bad. As for our third goal, every time I think about it I swell with pride. 8 Players involved. 12 perfect touches 18 Joyous seconds From Pato's tap out to Clarke's shot hitting the back of the net. BRILLIANT, like a hot knife through butter. OAU
'The team played well, and I'd spoken this week about players needing to step up and grasp the nettle, and Patrick Roberts did just that for us tonight. Jack Clarke as well - I haven't seen the third goal back yet, but what a goal it was.' Always makes me think of Howard Wilkinson
I am going to use it as a coaching point with u18s tonight. It is superb. We play out carefully, two touches for Evans and Gooch each, nice and calm. Once the ball goes into the midfield area it is 4 really quick 1 touch passes and it is at Clarkes feet in the box. Roberts Pritchard and Neil all want to play really quick and it carves open Reading. It is one of those passages of play coaches love because you spend so long getting players to understand when to move it quickly. Just a class move.
Got goosebumps at the moment that the pass to Clarke left Neil's boot. Beautiful. Decent turn of speed from Dan as well I didn't really know he had that in his locker. Think Clarke and Roberts said afterwards that Mowbray wants them playing that way with the one touch passing so we might see quite a few more similar goals. Not as good though surely.
I'm with you on this one, I thought when O/9 was paired with Sanderson we had seen the best of him at the back and that he had all the attributes required to be a complete mid-field anchor man with Dan and Embo either side of him in the engine room. I like yourself still think that is possible, but we will see. What I do realise is that contrary to my reading, O/9 was an equal partner with Sanderson and dare I say it it now looks possible that he was the dominant half judging by recent displays with Batth, so much so that while rightly all the attention is focused on our special front men , the performances of Gooch, Batth ,O/9,and Alese in particular were the rock on which last nights performance was built, Reading had no answer, bigger tests lie ahead but I face them with renewed confidence , thanks to those at the back whatever the formation AAM decides, long may it continue. OaU
Starting to see shades of a young Jordan Henderson in Dan Neil. Certainly the player that JH was when he was here
I'm sure we will mate the likes of Clarke and Roberts are just getting started. Add all the new lads into the mix and it's easy to get excited about our attacking potential, even without a target man apparently. Still can't wait for Stewart to get back though. Yeah I know what you mean now he's rapidly improving on the physical side of his game he is moving towards being that kind of complete CM.
After last night I'm a hell of a lot less worried about not having a striker. I assume Embo will come in for Saturday and our artists can get to work. Much harder test but Watfords form isn't great.
