No doubt all of you are getting the constant stream of reading fan friends trying to tell you that they are the best team in the league like i am. No. No they are not. Delusional fakey fans. Get a lucky result against Brighton, a lucky result tonight, despite being absolutely torn apart, a lucky 2 points from pompey scoring a screamer in the last seconds against us, and basically no injuries all season. They are not the best team in the league. I know i will regret posting this, but i feel sick and angry right now. Come on you Saints! The best team in the league! The best fans in the league! We are going up!
I know exactly how you feel mate. The only thing we have is that we made them look like a league 2 side at times. They will need a lot more than the luck they got tonight if they don't want to be embarrassed next year.
Knocking the ball from left to right and pumping hopeful balls towards Lambert does not constitute a good performance. It was an okay performance, but Reading were better. They countered our style efficiently and took their chances. We were naive.
Why do i feel like everyone of your comments is an attempt to be controversial. We played them off the park, it was against the form team in the league and they had 3 shots all game. You are clearly deluded if you think our performance was 'Okay'
Yeah that's right mate, I come on this forum and say the opposite of what everyone else is saying just to get a reaction from people like you. Their three shots were three clear-cut chances which resulted in goals. We may have had more possession, we may have kept the ball well, we may have had more shots, but we only had one clear-cut chance, which we scored. The rest of the time it was pretty easy for Federici and their defence. Saying "we played them off the park" implies that we kept the ball better than them, but it was never their plan to keep the ball. They let us have the possession, invited us to come forward and quickly countered when they won the ball. When they did counter, they were able to get behind our back line far too easily. How can you say we had such a great game when our defending was so poor? What good is it "playing them off the park" if we gift them three cheap goals?
Sorry but your wrong joe It wasn't hoof ball to Lambert, I really can't be bothered to explain football to you as your comments show you know little. Reading are very ridged in their game plan and will struggle completely in the Premier as better sides than us will tear their flat back 4 apart as we did in large periods of the game. Reading Goal no 1. Stupid attempted long cross field ball from Fox allowed Reading to attack what now becomes a retreating back line with poor shape and then Fox did the worst thing a full back could do in that situation and allow there player to cross the ball into a retreating back line. In fact allowing forwards room to continually cross balls is his biggest weakness. And Roberts against Fonte in that situation There as was their 3rd goal. One winner. The footballing term in the trade for a player like Fonte is, Just a pretty Center Back, no muscle. Look at Goals two and three and work out whether Reading created them or exposed our poor defending. You could see in the interview and some carefully chosen words that some of the back line ( Fox and Fonte) were in for a roasting. But back to our overall performance outside of poor drefending was bloody good. Lamberts movment in link up play and positional was superb. I WOULD BE MORE THAN HAPPY IF WE PLAYED LIKE THAT IN OUR LAST 3 GAMES.
I agree Possom. Joe and ImpSaint. We created lots of chances by passing the ball forward. Several passing moves in the first half swept through the middle and then went right to Chaplow who could have shot but chose to cross or pull it back. How many times did Lallana rip them open in the first 45?? Several. In the latter part of the second half we did use Butters crossfield ball to Lambert alot, but we weren't hoofing it and we DID play well. As said above, if we'd not lost, people would be happier. I am not denying that Reading did us on the break, but you are letting that tint how many times we played round and through them. De Ridder must have put half a dozen crosses in from the goal line; or do they not count because we didn't score?
We played well and on another day would have won: that day must be Tuesday. Reading had a game plan and it worked. They aren't on this run for no reason. We've lost games we should have won before and got points where we shouldn't in other games. The important thing is gaining automatic promotion...we were 2nd last year and it didn't do us any harm. We have led from the beginning and that has made us a target to be shot at...it's been a long hard season and we must make sure we get over the line.
First off, fair play to Reading and their fans. They've knocked us off top spot, and it's a bit petty to begrudge them their delight at a fantastic run of form. They did a job on us last night, breaking up play, defended as a unit, and took their chances ruthlessly. Secondly, if we play like that against the two boroughs and Coventry, we'll win all three handsomely. COYRS
The best team does not always show through in games like this.......we were best in possession......but we created so little. Some of our approach play was excellent but our achilles heel is not being able to create clear cut chances from a packed area. We do not accurately shoot that often from outside the box. Teams know this so do not close us down as often as they might as we approach inside the thirty yard line. They just pack the area and wait for us to make a mistake as we often do. We do not have the skill of some of the other teams to shoot from outside the box. In the premier if we are promoted we will need people that can pop them in on a regular basis from outside the box. How many of our current goal tally is from outside the box...not that many and not enough. So on their last couple of games Reading have won by clinical finishing. Something we used to do but not any longer. So are they the best side in the league? That is debatable as others have said the league doesn't lie. Have to say though, we have let in 8 goals in the last 4 matches. We have scored 5......are we too gung ho?
In some ways the difference was the performances of both defences they defended great under a lot of pressure and we defended poor under little pressure and sadly Fox's decision to drive a needless Hollywood ball across our back four turned the game on its head upto that point we were imposing ourselves on them and they could barely get a touch of the ball.Reading did not impress me by the way they played but you have to be impressed by the way they have ended up winning the game and did the same at Brighton in the same way
And Joe to say we only had one. Lear cut chance whether they were easy for the keeper or not, is crazy. You don't create chances if you're not playing well. We created lots of chances!
I think Frankimus said that he would probably regret his thread and I think he is right. Who is the best team in the League will become clear after the next 3 games, but I don't have any problem with Readings fans. They came in numbers, they sang and they supported their local team. Why the animosity? Personally, I hope they go up, in second place of course.
I liked the atmosphere as we approached the ground mixed in with the Reading fans. There seemed to be mutual respect for each others achievements. We came up a against a well organised defence and another in form goalkeeper who just like Pompey's kept them in the game. I do wish sometimes we were more direct instead of twenty passes in our own area taking us nowhere and just putting us under pressure.
Beddytare you said we didn't create clear chances. I agree we don't shoot from out the area, but we did create chances. Their keeper made several good saves... Did Reading create those? If you mean we chose the wrong options when the chanes came, then I can partially agree. Chaplow, Lallana, Lambert, Fonte, Hammond and Jos all had first half chances that didn't come off or wrong option chosen, BUT, they WERE chanes we created. Undeniable. We didn't convert them. If we had, the half time score might have been 3-1. I still think if we play and create like that going forward we will win our last three games. I do agree that defensively we need to cut the mistakes out. People talk about Reading being defensively solid, but at times last night Sharp and Lambert made their CBs look like a couple of cart horses.
I suppose going on from that is a discussion as to what a clear cut chance is? For me I guess it means where we force the defence into an error which gives us a clear shooting chance. I e Free headers/shot with only goalkeeper to beat. Most of ours were half chances developed into a shooting chance. Two of theres was not....just my opinion........
There is. We needed that win. With our makeshift midfield we might have been a bit fragile on the run-in had we lost and West Ham done Brighton today. I think we're over the line now and I care not whether that's 1st or 2nd. Mind you, it's the nicest trophy in football and I'd welcome it back. Feds kept us in it to start with but despite your possession and passing you never really got round the back of our defence and I wasn't that worried. Everyone talks about targeting Harte and his lack of pace too... I think there's enough about you to kick on and see this out. Today we're all Brighton fans.
I thought we played well but we passed it one to many times in the final third when sometimes a shot could have been better. We played like Arsenal when they were in their bad patch. We were the better team but were outfoxed by a better tactical display. Simple as. I really hope that this does not mean we implode and let West Ham back in. I felt sick at the train station after the game with a shed load of Reading fans singing eieieio.
Well in the clear light of day, as they say, i thought that it was cracking game of football even if we ended up on the wrong side of the 1-3 scoreline. Great credit to Reading, both team and fans, for contributing to a good game. Must have been a good watch for the neutrals on tv - in fact i have had texts & phone calls from friends who support other teams to say so and they reckon Saints were mugged ! I thought that some our our play, particularly in first half, was outstanding and even after they went ahead i thought that we would win. We did defend poorly for a couple of their goals + i was disappointed with our shooting in the 2nd half - but thats football jim, it isnt always going to go into the top corner ! Some of the posts on here since the game ended has been bordering on hysteria imo. I have seen people saying Fonte, Hammond, Fox and even NA are not good enough !! For goodness sake ! Passion is good but hysteria is daft and these days i feel that too many people just cant accept defeat in a football match. It hurts when its your team , your pride & joy, but you have to be able to see further than that. Just think back to May 2005 and the couple of years following that - would you want to swop places with those dark days ? Dont think so. Lets go to the two boro's and play well and gather enough points to get up - and cheer up ! I'm looking forward to my trip to Middlesborough next w/e - our away support is always 100% behind the team however the game is going.
