......are we going to get some balls when playing away from home? That was a great escape from a very determined Reading team playing a Saints side which contained a number of players who disappeared for most of the game, several who were out of sorts and dare I say it one or two who were not up to the task. Determination, energy, commitment and passion are not adjectives I can apply to the Saints this evening. Second to the ball, weak in the challenge and routinely giving the ball away are not how potential champions play. To be honest we were that poor I thought I was watching our impoverished neighbours.
Bit harsh mate. I thought we were interrupted by high tempo, high pressure tactics by a determined reading side. And we got a point against a team who will IMO be in the play offs (if not very nearly)at the end of the season. So i'm not complaining.
No mate. It is really true about Swaythling. It is a hole, a sadly neglected dump and an area our city should be ashamed about. OK so the Pompey bit was more than a little harsh: we really cannot be as bad as that lot. Now that every team in the league knows how to stop us playing we have to develop a new dimension to our game.
Hahaha. I think you need to remember that Reading are one of the better sides in the championship. They looked A LOT better than west ham for example.
I think you are a bit strong, but in principle I agree with you. We were not hungry enough until we were down to 10 men & I must say that, despite my previous reservations, de Ridder made a hell of a difference when he came on. He has genuine pace - something we have been short of since Oxlade C left us. I thought Aaron Martin looked better than Fonte when he came on - Fonte has 2/3 very doubtful games in my opinion. I also thought Guly was absent for most of the game - he disappears too much for my liking. Having said all that, to play well below par & get a point is satisfactory, but we are not as convincing away from St Mary,s
Godders has been on stuff tonight should have stuck to the Ovaltine fella. A good Reading side who deserved three points came up against a team that played badly, couldn't pass, had a chap sent off and got a point.... Clumsy sounds like champions stuff that.
I think thats harsh. I thought both teams were poor and it was a poor match. Some of you have to remember we were a League One side last season and we had just put in an unbelievable effort against West Ham in mid week. We looked slightly jaded and De Ridder added that fresh legs we lacked in the game. It was a good point considering circumstances and I think we should rest key players against Palace to give them a good weeks rest.
Well, you did bang on and on, about Reading being your new rivals and not Pompey anymore, Gods. So you can't complain! Where is Swaythling anyway, it doesn't sound as though you like it much.
A bit harsh saying Reading were poor; I thought thy played really well, better than most teams we have played.
Very harsh - as someone else said, win at home draw away = promotion. And if can play that bad as that and still get a point away from home (Reading are not a bad side folks, we seem to be forgettting that)....it can only be a good thing. We will undoubdtedly play better than that and lose - Leicester springs to mind.
I thought they defended very well but focused so much on our game, they didn't do too much going forward. I can't recall too many real goal scoring opportunities for both sides.
Remember that apart from Boro we've played most of the sides that are serious contenders for promotion and, yet, we are still top.
We've played some really good teams away from home and have been unlucky in a couple of matches. You also have to remember that teams are raising their game against us now and I think in pretty much all our away games since Ipswich, the opposition's manager has said that it was their best performance of the season against us. Ok, I'm not denying we were poor tonight, especially in terms of moving the ball, but there was a time when we would have buckled under the pressure and we showed great resilience and character to come back. We obviously start need to picking up more points on the road, but tonight was a great point for us.
I think we were always going to be below par after playing West Ham during the week - an away game 4 days after that is a tough ask.
12 months ago we'd have buckled. Reading were better than us everywhere on the pitch. At 1-0 and with a player sent off we'd have lost 3-0 and bemoaned our luck. We showed real balls and got an undeserved point. Win the league? We'll walk it playing with this "luck".
I agree with St Goodness. Reading were better than us all over the pitch today for most of the game and Kelvin saved us plenty of times. I also agree that a few years ago we would've buckled and lost by a heavier margin. It's annoying though as we all know what Saints are capable of and if we had played like we can today it would've been another three points in the bag. We still haven't had an away win since August...
Got to say we were weak in the challenge and all 50-50s against West Ham as well, at times we seemed to lack passion in that game too. Today our midfield was absolutely woeful I thought in the positional sense and defensively..as well as their passing...all-round poor basically lol. Nigel needs to sort them out and get them more riled up
Agreed that your comments are a bit harsh. Reading were very good aand were well prepared to snuff out our tactics of playing out from the back. This meant us having to hoof it up the pitch and their CBs kept Rickie very quiet Shame we didn't buy Gorkis when we had the chance!
Wow just wow at some of the comments on here literally having a go at the team they support which was promoted last season,who sit top of the league,have only lost 2 games all season,have scored the most goals,have won the most games,have played some fantastic football,have beat some of the promotion favourites and yet we have one bad game in 13 and all of a sudden we're crap! 3 tough tough games in a week anyone? physically demanding? great effort put in? 5 points taken from 3 tough games? lets's just look at the bigger picture from time to time for crying out loud! i took yesterday as a positive,it's shown us in a different light,when things aint going well we can still dig out a result,loads of resilience and loads of character,in my eyes we've got a great team to be proud of so can we just lay off them for a bit? COYR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
