Sorry for the lateness of my report, but I am going down fast with man flu!! Me and my two sons set off together to watch Rangers for the first time this season last night. The eldest boy hasn't renewed his season ticket this year, so I'd got him a ticket for the Reading game along with me and my youngest. We were all confident of the win, although I did warn the eldest that he probably wouldn't see Cesar, Granero, Park or Faurlin as they were bound to be rested for the West Ham game. How wrong I was!! MH selected virtually his strongest available team, which was quite a surprise. I'm not sure he should of done this, but I was pleased that the eldest boy would see the new players......M'Bia too!! We set up with a very obvious 4-4-2 with Hoilett up top with Cisse. I don't think it was the 4-4-1-1 that we've seen before as I didn't see Hoilett tracking back into midfield much at all. As the game settled down, Rangers started to play some very nice, neat football, with Faurlin and Granero at the heart of most of it. Park, however, just kept running into the full back. Anyway, the good play from Rangers got it's just deserts when Hoilett went on a mazy diagonal run and slotted the ball past the keeper with aplomb. We settled back in our seats expecting us to take the game away from Reading. Some chance!! We only kept the lead for a couple of minutes before old boy Gorkss met a free kick with a completely unchallenged header. It was a very good header and Kaspars showed huge respect by not celebrating in any way. Muted applause broke out for him from the home fans. I couldn't see on the night who should have picked him up, but having seen it on TV, it would appear that he started his run from the edge of the box with no marker anywhere to be seen!!!! The rest of the first half was fairly even with Reading working really hard to press us all over the pitch and playing a very effective physical game. I have to confess that I missed the first 10 mins of the 2nd half as I was in a ridiculous queue in the Ellerslie with two ladies serving in a kiosk!! By the time I returned to my seat, my lads told me that the roars I'd heard were due to a flurry of half chances. Sorry I can't describe them, but the boys did say that they thought Grenaro could have done better at some stage. As the 2nd half wore on we were becoming more and more ragged. Park was pretty awful and playing in exactly the way that Oslo has been describing (although I hadn't seen it till last night). He kept running into the full back and created nothing going forward. His work rate was, as always, exemplary though. MH had seen enough and Park was hooked and replaced with BZ after taking Dyer off (slight muscle tightness apparently) and moving Onuoha to right back and putting Nelson on at CB with Hill moving to LB. A lot of disruption to a back line that was already at times looking like what they were.....4 strangers!! A mention here for M'Bia who looks a good player to me. A huge physical presence and very good on the ball. He'll obviously take time to adjust to the Prem but I like what I saw. As the game was drifting along, Cisse suddenly exploded into action. Taking a long time to get a bobbling ball under control he decided to let fly from 25yrds and sent a sensational, searing strike into the corner of the net. The ground erupted and I felt we would go on to win the game. Again though, after only a few minutes we conceded the lead once again. A free kick was awarded by the god-awful referee, Sir Ben Kingsley. The Reading player simply ran into Faurlin and fell over. But the terrible ref gave a free kick and Storey stepped up and hit an absolute stunner in off the bar. I think Cesar thought it was going over, but I'm not convinced he would have got anywhere near it anyway!! Then, a few minutes later we fell apart...........again. M'Bia dwardled on the ball by the corner flag and all the rest of the defence got pulled over towards him, leaving pong wet the yak to back heel a real piss take of a winner. Then M'bia was adjudged to have brought the Russian down in the box and, as he'd already been booked by the clown of a referee (for his first foul of the game!!) he was lucky not to get a second yellow. Having seen it on TV I don't think it was a penalty. Cesar saved the penalty brilliantly but we never really looked like scoring again. All in all we played some neat stuff at times but without very much penetration. Far too much sideways movement and nothing down the left with Onuoha being terrible going forward and Park running up blind alleys and creating very little. Grenaro was good with his dead ball delivery but was indeed, as pointed out by nuts, rather lightweight, coughing up possession far too often, as did Hoilett, although the latter was a threat when he ran at the Reading back four. A win against West Ham is really important now to give the players a lift. A defeat will be simply disastrous. Player marks and comments: Cesar - 8 - Simply oozes class, although it was a little worrying when he decided to go on a Brazillian dribble way out of his area at one point. Great penalty save. Dyer - 6 - Good on the ball, but over elaborated at times, putting us under pressure. Hill - 6 - Reliable as ever, even when moved to left back. M'Bia - 7 - Looks a good player. Big and powerful and confident on the ball. Looks a perfect holding midfielder to me! Onuoha - 6 - Solid enough in defence, but simply awful on the ball Park - 4 - Terrible. Couldn't cross his heart!! His worst game by far and rightly hauled off. Granero - 6 - Neat and tidy but lost possession far too readily, allowing Reading to break. Faurlin - 7 - A little below his best, but neat and tidy. Thankfully his injury doesn't appear to be serious. Mackie - 5 - Very ineffective. Hoilett - 7 - Good goal and a threat at times. Cisse - 7 - Fantastic goal and his pace always looked a threat. Nelsen - 6 - Didn't look as commanding as when he started against Spurs. Zamora - 6 - Worked hard when he came on. Diakite - 5 - Not a lot of time to do anything, but wasted a good chance to fizz a cross in at the death! In conclusion, we played neat football at times, but lacked a creative spark. Reading pressed us high up the pitch which stopped Granero and Faurlin dictating the game as they'd wish. We need to create more and be a little more direct with that creativity. Hurry back Adel!! Was this a reality check for some, who are calling us contenders for a Euro place before we've won a league game?!! Monday is huge!! Thoughts? * Forgot to mention that I met Goldhawk on Monday night. Had a chat before the game....really nice guy. Great to meet ya mate.
Excellent report Col, this combined with Roller's blog makes up for not seeing the game, can't wait for Monday night!
Thanks, Col. A good read as always. I listened to commentary on the radio. It was interesting when Dyer made way for Nelsen and Hill moved outside, as the commentators were expressing concern because Hill had kept Pogwhassisname on a tight leash until then. They speculated that the Russian might then enjoy more space and become a greater threat. And sure enough. Was this how you saw it?
That's how I saw it as well. The only thing I would disagree with is you comment that Cisse always looked a threat.
Col. This is pretty much as I saw it. Mackie was poor. The looked alright but lacked any penetration has been a problem for a long time in my opinion. I really don't think we have a discernible strategy or go to method for scoring. The other teams of our standard have a certain style qpr seem to want to win games on points. I think every team I've seen in the premiership counter attack better than we do or is it that we defend really badly against the counter attack. Or both!!
Fair enough mate. Maybe not ALWAYS a threat, but I though his pace was a concern for Reading and that he played better than of late. Still wouldn't start him Monday!!
I would like to see him start with Zamora. We are at home and we need goals. Then again I would also start Taarabt and Hoilett. Is there anyway realistically that we could accomodate all of them?
Cheers Col, Good read. Mackie's bst games are usually from the bench with more energy in his leg than those who he's running at. Thought the Reading match might be good for him. Just an Idea why don't we play a decent right winger on the right. Hmmmmm..... SWP no end product, Cisse not trying hard enogh/doing an Adel, Park? maybe? Crazy I know.
I've started a thread about possible teams for Monday. Take a look mate. My preferred team can't accommodate all three, although you could play 4-4-2 with Cisse and Zamora up front and Hoilett and Adel as the two wide midfielders. You could also play 4-2-3-1 and use Cisse, Taarabt and Hoilett as the 3 behind Zamora. (Oslo likes that one!!)
Thanks for your report Col! It's similar to most others. I hope Hughes sees Park is no attacking wide man, but I'm not holding my breath.
He was more on the right I think or played like an old fashioned inside right. But I always remember him just buzzing everywhere creating problems as a constant irritant, not from any special attacking technique. He was fine when he was playing alongside Ronaldo, Rooney, Berbatov etc., but we aren't quite there, yet!
I mentioned this during the game last night. Good observation Ironman. Another good report as per col. Sorry to hear about the man flu. That's serious stuff and only second to a dose of plutonium radiation. Make sure Mrs col takes good care of you. Bottles of Scotch and Sky Sports are the only known cure for this dreaded illness. Your take on events is pretty much as I saw it too. Generally throughout the match I felt quite comfortable and thought that we had the ability to step up a gear and seal the victory. After Cisse scored I thought we would then be the more likely to get the next goal and maybe even another. We certainly had the quality, it seemed Reading had a greater will to win and the muscle. QPR were simply not up for the fight, we didn't have the clientele on the pitch who had the ability to mix it. The way we defended their third goal also has me worried. It was defending that a schoolboy team would be embarrased about. Everyone ran towards the ball and left three Reading players unmarked at the back post. Shocking. Another bug bear of mine is how we seem to make too many passes on the edge of the oppositions box instead of getting a shot off quicker. It's like watching Arsenal trying to pass the ball into the net. We're not quite there yet!! One last gripe is that of Onouha. He acts like the kid in school who couldn't play football. Sometimes he just seems to become immobile and dozes off. On the few occasions when Mackie or Granero had the ball in an attacking position he would just hold back and offer no support. He just dosen't think off the ball. When he does have the ball he looks very un-confident, he always plays a sideways or backwards pass. He shows no ambition to try and beat a player or to get down the line, overlap or get a cross in. Bizarre. On the whole though we were the better team. If Hughes can address certain areas and situations in training I'm sure our first win in the league will come next Monday. Can't wait... U Rs!
Agree mate. We were over elaborating at times, but that could be because we haven't got that extra bit of creativity that Adel offers. I know I'm a fan, but we're crying out for him at his best right now imo.
What worries me is that this was the biggest change I saw from Warnock to Hughes. That Hughes seemed to encourage them having a pop outside the box. It now seems we have gone backwards and aren't far off where we were in December last year. We have the same issue of looking decent against good teams that in reality we can't beat and playing badly against the teams we are well matched up against. This is a problem that goes all the way back to the relegation season in 96 and was the reason we got relegated then and the reason we nearly did last year. In my mind we need a method and strategy in order to beat the teams we well matched up against.
Thanks Col. I would like to know if Cisse was actually offside for the six or so times that he was flagged. Great goal but otherwise still looks less of a threat than he was last year.
I don't know the answer to that, as a lot of them were at the school end of the pitch and I sit in S block. However, there was one where he was directly in line with me and he timed his run to perfection. Definitely on side, but the twat of a linesman, the one who ran like a demented twat, gave him offside. Most of our block made it clear to said linesman that he may have made an error!! Funnily enough I run the line for my youngster's games (not the same I realise!!) so I am used to looking along the line as the ball is played. From where I sit the linesmen nearly always get one or two wrong each game. Especially when a player starts offside when the ball is kicked and then move back and receive the ball. They often miss those!
