Reading Match Thread

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I thought Defoe was outstanding, a definite 9 out of 10 performance. His second goal was worthy of Greaves at his best, and that's about as high as you can go in the Spurs pantheon.
 
redwhiteandermblue said:
Yes, we deserve a measured pat on the back. Best of all was the team looking sharp and intelligent fitted into AVB's scheme. Not many poor decisions, and a lot of good ones. Safe passes at the right times. Long/wide passes at the right times--mostly. I was particularly encouraged by the fact that we got our best threats from Bale and Lennon wide. They'd been too narrow the last two games, I thought, and I was afraid AVB would sacrifice our best asset.

I actually found myself giving out a bunch of mental sevens to the players. Most played quite well, I thought, nobody outstanding. The second best development for me was Gylfi's performance. I've been watching him closely. In the first couple of preseason games it looked like he might score 15 or twenty and set as many up. Then he looked poor in the last few games. Yesterday he looked good. The pass to Lennon that set up the first goal was brilliant, and I liked a couple of the passes he made that didn't come off, since in at least one case the problem was that no one expected him to put in a dangerous pass from where he was.

Dembele and Sandro were very good. As good as Dembele looked in the deeper role, a part of me wondered what he'd be like further forward--either replacing Gylfi or playing alongside him.

Defoe is clearly a player that suits AVB and his 4-3-3-ish formation. If you want to pass the ball into the net, you need a fast, predatory last passer, and Defoe fits the bill. Truth is he wasted a bunch of chances, but, two goals is a good game for anyone.

So: good game, but we'll have to see if the team can look this solid against Lazio, QPR and Man U.






Cheers, Daibo. I would have been disappointed as a Reading fan as well. The worst thing is when it seems your players aren't trying hard enough, and your manager said that, more or less. The only Reading player I thought distinguished himself was Prg... He looked dangerous, able to beat defenders. What it seemed to me you lacked was a creative midfielder. For all Spurs control of the game, Reading had the ball for extended periods, but seemed to lack the ability to do anything dangerous with it. The other thing which would have helped was a good crosser, considering the amount of free kicks you had. Best of luck. Hopefully the team will learn from this and give the fans a better effort, at the least enough to stay up.
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Did you tell us about your trip to see Spurs redwhiteandermblue? I missed it if you did, how did it go?
 
Cheers, Spurf.

It was fantastic to see them, and I couldn't believe my luck they happened to decide to play right where I'd planned to go, when I planned to go there. Kismet. It was all new to me, so I enjoyed and was surprised by the togetherness of the fans and things like the players saluting their support. So, wonderful experience for both me and Susan, my wife, who's as big a fan as I am. We're planning a trip to London next year, and would love to see a particularly big game (Arsenal?) though I don't know how hard/expensive it is to get tickets for a big game like that.

The game itself was not a great one, due to the heat (95 F, 35 C) and Liverpool's determination to play negatively rather than being embarrassed. The standouts were A-E and Gyfie, especially A-E. He took the ball off every Liverpool player who came anywhere near him, and did it a different way each time, looking as if he was just playing around for fun. LOL. The highlight of the day was probably Gerrard getting a yellow for hauling down a Spur (couldn't see who) who'd taken the ball from him and was heading for open field.
 
Spurs or Sex? said:
A few actually slated me when I suggested Dembele could play deeper (I'll be kind and not mention the names :p), in his days at Fulham he was always bursting forward from the centre circle so I'm pretty sure he was going to be more than capable from doing a further 15/ 20 yeards back, has a great engine which not many (myself included) has picked up on.
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'Slate' is a bit over exuberant imo! <laugh> Anyway, before your head doesn't fit through the doorway!, perspective, Reading on a bad day, I need to see him waltz through United first, I know he has a few weeks ago...wasn't wearing the right shirt then though. :) I'd also like to see him impose himself and run a game.
 
redwhiteandermblue said:
Cheers, Spurf.

It was fantastic to see them, and I couldn't believe my luck they happened to decide to play right where I'd planned to go, when I planned to go there. Kismet. It was all new to me, so I enjoyed and was surprised by the togetherness of the fans and things like the players saluting their support. So, wonderful experience for both me and Susan, my wife, who's as big a fan as I am. We're planning a trip to London next year, and would love to see a particularly big game (Arsenal?) though I don't know how hard/expensive it is to get tickets for a big game like that.

The game itself was not a great one, due to the heat (95 F, 35 C) and Liverpool's determination to play negatively rather than being embarrassed. The standouts were A-E and Gyfie, especially A-E. He took the ball off every Liverpool player who came anywhere near him, and did it a different way each time, looking as if he was just playing around for fun. LOL. The highlight of the day was probably Gerrard getting a yellow for hauling down a Spur (couldn't see who) who'd taken the ball from him and was heading for open field.
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Arsenal at home isn't impossible but it'll be a bit of a lottery. Assuming you're booking flights in advance you'll need a membership(£47) to gauruntee a ticket for a normal game. Without a membership you might be all right waiting for the tickets to go on general sale but to avoid the risk of it selling out before they go on GS it might be an idea to give the Ticket Office a ring to see if there's anything they can do to make sure you get tickets.
 
3 players, 3 touches, 1 goal <ok>

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Lovely flick from Lennon looking back at it.
 
"Lovely flick from Lennon looking back at it"

To do that without even breaking his stride !., 'Simply delightful'. He is a fantastic player to watch when in form.
 
Huddlestone takes out nearly half of Reading's outfield players by basically doing nothing:

[video=youtube;YlOKoEdmIBY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlOKoEdmIBY[/video]
 
Cheers, YV--your information may kick start my planning ahead. I hope.


Yid Vicious said:
Arsenal at home isn't impossible but it'll be a bit of a lottery. Assuming you're booking flights in advance you'll need a membership(£47) to gauruntee a ticket for a normal game. Without a membership you might be all right waiting for the tickets to go on general sale but to avoid the risk of it selling out before they go on GS it might be an idea to give the Ticket Office a ring to see if there's anything they can do to make sure you get tickets.
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