Just a few of my thoughts on the Reading game..............
Before the game I think I would have taken a draw and a decent performance so despite the fact we missed a big opportunity for 3 points I am actually not disappointed by the result or performance on that basis. But it should have been 3 points and we could rue those missed points later in the season
McSheffery – Had a decent game, still lightweight but made himself available and got involved. Lovely pass from Bell for his goal but lets be honest should never have beaten Federici from there – poor keeping. Still whether it was the right decision to shoot or bad keeping or not it did a lot of good for his confidence and was one of his better games
Hussey – thought he had one of his better games too. Got forward, made the right decision more often than not and looked a decent option going forward. Got to say though that our left side looked the most vulnerable.
Christie – Generally a decent performance, blotted by the penalty. The player was looking for it and going no where,but the challenge was naive, luckily Murphy got him out of jail. Was good to see senior players geeing Christie up after it.
Murphy had a good game, looked solid with good distribution. Good save (didnt just palm away) from a poor penalty.
Thought that Keogh and Crainie looked a little rocky against Le Fondre and Church. The Reading movement was better than ours, and we didnt track players well. Got better as game went on but there were some left overs from the Ipswich game.
Clingan – seemed to misplace a few passes and had an ok game. In fact there were quite a few misplaced passes by all players on the day. Thomas – had a decent first full home game, never looked out of place but sometimes the game passed him by, he will improve with matches
Juke – tried hard as always, we all know he isnt the quickest so why is it he so often has to do it on his own? McDonald was fairly anonymous and every time Juke got the ball looked up he had one option – to go it alone. We lack pace – it is so clear but we havent as yet solved it. Juke had a tough game against a decent Reading defence but really should have at least got the penalty on target – after the run to get the decision, the importance of scoring surely our captain should have had a word to settle him down before the kick
The system- really do not think it is as tight as it should be. It is hit and miss whether it works and too many gaps across the pitch. For me it isnt balanced. We play a diamond but have Clingan and Bigi/Thomas at the base of it then Juke goes out wide to left, he ends up crossing the ball to the man who should be there and isnt. The system relies on confidence and ours is not great. It also relies on good quick passing with decent retention of the ball - havent really seen that so far
Referee and linesman – Now they dont make teams win or lose a game, thats down to the players but they do influence things. Thought they had a pretty poor game to be honest – missed a lot decisions, were inconsistent but got the penalties right. This after Linnell was saying what a good ref he was on radio build up to match – DOH!
Was a decent performance but this was not two great teams, both struggling. In the end it will be remembered for the penalty miss but that is harsh. Probably the right scoreline in the end. Reading looked sharper first half but CCFC took the second half
just my opinion
