lrm14

Give this Reading fan a chocolate biscuit - he gets it :

Once again I see people having a pop at our fans,  names such as meatheads, idiots and calling them embarrassing for singing a song some of our superior fans don't like.
Who the hell do some of you lot think you are?
 

Come on now, play nice, life’s too short 😊 

Wouldn't be surprised to come on here and find out that some posters are petitioning the efl to get the game replayed or setting up a collection for the reading fans it's like some don't want us to do well 

The Gayle goal. Image below of the moment Ward's foot connects with the ball. Lino is in a good position. Gayle, arrowed, is to the right of Bradley who is almost certainly offside, though never becomes active in the move. It's possible that Bradley's position fools the lino into believing that Gayle is probably onside, though it's more likely he can see part of the torsos of either or both of the Reading defenders arrowed at the end of the line who could just be playing Gayle onside. Whatever a VAR-style line would show from a side-on view, this is in no-way a "clear and obvious mistake" by the officials for which they deserve criticism. It's not even clear that is is a mistake at all.

If it’s the same incident then he took a pretty well struck shot from Adams square in the face and it was right for the ref to stop play, as unfortunate as it was for our momentum at the time. It was discussed by us armchair lot during the thread. 

In theory yes but, in reality not necessarily so. You can’t just rule goals out or add goals in at the end of the game and thus alter the result. Nobody knows how the game would have panned out had Gayle’s goal not been given last night. Maybe we wouldn’t have let our concentration drop and concede. Maybe we’d kept the pressure up and scored by another means.

Yes it's third tier football after all, so that's the level you get, not just in terms of players, but also officials. The important thing is the 3pts. It was a good night for Bolton as they clawed back on the goal difference. So for us, beating Reading, any which way, was crucial. 

Ey up Amster, keeping well i hope. I was trying not to be too antagonistic to be honest. 
There are too many threads on here that degenerate into a Warne hating/loving mess, where neither side is willing to concede an inch.
Sometimes it's nice to discuss the football, after all if you can't enjoy being second with 9 games to go then I think that footballs probably not for you. 

Hopefully it's not the only record we break this season.
Our record number of points in a season with 3 points per win is 85. 14 points needed from 9 games, so 1.55 ppg. We're currently on track for 89 points (1.94 ppg).
When we were last promoted from this tier of English football, we managed 84 points. 89 points would be a good achievement for Warne even if it doesn't end up being enough for a top 2 place.

Everything you'd expect from a Warne master class today..
3 solid as a rock defenders. Athletic wing backs.  Adams winning all the loose balls. Everyone harrying them to win the ball back.  Using width and hitting them with pace.
When we are bad we are really bad. But credit is due when we play like that.
 

Cocu was the right Manager at the wrong time. Everything was stacked against him from day one. Very decent guy too.

Comments like this are just as mind numbingly dull as the people out for blood at every moment. 
 
well done for trying to drag the thread back down into mindless bickering. Perhaps we could get back to enjoying the win and an actual performance that matches the result!  

I don’t want to get ahead of myself or allow myself to be excited, but.. I feel like something has finally clicked.
Best performance we’ve ever had under Warne, in my opinion. We’ve fell on to a workable system, the main reason was the recruitment staff doing their job and finding a gem in Ebou Adams and very recently I think it’s not in any small part to having to change the dynamic with Gayle upfront. I believe these two signings in particular have changed our fortunes, similarly to how Nyambe did earlier in the season.
Sibley and Ward are excelling. The defence are well balanced, the cohesion between the midfield and defence is significantly better, gaps aren’t as freely available for the other team and we are now working well going forward. I think we actually look like a team now, which for the majority of the season has definitely been missing something. The last two performances, the dynamic of the team, I’m finally hopeful. 

I’ve seen some suggestions here that there was a “blatant handball and foul” by Dwight before the goal. This picture from the video above suggests otherwise. He was karate kicked over and still managed to get to the ball. 

Best performance since the turn of the year that for me (not hard, granted), accounting for the quality of the opposition. Controlled the vast majority of the game, zipped the ball around with pace and purpose, and eventually created some real good quality chances second half. Probably lucky to have the clean sheet, but equally unlucky to have only scored 3. 
Real good match of football - why can’t we pass like that every week? Maybe the pitch being as s**** as ours helped us! 

His energy off the ball in recent weeks has been excellent but doesnt always get noticed. 
For our 3rd goal vs Port Vale it came from him chasing a hopeless ball down & winning us a throw which led to our goal.

I don't think he thought he'd failed
But I think he acknowledged that the relationship wasn't working and probably wasn't happy that his boss had already hired his replacement and sat him on the bench...

3 goals, some nice passages of play, a clean sheet, two wins on the bounce, equalled our away record(?), results going our way elsewhere, what’s not to love?! 
 

Well today was alright.
Three points gained on Barnsley, +7 GD.
Two points gained on Pompey and Bolton, +3 GD.
Nil points gained on Peterborough, but +1 GD.
For argument's sake, if Posh and Barnsley win their games in hand (I know they're a little while away yet) then it'd be...
1. Portsmouth - 77
2. Derby - 72
3. Posh - 71
4. Bolton - 71
5. Barnsley - 70
I'd suggest anybody old enough to consciously remember a competitive first team game at the BBG invest in some Tena pants for men (or women), because it's going to be a nervy end of the season.

 

Bird missing is a huge blow. Adams is going to have to put in the performance of his life to carry Hourihane in that midfield two, not sure why Smith isn’t in instead. 
Suspect it’ll be bypass the midfield and lump it forward again. I’m not hopeful.

I fear an overrun midfield 

Right, I've been moaning about the state of our performances all season but I'm parking that for the run in.
Off arse or elbow I do not care, just win the games and get out of this tinpot league.

Well here's an example of what I'm referring to:
"Derby paying rent of £872k a year for Pride Park. Low yield compare to the £80m stadium sold for to an MM company a few years ago."
Do you know anyone else who works out the yield on an investment based on an obsolete valuation rather than what they paid for the asset? 
To me, it just looks like he's taking an opportunity to mention a contentious valuation that he disagreed with.

https://x.com/gatesheadfc/status/1763972493063131593?s=46