Reading v Derby match day thread.

[Caerphilly Ram]

8 minutes ago, Chester40 said:

I have consistently argued for fans to stop overreacting, because the results and some performances have been good.

What's concerning is that last night imo it's no overreaction  to say it was possibly the most sloppy performance I can recall and in the circumstances as disappointing as it's possible to comprehend.

The chance to go top and we literally appeared to have been on a stag do all weekend. Elder was decent going forward but defensively he was a liability at times and he was our MoTM.

Hourihane misplaced so many passes it was bizarre. Bird is so passive. Wilson toiled energetically but created little. NML looked like he'd been working down the pit all day. Even after constant offside Collins kept running offside do he couldn't be passed to. Barks barely touched it. Sibley looked so weak, slow and pedestrian.  

Thompson tried hard but was a bit like an enthusiastic puppy. Cashin kept trying the same dangerous pass out, Nelson seemed off it... just all-around it was frustrating as anything.

TJJ missed a good chance and did nothing else till he pulled up injured again.  

We need Fornah to be the player we think he is and get the game by the throat. Nyambe and Wildsmith need to come back. Put players back in their proper position and get the centre midfield taking the ball off the back instead of constantly looking wide.

Fortunately Sat is a very good game to get back on track. No excuses to not win it and address the issues and go again.

 

Good post. It’s fair to criticise last nights performance, cause it was pants and it’s an opportunity missed to go top, albeit briefly. And there’s some fair observation and discussion about how our midfield is or isn’t functioning.

What I don’t get are the sweeping statements driven by personal opinion but presented as fact that we won’t make top 2, or we possibly aren’t good enough for the play offs, or the players are naughty tracksuit wearing yoofs. A bad performance last night, with a few questionable ones in recent weeks, potentially down to fatigue and missing players, who will return and bolster the squad before the season is out. We’ve made a new signing that should give us reason for optimism as he is an additional attacking outlet, should allow rotation and rest etc. 

So yes last night was bad, yes a few performances lately have been dodgy, but there are still plenty of points to play for with players to return from injury, international duty, and potentially further new signings. It’s the complete lack of optimism that comes spewing forth from some quarters that gets me down. And yes of course I know people are entitled to their opinion, but if they can’t see any hope for the club and this season then what’s the point? Shall we just call it now? Chin up folks, we go again on Saturday. 

[ramboy63]

16 minutes ago, Chester40 said:

I have consistently argued for fans to stop overreacting, because the results and some performances have been good.

What's concerning is that last night imo it's no overreaction  to say it was possibly the most sloppy performance I can recall and in the circumstances as disappointing as it's possible to comprehend.

The chance to go top and we literally appeared to have been on a stag do all weekend. Elder was decent going forward but defensively he was a liability at times and he was our MoTM.

Hourihane misplaced so many passes it was bizarre. Bird is so passive. Wilson toiled energetically but created little. NML looked like he'd been working down the pit all day. Even after constant offside Collins kept running offside do he couldn't be passed to. Barks barely touched it. Sibley looked so weak, slow and pedestrian.  

Thompson tried hard but was a bit like an enthusiastic puppy. Cashin kept trying the same dangerous pass out, Nelson seemed off it... just all-around it was frustrating as anything.

TJJ missed a good chance and did nothing else till he pulled up injured again.  

We need Fornah to be the player we think he is and get the game by the throat. Nyambe and Wildsmith need to come back. Put players back in their proper position and get the centre midfield taking the ball off the back instead of constantly looking wide.

Fortunately Sat is a very good game to get back on track. No excuses to not win it and address the issues and go again.

 

All above is a very good assessment certainly from last nights performance

However i have a relation who is a season ticket holder at Bolton and he recons they were more than fortunate to beat them 1-0 last night and were one of the better teams he as seen so dont count your chickens that we will win on Saturday

[Shuff264]

I don't think that performance is too far off from for we have been playing for a while, we've just been relying on someone doing something brilliant to drag us through.

NML looks off it, as he did around this time last season which is a worry as he has so often been out difference maker 

[angieram]

Does our website admin know something we don't? Because the way this headline is worded suggests we're going to lose on Saturday as well.

[SK47]

9 hours ago, Mihangel said:

Sorry but everything to do with Warne, they're an utterly confused team and it shows. We know what Cash and Bird can do, it's down to numbnuts to keep them at it 

Warne does not have involvement in them making simple passes.. countless times the pass wasn't strong enough or aimlessly passing straight to the opposition, no composure or controll, you can criticise the formation and style of play, but last night and Saturday was a whole lot of basic errors that you see U10's making. I don't know if there's 1 or 2 that are looking for moves or are unsettled, but this isn't the same team as it was 2 weeks ago.

 

Shocking display all round.

Edited January 24 by SK47

[simmoram1995]

23 minutes ago, Archied said:

Ducking disappointing, I do believe there’s a bottle or mindset issue with this squad ( like so many over the years even our Steve Mac couldn’t escape it , 

extremely poor tonight but I’m gonna pull this why don’t we play through the middle stuff ,,,,,, apart from the odd game we cannot play a simple pass and that’s players not anyone in the dug out ,

Also we seem to be between two stalls at the moment , playing out from the back or getting it forward quick ,, we are back to this thing where we set up with our keeper having two defenders either side of him on the six yard line and pass to them and playing suicide passes to cashin under massive pressure to not lose the ball let alone do anything with it ,,, no wonder he s starting to look like a rabbit in the headlights through his whole game 🤷🏻‍♂️,

tjj was just so so so predictable, few games to earn the extra 6 months couple of games and then out for the season may not be his fault but that matters not ,,, why do we keep repeating this stupid costly mistake with players , it’s beyond me,

on to Saturday, will be there but a bit deflated , been derby d again 

I’ve often wondered that. 
derby appear to be the club version of the national team.  I honestly don’t know what managers are telling the players when under a bit of pressure but it appears either putting so much pressure on them or either the opposite not enough 

[Caerphilly Ram]

9 minutes ago, angieram said:

Does our website admin know something we don't? Because the way this headline is worded suggests we're going to lose on Saturday as well.

Uh oh….match fixing scandal incoming 😬

[jono]

Very disappointed but let’s get some perspective. We have had 2 bad results in 12 games. Early in the season it was 1 bad result every 2 games. Bad day, they happen, you lose games in any league. Saturday is crucial. 

[BathRam72]

39 minutes ago, Chester40 said:

I have consistently argued for fans to stop overreacting, because the results and some performances have been good.

What's concerning is that last night imo it's no overreaction  to say it was possibly the most sloppy performance I can recall and in the circumstances as disappointing as it's possible to comprehend.

The chance to go top and we literally appeared to have been on a stag do all weekend. Elder was decent going forward but defensively he was a liability at times and he was our MoTM.

Hourihane misplaced so many passes it was bizarre. Bird is so passive. Wilson toiled energetically but created little. NML looked like he'd been working down the pit all day. Even after constant offside Collins kept running offside do he couldn't be passed to. Barks barely touched it. Sibley looked so weak, slow and pedestrian.  

Thompson tried hard but was a bit like an enthusiastic puppy. Cashin kept trying the same dangerous pass out, Nelson seemed off it... just all-around it was frustrating as anything.

TJJ missed a good chance and did nothing else till he pulled up injured again.  

We need Fornah to be the player we think he is and get the game by the throat. Nyambe and Wildsmith need to come back. Put players back in their proper position and get the centre midfield taking the ball off the back instead of constantly looking wide.

Fortunately Sat is a very good game to get back on track. No excuses to not win it and address the issues and go again.

 

I do agree that last night was awful.  Isn't the Derby way, to get within touching distance then fall away. The midfield is atrocious at the moment. 

Bird couldn't place any pass unless to the opposition and shied away from tackles. I wonder if another team are in for him and he doesn't want to get injured.  

No one was really on it last night for whatever reason. 

My original point was in answer to the toxicity on the forum recently.  I agree it is terrible.  But we have come through similar times . 

[Spanish]

42 minutes ago, Chester40 said:

have consistently argued for fans to stop overreacting, because the results and some performances have been good.

Having watched them on ramstv apart from Oxford I don’t think any of the recent performances have been good the results have papered over the underlying problems.  

[IlsonDerby]

8 minutes ago, jono said:

Very disappointed but let’s get some perspective. We have had 2 bad results in 12 games. Early in the season it was 1 bad result every 2 games. Bad day, they happen, you lose games in any league. Saturday is crucial. 

I’m not losing sight of the great run we’re still on despite the disappointing few games but hand on heart how many times have we come away from the games thinking we played well? 
 

I know people say it’s a results business and that’s true but poor performances will eventually regress back to poor results and vice versa which is why (as well as wanting to enjoy the football) people crave good performances because ultimately they’ll lead to solid results. 

[JuanFloEvraTheCocu'sNesta]

The simple fact is Warne thinks he can approach the Derby job with vibes and percentage based kick and rush football down the flanks that offers little control. There's not really any nuance to it and any manager with half a brain can figure it out and counter it. 

We have brute forced a number of wins by having better players and a bigger budget than the opposition. If we get promoted we won't have better players and a bigger budget than the opposition. What do we do then?

[G STAR RAM]

8 hours ago, DavesaRam said:

Well I missed the match because of family business, so had an evening without football - a bit like Derby County only better!

Thank goodness for that, think your post may have ran into 3 or 4 pages based on the referee's performance last night 😂

[Papahet]

Would have invaded the pitch soon after they scored TBH , give them a piece of what they did to Port Vale.

[SSD]

I don't like Warne football as much as the next pessimistic supporter. His objective was promotion and we are still well in the race. Back to back wins and we'll be pulling away from the pack again. He just needs to stop this mini rot of bad performances and now poor results. I still believe we will be top 3, if the manager actually starts to rest his better players more often. We've got a lot of over 30s who are our star players, their game time needs to be managed far smarter than they are now.

My main concern, forget about how dire the football can be when it goes wrong, is he going to learn his lesson from last season and manage the fitness of the squad properly? Ultimately this killed our momentum and we left it too late at the end. Ironically, he had Collins sat on the bench 2nd half of last season and he refused to play him from the start when we really needed to give NML a break. Now we have completely burnt Collins out, burnt out NML and let a young striker out on loan, granted we should be bringing in a striker soon.

He thinks another player will be enough, I'd argue he needs 3 or 4 more for depth. A tight squad with an older average age needs help.

[TomTom92]

1 minute ago, SSD said:

I don't like Warne football as much as the next pessimistic supporter. His objective was promotion and we are still well in the race. Back to back wins and we'll be pulling away from the pack again. He just needs to stop this mini rot of bad performances and now poor results. I still believe we will be top 3, if the manager actually starts to rest his better players more often. We've got a lot of over 30s who are our star players, their game time needs to be managed far smarter than they are now.

My main concern, forget about how dire the football can be when it goes wrong, is he going to learn his lesson from last season and manage the fitness of the squad properly? Ultimately this killed our momentum and we left it too late at the end. Ironically, he had Collins sat on the bench 2nd half of last season and he refused to play him from the start when we really needed to give NML a break. Now we have completely burnt Collins out, burnt out NML and let a young striker out on loan, granted we should be bringing in a striker soon.

He thinks another player will be enough, I'd argue he needs 3 or 4 more for depth. A tight squad with an older average age needs help.

Problem is we haven’t got enough players who can pull a rabbit out of the hat when the chips are down. 
 
Hopefully CBT will add a bit of sparkle. But who do we bring in from the bench to strengthen us? Sibley’s had more chances than hot dinners, we’ve got no strikers and Fornah looks average league 1 at best. 

Last night was pretty embarrassing. How can we not muster one good chance in 90 minutes against Reading?

[Ian Buxton's Bat]

2 minutes ago, TomTom92 said:

Problem is we haven’t got enough players who can pull a rabbit out of the hat when the chips are down. 
 
Hopefully CBT will add a bit of sparkle. But who do we bring in from the bench to strengthen us? Sibley’s had more chances than hot dinners, we’ve got no strikers and Fornah looks average league 1 at best. 

Last night was pretty embarrassing. How can we not muster one good chance in 90 minutes against Reading?

We did......TJJ missed it

[Jayram]

6 hours ago, CapeTownRams said:

Man- the irony is so thick , what with so many folk saying pretty much our only player of note tonight (and MoTM) was Elder. Oh, how two games changes so much 🤪

But whilst most everyone else was crap i have to say that this game was the straw that broke the camel’s back in terms of my view on Max Bird. I love that he’s come up thru the ranks and is sorta one of our own. I think that's why so many people have given him so much latitude in terms of his performances…

But as of tonight I’ve had enough of his disappearing act in games. Yes, he can be good on his day and in spells, but he is too inconsistent and anonymous in too many games, to the point of effectively being a passenger. I look at the midfielders in some of the other top 6/7 sides and I realize that to move on we need to sell him and reinvest in new midfield blood. 

Or maybe get a manager/coach in that understands that a functioning balanced midfield is an alternative to endlessly lumping the ball out wide and into the box in the hope that someone will get on the end of it. Bird isn’t a bad player but is being made to look so by a coach who has no interest in playing football in any way other than his own prehistoric way.

[Tamworthram]

8 hours ago, one_chop said:

I don't go into work dressed as Ali G with headphones on singing songs littered with obscenities so why should footballers ? It's their place of work. No discipline off the pitch nor on it by the looks of tonight.

Their dress code etc. would only be evidence of a lack of discipline off the pitch if they were told not to dress like that and ignored the instruction. As @rammieib implies, that’s become the accepted norm for footballers these days.

I have no idea what line of business you work in but I imagine a) you wouldn’t be allowed to dress like that (footballers are) b) it’s not banned but you know it would be frowned upon (not the case for footballers), c) you’d stand out like a sore thumb or d) you wouldn’t feel comfortable wearing such clothes (clearly footballers don’t have such high personal standards 😀). Have you ever seen the way Lewis Hamilton turns up for a Grand Prix? He looks ridiculous but love him or hate him, I don’t think anyone could question his discipline.

[S8TY]

We will make the play offs but if we don’t hopefully it means Warne will be gone even if we somehow managed to get up I don’t want Warne leading us into a championship campaign 

wrong choice of manager and  easier to say when we play badly of course but even some of the victories haven’t been great 

This group of players are good enough to control games but we don’t and that’s because of how we try to play that comes from our management team 

Lincoln was like a basketball match with no goals was way too open we could easily had won 2-0 and equally had lost 3-0 

yes we will win a few but can anyone honestly say the football we are seeing will carry us very far 

when we used to lose games under Mac1 we still often looked the better side the play off final being a massive reminder of that ….we go again Saturday  COYR