Reading vs Brighton And Hove Albion ****Official Match Thread****

[Thunder Bolt]

Barnes for JFC and later Buckley for Kazenga... if they are fit enough

Agree with that.

 

[GreersElbow]

Barnes for JFC and Buckley for Lopez is what i'd do. I think we need pace then a poacher like Barnes to tap some in, Ulloa's brilliant in the air so we've lost that dimension unless we risk having CBs in the box which exposes us to counter attacks.

Edit: No one's mentioned Ward's presence, he has made some important tackles and is getting up to support attacks. I'm liking him.

 

[Mackenzie]

This is going to end with about 8 on each side if the referee carries on with these cards....what was it two reds and six yellows!

 

[Ernest]

Bridge on Drenthe off

 

[dougdeep]

Having sent off a player from the home team in the first half, it is OBVIOUS to anyone with any basic knowledge of football that the ref will be DESPERATE to even it up. It's just the spineless attitude that all refs have. If they give a controversial penalty, they'll be keen to give the other team one, and if they send a man off they'll always look to get rid of one of the other team too. If we had a proper captain, when Pogrebnyak went he would have reminded our players not to jump into any challenges. We didn't need to. We should have done NOTHING to give the ref a reason to even reach for a yellow. The stupid thing is we're actually playing well and look far better than Reading, but one moment of madness will cost us now as it's hard to see us scoring without Leo. Reading, on the other hand, still have Le Fondre on the pitch so can still put a chance away if one comes along.

It's so disappointing because when Pogrebnyak went we were almost certainly going to win this game. Now we could well lose AND we've got our one striker missing for three matches, showing up our painful lack of options in this position. I don't know whose fault it is - whether it's Oscar's, Barber's or Bloom's - but one of those will now look a right **** on Wednesday and next Saturday when it's obvious to everyone that we have nobody else capable of threatening the goal.

Same old Badger.

 

[KZNSeagull]

Calderon vs Bridge. Oh dear

 

[portlock seagull]

We are so naive. All we had to do was keep our cool As reading players were in the refs ear for every tackle after their sending off, out of some misjudged sense of injustice, with home crowd screaming for blood similarly. What do we do? Commit some rash tackles and give the ref no option but to quickly even things up on the cards front. With time our numerical advantage would have told. Now we've got nothing to punch with for 3 games. And we were lightweight before ulloa disappearing. Not exactly scoring for fun are we?

 

[Si Gull]

Agree with you and your quote. Players gave the referee the decision to make. I think the ref has had a good game, personally

Devil's Advocate speaking....Why are players sent off for dangerous but clearly over-zealous rather than violent conduct? Wouldn't a yellow be sufficient?

 

[Hugo Rune]

Bridge on. Makes me feel very sad.

 

[SULLY COULDNT SHOOT]

Oh-oh good Reading subs

 

[brakespear]

hmmm, very worried about Bridge scoring now

 

[Hendrax]

bridge owns calde, straight away.

 

[Acker79]

I thought it is a one match ban? Three for violent conduct?

Deliberate handling of the ball, denying goal scoring opportunity - 1 game ban
Foul and abusive language (including gestures) - 2 game ban
Serious foul play, violent conduct, spitting - 3 game ban

As he kicked the guy while he was challenging for the ball, it will be serious foul play.

 

[brakespear]

saved Koosh!

 

[easynow]

What a save

 

[Worthingite]

Koosh holding his arm......this is turning into a horror show

 

[Acker79]

So far this season, I think we've started every second half poorly, I wouldn't put too much emphasis on the subs for this period of play just yet.

 

[SULLY COULDNT SHOOT]

Reading started strong

 

[Marxo]

I think Reading have sneaked an extra player on.

 

[Tyrone Biggums]

We're giving them far too much space. It's like nobody is really defending out wide on the far side and we're all dropping back into the box.