MATCHWATCH : Bournemouth (h) sponsored by preseason apathy

[CountryRoyal]

Didn't pay much attention to the second half .......

It's only pre season but I didn't see a lot to leave me filled with too much optimism.

If you can't be bothered to watch why on earth bother to offer an opinion then ?

Our main defensive problem was a player out of position, playing against higher standard players than he is used to. Joey won't play there in league games.

i offered an opinion on what i saw......

but you quote what you like to fit youre own e-agenda.

[Nameless]

Do people have 'e-agendas' ?
Why ?

It seems fair enough to challenge someone who says they didn't watch on the one hand and then says they didn't see anything on the other !
On another thread you call me out because you (rightly) say you can't judge much of the season ahead based on one preseason friendly, but you then make that judgement based on HALFa preseason friendly and in fact ignore plenty of good things that other posters and the media did see.
I would absolutely argue that taking the game as a whole there are still issues to address before we can be confident we will have a decent season.
But then it was not a team that is likely to be our regular starting XI, had key combinations of players who have barely played together and the manager acknowledged that in the first half did not quite click with respect to his tactics.
If the performance of two potentially exciting attackers, the control show by Norwood, the cameos from several young players and the casual violence of JVDB didn't make you at least slightly excited by what we may see once the team is complete, drilled and in serious competition then I'd have to ask if you are one of the Reading Pessimists for whom the football season is simply an excuse for a good moan.

[CountryRoyal]

Do people have 'e-agendas' ?
Why ?

It seems fair enough to challenge someone who says they didn't watch on the one hand and then says they didn't see anything on the other !
On another thread you call me out because you (rightly) say you can't judge much of the season ahead based on one preseason friendly, but you then make that judgement based on HALFa preseason friendly and in fact ignore plenty of good things that other posters and the media did see.
I would absolutely argue that taking the game as a whole there are still issues to address before we can be confident we will have a decent season.
But then it was not a team that is likely to be our regular starting XI, had key combinations of players who have barely played together and the manager acknowledged that in the first half did not quite click with respect to his tactics.
If the performance of two potentially exciting attackers, the control show by Norwood, the cameos from several young players and the casual violence of JVDB didn't make you at least slightly excited by what we may see once the team is complete, drilled and in serious competition then I'd have to ask if you are one of the Reading Pessimists for whom the football season is simply an excuse for a good moan.

correct if im wrong but in my post i made it obvious as to the validity of my opinion. i didnt make a judgement - i said (SPECIFICALLY) based on that performance (what i saw) there wasn't a lot to be optimistic about -but then again i am a glass half empty kind of guy when it comes to reading. fact is we held our own against a premier league side, but its oxf*rd pre season man. they knew that as much as we did and therefore it means practically nothing.

what i saw (brief bits of it) didnt make me excited for next weekend. what made me excited is that i thought i would be 6000 miles away travelling but because i got my passport stolen ive got the opportunity to see the team i support and love start the season against preston at home.

[Nameless]

Ok, based on 10 minutes of a preseason friendly which is irrelevant in terms of the real season you didn't see anything to get excited about !
And you aren't interested in the fact that people who did watch the game saw some good stuff, alongside some areas in need of more work.
Fair comment ?

Sorry to hear about the passport woes. In the past I've got a passport replaced on the spot by going to the London passport office in person and waiting around all day - they were very helpful. I assume you've checked out if this is possible but worth looking at if not.

[SCIAG]

Do people have 'e-agendas' ?
Why ?

It saves paper.

I enjoyed the match. We were a little lacking in the final third but I thought our build-up play was strong, with good movement and varied passing. We just need to build an understanding among our forwards.

Joey didn't look like a centre back, but he also didn't look like he could have played the Norwood/Kelly role. I'd use him as a specialist when the situation called for it but he'd be a fair way off my regular starting eleven. I think McShane would benefit from one of our young defenders alongside him to bring the ball out. Cooper's got the shirt, and Dickie's the best on the ball, but I think Hyam's style would suit McShane best. Jules would also be an interesting option.

Nice to see Kelly and Tanner adapting to slightly unfamiliar roles well. Watson also looked like a genuine alternative to Gunter. Swift, Beerens and Evans all impressed and I look forward to seeing more of them.

[CountryRoyal]

Sorry to hear about the passport woes. In the past I've got a passport replaced on the spot by going to the London passport office in person and waiting around all day - they were very helpful. I assume you've checked out if this is possible but worth looking at if not.

They wouldn't do the 1 day express service because it was lost/stolen and therefore had to do more security checks, despite me getting an emergency one from the embassy in Santiago. Did the 7 day but it arrived before that!

[John Smith]

I think Norwood took advantage of the friendly nature of the game by being able to exhibit some great passing. I liked the look of Van Den Berg's physicality which will definitely be an asset in this division.

Swift looking useful again too, but I echo the sentiments of the lack of Hector-esque/ball playing presence in defence/DMC. I used to like Jake Cooper but he's still a bit raw to be playing week in week out if we want to succeed, in my opinion.

[Top Flight]

I think Cooper has the tools to be an excellent centre half for us. On the plus side, he's big, he's strong, he can tackle, he can head it clear, he can deal with strong forwards. He was excellent last season against Romelu Lukaku. On the downside, he is liable to making mistakes, as you say, he is a bit raw and sometimes makes poor judgements, like how he naively touched Bolasie in the box, for Bolasie to then fall to the floor like the drama queen that he is and win Palace the cup quarter final.

I think the mistakes and poor judgements will be eradicated from his game with match experience and and good coaching from Jaap Stam, one of the best defenders ever to play in the Premier League.

In defence of Cooper, I feel that having a midfield in front of him that often left the defence badly exposed last season didn't exactly make Cooper look good. Also the goalkeeper behind him in Al Habsi is the worst nightmare for a defence. He has no command of his penalty area and sticks to making spectacular saves on his goal line. Hahnemann, Al Habsi is not.

I think tactically, with the acquisition of strong defensive midfielders in Joey and Danzell, Coops won't be exposed as often. Hopefully Jaakola will step up and be the new Hahnemann and offer more assurance behind the back line as well.

In a better team set up, I think Cooper would be a much better defender. Hopefully Jaap can create a much stronger set up both tactically and with the right personnel. This will help Cooper look a great player in the heart of our defence.

[John Smith]

I think Cooper has the tools to be an excellent centre half for us. On the plus side, he's big, he's strong, he can tackle, he can head it clear, he can deal with strong forwards. He was excellent last season against Romelu Lukaku. On the downside, he is liable to making mistakes, as you say, he is a bit raw and sometimes makes poor judgements, like how he naively touched Bolasie in the box, for Bolasie to then fall to the floor like the drama queen that he is and win Palace the cup quarter final.

I think the mistakes and poor judgements will be eradicated from his game with match experience and and good coaching from Jaap Stam, one of the best defenders ever to play in the Premier League.

In defence of Cooper, I feel that having a midfield in front of him that often left the defence badly exposed last season didn't exactly make Cooper look good. Also the goalkeeper behind him in Al Habsi is the worst nightmare for a defence. He has no command of his penalty area and sticks to making spectacular saves on his goal line. Hahnemann, Al Habsi is not.

I think tactically, with the acquisition of strong defensive midfielders in Joey and Danzell, Coops won't be exposed as often. Hopefully Jaakola will step up and be the new Hahnemann and offer more assurance behind the back line as well.

In a better team set up, I think Cooper would be a much better defender. Hopefully Jaap can create a much stronger set up both tactically and with the right personnel. This will help Cooper look a great player in the heart of our defence.

Whatever you ate this weekend, keep it up because you've just written 4 excellent paragraphs, well done.

It's a shame we haven't seen more of Danzell this pre-season - I wonder how long it will take him to feature. He does look absolutely massive as well - too big to be match fit in my opinion

[BR2]

I think Cooper has the tools to be an excellent centre half for us. On the plus side, he's big, he's strong, he can tackle, he can head it clear, he can deal with strong forwards. He was excellent last season against Romelu Lukaku. On the downside, he is liable to making mistakes, as you say, he is a bit raw and sometimes makes poor judgements, like how he naively touched Bolasie in the box, for Bolasie to then fall to the floor like the drama queen that he is and win Palace the cup quarter final.

I think the mistakes and poor judgements will be eradicated from his game with match experience and and good coaching from Jaap Stam, one of the best defenders ever to play in the Premier League.

In defence of Cooper, I feel that having a midfield in front of him that often left the defence badly exposed last season didn't exactly make Cooper look good. Also the goalkeeper behind him in Al Habsi is the worst nightmare for a defence. He has no command of his penalty area and sticks to making spectacular saves on his goal line. Hahnemann, Al Habsi is not.

I think tactically, with the acquisition of strong defensive midfielders in Joey and Danzell, Coops won't be exposed as often. Hopefully Jaakola will step up and be the new Hahnemann and offer more assurance behind the back line as well.

In a better team set up, I think Cooper would be a much better defender. Hopefully Jaap can create a much stronger set up both tactically and with the right personnel. This will help Cooper look a great player in the heart of our defence.

I think we all want Cooper , as one of ours, to come good this season.
It is a theory often put forward that if a manager played in a certain position he would not only sign good players for that position but naturally would improve them because of their own experience.
Gary Neville was England coach (and a very experienced international defender) when we played Iceland and failed to cope with the long throw that everybody knew about and was the biggest weapon in their armoury but our defenders seemed to be taken by surprise.

What I do like about our new manager is that it looks as though he will make us a more physical side (something that has been lacking) and hopefully Cooper will turn out to be good enough to play his part.