player marks from the telly

[winchester_royal]

Harper was excellent today, by far the best central midfielder on the pitch.

He wasn't. He was good, but Cisse was a class above in midfield today.

[loyalroyal4life]

Cisse had plenty of time to get rid of the ball. But instead he lost the ball after taking one touch too many.

How can you possibly say it was Harper's fault?

well for a player who is mean to be intelligent surely he knows that to pass to a player who has his back to the brum goal with a defender within a few yards of him is not the best option to take. This gave cisse not much time on the ball in comparison. it was a hospital ball IMO, it put him under unnecessary pressure

[brendywendy]

rubbish, it was a great pass under pressure, that cisse dealt with perfectly, and took away from the incoming defender

how you can still blame harper for what cisse did next after controlling and then getting away from the man is laughable

if anything the person to blame was the man who didnt shout man on when the other midfielder came in from behind him on his shoulder

[andrew1957]

Great performance and a fantastic result - well done to all the boys.

Federici - 8 - He is going to be a great keeper I believe. Looked comfortable and superb distribution
Armstrong - 8 - just gets better and better
Ing- 8 - the ice man is back to his best
Duberry - 8 - dominated their attackers all game - apart from the goal
Rosenior 8 - really cannot fault any of the defence
Hunt 8 - usual high temp performance
Harper - 7 - fisrt time I heard the commentator mention his name was at 38 minutes but he did play better in the second half
Ciisee - 9 - magnificent performance apart from being dispossessed by Carsley for the goal - but another ref may have given that as a foul
Henry 8- two fantastic crosses that deserved an assist
Hunt - 8 - cannot fault him for the brief time he was on the pitch - superb free kick
Doyle - 10 - MOTM performance for me - great goal and great assist and worked his socks off all game - cannot give him less than a 10

Long - 7 - I think I am beginning to agree with others. He is a tryer and quick - a superb last 20 minute sub when chasing the game but sadly don't think he will ever be a regular starter at PL or Championship level - but a really good squad player to have as an impact sub.
Gunnar -7 - not on for long but did everything he did do well

Ref - 8 - Can't stand Dean normally by thought he did well today

[lozz2601]

nope it was from no.15 which i dont think would be marek

even so, it wasnt the initial pass that caused him to lose the ball was it just his own dithering
harpers ball was sent and received well




but carry on using it to pin an unwarranted slagging onto harps thoughif it makes you feel better

will do and you can carry on defending a player who was the cause of the pass to cisse and who had an average game at best.

So if he had passed to Cisse and Cisse had hit it and scored, would you be praising Harper for the goal?
Cos it sorta sounds like you think the pass is more important than what the receiving player does with it.

[1960]

The original ball should have gone out to Henry on the wing. Why turn inside where it was congested when Henry might have had a run and cross? And if he had lost the ball it wouldn't have been in a dangerous position. I think this was Hunt. Memo to Coppellfor the next team team tactics talk: PLAY THE SIMPLE BALL.

[Wizard]

Federici - 9. As I said at half time, didn't have a lot to do, but what he did do, he did very well. Good save from that Kevin Phillip's chance; the goal was unstoppable. Distribution was brilliant.
Rosenior - 8. Hard working up and down the wing. Saw more of his defensive side today, thought he performed well.
Duberry - 9. I don't rate him that highly, but he put in a super performance today. Apart from the goal, completely snuffed out the threat of Jerome and Phillips.
Ingimarsson - 8. See above.
Armstrong - 8. Didn't see much of him today, he did get a nice cross from the byline in, and defended resolutely.

Will do the rest later, I must go to work!

[Archie's penalty]

The Doyle cross was absolutely superb as was his overall performance.

If he goes to Villa I will be sad. If he goes anywhere else I will be livid.

What a player that man Doyle is!

[Chaney]

The Doyle cross was absolutely superb as was his overall performance.

If he goes to Villa I will be sad. If he goes anywhere else I will be livid.

What a player that man Doyle is!

what kind of bid would make Reading let him go?..in todays market you gotta be talking 10m , anything less and he stays here

[Handsome Man]

The original ball should have gone out to Henry on the wing. Why turn inside where it was congested when Henry might have had a run and cross? And if he had lost the ball it wouldn't have been in a dangerous position. I think this was Hunt. Memo to Coppellfor the next team team tactics talk: PLAY THE SIMPLE BALL.

I agree. Play the easy attacking ball as well.

Federici - 8 - Very impressive catching, kicking and throwing, together with a great save near the end
Armstrong - 8 - Great
Ing- 8 - Very safe
Duberry - 7 - Played as well as he can
Rosenior 9 - Tremedous all-round game
Hunt 9 - the Bham fans booed him - you could see why
Harper - 8 - we play better with him in the side: he links things together so well
Ciisee - 9* - won the game for us with his midfield dominance and made up for the mistake with a great midfielder's goal
Henry - 9- 72 excellent minutes
Hunt - 7 - great free kick
Doyle - 9 - he is quality

Long - 7 - deserves to start on boxing day if Hunt is injured

[bobbybottler]

Harper was excellent today, by far the best central midfielder on the pitch.

He wasn't. He was good, but Cisse was a class above in midfield today.

Nah.

A mixed bag from Cisse today - good tackling, good closing down, adequate passing, pathetic div 4 standard dithering for their goal and a top standard finish for our 3rd.

Harper though was at his best, great closing down, keep the possession going and world class pointing and shouting.

[Ian Royal]

doobs - 6.5 ...didnt look comfortable
harper - 8 . great performance

oh please!!!

lol dont know what game you were watching but anyone who gives harper a high score after he gave cisse a hospital ball which caused him to lose the ball and us subsequently loose a goal is crazy.

Hospital ball? You have no idea what you're talking about. He played the ball to Cisse who just ran back towards his own goal under pressure and completely failed to pay any attention to whether anyone else might be trying to close him down.

He had endless time to pass it before being caught by a player who hadn't been within 10 yards of him when he received the ball.

Other than that Cisse had a near faultless game. Anyone suggesting Harper's pass was at fault is frankly making it up for effect.

I think the whole team played well.

Fed - 7 - good game, no chance with the goal, at least one good save. Surprised so many are happy though, given he kicked it straight out as much as Hahnemann normally does.
Rosenior - 7 - solid, some god overlaps, but played more defensively today
Armstrong - 7 - see above.
Duberry - 8 - dragged away from Phillips' run for the goal, but a brick wall other than that.
Ivar - 7 - at least one heart in the mouth attempted clearance, bit did well.
Henry - 7 - some very good moments, otherwise fairly quiet, but gave us width well.
SHunt - 8 - Popped up all over the park, delivery was quality again and caused a lot of problems
Harper - 7 - Decent game, unlucky with a couple of his forward breaks. Birmingham were restricted to very very little. I don't think it's a coincidence that Birmingham carved us open and scored the one time we lost the ball and he wasn't sitting in front of the defence..
Cisse - 8 - Despite the apalling lapse for their goal I thought he had a very good game. Tackled, passed and scored.
NHunt - 7 - Not on long but scored whilst developing concussion. We looked a different side once he came off and Birmingham got much more into the game.
Doyle - 9 - MOM Fantastic today, made one and scored one. Another effort that a foot either side ofthe keeper could have gone in. Tirelessly worked for the cause.

Long - 6 - Won the freekick for the equaliser and was vaguely threatening with his pace, but he just isn't good enough. He never looks like scoring or creating.
Gunnarsson - 7 - Once he came on we stiffened back up a bit and he did ok. Nothing spectacular though. Can't score off the bench every game.

Reading fans - 7

Very very very very very pleased. We didn't play fantastically, and we struggled to create clear chances. But the ones we did create we put away and we restricted B'ham to much less. Solid, but we're still not back to the level we were at against the likes of Wednesday, Wolves and Sheff Utd.

[bcubed]

Harper was excellent today, by far the best central midfielder on the pitch.

He wasn't. He was good, but Cisse was a class above in midfield today.

Nah.

A mixed bag from Cisse today - good tackling, good closing down, adequate passing, pathetic div 4 standard dithering for their goal and a top standard finish for our 3rd.

Harper though was at his best, great closing down, keep the possession going and world class pointing and shouting.

Any Reading fan who watched this game and who disagrees with this and still claims that Harps is not up to it, should just give up and support Aldershot.

[Ian Royal]

Cisse had plenty of time to get rid of the ball. But instead he lost the ball after taking one touch too many.

How can you possibly say it was Harper's fault?

well for a player who is mean to be intelligent surely he knows that to pass to a player who has his back to the brum goal with a defender within a few yards of him is not the best option to take. This gave cisse not much time on the ball in comparison. it was a hospital ball IMO, it put him under unnecessary pressure

For your information, seeing as you clearly have no idea what a hospital pass is, it is a pass that is made too short which causes the recipient (who is under pressure) to stretch to get it . The opposition player challenging for it is usually coming from another direction and also stretches. This is likely to result in an injury and therefore trip to hospital.

Nothing like what happened at the game today.

[phil in cornwall]

Doobs completely dominated in the air. Everything they sent over he headed away. He seemed 9 foot tall.

No one has mentioned number 13. Didn't hear much from them on the telly but there was a quick flash of a santa with a magnificent white beard. 10 for effort to that man.

[Amongst the sheep]

The original ball should have gone out to Henry on the wing. Why turn inside where it was congested when Henry might have had a run and cross? And if he had lost the ball it wouldn't have been in a dangerous position. I think this was Hunt. Memo to Coppellfor the next team team tactics talk: PLAY THE SIMPLE BALL.

Spot on Henry provided the overlap and Hunt shuld have used him. In the end though it was irrelevant.

[Southbank Old Boy]

The original ball should have gone out to Henry on the wing. Why turn inside where it was congested when Henry might have had a run and cross? And if he had lost the ball it wouldn't have been in a dangerous position. I think this was Hunt. Memo to Coppellfor the next team team tactics talk: PLAY THE SIMPLE BALL.

Spot on Henry provided the overlap and Hunt shuld have used him. In the end though it was irrelevant.

It was HARPER who played the pass

As for it being a hospital ball, it was nothing of the sort. Harper played it comfortably into Cisse's feet, who didn't need to worry about the defender because he was well positioned to shield him off before playing the ball to one of his own players (Harper had made himself available for the simple 10 yard return pass, or Cisse could've played it out to the left

Harper could've played it straight to Henry, although I think that would've been the riskier pass as there were more covering defenders and Harper probably had it in mind to play it into Cisse, get it back and switch play to the left after the little interchanged had attracted the Brum defence to the near side of the pitch

Cisse cocked it up. Apart from that he had a pretty good game though

[S09Royal]

Brum's goal was a beauty, but then so were all 3 of ours
Just saw the highlights on SSN. WOW. What a game to have gone to

[John 3:16]

Doobs completely dominated in the air. Everything they sent over he headed away. He seemed 9 foot tall.

No one has mentioned number 13. Didn't hear much from them on the telly but there was a quick flash of a santa with a magnificent white beard. 10 for effort to that man.

You couldn't hear us? We were immense! Didn't stop singing for 90 mins! One of the best away days I've seen this year (and I've been to all but a few).

[SLAMMED]

doobs - 6.5 ...didnt look comfortable
harper - 8 . great performance

oh please!!!

lol dont know what game you were watching but anyone who gives harper a high score after he gave cisse a hospital ball which caused him to lose the ball and us subsequently loose a goal is crazy.

Did you even see Cisse's mistake? It was Cisses fault. He had control of the ball and he messed around with it. Im not exactly a harper fan but when other midfielders make mistakes, why does everyone blame harper. Maybe if you were actually at the game