A few thoughts from last night

[conners]

I am not going to panic over last night's performance. A number of players were playing out of position and given that we have a long season ahead of us it is probably for the best that we are out of the cup. In terms of specifics....

I thought we particularly struggled on the full back positions. Dyer didnt seem to have the confidence to make runs further up the pitch whilst Onuha is quite clearly a right footed player that does not have great passing ability. Our team will have a lot more attacking options when our first choice full backs return.

Mbia - interesting. Potentially very good but a bit erratic in his passes and could have easily been sent off for a second bookable offence at the end.

In midfield, I felt Mackie was lost. I am a huge fan of his but there is no doubting that he has far more impact as a second half sub when he can chase down defenders. I thought our two centre midfielders looked tired. Maybe still feeling the effects of Sundays game in the rain.

Park worked expctionally hard but once again, doesn't appear comfortable down the left. Has a tendancy to always want to come inside.

Cisse - offside on far too many occasions and it is no good hoofing the ball up to him. He is a guy that seems to lose fitness quiickly so we need to find a way of playing him most games if we want to see the best of him.

Player of the night for me - Hoillett. Potentially a very good player for us.

Despite some of the negatives (above) i thought that some of our first half play was very good. We did, however, have a touch of Arsenal about us in that we seemed to want to score the perfect goal. We need to be testing goalkeepers from the edge of the area. The downside if that we have lost another game and i hope that we dont let our heads drop too much.

As for the fans, a good turnout. That said, those of you calling for Hughes to be sacked should get real. This team is a lot better than what we have had for ages. We really need to continue getting behind the team and hope that our first league win is just around the corner.

[HoopsMark1960]

Here here....Good post

[MYU]

Thanks and good read conners.

Agree about Hughes, don't want a change of manager every 10 games, these things take time.

[sirduncs]

yup conners well said. i entirely agree with you. and in hindsight some kind of rest for ale/the pirate would have been a good idea last night methinks.

[TRING-RANGER]

Good post ,

They did play some good football but as you say want to walk the ball in the net , cissie looked very hesitant before he scored as if he wanted to off load the ball ( or was that just how i saw it ) last season no hesitation bang ,in they went

we do seem tacticaly inept at times and that has to be down to the manager, another very frustrating night , just hope the right team turns up monday night ...

[qblockoompah]

Genuinely thought he would start with Derry and Diakite and give Ale/Granero a rest as theyve had a tough few weeks. Park was full of running as always but just isn't left footed. I thought Cisse was poor last night just looked grumpy to me? Thought Dyer had a good game but Progrebnyak?? (spelling) bullied our CB's all night long.
Reading didn't let us settle on the ball all night and I think we struggled with that but overall thought we were by far the better team.

Ref was a disgrace IMO offered no protection to Zamora when he came on same as every other ref on the planet never does.

Agree about trying to score the perfect goal lost count of the number of times i was crying out for Ale / Granero / Hoillet to have a shot last night so frustrating to watch.

Overall so happy with Hughes and the team so far and think West Ham are in for a right tonking on monday night

[gator]

I didn't see the match but have read many comments from posters who were there and it doesn't sound pretty! MH played a potentially strong side and I sure didn't expect a home loss to Reading but that's what happened! Hindsight is a great thing but I really think he should have played a bunch of the second choice players and given them a good run, a loss would have been more expected and tolerable then! The only thing that would have made this loss worse would be if Faurlin's injury was serious!

[sirduncs]

i went, and i thought we were fielding a strong side which would brush reading aside. overall we played ok in patches but what reading did well was get on us immediately in midfield which forced some panic tackles and a rushed passing pattern. to be fair reading looked pretty average and we did look better, however it's the result that matters...

when we went forward, we did so with some good football, but we had some issues with movement into the box (including cisse being offside loads) and plenty of chances created but often no-one in the right place at the right time.

reading
they raised their game and that pogreynak or whatever he is called is a right old lump and did give us some problems. they harried us, and to be fair, their keeper played well particularly in the first half and probably saved a few of their blushes. their away support was quite good but it amused me that they have all of our songs like 'come on you r's' and the superhoops one. twunts! they seemed to be well up for it. you'd kind of expect that if they felt like the underdogs (being the away team and bottom of the league).

us
cesar overall had a mixed game, for me. he put himself and the defence under pressure a lot with short balls out and dribbling around in defence, his long shot accuracy was so-so and i do think he could have done better for the last two of reading's goals. that said, he did a great save against their penalty (which i remain convinced was a questionable call) towards the end.

defence - mbia's debut, and i thought it was a good one. he clearly can read the ball well - on several occasions reading played balls forward and mbia intercepted to prevent the reading player receiving it. he made a rash challenge or two and his footwork with the ball needs a bit more work but i would suggest that will come with a) improved fitness and b) better understanding with the rest of the team. nelsen came on in the second half and, to be honest, looked a little rusty. overall clint hill played well and was the standout for me in defence. onuoha was erratic as usual and i don't get much confidence from him.

the midfield - park seemed to be in the wrong position and didn't seem to quite know where he was going when he cut in from the wing, he did some good backtracking to be fair but plenty of through balls didn't come off. the pirate played ok, but looked a bit tired, as did faurlin, and we were all worried when he went off as it looked like the injury was on the same knee as last season's one. (sounds like it isn't too serious today though...). hoillett played a supporting role between midfield and cisse, and drifted around a lot, he was probably MOM for me, good work rate (although i think his fitness could be a bit sharper) and he took his goal well. mackie ran around a lot but was largely ineffective. there appeared to be some frustration growing with mackie, maybe he knew he was out of position and having an off day, maybe he doesn't click with the rest of midfield. i would have rather seen swp in there last night, mackie didn't give us what we needed.

offense - cisse got caught offside far too much, and also looked a little off the pace to me. his work rate could have been better, but he did take the goal well. he could have had one or two others if he had been a bit sharper to be honest. he made a few incisive passes though into the box, i got the impression he was either playing too far forward and getting caught offside, or too wide and not being able to be in the box when it mattered. zamora came on and did ok, whatever anyone says he does a good target man job for us and does cause defenders trouble.

referee - possibly a reading fan.

[qblockoompah]

i went, and i thought we were fielding a strong side which would brush reading aside. overall we played ok in patches but what reading did well was get on us immediately in midfield which forced some panic tackles and a rushed passing pattern. to be fair reading looked pretty average and we did look better, however it's the result that matters...

when we went forward, we did so with some good football, but we had some issues with movement into the box (including cisse being offside loads) and plenty of chances created but often no-one in the right place at the right time.

reading
they raised their game and that pogreynak or whatever he is called is a right old lump and did give us some problems. they harried us, and to be fair, their keeper played well particularly in the first half and probably saved a few of their blushes. their away support was quite good but it amused me that they have all of our songs like 'come on you r's' and the superhoops one. twunts! they seemed to be well up for it. you'd kind of expect that if they felt like the underdogs (being the away team and bottom of the league).

us
cesar overall had a mixed game, for me. he put himself and the defence under pressure a lot with short balls out and dribbling around in defence, his long shot accuracy was so-so and i do think he could have done better for the last two of reading's goals. that said, he did a great save against their penalty (which i remain convinced was a questionable call) towards the end.

defence - mbia's debut, and i thought it was a good one. he clearly can read the ball well - on several occasions reading played balls forward and mbia intercepted to prevent the reading player receiving it. he made a rash challenge or two and his footwork with the ball needs a bit more work but i would suggest that will come with a) improved fitness and b) better understanding with the rest of the team. nelsen came on in the second half and, to be honest, looked a little rusty. overall clint hill played well and was the standout for me in defence. onuoha was erratic as usual and i don't get much confidence from him.

the midfield - park seemed to be in the wrong position and didn't seem to quite know where he was going when he cut in from the wing, he did some good backtracking to be fair but plenty of through balls didn't come off. the pirate played ok, but looked a bit tired, as did faurlin, and we were all worried when he went off as it looked like the injury was on the same knee as last season's one. (sounds like it isn't too serious today though...). hoillett played a supporting role between midfield and cisse, and drifted around a lot, he was probably MOM for me, good work rate (although i think his fitness could be a bit sharper) and he took his goal well. mackie ran around a lot but was largely ineffective. there appeared to be some frustration growing with mackie, maybe he knew he was out of position and having an off day, maybe he doesn't click with the rest of midfield. i would have rather seen swp in there last night, mackie didn't give us what we needed.

offense - cisse got caught offside far too much, and also looked a little off the pace to me. his work rate could have been better, but he did take the goal well. he could have had one or two others if he had been a bit sharper to be honest. he made a few incisive passes though into the box, i got the impression he was either playing too far forward and getting caught offside, or too wide and not being able to be in the box when it mattered. zamora came on and did ok, whatever anyone says he does a good target man job for us and does cause defenders trouble.

referee - possibly a reading fan.

Pretty much exactly how i saw things mate, Cisse I thought just wasnt up to it last night, think he may have the hump due to not playing enough. I would play him and BZ up top for west ham, but if he plays the same id hook him for taarabt

[hal9thou]

The level of denial on here about the root cause of the problem is staggering.

[HoopsMark1960]

And that would be ????

[Pookiesdad]

I am not going to panic over last night's performance. A number of players were playing out of position and given that we have a long season ahead of us it is probably for the best that we are out of the cup. In terms of specifics....

I thought we particularly struggled on the full back positions. Dyer didnt seem to have the confidence to make runs further up the pitch whilst Onuha is quite clearly a right footed player that does not have great passing ability. Our team will have a lot more attacking options when our first choice full backs return.

Mbia - interesting. Potentially very good but a bit erratic in his passes and could have easily been sent off for a second bookable offence at the end.

In midfield, I felt Mackie was lost. I am a huge fan of his but there is no doubting that he has far more impact as a second half sub when he can chase down defenders. I thought our two centre midfielders looked tired. Maybe still feeling the effects of Sundays game in the rain.

Park worked expctionally hard but once again, doesn't appear comfortable down the left. Has a tendancy to always want to come inside.

Cisse - offside on far too many occasions and it is no good hoofing the ball up to him. He is a guy that seems to lose fitness quiickly so we need to find a way of playing him most games if we want to see the best of him.

Player of the night for me - Hoillett. Potentially a very good player for us.

Despite some of the negatives (above) i thought that some of our first half play was very good. We did, however, have a touch of Arsenal about us in that we seemed to want to score the perfect goal. We need to be testing goalkeepers from the edge of the area. The downside if that we have lost another game and i hope that we dont let our heads drop too much.

As for the fans, a good turnout. That said, those of you calling for Hughes to be sacked should get real. This team is a lot better than what we have had for ages. We really need to continue getting behind the team and hope that our first league win is just around the corner.

Too many lobbed balls to Cisse who didnt win many in the air. He needs through balls on the floor to pounce onto.
Clint is getting better at Centre Back but useless on the left. So is Onuha who is good but not on the left constantly turning around. Mackie is a better impact sub. Hoilett was given a free roll which he did well. Zamora is a decent target man. Cesar is quality cant fault him for their free kick.

[DeepcutHoop]

The level of denial on here about the root cause of the problem is staggering.

If you can lose your head, while all around are keeping their's......


....it's possible you're massively overreacting.