Sorry for the late report had a busy last few days, the result was totally fair we were appalling on Saturday.
First half we seemed genuinely terrified to go out of our own half, i'm all for playing out from the back but we played far too much in our own half on Saturday a lot of that was down to not having Wiedwald's disrtibution to pick out Ayling, O'Kane and Berardi to try and build some momentum into their half.
Second half, we played a bit better but Reading still created by far the best opportunities. The goal is embarrasingly poor a comedy of errors.
It has to be said for the 3rd/4th game in a row the team selection has been totally wrong, the subsititutions have been totally wrong and we still seem like we can't be arsed when we don't have the ball. A lot of basics as well:
1. Andy Lonergan is never going to be a keeper who will be able to play as a sweeper keeper and distribute the ball like Wiedwald but that was clearly what he was being instructed to do and we constantly lost the ball in dangerous areas. Andy is a good keeper at this level and deserves to keep his place but play to his strengths keep it simple when he has the ball, instruct Lonergan to play simple 10 yard passes to Ayling, Jansson or Berardi and let them build up play.
2. Allow the likes of Alioski, Saiz and Phillips to shoot from distance more often, I like the way we attack teams but at times it seems like some of our players are either afraid/instructed not to shoot from distance. If we are going to get 10+ goals out of Saiz and Alioski they need to be allowed to take shots on themselves.
3. Stop playing Roofe on the right and play him as the lone striker vs Bristol City
Christiansen has done well so far though we are in the top 6 and in the middle of a cup run
, he has got my full support.
Orta and Radrizzani are the people I blame for our situation though, we've got Liam Cooper as a starting centre back, Lasogga as a starting striker (despite being totally unfit and not suitable for a lone striker role) and our options off the bench are quite frankly laughable atm. Christiansen is a head coach he can only work with what he is given by Orta and Radrizzani.
Whoever decided between Orta and Radrizzani that we didn't need to sign another centre back and another striker deserves ALL of the criticism atm. Bartley/Helander and a top striker (who is actually fit enough to play 2 games of football a week) and we would have been pushing for the top 2 this season We made £10 million on transfers but still have at least 2 positions where we totally lack quality it's not acceptable, those two signings would have made a big difference.
Player Ratings:
Lonergan 7- One good save first half and an excellent second half save, looked very comfortable. Took his chance well to impress.
Ayling 3- Didn't look comfortable on the ball and was awful defensively, let far too many crosses come in from his side too easily. At fault for the goal.
Jansson 4- Never looked comfortable and some really poor decision making. What is going on?
Cooper 5- Better than Jansson on the day but still not great
Berardi 6- Alright defensively (still not totally convincing) did try to influence the game going forward our best defender by some distance on the day.
Phillips 4- Just couldn't get into the game at all constantly out of position and needed to do better for the goal.
O'Kane 5- Tried his best and made some runs forward but struggled to control the midfield battle.
Roofe 5- Worked hard defensively but didn't do anything going forward.
Saiz 7- Man Of The Match he doesn't deserve this atm never stopped what an absolute joy it is to watch him play football, he litetally cannot do anymore to drag this team out of the poor run of form it's about time his team mates stepped up
Hernandez 3- Awful, one lovely piece of skill in the first half other than that it seriously was a game to forget for Pablo.
Lasogga 4- Awful, couldn't hold the ball up or link up play at all.
Subs:
Sacko 6- Had a good influence on the game but once again his final ball/pass let him down.
Grot 5- Had no impact on the game.
???
