Hello! I suppose this is technically our first win of 2015- and while late winners aren't good for the blood pressure there isn't a better way to win a football game in my opinion. I'm going to try my best not to be smug in this blog- as there are a lot of people who have slated Bryan, and while I haven't always been his biggest fan some of the stick he's gotten is undeserved and he deserved a goal like that- and in the likely event he goes this window at least he's left us on a high note.
I usually go straight into the goals at this point, and I'd like to preface this with saying I don't like slating refs- and I'd be one of the first to praise a ref should he have a good game. However, when you see a ref put in an absolute atrocious performance he should be slated. Yes, Reading did play the way they did- Pogrebnyak and Cox should have had about 7 Yellows between them. However, that isn't all Reading's fault as the ref allowed them to play that way with hardly any repercussions. There was an incident at roughly 15 minutes where Pogrebynak dived in on (I think) Parker, and the ref had a quick word with him and sent him on his way- and that set the tone for the whole match. It did get ridiculous by midway through the second half- when Kacaniklic was taken out off the ball there wasn't so much as a foul given (although granted we had won a Free-Kick more centrally) and the linesman didn't even flag it despite the fact it was about as in his line of sight as it was possible to get. Refs are often slated, I remember listening to a Podcast from 5Live a while back where they had someone important with regard to Referees on taking questions and I gained a lot if insight from that with regard to being a ref- but the ref today was completely abject, and more than anything we could have ended up with a player injured considering how late some of the tackles were today; and the primary job of any ref should be to protect the players
Deep Breath, Rant Over- lets move on to something a bit more positive.
The Goals today from our perspective were really good in different ways, The Ball Parker did to put Kacaniklic through for the first goal was absolutely top draw- I'll be honest when it hit the underside of Federici's leg I thought he'd missed it, but I'm sure when I see the goal from a "TV" angle it'll look like it was never in doubt. The goal we conceded was a typical Fulham goal, Corners are such a basic aspect of Football- and the fact we aren't drilled enough to stop goals coming from corners worries me deeply. The Second Goal for us was scrappy as anything- and if you'd told me Bryan would have scored today, a header in the manner in which he took the header would have been the last thing on my list with regard to guessing how he scored; but it was great work from Woodrow to get the ball back in the middle- and also from McCormack who put the ball in and we really needed that goal because we haven't been anywhere near our best since Christmas and the two wins we've had- and the manner in which we have won will breed confidence in our young team without a shadow of a doubt.
Bettinelli had an alright game today, there weren't any massive saves he made- although I suppose that can be seen as a good thing. But he dealt with the number of crosses coming into the box well enough, and its good to see the calming influence he has on the Back 4. You can go back to my really early blogs in August when I was talking about the need for a "Back 3" and we've almost gotten into a "Back 5" situation now- when everyone is fit I'll be really interested to see how/if Kit includes Hoogland and Amorebieta. Since Christmas although we've been conceding goals, with a few exceptions the goals haven't happened and you've gone "The Defence or Bettinelli should have done better there".
Speaking of the defence, We massively rode our luck today from a defensive standpoint. Granted, Reading didn't have that many clear cut chances- but between McCleary, Obita and Robson-Kanu they completely shredded us in the wide areas; and that is definitely a worry going forward because we've seen what happens when we come up against pace- combined with a better quality of player when we played Watford. Bodurov won't get a lot of attention when it comes to the end of the season- with a lot of it going on Christensen, Bettinelli, McCormack etc.- but I've really liked Bodurov since we signed him. He had a pretty unremarkable game today, but from a defensive standpoint an unremarkable game isn't necessarily a bad thing; and if "he" did nothing else for us- the fact "he" plucked Bodurov from obscurity (at least as far as this country goes) and has given us a really solid centre-back with quite a few years left in the tank.
The Midfield was interesting today. I'm genuinely not sure what formation we started with, it looked like a Flat 4-4-2- but that might have been a consequence of Readings persistent wing play as opposed to a plan. I do genuinely like Fofana- but I think since Christensen's gotten injured he's needed to play a different role and that has greatly affected his performances, I'm not saying he's played badly today; but he just looks a bit unsure of himself in my opinion and I wouldn't be locking him in at Motspur Park to stop him from going back to City at the end of the Month- especially when we could potentially get a midfielder like Nathaniel Chalobah on loan who would fulfill a similar role- but also bring a proven Championship track record to the table. Tunnicliffe was quite frustrating today, I think he has to adapt his game a bit to our style of play- as there were points when he was caught on the ball or gave it away cheaply; I also think he needs to get used to playing in a team which to be frank- simply isn't as good as the team he was playing in a month ago, but his undoubted work ethic more than made up for that today.
Parker was another one who frustrated me today, I can only assume Kits told him not to shoot- there was a moment in the Second Half where Parker had a clear sight of goal just outside the box, and rather than shoot he tried to dribble it into the box and there was a similar event where Parker dribbled the ball into the box successfully and all he had to do was cut it back for McCormack but he made a hash of it and blew the chance. I don't like to dwell on the negatives that much when we've won- but there are sometimes when its so blindingly obvious what should happen, and a professional footballer with the experience of Parker stupidly tries to overcomplicate it. Its the same with defending corners, football is fundamentally a simple game and when the basics are done well- everything else falls into place. Kacaniklic was an interesting player today- he of course scored the goal, him and Stafylidis down the left are an interesting prospect and on some of the wider pitches I have no doubt we'll cause some teams serious problems and you could see his runs were causing the Reading defence some issues. I'm somewhat worried about his defensive play- but I noticed Tunnicliffe was floating from Right to Left defensively and if he can keep up that level of performance Kacaniklic can continue with the way he's playing, and when he's scoring goals he's more than worth keeping in the team.
I've finally gotten to the point where I agree with dropping Hugo. As I'm sure people who regularly read these will have gathered I'm a big fan of Hugo- but with the exception of Berbatov he's possibly the most hot and cold striker we've had in god knows how many years and its a matter of whether you're willing to persist with him during his cold patches, but his luck simply isn't in at the moment and with Woodrow playing the way he is with his goals in midweek and the assist today he should be given a run in the team. McCormack was interesting today, firstly it was good to see him not playing as a Holding Mid considering how deep he's been playing recently and it definitely added to our attacking play and options. The only major criticism I'd have with McCormack is his deadball delivery, Federici had possibly his easiest day with regard to set-pieces as 99% of them were straight down his throat.
For once Kit gave the subs enough time to make an impact, and make an impact they did. Firstly, I thought Bryan was coming on when Woodrow did because I saw him putting his shirt on and the squared numbers made me think the "6" was a "0". Woodrow is probably the best option we have currently available to us with regard to hold-up play- and given the number of long-balls we're still playing we need him, or someone like him in the team. Bryan of course scored the winner, but he also added another dimension to our attack- while he might not be here come February its completely worth keeping him in the team until he leaves; and as I've said if he is going soon- he's gone out on a high now.
This was far from a good performance, but in the position we're in- we can't afford to be picky about how we win games as long as we do so. I'd rather win ugly as we did today, than lose pretty like we did against Cardiff.
Thanks for reading as always, you've already seen my view with regard to the ref today- but I think in a way his bad performance did help us in a way as the anger of the fans was directed at the ref rather than the players after the abject performance in the First Half. We've now gotten our first league win of 2015- and despite the result today for Forest I still think Forest is a winnable game, so lets make it our second on Wednesday.
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