is this still a good start to the season?

[nose]

When we wwre unbeaten, some people thought so, others did not.
tday after a spectacularly insipid performance when it was hard to recall anything decent other than fonte's cross for sess....  what now?

was that just a bad day at the office?

i thought fonte looked good and if we ever get the ball up to him he will do a brilliant job, but i was suprised he was so small.... we need a bit of physical prescence so that was a shame

kamara? did we pay money for him? he didn't seem to have the frst clue wahat he was doing when he came on

norwood? very poor descion making, looks like he is looking fir the most difficult pass to execute and then play the receiver into trouble.

aluko and fred? seemed to lack their usual energy and macdonalds error for their goal was unforgiveable when he had so many other better choices

IMO it was a bad day at the office, we will be better but the squad is massively wrong, a RB at LB, he did well but it was wrong, a small center forward when we need a more ohysical prescence#


and as far as the ref was concerned he is beyond belief, uselssness personified! I hate mr atwell, the last 20 minutes he was their 1th man, and not even giving a foul when johansen was clearly fouled, wortha minimum yellow.... unbelievable.#
I hate him and hop never to have to see or hear of him again... useless and biased and clearly not entirely honest.

ut we lost because we did not play well or create chances. cairney and aluko? something very wrong.... 

[fulhamben]

Depends on where you think we should finish. I have us down as mid table, so yes, 3 points isn't bad against the teams we have played. If you think we will challenge, then no, it's been shocking

[westcliff white]

with the teams we had to play at the start I said 6 points form the first 5 is minimum and 8 would be great. so for me a win next week and we hit the minimum I wanted

[Woolly Mammoth]

If you are proved right, then we have moved backwards, and you know what that will mean.

[Ordar]

It's obviously not a good start to the season, regardless of who we played. If we're looking for promotion we should be winning the majority of our home games. The team doesn't look fit. We're barely creating any chances, and have scored twice in 4 games.

[Baszab]

We could have guessed all this from the dismal pre-season performances
Something not right again - Aluko looked extremely poor

[wheelerdeeler]

I thought we'd be on 6 or 7 Points going into the Internationals with how hard a start we had, and that was before Cairney went down- so if (big if with how they're playing) we beat Ipswich I'd be content with the start. Think we can only improve on today as Fonte gets used to playing in our system and Cairney gets back to his best.

To write our Play-Off hopes off already would be ridiculous though. I think Reading were about 16th going into the first International Break last season and ended up finishing 3rd.

[fulhamben]

I thought we'd be on 6 or 7 Points going into the Internationals with how hard a start we had, and that was before Cairney went down- so if (big if with how they're playing) we beat Ipswich I'd be content with the start. Think we can only improve on today as Fonte gets used to playing in our system and Cairney gets back to his best.

To write our Play-Off hopes off already would be ridiculous though. I think Reading were about 16th going into the first International Break last season and ended up finishing 3rd.

didn't see the game, but ate we certain Fonte will start next game over kamara or a midfielder?

[wheelerdeeler]

I thought we'd be on 6 or 7 Points going into the Internationals with how hard a start we had, and that was before Cairney went down- so if (big if with how they're playing) we beat Ipswich I'd be content with the start. Think we can only improve on today as Fonte gets used to playing in our system and Cairney gets back to his best.

To write our Play-Off hopes off already would be ridiculous though. I think Reading were about 16th going into the first International Break last season and ended up finishing 3rd.

didn't see the game, but ate we certain Fonte will start next game over kamara or a midfielder?

Based on today and depending on Ayite's fitness I'd be starting Kebano, Fonte and Ojo as the Front Three against Ipswich.

[hovewhite]

Ojo has to start,some today very poor.

[Slaphead in Qatar]

No this is a very poor start to the season

[ffc73]

No. This is a poor start to a season

Conceding a late equaliser in opening game when should have been home & dry
Stupid sending off after 37 seconds yet salvage a draw against a poor Reading side
Insipid display today where we hardly looked interested & got what we deserved, nothing

Refrain from comment about Leeds as I was unable to attend

[Woolly Mammoth]

Ojo has to start,some today very poor.

Yes I agree, it's a no brainer.

[Southcoastffc]

Its not the end of the world. A poor performance overall but as ever the game turned on fine margins. Sess should have scored twice - had we got a lead who knows how it would have turned out. I'd still rather watch us than Sheff Wed each week, irrespective of where they finish the season. 

I am concerned at the form of Cairney, Aluko and to a lesser degree Johansen.  And although he wasn't responsible for our loss wasn't the ref (that man Attwell again) bizarre in some of his decisions.

[toshes mate]

I talked about the partnerships forming during pre-season and our first few matches last year.  It was what gave me my optimism about what we might achieve over the whole season.  It just hasn't been the same this time around and I am not going to accept that fitness, injuries and suspensions are responsible from some woefully poor build up, development, and execution of attacks which look nothing like the skillful possession plays of last term.  It isn't a good start by any stretch of the imagination because we are not, and I repeat, not, scoring goals.

[Woolly Mammoth]

Goals do change games, but there are no excuses for a lack of effort.
Some players did not look interested, and to a certain extent neither did the manager, his substitutions rebounded on him.
We should be performing and playing a lot better as a Unit than we are. I felt the preseason preperation was a damp squib and this may have come back to haunt us.
Nevertheless, why did the manager play both Cairney and McDonald from the start when they were clear not match fit. If I was one of the subs, I would be thinking does the manager not have enough faith in me, when he is playing players who are not match fit.
We had a strong bench today, and it was not utilised sufficiently.
Some would say that's poor game management.
On the timing of the subs was after the horse had bolted.

[Twig]

Aluko was poor today, gave away possession far too often. TC's distribution was very negative, has he morphed into Parker?
All that pace going forward out wide then we stop and knock it sideways, beyond belief.
Fred was effective in the first half but faded badly, the subs made zero impact.
Very poor start to the season.

[wheelerdeeler]

I thought we'd be on 6 or 7 Points going into the Internationals with how hard a start we had, and that was before Cairney went down- so if (big if with how they're playing) we beat Ipswich I'd be content with the start. Think we can only improve on today as Fonte gets used to playing in our system and Cairney gets back to his best.

To write our Play-Off hopes off already would be ridiculous though. I think Reading were about 16th going into the first International Break last season and ended up finishing 3rd.

didn't see the game, but ate we certain Fonte will start next game over kamara or a midfielder?

Based on today and depending on Ayite's fitness I'd be starting Kebano, Fonte and Ojo as the Front Three against Ipswich.

don't see how you can drop sessegnon after today, as someone said on another thread he was the only attacking player to get the better of his man

Would move him back to LB unless we've signed Rafa Soares (or someone else) by then.

[wheelerdeeler]

I thought we'd be on 6 or 7 Points going into the Internationals with how hard a start we had, and that was before Cairney went down- so if (big if with how they're playing) we beat Ipswich I'd be content with the start. Think we can only improve on today as Fonte gets used to playing in our system and Cairney gets back to his best.

To write our Play-Off hopes off already would be ridiculous though. I think Reading were about 16th going into the first International Break last season and ended up finishing 3rd.

didn't see the game, but ate we certain Fonte will start next game over kamara or a midfielder?

Based on today and depending on Ayite's fitness I'd be starting Kebano, Fonte and Ojo as the Front Three against Ipswich.

don't see how you can drop sessegnon after today, as someone said on another thread he was the only attacking player to get the better of his man

Would move him back to LB unless we've signed Rafa Soares (or someone else) by then.

but he's looked awful at left back so far this season! whereas odoi looked good at LB today, and sessegnon looked good in a different position. each to their own i suppose but IMHO that's mad

Thought Sess looked pretty solid against Reading and Leeds, even if Wildschut did murder him on the first day. As I said, if we sign Rafa Soares he'll obviously be straight in so plans will change- but having him at LB against a team that's likely to try and make the game narrow and stay compact isn't the worst idea.

[ron]

I can't see how anyone can think this is anything but a very poor start to the season. Playing catch-up from the early stages is a terrible challenge to morale, whereas setting out your stall early and being the team to beat transfers pressure to opponents.
Bitterly disappointed that superior possession isn't converting into points. Sorry...I'd like to be more positive, but can't help but think another underachieving season has started.