[Was Wereham Owl]

Why6 over the last 2 weeks is the pitch an issue, ??, it's either great for both teams or shit for both teams ..DEAL WITH IT ¬!!!, someone said Readings pitch was in good condition ..WE LOST , gonna blame the pitch ??, if we had won 5-0 , would the grass have won the game, .. the surface IS NOT an issue home or away so don't mention it as an excuse for our home form again , our players and manager are our problem, HOME and away, I as much as anyone want the Owls to do well, but to blame grass for us being shit is a joke, would anyone blame the wind, the above sea level thinner air, the no smoking in the ground ..ABSOLUTE BS, its the manager and players, ffs as a youth in the Sunday leagues we played on cowfields , didn't stop some great goals , talents shining through, they could dribble, cross, tackle etc etc, and if we lost, they were better, NOT THE PITCH, guys stop making excuses for crap players, managers and no talent journymen, we as a team are just not good enough to win games, home or away, the points we have collected this season are mainly down to Westwood, don't hear him saying the pitch deflected the ball into his diving fingertips, or the pitch deflected it into the top corner ..BECAUSE IT DONT HAPPEN , he gets on with it that's the end of it, pitches don't win or lose games ..players and managers do ..
Therefore the new owners need to sort the MANAGER first, then a decent one can attract new, better PLAYERS, which in turn will improve CROWDS, and with the increase in revenue we can improve the GROUND, and therefore the PITCH, then come the TV's and the lesser items .. it's not difficult really is it ??

[Maddix]

As I said earlier on this, or another, thread, the pitch excuse is bollocks FFS, if its as bad as people are making out it should give us a distinct advantage over the opposition by being used to the flucker

[Was Wereham Owl]

The pitch being bad is an EXCUSE, no matter who says it ..its BOLLOX, didn.t hear it from the start of the season, don't want to hear it now, decent players/managers can adapt ..that is all

[Maddix]

So do I but using it as an excuse is bollocks I've played against teams with shit pitches and they usually use it to their advantage. Invariably I've found us to be 3 down before we've come to terms with the shitheap we're playing on but hammered the same twats on our own patch.

It's a bad excuse for our shit home form

[Owlkev71]

I've played on all sorts of pitches, always managed to play passing football. Do our strikers miss all those chances cos of the pitch? Answer - No, they miss cos they aint good enough.

[Maddix]

ive played on all sorts of pitches aswell owlskev !!! and it depends on what level your games at if the pitch plays a part ? and it did with me so i sympathise  

---

infact it was one of the main reasons why i quit at 32 and not at 45 years old !!

I know exactly what you are saying Imre but it doesn't get away from the fact that we should be more adept at playing on our home dunghill than the opposition. We get far more practice on it than they do  

and I quit at 28 because me knee was, and still is, f ucked mainly due to playing on crap pitches

[Was Wereham Owl]

Ok, for 2 seasons we have complained about the manager , first DJ, now SG, and also the players (maybe JJ should have scored more) IF THE PITCH WAS OK, what a load of shite, wasn't the pitch then, not the pitch now, is Nuihu not able to head a ball the pitch at fault, it dinosaur tactics the pitch at fault, suppose the peeling paint and dodgy pies are the fault of the pitch too ..FFS !!!

[madsteve]

What a disappointment after the excitement of the takeover.

I have to ask what SG was thinking with regard to his formation. We have been performing pretty well away from home but he made several changes to formation, tactics & personnel from the Forest match which all made us look ill equipped to beat one of the division's weaker sides. Our starting eleven had scored five goals between them (excluding penalties) all season.

It was hard to work out what formation we were playing initially although it appeared to settle into a 4411 with Maguire playing partly behind Keane & partly on the right. We dominated possession but mainly in our own half & rarely threatened the Reading goal.

We should have scored when Maghoma burst clear on the left and played the ball in cleverly from the left giving Maguire a clear sight of goal from twelve yards but he hit it tamely at the keeper. Baker had another chance but curled it straight to the keeper.

Gradually Reading looked more dangerous as they played on the counterattack. Westwood made two fantastic saves as Reading cut us open through the centre with Lees struggling against the muscular Pogrebnyak. Eventually the goal came when Lees lost his man & Pagrebnyak had a free header from six yards. 1-0 quickly became 2-0 as Chalobah brilliantly side footed home from twelve yards from a right wing cross.

It looked like a battle to survive until half time then although Baker hit a beautiful shot which the keeper did well to tip round the post.

Nuhui replaced Baker and Helan replaced Mattock at half time as we played more 442 with Maguire switching back to the wing. It nearly went totally pear shaped when Helan made an ill advised challenge in the box & conceded a penalty but fortunately the spot kick was poor & Westwood saved comfortably.

This gave us some momentum and we started putting some real pressure on the Reading defence with Maghoma running at them through the middle and we started creating chances. Maghoma could only slice his shot when he was crowded out after a good one two with Keane. Maguire was put through but slipped and couldn't get a decent shot in after he fell. Dielna shot horribly wide after replacing Hutchinson.

Westwood - 7 - two goods saves plus a penalty save
Palmer - 5 - below par
Loovens - 6 - cleared off line, pillar of strength
Lees - 5 - several poor passes, at fault for first goal
Mattock - 5 - cleared off line, both goals came from crosses he could have stopped
Maguire - 4 - constantly gave the ball away, missed passes, selfish
Hutchinson - 5 - hardly involved
Baker - 5 - one brilliant shot but otherwise little influence
Lee - 6 - poor first half but linked well second half
Maghoma - 6 - created our best chances, much better in the centre second half
Keane - 5 - a few good touches but never looked like scoring
.............................................................................
Nuhui - 5 - never got near goal
Helan - 5 - ran down blind allies
Dielna - 5 - didn't add much

We struggled attacking wise because every time a player made a run with the ball, there was no-one ahead of him so he was forced to check back. Keane doesn't look like scoring, pretty much like Nuhui so goals have to come from midfield. Excluding penalties, our midfield have only contributed five goals between them this season.

I think SG got his tactics wrong, which kind of made us more impotent than usual up front. We went into this match on a high after the takeover but SG set up with a negative mindset. Keane & Baker look like boys in a men's match. Maybe if we were winning regularly, they would shine. Lees for the first time look flustered when put under pressure. We now face two matches without Loovens. We will miss his leadership although Dielna is a good deputy.

Our season is pretty much over. We are 16 points off promotion, 11 off relegation and 9 off the playoffs. We are good enough to hold our own but lack that class & invention to challenge for promotion. We have little pace & no threat that opposition teams fear. Hopefully, our new financial muscle will improve things, if not in this window then in the summer.

[peiowl]

SG full of bull on bbc. But is it all his fault? Many of our players are not Championship quality.

[St Charles Owl]

SG full of bull on bbc. But is it all his fault? Many of our players are not Championship quality.

Its never all the managers fault, but the bulk of it is!!!