Thoughts v Reading

kirsikka

kirsikka

UTC Legend
Another game where three points should have been seen as needed given the struggling opposition. Also another chance to try and put in a good performance to keep the crowd onside.

The goal was a thing of absolute beauty. Zemura started the game back to his early season bright best, taking players on. One of his runs was the spark for the goal. Add in a lovely touch from Lerma and excellent work and finish from Solanke. Lovely stuff.

In the first half L Cook continued his recent excellent form, now with some important tackling added in to his game.

And then... we stopped. It was as if we assumed the game was over and we didn't need to bother anymore.

At half time I wrote:
"It isn't comfortable right now. Reading don't look bereft of confidence going forward. If we don't score, they will. We need to knock the stuffing out of them."
We did the absolute opposite and spent 40 minutes inviting them to come and grab something from the match.

The second half was abysmal. There's no other word for it. So safe when we had the ball until we crossed the halfway line when we were sloppy and lacking in numbers.

We sat back and let them dicatate. You could see the way it was going ten minutes in and I was urging Parker to change it somehow. He did nothing until 75 minutes when he made us even more cautious with the Pearson sub.

Seeing how we sparked into life after the equaliser almost made what went before even worse. We had it in us but didn't show interest in making it happen. Or had been instructed to sit back.

This was a game where after 10 minutes we absolutely had them on toast but a complete lack of attacking bravery combined with poor quality on the ball let them back into it. Ponderous, ponderous, ponderous.

Points thrown away and a performance that was, frankly, rubbish after the first ten minutes.

Whatever the halftime changes were meant to do, they didn't work. The fact that we carried on hoping it would get better was a managerial failing. If Parker takes the plaudits when we pick up the points, he should take the ire when we don't win games that were there for the taking.

Positive performances:
Phillips - A wholehearted performance. The only player I can think of that deserves credit for the full 90.

L Cook (first half) - Tailed off in the second period but was good in the first 45.


Room for improvement:
Cantwell - I said at the weekend I can see what TC has about him but feel he's yet to be really effective. After the initial good opening minutes, he was really poor. Wayward passing and bad challenges. Rightly hooked at half time.

Kelly - Some terrible distribution again. Needs to get his head back in the game.
 
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As you said the halves were polar opposite

The points return from lower league teams this season is quite frankly pathetic.

Should Kelly be dropped, probably, won't ever be though.
 
Disappointing .Great to have Lerma back . Kelly‘s distribution awful .What happened to the intensity of the first twenty minutes ?
If we have exhausted players rotate the squad.
Can we creep over the line ?
 
I’m going to say it. Wherever we find ourselves at the end of the season, I will want Parker to go. This is not how Bournemouth play football, trying to grind out results by being dull and uninspiring. Give me a 5-0 defeat by Man City followed by a 4-3 victory over Liverpool any day but if I want to see football played like this, I’ll go and support Stoke.
 
After an excellent opening goal I was looking for us to push on but what a damp squib. Not enough energy apart from Cook first half and some good defending from Phillips. If Reading were amazing I wouldn’t mind, but they were there for the taking and we didn’t take the offer. Instead we let Drinkwater and Ince take control and sat back. Such a tough watch second half and their equaliser was deserved. I’m hoping we up our game when we play against the tougher teams over the next two months. Another disappointing red button game.
 
I maintain as after the Peterborough game that Parker isn't the right man for us. Of course this will be shot down by the "look at the league table" crew, but the football on show for the last 3 months has been absolute dross.

Sitting back on a 1-0 lead against a team that have just been battered 4-0 and are having a shocking season is just pathetic. We waited for them to score or hoped that they wouldn't, we all saw it coming. It's either a weak collective mentality and laziness, extremely negative tactics, or both.

They didn't sit back and camp out in their half heroically. We didn't even make them work for it. We showed zero urgency until they scored.

It's painful watching this side. We're never going to sack Parker while in 2nd but I would not be sad to see him go even if it meant no promotion. I'd rather watch some half-decent football every week.
 
Very demoralising. Why attack for 7 minutes at 1-1 when we could do so for 45 minutes at 1-0. We are waiting for the other team to score.
Reading usually concede late. We should have been tiring them via possession.
Again an opportunity to open an almost unassailable lead has been thrown away.
 
Bottom line. 5 points, at home, against teams in and around the relegation zone. Not good enough. One half decent performance against those 3 teams. Not good enough. That was meant to be the week that cemented us as promotion favourites, on that showing its going to be a very nervy run in.
 
I don’t like to single any one person out from tonight as there were few highlights from that second half… but… It all starts from the back. Kelly has been the root of our problems for the last three games. So slow and too casual in possession. How many times does he get the ball, run 10 yards forward and then check back to play a sidewards pass, or back to the keeper, at which point the opposition are set… He needs to be dropped There are simply no excuses for that second-half performance.
 
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