Leeds defending reminds me of that last balloon at a kid's party. You know it is going to be burst your just not sure exactly when it will happen.
The most alarming thing about last night was the appearance of Bilbo Baggins (Danny Pugh) in his brand new orange boots. The decision to purchase his new boots must be based on his optimism that he still has a future in the game. Personally I would advise him not to wear anything that brings further attention on him. In many ways last night was more worrying than Saturday. Pearce & Zaliukus (sic) have both now got the jitters and for some reason McDermott continue to select Tom Lees. He costs us at least 2 goals against Bolton and he had another shocker last night but to be fair he wasnt on his own. I was just coming out of the loo when I was informed that Reading had gone 2-0 up so I spent the whole of the 2nd half in the bar which is a 1st for me. Anyway, my brother thought I was going to have a heart attack in the 1st half because of my shouting & ranting (mainly at Lees) so it was for the best. I was chatting to a bloke who is a mate of Paddy Kenny and he says that McDermott lost the changing room ages ago. I acept he may be biased. Watched the remainder of the game with a Donny lad who now lives and works in London and who had come up yesterday and was travelling back last night. Shame on the team and the manager, you really don't deserve this level of loyalty. It seems that ordinary teams that are simply prepared to put in a shift can just roll us over. When they get the ball in our half their players bomb forward knowing they are going to get a chance to notch. This is worst than Warnock because McDermott was supposed to be tactically astute and a great coach. I have seen no evidence of this. Thanks to Brian and the team for turning my football experience into a piss up. God helps us on Saturday because Burnley are the hardest working team that I have seen this year and will have a field day against this lot. Final point. If McDermott is such a decent bloke with integrity and principles why hasnt he walked yet? I think that he should have reflected on his position after the Wednesday game. He certainly should have after Bolton and last night I fully expected him to resign. Just waiting for your wedge like the rest of them aren't you Brian. MOT without hope > Date: Wed, 12 Mar 2014 07:40:28 +0000 > From: [email protected] > To: [email protected] > Subject: [LU] Reading report > > Well what a night - incredible - the scoreline does not do this topsy turvy > game justice. > As the team was announced fans were happy to see the back of Kebe, Stewart, > Peltier and Warnock and welcomed back Pugh, Marius Pearce and Byram. They > were less impressed with the realisation that we were going 5 at the back but > to be fair we had had some success with that earlier in the season. So the > game kicked off (30mins late) and the crowd put aside the disgust they felt > from Saturday and got behind the team. The team largely responded and were > snapping into tackles and closing them down. Rudy pulled a shot wide and then > Wickham had a decent shot that was easily saved and then it all changed. A > poor backpass led to Pearce and Butland both waving their hands and leaving > the ball to the other letting a Reading player sneak in and walked it into an > empty net. The players confidence disappeared as the ball crossed the line > and the patience of the crowd snapped. Suddenly Reading were first to every > ball and our challenges were weak and ineffective, > players forgot how to do the simple things and Tom Lees became the butt of > the fans ire as 3 times his passes went into touch or to an opponent when > under no pressure. On the stroke of half time it was nearly game over as > their foward got the ball in the six yard box under no pressure but took too > long and Butland smothered the shot. Halt time was met by a few boos. > Then came the incredible second half - within a minute they got a free kick > on the edge of the box and put it in the top corner. As our players trooped > back to the re-start we could see all fight had gone out of them , the lad in > front of me nearly had a heart attack laying into them for their lack of > emotion. So it was no suprrise that within 5 minutes they cut us open twice > more and the scoreboard read 0 4 . That was enough for some fans and at least > 20 from the bottom of the Kop left the ground. The rest of us stood in > stunned silence and then the vitriol started "we're shit and we're sick of > it" "what the f is going on" and even worse "you're not fit to wear the > shirt". The fans having vented their spleen chose sarcasm instead of venom > and began to 'Ole' ever Leeds pass - this showed them up even more as it went > ole ole oh dear, ole ole oh dear as we could not string more than 2 passes > together. A weak shot from Murphy brought huge cheers and > pretend goal celebrations as we took the piss even more. Then a miracle > happened in the shape of Matt Smith. He lumbered on as Marius was jeered off. > Within a minute a long cross was bundled home by 'Freak Boy' - he might not > look elegant but he knows where the goals are. The crowd cheered, then > seconds later Rudy ran through and unleashed one of his thunderbolts - > amazingly instead of it hitting Row Z it hit the back of the net 2 4. We > could'nt , could we. The crowd got behind the team as only Leeds fans can and > the players responded in kind. Rudy turned into Rudy the Beast as he was > everywhere with crunching tackles and long passes. Smith was unplayable in > the air and these 2 rubbed off on the rest as Reading were like rabbits in > the headlights in front of a baying mob.It was real gung-ho go for it stuff, > not the prettiest but effective. We even managed with Byram and Mowatt to > play some football but mainly it was hit it to the big lad. It was always > too big an ask but we could have done it, a cross came in that Smith missed > by inches, then his header glanced the post and later a shot hit the defender > and bounced at 100mph into Ross, on another day it would have ricocheted in, > this time it went wide. We peppered them with shots and for about 10minutes > we genuinely thought we would get a draw at the very least. OK on the odd > occasion they broke it was scary and would have ended our resistance but it > was enthralling and exhilarating stuff. As the clock wind down we realised > that the impossible come back was just that impossible but it had been great > while it lasted. Why o why could we not have played with that effort and > tempo at 0 0 or for the rest of the season ? > At 0 4 and all expecting 0 7 Brian was out of a job, will that 20mins have > saved him (or at least delayed what looks inevitable) who knows but it was a > great 20mins - very similar to the Liverpool 4 5 game when we were also 4 > down and Chapman got a hat-trick and another wrongly denied - I have said > before that Smith is the new sub standard Chappy and last night proved it > Chappy got 3, Smithy only 1. > It was almost a pleasure to be there BUT at the end of the day we lost 2 4 > and have conceded 9 in two home games we expected to win, so despite the fun > of last night it was only when it was all over that we did anything and even > then we only papered over the cracks. We are a very poor side, can the > players take anything from that 20mins into the game on Saturday who knows, > we had similar bright moments v Watford (again when it was almost game over) > and Huddersfield but as last night I think it is all too little too late > Dave > _______________________________________________ > Leedslist mailing list > Info and options: http://mailman.greennet.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/leedslist > To unsubscribe, email [email protected] > > John 'Grampa' Sykes > Rest In Peace old lad > 28th Oct 1938 - 12 Nov 2013 > MARCHING ON TOGETHER _______________________________________________ Leedslist mailing list Info and options: http://mailman.greennet.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/leedslist To unsubscribe, email [email protected] John 'Grampa' Sykes Rest In Peace old lad 28th Oct 1938 - 12 Nov 2013 MARCHING ON TOGETHER
