On my way home

[lymehoop]

with the amount of possession Reading had and how much we were off the pace you've got to be happy with the draw. Problem was our midfield, poor

[Stainrod]

with the amount of possession Reading had and how much we were off the pace you've got to be happy with the draw. Problem was our midfield, poor

cameron and Luongo are a big miss to be fair .

[1QPRDK]

Mainly disagree to be honest. McLaren was going to make the changes posters on this thread wanted, but didn’t as the team began to gel, and almost all the near misses mentioned in the op followed as a result. reading played well, clearly getting a new manager bounce, but with a bit of luck we would have won. Our turn for the bounce to go our way at Villa.

Exactly

[Tarbie]

Interesting to see the differing opinions on Scowen on here. I'm with Westy and Alan on this one. The guy is very limited in terms of ability for a CM at this level. Yeah, he gets stuck in, but that doesn't cover for his p*ss poor distribution. He is a basic, kick em up in the air, defensive midfielder. This worked last season at times under Holloway, it'll never work the way Mac has us set up.

I was an advocate of Manning going out on loan, and I don't think he's anywhere near as good as some on here like to think. But, we need to recall him on Jan 1st. We missed Mas badly yesterday, and I don't see any options in the squad at present to cover for him.

[dogsrrs]

The squad is the squad Tarbs yes he's no Messi but we are a skint midtable championship side , isn't Listner lynch and Bidwell basic players all capable of plss poor passing but do a job , just seems hash to blame a trier when he has a player like cousins that couldn't reach the dizzy hights of basics along side him , try the org and lfw by comparison here cousins is treated with hero worship

[Tarbie]

The squad is the squad Tarbs yes he's no Messi but we are a skint midtable championship side , isn't Listner lynch and Bidwell basic players all capable of plss poor passing but do a job , just seems hash to blame a trier when he has a player like cousins that couldn't reach the dizzy hights of basics along side him , try the org and lfw by comparison here cousins is treated with hero worship

Ain't criticising his work rate or effort mate, he just isn't good enough. And the pair of them together are far too workmanlike and lacking that bit of quality to get away with them as a pairing.

Personally I think Cousins is the better player out of the 2. He covers a lot of ground, he also offers cover across a number of positions. But whichever one of the 2 you go with in the middle, you need someone who can play a bit in next to them.

[West Acton]

It’s not blaming dogs it’s just saying someone was rubbish, weather there a trier or not, his performance yesterday was below basic as was Cousins and same applies for Eze. If they were rubbish they were rubbish no point dressing it up as anything else.

Great December though very happy with points haul let’s hope for another positive start to Jan at Villa

[1973 ranger]

Another point that was noticeable yesterday was how deep Scowen is during games which results in the balance in the midfield being affected and our play as a result becomes slower.

[Jimmy Floyd Rabbit]

Personally would move Scowen on at the end of the season he’s not good enough

And cousins

[dogsrrs]

Ain't criticising his work rate or effort mate, he just isn't good enough. And the pair of them together are far too workmanlike and lacking that bit of quality to get away with them as a pairing.

Personally I think Cousins is the better player out of the 2. He covers a lot of ground, he also offers cover across a number of positions. But whichever one of the 2 you go with in the middle, you need someone who can play a bit in next to them.

Cousins ain't the answer buddy , Luongo was the miss that let him in and he couldn't step up ! Has scowens stepped in for Cameron in the previous three games and was Cameron missed no

[dogsrrs]

Another point that was noticeable yesterday was how deep Scowen is during games which results in the balance in the midfield being affected and our play as a result becomes slower.

Yes he was but wasn't cousin there to deputise luongo the link man to the forwards

[West Acton]

And cousins

Would not lose any sleep if we did.

[1973 ranger]

Thats just it Dogs. None of the other central midfielders are that deep nor have they been hence why we have been playing with more pace this season. Cousins offers energy and alongside a ball playing midfielder is ok where as Scowen compliments none of the others.

[dogsrrs]

Come on 73 we bought cousins as box to box mid fielder , he was in yesterday as cover for a box to box midfielder Luongo and he didn't , scowens was in for mid field anchorman Cameron as he has been for the 3 previous games

[1973 ranger]

Cousins is no technical player he is a hard working player who breaks play up and move it on to the more creative players to do there stuff. All about opinions and you rate Cousins as highly as I rate Scowen. Luongo is a footballing midfielder whose distribution was sorely missed yesterday which neither of them two are capable of replacing.