Opposition Fans Comments

[Strawberry Avenger]

"We gifted them goals"

We scored one of the goals for them...

What more do they want..?

SA.

[Strawberry Avenger]

"The logic behind the Brereton transfer is incredibly sound."

I'd say. £7 mil logic. Pure profit.

SA.

[Strawberry Avenger]

"brereton can`t do anything,he looks like he belongs on whitton park"

Where he can drive his flash Range Rover.

SA.

[Strawberry Avenger]

"I can never think of Forest, without having my mind go back to their glory days under the late Brian Clough and their success not only domestically, but on the European stage too. Like us, those days are long gone and the likes of signing Trevor Francis as the first £1m footballer and Peter Shilton, they most expensive keeper at that time,"

Me too. :D

And needing the Gary Birtles sticker to finish my Forest team.

I swapped Ian a whole pile of Pannini stickers for Gary. He wouldn't swap.

Me Mam managed to get the Gary Birtles sticker a year later and Forest were complete!

SA.

[Joe Baker Legend]

Chelsea v Forest (FA Cup)

Love the kit...reminds me of the good old days

It's fantastic. Love the fact that the club is acknowledging the past so explicitly

HUDSON-ODOI!!!!!

GET IN CALLUM!!! great play from the midfield and Pedro

Bats should have scored there...great cross from James.

f**k off, that isn't a pen, he is offside.

Penalty to Forest.

My stream is behind please tell me that's been overruled, it's a clear offside
Ooo actually, on that replay it isn't!

saved by var

Penalty to Forest.

terrible decision by the ref

Looked level...but also looked a harsh penalty. Who knows these days? 

Is that even a penalty without the offside? Barely anything in it, just outmuscled him

Saved by VAR, but that was really poor defending again. We were so open there that if the Forest player was quicker with his decision making, he could have played two players in for a one v one with Caballero.

 ...this VAR crap is ruining the game...but we'll take it.
Penalty to Forest.

terrible decision by the ref

That's offside

My stream is behind please tell me that's been overruled, it's a clear offside
Ooo actually, on that replay it isn't!

saved by var

Looked level...but also looked a harsh penalty. Who knows these days?

terrible decision by the ref

That's offside

Is that even a penalty without the offside? Barely anything in it, just outmuscled him

Saved by VAR, but that was really poor defending again. We were so open there that if the Forest player was quicker with his decision making, he could have played two players in for a one v one with Caballero.

...this VAR crap is ruining the game...but we'll take it. 

BARKLEY!
Much needed confidence goal for him.

If Abraham or Giroud were playing today, this game would be 4-0 at least.

A dominant first half from us. Hudson-Odoi, James and Pedro have been our best players. Batshuayi has been terrible.

Apart from the penalty call which was overturned, Forest haven't posed much of a threat for us so far.

Apart from the Penalty scare and one decent cross across our Goal Forest have done very little. Looks a bit like a Training Match for us, and complacency will be the main issue in the second half. Any decent Striker would have scored at least one if not more of those quality crosses that Reece is putting in. Bats has been really poor, didn't even have the sense to get out of the way when Pedro had a shot early on. Seems to have left his brain in the Dressing Room.

You know the FA Cup is on its knees when Forest make 10 changes and Barkley gets pulled off the naughty step for a game.

Really sad tbh, 10 changes is ridiculous.

The Romance is gone, sadly. A lot of lower league opposition put promotion ahead of any league cup trophy these days but I dont blame them because of all the revenue you'd get, making it into the Premier League.

That's why I have barely given this game a thought. Glad to read that CHO is playing well and James, but a bit surprised to read some getting a bit carried away here given the low level opponents. But on the other hand, yes, playing badly against a Nottingham Forest representative 11 is not a good look for any player. Poor old Michy.

This is strolling pace now. Over-50's football.

ref is f**king useless. terrible decisions made in this game. absolute amateur, needs to return to the conference or wherever he came from.

God we are now making hard work of this game....Sheff Utd etc all over again against even lower opposition. 

So they can check VAR for that, but not the foul? Oh f**k off!

Even though v.a.r will cancel the goal. We really suck at defending set pieces

Lol Forest - no luck today

To be fair on that one it evens up the fact it was never a foul in the first place.

The refereeing has been atrocious today.

VAR saves us again, but why is nobody picking that guy up? He was given a free header. We are one of the worst teams for defending set pieces

Batshuayi is Nottinghams best cb.

Really should be giving this forest side a pasting. They are playing their b team apparently.

Who said they were all over us...I said we are making hard work of this game, especially against a Notts Forest reserve side...and they have had two goals disallowed by the thickness of a VAR line.  I think we have learned this season that the opposition, especially what we consider lower opposition, don't even need to be in the game to score against us.

We could and should be about 5 up if we didn't have a bats up front.

With Michy playing it's 10 v 11, and were at home, what more of a chance could Forest want ?

Solid win. Did what we needed to do early on and eased off in the second half.

It's a nonsense yellow card, but how you could call gently leaning towards someone as violent conduct is entering into a whole new level of shitness.

I reckon the Forest pricks got him a yellow for either a push on the defender or a jump into the keeper because of their aggressive reaction.

Should have been them getting a stern talking too, but the ref seemed to be in love with them seeing as he let Watson get away with a cynical pull down and Sow get away with three or four fouls equally as bad as Swift's yellow (which would have been fair but for the Forest leniency)

Also thought the Forest player could have been off when he took out Swift in our area.

Meite penalty and ball over the line for their goal - impossible to tell from the camera angle

Up until the 90th minute, it felt like he was leaning toward leniency to let the game flow, which it was IMO.

Albeit with my Reading hat on, I would have given Sow a yellow and not given Meite a yellow. Everything else appeared to be justifiable, perhaps we got my fouls in the second but Forest were more aggressive defensively.

I have to forgo judgement of the lead up to their goal as I was in Y25. The Sky replay of the hook back for their goal didn’t provide any real evidence that it had definitely crossed the line either. Put it another way, I would have been disappointed it was us scoring that goal and it being chalked off based on what I’ve seen so far.

So you agree with BT that he “couldn’t have done much more”. Well, as a winger, I’d have thought scoring, assisting or creating chances would be top of the list. From what I recall (with a dodgy stream mind which kept jumping back and forward) he didn’t do any of the above mentioned

One thing I’d say though as a general point is that when he goes down, he needs to go down cleverer if that makes sense. When he’s fouled, he often goes down like he’s been shot which doesn’t play well with the ref. Like today’s penalty shout for example. A natural fall, rather than a theatrical fall will get you free kicks and penalties

Agree with what you are saying about him going down. He nearly scored and could have had a penalty, got on the end of a couple of crosses too but was unable to direct his headers. His service into the box could have been better but he was relying on gunts on the overlap to do that for him with varying degrees of success...

[Duncan Mckenzie]

Decent performance in parts. Forest's second string team though so would have been a disaster to lose that.

You know the FA Cup is on its knees when Forest make 10 changes and Barkley gets pulled off the naughty step for a game.

It would be a bit better if all the clubs had to name their FA Cup squads, like they do for the CL. At least if you pick kids you then have to stick with them all the way through regardless.

Eef was f**king useless. terrible decisions made in this game. absolute amateur, needs to return to the conference or wherever he came from.

VAR 2 Ref 0.

Batshuayi is Nottinghams best cb.

Lucky to have had VAR, could have been 2-2 otherwise. The first wasn't even a pen and the second never was a free kick but without the two offsides calls from VAR would have been a whole different game.

OK we are a crooked, we buy kids in a way that puts Gary Glitter to shame and we are as big on equality as Hitler at a bacon buttie party. That aside we are charming...and at least not scouse.

[Strawberry Avenger]

Decent performance in parts. Forest's second string team though so would have been a disaster to lose that.

You know the FA Cup is on its knees when Forest make 10 changes and Barkley gets pulled off the naughty step for a game.

It would be a bit better if all the clubs had to name their FA Cup squads, like they do for the CL. At least if you pick kids you then have to stick with them all the way through regardless.

Eef was f**king useless. terrible decisions made in this game. absolute amateur, needs to return to the conference or wherever he came from.

VAR 2 Ref 0.

Batshuayi is Nottinghams best cb.

Lucky to have had VAR, could have been 2-2 otherwise. The first wasn't even a pen and the second never was a free kick but without the two offsides calls from VAR would have been a whole different game.

OK we are a crooked, we buy kids in a way that puts Gary Glitter to shame and we are as big on equality as Hitler at a bacon buttie party. That aside we are charming...and at least not scouse.

I think 'the kids' did alright.  Yates bounced back from his recent sending off and (for him) below par form (but he still scored a goal during our bad run and, for me, had a perfectly good goal disallowed with VAR.  A heal put him off side.  Give me a break...)

They should make it the '6 inch' rule. :D  i.e. no discernible advantage over any other guy. lol.  And you can quote me on that.


As for the FA cup being on it's knees.  If that is so, it's been engineered to be that way with Sky, Premiership, Greed and self interest.  It's no longer 'association' more greed by association.  And Europe too.  Sanctifying the Champions league and its money.  I don't really care about the Champions League.  I find it boring.  I pref' the old 'cup' format.  All that happens is the top 5 Premier clubs get rich off the sky money and the Euro money.  Further pulling up the ladder on the rest of the P' league and a longer ladder from Premier to the Champ'.  Meh.  I pref' it how it was in the 70s.

It was the league cup.  Not the Rumbelows league cup etc.  Tacky sponsorship.  I liked the steps at wembley.   Not the tacky plastic stage they erect.  Double meh.

Aye.  Name your FA cup team/squad to restore integrity to the competition.  That's a sound idea.

The two goals were a disgrace.  VAR.  Sounds great.  But it's still interpreted by humans.  In that regard, it's flawed. :P  A perfectly sound penno and goal disallowed.  Talk about taking the fun out of it.


Batshuayi....?

Chelsea's £150 mil were very lucky.  Yates and Mighten have a bright future, and possibly the other youngsters too.  No shame  in that 2nd half performance.

SA.

[Joe Baker Legend]

Reading v Forest 11-1-20
Pre Match comments...

More or less exactly 1 year since they last popped in to see us, Forest are back in town for the first game of an (almost) double header, the away game being due 11 days later.

Reading are in rather good form currently being unbeaten in 7 and having 4 successive league wins under their belt. Yet having seen such miserable form at the club for 2 seasons no-one should be getting too carried away with things just yet particularly as Forest themselves have won their last 3 league games and are sat 4th in the table so will present a formidable challenge.

One time Royal Lewis Grabban poses by far the biggest threat they have to offer with 14 goals from 25 games. Just goes to show how effective he can be when playing up front rather than masquerading as a midfielder under Jaap Stam's influence. The next highest scorer is the fairly useful Joe Lolley with 4 so cutting off supply to Grabban is going to be a must if Reading are to get anywhere with this one.

Forest appear to have been fairly free of injuries this season and been able to name reasonably unchanged line-ups with many players already on the 20+ league appearances mark so they are going to be settled and well versed in understanding each other's game. Reading also have been able to field largely unchanged teams recently so should make for an interesting game with quite probably not a lot in it.

Forest should be largely unchanged from their last game v Blackburn with only full back Chema being a doubt (like Reading, they fielded a reserve team in their tie in the FA Cup at Chelsea reserves). Reading should be nice and fresh after the lack of first team involvement against Blackpool though Moore is going to be a doubt with his shoulder problem so Miazga may start alongside Morrison but other than that I can't see any changes from the 11 that started v Fulham. Puscas should be fit enough to make it to the bench at least.

Referee

Dean Whitestone

Previously

19 Oct 2019 > Reading 1-0 Preston North End
12 Aug 2018 > Reading 2-0 Birmingham City (League Cup)
05 Apr 2016 > Reading 2-1 Nottm Forest
22 Mar 2014 > Birmingham City 1-2 Reading
23 Aug 2011 > Charlton Athletic 2-1 Reading (League Cup)
22 Feb 2011 > Reading 2-1 Millwall
17 Feb 2010 > Crystal Palace 1-3 Reading
07 Nov 2009 > Reading 1-1 Ipswich Town
26 Aug 2008 > Reading 5-1 Luton Town (League Cup)

Historically

Forest have made 21 previous visits to Reading for a league game with all but 4 being at Division 2 level. They have won on 6 of those visits and when Reading lose at home to Forest in the league they fail to score.

Reading have managed 10 wins from those 21 visits and have won the last 4 encounters at the Mad Stad so there is something to live up to.

Got to be careful of Forest. Read on their forum that they’ve not lost one second half yet this season. Added to that they haven’t dropped a single point away from home taking the lead, it’ll be a difficult game. Would go with the usual XI but bench competition fierce

Yep thought they were falling away but 3 wins have put them right back up there
No real reason but don’t have a great feeling about this game, seems we’re due a bit of bad luck
But yeah same team as Fulham etc

Hope Pele bosses them. Point to prove?

Doubt Moore will be fit.Dont know about Joao.

Why will Moore not be fit? He wears a sling after games most weeks, he needs an op. He can get through games carrying the injury normally

Really looking forward to this one. The two games against Forest coming up are the real acid test for our season, I think. 4+ points and I will consider us serious playoff contenders.

Sounds like they are a very effective away team. Happy to let us have the ball and hit us on the counter. Hopefully Adam, Swift and Ejaria have enough nous to break them down, while Pele can be effective at breaking up any counter attacks. It seems like we should have the balance we need.

This will be close. All down to keeping Lewis Grabban quiet - which I think we will. Forest will get a man sent off.
Reading 1-0 Forest HT
Reading 1-0 Forest FT

[Joe Baker Legend]

Reading v Forest 11-1-20
Comments during and after match...

Lively 5 minutes to start now it's all Forest. Holding on at the moment
Swift looks like last year's model. Giving the ball away regularly.

Really poor so far. Swift and Meite in particular. Adam not doing anything either and Baldock isn’t working as a lone striker. Need to get to half time now

The ref appears to have left his cards at home
Edit just found them!

Well then let's get stuck in and oxf*rd 'em up.

Lovely effort from Meite from Ejaria's beautiful reverse through ball. Well saved.

Sounds like we've improved a little last 10 minutes or so. Still much more improvement to be made after the break though.

Forest haven’t lost an away half all season so I’m not optimistic here
Bit stuck for options right now though. Baldock just isn’t working as a lone striker. So really the alternatives are to bring Puscas on and go two up top or put Meite up top and McCleary RW. Neither of which are ideal to be fair
Bowen can earn his money here, big half ahead.

Jesus, Bowen must have put cocaine in their half time orange slices.

He must have said something!
Great start to the second half and unlucky with Blackett shot

Still not quite sure how Blackett's effort didn't go in.

How have we not scored!

Because Joao isnt playing.

How the f*ck have we not scored. Between the FK in the first half, the post hit and that we should have at least got one, making lots of opportunities though.

We look so good. Amazed we havent scored. But we do have a problem with finishing chances.

Puscas on for Baldock!

It is coming, I can feel it.

Again no card
Adam giving the ref some

Sow's a nasty little pcunt.

The fcuking referee is the Cnut
Yellow for swift and Maite????????

Definitely penalty. Numpt of a ref

This ref is a prick. OMA, add him to the list of shit refs we dont want.

Well that's shite.

What happened there, they get a jammy goal, 0-1

Fcuk

Hahahaha that's oxf*rd hilarious.

lovely stuff

This ref has been shit and given everything to Forest. But they will rightfully ask why we were still playing.

Well. Not so shite after all!

LMAO.
Poor defending from that corner and then Forest stick it in their own net.
Karma.
Ref was awful. How Swift and Meite get booked and Sow gets away with nothing is beyond me. Absolutely clueless display. Should get a right rollicking from the 4th official.

Are the officials ALL oxf*rd Forest supporters??????

what a oxf*rd shower
Hope they make an official complaint THE oxf*rd BALL WENT OUT AGAIN , You YELLOW CARD THE LEAST AGGRESSIVE 2 PLAYERS ON THE PITCH and let someone get away with 4 yellow card decisions
what an absolute cnut !
seriously they oxf*rd need VAR in the Championship NOW !!


Also doubts over whether it was even a corner in the first place too

If getting a jammy 96th minute winner away to us means that much to you that you have to post a celebratory video on Twitter then you probably deserve that.

Those officials want shooting. The standard is so poor that the best one we've had this season was the one they got from the Aussie league

Well that was some finish

Decent enough game, we were good second half but last 15 got tired and didn’t create a lot

Forest certainly didn’t look like scoring and their goal was out of the blue (though had that sense of inevitability after a dodgy corner decision)
We certainly more than matched a team in 4th so good signs. Missed Joao though. Like Baldock but he ain’t a lone striker
Puscas looked sharp. Everyone played fairly well without being outstanding. Good point I think and another game unbeaten

Thought we started the first 5 minutes well, but they were the better side the rest of the half before we regained control in the second half. Draw was a deserved result, but if I had to pick a winner, we created the better chances

Forest are a good side but I saw them against Millwall a few weeks ago who really got into their faces and I don't feel we really did that enough today at times

Rafael 6 - Didn't have too much to do, good hand to stop Grabban

Gunter 7 - another solid display
Morrison 7 - his pace is a slight concern but did well. Should have scored
Moore 7 - good header off the line and another commanding display
Blackett 8 - played really well, especially going forward

Pele 7 - not as good as in recent weeks but came into the game as it went on

Meite 5 - worked hard to support Gunter but made some terrible decisions time and time again
Swift 6 - poor first half, played a lot better in the second and was at the heart of most moves
Adam 6 - another one who played better as the game went on, some excellent set pieces too
Ejaria 5 - tried to do too much today, he really needs to work on decision making which seemed to have improved in recent weeks

Baldock 5 - totally ineffective first half, as soon as he started becoming a nuisance was subbed off. Poor choice from Bowen if that was tactical

Puscas 4 - he simply cannot control or pass a football. A lot of work needed on him
Obita 7 - didn't do anything other than the goal but +2 for the excellent cross
Rino 5 - didn't notice him too much

Officials 0 - worst ones all season, so poor

Can anyone explain why Meite was booked for being fouled and then having 2 players pushing him and pointing in his face? Still trying to figure it out.

He "headbutted" them. He softly tapped both of them with his forehead

I think a 5 for meite is a bit harsh, he was good tracking back, all the goal kicks went to him, he won a couple of free kicks going forward and he was very unlucky with the ref should have got more..he also came quite close to scoring in the first half. Couldn't have done much more

Don't agree. He's done well since coming into the team against Derby but today he was poor, did help Gunter out on a number of occasions to be fair, but that's only a small part of his role

[Salvatore Matrecano]

Thanks Joe
Reading really do seem a bit of a nasty entitled bunch.

[Strawberry Avenger]

Thanks Joe
Reading really do seem a bit of a nasty entitled bunch.

Poxy Reading.  They had a 'moment in time' in the Premier.  And like Charlton (who hounded Curbishley out...) thought they were footballing royalty.

When they come to the City Ground, I hope Forest really 'do' them.

Guess I've got the hump on with 'meh' clubs like Reading, Burnley and Bournemouth, Blackp**l etc all having been in the Premier whilst Forest were... (they earned it and were better run, yeah, yeah, I know...)

...I dunno.  It's all a blur to me.  What have Forest been doing for the last 20 years?

Ground hog day?

SA.

[Strawberry Avenger]

"Officials 0 - worst ones all season, so poor"

Got that right.

SA.