Lessons Learnt

Well that was certainly an eventful weekend. The trip up there was long, and the performance was, in the end, disappointing. It wasn’t a weekend where Reading went to enjoy themselves but it was one where they were educated by brutal realisation that football in this division maybe harder than first expected.

Newcastle United, full of emotion, played outstanding and it’s a win they wholly deserved without question. Reading however, made it easy for them. Forever pumping long balls to an isolated Shane Long will never, ever work. Long started to sulk in the manner he approached the game and he clearly wasn’t enjoying himself or relishing playing this ‘lone’ striker role. It wasn’t until the introduction Noel Hunt that Long started to look himself again.

The defence looked as stable as a Katie Price relationship and had no answer for the power that was Shola Ameobi. The striker taught Alex Pearce many lessons with endless torments of physical presence and Ameobi, to his credit, took his goals very well. The defender may not come up against a more physical opponent this season, but if the case occurs, he may know how to handle it better next time around.

The midfield was completely overrun and even the enthusiasm of Jay Tabb and Scott Davies had no answer for the vastly Premier League experienced duo of Alan Smith and Kevin Nolan. They completely dominated proceedings and if the Magpies are able to keep them from joining average top-flight teams they would surely be a contender for automatic promotion.

Jem Karacan looked a tad nervous in front of a 36,000 crowd, as some wayward passing was very uncharacteristic of him. Perhaps the occasion got the better of him but as the game wore on, he improved and his passing had rhythm and purpose.

It was obvious that a very young Reading team would have days like this but the fact the team failed to perform, even slightly, as they did against Nottingham Forest is a cause for concern. The last time I remember Reading being completely out played and without any answer was probably the 2-0 defeat against Fulham at the Madejski.

Positively Brendan Rodgers praised the performance and the man does speak a lot of sense: "In the first half we were well in the game but went to sleep a couple of minutes before the first goal. Newcastle deserved to win the game but I am very proud of the young players, this is a great experience to come here. We will be better."

It was an experience for the youngsters and perhaps it was good to get these nerves out of the system early before it could matter at the end.