Reading FC 0-3 Nottingham Forest: Player Ratings

Adam Federici: 6

To be fair to Federici, he didn't have an awful lot to do except pick the ball out of his net. Made a couple of decent saves, but Forest's first was unsaveable, their second was hammered hard from close range and the third came off the crossbar. Made a couple of good claims, but apart from the three goals there wasn't a massive amount of hard work he had to do.

Chris Gunter 7

Chris Gunter is well and truly back. Making his first start since returning from injury, he displaced Stephen Kelly and reminded us all of what he can offer to the side. Made numerous lung busting runs forward, got a few decent balls in and generally was diligent in defence. The ball he put across the six yard area should have been put away.

Alex Pearce 5

Strong in the air, as usual, but Forest knew that and went for the approach other teams take: go quick along the ground. Any balls in behind and he's as useful as goal music at the Madejski Stadium... This backline lacks leadership, and he needs to show he has that. Having said that, there's nothing he could have done for the first and third goals, whilst the second goal he was hung out to dry by poor defending by Obita.

Michael Hector 5

I like Hector. He has something about him, but he really needs to show it more consistently. Too often he was sucked in high up the pitch which left gaps for Forest to exploit. Was dragged into too many one-on-one battles that he didn't win often enough—though again, he wasn't directly responsible for any of the goals.

Jordan Obita 5

Oh, Jordan, what's happened to you? Player of the Season for Reading in 2013/14, it looked like he had the world at his feet. This season it just hasn't happened for him, and this game was not the game in which he bounced back. Got forward well, but rarely put in a dangerous ball and seemed scared by Antonio's direct running. Fryatt's goal came from his side, and you could say he shouldn't have let it be so easy for him.

Nathaniel Chalobah 5

A signing I'm yet to see a reason for being made, Steve Clarke acted swiftly to sign the Chelsea youngster; whilst he had bright spots with some good technique, he was very slack in some key defensive positions. Early in the first half he had a chance to clear his lines to the wide men, but rather turned back on himself and gifted Forest a chance.

You can see why Chelsea have loaned him out, but from our point of view you need some no-nonsense midfielders at this stage of the season.

Danny Williams 5

Less noticeable than Chalobah, but whether that's for the best or not I couldn't tell you. Hard working, has a good tackle and surged forward at times, but we need to see more of that more consistently. Too many of his passes were 'safe', and when we needed a forward ball played quickly he refused to grasp the opportunity.

Garath McCleary 6

A McCleary 2014/15 typical performance. Where has his final ball gone? Whilst he was the only player on the pitch to bring it to Forest and scare them witless, whenever he was in a good position he'd hoof his cross far too high or hit the first man. Maybe I'm being harsh, but we need him to find his man more often because we know he's got it.

Hal Robson-Kanu 5

What is there to say any more? He needs to take more risks. Far too often in this game he'd wait for Obita to overlap or play it back in to Williams/Chalobah, when he's actually got the attributes to skin a man and be dangerous. Safety first? Not when you're a winger.

Simon Cox 4

Wow. If you were to see this performance alone, you'd be forgiven for spitting your beer out in shock to hear he'd scored eight times for us this season. His form has dropped off a cliff and when given two gilt-edged chances he blazed them in a panic. Hey, Simon, you need to chill.

Pavel Pogrebnyak 6

The BFR did what he does: ran about a lot, made a nuisance of himself, but when given two headers from corners he didn't score them, which is actually what he's in the team to do.

Substitutes

Yakubu Aiyegbeni 5

Umm. What did he do? He may have had one shot, but outside the area he did very little. You want a substitute to make some form of impact, but that he did not.

Danny Guthrie N/A

As I said in my Match Report, I didn't even notice he was on the pitch.

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