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Reading 2–1 Aston Villa: The Alternative View

It's safe to say Steve Bruce isn't a popular man this week, while the national media are more concerned with Villa's woes than our own successes.

By davemc_exile
Mark Robinson/Getty Images

I think it’s fair to say before the game, many fans looked upon this fixture in being a draw the best possible outcome. Indeed many tipping us to get beat by an expensively put together team and one which boasted an England Captain in the centre of the defence.

However Reading played with a purpose that has been missing so far this season, and put together a decent display, this tho has to be cast in the light that Villa were woeful. I think it’s also fair to say that this was one of the most defensive displays by an away side that we have seen, even farther to suggest that when Rotherham came to the Madjeski last season, they looked more dangerous.

As you can gather the Villians faithful where somewhat unimpressed by the display put by their team, and trawling through the Twittersphere I couldn’t find one tweet which actually gave Steve Bruce any backing.

The more interesting comments came from Steve Bruce himself after the game, many fans from both sides branding him delusional. Comments such as "We deserved to get something out of the game" were ridiculed large and wide across the Twittersphere with many fans and pundits asking him what game he was actually watching….. Indeed many #AVFC fans suggested that they actually got what the performance deserved, and with Norwich on Saturday, unless there is a dramatic change in attitude by Villa, then this could be a long hard season for the Midlanders.

Social

So basically the Steve Bruce fan club might have lost a few members.....

As I said - Delusional

Can't remember the last time an away fan tweeted #PlayedOffThePark

Harsh but can see it happening

Cracking side this, wingers might be a little slow tho

Pretty sure thats why we use Hawkeye....

Having a dig at the owner are we?

You've spent £37M on strikers....not proven?

Ole ole ole ole

Newsround

Gonna warn you now, there’s going to be a trend of a distinct lack of comments for Reading in these…

Starting with the national press, and the Express has a couple of articles, firstly the match report where they mention that Villa rarely got past the half way line and then when they cover the reaction of the fans on Twitter with the leading headline "Bruce – OUT".  The Independent carry a round up again focusing on Villa’s poor display rather than Reading’s dominance.

The Mirror actually mentioned that Reading where thoroughly dominant and deserved the win (Praise the Lord we got a decent mention) but most of the focus is again on the woeful Villa display and their fans booing the team, they also carry a selection of tweets with reaction from the fans.

The Daily Mail seem to forget that there was actually two teams, with the only Reading mentions being that we were grateful for goal line technology (come on it was 2 yards over) and a quote from Stam.

The Guardian make a point of the evening getting worse when Hogan went off, leaving them short up front (hang on, how many strikers did Reading have on the pitch…..just a thought) and threat our Midfield easily broke through the Villa midfield, with the Villa team lacking steel and leadership.

Onto the locals and internet sites and starting with the Express and Star, they actually mention Reading more than any of the nationals, saying that the Reading team where Brimming with inspiration and ideas, which is a phrase that I generally wouldn’t label on the Reading side.

The Birmingham Mail carry a couple of articles firstly if you want to have a giggle listen to the Steve Bruce interview, it’s quite interesting where he says that Villa where unlucky and then also his comments on him being the best man for the job. Seems also to be a little critical of Hogan. Also the comments about "won’t be millions spend" errr…….£37m on forwards in the last 12 months.?

Following on from this they also carry the reaction from Stan Collymore who without a doubt isn’t a happy bunny and lays into the club in a big way.

The Gambia Observer carry a nice interview with Mo Barrow who seems to be enjoying himself in Reading.

Over at GetReading and Jonathan Low has a his video review and there’s a comprehensive round up of the game on the site.

Finally as always SkySports has the video coverage of the game, starting well this season with a stunning 2 minutes 51 seconds of coverage, and also carry a similar report to the rest of the outlets, and yeah you guessed it the BBC are in similar vein, and almost seem apologetic for Reading winning.

Summary

Personally I thought this was a good win, taking into account that it was a woeful Villa side. This was probably the closest thing to a 90 minute performance that we have managed for a long time, last season we got result, but rarely put a 90 minute shift in. This performance apart from early on when Andre Green was clear on goal and Villa threatening with 5 minutes to go, was comfortable, Reading looked dominant and controlled.

We now move onto Preston and Reading have set a standard that they have to match week in, week out and maybe we might have another good season.

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