Reading Vs Sunderland: Player Ratings

Simon Mignolet - 6

A so-so performance from Mignolet today. An outstanding save in the first half to keep things level but occasionally looked worried on crosses. Not something we've seen for a while. Anyway one good save aside his performance wasn't much to write home about.

Craig Gardner - 5

A mark that could have been lower had it not been for his clinical penalty that dragged us back into the game. Gareth McCleary and Jobi McAnuff were having their way with him all afternoon. Also booked rather needlessly.

John O'Shea - 5

Poor for Jimmy Kebe's first goal and seemed completely unable to handle Pavel Pogrebnyak for the large part of the game. Needs to kick on a bit from this performance because it wasn't good enough.

Titus Bramble - 4

From the ridiculous to the sublime and back to the ridiculous. Having seen the best of what Titus can offer against Swansea in midweek this was the bad side of him once again as he had a bit of a stinker. Will have to be careful with Kader Mangane chomping at the bit to get a game.

Jack Colback - 4

Much like Gardner it appeared that Reading had a plan to take advantage of the fact we didn't have proper fullbacks, and it worked. Moved into midfield in the second half where he was largely anonymous.

David Vaughan - 4

Another poor game for Vaughan. Worryingly this is becoming a feature now. It seems his pruple patch has very much faded now and it turns out he's not the messiah, he's a below average footballer. Slow and languid in possession today, and sloppy on the few occasions he retained it. Rightly brought off.

Alfred N'Diaye - 4

Poor game from N'Diaye and he just couldn't do anything right. Passing the ball clean out of play under no pressure, squandering chances when he got forward -- it was certainly one to forget for N'Diaye. Hopefully he's still in an acclimation phase and not a dud. Plenty of time to find out and today wasn't for judging him.

Seb Larsson - 5

Came off at half time, which we suspect was through injury as he wasn't playing badly, and certainly not worthy of sacrifice for Rose when Vaughan and N'Diaye were still on the pitch. Had a half chance to score, put in a few reasonable crosses.

Adam Johnson - 5

Enough effort but not enough production. Basically the Adam Johnson story we have nearly every week. It's been said most weeks but we do need to start seeing more of him as this simply wasn't enough. Curiously looked better on the right than the left I thought. Not our worst, not our best either.

Stephane Sessegnon - 4

Sess struggled to get into the game. Seemed to be miles away from Fletcher nearly all the time and didn't offer much when in possession. Had a chance in the first half but away from that he offered us nothing and was rightly withdrawn late on.

Steven Fletcher - 6

Worked hard but didn't see much of the ball. It must be so frustrating for him to have to constantly chase down long balls to little avail. He did have some joy though today on that front, unfortunately those around him didn't share the same hunger or desire to help him out.

Danny Rose - 6

Really good to see him back, and he looked fit enough to be able to start against Arsenal next week. Got forward well, and his cameo makes him an outsider for Man Of The Match, such was the ineptitude of everyone else. Good crossing and attacking instinct

Danny Graham - 6

Must have put himself in with a chance of starting next week as twice in a space of two minutes he nearly got himself on the scoresheet, forcing a superb save from Adam Federici on the second. Really encouraging performance from the new man.

James McClean - 5

Not all that when he came on. You can rarely fault his effort but we just didn't see very much of him on the ball. All that stands out was a very, very poor corner as crunch time was approaching.

Man Of The Match: Danny Rose

If in doubt, give it to Rose. Not really, but today was such a mixed bag of rubbish you'd be hard pressed to find a unifying choice for the award which we feel reluctant to even give out this week. Anyway, I was encouraged by Rose's introduction. He looked fit and got forward well to give us an extra half a dimension on that front. Graham, Fletcher and Mignolet might feel robbed here but thems the breaks.

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