Liverpool 1 – 2 Reading
By: Ben |
1 Comment
Well.
What a deserved result, what an effort, and what a performance. Right from the offset we looked capable of producing something decent, was a win really so much to ask for?
Category: Team News
Liverpool 1 – 2 Reading: Euphoria
By: Ben | 2 Comments
Just…
Total and utter euphoria.
More detailed report tomorrow, but for now;
URRZZ
Category: Team NewsLoanee’s join up!
By: Ben | Add Comments
Reading have confirmed the loan signings of Gunnar Thorvaldsson from Danish top team Esbjerg, and Andy Griffin from Stoke.
Thorvaldsson had been confirmed on New Years Eve, but is now officially available to play. Griffin signed today, but will not be available for the weekend game against Notts Forest.
Two very pleasing signings, Thorvaldsson’s been on the cards for a while, and can be seen in action here. Griffin is also a fantastic deal, at 30 years old, he’s still got years in him as a defender but isn’t getting the games at Stoke this season. The former captain fills the gap left by Liam Rosenior and Graeme Murty, one which Jay Tabb has had to play awkwardly in since their departures. I can’t wait to see Grif in action, I really hope he turns into a success here. McDermott said he wanted experience and he’s got it alright; Griffin winning promotion with Stoke, and Thorvaldsson making his mark in European matches.
Ta for now!
ps. FA Cup replay tomorrow; 7:45.
Category: Team NewsReading 1-1 Liverpool, aka; Our best performance this season.
By: Ben | Add Comments
The Royals welcomed Liverpool to the Madejski, and despite a sell-out crowd, noone was expecting such a deserved result. It goes without saying that the 4-1 defeat at Plymouth was a low point in the season so far. I’m the first to admit, this season is already one to forget, but maybe this result, a new manager and new signings could turn this into a little more respectable one.
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Category: Team NewsRoyals close to loan-agreement for striker
By: Ben | 2 Comments
It’s being reported around various medias and has been confirmed on the club website that Reading are close to concluding a loan deal for Icelandic striker Gunnar Thorvaldsson. The 27 year old has been training with the club for the past few weeks, and scored two in the Reserves’ win on the weekend. With Noel Hunt out for the season, Shane Long looking shaky as ever, Rasiak the toe-poker not doing anything right, and Simon ‘5-Chances’ Church still not quite a reliable striker, hopefully Thorvaldsson will provide some much needed change up the top of the park.
It’s fair to say, this guy’s relatively unknown in the UK, but has racked up quite the profile overbroad. His Wikipedia page reveals the following;
Thorvaldsson started his career at ÍBV in his hometown of Vestmannaeyjar. After establishing himself as the best striker in the Icelandic Premier League, he was transferred to Halmstads BK in Sweden in 2004. Here, he only narrowly missed out on the league title in his first year and won the Swedish Golden Boot in the following season (with 16 goals). He also featured in the club’s UEFA Cup campaign of 2005/06, scoring a vital goal in the qualifying round victory over Sporting.
This brought him to the attention of several clubs from around Europe, before he eventually opted to move to German side Hannover 96 in March 2006 in a 3 year deal. His time in Germany however has been blighted by persistent injuries; he only managed to make 7 appearances and wasn’t able to score a single goal. In August 2007, after only 17 months with Hannover, he was loaned to Vålerenga. In the summer 2008 he made a move to Danish club Esbjerg fB.
Category: Team NewsPlymouth 4-1 Reading; aka “Nah…that can’t be right, can it?”
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Major upset, this. Argyle were sitting below us on points, and we’d begun to look lively in recent games. Mind you, Plymouth got a credible win over high-flyers Cardiff on Boxing Day and confidence can do wonders for you. We travelled to the South coast for a second game in three days, only to come back with no points in the bag, and tails between our legs, it was shambolic.
The pitch at Home Park really was a state, it was more like a quagmire than grass, but it’s not an excuse for the way the team played either. Plymouth won every individual scrap, every battle, and they profited for it. Ingimarsson gave away another early penalty, something which really has to change this season, and Alan Judge duly buried it. The Royals never really pressured at all during the first 45, and Plymouth were unlucky to only lead by one at the break. Jamie Mackie, by far Plymouth’s best player, headed narrowly wide, and Ingimarsson was again whisker away from placing us in further trouble, almost scoring an own goal. After the interval, Plymouth kept up the dominance, Chris Clark hitting the post before Karl Arnason doubled their lead with a header on the hour mark. There were then a further two goals in 5 minutes, as Rasiak replaced Long and made an instant impact. His shot was stopped on the line, but Sigurdsson managed to convert the following chance, making him the club’s joint top scorer. The Royals comeback was then cut-back immediately, Alan Judge scoring Plymouth’s third, and his second. 3-1. We never looked like coming back into the game, and when Ashley Barnes added a 4th for the home team, it didn’t really affect the outcome. There was no doubt in anyone at the game’s mind that Plymouth had totally outplayed Reading and deserved all three points.
Brian McDermott was dead right in his post-match interview;
“We had a really bad day and I am really disappointed. If you come to a place like this and don’t win your individual battles that will happen.
“The fact that they have outfought us hurts, it hurts more than anything. Losing is one thing but being outfought is another, that’s the most disappointing thing.
“Plymouth have come out on top in headers, tackles, movement, the basics of football. I don’t know where that performance has come from, I didn’t expect that.
“Liverpool is next, and I have said to the players we cannot put on a performance like we did today. We cannot do that in front of our own supporters, live on national TV, that cannot happen again in another massive game like that.
“Our supporters have travelled a long way and I said to the players any criticism we get, we take on the chin. That can’t happen again.”
Next game is against Liverpool, live on ITV. I’ll be watching through my fingers.
Ta.
Category: Team NewsReading 1-1 Swansea
By: Ben | 2 Comments
Last Boxing Day we played Cardiff at home, and managed to salvage a point after a 95th minute equaliser from no other than goalkeeper Adam Federici, would we be relying on the Australian shot-stopper again this year? When we played Swansea earlier this season they were the only team lower than us in the table. How times have changed, the Swans looking like serious promotion contenders under Paulo Sousa now.
The game started well for the Royals, with possession rather evenly spread around the pitch at the Madejski. However, nine minutes before the half-time whistle blew, Darren Pratley capped an absolutely brilliant move by the visitors, slamming the ball into the net. It was disappointing to go into the break behind, but it had been a spirited first display from us.
A goal shortly before the break was the difference, and Reading equalised with one shortly after the restart. Gylfi Sigurdsson, beginning to establish himself this season, fired in a free-kick from just outside the area into the bottom corner of the Swansea goal. We dominated the second-half too, but neither side managed a second goal.
It was a good display against a decent opponent, a respectable result to set us up for the next few vital games; Plymouth (who beat Cardiff at home today), Liverpool in the FA Cup, Newcastle, and Nottingham Forest. Consistency and morale is key.
Ta!
Category: Team NewsMerry Christmas from Reading Offside
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Scrooge sits down for Christmas and ponders on his plans to go another year without digging into his riches. Bastar...
It’ll be a year that I’ve been writing here in January, and I wanted to take time to wish every reader on The Offside a very Merry Christmas. Personally, I’m hoping for a top 6 finish, but a Rachel Stevens calendar will also do.
Oh, and for a bit of fun, I managed to find this article from last year, in the Mirror.
One Championship chairman is so keen to emphasise that belt-tightening will be needed at his club during 2009 that he has sent staff a Christmas card which features a bare Chnstmas tree with no lights on it or presents underneath.
Some workers are failing to see the joke, given that Reading’s John Madejski – for it is he – has some £400million in the bank and a lack of spending helped relegate the Royals last year.
Couldn’t have put it better myself.
Ta!
Category: Team NewsBristol City 1-1 Reading
By: Ben | Add Comments
So Brian McDermott actually made a reasonable impact on his debut as stand-in manager. It was one of the best performances by the Royals this season, with Sigurdsson and Bertrand especially excelling. Jay Tabb gave away a penalty early into the first half, and Paul Hartley smashed in the spot kick. We went close in both halves, and really dominated the possession, but it wasn’t until the 91st minute until Simon Church managed to squeeze one in. Good goal, but his celebration earned him a second yellow card, and a dubious red.
McDermott post-match;
“The mood was good – the build up was good and we’re pleased with the point. It feels more like a victory because we scored the equaliser so late. I thought we were always in with a shout, we kept doing what we had to do, kept our shape, and then Jimmy got a good cross into the box and Churchy finished it really well.”
“We played a little bit higher up the pitch today and I thought we were really committed, winning plenty of battles across the pitch. And I’ve got to be satisfied.”
And on Church’s dismissal;
“I thought it was unfortunate. I think he’s been pushed into the crowd more than anything. And momentum has taken him into the crowd. The referee’s probably seen it a different way but I thought he was unlucky.
Bristol City (4-4-2): Gerken, Orr, Fontaine, Carey (c), Nyatanga, Scuse, Sno (Elliott 62), McAllister, Hartley, Clarkson (Saborio 70), Maynard.
Subs: Johnson, Williams, Edwards, Henderson, Haynes.
Reading (4-4-2): Federici; Tabb (Gunnarsson HT), Bertrand, Ingimarsson (c), Pearce; Cisse, Matejovsky, Sigurdsson (Kebe 65), McAnuff, Long (Church 73), Rasiak.
Subs: Hamer, Armstrong, Mills, Karacan.
Category: Team News1 Win, 1 Draw, 1 Loss, -1 Manager
By: Ben | 3 Comments
2-0 at Sheffield Wednesday, 2-4 with Crystal Palace, 1-1 with Scunthorpe, eesh, that wasn’t nice to write out, but what comes next is worse.
Yesterday it was confirmed on the club website that Brendan Rogers and Reading FC had parted ways, by ‘mutual consent’ (really only a lighter term for being sacked, if you go quietly you get a better pay-out package). Frank Lampard Snr and Dean Austin have also followed Rogers to the door. Rumour has it the dispute was over January budget, but nothing’s for sure. Despite only winning 5 of his 21 league games in charge, and giving him a fair bit of stick, I still feel this has been a harsh dismissal.
Rogers was asked to make wine out of mud, let’s be honest. Before he arrived, the spine of the team had been sold (Doyle, Hunt, Hahnemann, Bikey, arguably Lita), and yet not enough money was pumped back into transfers for him to successfully restructure the team. Chairman John Madejski and Director Nick Hammond are stingy bastards, there’s no way around it. Where’s the parachute package from relegation gone? Where’s the £7million odd from the Doyle transfer? and Hunt, Bikey? By my reckoning there’s at least £30 million that’s disappeared into Madejski’s pocket.
Hammond’s transfer tactics haven’t been spot-on either; sending out James Harper and Liam Rosenior (integral players in our last season, in my opinion) on loan in the final year of their contract instead of renewing is baffling. And guess what, our problem position this season is right-back. Kelly and Cummings are dire replacements to Rosenior, and we should recall him as soon as possible. It’s time Hammond left the club, or let the next manager make the transfer decisions and actually provide some cash to rebuild the club, and it needs to be done before we become a Southampton or Charlton.
Brendan carried the weight of expectation on his shoulders, to follow in Sir Steve’s footsteps was never going to be a smooth ride, and our failure to clinch promotion last season only emphasised this. As I’ve said, Rogers was asked to be a title challenging club without it’s key players or the resources to build his own strong club and I for one, wish Brendan luck in whichever path he takes next.
Rumour is now strife around Brendan’s replacement. Brian McDermott has been placed in charge ‘forwith’. Is it permanent? I hope not, otherwise we’ll face the same problems as before. It always seemed to me that Rogers’ appointment as manager was a sort-of second choice one. The club had been after Darren Ferguson, then at Peterborough, but were not allowed to hold talks with him. And even after it was confirmed, I felt that we hadn’t chosen a high-calibre enough of manager. Rogers’ only experience in first-team affairs had been his six months at Watford. Sure, people would mention his time under Mourinho at Chelsea, but first team is a lot different to reserve or under-18 teams. So for McDermott to take charge now, I wouldn’t see us getting any better in form. What we need is a big name, and someone that can bring the fans back, and hopefully force Hammond or Madejski to open their pockets and let the flies out of their wallets. We seem to be fortunate in timing too. Jim Magilton, a name floating around yesterday, has today been sacked by QPR and replaced by Paul Hart. Darren Ferguson is now unemployed after leaving Peterborough, so can the club finally get the right man? Alan Pardew is another name I like seeing in the running. Pardew had a successful spell at Reading in 1999-2003, and is doing extremely well at Southampton at the moment. Some are mentioning Steve Coppell’s name, but I think this is just taking a backwards step again.
The next few days will show what’ll happen, and I hope it gets sorted sooner than later, we need to start playing like the big team we are again.
Ta!
Category: Team News
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