Bolton 3 – Reading 0: Yikes

By: Rob | August 27th, 2007

Well, the first game of the year I didn’t get to watch, and it looks like that was a good thing: spared myself a lousy start to my weekend. I was hoping to get a download of the game (or at least of Match of the Day) before I commented, but my usual back-alley dealer is ill this week, so I’m left to work with text reports and fuzzy highlights from scary-looking websites.

The main take-home message from a drubbing like this, vs. an unsettled team that started off the season in very poor form, is that our defense can only take so much injury. The lack of depth on a small team like Reading is a recurring theme, of course, but nowhere are absences felt quite as sorely as in the backline. With both Graeme Murty and Nicky Shorey (which was a surprise to me) out, and a jet-lagged Andre Bikey in the middle, only Ivar Ingimarsson could reasonably be called a first-team defender in the starting lineup, and the stop-gap nature showed. Particularly on Anelka’s goal…the first was just bad set-piece marking, the third was just pure fatigue.

More worrisome is the complete lack of attack from the Royals…every report I’ve read identifies only one serious chance on goal, from right back Ulises De La Cruz of all people. In a game where Leroy Lita made his season debut (albeit as a sub in the 73rd minute, when the game was already gone), that’s pretty bad.

But in the end, it looks like Reading just had the misfortune of running into a new, supposedly attack-minded, Bolton team when they finally pulled it together for Sammy Lee and his douchebag headset. Now it’s time for Steve Coppell’s famous even keel to steer the team back steady; a midweek Carling Cup fixture against League One side Swansea should help, though Coppell is famous for using cup ties to give the reserves some time. I’ll be back tomorrow with a quick preview of that game, and a roundup of Reading news…hopefully to be a Tuesday tradition.