Mixed Loyalties (Reading 0-2 Fulham)
By: Prederick |
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It would be just like Firefox to eat a nice, long post I had dedicated to today’s game.
Essentially, this may have been Reading’s most inept performance of the season thus far, managing no shots on target and being largely outplayed by a hungrier Fulham side. This was a more than slightly difficult game for me to watch, given that Fulham are #2 on my Favorite Teams list. Highlights (lowlights) below.
Category: Team News
All Good Things… (Newcastle 3-0 Reading)
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In all honesty, this was probably coming. Great as Reading’s form had been up until today, it had largely consisted of home fixtures (three out of five in March were at the Madjeski). And while Newcastle are a side that have redefined “dysfuctional” over the past few years, I remember when they were flirting with relegation thinking that they were too good to go down. For a flash, I almost believed that might not be true, but no, they are. As maligned as Martins, Owen and especially Viduka are, all three are still (theoretically, at least) good strikers, and could flourish on the right team. All three could walk into Reading’s starting 11 as well (Lita always struck me as a poor man’s Martins anyway).
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Category: Game RecapsReading 0-0 Blackburn
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I, personally, am generally against 0-0 draws. While I understand that one can watch a thrilling 0-0 draw (England’s 0-0 draw with Italy comes to mind), I find that such games are generally the exception, not the rule. For every match like the Netherlands and Italy battling it out 0-0 at Euro 2000, there’s Chelsea-Liverpool from last month. Or the godawful Champions League final in 2003 (the first really big game i’d ever seen after the 2002 World Cup) that neither team deserved to win.
But then again, liking a 0-0 draw is somewhat subjective. I’m sure AC Milan fans ended up greatly enjoying the 2003 Final, largely because they won. And while there may not have been any penalties at the Madjeski on Saturday, I enjoyed it. I enjoyed Marcus Hahnemann really, but it’s still a point.
Category: Game RecapsI Wholly Approve Of This Turn Of Events (Reading 2-1 Birmingham)
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Sorry for the delay between posts people, sometimes work comes at you all at once. This weekend was actually rather interesting on both the top and the bottom of the table, for change of pace as usually matchups between the top four are experiments in ennui tolerance.
After last week’s spirited show against Liverpool, I thought we certainly had a chance to beat Birmingham, and that the team should be shooting for all three points. I was hoping for a win, certainly, although I didn’t think the name Andre Bikey would be so prominently involved.
Category: Game RecapsLiverpool 2-1 Reading
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We lost. And honestly, i’m not that disappointed.
This game was the early match on FSC today, which meant nearly waking up the neighbors cheering when Marek Matejovsky’s early strike flew in. I guarantee you, run that play 10,000 more times, and it never goes in again, and just flies over the bar time and time again. An absolute peach of a goal, that you can see here, along with those other two that screwed everything up.
It was nice to be leading Liverpool today, and for the first 10-15 minutes or so, there were brief flashes when you honestly wondered if maybe, just maybe, Reading could take three points. Of course, when Shane Long missed an absolutely golden opportunity to play in John Oster by punting the ball well ahead of the onrushing player and screwing up a chance to put Reading up 2-0. As we all know, when you’re playing the Big Four, you have to take every opportunity you can, so less than two minutes later, Javier Mascherano laces one in from 20 yards and everything started to go against us.
Liverpool are the better team, no doubt, but I’m not disappointed, as I said, because the team showed amazing graft and belief today. Even though things did get a bit chippy and petulant (Cisse getting into a heated exchange with Gerrard, although Matejovsky’s anger at a clear dive by Mascherano was warranted), I think a Reading side that can play like that for the rest of the year will stay up, no questions asked. Although Shane Long did make a bit of a nob of himself, flinging his kit to the ground upon being substituted, and getting a stern telling-off from Mr. Coppell, as he should’ve. Shane says it was more about himself and the refs, and given that he was being hounded by center-backs six inches taller than him and still having every free-kick go against him, I’ll take his word for it.
So is there such a thing as a good loss? This is as close as it gets, I think. This means next Saturday will be a blast though. v Birmingham at the Madjeski. Should be fun.
Category: Team NewsThursday Afternoon Amusement
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To steal a glorious line from Dikembe Mutombo, “Who Wants To Sex Sonko?”
Ladies, you know you can’t resist a man in a suit looking that dapper.
Probably the biggest downside for blogging a team that’s engaged in a relegation dogfight, is that, unless one of your players manages to get caught in some sort of scandal, there’s not really all that much news to report on. Even if Reading were scouting some wonderkid at Grimsby, it’s not going to make the dailies, while if Sir Alex as much as farts loudly, The Mirror will have a special on it. So you end up going to the same few sources, like Reading’s club website, which, while nice (although I loathe the PremiumTV.co.uk hosting service that most EPL clubs seem to use), isn’t exactly giving you a nuanced view of the club.
Still though, there were a few snippets that caught my eye today, such as James Harper winning the club’s Table Tennis championship, and some news from Community Trust Manager Lee Herron detailing a recent trip to the good ol’ U.S. of A. to promote the beautiful game. I’ll let the man speak for himself.
“Earlier this year, myself and Community Coach Chris Sweetman attended the National Soccer Coaches Association Of America’s convention over in Baltimore. It is the biggest gathering of football coaches in the world.
The UK was represented by the likes of Manchester United, West Ham United, Bolton Wanderers and ourselves, and there were speakers such as Gerard Houllier and Steve McClaren, who gave tips on sessions to US coaches.
Events like this have a big benefit to our Community Trust. The convention was a chance for us to really network and spread the good word of Reading FC. The US is a growing market for football, or soccer as they know it, and it was good to get an idea of the work that could be done there in the future.
…Football in the US is currently undergoing a period of exciting growth. And we want to help with the expansion of football over there, it’s a massive market to be involved in. And we also want to have a presence there for any talented players who come through the system that the club might want to recruit in the future.
Lots of the clubs we’ve spoken to are already feeder clubs for the MLS, and the talent levels are certainly on the up out there. If we can get our hands on any budding youngster who the Reading coaching staff think can make the grade, that would be a huge bonus.”
As a total and utter homer for U.S. Soccer (I confess to repeatedly crushing Mexico with the Men’s National Team in Pro Evo more than once), i’m happy about the news, although you can’t get too excited. I’m still most concerned about the development of the game in this country, and hope to see it continue, albeit slowly as it’s going. Still, knowing that Philly will be getting a MLS team and giving me something else to hate is just more good news.
This weekend Reading’s taking on Liverpool at Anfield, which doesn’t sound like a good thing, especially given that the Reds are coming off a 1-0 win over a largely lackluster (but still better than us) Internazionale. That said, two wins on the trot will have done wonders for the team, and has been evidenced so many times before, while Rafa may have the Champions League down to a science, the man has no idea what he’s doing domestically.
Keep an eye out on Sunday for Wigan v. Bolton though, the very definition of a relegation six-pointer. If Bolton win, things at the bottom get even more insane than they already are, with, following Wednesday’s result (thank god Pompey trounced Birmingham) no less than six teams within five points of Bolton, and absolutely noone looking like they’re simply “too good” to avoid relegation (we’re looking at you Newcastle).
Meanwhile, if you have a XBox360, and feel like a friendly pickup game of PES 2008 or FIFA 08 (much, much, much to my surprise, the latter pretty much blows the former out of the water), drop the Gamertag “Prederick” a line. I’m always up to get housed.
Reading 2-0 Manchester City
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Well, who the hell needs a 1-1 draw?
Hats off to Shane Long and Dave Kitson, who finally showed the kind of lethality infront of net we have to have to stay up. Reading only barely outshot City, lost the time of possession battle by a significant margin, and still came away with all three points, which launched the team all the way into 13th place (until Wigan’s 0-0 draw with Arsenal which bumped us back to 14th). We’ve even clambered above Newcastle who, on current form, are more in danger of going down than we are (which, let’s be honest, would be absolutely hilarious. It’d be like Leeds going down to the 10th degree).
Of course, as Coppell has noted, this isn’t a complete reprieve from the relegation zone. The target is 40 points, not 28. And next week features a run-in with a Liverpool side that will (probably) be even more amped after their Champions League tie with Internazionale.
Nice to see them celebrating like that again, isn’t it? Now let’s hope Nicky Shorey will stop hemming and hawing and sign a contract rather than heading for Upton Park.
Category: Game RecapsFantasy and Reality
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It’s a Saturday, late in the season. Reading are playing Tottenham. The game’s been back and forth, end-to-end stuff, with Paul Robinson and Marcus Hahnemann tested multiple times. As the game ticks past the 80 minute mark, a loose ball falls to the feet of Stephen Hunt, who confidently strides past Tom Huddlestone in midfield before chipping a beautiful pass over Ledley King’s head for Leroy Lita to run onto. Lita controls it with one touch, cutting inside his man and rifling a laser into the bottom corner to make it 2-1 and gift the team three points.
Problematically, the situation i’m describing here takes place in a game of Football Manager, and not in real life, where Mr. Lita has joined Charlton on a four-week loan. Assuming he manages to keep his cellphone (and penis) in his pants, it should give him a chance to get in some much needed match practice at a reasonable level and come back strong. Some people aren’t enthralled by the move, but given how well any of the strikers have been this season, Leroy might as well get the experience somewhere else where any profligacy in front of goal won’t cost the team points.
Until last weekend, it had all been quite frustrating for Reading. Hell, last I checked, they were even mired in the relegation zone in FIFA 08’s interactive leagues. The only place I ever saw Reading pulling off results was in said acclaimed Footy sim, albeit, in that they’d somehow managed to convince João Moutinho into a move to Berkshire. Their season had also been marked with a massive 4-1 thumping of Manchester City at the Madjeski.
Much as I do love the Royals, i’m not exactly putting my money on such a possibility tomorrow. City’s record in 2008 has been verging on schizophrenic (Win-Draw-Loss-Win-Draw-Loss-Draw-Loss-Win-Loss-Draw) and they did participate in that utter abomination of a match against Wigan last week (I’d rather have watched Sunderland-Derby, which was also, albeit marginally less abysmal).
So, with that god-awful monkey off the team’s back, Reading can actually go into this one thinking a point is realistic, three entirely possible. Luck isn’t with the team entirely quite yet, as it was recently revealed that Emerson Fae contracted malaria at the African Cup of Nations, and Graeme Murty’s knee isn’t up to snuff, while Elano should be fit for the match.
Assuming we can defend Nery Castillo without resorting to repeatedly kicking him and giving Elano multiple chances for another Goal-of-the-Season-style freekick, I think a point’s entirely realistic.
So, in the meantime, let’s hope Arsenal do us a favor and utterly obliterate Wigan, and perhaps we can clamber past Bolton, although I must admit, i’ll pay good money to see a team get relegated and yet still win the UEFA Cup. And perhaps a few kind souls will manage to tear themselves away from the big four and get Reading some needed wins in FIFA 08 as well.
Well Thank God For James Harper
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Big win. Big, big, big win. No, it doesn’t move Reading out of the bottom three, but it stops the rot, and gives us that most necessary of things, hope. We’re not doomed, we’re in a dogfight with five other teams.
Was Reading lucky? Yes, pretty much. Boro were the better team on the day, thankfully, Mr. Hahnemann is keeping net like his life depends on it. Moreover, Reading were luckly that Referee Howard Webb had such a good view of Stewart Downing’s dive (it was), as it certainly could’ve been a unfair penalty on another day.
This isn’t a salve for all the problems, of course. Three total shots on target and Kitson and Doyle still looking like they’ve forgotten what being a Premiership striker requires. But that’s all beside the point, because, by god, Reading have three of them. Yes, the next two games are incredibly difficult (Manchester City and Liverpoool), but now, the hope that maybe Reading can snatch a point from those two, and go into the six-pointer with Birmingham still in the fight is real and tangible.
Category: Game RecapsKnow Your Foe (Middlesbrough)
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There’s a interesting piece in The Guardian that I’d direct you all towards, taking on what is wrong at the Madjeski. A lot, obviously, and and as I stated previously, Coppell is pretty much justified in thinking that the only way he can stop the rot is to change all 11 players on the pitch. No points in 2008 is not the way you stay up. It’s not for lack of trying, but Reading just haven’t been good. One wonders if Steve Sidwell regrets his move to Chelsea, given how often he’s featured this year, rather than getting more game-in-game-out time with the Royals (I doubt it, but let me hope).
So, Saturday, Reading will visit Middlesbrough. If you asked me in October or November what I thought, I’d tell you that three points is well within our capabilities for such a match, even away. Now, given that Boro have gotten some of the most glaring kinks figured out, not so much. Boro certainly aren’t Chelsea or ManU, mind, they did need a unfortunate error from Paddy Kenny to get through to the next round of the FA Cup, but against our defense right now, the thought of Tuncay, Downing, and even Mido honestly scares me. Who knows, maybe even Boro’s big-money Brazilian (Alfonso Alves) will actually see the field for more than 15 minutes.
The load is, for us, entirely on the shoulders of our strikers. They must start finding form if Reading are to stay up. Someone who is paid to regularly score, needs to start scoring again. Regularly. Outside of Kitson though, I wonder who’s going to take the load on? To be perfectly honest, I just don’t have that much faith in Kevin Doyle anymore, and Leroy Lita certainly has the pace and the desire, but he hasn’t featured since the 2nd of this month, and hasn’t scored in the league thus far this season.
It’s times like this that one wishes life were like a video game. You could jump in, and force them to play the right pass, to get tight in defense, to run their socks off for 90 minutes. Unfortunately, all we can do is hope. The match is totally out of touch for people like me, as both FSC and Setanta Broadband aren’t putting it on (somewhat understandably, Boro-Reading isn’t exactly a byword for dashing, entertaining football).
Against Everton, and for periods, against Aston Villa, we showed the heart we need. Both teams were just better than us. The players seem to understand that this is an absolutely massive game. A point is not just needed here, it’s the minimum we can take. We don’t, and relegation goes from “serious problem” to “imminent”.
One point. Fingers crossed.
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