Reading FC Match Thread 08/09

As you all know, i do attend a great number of Reading's games each and every season and do like to give fairly in depth previews and evaluations of our performances. And rather than block up this section with a new thread for each game i will talk about all games for us in the coming section within this thread.

This is how our League fixtures look going into the new season:



We kick off life back in the Championship with a potentially tricky trip to Nottingham Forest, i would really have preferred a home game to start the new season but for the second season in a row we will be away from hope. Our first six league fixtures of the new season therefore are: Forest (A), Plymouth (H), Charlton (A), Crystal Palace (H), Ipswich (A) and Sheffield Wednesday (H).

That is a potentially really tough opening with some unfancied trips to Charlton and Ipswich, Forest will be keen to prove themselves on the opening day also. Could of hoped for some easier trips in all honesty, but if we come through those six games strongly it could well make our season. Last game of the season is at home to Birmingham, a difficult one there certainly.

Reading VS Didcot

Pre-Season like most teams begins for us today, with us travelling to neighbours Didcot Town for our annual friendly with the non-leaguers. I usually make the trip to Didcot each year for this game as it's usually a laugh with it obviously being a very small ground, you are right next to the pitch and can even sometimes catch a quick word with a couple of the players, but I could not get there this year. Just feels good to start getting into games again as we prepare for a promotion push in the coming season. I understand for this game the whole squad and a few youngsters will be there with a different eleven being put out in each half. A few players will not be there due to them being granted longer breaks due to international games - Matejovsky, Bikey, Sonko etc and Rosenior has been given a bit extra for he has just got married.

We will be sporting the new orange away kit today, so come on the lads.

watch out for the Didcot Devils.

a right tasty firm by all accounts.

The last time i went they had a player with one arm.

dont be horrible to him...

he is 'armless.

Finished 9-0 to Reading in Didcot, shame I couldn't make it! Sounded like as expected, a dominant performance with nine different scorers, including a fan who won the chance to play in an auction a couple of weeks ago! Holloway was his name, he got the ninth as a Shane Long effort deflected off his upper body. Two different elevens were fielded in each half and we were wearing that orange away kit for the for first time, which I reckon looks very nice in action. Scoring was opened by young winger Hal Robson-Kanu on eleven minutes with a 20 yard effort, whilst Doyle and Lita scored after 18 minutes and 21 respectively to make it 3-0 at half time. Kitson made it 4-0 one minute into the second half, Long made it 5-0 eleven minutes later. Convey added the sixth after 63 minutes, whilst another youngster Sigurdsson scored the seventh on 74, Royals fan Holloway got the eight four minutes later and the scoring was rounded off by young Simon Church, seven minutes from time.

Reading: Hahnemann, Rosenior, Shorey, Sodje, Inigmarsson, Pearce, Karacan, Henry, Robson-Kanu, Lita, Doyle

Second half team: Federici, Murty, Kelly, Duberry, Bennett, Sigurdsson (Holloway 74, Church 7, Harper, Kebe, Convey (Holloway 79), Kitson, Long

?

So, some random fan actually got the chance to play for reading in a match? that's pretty cool, bet he was chuffed with himself getting on the scoresheet, even if it was only againt Didcot lol. The new away kit does look very nice though.

Yeah it was an auction prize, he only got a few minutes but to play for them and score must have been fantastic, even if it was just a deflection!

WTF is that kit! Imagine Kitson in it! It'll be like looking at a bottle of lucozade.

Right next on the Pre Season schedule for the lads are two friendlies taking place Mid week, for which the squad will be split into two, both away to Non League teams again - Forest Green Rovers away on Tuesday evening and Havant and Waterlooville away on Wednesday evening. I'd imagine that the two squads will be of mixed ability, with a few youngsters shared out between each squad.

did the Reading fan wear the famous squad number of the Reading fans!?

West Ham played a fan years ago! thats old hat.

we also have a few hammers fans in our squad now. original and best

I have no idea what squad number he wore.

Great.

Ooh Havant & Waterlooville, gotta be careful there. Who did they knock out in the FA cup again?

Swansea?

Yea thats the one.

First galf of the squad recorded a 2-0 win away at Forest Green Rovers last night, with winger Jimmy Kebe opening the scoring with a volley from close range after 12 minutes and youngster Jem Karacan rifled in a second eight minutes later. Sounded like we chased more goals but never really stepped it up into top gear at any point despite being refused two apparent clear penalties, but a worthwhile game nonetheless for fitness purposes i would say certainly.

Reading: Hahnemann; Rosenior, Shorey, Bennett, Ingimarsson (c); Karacan, Sigurdsson, Kebe (Spence 81), Convey; Church (Robson-Kanu 59 (Bignall 80), Lita
Subs: Andersen, Spence, Bignall

The second half of the mixed squad beat a very gutsy and fiercely competitive Havant and Waterlooville side at their place. Sounded like a fairly poor game, with very little for either keeper to do, getting bogged down in Midfield throughout by all accounts. A fairly disappointing result I would say but good to see the younger players get a run out, and sounds like they held their own in a very competitive game which is good to hear. The likes of Pearce, Kelly, Henry and Spence and Bignall to a lesser extent. Doyle with the only goal of the game with an effort a minute short of the hour after a James Henry corner landed to him.

Reading: Federici; Murty (Spence 84), Kelly, Sodje, Duberry; Harper, Pearce, Henry, Hunt (Church 84); Doyle, Long.
Subs: McCarthy, Bignall.


Next up a trip to Stadium:mk on Saturday for a friendly with newly promoted MK Dons. A game I may be going to.

I made the hour and a half trip over to Milton Keynes yesterday, and sat down to watch a typical pre-season friendly, it was completely void of any real atmosphere and the game was of real poor, virtually pedestrian quality. We were very poor indeed at times, whilst to be fair to the Dons they occasionally knocked it around like a tidy little outfit, we managed to just oust them to win 2-1 in the end. The first goal for us was a decent finish just shy of the twenty minute mark by Jimmy Kebe, after decent pace and a good little ball sprayed in across the floor from the rampant Liam Rosenior. This was undone just seven minutes later as the Dons quickly moved the ball down their right hand side, Baldock cutting inside and taking on Ingimarsson, who shockingly gave the Dons forward all the time and space in the world to take him on sufficiently and get a decent shot away which just evaded Adam Federici. Winning goal was well taken by substitute Hunt, i must say. The rest of the game was bogged down big time in Midfield, a real lack of any goalmouth action and quality free, embarrassing at times to be honest from my perspective.

Adam Federici - Didn't have a lot to do at all, was beaten by a decent effort in the first half after being given no protection from his defence, Ingimarsson in particular who gave the the scorer so much room to maneuver. Had one or two other fairly tame efforts to save, made somewhat of a meal of the first one in all honesty, but a fairly good display from our perennial number two.

Liam Rosenior - Got forward at every available opportunity as you would expect, showed decent pace and composure with the ball at his feet and laid on the ball for Kebe's goal wonderfully well. Always available on the overlap and constantly pulled wide, always making himself an option, looked a little vulnerable at the back at times and made a minor mistake here and there, but a confident display for the majority.

Micheal Duberry - Very solid indeed all afternoon, confident and assertive, dominating in the air and tussling well with a tall Dons forward beating him to the ball time and time again when they both went up for it, a good strong workout for him.

Ivar Ingimarsson - Really disappointing at Ivar's performance yesterday, I re-iterate that he gifted far, far too much time and space to Baldock for the first goal, reluctant to make any form of a tackle in that instance and treated the guy like he was a world class forward. He was committing needless fouls at a constant rate and being bettered on more than one occassion, also as the stand in captain i heard no real vocals from him.

Nicky Shorey - Best player on the pitch my a country mile. Dominated defensively, defending intelligently and efficiently, spreading the ball around well, spraying balls into the right little channels to create unease between centre half and defender in the Dons back four. He carried the ball forward with class, beating players again and again, delivering a good standard ball. Will probably be the last we see of him in a Reading shirt.

Jimmy Kebe - Very rarely have I seen such a mixed bag performance from a Royals player, at times he was very impressive, turning on the trickery whilst running at players, causing havoc with real pace, taking the goal well with a decent, composed finish. But at other times he was simply laughably poor, getting the ball caught under his feet, bouncing it off one foot to see the ball run away and running straight into players with the ball. He seems like he has some real potential, but is certainly a rough diamond at the moment, needs a lot of work.

Jem Karacan - The young Turkish Midfielder was a surprising pick to get a full ninety minutes under his belt, one of the three only younger players included in the afternoon's proceedings. To me, he looked a combative, fiercely competitive little central Midfield player, always at the oppositions heels, tirelessly trying to win the ball and getting generally stuck in. He did look fairly lightweight at times it has to be said, and his distribution once he had got hold of the ball really left a lot to be desired, looking fairly indecisive and a step behind his senior teammates. The latter to be expected however.

James Harper - Fairly anonymous for most of the afternoon, surprise surprise, but he did look to get hold of the ball early on and picked out a few superb thirty yard passes to men in the wide areas. Other than that looked fairly tame, passing backwards and sideways for the most part whilst never having the drive to make a run in from Midfield.

Bobby Convey - Bad. Bobby was really bad all afternoon unfortunately, he looked lightweight, lacked any sort of decision, was caught on the ball in decent situations at least twice and reluctantly looked to take on his full back. Didn't get back at too much urgent pace and just generally had a really poor afternoon.

Leroy Lita - Looked like he might really get some joy out of cutting in and across the two Dons' centre halves early on, but was substituted just thirty nine minutes into the game after being yellow carded after an off the ball altercation with O'Hanlon, he seemed to just barge the MK man to the ground from what I saw after O'Hanlon had made contact with Lita's head whilst clearing the ball just seconds before, Lita doing his usual backing in and then miraculously falling to the ground in trying to win a penalty.

Shane Long - Further evidence that Shane just hasn't made good enough progress since arriving from Cork City three years ago. He never really satisfies when starting a game, he couldn't beat a man at all all afternoon with the ball at his feet, passed very inaccurately and was caught offside regularly. Didn't look like he posed any real threat whatsoever throughout the ninety minutes and looks forever just to be a man who can cause a bit of disruption after coming on in the final few minutes. Nothing more I don't think, unless he improves drastically.

Subs:

Kevin Doyle - Came on for Lita in the first half, and had his own afternoon cut short when a hamstring strain forced him off just nine minutes into the second half. In the fifteen odd minutes he was on the field, he was far from setting it alight that's for sure, a few wasted passes all i can remember of his time on the pitch.

Stephen Hunt - Came on for Doyle after fifty four minutes, and certainly injected a little but of feeling and pace back into the game. Ran with it at pace and with good effect, striding into the box well for the second goal, receiving the ball from out wide deceiving the defender by taking a touch rather than striking first time, and nestling it into the corner beyond the reach of the keeper. One of our better performers, no doubt.

Julian Kelly - Young left back replaced Shorey twenty minutes from the end, had nothing to do really defensively at this point, but got forward as best he could at pace, not quite using the ball effectively but trying to make the right pass into the middle.

Alex Pearce - Young centre half replaced Duberry a minute shy of the hour mark, and was rarely threatened in the latter stages, but making a couple of decent interceptions and tackles nonetheless.



Next up the annual tour of Sweden, where we will play three games against various standards of teams.

Played the first of our three games on our annual tour of Sweden last night, where we recorded a 4-1 victory over Trollhattan IF. All four of our goals coming in the second half and all four coming from Leroy Lita. Sounded like a fairly bog standard dull opening forty five, but a far more purposeful second half performance with a lot more attacking threat and Lita finishing wonderfully. Good to see Sonko back and clocking up a ninety minutes in his first pre season game, Karacan playing another full game and Lita working hard again.

Reading: Hahnemann; Rosenior, S Hunt, Ingimarsson, Sonko; Karacan, Harper, Kebe, Convey; Doyle (Long 59), Lita
Subs: Andersen, Shorey, Duberry, Pearce, Cisse, Matejovsky, Henry

Next up, Lerkils IF on Saturday, a game which we have received international clearance for Noel Hunt to be involved in, and good to see Matejovsky will probably start after that injury he received against Turkey at Euro 2008, Cisse to play also.

So Federici is getting game time but what about Bozanic? Is he playing with the Reserves still?