Skip to main content

Chris Baird to Reading

In the tradition of only signing players who play well against us it sounds like Reading will today announce the signing of Chris Baird. Royals fans may remember him best for putting Fulham 2-1 up last year at the Madejski in the thrilling 3-3 draw. It sounds like Baird's been training with QPR while they left a deal on the table, but he appears to have snubbed them in favour of us.

Obviously not the goalscorer so many have been crying out for, only finding the net 4 times in 127 matches for Fulham, but on the face of it can provide cover in central midfield, center defence, and right back. Baird played a crucial role in Fulham's Europa cup second place finish, and he's also been capped 61 times by his native Northern Ireland.

Personally I wonder how the likes of former captain Steve Sidwell, and current player Stephen Kelly - both of whom Baird played with at Fulham - influenced his move to the Madejski. Either way, any signing that QPR have been sniffing at is worth having solely to get one over Harry Redknapp - see: Wayne Bridge.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

If Anything, Reading's Win In Wales Is Just More Of The Same

Paunovic has been under increasing pressure in recent weeks. Last Tuesday he received criticism from all quarters after a dire midweek defeat to Sheffield United, where he changed the shape of the team to nullify the opposition threat. Although there were some interesting takes by those who didn't seem to fully appreciate the formation, it was clear that it wasn't just the opposition's attacking threat that the manager put the mockers on. And yet, one win seems to redeem all. My personal view on The Gaffer is that, given the injuries in the squad, he's doing as well as could reasonably be expected. Obviously he's made errors, but he's also been handicapped by off field matters. The six-point deduction has made the gap to relegation closer than it ought to be, but the team are clearly good enough to comfortably pull clear over the course of the season and, indeed, have been achieving if Reading had started on minus 6.  So my issue isn't with him, but with th...
Post a Comment
Read more

August.

After a good second half to last season, and a squad that largely stayed together, it was hoped that Reading would hit the ground running, despite a tough start. That start looks even harder given we've played three of the top 6, thankfully the international break meant our game against league leaders Stockport was moved to late October. Seven points from that run is a great return and we're the only team so far to take points off Birmingham or Charlton. David Button's form last season left a lot to be desired, and there were calls for Joel Pereira to take his place early on. At the back end of last season he showed himself to be a good shot stopper, a trend that's continued into this year, but with a habit of making costly errors with his feet. Thankfully his tendency to give up easy goals has, so far, been left in 2023/24. I would also say that while his shot stopping has been good, Opta have him as fourth best in the league for goals prevented, it can occasionally be...
Post a Comment
Read more

Summer 2024: Left Back

Finally, the summer. As ever, the first question on everyone's lips are - "who are we going to sign?". For Reading there is a glaring requirement to bring in players all down the left hand side, and so we'll first look at who could fit in at left back. So, what do our current left back options give us? Reading have, largely, used three different left backs. Starting the season with Matty Carson, before moving to Clinton Mola and Jeriel Dorsett. Let's start by examining what it was that caused Carson to be dropped. The main reason he simply did not do enough work defensively. Of left backs that have played over 500 minutes this season, Carson ranks lowest in successful defensive actions per 90 with just 7.17. Mola and Dorsett are both around 11. Even in the U21's game against Sunderland in the Premier League 2 Play-Off Semi Final (a mouthful) his side was targeted. There's all sorts of defensive frailties in his game that are unnecessary to go into, but eff...
Post a Comment
Read more