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Showing posts from September, 2018

Reading 1-2 Norwich City

When stepping into the Madejski on Wednesday night I was, while not optimistic, confident that we'd see an improvement for the last home game against Sheffield Wednesday. What I got, however, was a horrible re-run. You would have thought that all the discussion before the game would have been about not giving Teemu Pukki, the striker who has contributed to five goals in eight games, any room to add to his tally. Less than fifteen minutes Moore steps up for a challenge in midfield, which he manages to win, but the ball breaks loose to Todd Cantwell who has all the time in the world to pick out the striker. Yiadom had come across to cover for Moore, but dropped too deep which played the Finn onside and allowed him to curve the ball around Walker. Maybe Ilori should have tracked the run, or actually attempt to make a tackle when he got close enough; or potentially Gunter could have made more of an effort to get back. Maybe one of the midfield three could have sat in the hole and

Reading 1-2 Sheffield Wednesday

Doom and gloom. Let's start at the team sheet. Blackett dropped and Bodvarsson injured, with Gunter and Meite coming in for the pair. I cannot get my head around the change at the back. Blackett has been regarded as one of the positives this season, and few believed that Gunter should be allowed to walk back into the team after the performances of our only viable natural left back and Yiadom. Not only had Blackett been playing well, but Gunter does not fit in Clement's system. From everything we've seen so far full backs need to be able to get forward, provide impetus, and put a good ball in. I'm not one of those who have something against Gunter - I think he's a good footballer who provides more defensive stability than most in his position, hence why he's perfect for Wales - but he does not tick the boxes for Reading right now. Another of the season's wannabe-redemption stories looked much worse on Saturday because of the change behind him. Sone Aluk