 Saturday, 6th Oct 2007 11:39 These relegation six pointers keep coming. Two teams with the worst defensive records in the Premiership – what price a 0-0 draw? Reading V Derby County The Royals seem to be suffering a second season hiatus in the Premiership. Last season they surprised many people when their Championship winning squad managed to not only stay up, but stayed up with relative ease passing the magic 40 point mark in February. They finally finished in 8th place on 55 points. Many people point to Reading as an example of what can be achieved on a budget but it’s worth remembering that the Championship winning team assembled by Steve Coppell was far and away to good for the Championship. The Rams were swept aside 5-0 in the Championship winning game at the Madejski. Steve Coppell asked the Reading supporters to judge his team on its performance in the Premiership and they weren’t let down. Though the goals were harder to come by, Leroy Lita and Kevin Doyle still managed 27 between them – a key factor in retaining their Premiership place. This season has proved to be more difficult for the Royals. Their opening game was a hard fought scoreless draw at Old Trafford made all the more difficult by the dismissal of Dave Kitson, followed by a midweek defeat at home to Chelsea. Since then the Royals have turned in narrow victories against Everton and Wigan – both at home and suffered a bizarre 7-4 defeat on the Road at Portsmouth while their interest in the League Cup was terminated in a 4-2 home defeat by Liverpool. Speaking to the BBC about the 704 defeat, Steve Coppell said; “It's difficult to analyse a match like that and if you try you will be there a very long time. both sets of defenders will be unhappy at that scoreline. Defensively, we have got to improve”. Looking forward to the Rams game Coppell warned his players of complacency; “It's important, don't get me wrong, but people, and perhaps dangerously us - might look at this as one of our best chances to get three points, people thought Watford at home last season was an automatic win. But it doesn't work like that. We have to be mindful that our preparation is on the right course”. Current Reading Squad No. Position Player Last 5 games Reading 0-3 West Ham Danger Men Coppell spent lightly in the close season bringing in Midfielders Kalifa Cissé and Emerse Faé, plus Defender Liam Rosenior. Several players have been loaned out but the most notable departure was Steve Sidwell on a free to Chelsea. Last seasons top scorers, Kevin Doyle and Leroy Lita have yet to trouble the scorers this season with Lita only scoring once in the League Cup. Dave Kitson is top scorer so far with three. Injury wise, the Royals are without Bobby Convey, Kalifa Cisse and Glen Little, though The Rams Mark Lawrenson “I just cannot bring myself to tip them to win away from home.” Something for Billy Davies to post up on the dressing room wall. Apart from the feeling that Lawrenson has bad feelings towards the Rams, is he right to conclude that we offer nothing away from home? Are we really on the sight seeing trip that Billy warned against? Well consider – We’ve not scored on the road so far this season. We’ve only kept one clean sheet all season – at home. We’ve conceded 21 goals –16 of them on the road. We’ve only scored 5 goals and 2 of our main strikers are yet to break their duck. Lawrenson doesn’t need to be anti-Rams. He’d get sacked if he started predicting a Rams victory! Billy Davies is predicting the Rams to start finding their feet in the Premiership and to gain the points required to stay up. Although he feels the time lost to the play-offs has been detrimental to his team he points out that we are only one point behind Tottenham, two behind Fulham and Reading, while high spending Sunderland, Middlesbrough, Birmingham and Wigan have three more points. They are all catchable. To do that we need to start scoring and we need to stop giving the ball away so cheaply. One of our problems seems to be the lack of a midfield lynchpin. Seth Johnson fulfilled that role admirably in the play-offs – possibly even ending his career doing it. Matt Oakley is not the player to replace Johnson. Oakley is a good player and his goals are important – but the play does not revolve around him. He doesn’t win the ball very often and he doesn’t bring players into the game with his passing. Andy Todd seemed to have been bought in to fulfil the role and while he did well against Portsmouth, he was less effective in other games and at centre half and he seems to have fallen out of favour. Stephen Pearson would seem to be the only choice remaining and while he does seem to be growing in stature, he needs to have more confidence in his abilities to really make the mark. Billy Davies has a full squad to chose from this weekend (except the suspended Fagan) including Giles Barnes and it may be that he rings the changes. I would not be surprised to see a 4-5-1 formation with Miller alone up front supported from midfield by Giles Barnes. Steve Howard, although he created Millers goal against Bolton, has not really looked like scoring. The sheer pace of the Premiership looks too much for the big man and Referee’s seem loath to give him any protection from opposition defenders. I’d love him to prove me wrong though. Rob Earnshaw – Who? If he’s good enough to warm the bench and he’s our record signing, why isn’t he playing. You need to tell us Billy. Mick’s Team: Bywater, McEveley, Davis, Leacock, Mears, Teale, Todd, Oakley, Pearson, Barnes, Miller. What the bookies think No surprise – William Hill are going for the home win at 4/6 on. An away win for the Rams is considered a long shot at 7/2 while the draw is 23/10. Seeing as we’ve yet to score away this season, the Bookies have our strikers very long for this one with Miller and Howard at 8/1, Giles Barnes at 10/1 and Matt Oakley at 20/1. I’d say it’s worth betting a few quid on the Rams this weekend give Readings defensive problems. Information for travelling fans Driving: It’s 130 miles to the Madejski stadium. Best route is M1 south to junction 15a where you pick up the A43 link road to the M40. Take the M40 to Junction 9 and take the A34 to Oxford where you take the A423 and A4074 to Reading. Turn Right into Bridge St and left into Caversham Rd and onto the A33 to a roundabout. Take the 3rd exit, Northern Way and the stadium is on the left on Hoops Way. For fans travelling on the M4 Footballgroundguides.com warns that getting off the M4 at J11 can be a pain and 40 minute tailbacks often occur on matchdays. Parking: There is a car park at the ground and at the nearby speedway/greyhound track, both of which cost £7. Don’t expect to get out and homeward bound in less than an hour after the final whistle however. Don’t be tempted to park on the nearby industrial complex unless you can find a unit that is allowing (and charging for) it. You may end up clamped. Drinking: Like Pride Park, there aren’t many pubs near the ground. There’s a Harvester on the road into Reading. Footballgroundguides.com reports that a Holiday Inn close by has a small attached bar called Callaghans however it is very expensive. A better option would be to head into Reading Town centre and drink there. Apparently the pubs do have a downer on fans wearing colours except at the Three Guineas pub on the Station Approach. Mick’s Prediction I’ve seen brief flashes from the Rams so far this season that suggest we may not be completely out of our depth in this league. The problem for Billy is to get that out on the pitch for the full 90 minutes. I don’t want to see our midfield camped in outside our own penalty box for 90 minutes and our strikers chasing the odd punted ball. If we take the game to Reading we know that their defence is not the best – we can score. If we sit back and invite the pressure onto us, we know our defence is not so good – and we know that Reading can score. I reckon 2-2. Photo: Action Images Please report offensive, libellous or inappropriate posts by using the links provided.
You need to login in order to post your comments |
   Derby County Polls[ Vote here ] |
By continuing to use the site, you agree to our use of cookies and to abide by our Terms and Conditions.We in turn value your personal details in accordance with our Privacy Policy.