MATCHWATCH : Swansea City (a) sponsored by a no pressure game

[Hound]

Esteves has been fine for our last two games. He is fine. He just made a couple of mistakes that got punished, whereas the likes of Holmes have made them and not been

I’ve no worries with him starting at RB and Yiadom or Holmes playing there either

[Snowball]

Esteves has been fine for our last two games. He is fine. He just made a couple of mistakes that got punished, whereas the likes of Holmes have made them and not been

I’ve no worries with him starting at RB and Yiadom or Holmes playing there either

We might do well if all three played there

(as long as the ref doesn't notice)

[Hound]

Quite interesting to see McIntyre was far and away motm on whoscored, with Rafael second

Some very good stats in there - 10 aerial duels won for example

[Nameless]

Esteves has been fine for our last two games. He is fine. He just made a couple of mistakes that got punished, whereas the likes of Holmes have made them and not been

I’ve no worries with him starting at RB and Yiadom or Holmes playing there either

We might do well if all three played there

(as long as the ref doesn't notice)

There is no law against playing 3 right backs......

[Nameless]

Quite interesting to see McIntyre was far and away motm on whoscored, with Rafael second

Some very good stats in there - 10 aerial duels won for example

A week ago McIntyre was looking at loan moves for January. Funny how quickly things change.

[Snowball]

Esteves has been fine for our last two games. He is fine. He just made a couple of mistakes that got punished, whereas the likes of Holmes have made them and not been

I’ve no worries with him starting at RB and Yiadom or Holmes playing there either

We might do well if all three played there

(as long as the ref doesn't notice)

There is no law against playing 3 right backs......

There is with ten other players

[Crowbar6753]

Good point against a very tidy Swansea side, especially with our injury crisis. With the calvalry back in the New Year and get Swifty back is like a new signing, i really believe we could be dark horses and take a play off spot.

Play-Offs?


I EXPECT the PO's. Nobody below us is special.

I would say (with a healthy squad) we are dark horses for autos, or third, then winning the POs.

Hi Snowball, maybe your right i guess. But i think Norwich, Bournemouth and the rapidly improving Brentford are all better than us and by the time we get our act together they may well be to far ahead to catch.
But your right, other than those three the rest are nothing to special and all beatable.

PO's would be a great achievement, however, lets not forget our rather tame record in play off finals !!!

[fartdad]

Great game

[Snowball]

Totally agree that (over 22 games) that Norwich, Bournemouth, Brentford
LOOK clearly better than us, but note the word "look". (More later)

I think the table is reasonably accurate as it stands (considering all 22 games)

22 13 5 4 30 20 10 44 Norwich (1-2)
22 11 8 3 36 21 15 41 Brentford (1-3)
22 11 7 4 25 12 13 40 Swansea (0-0)
21 10 8 3 36 18 18 38 Bournemouth (2-4) (4th goal a "silly")
21 10 7 4 24 15 09 37 Watford (1-0)
22 11 4 7 32 27 05 37 Reading

But consider the difference between Bournemouth and Reading.

Bournemouth, just been beaten by Brentford, both teams have only lost 3 games.

Whereas Reading have had a SHOCKING run making them (since game 9)
the worst defence in the 92-team league. The fact that Reading are still
clear 6th is, for me, incredibly promising. The goals-conceded is a partial
red-herring as points-accrued matters. Also we conceded thirteen goals v
Coventry, Stoke, Preston and Bournemouth, four games where we could
easily (if we'd taken chances) have got a lot of points.

Reading's injuries may be similar in NUMBER to others, but nobody could
allow for all top three strikers being out, for Joao being out TWICE this
season, for our captain Moore being out twice, for no Yiadom, for Swift
missing for 3 months.

There cannot be a single fan who doesn't think we would be higher
with Joao OR Moore OR Meite OR Swift OR Yiadom (or for that matter Puscas -
imagine all the games where Baldock was our only striker. With a fit Puscas we would
almost certainly have more points, right now say (for example) a win in Swansea, a
draw from Brentford, another draw v Norwich. Those clubs with LESS points...

We are just 4 points off second-place with 24 games to go with a manager still
learning about the league and with Swift, Moore, Yiadom, Joao, Meite, Puscas
to come back, with McIntyre and Holmes growing hand over fist, with Araruna
in the background. I genuinely think with our best 14/15 fit and keeping their form
we could have competed at the very top.

22 13 5 4 30 21 09 42 Norwich (2-2)
22 11 4 7 35 27 08 40 Reading
22 11 8 3 36 23 13 39 Brentford (3-3)
22 11 7 4 25 13 12 39 Swansea (0-1 RDG)
21 10 8 3 35 20 17 37 Bournemouth (3-3)
21 10 7 4 24 15 09 37 Watford (1-0)

Please don't jump on me for the what-ifs. I also think we played well enough
to BEAT Stoke. if we had scored in the first half we could have won that 4-0

I am trying to make the point that we could "easily" be here (as above) and
could VERY easily improve our relative position in the second half of the season.

The key will be the six-pointers. Imagine if we can beat Bournemouth 1-0,
Swansea 1-0, Brentford 1-0, and get points at Norwich and Watford.

None of those results seem ridiculous to me.

[Snowball]

You can get 85/1 for Reading to be champions. Amazing!

20/1 for autos

16/1 to win the POs

10/1 for promotion

5/2 for top six

I think these are amazing odds and far too generous

[Zip]

Quite interesting to see McIntyre was far and away motm on whoscored, with Rafael second

Some very good stats in there - 10 aerial duels won for example

I thought he did really well last night. It’s striking how many headers he does win in the fullback position.I said last night he doesn’t deserve to be dropped. Does Richards therefore come into the side higher up the pitch instead of Ejaria who perhaps needs a break?

[Lower West]

Quite interesting to see McIntyre was far and away motm on whoscored, with Rafael second

Some very good stats in there - 10 aerial duels won for example

I thought he did really well last night. It’s striking how many headers he does win in the fullback position.I said last night he doesn’t deserve to be dropped. Does Richards therefore come into the side higher up the pitch instead of Ejaria who perhaps needs a break?

Play with wingbacks? Esteves and Richards would provide some much needed width and pace.

[Hound]

Quite interesting to see McIntyre was far and away motm on whoscored, with Rafael second

Some very good stats in there - 10 aerial duels won for example

I thought he did really well last night. It’s striking how many headers he does win in the fullback position.I said last night he doesn’t deserve to be dropped. Does Richards therefore come into the side higher up the pitch instead of Ejaria who perhaps needs a break?

Good question and I’d say maybe

[Zip]

Quite interesting to see McIntyre was far and away motm on whoscored, with Rafael second

Some very good stats in there - 10 aerial duels won for example

I thought he did really well last night. It’s striking how many headers he does win in the fullback position.I said last night he doesn’t deserve to be dropped. Does Richards therefore come into the side higher up the pitch instead of Ejaria who perhaps needs a break?

Play with wingbacks? Esteves and Richards would provide some much needed width and pace.

So play a back three. Yep Richards can certainly do it. Not sure Esteves can. He looks better defensively now but is very cautious going forward.

[SCIAG]

A back five is very tempting, particularly with both Holmes and McIntyre. The issue then is that you can only pick five of Laurent, Rinomhota, Ejaria, Swift, Olise, and a striker.

Maybe a 3-4-3 with Ejaria and Olise either side of the striker. Give Swift more time to get fit.

[Snowflake Royal]

Don't fancy a back five. Wouldnt mind it if we had Puscas / Meite / Joao back to pair with Baldock up front. But if we had them we wouldn't need to change in the first place.

Midfield is where all our talent is. Taking away a midfielder to put in an extra defender does us no good IMO. Fundamentally our problem is we don't have anyone to win anything upfront and for midfield to focus around creating chances. It doesn't matter which one or two of Bladock, Olise, Ejaria, Swift, Semedo, Aluko or Melvin-Lambert upfront, we aren't going to do a lot playing balls up to them or crossing to them in the box, which is what the wing backs would be there to do.

After yesterday, I'd be genuinely tempted to try McIntyre upfront. He could mix it up with centre backs, he's shown he has an eye for goal and he can get on the end of balls in. Gives Baldock someone to work off if two up, or someone for the others to bounce off. And gives us a longer ball outlet we don't have at the moment.

Of course, that means we can't play 5 at the back, because he'd be one of the five.

All in all I'd rather stick with what we're doing and drop Esteves for Richards. But if we're going to try something different I'd drop Ejaria or Baldock and put McIntyre up top.

Regardless I'd drop Ejaria until one of the strikers are back. We need to get it forward quicker and catch defences off guard. Ejaria slow plays too much for that. With Swift approaching full fitness, I'd be happy to see how he does in the No 10 and have Olise & Aluko / Semedo
wide. Definitely not Aluko on the right in front of Esteves though. That's a recipie for disaster. I reckon Swift could find a few more of Baldock's runs. Although I still dont really think he's got the pace or legs to do all the running required at 10. I certainly wouldn't be dropping Rino or Laurent for him or crow barring him out wide where he's been consistently shit over the years.

[Westwood52]

I thought Holmes and McIntyre were really under the cosh and had a difficult start.But they gave it everything and got better.My thoughts on the two.

Holmes First time I saw Holmes was when picked by Stam,he had a decent game,but wasn’t ready for 1st team football.He is having a very solid season.He is good in the air when it is played in front of him but struggles with crosses. his positioning has improved but he lacks pace.He is a good passer of the ball and is strong boy.We need to keep him as he will turn into an absolute brute and is getting better all the time.Generally at the same age he is better than Cooper;although Cooper was better in the opposition box.

McIntyre I first saw him against Luton last season,when he had a great game.He then tailed off dramatically.My worry at the moment is physically he can be dominated.He is however good in the air and it seems that he is very good in the opposition box.

In two years these two might be a very good starting blend at CH.

[South Coast Royal]

You can get 85/1 for Reading to be champions. Amazing!

20/1 for autos

16/1 to win the POs

10/1 for promotion

5/2 for top six

I think these are amazing odds and far too generous

Pre-season I got 25/1 (Skybet) about us for promotion, i.e. either for top 2 or through play-offs , a price which was about right, as is the 10/1 now.

From what I have seen and taking off RTGs for Reading (and whatever the opposite of RTG is for Bournemouth) I now feel that Brentford and Bournemouth are the two sides to finish in the top 2.
I do have a kind of Judas bet on Bournemouth to win the division and another for promotion.

We keep on saying about when so-and-so is fit etc. but our fitness record is grim (for whatever reasons) and our two star goalscorers both are susceptible to injuries and are both unlikely to play in all of the remaining fixtures-they are both so important to the way we play.

So for me it is play-offs at best but I suspect now a 7th or 8th place finish which, bearing in mind the recent seasons, would be a success and quite acceptable.

I respect Snowball's and other opinions although he is always overly optimistic IMHO-it's probably because he is not Reading through and through and inherently downbeat like those of us that are.

[Snowball]

You can get 85/1 for Reading to be champions. Amazing!

20/1 for autos

16/1 to win the POs

10/1 for promotion

5/2 for top six

I think these are amazing odds and far too generous

Pre-season I got 25/1 (Skybet) about us for promotion, i.e. either for top 2 or through play-offs , a price which was about right, as is the 10/1 now.

From what I have seen and taking off RTGs for Reading (and whatever the opposite of RTG is for Bournemouth) I now feel that Brentford and Bournemouth are the two sides to finish in the top 2.
I do have a kind of Judas bet on Bournemouth to win the division and another for promotion.

We keep on saying about when so-and-so is fit etc. but our fitness record is grim (for whatever reasons) and our two star goalscorers both are susceptible to injuries and are both unlikely to play in all of the remaining fixtures-they are both so important to the way we play.

So for me it is play-offs at best but I suspect now a 7th or 8th place finish which, bearing in mind the recent seasons, would be a success and quite acceptable.

I respect Snowball's and other opinions although he is always overly optimistic IMHO-it's probably because he is not Reading through and through and inherently downbeat like those of us that are.

I think 6th the minimum for Reading because

(a) We are there, two points clear

(b) Some of our defeats were "crazy" (Stoke, Bournemouth maybe Preston)
and we conceded appalling goals. We will get better. We could EASILY be
three points higher, Stoke for example.

(c) None of the clubs below us have any real class

(d) All of the clubs below us are inconsistent.

My dark horse for 6th is BARNSLEY

[Mid Sussex Royal]

My view is we've def got a strong chance of the play offs IF we have better luck with injuries. Our form is basically mid table since we started having injury issues but because of our start we have maintained a play off place, if we continue mid table form though we will end up at best top 10. Its clear the three relegated sides, who have had similar injury issues to ourselves, have had the back up squad wise to cope, what is not so clear is how Brentford and Swansea would cope assuming they have squads of similar size to us.

Take Ayew/Lowe out of Swansea for a month and Toney/Mbuemo out of Brentford plus a couple of other regular starters and they would both struggle.

Need to use the next week after Hudds to rest most of the squad - I'd just play Swift and Richards and maybe Joao on the bench next week in the cup and give everyone else time off.