MATCHWATCH : Hull City (h) sponsored by Billy Whitehurst

[Sutekh]

When : Saturday 8th February 2020, 3pm
Where : Madejski Stadium, Reading, RG2 0FL
Capacity : 24,161


It's Hull City next for the mighty Royals. Hull will be all nice and fresh after a week without playing whereas Reading have been able to stock up on couple of excuses if this game goes down the toilet.

Hull are now minus the two players that made Hull a real concern. Both Bowen and Grosicki have left and promptly Hull crashed 5-1 at home to Brentford. Whether that is just Brentford being rather useful or Hull really only being about two players remains to be seen but that result couldn't have done much for their overall confidence.

Just one point above Reading in the table, Hull have been erratic this season which is probably what you'd expect from a mid table team. However it looks like their wagon is starting to lose it's wheels as they have hit a run of 4 straight league defeats (5 defeats if you include the FA Cup visit from Chelsea) which is usually just the sort of team Reading don't want a visit from if the last couple of seasons are anything to go by.

The loss of Grosicki and Bowen now leaves Tom Eaves as the top Hull goalscorer with 4 from 27 league games, Josh Magennis us next highest with 3 goals from 16 games so it looks fairly obvious where Hull's problems may well be for the remainder of the season. However they did pick up winger/midfielder Marcus Maddison on loan from Peterborough for the rest of the season and he didn't have too bad a scoring record in the division below with 9 in 16 for the Posh,

Hull will be with out Josh Bowler and Martin Samuelsen, and have doubts over Kingsley, de Wijs, Elder and Pennington. Reading have Yiadom back in training, so he may get a place on the bench, but no Miazga or Joao. New signings Ayub Timbe Masika and Felipe Araruna Hoffman are both available for selection but will probably only be on the bench if they are involved.

Referee

Andy Davies

Previously

18 Aug 19 > Reading 3-0 Cardiff City
09 Mar 19 > Reading 3-2 Wigan Athletic
26 Dec 18 > Millwall 1-0 Reading
02 Oct 18 > Reading 0-1 Queens Park Rangers
28 Feb 18 > Reading 1-3 Sheffield United
19 Sep 17 > Reading 0-2 Swansea City (LC)
07 Mar 17 > Reading 0-0 Newcastle United
26 Dec 16 > Reading 3-1 Norwich City
29 Oct 16 > Reading 2-0 Nottingham Forest
06 Aug 16 > Reading 1-0 Preston North End
15 Sep 15 > Reading 0-1 Derby County

Historically

There have been 25 previous league games in Reading against Hull City and it's not an especially good record either with 10 Reading wins compared to Hull's 7. On top of that Reading's recent run at home to Hull is not especially brilliant with two wins and four draws to show from the last 8 attempts. Defeats tend to be close affairs with just one goal deciding it (6 of Hull's wins have been by just 1 goal) while 8 of Reading's wins have been by at least a 2 goal margin. There has only been one 0-0 in those previous 25 games.


How to follow the game

1. Get a ticket and travel to the Mad Stad
2. Listen to Radio 5 Live and/or a myriad of other radio stations for score flashes
3. Ring/text a mate for updates
4. Use an iFollow subscription
5. BBC Radio Berkshire (FM : 104.4, 104.1 or 95.4 depending where you are in the area)

[Royals and Racers]

This game is the 3pm championship match that is broadcast by various TV stations around Europe and elsewhere, which means( i think) that it`s not available on i follow.

[URZZZZ]

Competition for spaces will be extremely tight now. The last 30 minutes was such a good performance I’d generally play the exact same XI, with the exception of Osho and Walker

Rafael

Gunter
Morrison
Moore
Blackett

Rino
Swift

McCleary
Aluko
Richards

Meite

Walker Obita McIntyre Pele Ejaria New Winger Baldock

Understand that leaves out Yiadom, Adam, Puscas and a couple of others but this lot have earnt the right

I get the feeling a lot will disagree though

[sandman]

Referee

Andy Davies

We're screwed.

Crooked Bald fraud.

[Old Man Andrews]

Andy Davies is a crook and alleged peeping Tom.

[morganb]

Andy Davies is a crook and alleged peeping Tom.

Did you watch Inside No. 9 last night? It was called "The Referee’s A W***er" and endorsed your opinion of referees

[sandman]

Andy Davies is a crook and alleged peeping Tom.

Ah, he must know Ian then.

[Hound]

Competition for spaces will be extremely tight now. The last 30 minutes was such a good performance I’d generally play the exact same XI, with the exception of Osho and Walker

Rafael

Gunter
Morrison
Moore
Blackett

Rino
Swift

McCleary
Aluko
Richards

Meite

Walker Obita McIntyre Pele Ejaria New Winger Baldock

Understand that leaves out Yiadom, Adam, Puscas and a couple of others but this lot have earnt the right

I get the feeling a lot will disagree though

Didn’t watch the Cardiff game but sounds like Aluko/GMac solved a lot of the problems we’ve been having. Wouldn’t be against giving them another go at all.

Would prob play Pele though - he has been excellent recently. And prob Obita for Blackett. Puscas instead of Timbe on the bench for this one

[NewCorkSeth]

This game is the 3pm championship match that is broadcast by various TV stations around Europe and elsewhere, which means( i think) that it`s not available on i follow.

You are correct. You can check games not available here. https://www.efl.com/broadcast-schedule/

Shame I will have to find some dodgy link for this one as I think it could be a good game. Benefit is that I dont have to listen to Tim.

[Vision]

Andy Davies is a crook and alleged peeping Tom.

Ah, he must know Ian then.

That can't be right. Ian never watches , only listens.

[Old Man Andrews]

Andy Davies is a crook and alleged peeping Tom.

Ah, he must know Ian then.

That can't be right. Ian never watches , only listens.

What is the opposite of a voyeur?

[SCIAG]

Hull have doubts over Kingsley,

[morganb]

Hull have doubts over Kingsley,

Think they should be more worried about Queensley

[URZZZZ]

Competition for spaces will be extremely tight now. The last 30 minutes was such a good performance I’d generally play the exact same XI, with the exception of Osho and Walker

Rafael

Gunter
Morrison
Moore
Blackett

Rino
Swift

McCleary
Aluko
Richards

Meite

Walker Obita McIntyre Pele Ejaria New Winger Baldock

Understand that leaves out Yiadom, Adam, Puscas and a couple of others but this lot have earnt the right

I get the feeling a lot will disagree though

Didn’t watch the Cardiff game but sounds like Aluko/GMac solved a lot of the problems we’ve been having. Wouldn’t be against giving them another go at all.

Would prob play Pele though - he has been excellent recently. And prob Obita for Blackett. Puscas instead of Timbe on the bench for this one

They both got into good pockets of space and were a good outlet. In the first half, we didn’t have that, was just aimless hoofing throughout

I doubt either will start but they’ve both surely cemented their place in the 18, along with Rinomhota and Richards which I guess means a couple of bigger players/new signings will unfortunately miss out

No gripes with Pele starting, I thought he looked one of the better players in our poor spell, but surprisingly I thought Swift looked good in a 2 man midfield which I didn’t think he would and Rino carried the ball forward with energy and purpose

The problem with Obita > Blackett is that Bowen would shift Richards to LB to accommodate Obita and I generally think Richards is a much better LM than a LB

[Westwood52]

Competition for spaces will be extremely tight now. The last 30 minutes was such a good performance I’d generally play the exact same XI, with the exception of Osho and Walker

Rafael

Gunter
Morrison
Moore
Blackett

Rino
Swift

McCleary
Aluko
Richards

Meite

Walker Obita McIntyre Pele Ejaria New Winger Baldock

Understand that leaves out Yiadom, Adam, Puscas and a couple of others but this lot have earnt the right

I get the feeling a lot will disagree though

Yeah ,that looks good.

[Snowball]

Ah, he must know Ian then.

That can't be right. Ian never watches , only listens.

What is the opposite of a voyeur?

Rueyov

[WestYorksRoyal]

We really should win this. Hull were a pretty poor team carried by Bowen and, to a lesser extent, Grosicki. If we can't beat them, I'll start being nervous about being dragged back into a scrap.

[Snowflake Royal]

That can't be right. Ian never watches , only listens.

What is the opposite of a voyeur?

Rueyov

You're so oxf*rd backwards.

[PieEater]

I'm still seething about the goal they scored in 2012, the ball was played through to a player who was way offside. He goes for the ball and everyone expects the whistle to blow. Just as he gets there he doesn't touch the ball and his colleague who was onside collects the ball and scores.

There was an updated version of the offside rule defining interfering with play as touching the ball but the normal interpretation was that you were in active play if you were making an attempt to play the ball, which he clearly did by running towards it and actually getting in the way of his team mate and gaining an advantage by causing our defence to stop defending as he was offside.

Now I've mentioned this I hope you mention the Hull rule when someone is called offside without touching the ball.

Hull took all three points as Reading became victims of the interpretation of the offside law. As the Reading back four stood bemused McLean chased a through ball from an obvious offside position and then stood aside as Brady raced through to score. It goes without saying it is always unwise to stop defending until the whistle is blown

[WTRoyal]

What is the opposite of a voyeur?

An exhibitionist, shirley?