MATCHWATCH : Barnsley (a) sponsored by no one at all

[Sutekh]

When : Saturday 30th December, 3pm
Where : Oakwell, Grove Street, Barnsley, S71 1ET
Capacity 23,009
Away Stand : North Stand
What might I see in the area : A lack of coal

A trip to Barnsley beckons. A trip to a team on an awful run of 6 defeats and 2 draws in their last 8 (prior to Preston's visit on Boxing Day). In fact Barnsley are so bad they even managed to lose at the Madejski Stadium last moth. However I'm sure Reading won't let that faze them.

Referee

Simon Hooper is up for this one



Previously

12 Feb 17 > Reading 1-1 Fulham
07 May 17 > Burton Albion 2-4 Reading
09 Aug 16 > Reading 2-0 Plymouth Argyle (League Cup)
05 Mar 16 > Reading 2-2 Fulham
26 Dec 15 > Wolverhampton Wanderers 1-0 Reading
17 Feb 15 > Reading 0-1 Wigan Athletic
16 Aug 14 > Reading 1-0 Ipswich Town
23 Sep 14 > Derby County 2-0 Reading (League Cup)
14 Apr 14 > Reading 1-1 Leicester City
20 Mar 12 > Peterborough United 2-1 Reading
26 Dec 11 > Reading 3-0 Brighton & Hove Albion
01 Jan 11 > Swansea City 1-0 Reading
28 Dec 09 > Plymouth Argyle 4-1 Reading
18 Aug 09 > Swansea City 0-0 Reading

How to follow the game

1. Get a ticket and travel all the way up north
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)

[JoeyJoeJoeJnrShabadoo]

thanks

[Dr_Hfuhruhurr]

A trip to a team on an awful run of 6 defeats and 2 draws in their last 8 (prior to Preston's visit on Boxing Day). In fact Barnsley are so bad they even managed to lose at the Madejski Stadium last moth. However I'm sure Reading won't let that faze them.

Im sure Reading will see Barnsley's poor run of form as a great opportunity to pass the ball amongst the back four for 74% of the game.

[10539.4 Miles Away]

A trip to a team on an awful run of 6 defeats and 2 draws in their last 8 (prior to Preston's visit on Boxing Day). In fact Barnsley are so bad they even managed to lose at the Madejski Stadium last moth. However I'm sure Reading won't let that faze them.

Im sure Reading will see Barnsley's poor run of form as a great opportunity to pass the ball amongst the back four for 74% of the game.

And we'll be there to witness every glorious minute of it :/

[Dr_Hfuhruhurr]

A trip to a team on an awful run of 6 defeats and 2 draws in their last 8 (prior to Preston's visit on Boxing Day). In fact Barnsley are so bad they even managed to lose at the Madejski Stadium last moth. However I'm sure Reading won't let that faze them.

Im sure Reading will see Barnsley's poor run of form as a great opportunity to pass the ball amongst the back four for 74% of the game.

And we'll be there to witness every glorious minute of it :/

Those damn non-refundable train tickets, eh?
We'll be fine as long as we get a seat in line with the edge of our own 18 yard box. See of a lot of the game, then.

[finchroyal]

ground to ground its 200miles trip. Wont be many there ,even less than leedsaway.

[Hound]

FWIW, which is of course absolutely nothing I’d like to see is line up
Mannone
Gunter Ilori Moore Richards
Bacuna Edwards swift
McCleary Bod Barrow

[Huckleberry Hound]

The BBC's Match Stats:

Barnsley are winless in six home league matches (D1 L5) against Reading, since winning 3-0 in August 1996 in the season they won promotion to the Premier League.
The Royals have kept eight clean sheets in their last 13 league games against the Tykes (W8 D3 L2).
Paul Heckingbottom's side are currently on the longest winless run in the Championship, having not won any of their last nine games in the competition (D3 L6).
Dave Edwards has been involved in five goals in his last two Championship appearances against Barnsley (three goals, two assists).
The Tykes have conceded a league-high 22 goals in the first half this term, despite only two of those coming in the first 15 minutes.
72% of Reading's goals in the Championship this term have been scored in the second half (21 of 29); a league-high proportion.

It's all so much in our favour, I can't see anything but a nailed on home win.

[Royals and Racers]

4 changes from boxing day
Reading: Mannone, Gunter, Blackett, McShane (c), Moore, Van den Berg, Swift, Edwards, McCleary, Barrow, Kermorgant.
Subs: Jaakkola, Richards, Evans, Aluko, Ilori, Clement, Böðvarsson.

[Sutekh]

4 changes from boxing day
Reading: Mannone, Gunter, Blackett, McShane (c), Moore, Van den Berg, Swift, Edwards, McCleary, Barrow, Kermorgant.
Subs: Jaakkola, Richards, Evans, Aluko, Ilori, Clement, Böðvarsson.

Bacuna injued?

Blackett at left back

Kelly still missing

[Snowflake Royal]

Decent mix in midfield. Can't keep giving Blackett single game chances and watching him fail.

Hopefully he gets his act together, but it's really at the point where Richards needs a sustained run of 2-5 starts, particularly if Bacuna's out.

Much rather see Popa than McCleary who bar a couple of brief periods hasn't been the same player for about three years. Hell, I'd rather see McCleary at RB than Blackett at LB right now.

Really pissed off at Stam's 1 game rotations of players like Blackett, Bodvarsson etc.

[6ft Kerplunk]

Im sure Reading will see Barnsley's poor run of form as a great opportunity to pass the ball amongst the back four for 74% of the game.

And we'll be there to witness every glorious minute of it :/

Those damn non-refundable train tickets, eh?

Oops, just remembered I was going to nip down on the train for this. Have fun.

[bcubed]

Decent mix in midfield. Can't keep giving Blackett single game chances and watching him fail.

Hopefully he gets his act together, but it's really at the point where Richards needs a sustained run of 2-5 starts, particularly if Bacuna's out.

Much rather see Popa than McCleary who bar a couple of brief periods hasn't been the same player for about three years. Hell, I'd rather see McCleary at RB than Blackett at LB right now.

Really pissed off at Stam's 1 game rotations of players like Blackett, Bodvarsson etc.

And Popa doesn't even make bench.

[bcubed]

Its very cold and very very windy so we can expect more mistakes than usual

McShane already given it away twice

[bcubed]

Make that 3 times

Edit 4

[genome]

The responses to this... how pathetic are Leeds fans?

https://twitter.com/LeonWobYP/status/947119646607540227

[bcubed]

Not many here. 200?
Those that are here seem to expecting the worst

[Royal_jimmy]

I don't blame people not going today tbh.

This season's done. Better things to spend money on than watching us play shit, lose and get angry. I'm saving my money towards a mortgage!

[10539.4 Miles Away]

Checking in from Oakwell. This is oxf*rd shit.

[FiNeRaIn]

Checking in from Oakwell. This is oxf*rd shit.

No sympathy i'm afraid. You know its almost guaranteed even if we win its going to be god awful to watch. Why go then act surprised?