MATCHWATCH : Swansea City (h) sponsored by a new hope

[Sutekh]

When : Tuesday 1st January, 3pm
Where : Madejski Stadium, Reading, RG2 0FL
Capacity : 24,161


At last a chance to hope for a bright new brave future at Reading. 2018 is dead and gone. Fans, players and club officials can pretend it’s all new and that a win might just be able to help turn a corner and give everyone a bit of belief that this complete and utter mess of a season can be successfully negotiated.

Forget the fact that Reading haven’t beaten anyone above about 14th in the league table (a fact that’s hardly surprising when the club have only managed 4 league victories all season – and just 7 in the whole of 2018). Forget the horrendous injury run and now suspension issues thrown on top. Forget it all. 2018 has gone.

The new man in charge has had some time to peruse the club and now has the comfort of a transfer window to try and get some of the deadwood shifted and bring in some playing options that might be able to make that difference.

Swansea may well have fallen out of the Premier League but they have consistency issues with success at Sheffield United tempered with disaster at Rotherham. No-one really seems to know what to expect from them on the day so if Reading can ramp up their overall game then there’s a reasonable chance of getting something from this one.

Swansea games also tend to end in decisive results. The last 14 games have seen one draw (but that was last time out v Wigan) 5 wins and 8 defeats for the Swans, form Reading would kill for!

In the end it’s all about hope and belief. Go to the game, support and be positive and it might start the roll the club desperately need to be able to challenge for safety successfully.

Referee



Previously

19 Sep 18 > Reading 1-2 Norwich City
16 Jan 18 > Reading 3-0 Stevenage
30 Sep 17 > Reading 1-2 Norwich City
29 Apr 17 > Reading 1-0 Wigan Athletic
01 Oct 16 > Reading 1-1 Derby County
02 Feb 16 > Ipswich Town 2-1 Reading
21 Sep 13 > Derby County 1-3 Reading

Historically

Reading and Swansea have played each at all 4 levels of the Football/Premier League over 32 seasons. Therefore this is the 33rd league game played at the Reading end of things and so far it’s 18 wins to Reading and 8 to Swansea though Reading have failed to win any of the last 3 league games played in the town.

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)

[Old Man Andrews]

I like this new mystery referee initiative.

[Royals and Racers]

Looks like the ex Notts and England cricketer Tim Robinson to me He umpires in the summer and ref`s in the winter.

[Royal_jimmy]

We really really need to win this one. Probably our easiest game of the month too.

I hope we really get behind the team and get a good atmosphere going.

[Zip]

We should get our best gate of the season to date on Tuesday. Hoping we will get around 18,000.

[Hound]

Got bloody Man U after this as well. Way they are going we’ll get absolutely tonked

Really need a positive performance and result here or else I feel the early optimism might quickly evaporate

Swansea look pretty poor to me. Despite the Potter fan boys, don’t think he has done much of a job there so far. Simply has to be 3 points

Hoping for basically the same team with Bod in for Meite. I’m even happy to give Aluko another go as the number 10 - though wouldn’t whinge too much of Kelly came in for him. Would rather see Baldock on the bench than Both Meyler and Kelly

[Snowflake Royal]

Got bloody Man U after this as well. Way they are going we’ll get absolutely tonked

Really need a positive performance and result here or else I feel the early optimism might quickly evaporate

Swansea look pretty poor to me. Despite the Potter fan boys, don’t think he has done much of a job there so far. Simply has to be 3 points

Hoping for basically the same team with Bod in for Meite. I’m even happy to give Aluko another go as the number 10 - though wouldn’t whinge too much of Kelly came in for him. Would rather see Baldock on the bench than Both Meyler and Kelly

There was early optimism?

I'd like to see some consistency in the first XI, so whilst I think Bod and Kelly should play and Aluko should be nowhere near the first XI, or Swift nowhere near normal centre midfield, I wouldn't change anything unless I had to, to see how they build on an apparently decent performance at QPR. Give Meite at least three or four games up front in a row, persisting with him when he looked rather raw paid off before.

[Hound]

Admittedly no early optimism from you Ian, but others seem a little cheered from our QPR performance

Agree to an extent with Meite. Wouldn’t whinge if he stayed in. But would also quite like to see Bod start

[Royal_jimmy]

Maybe we should go for the starting 11 vs Swansea than we did on Saturday.

I'd swap Bodvarsson for Meite though.

[Rea Ding]

I feel this is a big game for our season, after our solid effort on Saturday this game will indicate if we have turned a corner or if that was just a one off at QPR

[Sutekh]

I feel this is a big game for our season, after our solid effort on Saturday this game will indicate if we have turned a corner or if that was just a one off at QPR

Well given that those that went to Millwall said similar things to those that went to QPR then the chances are it's not a one off so the issue will then become the standard problem that has plagued the club for the last 3/4 years i.e. strikers that are poor or do not fit system properly.

Would suggest that in January the club need to find that striker (as well as a left back).

[Hound]

Bod, Baldock and Meite have 20 between them and have been injured half the time. Loader is a hot prospect

Can’t just keep going out to try to find a striker on the cheap who will bang us 20 goals - we’ll just end up with more deadwood to shift

Just need to get the 4 of them back into form and fitness and play to their strengths

[Singing Defective]

Bod, Baldock and Meite have 20 between them and have been injured half the time. Loader is a hot prospect

Can’t just keep going out to try to find a striker on the cheap who will bang us 20 goals - we’ll just end up with more deadwood to shift

Just need to get the 4 of them back into form and fitness and play to their strengths

Worrying that Bod isn’t being played by the new manager. And absolutely, without mid-field sorted, we’re just back to the days with Grabban up front. He clearly had/has it in him, just not in that Reading set-up.

[Denver Royal]

It's an important game for sure, but we're still giving him at least 6 to 10 games before we properly judge, aren't we? Isn't that what we said and agreed at the outset?

Re. Bod, I think they (Marshall, and now Gomes) are nursing him back and being cautious. Weather is cold, pitches are worsening. He had broken bones in his back(?) A pretty serious injury, for a player that has been injury prone anyway. We'll need him, there's half the season left, and think they are doing their best to ensure he'll be a big part of it.

[Hound]

Hopefully the case Denver. To be clear though - this isn’t about judging Gomes, just simply a case of needing that 3 points. The fix in both Jan and Feb are far from straightforward and we need to stay in touch with both those around us but also Millwall, Brentford and Wigan

Pitches are in decent condition at the moment tbf though. Had a mild winter so far - tomorrow looks as close to perfect footy conditions as possible

[Sutekh]

Today’s teams :

Reading: Jaakkola, Yiadom, Richards, Ilori, O’Shea, Swift, Rinomhota, Barrow, Aluko, McCleary (c), Meite.
Subs: Walker, Moore, Osho, Harriott, Kelly, Loader, Böðvarsson.

Swansea City: Mulder, Roberts, Routledge, Grimes, Rodon, Van der Hoorn, Naughton, Fer (c), Dyer, Celina, McBurnie.
Subs: Nordfelt, Carter-Vickers, Fulton, Baker-Richardson, James, Montero, McKay.

Unchanged XI

Harriott back in squad and Moore on bench too.

McNulty and Baldock totally disappeared from squad.

[sandman]

OMG. Callum Harriott, WTF? Thought he was dead. LOL.

[Snowflake Royal]

Unchanged XI is nice to see... although I'd rather it was a very different unchanged XI.

[Hound]

Dunno it’s about as good as we get

Happy he hasn’t tinkered

[Hendo]

Unchanged XI is nice to see... although I'd rather it was a very different unchanged XI.

With the players available, what would you like the unchanged XI to be?