MATCHWATCH : Blackburn Rovers (a)

[Sutekh]

When : Saturday 23 October 2021, 3pm
Where : Ewood Park, Blackburn, Lancashire, BB2 4JF
Capacity : 31,367


After the utter tripe that masqueraded as a second half performance v Blackpool, Saturday sees Reading make a long trip up to Blackburn almost exactly a year since their last visit to Ewood. As is usual for this one it’s going to be a difficult game against a fairly well organised and pretty decent team made harder by Reading’s superb luck with injuries. But Reading have already sunk Fulham and weathered a proverbial storm at Cardiff so why worry

Rovers have blown hot and cold so far this season and are sitting just above midway in the table. Currently things are getting a bit nippy for them though as form shows just 1 point from the last 4 games has headed their way. However they are unbeaten in their last 4 home games (W2, D2) and Ewood has never been a particularly welcome trip for Reading so with and the aforementioned “nippy” form this could easily be a proverbial banana skin.

There is one main threat to watch out for, guard against and generally cut off any type of service for and that is Ben Brereton-Diaz (who has added the Diaz element to his name following his call up to the Chilean national team earlier this year). Brereton-Diaz has been none to shabby turning out for Chile with 3 goals in 8 apps so far but it’s his Blackburn form that’s catching the eye this season as he’s made 13 league appearances and scored 10 goals so denying him opportunity pretty much has to be the main mission for Reading’s defence.

Thankfully, from Reading’s point of view, it looks like you’ll always get a chance v Blackburn as they have been a bit leaky defensively and games tend to be close affairs settled by 1 goal in one direction or the other, if they are settled at all.

Blackburn appear to be at nearly full strength with just the one injury issue that sees Bradley Dack sidelined for the game. Reading’s well known injury lottery continues to trouble the club but at least there seems to be some distant light at the end of the tunnel as several players near being able to kick a ball in anger again.

Referee

Tony Harrington

Previously

10 Feb 21 > Reading 1-3 Brentford
12 Dec 20 > Queens Park Rangers 0-1 Reading
02 Nov 19 > Reading 2-1 Millwall
24 Aug 19 > Huddersfield Town 0-2 Reading
30 Mar 19 > Reading 2-1 Preston North End
23-Oct 18 > Birmingham City 2-1 Reading
24-Feb-18 > Reading 3-3 Derby County
16-Sep-18 > Brentford 1-1 Reading
21-Feb-17 > Huddersfield Town 1-0 Reading
10-Dec-16 > Reading 2-1 Sheffield Wednesday
06-Feb-16 > Reading 0-0 Wolverhampton Wanderers
29-Sep-15 > Burnley 1-2 Reading
01-Oct-14 > Reading 0-0 Leeds United

Historically

As with most trips up north Reading do not have a particularly impressive record. At Ewood Park there is just two wins to show from the twelve previous league visits. A more positive view though might be to say that Reading have won 1 of their last 1 visits to Ewood Park.

Overall the last 6 trips to Blackburn have seen no clean sheets for either side and 30 goals shared between the teams (16-14 to Blackburn). So I expect a 0-0 then.

Since the first league game at Ewood (in April 1980) the full league record there is played 12 won 2, drawn 5, lost 5, for 22, against 28

How to follow the game

1. Get a ticket and travel all the way oop 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 a RoyalsTV subscription
5. BBC Radio Berkshire (FM : 104.4, 104.1 or 95.4 depending where you are in the area)

[Simmops]

Let's hope Pauno is gone by then.

[Snowflake Royal]

..................Southwood
Yiadom, Holmes, Dann, Rahman
....................Drinkwater
Azeez, Dele-Bashiru, Swift, Ejaria
........................Puscas

None of the midfielders are great out right. Our shape was all wrong against Blackpool. TDB has been better than Laurent recently, although Laurent was improved first half yesterday. Drinkwater gets a second chance, but another showing like that and he has to drop.

Azeez worked best coming off the right to support a proper striker. He's not going to come on and change the game upfront. Puscas also needs the help

Holmes is just a better defender than Moore who I'm just tired of seeing earn millions for being shit.

[NathStPaul]

..................Southwood
Yiadom, Holmes, Dann, Rahman
....................Drinkwater
Azeez, Dele-Bashiru, Swift, Ejaria
........................Puscas

None of the midfielders are great out right. Our shape was all wrong against Blackpool. TDB has been better than Laurent recently, although Laurent was improved first half yesterday. Drinkwater gets a second chance, but another showing like that and he has to drop.

Azeez worked best coming off the right to support a proper striker. He's not going to come on and change the game upfront. Puscas also needs the help

Holmes is just a better defender than Moore who I'm just tired of seeing earn millions for being shit.

I really wish we could give Yiadom a rest, he didn't look at it last night at all. Wonder if Paunovic might want to put Holmes in at RB for the Blackburn game.

[paultheroyal]

.............Southwood
Holmes, Moore, Dann, Rahman
.......Drinkwater.....Dele-Bashiru
..........Yiadom, Swift, Ejaria
.....................Azeez

[Hound]

don't think Azeez has really shown enough to earn a starting place. Hardly banging down the door to replace Puscas.

I'd consider bringing him in for Laurent though and moving TDB central. But we really don't have a lot of options. Pretty sure last night was our strongest with what's available, and until Rino, Hoilett and Halilovic are back I'm not sure there is too much we can do. We just need to play (a lot) better

[Royal_jimmy]

Southwood, Yiadom, Moore, Dann, Rahman, Laurent, Dele-Bashiru, Azeez, Swift, Ejaria, Puscas

Bench: Rafael, Holmes, Drinkwater, Rinomhota, Camara, Ehibhationham, Clarke

[tidus_mi2]

Not really sure what to make of this, if our lacklustre display against Blackpool, especially in the 2nd half was due to fatigue and the inability to rotate due to injuries, I can't see much improvement on Saturday, we've had games where we've managed to sneak in results despite conceding many attacking chances so there's nothing to say we can't do it again.

[Coppells Lost Coat]

..................Southwood
Yiadom, Holmes, Dann, Rahman
....................Drinkwater
Azeez, Dele-Bashiru, Swift, Ejaria
........................Puscas

None of the midfielders are great out right. Our shape was all wrong against Blackpool. TDB has been better than Laurent recently, although Laurent was improved first half yesterday. Drinkwater gets a second chance, but another showing like that and he has to drop.

Azeez worked best coming off the right to support a proper striker. He's not going to come on and change the game upfront. Puscas also needs the help

Holmes is just a better defender than Moore who I'm just tired of seeing earn millions for being shit.

Very close to this i think - but i would retain Moore at - 45 mins where everyone was beyond shit - cant pick out just the one player (but agree he isn't worth his wages).
Think Laurent coming on as sub would make a bigger impact on the game on multiple scenarios then Azeez would. I agree that Azeez looked good coming in off the right, like Meite does. But it has been a rather limited sample of games.

[Sutekh]

Seems to me the more Reading had out injured the better the result.

[Simmops]

Whatever the team, if we have Pauno managing us we will lose

[South Coast Royal]

..................Southwood
Yiadom, Holmes, Dann, Rahman
....................Drinkwater
Azeez, Dele-Bashiru, Swift, Ejaria
........................Puscas

None of the midfielders are great out right. Our shape was all wrong against Blackpool. TDB has been better than Laurent recently, although Laurent was improved first half yesterday. Drinkwater gets a second chance, but another showing like that and he has to drop.

Azeez worked best coming off the right to support a proper striker. He's not going to come on and change the game upfront. Puscas also needs the help

Holmes is just a better defender than Moore who I'm just tired of seeing earn millions for being shit.

Although it might well be the right thing to do Ian you know that Moore is virtually undroppable.
I presume that part of the reasoning for taking off Puscas at or around 60 minutes is that he is the only senior (ish) striker that we have and Pauno has to consider that another game is always about to come up.

From what I have seen this season I would now start with Azeez and hope that if he comes on as sub Puscas will be wound up enough to want to prove that , as an International striker, he ought to be starting ahead of a youngster.
On the other hand Pauno must know Puscas well enough to be aware that he either has the temperament to want to show how good he is or if he needs cajoling or an arm around the shoulder.

Yes, he has had poor service but unfortunately he continues to look like a fish out of water rather than the hit man that we thought we were getting in that early game v Cardiff.
Who was that South American striker that Man Utd had with long fair hair who looked the part but couldn't score for them but always seemed to score for whoever else he played for?
We all want Puscas to do well and we keep believing that today is the day-let's hope that it is and many more of them but he has started to look like Simon Cox, another that we were all desperately willing to do well but just so often fell short of what was needed.

After posting all that I will just have to put a bet on him scoring today.

[Royal_jimmy]

I'm going today. A club I've got a soft spot for.

They're a good side at home with only 1 defeat. I'd be happy with a draw from this one.

[Sutekh]

Puscas scapegoated but might have a chance to save the day when he comes on in the 85th minute

Azeez starts…

[Millsy]

don't think Azeez has really shown enough to earn a starting place. Hardly banging down the door to replace Puscas.

I'd consider bringing him in for Laurent though and moving TDB central. But we really don't have a lot of options. Pretty sure last night was our strongest with what's available, and until Rino, Hoilett and Halilovic are back I'm not sure there is too much we can do. We just need to play (a lot) better

Yeah so the guy who went OFF to see us then let in a load of goals is the guy being punished? The one guy we can't blame it on in any way - great assist. Awesome. Not sure what Pauno's issue with Puscas is.

TBF Azeez isn't bad, he's scored 2 goals already which is more than Puscas has, it's just he's not the defensive harassing forward Puscas seems to be.

Oh well. Come on Azeez show us what you can do!

[Simmops]

Actually clueless from Pauno. How can he start Moore seriously? I hope we lose so he can get sacked.

[LUX]

Fck off Simmops. Srsly.

[Simmops]

Fck off Simmops. Srsly.

Starting Moore is a good idea?

[Zip]

Yeah DD give it a rest.

Disappointing that Rino still isn’t back. He was apparently very close pre the international break so not sure why he still isn’t ready.
A draw would be a good resultt today.

[Snowflake Royal]

Not keen on that management choice.

Puscas on 9 starts. But never seems to get more than a handful of games in a row. How's that going to find him form.