Rival Watch

[Hendo]

I think the thing with Blackburn is their defence can be a bit ropey. But they would be one to watch as they certainly have goals in them.

Yeah, I think that’s half their problem, their set up leaves too many holes to exploit - often play wingers at FB for example

Strangely enough, they have the same number of goals conceded as us, but they have 5 more goals, yet we’re 7 points ahead with a game in hand - shows our tendency to win by a smaller margin

And noticed Swansea have only conceded 13 goals in 24 games, extremely good record

I think our goals conceded column is heavily skewed by our first injury crisis where we just didn't seem to know how to handle it and ended up conceding a shed load of goals.

Agreed, from the Millwall game onwards we seem to have done much better defensively. 12 goals conceded in 11 games is pretty ok, tbh.

[WestYorksRoyal]

Yeah, I think that’s half their problem, their set up leaves too many holes to exploit - often play wingers at FB for example

Strangely enough, they have the same number of goals conceded as us, but they have 5 more goals, yet we’re 7 points ahead with a game in hand - shows our tendency to win by a smaller margin

And noticed Swansea have only conceded 13 goals in 24 games, extremely good record

I think our goals conceded column is heavily skewed by our first injury crisis where we just didn't seem to know how to handle it and ended up conceding a shed load of goals.

Agreed, from the Millwall game onwards we seem to have done much better defensively. 12 goals conceded in 11 games is pretty ok, tbh.

Bet Sky still show that visual comparing the 1st 8 games with the rest tomorrow though. And mention Olise's yet to be triggered release clause.

[morganb]

I think our goals conceded column is heavily skewed by our first injury crisis where we just didn't seem to know how to handle it and ended up conceding a shed load of goals.

Agreed, from the Millwall game onwards we seem to have done much better defensively. 12 goals conceded in 11 games is pretty ok, tbh.

Bet Sky still show that visual comparing the 1st 8 games with the rest tomorrow though. And mention Olise's yet to be triggered release clause.

Sky Commentary Cliché Bingo also includes:

Players having to Google the manager when he was first announced
Mentioning the previous club academies that Olise was at

I'm sure there are others.

[Hendo]

Agreed, from the Millwall game onwards we seem to have done much better defensively. 12 goals conceded in 11 games is pretty ok, tbh.

Bet Sky still show that visual comparing the 1st 8 games with the rest tomorrow though. And mention Olise's yet to be triggered release clause.

Sky Commentary Cliché Bingo also includes:

Players having to Google the manager when he was first announced
Mentioning the previous club academies that Olise was at

I'm sure there are others.

Richards to Bayern will no doubt be mentioned as well.

[Hound]

'The owners have spent 150m pounds and have told the manager they have spent enough and are expecting promotion'

they quite liked the injury crisis stats as well. Still can get some miles out of that with Puscas, Meite, Moore, Yiadom all still being out

[Hendo]

'The owners have spent 150m pounds and have told the manager they have spent enough and are expecting promotion'

Oh yes, good shout on that one.

They keep saying this and it is still as false as it was when they first said it.

[URZZZZ]

Wilshere to rejoin Bournemouth until the end of the season

Decent player when he’s not injured which unfortunately for him, only seems a minority of the time

[South Coast Royal]

Back to rivals.

Bournemouth are selling one of their centre-backs to Cardiff, Jack Simpson a home-grown, who has played 7 times this season.
The possible significance of this is that they have been thinking of bidding for the quite highly rated centre-back from Preston, Ben Davies.

So if he were to leave Preston that means one regular lost from their defence for when we play them shortly.
In the longer term though it might strengthen Bournemouth's defensive options even if they already have Carter-Vickers on loan from Spurs, Steve Cook, Wales' centre-back Chris Mepham and ex-Bristol City (£10 million or so) Lloyd Kelly.

[Sutekh]

Back to rivals.

Bournemouth are selling one of their centre-backs to Cardiff, Jack Simpson a home-grown, who has played 7 times this season.
The possible significance of this is that they have been thinking of bidding for the quite highly rated centre-back from Preston, Ben Davies.

So if he were to leave Preston that means one regular lost from their defence for when we play them shortly.
In the longer term though it might strengthen Bournemouth's defensive options even if they already have Carter-Vickers on loan from Spurs, Steve Cook, Wales' centre-back Chris Mepham and ex-Bristol City (£10 million or so) Lloyd Kelly.

In which case one of them, or Davies himself, misses out. If he did sign and play it’d probably take 2/3 games for him to adjust to the new surroundings, team tactics etc. Overall though I can’t really see it making that much of a difference in Reading’s game.

[From Despair To Where?]

'The owners have spent 150m pounds and have told the manager they have spent enough and are expecting promotion'

Oh yes, good shout on that one.

They keep saying this and it is still as false as it was when they first said it.

Sky probably think Hogwood Park is a Korean international

[Stranded]

This midweek round of fixtures could start to see a gap growing.

Of the chasing pack - Bristol have to go to Norwich, whilst Stoke go to Rotherham and Boro head to an improving Forest.

Could easily see all 3 dropping points and with Barnsley travelling to Watford, if we and Watford both win - then you start to see a 6 or 7 point gap open between the play-offs and the rest. Not insurmountable obviously but a definite start of a potential breakaway by the top 6.

Normally need around 72 points per season to hit the top 6 (although only 70 last year), however with the current PPG, 6th place will be on 80 points by the end of the season which does show it’s been a highly competitive season at the top and that there’s a bit of a gap between mid table and PO teams

Obviously I expect that average to fall but it still seems on the high side for the halfway mark

So if 72 is the target then Boro and Bristol need to do match the first half of their season and everyone else will need to improve on it - which I am sure one or two may well do.

Alongside that, we and Watford (as the "worst" of the top 6) can get to 73 pts with a W11 L12 run in.

[Zip]

May need to cast the net wider. Lots of potential for other teams to “join the pack”, there usually is one team from mid table who surge up

Blackburn not had the season they’d hoped for after a strong start but wouldn’t rule them out

Not sure Stoke have enough firepower to hit the top 6, lost a lot of attacking impetus without Campbell and Fletcher, huge losses for them

I think the thing with Blackburn is their defence can be a bit ropey. But they would be one to watch as they certainly have goals in them.

Yeah, I think that’s half their problem, their set up leaves too many holes to exploit - often play wingers at FB for example

Strangely enough, they have the same number of goals conceded as us, but they have 5 more goals, yet we’re 7 points ahead with a game in hand - shows our tendency to win by a smaller margin

And noticed Swansea have only conceded 13 goals in 24 games, extremely good record

I think our goal difference is more to do with some heavy defeats, ie 3-0 v both Preston and Swansea, 4-2 Bournemouth, 3-1 v Brentford etc... -10 from those four games.

[andrew1957]

This midweek round of fixtures could start to see a gap growing.

Of the chasing pack - Bristol have to go to Norwich, whilst Stoke go to Rotherham and Boro head to an improving Forest.

Could easily see all 3 dropping points and with Barnsley travelling to Watford, if we and Watford both win - then you start to see a 6 or 7 point gap open between the play-offs and the rest. Not insurmountable obviously but a definite start of a potential breakaway by the top 6.

Normally need around 72 points per season to hit the top 6 (although only 70 last year), however with the current PPG, 6th place will be on 80 points by the end of the season which does show it’s been a highly competitive season at the top and that there’s a bit of a gap between mid table and PO teams

Obviously I expect that average to fall but it still seems on the high side for the halfway mark

So if 72 is the target then Boro and Bristol need to do match the first half of their season and everyone else will need to improve on it - which I am sure one or two may well do.

Alongside that, we and Watford (as the "worst" of the top 6) can get to 73 pts with a W11 L12 run in.

I think 72 might be a tad low this season. But the bottom line is that if we win 12 out of 23 again in the second half we will be in the play offs (76 plus any draws). If we have a great half season and push that up to say 15 wins we would be in with a chance of automatic. A lot depends on Joao's fitness I think but I see no reason why we cannot win 12 more games.

[Stranded]

Normally need around 72 points per season to hit the top 6 (although only 70 last year), however with the current PPG, 6th place will be on 80 points by the end of the season which does show it’s been a highly competitive season at the top and that there’s a bit of a gap between mid table and PO teams

Obviously I expect that average to fall but it still seems on the high side for the halfway mark

So if 72 is the target then Boro and Bristol need to do match the first half of their season and everyone else will need to improve on it - which I am sure one or two may well do.

Alongside that, we and Watford (as the "worst" of the top 6) can get to 73 pts with a W11 L12 run in.

I think 72 might be a tad low this season. But the bottom line is that if we win 12 out of 23 again in the second half we will be in the play offs (76 plus any draws). If we have a great half season and push that up to say 15 wins we would be in with a chance of automatic. A lot depends on Joao's fitness I think but I see no reason why we cannot win 12 more games.

Agree - you look at our home fixtures and you have to be fairly confident that we can (not will) beat:

Coventry
Millwall
Blackburn
Wednesday
QPR
Derby
Cardiff
Huddersfield

Points will be tougher to get from Brentford, Bournemouth, Boro and Swansea but if we can go P12 W7 D3 L2 at home, then we would only need to find the equivalent of 4 wins on the road to get to 76.

[South Coast Royal]

Back to rivals.

Bournemouth are selling one of their centre-backs to Cardiff, Jack Simpson a home-grown, who has played 7 times this season.
The possible significance of this is that they have been thinking of bidding for the quite highly rated centre-back from Preston, Ben Davies.

So if he were to leave Preston that means one regular lost from their defence for when we play them shortly.
In the longer term though it might strengthen Bournemouth's defensive options even if they already have Carter-Vickers on loan from Spurs, Steve Cook, Wales' centre-back Chris Mepham and ex-Bristol City (£10 million or so) Lloyd Kelly.

In which case one of them, or Davies himself, misses out. If he did sign and play it’d probably take 2/3 games for him to adjust to the new surroundings, team tactics etc. Overall though I can’t really see it making that much of a difference in Reading’s game.

I was thinking more in terms of the Preston game, not Bournemouth.

[URZZZZ]

I think the thing with Blackburn is their defence can be a bit ropey. But they would be one to watch as they certainly have goals in them.

Yeah, I think that’s half their problem, their set up leaves too many holes to exploit - often play wingers at FB for example

Strangely enough, they have the same number of goals conceded as us, but they have 5 more goals, yet we’re 7 points ahead with a game in hand - shows our tendency to win by a smaller margin

And noticed Swansea have only conceded 13 goals in 24 games, extremely good record

I think our goal difference is more to do with some heavy defeats, ie 3-0 v both Preston and Swansea, 4-2 Bournemouth, 3-1 v Brentford etc... -10 from those four games.

There was me thinking we got a respected away point at Swansea, must have missed their three goals

[Zip]

Yeah, I think that’s half their problem, their set up leaves too many holes to exploit - often play wingers at FB for example

Strangely enough, they have the same number of goals conceded as us, but they have 5 more goals, yet we’re 7 points ahead with a game in hand - shows our tendency to win by a smaller margin

And noticed Swansea have only conceded 13 goals in 24 games, extremely good record

I think our goal difference is more to do with some heavy defeats, ie 3-0 v both Preston and Swansea, 4-2 Bournemouth, 3-1 v Brentford etc... -10 from those four games.

There was me thinking we got a respected away point at Swansea, must have missed their three goals

Yep. Should have said Stoke.
Swansea really don’t concede many but don’t score loads either.

[royalp-we]

Bournemouth announce Wilshere till the end of the season.

[Snowflake Royal]

I think our goal difference is more to do with some heavy defeats, ie 3-0 v both Preston and Swansea, 4-2 Bournemouth, 3-1 v Brentford etc... -10 from those four games.

There was me thinking we got a respected away point at Swansea, must have missed their three goals

Yep. Should have said Stoke.
Swansea really don’t concede many but don’t score loads either.

The sort of side that will come straight back down IMO.

PL attacks will break through and it's hard to find a PL goalscorer at the best of times. If they aren't scoring in the Chump they'll need more than one.

[Zip]

There was me thinking we got a respected away point at Swansea, must have missed their three goals

Yep. Should have said Stoke.
Swansea really don’t concede many but don’t score loads either.

The sort of side that will come straight back down IMO.

PL attacks will break through and it's hard to find a PL goalscorer at the best of times. If they aren't scoring in the Chump they'll need more than one.

Very much so. They are solid defensively and have two decent strikers but their midfield is extremely ordinary. We are more than capable of beating them with a decent starting 11