by KC Royal »
04 Jan 2021 18:48
Pepe the Horseman tidus_mi2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005%E2%80%9306_Reading_F.C._season
All the appearance info is near the bottom.
Cheers fam. So Sidwell only actually played 30 games. Don't remember that!
Inspired by Adie's podcasts last season I started to look back at that season in the first half of last season. Sidwell was actually out a few months IIRC after getting injured in the Burnley home game on the August Bank Holiday weekend. Went to that game and remember at the time thinking that he surely will come off, and he revealed on the podcast that he had to take an injection at half time to continue as Coppell insisted he stayed on with Kitson and Shorey having already gone off injured. After double checking we didn't actually make a 3rd sub in the end and Gunnarsson wasn't on the bench so Coppell clearly felt he had no other options (the only other outfield subs were Hunt and Oster).
What surprised me the most was that for the Sheffield Utd game in October, and maybe for 1 or 2 games before that, we actually had an injury crisis. Apart from Kitson, Shorey and Sidwell being out Murty was also missing (meaning we had Hunt and Makin as our full backs) and Little also got injured and was subbed at half time.
Snowflake Royal Pepe the Horseman 3points I always think Sidwell was by far the most important player in the Coppell side. It was like having three in midfield and we saw how difficult it was to replace him
It's difficult to make a call on the 106 team, as they just didn't get injured. Anyone got any stats on how many games they each played that season?
We beat Sheff Utd without Sidwell, Shorey, Murty or Kitson. That's arguably our three best players.
According to wiki, Sidwell started just 29 league games, so he missed almost half the season (not sure that's true).
Murty and Shorey both missed 6 games
Little only managed 34 starts. Kitson 27.
The we didn't have injuries myth was started by Warnock iirc. No idea why it's stuck so well. Lita broke his leg ffs.
Yeah IIRC Little got injured in the Burnley away game and missed the rest of the season. Feels like Kitson played more than that, think he returned from his injury in that Burnley game within a couple of months.
SCIAG Pepe the Horseman Hendo
Except for the strikers, if my memory serves me correctly, although we were lucky that of Kitson was out, Lita and Doyle were good to go and then when Kitson was back, one of the others were out with injuries. Other than that, I’d be surprised if anyone else from the main XI played less than 35 games that season, maybe even less than 40.
Yeh, that's how I remember it. Can't remember any of our back four missing a game, although sure they must've done. Hunt and Oster played a few games, but mostly sub appearances. Same with Bryn.
There was one game when Shorey, Sidwell, and Kitson all went down injured shortly before half time. At the time it seemed like it might be the unravelling of our season - arguably our three best players injured- but I think Doyle came off the bench to score his first goal for us, and Makin and Gunnarsson both came in to good effect, Gunnarsson scoring twice against Sheffield United and once against Leeds.
We did have a couple of real “crises”. Hunt had to fill in at left back and up front on a couple of occasions. That’s how Long scored his first goal for us, of course. But Hahnemann, Sonko, Ingimarsson, Harper and Convey were fit all season. I did type up the stats but Ian posted them while I did so. Worth remembering that they include the Stoke match where most of the side was rested after we’d already won the league - Marcus wasn’t injured.
Summed up better than me. Yeah Doyle scored the winner in the 2nd half against Burnley, was great that day, remember thinking he looked a future Irish international.
Last edited by
KC Royal on 04 Jan 2021 19:12, edited 1 time in total.