MATCHWATCH : Blackpool (a)

[Sutekh]

When : Saturday 26th February 2022, 3pm
Where : Bloomfield Road, Seasiders Way, Blackpool, FY1 6JJ
Capacity : 17,338


It’s February and the weather is crap so in Reading terms that means it must be time for a trip to the seaside, still at least it’s not a Tuesday in January like it was for the last visit.

Blackpool are doing much better than Reading, I know that may seem a bit hard to believe given the season so far but you can't deny that they’ve scaled to the heights of 15th in the division which is somewhere Reading can only dream of this time round.

Having safely gathered 42 points so far, Blackpool are already as much the proverbial end of season “nothing much to play for” club that you can get and their form is pretty much as nondescript as possible with 3 wins, 3 draws and 5 defeats from the last 11.

Shane Lavery, Jerry Yates and Gary Madine form a very potent forward line for the Tangerines with 27 league goals between them so this needs to be game where the Reading management successfully devise a plan to cut the supply and therefore frustrate the forward options. This will not be easy as Blackpool have scored in every game they’ve played since losing at Derby on 11th December.

Reading might be helped a little in their cause though as Blackpool’s current injury list is actually as bad as that of Reading with 8 currently receiving treatment; Sonny Carey, Richard Keogh, Grant Ward, Chris Maxwell, James Husband, Keshi Anderson, Marty Virtue and Luke Garbutt and there does seem to be a bit of a toll being taken as QPR only needed 10 men to beat Blackpool last night - not that that would make it any easier given Reading's problems really.

Forgetting the “injured for the rest of the season” Araruna, Reading currently have 7 crocks; Azeez, Ejaria, Dann, Laurent, Rahman, Tetek and Halilovic. Biggest question will be at left back where McIntyre will, at the moment, continue to fill in but having been injured for quite some time how is he going to be able to handle 2 games in 4 days plus a long journey north so wondering if Reading may find a free agent somewhere in the next day or two to help take the strain.

Blackpool was also Paul Ince's last management gig, leaving in 2014 after 12 wins from 42 games, so he may well get a certain amount of stick off the 'pool fans.

Referee

Peter Bankes

Previously

25 Sep 2021 > Reading 1-0 Middlesbrough
25 Sep 2019 > Wolverhampton Wanderers 1-1 Reading (League Cup)
21 Aug 2019 > West Bromwich Albion 1-1 Reading
16 Mar 2019 > Stoke City 0-0 Reading
16 Dec 2017 > Ipswich Town 2-0 Reading
25 Feb 2017 > Brighton & Hove Albion 3-0 Reading
21 Jan 2017 > Derby County 3-2 Reading
30 Jan 2016 > Reading 4-0 Walsall (FA Cup)
20 Dec 2015 > Reading 1-0 Blackburn Rovers
08 Aug 2015 > Birmingham City 2-1 Reading

Historically

Bloomfield Road has not been particularly hospitable to Reading down the years, the first 5 games played at the venue saw 0 points returned and 22 goals conceded (including the heaviest defeat there of 7-0) so there is something by way of a precedent already set to some degree as Reading’s current defence wobbles precariously into town.

There have been 20 league visits in total to this part of the coast and Reading have won on 5 occasions while losing on 10 but haven’t won on any of the last 5 league visits (earning just 2 points) so a point would probably be a good return from this outing.

How to follow the game

1. Get a ticket and travel
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 RoyalTV subscription (presuming you can get the commentary working at all)
5. BBC Radio Berkshire (FM : 104.4, 104.1 or 95.4 depending where you are in the area)

[/quote]

[NathStPaul]

Peter oxf*rd more like.

[YorkshireRoyal99]

Weather and other commitments dependent, tempted to travel across to this one at the weekend even if I've left it a little late in the day to decide. Just feel like it might be worth going and seeing if we can get something from the game. We're picking up whereas Blackpool's season is beginning to flounder a bit now, so we could maybe steal all 3 points and how big it would be if we could.

[PieEater]

Blackpool home seemed to be the start of the downward sprial, 2-0 up, Azeez misses a one on one and we end up losing.

[Whore Jackie]

TBF, that was one of the must unjust 2-0 leads at halftime ever. Arguably the best side at the SCL this season, thoroughly merited their victory. Seem a bit of a flaky team currently, hopefully that continues for another game at least.

But yep, that knocked the stuffing out of us after 2 wins on the bounce. Only won 2 more before last Saturday.

[Silver Fox]

I wondered if Sutekh might have found some positivity from the last couple of results, glad to see he's stuck to his guns and continued to plough the negative furrow

[Hendo]

Blackpool home seemed to be the start of the downward sprial, 2-0 up, Puscas misses a one on one and we end up losing.

CFY.

[Hound]

yeah I thought Blackpool were superb that day. Really impressed me, totally outplayed us - particularly in the second half. I think they may have just peaked around that period as they have been a bit dodgy since then

That result last night for them was a poor one. QPR were down to 10 for 50 mins or so

I'd be disappointed not to pick up something from this one. They are definitely off form, whilst we should be buzzing. Be nice to have a few of the injured back - just as a bit of security on the bench as much as anything - but doubt we will do. Massive carrot of a potentially defining 11 point gap if we can pull off a victory

Same team I imagine as Tuesday. Wouldnt be against TDB in there somewhere for his energy, but otherwise no real decisions to make. Meite can wait til Millwall to start.

[Zip]

TBF, that was one of the must unjust 2-0 leads at halftime ever. Arguably the best side at the SCL this season, thoroughly merited their victory. Seem a bit of a flaky team currently, hopefully that continues for another game at least.

But yep, that knocked the stuffing out of us after 2 wins on the bounce. Only won 2 more before last Saturday.

Yep agreed. Blackpool were all over us that evening but they are in abit of poor form and missing key players. We have a chance here.

[Pepe the Horseman]

TBF, that was one of the must unjust 2-0 leads at halftime ever. Arguably the best side at the SCL this season, thoroughly merited their victory. Seem a bit of a flaky team currently, hopefully that continues for another game at least.

But yep, that knocked the stuffing out of us after 2 wins on the bounce. Only won 2 more before last Saturday.

Yep agreed. Blackpool were all over us that evening but they are in abit of poor form and missing key players. We have a chance here.

Yeh, couldn't have picked a better time to play them. The Inces should be pretty motivated as well.

[leon]

despite Blackpool outplaying us last time they've hit some poor form so we have a chance to get something

[Coppells Lost Coat]

Confident on this one. I think we are a team trying to prove we are better than our league position.
A small bit of form does wonders in this league plus players returning from injury are like new signings. We will travel to Blackpool a different team. A team that will have experienced players on the bench - the difference the last time we played.
Yeah they knocked it about well last time around but just remember Peterborough outplayed us only last week but I wouldn't mind playing them again now.

[YorkshireRoyal99]

It's certainly not one to be underestimated despite our improving form which contrasts to theirs. They are still a very capable team who could quite easily turn it on again this weekend, however we certainly have a better chance than what we would have done possibly at any other point in the season to beat this lot.

[Stranded]

It's certainly not one to be underestimated despite our improving form which contrasts to theirs. They are still a very capable team who could quite easily turn it on again this weekend, however we certainly have a better chance than what we would have done possibly at any other point in the season to beat this lot.

I don't think anyone is underestimating them but if you were to pick a time to play them, it would be now.

They have still won 3 of their last 4 home games, so under no illusions getting a result will be tough.

[tidus_mi2]

It's certainly not one to be underestimated despite our improving form which contrasts to theirs. They are still a very capable team who could quite easily turn it on again this weekend, however we certainly have a better chance than what we would have done possibly at any other point in the season to beat this lot.

I don't think anyone is underestimating them but if you were to pick a time to play them, it would be now.

They have still won 3 of their last 4 home games, so under no illusions getting a result will be tough.

And the home defeat amongst those 4 games was to Bournemouth who are on a roll.

[YorkshireRoyal99]

It's certainly not one to be underestimated despite our improving form which contrasts to theirs. They are still a very capable team who could quite easily turn it on again this weekend, however we certainly have a better chance than what we would have done possibly at any other point in the season to beat this lot.

I don't think anyone is underestimating them but if you were to pick a time to play them, it would be now.

They have still won 3 of their last 4 home games, so under no illusions getting a result will be tough.

And the home defeat amongst those 4 games was to Bournemouth who are on a roll.

They just seem to be a typical mid table side really. Quite an awkward fixture, strong at home but usually pretty poor away from home. But yes, agree with the consensus that this is probably the best time we would want to play them though given their recent form.

Hopefully a few days on the training ground has helped us to iron out a couple of issues from this week and we can look to improve this weekend with a similar result.

[Hound]

I don’t think they’ve officially announced that the rest of the coaching team went with Pauno have they? Mitrovic and Fortune seemed to have moved on with little mention and the coaching team of Rae, Ince, Ledge and Gilkes are being talked about on the official

[NathStPaul]

I don’t think they’ve officially announced that the rest of the coaching team went with Pauno have they? Mitrovic and Fortune seemed to have moved on with little mention and the coaching team of Rae, Ince, Ledge and Gilkes are being talked about on the official

I think they mentioned it within an article about Ince and Gilkes, certainly wasn't a fanfare about about it.

[YorkshireRoyal99]

I don’t think they’ve officially announced that the rest of the coaching team went with Pauno have they? Mitrovic and Fortune seemed to have moved on with little mention and the coaching team of Rae, Ince, Ledge and Gilkes are being talked about on the official

Not sure it was ever announced in the traditional sense (go figure). The first time I was made aware was through a Yakou Meite Instagram story which was then followed up by Ince, Rae, Gilkes and Leigertwood who would be in the dugout for Birmingham.

Normally the announcement of staff leaving is done with the manager statement or a further statement, not sure why it wasn't, then again, we are Reading after all.

[Snowflake Royal]

I don’t think they’ve officially announced that the rest of the coaching team went with Pauno have they? Mitrovic and Fortune seemed to have moved on with little mention and the coaching team of Rae, Ince, Ledge and Gilkes are being talked about on the official

Not sure it was ever announced in the traditional sense (go figure). The first time I was made aware was through a Yakou Meite Instagram story which was then followed up by Ince, Rae, Gilkes and Leigertwood who would be in the dugout for Birmingham.

Normally the announcement of staff leaving is done with the manager statement or a further statement, not sure why it wasn't, then again, we are Reading after all.

Pretty standard for us as you say.


Can't imagine we'll go from 2 points in 9 to 9 points in 3. Draw will be where I set my hopes.

Then again, streaky streaky Reading