Reading Football Club News: November 2022
Reading Get Watford In FA Cup
28 November 2022
By Hob Nob Anyone?
Reading have been drawn at home against Watford in the third round of the FA Cup. The game will take place at the Select Car Leasing Stadium on Saturday 7 January 2023.
Reading Go Into World Cup Break Back In Top Half
12 November 2022
By Hob Nob Anyone?
Reading will go into the World Cup break on the back of an important win after a late, late own goal gave the Royals victory at Hull City. Reading's form has been poor of late, but this win, and how it came about after being a goal behind, will provide a big boost as Reading find themselves back in the top half of the table.
Hull took the lead after just nine minutes, heading home from a corner which Reading failed to defend. Given our recent record the expectation was firmly on another Reading defeat, however on 32 minutes Reading were level after scoring from a corner of their own with Meite finishing at the far post. The match looked to heading for a draw in the second half as both sides seemed to have settled for that. However deep in stoppage time Ince provided the cross which was played on by Andy Carroll who found Hull's Longman who played the ball into the back of his own net.
Royals Need A Break As We Head Into International Nonsense
10 November 2022
By Hob Nob Anyone?
It is turning into a very up and down and pretty inconsistent year again for Reading FC manager Paul Ince as he continues to try and get the club on an upward curve having taken the job at the Select Car Leasing Stadium on at the end of last February.
With 20 games played in the Championship season of 2022/23, Reading find themselves somewhat comfortable sat in 13th place in the second tier table on 26 points, but with three defeats and one draw in our last four matches, we are only six points ahead of the drop zone. 55 year old former Manchester United and England midfielder Ince will be determined to get another win on the board when we travel to Hull City this weekend, as of course, we then go into the pretty pointless season break for the World Cup out in Qatar and real football does not begin again until December 10th, when we welcome Coventry City to home soil. Odds on what happens against Coventry as probably similar to the odds on UK slot sites right now until we get closer to the game.
With Coventry having a similar season to ourselves, plenty of the errors we saw in the 2-0 defeat to Watford at the last time of asking will have to be addressed if we want to come out with a more comfortable three points, and Ince pulled few punches after that defeat when it came to what had to change.
Speaking to Berkshire Live as The Royals dropped to ten defeats for the season so far, and only registered one shot on target across the 90 minutes, Ince the dip in form was not just becoming a frustration for the fans.
Criticising the decision making of the players during the clash, he insisted that was the main problem, and mot the overall performance and effort they put in.
"I'm not disappointed at all. I'm disappointed in the penalty we gave away. I said to the players before the game, these are top players so you have to stand on your feet. In the first 15 minutes we struggled to get to grips with them and they caused us problems but then we make a stupid foul in our box which we don't need to make and that gives them the lift they needed."
Ince went on to say that after that ill disciplined helping hand, he thought the squad were much better in the main.
"After that we played some good stuff, got a foothold in the game although probably lacked that cutting edge up front. I told the players they'd given a good account of themselves. Watford are a top team with players like Joao Pedro and we're nowhere near that stage yet.
"We are a team under an embargo - a mix and match team - but we competed, gave it our all. You think about the two moments - the penalty and they score in the 87th minute to try and get something out of the game. They cost us the game, eventually. They had a couple of other chances but I said to the players, you're miles away from this level. We'll be at this level in two or three years time, if we are lucky. But you came, competed, played some good stuff at times but ultimately, we didn't have enough cutting edge up top."
Fans will more than understand the position the club is in with players, but there will be some who do not think this addition in the interview is the most helpful right now.
"We had one shot on target. The performance didn't disappoint me, it was the decision making. You can't do anything about it as a manager. If a player wants to make those decisions...the best players make the best decisions. The lower you go, the worse the decisions get."
Slide Down The Table Continues
08 November 2022
By Hob Nob Anyone?
Reading's slide down the table continues to gather pace after another defeat on the road - this time away at Watford. Reading extended their poor run to just one win in nine Championship fixtures and are now 13th in the table after being 3rd only eight games ago. Despite some good periods of possession at Watford and some reasonably determined defending, the Royals looked short on ideas going forward and never looked likely to get anything from the game after going behind after 15 minutes.
Ovie Ejaria wrapped his arm around Watford's Joao Pedro and the striker went down spectacularly for a clear penalty before stepping up, sending Lumley the wrong way, and putting the home side ahead. Lumley was forced to leave the pitch later in the first half with a foot injury to be replaced by Bouzanis in the Reading goal. The last 15 minutes of the first half saw Reading enjoy the better possession for the first time in the game but there was no threat to the Watford goal. Reading's only shot on target came very late in the second half as the Watford keeper had a very quiet evening.
There were some signs of a fight back in the second half from Reading but too often the ball would end up coming backwards with no route through. Rare attempts from Reading to pass the ball through the final third ended in lost possession. With nothing up top from Reading, Meite and Carroll eventually came off the bench - but with only ten minutes to play they were never likely to make an impact. A scrappy period of play from both teams saw the game drift until Pedro scored his second when Reading failed to deal with a cross from the right and the ball came out to Pedro with plenty of time to fire in an impressive shot to seal the win for Watford. In truth this was a straight forward win for Watford - an easy three points that sees them rise to fifth, six points ahead of Reading.
After Defeat As Reading Now One Win In Eight
04 November 2022
By Hob Nob Anyone?
After such a poor performance it is important to keep Reading's recent run of disappointing defeats, and their slide into mid table, in perspective. The absurdity of playing a World Cup in the middle of the season has resulted in all Championship sides playing nine matches in thirty five days which must have an impact on the quality of performances of all teams. Reading have suffered particularly with tough away games ending in narrow defeats at Swansea, QPR and Burnley which probably did not reflect the overall quality of their performances in October. That said, last night's defeat was on the whole, self-inflicted.Read More...