COLUMNIST KEN BUCKLEY

From my seat: Reading (a)

By Ken Buckley :  19/08/2007 :  Comments (4) :

As the first half wore on, I revised my prediction to one of a draw if we don't concede. I came to this conclusion on noting that Big Vic was suffering from what all teenage players go through, namely, inconsistencies in performance levels, thus being of little threat to the Reading rearguard and of little use to his teamates in terms of controlling the ball and executing lay-offs. Add to this Arteta just not at the races, I fleetingly wondered if his non inclusion in the Spanish squad had any bearing on this? I certainly hope not.

Ossie was having an off one so that left AJ stranded and at the mercy of a grateful defence. We certainly had plenty of the play for an away team but this floundered in the final third each time, the reason being as explained above. Still if we could get to the break goalless I felt the manager my be able to address this problem as I felt the centre of midfield and back four looked comfortable.

Wouldn't you just know I'm thinking that and the whole lot of them go to sleep defending a straight-forward throw-in right on half time and their best player Hunt said thank you very much. Schoolboy defending at its best.

I thought the manager would change things for the second period even though he was limited for choice from the bench considering the players who were clearly out of form but we really needed to stretch the Reading defence and give them some descisions to make as everything had been down their throat and easily picked off in the first half. But no, it was "as you were" and to be fair we did huff and puff that much harder but unfortunately with the same result of everything breaking down in the final third.

A bloke near me yelled "Change something, Moyes"... he must have heard him as Pienaar was introduced to replace Big Vic who was hurt, in body and mind, I fancy. Still, we made little headway until after the hour mark when Faddy was introduced in place of Hibbert, causing Neville to move to right-back and Pienaar to centre-mid. From this point on, we looked better and I thought a point was a possibility as Faddy provided much-needed width and a good dose of unpredictabilty which caused uncertanty to the Reading back four and in one passage of play showed why this change should have been made earlier. Faddy twisted and turned his man and then tried an audacious far post looping effort which struck the bar and from the resulting melee AJ hit a post. It was Reading now baying for the whistle but we had left it too late.

This result in itself is not one to get too down about but, if we want to make the oft-talked-about step up, then the manager and his staff will need to work on preparing teams that play with a consistency week-in, week-out. I concede that won't ensure top-four finishes, but we really have to get away from this maximum of two good performances then the ones like today with key players just not at the races.

On the seasons showing so far I believe we cry out for a proven quality central midfielder, wideman and striker to fully complement what has already been assembled. I don't view our position with doom and gloom; rather one that is ripe for improvement and that excites me.

Blackburn next and a chance to make it 3 wins out of 4. With a little bit of good planning and an extra pair of shinpads each, I think we can do it, the start will look good on paper but it won't paper over the additions required to give us the best chance on all fronts in a hectic season. UP THE BLUES!

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