The First Five

[Pablo Chicago]

Here are Reading's first 5:

8/19 - Boro - Home
8/23 - Aston Villia - Away
8/26 - Wigan - Away
9/11 - ManC - Home
9/15 - Sheffield - Away

How many points do you think they'll walk away with after these 5?

There reason why I ask?

9/23 - ManU - Home
10/14 - Chelsea - Home
10/22 - Arsenal - Away
11/4 - Liverpool - Away

and, if that wasn't enough for 2005:

12/26 - Chelsea - Away
12/30 - ManU - Away

[John L]

Here are Reading's first 5:

8/19 - Boro - Home
8/23 - Aston Villia - Away
8/26 - Wigan - Away
9/11 - ManC - Home
9/15 - Sheffield - Away

How many points do you think they'll walk away with after these 5?

There reason why I ask?

9/23 - ManU - Home
10/14 - Chelsea - Home
10/22 - Arsenal - Away
11/4 - Liverpool - Away

and, if that wasn't enough for 2006:

12/26 - Chelsea - Away
12/30 - ManU - Away

10 points from the first five games

and 1 to 3 points in the next 4 listed

ManU is not the awesome wonder it was 4-5 years ago - And Chelsea, while they will continue to bludgeon opponents early on, may lose focus after two months - Arsenal is re-defining themselves and Liverpool never seems to play consistently in the EPL at the level they do in UEFA Champions League - That said, Reading will be hard pressed to get 3 points from them - It can be done, but not much more against that sort of Murders' Row

PS: (fixed post)

[Pablo Chicago]

10 after 5 would be a great start for any Prem newbie. I hope you're right.

[mschofield]

Survival means at least 35 and maybe 40 pts, which means a point a game. I think we'll be ahead of that pace come November 5, but hardly coasting into the back stretch. I think 12 pts from the first 9 sounds about right. And we pick up three of those points off one of the big boys.

[prvev]

I think there will probably be one loss in the next 4, maybe 2 ties, and then another win. So I guess that would make it 8 points. And then I'd probably agree, either 1 or 3 points from United, Chelsea, Arsenal, and Liverpool. So that makes 9 or 11 points in 8 games. Hopefully its more, obviously.

[Pablo Chicago]

Sidwell's thoughts:

Next Five are Crucial (http://icberkshire.icnetwork.co.uk/printable_version.cfm?objectid=17618057&siteid=50102)

[John L]

Here are Reading's first 5:

8/19 - Boro - Home
8/23 - Aston Villia - Away
8/26 - Wigan - Away
9/11 - ManC - Home
9/15 - Sheffield - Away

How many points do you think they'll walk away with after these 5?

There reason why I ask?

9/23 - ManU - Home
10/14 - Chelsea - Home
10/22 - Arsenal - Away
11/4 - Liverpool - Away

and, if that wasn't enough for 2006:

12/26 - Chelsea - Away
12/30 - ManU - Away

I originally said 10 - It turns out its now 9 POINTS - Great start for Reading

Out of the next 4, I originally said 4 - I have to revise that to 1 or 2 - The big boys are all rolling now - ManU may have a let-down after Arsenal or could be on a roll or come back with renewed spirit - Their weakness the past few years have been falling to lesser teams - Reading could still sneak some favorable results, but I doubt more than 1 or 2 points

Which would still be FANTASTIC

(PS: fixed post)

[Katsbox]

Don't forget that the 4 that you list are the 4 big clubs out of the next 6 games. We also have:

10/1 West Ham Away
10/28 Portsmouth Away

It'll be fun to see how we match up. If we can get 6-7 points out of these 6, I'll be over the moon.

[yimmy]

ManU has some injuries to some of their starting players. Giggs is out for 3 weeks, Vidic made the bench today but he hasn't played at all since the season started, Heinze is still out (he's missed the start of the season as well) and Park Ji Sung won't be back until December. Oh yeah, and Silvestre got injured today and had to be subbed out in the first half. Maybe he'll miss the game against Reading.

Hopefully reading will be able to get a good result at home against ManU.

[mschofield]

ManU has some injuries to some of their starting players. Giggs is out for 3 weeks, Vidic made the bench today but he hasn't played at all since the season started, Heinze is still out (he's missed the start of the season as well) and Park Ji Sung won't be back until December. Oh yeah, and Silvestre got injured today and had to be subbed out in the first half. Maybe he'll miss the game against Reading.

Hopefully reading will be able to get a good result at home against ManU.
And they're going to be three days away from playing their most challenging first round CL game, at Benfica on the 26th, so with any luck their focus will be elsewhere.
I don't like playing the ManUs the world after they lose, however. A win is always important for these guys after a lose.

BTW, has everyone seen Bikey's highlights from the last reserve match? The steal he follows with by sweetly dribbling around the attacker, then strokes a 50 yard cross field pass into the path of a runner looked very nice.