Reading v Portsmouth-January 1 [R]

[prvev]

Reading
01 Hahnemann
02 Murty
05 Sonko
16 Ingimarsson
03 Shorey
10 Hunt
15 Harper
04 Cisse
17 Convey
09 Doyle
12 Kitson

Substitutes
32 Federici, 08 Lita, 22 Bikey, 23 De la Cruz, 24 Long

Portsmouth
01 James
05 Johnson
23 Campbell
15 Distin
07 Hreidarsson
17 Utaka
08 Diop
22 Hughes
11 Muntari
19 Kranjcar
25 Benjani

Substitutes
31 Begovic, 04 Lauren, 10 Nugent, 14 Taylor, 27 Kanu

[whipsmart13]

Already down to 10 men thanks to a straight Red on Sonko....pathetic

PK missed by Pompey and already Bikey in for Convey so we will be defending for 85 minutes.

More disappointing defense.....its time to bring in some defenders and kick Wally in the arse

[whipsmart13]

The rout has already started...Sol Campbell scores from just outside the goal on a stick back from a free kick that Marcus could not gobble up. 1-0 in the 9th minute

[whipsmart13]

Marcus dropped the cross on the free kick but with 10 versus 11, Campbell was there to put the ball in.

We have a lumbering, slow, error-ridden back 5. As soon as we get it changed ,the better. If Sonks goes to the African Nations, maybe he can take the rest of the back 4 with him and leave them in Africa. Defensively, we are a total disaster and Sonks has been crap this year so far. I wonder if they rushed him back too soon? However, he's been a guy that can make the spectacular and the bonehead plays within minutes so maybe this is just the typical Sonks play that we need to continue to expect throughout his career.

[whipsmart13]

Sonks has conceded 7 pens in his last 34 games .

Last season

Villa A
Spurs H
Newcastle A

This season

Blackburn A
Sunderland H
Spurs A
Pompey H

He has many good points - strong in the air, fast - but every game sees him do something clumsy or unthinking. And too often, that is punished.

Afer watching Bikey handle AJ early on, I thought that we found our CB but since then, he's not been given a run out and we've seen Duberry, Sonks and Ivar getting all of the play. I would hope that with Sonks suspension that Bikey will get a fair shot but I bet we see Ivar and Duberry.

[whipsmart13]

HT 1-0 Pompey

13 saves for Marcus

[whipsmart13]

2-0 70th minute

[whipsmart13]

FT 2-0

The next 3 games are going to be tough to pick up any points.

[Neeto]

That backline is just driving me crazy. Within the first few minutes, Sonko makes a huge mistake and it ultimately costs Reading points. The second goal given up was terrible from Shorey, but I guess its understandable with the flu or stomach cramps he had. We only had a couple of chances being down a man for almost the entire match so there wasn't much action from Reading. Following this loss Reading will have a very tough schedule with the likes of Man U and Chelsea on the menu.

[Katsbox]

http://zaragozaciudad.net/sargantana/upload/20061228110733-stan-marsh.jpg

Yep, that's me after watching the first 10 minutes of the game.

[RichardL]

Sonks has conceded 7 pens in his last 34 games .

Last season

Villa A
Spurs H
Newcastle A

This season

Blackburn A
Sunderland H
Spurs A
Pompey H

He has many good points - strong in the air, fast - but every game sees him do something clumsy or unthinking. And too often, that is punished.

Afer watching Bikey handle AJ early on, I thought that we found our CB but since then, he's not been given a run out and we've seen Duberry, Sonks and Ivar getting all of the play. I would hope that with Sonks suspension that Bikey will get a fair shot but I bet we see Ivar and Duberry.
at least two of those last season were pretty harsh (and I can't remember the Spurs one) so it's not normally a feature of his game. This year it's like he's trying too hard, trying to make the kind of terrific saving tackles that were a feature of his game. The one v Sunderland was a classic example of making a last-ditch tackle that didn't need to be made.

Actually, it's all my fault. Since learning to drive in 1989, making getting to all home games possible (I'd miss games on Boxing Day etc, when the was no public transport), I've only missed 4 home games. They are

Reading 1 Cambridge 2 (FA Cup 1994)
Reading 1 Luton 2 (League 1999)
Reading 0 Norwich 2 (League 2003)
Reading 0 Portsmouth 2 (League 2008)

See a pattern?

Other than two (away) wins at the start of the 2005/6 season when I was in Japan, I think we've also lost every match we've played when I've been abroad - probably about 8 or 9 in total, although I don't have the inclination to check.

Mind you, I have to say, annoying as it is, defeat is somewhat easier to take if you are situated somewhere like Bangkok, for example, I've found. For the cup tie at Spurs, where I expect another high-scoring defeat, I'll have to console myself that I'll be in a bar near a coconut tree fringed beach in Phuket rather than freezing my nuts off at a wet and cold white hart lane.

[blech]

just curious - anyone else think that Campbell was offside on that first goal - several defenders seemed to be asking for a handling call, but it looked from the replay that they should have been asking for an offside call as Campbell only had one defender between him and the goal as Hahnemann had come out to bungle the cross - not sure it would have mattered as there were just too many minutes to play a man down, but under such circumstances you need all the breaks you can get

[Katsbox]

just curious - anyone else think that Campbell was offside on that first goal - several defenders seemed to be asking for a handling call, but it looked from the replay that they should have been asking for an offside call as Campbell only had one defender between him and the goal as Hahnemann had come out to bungle the cross - not sure it would have mattered as there were just too many minutes to play a man down, but under such circumstances you need all the breaks you can get

Reading Official Site agrees with you, stating "[Sol Campbell] was definitely offside, but the goal was wrongly allowed to stand." I don't remember it being that obvious.

[Neeto]

Well then that is two games where the linesman has messed up. There is the Campbell goal and the Defoe goal as well.:(