10 AM EST Spector on the pine more than likely for West Ham. Imagine Marcus starts, and Convey is on the bench.
Reading: Hahnemann, Murty, Ingimarsson, Duberry, Shorey, Fae, Harper, Gunnarsson, Hunt, Lita, Doyle Subs: Federici, Cisse, Kitson, Convey, Bikey West Ham: Green, Neill, Ferdinand, Upson, McCartney, Bowyer, Noble, Mullins, Etherington, Ashton, Bellamy Subs: Wright, Gabbidon, Cole, Spector, Boa Morte
Hmm... little afraid that Reading are going to suffer from that "softmore season" blues... just as West Ham did last season. Maybe they can pick up Adriano via a 3rd party or something...
I've voiced quiet reservations about Coppell's acquisitions. I've felt they really needed to look at picking up a central mid. They've been weak there. At this point, you have to think Coppell didn't take the loss of Sidwell seriously enough. And Hunt's hustle is more fun to watch than it is effective.
It's also a better motivational tactic to stick with the same team that got you promoted rather than the same team that got you 8th place. But they really have started off the season with an absolutely brutal schedule. If Coppell can keep them from losing confidence, it should get better. But with everyone else spending tv money and them losing players, I see nothing better than 12-15th in Reading's future this season.
In the movie world, a film that divides opinions is Bill Murray’s Lost in Translation. Some hate it, some love it. I’m in the latter camp, but as much as I enjoy it, I’ll have to concede that not a lot happens. Today’s game reminded me of it in some respects. In lasted 90 minutes, and from a Reading point of view, who naturally I’m very keen on, virtually nothing happened. The similarities more or less end there, as there was nothing enjoyable about this hour and a half, nor did it at any stage feature Scarlett Johansson walking around in her underwear. It did, on the other hand, require “more intensity” from a team who look worrying knackered both mentally and physically before the shadows have even started to get long in the evenings, and who, as a result, turned in a performance befitting a team who’ll be relegated come May. Perhaps best would be to describe it in as little detail as possible. From the moment Craig Bellamy put West Ham ahead in just the sixth minute, there only looked one winner. One of many West Ham breaks found Bellamy in enough room to reverse a caravan, but instead he chose to hit a shot across Hahnemann, who inexplicably made no effort to try and save the shot, and put West Ham ahead. Similar moves resulted in two more goals in the second half, and ought to have resulted in more, and that is all Reading have to be thankful for. Between those, Hunt hit the crossbar and Doyle, badly, missed a penalty, as the team looked to have less idea than fashion model who’d strolled into a quantum physics exam. It was a performance that long hard winters are made of. Things did improve slightly when Convey and Kitson came on towards the end, but Reading’s ship had been holed below the water-line long before then. Only time will tell whether Reading’s traditional “all hands to the pumps” approach will save the day, or if the good ship premiership is sinking. Make no mistake. Play like this too often and Reading’s season will be barnacle-encrusted before Christmas. Hahnemann did make amends with some good saves later on, but I'll need to see the first goal again to see whether his mis-judged it, thinking it was going wide, or just thought he had no chance of saving it.
Which is an interesting development. Curbs still had Boa Morte on the bench but he just put Jonathan in, presumably for the defensive purposes, who received a "fine" "6" from Sky. This, of course, adds to Spector's versatility. A player who can fill in three different positions will likely to get at least on a sub's bench every game in the Prem. And, for the US ... uh, sadly, he isn't the coach's son.
the coach's son plays every minute of every match for an eredivisie team. He never comes off the bench, so I guess the Dutch coach does not share your assesment. Probably his bad.
The Dutch coach does not have the same options that BB has with the USMNT. If he did, he wouldn't be playing MB every single minute. Back to Spector. On Match of the Day it looked as though Spector started the break that led to the final goal with a good tackle/pass. I only saw it out of the corner of my eye so I could very well be wrong. Someone posted that Spector played right mid but the couple times I saw him he looked like he was in the right back position.
You do realize that West Ham and Heerenveen operate within quite different budgetary constraints, do you not? Or are you saying that Bradley would start for West Ham also?
Spector replaced a midfielder today and played in defensive midfield. Lucas Neill went 90 as the right fullback.