Here are the lineups: Hahnemann Murty Shorey Cisse Ingimarsson Harper Hunt Oster Convey Lita Doyle Subs: Federici, De La Cruz, Rosenior, Bennett, Matejovsky Cech Bridge Ferreira Carvalho Alex Makelele Ballack Malouda Wright-Phillips Cole Anelka Subs: Cudicini, Ben Haim, Sidwell, Sinclair,Pizarro, No Kitson today. He is out with the flu.
25th minute: No score yet. Hahnemann with a few good saves to keep it scoreless. Not much pressure by Lita and Doyle. A few early corners have tested Chelsea's back line but nothing special. Things are getting a little feisty and the Chelsea fans are booing Hunt any chance they get.
32nd minute: 1-0 Chelsea Ballack goal on a nice cross from Ferreira. Nothing Hahnemann could do with that one. Perfect finish just inside the post. It is all Chelsea at this point. They are putting constant pressure on the Reading defense.
Halftime Chelsea dominated the first half by controlling the battle of possession. They seemed to control the ball at least 80% of the time. Reading are lucky to get out of the half behind just 1-0. There has been no push from the midfield and Oster has looked horrible. I don't know why Coppell keeps putting him in the starting lineup. Chelsea looks much more precise and defined in their attacks whereas Reading have gotten most of their pressure from corners. This isn't the team that played MAN U. I'm looking for Matejovsky early in the second half for Oster. Coppell has to do something to create some offense. The only positive is that Hunt is putting forth his usual die hard effort all the while the Chelsea supporters boo him whenever he touches the ball. Unless things change, this game could get ugly.
Another great save by Hahnemann keeps this game close in score only. That being said just prior Reading had their best chance of the game with a nice pass from Doyle which Cech quickly covered. This is painful to watch for Reading supporters.
60th minute: Reading has started to show some life but still have not really threatened the Chelsea defense. Another pass from Doyle but Lita wasn't on the same page. Just for the record...I LOVE STEVEN HUNT.
85 minute: Late pressure from Reading is frustrating Chelsea. Earlier Matejovsky was subbed in for Oster and now Convey was just subbed for Rosenior. Hopefully we can sneak a goal in the late minutes. Chelsea has been very quiet it the latter part of the second half. Will Reading be able to make something happen?
Sidwell makes an appearance for Wright-Phillips. I would still love to see him back in a Reading shirt.
Full time: Reading played admirably in the second half but the poor play in the first half cost them in this one. The second half saw a lot more chances for Reading but failure to capitalize will haunt them. Harper missed an absolute sitter from Lita which would have evened things up. The pressure was clearly on Chelsea late in the game and they should be thankful for Reading's miscues. Reading could have easily gotten a point from this game. That being said it could have been a lot uglier in the first half. This was definitely a tale of two halves as Reading showed much more spirit in the second half. Some things I liked in this game was Hunt's persistent pressure and hustle. He simply leaves it all on the field. Oster improved in the second half but still is not worthy of a starting spot in my eyes. Matejovsky looks very relaxed with the ball and shows good poise for a rather inexperienced player at this level. I would love to see him get some starts and see what he can do for 90 minutes. Lita finally got a start and played well but he did nothing special to make me want him over Doyle or Kitson. He has been a major disapointment this season. All in all to hold a team like Chelsea to one goal is admirable but the blown chances in this game will not sit well with Coppell. They showed heart and determination in the second half but they need to do more for the entire 90 minutes. A win against Bolton is needed to stop the bleeding. We need to make a statement that we belong in the Premiership.
Overall, I thought it was a good performance from Reading. The first half didn't go to well as they gave up possession too easily and did not have much of the ball. The second half was a much better performance and created some great opportunities. Harper was given the ball in the middle of the area and should have made better of that chance. Marcus played brilliantly by stopping key free kicks and 1 on 1's. In all, Reading stayed organized and kept the blues to 1 goal at the fortress.
Overall, a solid performance. The first half was really ugly, but while it's easy to say (as some news reports have) that Chelsea "should" have been up 3 or 4-nil at the half, there was some solid defending and excellent saves that prevented those chances from turning into goals. The second half was far better. While Chelsea still looked to be the better team, both teams had some decent chances. And more importantly, we weren't immediately losing the ball on every possession. There was still a lot less effectiveness in passing than I would like to see, but there's only so much you can ask for against a team this good. MOTM is probably Hunt. As others have commented, he is simply astonishing in how much effort he puts into it. Another candidate would be Shorey who was giving Chelsea some serious trouble going forward in the second half (looking far more like the Shorey who earned an England call-up than the one we've seen too often this year), but a few defensive lapses knock him down just a bit. I didn't think Oster looked too bad, especially for someone out for that long coming back in to face Chelsea. I admit I've got a bit of a soft spot for him, but I think he deserves some more chances. As for Harper's miss, I don't think it's at all fair to say he missed a "sitter." It's not like he was 3 feet away from an open net. It would have been an impressive goal if he had converted it - a strong volley at a difficult angle through a couple defenders. That said, it was probably the best chance we had all night and he made such an embarrassment of it that it's hard to feel too much sympathy. If we can play as well as we did against Man U or in the second half today when it comes to facing the rest of the league, we shouldn't have any problems staying up. Still, it's been a long time since we won a game, and now that we've gone through this particularly tough part of the schedule it's crucial that we pick up a few points right quick.
Huh? You mean other than Hahnemann. Hahnemann kept Reading in the game especially early on. Hahnemann made no fewer than 4 or 5 great stops to keep the score within one. I agree Hunt did play well.