Reading - A fan's view
Also In The News
|
A century from Kevin Pietersen helped England set West Indies an imposing total of 401 to win the first Test after day four at Lord's. |  |
Monday, 21, May 2007 01:33
Good, bad or just the same old, same old. What the fans made of the 2006-07 season.
When Leroy Lita struck on the opening day of the season to score his side's third goal in 12 minutes and seal an unlikely comeback against visiting Middlesbrough, Reading fans would have been forgiven for thinking that this was to be par for the course this season - a rollercoaster ride in which defeat and victory would in turn be snatched from one another's jaws.
Not a bit of it - the season turned out to be entirely palpitation-free for followers of Steve Coppell's side, a finely-tuned machine which, as some suspected it might, simply continued with the previous 12 months' pleasing mix of discipline and adventure. What setbacks the side received were invariably worked around by the ever-astute Coppell - main strikers Kevin Doyle, Leroy Lita and Dave Kitson all spent considerable spells of the season on the sidelines but, despite their individual excellence when they played, it says something that none were unduly missed despite being key members of a small squad. When four defeats on the trot in October and early November seemed to suggest a dousing of the season's early euphoria, Reading silenced any gathering critics with an excellent 3-1 win over Spurs.
The majority of the season was spent in upper mid-table at worst - and, if it hadn't been for a shock defeat against Watford on the penultimate day of the season, Coppell's dry assertion that he would field a reserve side in any Uefa Cup campaign next season would have been tested fully.
Reserves? Perhaps an unfair word in a season which saw some unlikely figures step up to the plate. A long-term injury to Bobby Convey, one of the previous season's real stars, saw the likes of Stephen Hunt and John Oster - both bit-part players the year before - benefit from Coppell's laudable trust of wingers and slot straight in to perform admirably. Glen Little and Seol Ki-Hyeon, an underachiever at Wolves, added to this decent cadre of wide men. Young Irish striker Shane Long stepped into the fray frequently when his colleagues were unavailable and vindicated Coppell's decision to largely stick with what he knew upon promotion.
Winter signings Andre Bikey and Michael Duberry were decent partners for the imperious Ivar Ingimarsson when Ibrahima Sonko's season was ended - while Ulises De La Cruz, a derided figure at Villa, paid back Coppell's faith with some good end-of-season performances in injured captain Graeme Murty's place. So finely-tuned a machine were Reading that all members of their compact squad were able to fit in seamlessly whenever required. Coppell's has been a triumph of knowing exactly how to build and sustain a side that can carry out his tactical instructions to the letter while not seeing its creative edge stymied.
Grade: A - surely only the super-critical will be tearing their hair out at the lack of a European position, much as this should probably have been achieved when the chance arose.
High Point
So many. The 1-1 home draw against Manchester United on September 23rd - which should perhaps have been a win - perhaps provided proof that, after a decent start of the season, the Royals really had come of age in the big time. The thumping 6-0 win over a distraught West Ham on New Year's Day demonstrated Reading at their best - all precise passing, flowing movement, pace and vim - and, despite their opposition's crisis, was probably the best performance of the season.
Low Point
The mystifying defeat against relegated Watford was a flat way to end Reading's season at home, ultimately costing Coppell's men a place in the Uefa Cup. Perhaps the only real low, though, was the 1-0 Madejski Stadium defeat against Chelsea in October - or, more precisely, everything that went with it. Petr Cech's injury was grave and regrettable, but the ensuing spotlight on Stephen Hunt and Chelsea's keenness to apportion blame were also unfortunate.
Fan's Player of the Year
- Ivar Ingimarsson -
The solid, unfussy Ingimarsson wasn't wanted by Wolves a few years back, but is now this side's lynchpin and binds together an imaginatively-sourced defence. He narrowly gets the vote here, but in truth there are many candidates. Steve Sidwell, now departed for Chelsea, ticks every category in the '"box-to-box midfielder' bracket and his all-round ability to drive his side forward - even if he fancied a few more goals - will be sorely missed. Nicky Shorey's radar-like left foot prompted many flowing moves from left back and international honours could well follow next season. Between them, he and 14-goal leading scorer Kevin Doyle cost just £100,000. Doyle himself was a stunning, livewire performer whose goals came despite a significant injury absence, and the former Cork City player is perhaps the best proof of Coppell's supreme prescience in the transfer market. Goalkeeper Marcus Hahnemann immediately looked one of the more imposing stoppers in the Premiership. The fact that this list could go on and on is the best indication that, for Reading, the team was the thing this year.
Needs for Next Season
More of the same would be nice. Most Reading fans would, one suspects, be glad to see ideas of world domination put on hold for the sake of some stability over the next year or two. Plenty of column inches are sure to remind them of what happened to Ipswich in 2002 - and to an equally-pointed extent what very nearly happened to both Wigan and West Ham this time around - and as such it can be assumed that the professedly wary Coppell will opt for evolution ahead of revolution.
The talismanic Sidwell will most likely need replacing, although Coppell has already shown that he is perfectly happy to promote from within. Another striker, given the imperfect fitness records of the current incumbents and Long's youth, may well be on the shopping list too and there remains a worry that Shorey - bound to be on a few shopping lists - does not have a specialist understudy. Really, the task for Coppell is to keep the formula of the last two years bubbling nicely while freshening things up sufficiently to ensure that one or two new problems are posed to sides who might be harbouring hopes of being better prepared to face them next season.
Nick Ames
Club history, honours and statistics