by Snowball »
08 Feb 2009 10:04
Coppell has it right when he says most sides no longer come to Reading to play,
they come to spoil and stop us. We are a victims of our success
Same thing happened to Arsenal. We went to Man Utd for our 0-0 there.
We have to face the fact that games are going to be difficult, against 4-5-1 or 5-5-0
and we need to find DIFFERENT ways to unlock the door.
I think that has to mean Matejovsky playing.
On the radio (no, I went to the game , this was on the way back) Gooding was
saying he thinks SSC won't play Matty with Kebe and SHunt because the defence
might be put under more pressure.
But we NEED something like Matty's defence-splitting through passes, or Kebe to turn brilliant
skills into actual chances and goals.
1
Would one way would be to put Noel Hunt RW? That solves the defensive
issues on the right and would allow Matty in for Harper or Cisse. One of
those two plays defensive midfield and allows Matty to play a bit.
2
Another way would be 4-5-1 with Noel RW, Cisse-Harper (or whatever defensive MF you fancy)
and Matty in a free role, attacking MF, supporting Doyle. We still have a goal-scorer on the RW
who would be a striker every time the ball is coming in from the left.
3
This will never happen but, what if we swopped Kebe and Noel Hunt's positions?
Don't knee-jerk and jump down my throat.
Noel Hunt has plenty of experience as RW and would get goals from out there.
What Kebe has is a brilliant first-trick that makes space for himself and awesome speed. He sometimes
does too much and eventually loses it... but he's out wide... what if he was getting the ball smack
centre of the goal on the edge of the box or on the penalty spot?
Doyle, Hunt, Lita, Long are conventional hard-working strikers that a good defensive unit can deal with.
Kebe is mercurial, unknown there, likely to do odd things. He'd buy a lot of fouls on the edge of the box
or penalties inside it. PS and before you say he can't shoot, check his stats on the Reading web-site
Shots on target, shots off target, hit woodwork
Kevin Doyle 36 22 3
Noel Hunt 25 17 3
Jimmy Kebe 18 19 1 AS A WINGER
