MATCHWATCH : Bristol City (a)

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Sutekh
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MATCHWATCH : Bristol City (a)

by Sutekh » 13 Feb 2021 17:41



When : Tuesday 16th February 2020, 7.45pm
Where : Ashton Gate, Ashton Road, Bristol, BS3 2EJ, Bristol
Capacity : 27,000


Reading take their current bout of miserable form down to the west country for an evening visit to Bristol for a game that really needs to be won by the biscuitmen. To add to the headaches Reading’s form away from home in midweek in the league since April 2014 is, quite frankly, kak! That said there is at least the chance of a win as Bristol City begins with a ‘B’ and all of Reading’s 3 away league wins since April 2014 (40 games) have come at teams beginning with ‘B’.

City started the season really well before form dipped and were then hit by injuries that make Reading look like they have a fully fit squad. Consequently Bristol are now mid table with playoff chances rapidly disappearing and their current form (1 win and 5 defeats from the last 6 league games, including a 6-0 stuffing last time out) starting to become a worry. That form is also a worry for Reading as it is not uncommon for Reading to be the team that allows opponents to start reversing out of bad form problems and that stuffing of City probably won’t help things.

Nakhi Wells and Famara Diedhiou are the leading scorers with 6 goals apiece. Neither need much introduction esp. Mr Wells who is more often than not a right royal pain to Reading defences. In addition Jamie Paterson is fit and healthy so another persistent thorn for Reading to deal with.

City’s injury list sees Alfie Mawson, Chris Martin, Andrei Weimann, Tommy Rowe, Jay Dasilva, George Nurse, and Cam Pring among those injured. Henri Lansbury and Steven Sessegnon both signed last month and will be available. Reading should have both Puscas and Araruna available for the bench but I would expect Swift and Meite to still be absent along with Liam Moore.

Referee

Oliver “when is a penalty not a penalty” Langford

Previously

02 Dec 20 > Sheffield Wednesday 1-1 Reading
19 Apr 19 > Bristol City 1-1 Reading
12 Jan 19 > Reading 2-0 Nottingham Forest
24 Nov 2018 > Wigan Athletic 0-0 Reading
22 Aug 2018 > Blackburn Rovers 2-2 Reading
17 Mar 2018 > Norwich City 3-2 Reading
26 Dec 2017 > Bristol City 2-0 Reading
28 Oct 17 > Reading 0-2 Middlesbrough
12 Jan 17 > Reading 0-1 Queen’s Park Rangers
03 Dec 16 > Fulham 5-0 Reading
04 Oct 16 > Portsmouth 2-2 Reading U23 (Checkacrowd Trophy)
27 Sep 16 > Brentford 4-1 Reading
19 Jan 16 > Reading 5-2 Huddersfield Town (FAC3R)
16 Dec 15 > Hull City 2-1 Reading
11 Mar 14 > Leeds United 2-4 Reading
14 Dec 13 > Huddersfield Town 0-1 Reading
06 Mar 12 > Reading 1-0 Portsmouth
27 Aug 11 > Hull City 1-0 Reading
16 Oct 10 > Reading 0-1 Swansea City
09 Feb 10 > Reading 1-0 Plymouth Argyle

Historically

Many a season has been shared with the red half of Bristol with this being the 48th league visit to face City.

Reading have amassed 14 wins from the previous 46 games compared to City’s 25. City do have an unfortunate habit of scoring though as they average around 2 goals a game in this fixture.

How to follow the game

  1. Listen to Radio 5 Live and/or a myriad of other radio stations for score flashes
  2. Ring/text a mate for updates
  3. Use an iFollow subscription
  4. Red button from around 7.40pm
  5. BBC Radio Berkshire (FM : 104.4, 104.1 or 95.4 depending where you are in the area)
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URZZZZ
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Re: MATCHWATCH : Bristol City (a)

by URZZZZ » 13 Feb 2021 18:19

Rafael

Yiadom
Morrison
McIntyre
Richards

Laurent
Rinomhota

Aluko
Semedo
Ejaria

Joao

Southwood Esteves Holmes Gibson Tetek Olise Onen Camara Baldock

Possibly give Ejaria a rest but not much options. Olise really shouldn’t be starting again, would save him for Boro next weekend

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Snowflake Royal
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Re: MATCHWATCH : Bristol City (a)

by Snowflake Royal » 13 Feb 2021 18:31

Two plodding performances against physical and uninspiring mid-table sides sandwiching an exciting and high octane performance that lacked end product. Bringing us 1 point.

Can't rely on Joao to score every chance all season. Can't play Rinomhota No. 10. Need to use substitutes and not disrupt a functional defence when its under pressure. Play positive, follow sensible tactics and we should have a great chance to recover and pick up some points.

Plod around and wait for the perfect chance to fall in our lap and we may well get a bloody nose again.

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Re: MATCHWATCH : Bristol City (a)

by Stranded » 13 Feb 2021 19:08

Feel we need to win this one. Defeat could make us look vulnerable esp. if Boro win midweek then they'll fancy their chances of closing gap to 2 points next weekend.

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Zip
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Re: MATCHWATCH : Bristol City (a)

by Zip » 13 Feb 2021 19:13

Stranded Feel we need to win this one. Defeat could make us look vulnerable esp. if Boro win midweek then they'll fancy their chances of closing gap to 2 points next weekend.


Cardiff are now the bigger threat than Boro imo.


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Re: MATCHWATCH : Bristol City (a)

by Hound » 13 Feb 2021 19:50

Yep less worried about Boro. They keep losing

A win is pretty impt here. Might see Puscas on the bench again? Not that I’d expect too much him being out for 3 months or whatever it is

Brizzle aren’t too hot atm but actually won 4 in 5 home games I think.

Agree Aluko in for Semedo and Yiadom and Richards back in

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Re: MATCHWATCH : Bristol City (a)

by Notts Royal » 13 Feb 2021 19:59

Zip
Stranded Feel we need to win this one. Defeat could make us look vulnerable esp. if Boro win midweek then they'll fancy their chances of closing gap to 2 points next weekend.


Cardiff are now the bigger threat than Boro imo.


It’s still a big gap so Cardiff would have to carry on this run for a good stretch to catch us.

However, I think Bournemouth have too much quality for them to not pick up at some point. I reckon we’ll drop down to 6th by the end of the season

Stranded
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Re: MATCHWATCH : Bristol City (a)

by Stranded » 13 Feb 2021 20:23

Zip
Stranded Feel we need to win this one. Defeat could make us look vulnerable esp. if Boro win midweek then they'll fancy their chances of closing gap to 2 points next weekend.


Cardiff are now the bigger threat than Boro imo.


Agreed was more pointing out the Boro thing as we play them on Saturday.

Of the chasing pack, realistically they need to win 11 of 17 to get to 73 points. Big ask for any if them 8 wins and a draw gets us there.

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Re: MATCHWATCH : Bristol City (a)

by windermereROYAL » 13 Feb 2021 20:31

Cardiff have Luton away and Preston home in the next week, I fancy them to get max points from those two games.


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Zip
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Re: MATCHWATCH : Bristol City (a)

by Zip » 13 Feb 2021 20:33

Notts Royal
Zip
Stranded Feel we need to win this one. Defeat could make us look vulnerable esp. if Boro win midweek then they'll fancy their chances of closing gap to 2 points next weekend.


Cardiff are now the bigger threat than Boro imo.


It’s still a big gap so Cardiff would have to carry on this run for a good stretch to catch us.

However, I think Bournemouth have too much quality for them to not pick up at some point. I reckon we’ll drop down to 6th by the end of the season


I think the majority of us would settle for sixth and a shot at the play offs.

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Re: MATCHWATCH : Bristol City (a)

by Notts Royal » 13 Feb 2021 20:48

Zip
Notts Royal
Zip
Cardiff are now the bigger threat than Boro imo.


It’s still a big gap so Cardiff would have to carry on this run for a good stretch to catch us.

However, I think Bournemouth have too much quality for them to not pick up at some point. I reckon we’ll drop down to 6th by the end of the season


I think the majority of us would settle for sixth and a shot at the play offs.


Of course we would

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Pepe the Horseman
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Re: MATCHWATCH : Bristol City (a)

by Pepe the Horseman » 15 Feb 2021 22:00

Expecting us to win this 3-2.

JR
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Re: MATCHWATCH : Bristol City (a)

by JR » 15 Feb 2021 23:16

Langford!!!!! Urgh

He also seems to have first dibs on Bristol City vs Reading games it seems


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CountryRoyal
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Re: MATCHWATCH : Bristol City (a)

by CountryRoyal » 16 Feb 2021 00:31

Pepe the Horseman Expecting us to win this 3-2.


After being 2-0 down. It's practically standard practise.

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Re: MATCHWATCH : Bristol City (a)

by JedMaxwell » 16 Feb 2021 07:57

Long time lurker, first time poster.

I think we will win this one 1-0, with a Morrison header. They got absolutely walloped at the weekend and I think we're getting more canny at bouncing back after a couple of negative results.

By the way, how nice is it to be going into the final stretch of the season with something positive to play for, and the top two not out of our reach?

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Pepe the Horseman
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Re: MATCHWATCH : Bristol City (a)

by Pepe the Horseman » 16 Feb 2021 08:29

CountryRoyal
Pepe the Horseman Expecting us to win this 3-2.


After being 2-0 down. It's practically standard practise.

Yep. Ashton Gate is the anti-Britannia.

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Re: MATCHWATCH : Bristol City (a)

by Hound » 16 Feb 2021 09:24

Bit nervous for this one actually. Defeat would be pretty damaging

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Re: MATCHWATCH : Bristol City (a)

by South Coast Royal » 16 Feb 2021 10:14

Every newspaper I read after the Millwall game had Olise MOM and that in a game we lost!!
Surely he has to play, especially with Swift being unavailable even if he is feeling a bit tired.

Why would you not play him?
Our squad is thin-a shame we didn't have a transfer window( :roll: recently to add a bit to the squad such as Watford did with Gosling, Swansea did with Hourihane and Bournemouth did with Wilshere and Pearson.

All midfielders incidentally but never mind, we have Aluko.

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CountryRoyal
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Re: MATCHWATCH : Bristol City (a)

by CountryRoyal » 16 Feb 2021 10:47

I’d start with Aluko and Olise. Semedo had a decent game but we just don’t offer much of a threat with him in a central attacking role.

Aluko has same goals and 1 less assist for 400 minutes less game time, and is more intelligent offensively, allows for better movement/runs and has better ball control so can retain possession higher up.

Depending on the situation with 20 minutes or so to go I’d really like to see us actually using our bench as well, Onen, Tetek etc. I mean heck I’d even put Camara up top to replace a tiring and unenthusiastic Joao in some games. It frustrates me that they aren’t given opportunities when there is literally nothing else to lose.

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Re: MATCHWATCH : Bristol City (a)

by South Coast Royal » 16 Feb 2021 10:57

I don't think Semedo is ideal but did you include the penalty that he won at Bournemouth when comparing his stats with the £8 million man?
Also I would guess that Semedo has won a fair few more tackles than Aluko who I guess doesn't even get into double figures.

Anyway Pauno will decide for better or for worse and I bet he is as frustrated as we are that we have so many crocks.

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