A warm hello to all Gunners fans - a Royals fan 100% 'in peace' here. Please do see the âNot 606â Reading board for our news and preview on the game â http://www.not606.com/showthread.php/176076-Reading-v-Arsenal The fullest respect is shown to ARSENAL with full information produced equally for both sets of fans â but in all honesty far more on your team. It would be really interesting for us to have any comments from you put up here (or there on the Reading thread), like how you see the game going and general thoughts on your own team, and your (honest!) opinion of Reading. I know some people donât particularly like other fans producing a shopping list of questions to answer, and I perfectly understand that, so I leave any comments freely and totally with you. But if you like, these simple following points might be used as a very basic guide in case youâd like to write to something slightly longer, but donât feel at all pushed to go along this road if it doesnât suit you: A] What are currently the strongest areas of YOUR squad, and who should Reading individually look out for / fear most? B] Any young stars coming through the academy that we should keep an eye on, now or in the future? C] Realistically, where do you hope Arsenal might finish if all goes more-or-less well? D] How strong do you see the general level of the premier this season, and any general opinions of Reading FC and our current football - either for or against (you can be honest!) Many thanks, hereâs to a good game! daib0
The quick answer is that I don't honestly yet know, but I'm pretty sure that it'll be a strong-ish team as far as we can muster that is - there won't be youngsters just coming in to get experience ... however, Brian McDermott's already swopped a bit about already this season - it's uncomfortable when you're at/near the bottom - so there is no pre-set first XI at the moment anyway. I'm sure you'll know that our record historically against you is abysmal though - 9 games played and we've lost the 9!!
A) Strongest area will possibly be midfield with coquelin frimpong and possibly arshavin or eisfeld playing. Players to look out for are coquelin and if he plays definitely 17yr old serge gnabry B) I would say eisfeld and provided he plays as mentioned above gnabry C) Realistically i would hope to finish third D) Premier league as is usual is full of gneral surprises with no team a push over. However having said that the likes of chelsea manu and man city have experienced substantially fewer obstacles though that may well be a consequence of their superior financial expenditure. I like reading and they do things the right way. They have faith in youth and have great team spirit. I don't expect this to be a pushover by any means as i expect us to play our reserves as stated by wenger but i do think they will display far more passion.
#2 - I think that we're likely to rotate players, due to our important match at QPR on Sunday. However, some of our first team players should remain in the team, most likely being McAnuff (Captain), Roberts (played his first 90 minutes at the weekend, and it could be used to get him some game time), McCarthy (I don't see the need to change the goalkeeper), one the centre-backs (I could see Pearce coming in, he didn't do anything wrong last season). I could see Hunt returning from injury (he was on the bench on Saturday), and McCleary playing instead of Kebe. I'm a bit worried to have our full-backs up against your wingers though - Ian Harte or Nicky Shorey against Oxlade Chamberlain or Theo Walcott .
Well Gervinho is currently injured some doubt both will start in all honesty. I expect gnabry to play on the left with Meade at lb. both have potential but don't judge Meade by his stature.
Cheers, team news from the Reading side - according to the Bracknell news, Federici, Morrison, Church and Tabb, who have struggled to make the league starting line-up, are likely to feature against the Gunners.
