Reading match thread

[Owen]

Players get their rest from injuries though. Injuries are inevitable, and everyone gets them. Planning your teams on potential injuries will only lead to failure i'm afraid.

 

Back when he was first breaking through, Gerrard was playing in pain with those growing spurts he had so it's really not an issue for me. Torres has had a lot of rest as well because of injury this season.

 

Resting them for the Mancs game is pretty pointless if we lose on Saturday.

 

Rafa's motto is usually, 'think about the next game' and that's what he should do. Give us the best chance to win the next game, the rest will take care of itself.

 

Injuries are inevitable, but you can reduce the likelihood by not over-doing it with the players. It could be the difference between a player missing six games in a season through being rested or missing 16 games in a season through wear and tear injuries. If Rafa has faith in whatever team he puts out to beat Reading, that's fine by me.

 

The whole 'let's get a two goal lead then take the players off' is daft in the extreme as well.

 

For what it's worth, I reckon Gerrard will be rested when Xabi's back, and he'll deffo play if Carra's out.

[aws]

Reina

 

Finnan Hobbs Sami Arbeloa

 

Yossi Momo Mascherano Riise

 

Kuyt Voronin

 

is what I'm expecting.

 

0-1 (Crouch)

[RedKnight]

Reina

 

Finnan Hobbs Sami Arbeloa

 

Yossi Momo Mascherano Riise

 

Kuyt Voronin

 

is what I'm expecting.

 

0-1 (Crouch)

 

Oh shit, I'm a little worried now.

[Brownie]

Injuries are inevitable, but you can reduce the likelihood by not over-doing it with the players. It could be the difference between a player missing six games in a season through being rested or missing 16 games in a season through wear and tear injuries. If Rafa has faith in whatever team he puts out to beat Reading, that's fine by me.

 

The whole 'let's get a two goal lead then take the players off' is daft in the extreme as well.

 

For what it's worth, I reckon Gerrard will be rested when Xabi's back, and he'll deffo play if Carra's out.

 

Torres was 'rested' for the Portsmouth and Birmingham games, yet he then got injured a week later and missed games anyway!

 

It could be the difference, but then again it could not be the difference.

 

Why the caution? We have MASSIVE games against Reading, Marseille and the Mancs to come, and then Chelsea in the Carling Cup. Rest him in the bloody Carling Cup game.

 

Basically what you're saying is 'whatever Rafa does is fine by me' which is fair enough, but I prefer to have my own view on it.

 

If we 'rest' Gerrard/Torres/Carragher on Saturday, it dramatically reduces the chances of us winning the game and thus threatens to damage our season. That's a risk we shouldn't take IMO and we have no need to either.

[Brownie]

Um... Injuries don't count as rest because you lose fitness as well. Rest doesn't mean sitting on your sofa eating crisps and watching films.

 

It's still hard training and the players need to do that to stay at the peak of fitness.

 

Obviously it depends on the injury, but doing a bit of work on the bike or in the pool is dramatically less physical than actually training.

 

They have to work hard to get fit again when they're over their injury of course, but they would do that anyway.

[MLB]

Reina

Finnan

Arbeloa

Hyypia

Carra

Benayoun

Kewell

Gerrard

Mascherano

Torres

Crouch

[Jose Jones]

Reina

 

Finnan Hobbs Sami Arbeloa

 

Yossi Momo Mascherano Riise

 

Kuyt Voronin

 

is what I'm expecting.

 

0-1 (Crouch)

 

I reckon Crouch and Torres will be starting in Marseille, so we could well see that strike force indeed.

[Paco]

-------------------------------Reina--------------------------------

 

Finnan--------------Carragher----------Hyypia---------------Arbeloa

 

 

------------------Mascherano----------Lucas----------------------

 

 

------------------------------Gerrard-------------------------------

 

 

------------------Torres------Crouch------Kuyt---------------------

[Guest TK-421]

Not enough width there, Pac man.

[fivetimes]

Reading 1-0 (Doyle)

[hamstrung]

Rafa says Torres can play multiple games in a week

[hamstrung]

Interesting comment from a Reading fan

 

How confident are you going into this one?

 

Let's just say that I feel confident that the team will do its best. Confident about getting anything out of the game? I'd be more optimistic if it was Man Utd or Chelsea, to be honest. Reading struggle most against teams with the flair of Liverpool or Arsenal, where there are more than just a couple of highly influential players.

 

What's your form like?

 

We're having a bit of a problem getting any consistency this season, although in fact we're at about the same position as we were this time last year.

 

Anyone got a point to prove?

 

Against Liverpool? I don't think so. Marcus Hahnemann needs to put in a commanding performance after some dodgy moments in the last few games, and the whole team just needs to concentrate for the full 90 minutes

 

What are your weaknesses?

 

We have weaknesses across the park, but on our day we have the strength of a strong team spirit. God, that sounds corporate...

 

Who should we be worried about?

 

Kevin Doyle. It's about time he started showing a bit of the finesse we all know he has. It's been strangely lacking this season, largely due to a lack of decent service. And Steven Hunt has a knack of getting in behind full-backs, when he's in the mood.

 

Have you had any nightmares over that Torres hat-trick?

 

The cup is genuinely a distraction. Torres is clearly a class above anything Reading could afford, so to see him put a hat-trick past a reserve team is not really nightmare material. A double hat-trick this time would be a nightmare...

 

Who else will you be worried about?

 

No-one specifically. Clearly Crouch is a target, but we're good at dealing with specific threats.

 

What's the score going to be?

 

The score is going to be academic. The result will produce the usual level of intelligent debate on the internet chatrooms. But you never know. Oh, alright. You do.

 

Where will both sides finish this season?

 

Liverpool top three. Reading bottom eight. Can't be any clearer, but I've seen some awful performances from visiting teams this year, and I'd expect us to finish outside the relegation zone. Having said that, a few key injuries or (for example) Coppell's departure, and who knows?

[mcflynn]

Agger to start is a dodgey one for me. Rather see him on the bench and not rush his injury.

[RedAdmiral]

Is this game on telly?

[Cath]

Is this game on telly?

 

Yup. Setanta

[Rashid]

He has to play his best team in every league game, not challenging for the league this season should mean P45. The pressure is on and these are the games we need to win.

[StevieH]

He has to play his best team in every league game, not challenging for the league this season should mean P45. The pressure is on and these are the games we need to win.

 

Rafa doesn't have a "best 11" & picks different players for different games ie. he may think Kuyt is more suited to partner Torres against Reading than say Crouch, but would play Crouch over Kuyt in Europe say.

[Newport]

Reina

Arbeloa

Hyypia

Carra

Riise

Babel

Gerrard

Sissoko

Kewell

Crouch

Voronin

 

I'd choose to rest Torres for this one or at least only play him in the second half.

[Brownie]

Reina

Arbeloa

Hyypia

Carra

Riise

Babel

Gerrard

Sissoko

Kewell

Crouch

Voronin

 

I'd choose to rest Torres for this one or at least only play him in the second half.

 

Why?!?!

[Unrighteous]

Why?!?!

 

We have two MASSIVELY important matches after the Reading match. We don't need Fernando Torres to beat Reading.

 

Start Torres on the Bench and bring him on at 45mins if we are down or 60mins if level.

[Hermes]

The league season so far has been great, but this is a must win game. It looks like 85 points will be needed to win the league this season and dropping any points at Reading is not an option. I just hope Rafa doesn't leave out the top men in view of Marseille and Man Utd next week, anything less than a win will not be good enough if we are to win the league.

[Unrighteous]

The league season so far has been great, but this is a must win game. It looks like 85 points will be needed to win the league this season and dropping any points at Reading is not an option. I just hope Rafa doesn't leave out the top men in view of Marseille and Man Utd next week, anything less than a win will not be good enough if we are to win the league.

 

Yes.. I agree that all of our games are really must win games. However, we are a class above Reading.

 

Trying to say we have to play Fernando to beat them is ridiculous.

[Hermes]

Trying to say we have to play Fernando to beat them is ridiculous.

 

We don't, but leaving him or Gerrard out and not beating them is ridiculous.

[Brownie]

We have two MASSIVELY important matches after the Reading match. We don't need Fernando Torres to beat Reading.

 

Start Torres on the Bench and bring him on at 45mins if we are down or 60mins if level.

 

We didn't need Torres to beat Portsmouth away or Birmingham at home either, apparently.

 

'As always I am thinking of the next game'.

 

Who says that?

[Brownie]

Yes.. I agree that all of our games are really must win games. However, we are a class above Reading.

 

Trying to say we have to play Fernando to beat them is ridiculous.

 

We're a class above Birmingham but we failed to beat them without Torres.

 

Your 'logic' just doesn't make any sense mate.