Respectful Match Thread v Reading

thanks Shot 21 LCFC - just amended that right now (and given thanks to you!). Also to Greatness for the probable team news ...

Only a minor one, we also played Valencia in pre-season and lost 1-0 although we played fairly well. Apart from that, nice article! Oh, and I reckon we'll win 2-1!

Nice preview.

Would you consider it terribly pedantic if I told you that 'anecdotes' doesn't mean what you intend it to?

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/anecdote

'Facts' or even 'statistics' would do fine.

thanks again, your comments are now uploaded on RR!

Good, conscientious preview. Five stars for total abstinence from wumming.

Re: Mills' reception, most the fans will probably stick their middle finger up at him after he took the effort to do that to the fans before he took a free kick a year ago :D

But it will mostly be in jest, a lot of people didn't warm to him after that and a few dont understand the decision to move to you so he'll get some abuse but the vast majority will be lighthearted and I'm sure he'll get a cheer at some point.

thanks again ...

just been reading about your new teenage sensation Jeff Schlupp ! Might he play on Saturday, and who knows something more about him? - sounds a terrific prospect!

Before the hat-trick, I would have said there was no chance of seeing Schlupp on Saturday.

No disrespect to Rotherham intended, but when you are up against a club two divisions below you second match of the season, part of your thinking will be to do some rotation and get competitive pitch minutes under the belts of a few more of your squad than you were able to do in the first league game.

This is especially true of a squad where the imperative of the summer transfer activity has been to get two quality players for every position. Having any of your players feeling that they are already regarded as second choice before August is out is no way to ensure that there's competition for every slot.

Or to be less long-winded, the cup game was bound to be used to give some players a run-out.

I would hazard that the vast majority of Leicester supporters have been thinking of Schlupp as a fringe player. Let's face it, he doesn't even have a 'player profile' on the club's own web site yet – a pretty sure sign that he's still only in transition from the Academy. Yes, he has a squad shirt number, but that was also true last season, when he didn't play for us once, and was only able to gain competitive pitch time on loan at Brentford. I think we expected he'd get his Championship 'blooding' this year, but not figure significantly in the main squad.

However, there's no sign that our strikers are firing yet this summer (and we all fully expect another to come in soon, if only an 'overflow' player on loan from the Premiership), so I don't know about anyone else, but my thinking is that if the lad's having a purple patch, Sven could do worse than at least give him the last 20 minutes on Saturday to see if his form has any legs to it.

Rotherham are self-evidently not Championship quality, but against any opposition, you still have to put the goals away, and if the lad has his eye in, the next few weeks are an opportunity for him to shed the label 'fringe' and place himself in the reckoning for the season.

good report fatfox - I'll be looking out for him, if not tomorrow then surely during the season ...

Some great previews for you here:

“Game of the Weekend” -
http://footballblog.co.uk/game-weekend-preview-leicester-city-reading.html

“Manset set for start” (Reading team news) -
http://www.eatsleepsport.com/reading/manset-set-for-start-1258389.html

Sven-Goran Eriksson sounds a warning to Royals -
http://www.thisisleicestershire.co.uk/story-13120645-detail/story.html

“Brian on Transfers, Foxes and more” (Reading OS) -
http://www.readingfc.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10306~2417451,00.html

Magic Manset ready to mark his mark at Reading FC -
http://www.readingchronicle.co.uk/sport/roundup/articles/2011/08/12/53575-magic-manset-ready-to-mark-his-mark-at-reading-fc
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And, of course, on Royals Rendezvous you’ll get a lot more comment too – wum-ming banned by both our fans and visitors, so don’t be afraid to look in!

www.royalsrendezvous.co.uk

daib0