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2026 Pre-Season Thread - fixture list (1st post) - Reading MATCH THREAD Sat 2:15pm (p56)
Comments
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Sparkling performance and thank god we’ve solved our lack of goals from last season, absolutely raining goals.7
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No it was these guysMarcusH26 said:
Was that a Portuguese group? I remember a Portuguese consortium coming up with that kind of modelfenaddick said:Thought I’d read my book for a bit to get my mind of Charlton. Queue 2/3 pages about some data scientists who wanted to buy us and try a Brentford style model 10/15 years ago (pre Brentford & Brighton’s success)
https://andersonsally.com/
I’m only halfway through the book (Expected Goals by Rory Smith) and he’s telling a few related stories so no idea how close they got. In those pages they were looking for someone with money but had identified us as the perfect target club1 -
We are no where ready for the new season ,as for transfer window has been poor tbh where are the goals coming from for this season0
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The signings have been decent but just haven’t made enough or in key areas. Get this midfield and winger supported and I reckon we look betterpanther10 said:We are no where ready for the new season ,as for transfer window has been poor tbh where are the goals coming from for this season3 -
And try different things that you can’t try in proper gamesNorth Lower Neil said:
For fitness?Bedsaddick said:
Then why bother playing them if they have zero bearing ?Pelling1993 said:
Didn’t watch it I’m on holiday. The game has absolutely zero bearing on the season.msomerton said:
What did you see that looked like the players and team played well ,and are ready for a cup match in 7 days and a league game in 14 days.Pelling1993 said:People do get far too wound up about preseason games. There’s always very little correlation between how teams play in preseason and how they perform in the actual season0 -
Think all the signings are fine Grant Billy and Ivan have looked good not seen enough of Danny Mac to judge0
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Line up for next week is pretty clear if no one else comes in ..
Kaminski
Ramsey although he was awful today
Jones
Billy
Mesik
Mwanda
Coventry
Alli
Knibbs
Grant
Godden
hopefully Apter comes through Tuesday and even Kelman fingers crossed
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Like trying to see how many goals you can concede without scoring yourselves!!RonnieMoore said:
And try different things that you can’t try in proper gamesNorth Lower Neil said:
For fitness?Bedsaddick said:
Then why bother playing them if they have zero bearing ?Pelling1993 said:
Didn’t watch it I’m on holiday. The game has absolutely zero bearing on the season.msomerton said:
What did you see that looked like the players and team played well ,and are ready for a cup match in 7 days and a league game in 14 days.Pelling1993 said:People do get far too wound up about preseason games. There’s always very little correlation between how teams play in preseason and how they perform in the actual season0 -
TC will start over Alli considering Alli wasn’t switched to the right when he came on. After today’s viewing wouldn’t be shocked to see Leaburn over Godden as wellRonnieMoore said:Line up for next week is pretty clear if no one else comes in ..
Kaminski
Ramsey although he was awful today
Jones
Billy
Mesik
Mwanda
Coventry
Alli
Knibbs
Grant
Godden
hopefully Apter comes through Tuesday and even Kelman fingers crossed6 -
There seemed to be a real look of lethargy about much of the team, especially compared to Reading. Here’s hoping that we turn it on when it matters and that we can add some quality in the next two weeks. Wing and Lisbie looked a real handful all game.0
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Generally speaking I do not read too much into pre-season games.However, today was a bad day in the office particularly given we were playing a team a division below us.I was reasonably pleased with the first half and the performances of Campbell and Grant, a shame about the second half though.0
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Yeah they didn’t look ready.mart77 said:There seemed to be a real look of lethargy about much of the team, especially compared to Reading. Here’s hoping that we turn it on when it matters and that we can add some quality in the next two weeks. Wing and Lisbie looked a real handful all game.
not the look of a team which are ready for the season2 -
We always used to play our best team / starting line up in the last pre season friendly. Now we are still rotating and putting ‘minutes in’. Going into the season with no momentum.
I have just woken up out in the US and from reading the match thread god knows what i missed.
Lots doesn’t feel right at the moment but after a season of getting too intensely worried about CAFC maybe I should just let what will be, be.0 -
For all Leaburn's attributes I'd have Godden over him. Godden is a natural striker & will take a half chance when needed.Crispywood said:
TC will start over Alli considering Alli wasn’t switched to the right when he came on. After today’s viewing wouldn’t be shocked to see Leaburn over Godden as wellRonnieMoore said:Line up for next week is pretty clear if no one else comes in ..
Kaminski
Ramsey although he was awful today
Jones
Billy
Mesik
Mwanda
Coventry
Alli
Knibbs
Grant
Godden
hopefully Apter comes through Tuesday and even Kelman fingers crossed8 -
Am I concerned? Absolutely not. Nailed on to beat Derby.3
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Poor footballing performances are tolerable in pre-season.
However, dead on your feet lethargy is a concern this close to the season starting. We have have done it twice in pre-season now. We looked light years behind Reading from a fitness perspective today.
I am increasingly concerned about our ability to keep the ball out of the net. Our whole transfer window has been aimed at switching to 4-2-3-1 and when we play it we look so vulnerable. Full backs are exposed, crosses come into the box far too easily and the total lack of physicality that the two deep lying midfielders possess means we are getting overrun in the centre of the pitch as well
I know nothing about Holsgrove, but looking at his stature and stats I don’t think he alone is going to solve the problem. We need some height, pace and power in there.
It increasingly feels like we are short up top as well. Leaburn has been really poor this pre-season, Godden is not going to last playing every week and no idea how long Kelman is going to be out for. Expect Dykes to come in on a one year deal before the weekend.6 -
We literally have no idea what Jones wanted from the players today. Of course we all want to see something fluid and energetic but for all we know Jones could have wanted easy minutes into legs with no risks to potential starters and those we want to move out. On the other hand the Reading team could have been told to go for it against a Championship side and treat it as a league match. I’m absolutely confident that the team we put out will give Derby a good game.Jones says he wants two more. I’d assume one being Holsgrove. I’d expect the trialists to be moved on if we had the other target nailed on. If I’m honest I think two more sounds meagre.Edit. : scrub that. Just watched Jones Press conference. He clearly was embarrassed by that. Slightly more worried by that now.2
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For me, Jones' pre-seasons seem chaotic and messy. We started last season well so I already half expect things to get better. What worries me is that we have a big squad and most of them don't seem to be trying to cement a place in the first team! I think a midfield with attributes we can't afford is vital. Maybe there is a loan opportunity. This is clearly looking like a season of struggle though.0
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It's a preseason friendly - people are focussed on the wrong things.
1. Do the new dugouts look good?
2. Is my seat still caked in bird shit?
Priorities people, priorities.17 -
The performance was horrendous. Really don’t think we have the team to play this 4 at the back. Bell/Ramsey at full back didn’t work, especially when we are the team trying to be adventurous with the ball. Would not be surprised if we revert back to last season formation quite early into this season.
Grant looked lively. Think he will be our most important player this season to be an improvement on TC. Shame we lost Kelman to injury during pre-season as thought he had really improved towards the back end of last season.3 -
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It of interest what would people be saying if this was the league cup match rather than a friendly?Would you be concerned then?0
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False equivalence. As Brownie kept saying, the tempo noticeable drops when players know they’re coming off soon. Plus there’s no crowd, a mismatched side and probably less analysis done on the opposition with more focus on ourselvesAberystwythAddick said:It of interest what would people be saying if this was the league cup match rather than a friendly?Would you be concerned then?6 -
No because the way NJ talking we are going to have to use next week fans to get more minutes into one or two players who still not ready …AberystwythAddick said:It of interest what would people be saying if this was the league cup match rather than a friendly?Would you be concerned then?2 -
Not too disappointed with it today. Surely across the 90 minutes with all the changes we can get a motivated team together to give Derby a game. One more day of embarrassment to suffer v Cheltenham then we get into the real agony of it all.6
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We probably both know he means the result has zero bearing. Just like if we beat a Premier league team 3-0 it doesn't mean we are going to end up near the top of the championship come the end of the season.Bedsaddick said:
Fitness at the very least but he said they have zero bearing .North Lower Neil said:
For fitness?Bedsaddick said:
Then why bother playing them if they have zero bearing ?Pelling1993 said:
Didn’t watch it I’m on holiday. The game has absolutely zero bearing on the season.msomerton said:
What did you see that looked like the players and team played well ,and are ready for a cup match in 7 days and a league game in 14 days.Pelling1993 said:People do get far too wound up about preseason games. There’s always very little correlation between how teams play in preseason and how they perform in the actual season5 -
Yes, but what iffery is about as nonsensical as it gets.AberystwythAddick said:It of interest what would people be saying if this was the league cup match rather than a friendly?Would you be concerned then?1 -
Nah. People will still say it is a meaningless game & the season doesn't start until the Derby match.....or the W.Ham one.....or Millwall away.AberystwythAddick said:It of interest what would people be saying if this was the league cup match rather than a friendly?Would you be concerned then?
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Thank goodness that was an "away" game. Losing at home 0-3 to a team in a lower league would have been disasterous!12
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What concerned (but didnt surprise me) was our lack of striking intent. How many efforts did we actually have on target ?? I remember Leaburn's shot in the 2nd half ...but was that it ? 2nd half we had more possession in & around their box but once again very little to show for it.
Our wing play was subdued - Grant was playing deeper & although sprayed the ball about didnt really run at them. TC got the ball quite a bit in the first half but didnt really produce anything. One early cross which evaded Godden and maybe another later in the half. But as usual TC drives up the pitch but delivers very little.
We seem to play with wingers......but then don't ! I'm hoping that long term Alli will be on the left & Apter on the right. Grant or Godden in the middle. Or go 442 & have both Grant & Godden up top.0 -
Tbf Golfie I’m somewhat concerned but it’s very much what NJ said in the post match interview, that we’ll all forget about this if it’s a different result in two weeks time.golfaddick said:
Nah. People will still say it is a meaningless game & the season doesn't start until the Derby match.....or the W.Ham one.....or Millwall away.AberystwythAddick said:It of interest what would people be saying if this was the league cup match rather than a friendly?Would you be concerned then?0
