11/09/06: Reading 1 City 0Updated: October 3rd, 2007
No goals, four yellow cards, a sending off and a temper tantrum from our most promising young player.
Pearce’s post-match radio interview can be found here. His comments about needing to educate Micah Richards at least lent itself to a rather nice ‘Educating Micah’ pun.
But as the mood on the City talkboards gets darker, Pearce’s side seems to be developing too many ugly characteristics.
With nine bookings and two sending-offs so far, City are the third most indisciplined side in the Premiership (link). Blackburn and Middlesbrough have the joint worst disciplinary record, so Sunday’s visit to Ewood Park is unlikely to be a great advert for the Beautiful Game.
Of course, it is still early days, but I’ve had a really bad feeling about this season since the summer. Although I feared we would be fighting relegation this season, the one hope I clung to was that Andrew Cole’s return could get the team scoring and turn our fortunes around.
A detailed look at Cole’s contribution last season can be found here, but it really boiled down to this: when he played we did well and when he didn’t we were dismal.
The news of his departure left me with an awful sinking feeling. The last time we scored a league goal from open play was April 25 and it’s now been 14 games since we scored more than one goal in a league match.
I imagine a lot of fans looked at the team sheet for the Reading game and wondered where the goals would come from.
I suspect Pearce is currently thinking the same thing.
Match reports
Reading 1 City 0 (MEN)
The Blues dominated possession but their struggles in front of goal continued, with Ivar Ingimarsson’s first-half headed goal for the Royals decisive.
Ingimarsson leads with head (Guardian)
Reading rode their luck early on against Manchester City but were worthy winners of a bitty if compelling contest, and the sporadically swaggering manner of this victory suggested they have far too much class to be sucked into a relegation battle. The same might not be true of City, for whom this was a bad night. They had lost their composure and their dignity long before the end.
Royals battle past City (Sky)
City were bright in possession throughout the first half but lacked a cutting edge, and the pattern continued into the second 45 minutes.
Reading 1-0 Man City (BBC)
Reading deserved the three points for effort and commitment, but in truth City will be astonished to leave with nothing to show for their efforts.
Pearce’s patience tested by latest knock-out blow to City (Independent)
Ousmane Dabo led with an arm as he jumped for a high ball with Steve Sidwell and caught the midfielder in the neck. In the context of Thatcher’s deed, and a weekend in which a Hamilton Academical player had to have his heart re-started with a defibrillator after receiving a blow to the neck, it is easy to understand a zero tolerance approach to raised arms but Dabo did not seem to have any malicious intent.
Reading make City pay for lapses in discipline (Times)
City dominated much of the second half but barely tested Marcus Hahnemann, the Reading goalkeeper. Once Dabo had been dismissed, it was all they could do to hang in the frantic closing stages. Reading, a man to the good, were rampant.
Ingimarsson prolongs City blues (Daily Telegraph)
If Stuart Pearce thought he had problems when Ben Thatcher thudded into Pedro Mendes and suffered a welter of criticism as a consequence, he was introduced to further worries at the Madejski Stadium last night.
Reading 1 Manchester C 0 (The Sun)
Coppell’s men have not lost at the Madejski Stadium for 29 games and thanks to a rock-solid defensive display were great value for their second home win of the season.
Problems piling up for Pearce (Oldham Chronicle)
“All our chances seemed to go straight down the Reading goalkeeper’s throat. The margins are so thin in this division you’ve got to make your chances count,” Pearce said.
Reading 1 City 0 (Hob Nob Anyone?)
The only aspect of the game City clearly came out on top was in foul play. They committed sixteen fouls to Reading’s six, accumulating four yellow cards and a red in the process.
Player ratings
The ratings come from the MEN, Sky, Sky Your Rating and The Sun.
Weaver: 8, 8, 8.1, 7
One great save high to his left in the first half and two more late on (MEN)
Kept City in the game (Sky)
Richards (Trabelsi 60): 4, 6, 6.3, 6
Has a tendency to doze off. Childish reaction to being substituted (MEN)
Solid (Sky)
Dunne: 5, 5, 6.1, 6
Skipper will not be happy that he didn’t reach cross for the goal (MEN)
Caught out at times (Sky)
Distin: 4, 4, 5.8, 5
Goal was a personal disaster for the Frenchman who gave away the free kick (MEN)
At fault for the goal (Sky)
Jordan: 5, 6, 5.7, 6
Rarely lets anyone down and this was another of those occasions (MEN)
Tidy (Sky)
Sinclair: 6, 7, 6.3, 6
Looks sharp this campaign and some of his passing was excellent (MEN)
Posed problems (Sky)
Barton: 6, 6, 6.9, 6
Was rarely second best in engine room exchanges with Sidwell and Harper (MEN)
Faded (Sky)
Dabo: 4, 6, 6, 6
Not easy to see what his role encompassed. Stupidly sent off (MEN)
Unlucky to be sent off (Sky)
Reyna (Miller 74): 5, 5, 5.2, 5
Asked to do a job with which he is not familiar on left flank (MEN)
Failed to shine (Sky)
Dickov (Samaras 60): 5, 5, 5.1, 6
Really should have scored before Reading opened their account (MEN)
Missed his chances (Sky)
Corradi: 5, 4, 5.5, 6
Couple of flicks and free-kicks won were not enough for side short on goals (MEN)
Not at the races (Sky)
Subs:
Samaras (Dickov 60): 6, 7, 7.9, 5
Some neat touches (MEN)
City’s biggest threat (Sky)
Trabelsi (Richards 60): 5, 6, 6.9, 5
Hardly in the game (MEN)
Made an impact (Sky)
Miller (Reyna 74): 5, 6, 6.4, 5
No time (MEN)
Not bad (Sky)