Reading scored five goals on Saturday, without Jack Marriott. I’m as shocked as you guys are. Dare I say we’re going up?
Paddy Lane and Josh Stokes are the two that have been picked out by myself and others to have played incredibly in that game.
Lane scoring the first and having a great overall game – he has the dog in him it seems. Given the hate he got last year, keeping Daniel Kyerewaa out the squad (which is a shock as I think Kyerewaa has the potential to be our best attacker), he has made that position his own and I love it.
Stokes is in there for the injured George Earthy but he is doing very, very well. Two assists, nine passes into the final third and seven recoveries – he was man of the match.
Chelsea’s under-21s won their last game 3-1 against Fulham’s under-21s. It was Harrison Bettoni, Reggie Watson and Leo Black that got the goals, but two assists from frontman Chizaram Ezenwata and one from Mahdi Nicoll-Jazuli were the key contributions in this one.
This match took Chelsea to fifth place in Premier League 2, only one point off first-placed Tottenham Hotspur.
In the EFL Trophy, Chelsea currently sit third after two games, with a draw against Bristol Rovers and a loss against Wycombe Wanderers. That means Reading are in pole position to go through to the next round, alongside Wycombe.
Tuesday October 13 at the Select Car Leasing Stadium should be everyone’s plan. A 7pm kick-off (on Sky Sports +), 16 degrees and seeing Charlie Savage play… yeah that’s my night sorted after uni.
It will be National League referee George Laflin that takes this game. He has 4.9 yellow cards per match and sadly I can’t see his average fouls per match. In fact, this season he has refereed three matches and given out 11 yellow cards. I feel that is very high and he is gunning to give a red card.
In this preview I will analyse the MK Dons game and give my predictions.
MK Dons (decent kickabout with the lads?)
That subheader was something Reading posted on Twitter, poking fun at the easiness of the game, and the MK Dons fans were not happy.
Scoring five goals is not something that happens often and the banter the clubs have is nice sometimes.
What is happening at MK Dons?
They haven’t been the driving force everyone thought they would be, given the money they’ve spent. Don’t get me wrong, they’re not the first team to concede five to us this season, but it’s still not good.
They are a possession-based team. 56% possession against us shows they like to try and dominate the ball. However, 10 shots, three on target and an xG of 0.44 isn’t great, especially when their opponents have an xG of 3.64.
Their only outlet is striker Aaron Collins, who has scored six of their nine goals this season. There seems to be no ambition at the club and people are getting concerned as to whether they will stay up.
Whereas Reading are doing nothing but scoring goals. That’s now 22 in nine games for the Royals and they have shown that the loss of Marriott isn’t something to be that worried about. With him, it looks like we’re going to score eight goals a game.
Being in the playoffs for some of last season felt a little underserved with how we were playing, but this season, being sixth feels underwhelming. We have the best goal difference in the league, and we are definitely the most exciting team to watch, alongside Stockport County.
For me the whole team played well, but there were three players specifically that I thought had their best games all season.
Stokes is the first. Stepping into Earthy’s shoes is a massive task, but especially in this one, he did it brilliantly.
It’s great having so many quality options in attack and I’m hoping he still gets gametime in the future when Earthy is back. His assists were great, but it was his general play, movement off the ball, quick passes and almost controlling the game from the centre that stood out.
He is doing what Lewis Wing was doing last year and it’s great. People like Stokes are the reason we think Wing has regressed this year.
Last season we had to rely on Wing a lot, but this season we don’t need to as we’ve had quality come in. Wing is now able to play the game he wanted to play, trusting his teammates to get the goals and assists.
Next up is Lane. I spoke a little about him earlier – he has been revolutionised. He has improved his game massively and I think he is one of our most key players.
That brief stint he had at left-back in a few matches has made him think differently about the game and he is using it very well. His work rate both on and off the ball is incredible and he took his goal really well. It was a great run from the left-hand side and a great cross from Udoka Godwin-Malife to set up what I thought was the best goal of the game.
Lane created the joint-most chances in the game – three, tied with Stokes – and had seven defensive contributions. He gets all over the field and I love it. I’m looking forward to the next league game to see him play again.
Finally, we can’t mention a 5-1 win without mentioning the guy who scored two of the goals.
Kyreece Lisbie is just the best youngster in League One, isn’t he? Two goals and forcing an own goal is one way to make a name for yourself. He was given an open goal and took his second very well into the top corner.
Lisbie had the most touches (eight) in the opposition box and took the most shots (five) in the game. He is on fire and will hopefully continue his form going into the next few games.
My predictions
It will be a makeshift lineup for this one.
Jack Stevens will be in goal. He had a great game against Wycombe in the last EFL Trophy game.
Ashqar Ahmed, Boyd Beacroft, Philip Duah and Jeriel Dorsett will be the defence.
Liam Fraser and Savage will be the holding two.
Emmanuel Osho, Daniel Kyerewaa and Randell Williams will be the attacking three.
Jacob Brown will be the front man.
Score prediction: 3-0 Reading!
Good luck to those that do go to the game. Remember it is on TV as well if you are unable to make it.
Come on you Royals!