Alas, poor Reading, and other soliloquies
'Twas a shame that Reading succumbed to one of their own crossbars today at the Madejski. TDH could hardly have imagined a better fightback after the sucker punch to end all sucker punches - three goals before six minutes had elapsed. Perhaps Lita could have come on a few minutes earlier, but it was important to insert him when his speed would create the greatest possible contrast with the slowing of the Manure defense. Still, those six minutes: they showed not only how weak Reading's defense was early, not only the precision of the Manure finishing, but most of all the ability of Sir's boys to take advantage of a ripe opportunity.
TDH has some grudging respect for Sir these days. Not too long ago, he found himself with a group of rather high-strung pretty boys. Now, he seems to have dimmed their dreams of individual stardom and turned them into a workaday bunch of serious grafters - a testament, perhaps, to the man who reinvented the hairdryer. TDH would be hard-pressed to bet against them for the title, though the FA Cup may be a different matter if they keep playing the second string.
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Don't ask TDH about the Wigan match. Don't ask TDH, either, about "El Loco" Palermo's wondergoal against Independiente at the weekend. TDH's pibes haven't been the same since they sold Orteman to Boca. Now, there's no one to hold things down behing Rolfi. Pusineri doesn't have the garra to intimidate midfielders the way Orteman did. (Would you have messed with this guy?) TDH thinks it's bad luck, too, for having to play the whole season in Racing's stadium. Ugh.
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TDH is a little bit concerned about the UEFA Cup draw, too. AZ Alkmaar is in excellent form these days, and they've become a genuine force to be reckoned with in the past couple of years. Now we'll find out what we're really made of.
TDH has some grudging respect for Sir these days. Not too long ago, he found himself with a group of rather high-strung pretty boys. Now, he seems to have dimmed their dreams of individual stardom and turned them into a workaday bunch of serious grafters - a testament, perhaps, to the man who reinvented the hairdryer. TDH would be hard-pressed to bet against them for the title, though the FA Cup may be a different matter if they keep playing the second string.
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Don't ask TDH about the Wigan match. Don't ask TDH, either, about "El Loco" Palermo's wondergoal against Independiente at the weekend. TDH's pibes haven't been the same since they sold Orteman to Boca. Now, there's no one to hold things down behing Rolfi. Pusineri doesn't have the garra to intimidate midfielders the way Orteman did. (Would you have messed with this guy?) TDH thinks it's bad luck, too, for having to play the whole season in Racing's stadium. Ugh.
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TDH is a little bit concerned about the UEFA Cup draw, too. AZ Alkmaar is in excellent form these days, and they've become a genuine force to be reckoned with in the past couple of years. Now we'll find out what we're really made of.
posted by Daniel Altman at 3:50 AM
3 Comments:
Nobody is going to ask you about Palermo's wondergoal because the wondergoal has spinned the world and we all saw it.
Yeah, and the worst part was that on Monday night, everyone was trying to chip the keeper - and this was five-a-side! In fact, it was happening on every canchita at Ocampo. We heard shouts of "Palermo" from all sides....
I'm more concerned about our form than AZ. Dutch sides are always beatable. 3rd pace in the dutch league is probably equivalent to lower-mid table in the premier league. The worry is the first tie being played at home. The lads'll probably get a bit of a surprise in the step up in class from the Zulte game, meaning a close game. But as long as we don't sponaneously combust like we did against Sporting Lisbon, I'm confident we'll get through. looking at the sides we could have faced though I think we did quite well in the draw. I'd rather have our draw than Spurs'. Again though our form has to improve. We've got a real chance in this cup.
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