Reading 1 - 1 United
PREVIEW
After playing against Arsenal like an orchestra without sheet music, United will be looking to get back on song this evening against Reading. Certainly, the players are talking about an evolution.
‘We are determined to bounce back,’ Louis Saha said. ‘We are still in a good position and we have definitely made a better start than we did last season. But now, everyone understands what we have to do. We must get back to winning ways again and try to ensure we maintain our form.’
New signing Michael Carrick, claims other teams should be worried as United have yet to hit their best form.
‘The lads are full of confidence and we believe we can go on and win a lot more games and put the pressure on other teams,’ he said. ‘We haven’t really hit top form yet. we’ve played well in a couple of games but I think there’s still more to come.’
Rio Ferdinand has warned his team mates that the match against the Royals will not be a stroll in the park. ‘I’ve seen them play a few times already this season and they look a very good team, and they are doing well in the league so far. We’re expecting a tough game. Reading will be a tough place to go for any team this year.’
The Berkshire club, under the tutelage of former United winger Steve Coppell, were outstanding in winning the Championship by a country mile last term and have taken to life among the elite with a solid conviction that they belong.
Coppell’s men now sit in sixth place and have enjoyed wins against Middlesborough, Sheffield United and Manchester City. ‘We will be looking to protect ourselves but also go forward because, if you go into a game looking just to respond, then inevitably that is all you will do,’ Coppell said. ‘We are looking just to have a go. It would be dreadful if the players came off at the end thinking they hadn’t given a great deal of themselves.’
The two defeats suffered by Reading and the six goals conceded are evidence of a porous defence. If Wayne Rooney neded a game to move his confidence northwards, then surely he must relish a match against the Royals.
United, wounded but still well-placed in the division, ought to have the beating of Reading. With an important Champions League encounter next Tuesday, Berkshire should be the scene of a morale-boosting victory.
PREMIERSHIP RESULTS:
Arsenal 3-0 Sheff United / Villa 2-0 Charlton / Fulham 0-2 Chelsea / Liverpool 3-0 Spurs / City 2-0 West Ham / Boro 0-1 Blackburn / Wigan 1-1 Watford / Newcastle 1 - 1 Everton
MATCH REPORT…
Reading 1 - 1 United
Doyle (48) / Ronaldo (72)
This should have been a slaughter of the innocents. United will look back at the match statistics and see a game that ought to have been won convincingly. Yet for all their possession, United were forced to settle for a draw because of lack of guile and form which does not augur well for the games to come.
The United team sheet bore testimony to heavy weather United would make of getting behind a spirited but limited Reading side. Vidic and Heinze were welcome additions to United’s rearguard but with Richardson starting on the left flank and hamstring-victim Louis Saha among the substitutes, United looked likely to be stuck for goals.
So it proved, despite a first half utterly dominated by Sir Alex Ferguson’s men. With an off-form Rooney alone up front, United’s midfield quintet were unable to supply the killer pass that would open up the Royals’ house. Reading were outplayed for large periods but must have been satisfied to finish the first half with United reduced to half chances and snapshots,
Steve Coppell’s side offered little more than determination and passion for the cause and United were rarely in trouble defensively. At the other end, if United were to score, it would be through Ronaldo who was the pick of an uninspired side in which Fletcher and Carrick again disappointed.
Richardson too had an evening to forget. The England player, surely a season away from a transfer if his form continues, should have been able to make hay against Reading’s unheralded fullback. Instead, he was a man of straw, offering United little outlet on the left, giving Sir Alex a poor return for his selection. Oh, how the manager must wish for a speedy Giggs recovery.
The second half opened with Reading claiming the lead on 48 minutes. United’s captain Gary Neville handled to concede a soft penalty joyously converted by Reading’s Kevin Doyle. The goal prompted United to raise their game. Richardson, after wasting a good shooting opportunity in the 57th minute gave way to Saha and 12 minutes later a tiring Heinze and an ineffectual Fletcher were replaced by O’Shea and Solksjaer.
United drove forward and were rewarded for their endeavour in the 72nd minute, when Ronaldo cut in from the left and sent a crisp shot wide of Reading’s American keeper and into the bottom corner. United continued to take the game to the home side, who defended deep and in numbers with great competence.
Defeat would have been an ill-deserved punishment for a lack of a cutting edge but this was a game when Sir Alex’s chickens came home to roost. United will continue to lose their way so long as the club has no choice but to persist with injured and out-of-form strikers.
TEAM
United: Van Der Sar; Heinze (O’Shea 69); Vidic; Ferdinand; Neville; Ronaldo Richardson (Saha 58); Carrick; Fletcher (Solskjaer 69); Scholes; Rooney
POST SCRIPT
Sir Alex: ‘They played a survival game, they fought for every ball, worked their tails off and made it difficult for us,’ said Sir Alex ruefully. ‘But when you look at the amount of possession we had, particularly in the last third of the field, we should have done better.’
‘We’ve had a solid start to the season. I was disappointed to drop points last Sunday, but I wasn’t disappointed here.’
Steve Coppell: ‘We had nothing to lose from today. To get a point is a small gift as well so we have got to be pleased with it.But I have said to the players we don’t want the highlight of our season to be a Saturday evening in September. We have got a long way to go and we can’t pat ourselves on the back.
‘Having got our noses in front it looked as if it was going to be one of those days where we might have nicked all three.’
