Chalkboard & Tactics For Reading

Good morning.

Reading away and tension is palpable. One obvious positive before a ball is kicked is that we’re playing away. So the Tottenham fans in attendance will do what great fans always strive to do. Despite the inevitable aggravation of football travel, despite being perpetually outnumbered they will sing, cheer, encourage and support.

The shiftless know-alls that have taken to infesting the once great White Hart Lane won’t be able to sneer, grumble, boo then leave early. I can lay into home fans all day long and it won’t make a dent, won’t make one of them blush.

We’re not beating everyone 5-0, it’s Levy’s fault, it’s AVB’s fault, they’ve paid their money and are so terminally brain damaged they have confused the price of admission with demonstrating commitment. I’m sick of you.

And breathe.

So far Reading have drawn 1-1 at home to anti-footballing Stoke and lost 4-2 away to the Blue Racists. Dangermen? Well on balance we should expect more of a team effort rather than any staggering solo performances but Pavel Pogrebnyak is an obvious threat. And if you believe in Brian Glanville’s immutable law of the ex then so too will be Chris Gunter.

I’m going with Brad for no reason than it might be useful for Hugo to watch us play a Premier League game (if indeed he hasn’t already). The back four has to have Jan and Billy paired to offer Benny and Kyle the stability they naturally need.

The middle of the pitch is important here from the perspective that without being patronising we need to outplay Reading. Ball on the floor, forward passes to feed the wizards further upfield. So no Livermore and I’m therefor pairing Dembélé with Sandro.

I cannot place enough emphasis on the players resisting the urge (hello Brad, hello Benny and hello Kyle) to hoof the ball away. This is the opposite of ‘a good thing’. We will not beat Reading by indulging in a fiasco of hoof ball and head tennis.

Azza, Siggy and Bale with Ade. Dempsey on the bench because I believe he’s not going to be 100% match fit. Adebayor ought to be much aided by the break and should be able to give us 70 minutes and maybe we can ship on the Septic for the last 20.

Prediction? We’ll win and do so by a goal, perhaps two. As you may have sensed by my opening lines here I’m fed up with the constant niggling after so few games. Negativity is a poison. Being a hugely intelligent person I can understand and separate in my mind the difference between online and in the flesh.

But since the transfer window closed it seems every other person you encounter anywhere is a Professor Of Joylessness when it comes to Spurs. The season hasn’t been a sensational so far, but nor has it been a disaster either.

Let’s hope that if we don’t win this 5-0, people consider what support actually means.

Hotspurs Half Hour – Show 5 The Cincinatti Yid by hotspurshalfhour