da betsson： Ipswich couldn’t have asked for a tougher first game for the new season when they face Reading away from home on Saturday. In my opinion The Royals have the best starting eleven in the Championship, complemented by one of the best managers in the league – Nigel Adkins.
da cassino： There is a lot of positivity and optimism around Ipswich right now and that has been reflected by the thousands of fans (myself included) that will be attending this game.
It looks as though it could be the Tractor Boys biggest away support in nearly three years and this is largely down to many supporters firmly believing that Mick McCarthy has assembled a promotion worthy side this summer.
It has to be said that the former Wolves boss has done exceptionally well in the transfer market given that he has had no significant money to spend and has had to cut the wage bill.
However, as impressive as his summer haul has been how does the Ipswich team compare to the Reading line-up? I think a few Ipswich fans will travel to the Madejski Stadium without fully realising the strength of the oppositions team, as they have a surprisingly impressive string of players.
Their full-backs will prove hard to break down as both Chris Gunter and Wayne Bridge could probably still hold a place in some Premier League teams. Moving further up field is where Reading are strongest though with a midfield that boasts such names as Jimmy Kebe, Jobi McAnuff, Hal Robson-Kanu and former Real Madrid wide man Royston Drenthe.
This strong midfield will no doubt create plenty of chances for Pavel Pogrebnyak and Adam Le Fondre who are more than adequate strikers at Championship level.
Do Ipswich have anyone who can be just as threatening going forward? It appears that Daryl Murphy and David McGoldrick have formed a decent partnership up front and are just as useful as those Reading’s strikers.
I think the main difference between the two sides is the midfield though. I don’t think that the Tractor Boys have the same creativity that their opponents have as Jay Tabb, Paul Anderson and Anthony Wordsworth don’t quite match up to names like Kebe, Robson-Kanu and Drenthe.
However, I think that Ipswich do have a lot more bite in their midfield as Luke Hyam does a fantastic job of shutting down the opposition’s creative players and the likes of Ryan Tunnicliffe and Cole Skuse will try to do the same.
Despite Ipswich’s defensive prowess there is no denying that overall Reading will have the superior side on paper, especially as Luke Hyam and Aaron Cresswell could miss the game through injury.
On the other hand we have all seen plenty of strong looking sides fall apart in the Championship and often the recently relegated teams do not live up to their hype. Could Reading be the next Wolves or do they have the right manager to take them up?
I believe that Reading will gain automatic promotion and considering that Ipswich have a couple injury doubts and are away from home, a draw would be a fantastic result for McCarthy’s side on Saturday.
For me the performance will carry more weight than the actual result as it will be interesting to see how Ipswich deal with so much attacking talent coming at them. If the side plays well then I will personally be delighted and three points would be the result of the season in this tough match-up.
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