The latest addition of the Vital Reading Blog…
What a difference a week makes. Last Friday we were all depressed after two 1-0 defeats on the spin to Swansea and Bristol City but the 4-0 win over Burnley has given us all a boost and the play offs are the target again! That`s the Championship for you, so unpredictable and why we should not get too downhearted when we win, so I won`t get too carried away this week after such a fine display at Turf Moor.
The display in the North West was brilliant and the performance of Jay Tabb has got us asking if he could be the new Sigurdsson. Since the Icelandic maestro left in August we have asked the same question of Brian Howard, Jobi McAnuff and even the likes of Hal Robson Kanu and Michail Antonio but could Tabb be the one to step up into that role just off the striker? That is where he played for Brentford and he was brought as an attacking midfielder by Steve Coppell in 2008, but it`s his displays in the holding role that have earned him such a high reputation with the Royals fans. Whether he can step up on a permanent basis won`t be known until he gets a good run of games but I feel he is the best option right now if we continue with the 4-2-3-1 formation, which has served us so well.
On the subject of our midfield at Burnley, we looked so much more solid with the addition of Howard and Tabb in there. No disrespect to Chris Armstrong who has deputised so well in recent weeks but with him and Jem Karacan in the middle we look solid but nowhere near creative enough to score the goals we need to at this level.
Doncaster this Saturday and a tough game but one I certainly think we can win. Donny are having a decent season and with John Oster pulling the strings in midfield they look a force, and I tipped them as an outside bet for the play offs at the start of the season. They will be missing their star striker Billy Sharp who has picked up a hamstring injury last weekend and that will give us a massive boost and a chance to build on the win at Burnley.
Not a great deal of other news really happening this week apart from us being linked with Leon Best of Newcastle! I was up in the North East in the summer and went along to the Newcastle vs PSV Eindhoven game in which Best got himself on the score sheet. Whilst this was no mean feat against a strong Dutch side, he was awful for the rest of game he played and cannot get near the Newcastle squad at the moment, let alone their starting line up. Whilst I cannot deny we need a striker, there would be no use bringing Best in as he is not any better than what we have already got. Fingers crossed this won`t happened.
