Best report so far, actually acknowledging that we won as much as they lost.
What the papers say - Spurs
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SebastianRoyal Fleet
Best report so far, actually acknowledging that we won as much as they lost.
after all the abuse we've received from the mirror, I was well impressed by this one.
Agreed, but I still refuse to buy The Mirror for all the anti-Reading material written the past few weeks.
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A gushing report from the Telegraph
Coppell delights in Reading way
By Oliver Brown
Last Updated: 12:37am GMT 13/11/2006
Match details
Your View: Football fans' forum
In pics: Weekend's Premiership action
Reading (2) 3 Tottenham Hotspur (1) 1
Restraint and reserve are not normally the hallmarks of a team with such rich attacking potential, but they are the ingredients of what Steve Coppell calls "the Reading way". The quiet man of the Premiership has impressed his personality upon his team, and against a toothless Tottenham the strategy worked to devastating effect.
On the up: Reading's Steve Sidwell celebrates his goal
Nicky Shorey, unflappable in defence and scorer of Reading's stunning first goal, combined patient shepherding of such dangerous strikers as Dimitar Berbatov with powerful surges forward. While ignoring the implausible chants of "Shorey for England", Coppell was generous in his praise.
"With his use of the ball and his ability to turn defence into attack, Nicky is a key part of what we are about," he explained. "When he works well in tandem with Graeme Murty at the back, he helps to give us a symmetry and a balance that we really need."
But it was not so much the combination of full-backs as the collective approach of careful containment that underpinned Reading's victory. "There is an Arsenal way and a Liverpool way, but I like to think that in our own reserved style there is a Reading way," Coppell said.
After five straight defeats, Reading were wise to take a measured approach to dismantling a side unbeaten in 10 games. Eschewing the typical response of a team under pressure, they made light of Tottenham's extra man in midfield with forensic, penetrating play.
advertisementShorey, who was eclipsed in his energy only by the tireless Steve Sidwell, made a memorable impact. With Tottenham in the ascendant after Robbie Keane's 23rd-minute penalty, the defender was calmness personified in rifling in the strike that sparked Reading's recovery.
Tottenham were soon thoroughly deflated. Even Aaron Lennon, a garish blur in his canary-coloured boots, fell some way short of his exemplary standards.
Their unravelling spread from the centre outwards, as Jermaine Jenas and Didier Zokora conspicuously lost the thread in midfield; their passing was haphazard and their attempts at control weak. However, manager Martin Jol batted away suggestions that he might soon be looking to David Beckham for some midfield reinforcement.
"It is rubbish," Jol insisted. "We already have Lennon, we have Hossam Ghaly – what more do we need?"
They need, it seems, a greater defensive assurance to complement Lennon's attacking wiles. Zokora was clearly at fault for Reading's second goal seconds before half-time, with some lax marking from Glen Little's corner allowing Sidwell to steal in and score.
This setback unsettled Tottenham, and a compelling Reading offensive ensued. With Paul Robinson unusually off colour, Kevin Doyle tried his luck with a snap shot that the England goalkeeper parried well, but he hardly had to wait long for the next opportunity.
At his best the Irishman is a lethal finisher, and he showed precisely that ability in the strike that killed Tottenham off. Beating Ledley King for pace, he latched on to Leroy Lita's flick-on in a flash and chose his moment to angle a low shot beyond Robinson. Strength, composure, timing, all in one move – you could say it is just the Reading way.
Match details
Reading (4-4-1-1): Hahnemann; Murty, Sonko, Ingimarsson, Shorey; Little (Gunnarsson 86), Harper, Sidwell, Hunt; Seol (Lita 75); Doyle.
Subs: Oster, Bikey, Federici (g).
Booked: Seol.
Tottenham (4-3-2-1): Robinson; Lee (Defoe 68), Dawson, King, Assou-Ekotto; Jenas, Zokora (Huddlestone 68), Ghaly; Keane, Lennon; Berbatov.
Subs: Cerny (g), Murphy, Ziegler.
Man of the match: Steve Sidwell (Reading).
Referee: R Styles (Hants).
Coppell delights in Reading way
By Oliver Brown
Last Updated: 12:37am GMT 13/11/2006
Match details
Your View: Football fans' forum
In pics: Weekend's Premiership action
Reading (2) 3 Tottenham Hotspur (1) 1
Restraint and reserve are not normally the hallmarks of a team with such rich attacking potential, but they are the ingredients of what Steve Coppell calls "the Reading way". The quiet man of the Premiership has impressed his personality upon his team, and against a toothless Tottenham the strategy worked to devastating effect.
On the up: Reading's Steve Sidwell celebrates his goal
Nicky Shorey, unflappable in defence and scorer of Reading's stunning first goal, combined patient shepherding of such dangerous strikers as Dimitar Berbatov with powerful surges forward. While ignoring the implausible chants of "Shorey for England", Coppell was generous in his praise.
"With his use of the ball and his ability to turn defence into attack, Nicky is a key part of what we are about," he explained. "When he works well in tandem with Graeme Murty at the back, he helps to give us a symmetry and a balance that we really need."
But it was not so much the combination of full-backs as the collective approach of careful containment that underpinned Reading's victory. "There is an Arsenal way and a Liverpool way, but I like to think that in our own reserved style there is a Reading way," Coppell said.
After five straight defeats, Reading were wise to take a measured approach to dismantling a side unbeaten in 10 games. Eschewing the typical response of a team under pressure, they made light of Tottenham's extra man in midfield with forensic, penetrating play.
advertisementShorey, who was eclipsed in his energy only by the tireless Steve Sidwell, made a memorable impact. With Tottenham in the ascendant after Robbie Keane's 23rd-minute penalty, the defender was calmness personified in rifling in the strike that sparked Reading's recovery.
Tottenham were soon thoroughly deflated. Even Aaron Lennon, a garish blur in his canary-coloured boots, fell some way short of his exemplary standards.
Their unravelling spread from the centre outwards, as Jermaine Jenas and Didier Zokora conspicuously lost the thread in midfield; their passing was haphazard and their attempts at control weak. However, manager Martin Jol batted away suggestions that he might soon be looking to David Beckham for some midfield reinforcement.
"It is rubbish," Jol insisted. "We already have Lennon, we have Hossam Ghaly – what more do we need?"
They need, it seems, a greater defensive assurance to complement Lennon's attacking wiles. Zokora was clearly at fault for Reading's second goal seconds before half-time, with some lax marking from Glen Little's corner allowing Sidwell to steal in and score.
This setback unsettled Tottenham, and a compelling Reading offensive ensued. With Paul Robinson unusually off colour, Kevin Doyle tried his luck with a snap shot that the England goalkeeper parried well, but he hardly had to wait long for the next opportunity.
At his best the Irishman is a lethal finisher, and he showed precisely that ability in the strike that killed Tottenham off. Beating Ledley King for pace, he latched on to Leroy Lita's flick-on in a flash and chose his moment to angle a low shot beyond Robinson. Strength, composure, timing, all in one move – you could say it is just the Reading way.
Match details
Reading (4-4-1-1): Hahnemann; Murty, Sonko, Ingimarsson, Shorey; Little (Gunnarsson 86), Harper, Sidwell, Hunt; Seol (Lita 75); Doyle.
Subs: Oster, Bikey, Federici (g).
Booked: Seol.
Tottenham (4-3-2-1): Robinson; Lee (Defoe 68), Dawson, King, Assou-Ekotto; Jenas, Zokora (Huddlestone 68), Ghaly; Keane, Lennon; Berbatov.
Subs: Cerny (g), Murphy, Ziegler.
Man of the match: Steve Sidwell (Reading).
Referee: R Styles (Hants).
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Huntley & Palmer
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Guardian love a piece of us as well
Shorey riposte kick-starts Royals' ascent
Matt Scott at the Madejski Stadium
Monday November 13, 2006
The Guardian
Martin Jol spoke with some justification last week about his being the most consistent team outside the big four over the past two years. But this defeat ended a 10-match unbeaten run when "normally you would expect to get the three points".
Jol's comments came through gritted teeth: the reasons for Tottenham's unexpected slip were manifold and manifest. Goals from Nicky Shorey and Steve Sidwell ensured Tottenham's early lead from Robbie Keane's penalty was overturned before half-time and Kevin Doyle's third was no more than the home team merited.
Article continues
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Nevertheless the platform for a routine Spurs victory was there after only 23 minutes. Dimitar Berbatov had already been denied by Graeme Murty's goalline block before Hossam Ghaly was upended by Ibrahima Sonko in the penalty box.
But Keane's penalty told its own story about Tottenham's problems: it was the first Premiership goal a Spurs player has scored in an away match this season, that at Villa Park having been from Juan Pablo Angel's own-goal. It should have been enough to provide Spurs with the spoils here as a defensively minded, three-man central midfield should have closed out the result. "You could sense their extra man in midfield was just beginning to make a difference," noted Steve Coppell of the period that followed his own team's dominance after the first quarter-hour. "We lost it before and during their goal."
But lapses of concentration gave Reading a route back. Shorey's strike was a cracking effort from 23 yards but he had been presented with the chance when Glen Little switched play with a single pass after almost the entire Spurs team had drifted towards its left flank.
Michael Dawson was slow in closing down Shorey's angle to goal, allowing the left-back to let fly; his shot bounced in front of Paul Robinson and in. The Reading crowd crowed over their beloved left-back, beginning a unilateral campaign for his inclusion in England's future.
But Coppell would not join the refrain to press the case for the 25-year-old, a £25,000 signing from Leyton Orient in 2001. "Shorey is very, very important to us," said Reading's manager. "He's a hell of a good player and different from the accepted type. His use of the ball is top quality for us. It's a foundation for us. In the transition from defence to attack it's very important; he's a key member of what we're about. The two full-backs when they're in tandem give us a symmetry and a balance that we've certainly missed in recent games."
Shorey and Murty were indeed pivotal to Reading's win: the narrowness of Spurs' midfield formation should have been counteracted by their full-backs' foraging but, pushed back by their opponents' positive running, seldom did Benoît Assou-Ekotto or Lee Young-Pyo advance.
Reading did not let up and there was a dereliction of defensive duties as they won a corner on the stroke of half-time. Even after attracting the attention of Little, the deliverer, with furious arm-waving, Doyle remained unmarked on the edge of the six-yard box. The ball bypassed the striker but found another unchallenged team-mate in Sidwell, six yards out. He duly crashed his shot into the roof of the net. "If you make that sort of mistake you can't win any games," said Jol.
Jol's criticism was fair but the goal was a reward for Sidwell's box-to-box performance in which he and James Harper overshadowed a more numerous midfield, where another germ of Tottenham's problems lay. Ghaly and Jermaine Jenas were misplacing their passes and it meant that, when Didier Zokora broke up Reading's advances, he had no reliable outlet through which to build counter-attacks.
When the Ivorian is isolated his contribution becomes that of a fifth defender and, 2-1 down at half-time, this was not what Tottenham needed. The early exchanges of the second half continued in similar vein and Jol recognised the need for Tom Huddlestone's enhanced range of passing, also sacrificing Lee for the added goal threat of Jermain Defoe.
It seemed to come good as Defoe, described yesterday by Sven-Goran Eriksson as having had a "very bad season" last year, was put through by Aaron Lennon. But his shot hit the side-netting and, from the resulting goal-kick, Leroy Lita's flick found Doyle, who coolly cut behind Ledley King to shoot home across Robinson.
The last word, though, was Jol's, and it was funereally intoned. "We had a good run of 10 games, eight wins, two draws, and then you get this," he said. "It is very disappointing, frustrating. You get angry a bit as you do all the hard work and prepare yourself well and, if we had a good result, everything would have been fine. Carling Cup last eight and in Europe doing well, probably seventh in the league and you throw it away."
Man of the match Nicky Shorey
Shorey's marauding down the left flank suggests that he has the mettle to impress the England manager Steve McClaren
Best moment Control and shot for the goal that put Reading firmly back into yesterday's match
Shorey riposte kick-starts Royals' ascent
Matt Scott at the Madejski Stadium
Monday November 13, 2006
The Guardian
Martin Jol spoke with some justification last week about his being the most consistent team outside the big four over the past two years. But this defeat ended a 10-match unbeaten run when "normally you would expect to get the three points".
Jol's comments came through gritted teeth: the reasons for Tottenham's unexpected slip were manifold and manifest. Goals from Nicky Shorey and Steve Sidwell ensured Tottenham's early lead from Robbie Keane's penalty was overturned before half-time and Kevin Doyle's third was no more than the home team merited.
Article continues
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nevertheless the platform for a routine Spurs victory was there after only 23 minutes. Dimitar Berbatov had already been denied by Graeme Murty's goalline block before Hossam Ghaly was upended by Ibrahima Sonko in the penalty box.
But Keane's penalty told its own story about Tottenham's problems: it was the first Premiership goal a Spurs player has scored in an away match this season, that at Villa Park having been from Juan Pablo Angel's own-goal. It should have been enough to provide Spurs with the spoils here as a defensively minded, three-man central midfield should have closed out the result. "You could sense their extra man in midfield was just beginning to make a difference," noted Steve Coppell of the period that followed his own team's dominance after the first quarter-hour. "We lost it before and during their goal."
But lapses of concentration gave Reading a route back. Shorey's strike was a cracking effort from 23 yards but he had been presented with the chance when Glen Little switched play with a single pass after almost the entire Spurs team had drifted towards its left flank.
Michael Dawson was slow in closing down Shorey's angle to goal, allowing the left-back to let fly; his shot bounced in front of Paul Robinson and in. The Reading crowd crowed over their beloved left-back, beginning a unilateral campaign for his inclusion in England's future.
But Coppell would not join the refrain to press the case for the 25-year-old, a £25,000 signing from Leyton Orient in 2001. "Shorey is very, very important to us," said Reading's manager. "He's a hell of a good player and different from the accepted type. His use of the ball is top quality for us. It's a foundation for us. In the transition from defence to attack it's very important; he's a key member of what we're about. The two full-backs when they're in tandem give us a symmetry and a balance that we've certainly missed in recent games."
Shorey and Murty were indeed pivotal to Reading's win: the narrowness of Spurs' midfield formation should have been counteracted by their full-backs' foraging but, pushed back by their opponents' positive running, seldom did Benoît Assou-Ekotto or Lee Young-Pyo advance.
Reading did not let up and there was a dereliction of defensive duties as they won a corner on the stroke of half-time. Even after attracting the attention of Little, the deliverer, with furious arm-waving, Doyle remained unmarked on the edge of the six-yard box. The ball bypassed the striker but found another unchallenged team-mate in Sidwell, six yards out. He duly crashed his shot into the roof of the net. "If you make that sort of mistake you can't win any games," said Jol.
Jol's criticism was fair but the goal was a reward for Sidwell's box-to-box performance in which he and James Harper overshadowed a more numerous midfield, where another germ of Tottenham's problems lay. Ghaly and Jermaine Jenas were misplacing their passes and it meant that, when Didier Zokora broke up Reading's advances, he had no reliable outlet through which to build counter-attacks.
When the Ivorian is isolated his contribution becomes that of a fifth defender and, 2-1 down at half-time, this was not what Tottenham needed. The early exchanges of the second half continued in similar vein and Jol recognised the need for Tom Huddlestone's enhanced range of passing, also sacrificing Lee for the added goal threat of Jermain Defoe.
It seemed to come good as Defoe, described yesterday by Sven-Goran Eriksson as having had a "very bad season" last year, was put through by Aaron Lennon. But his shot hit the side-netting and, from the resulting goal-kick, Leroy Lita's flick found Doyle, who coolly cut behind Ledley King to shoot home across Robinson.
The last word, though, was Jol's, and it was funereally intoned. "We had a good run of 10 games, eight wins, two draws, and then you get this," he said. "It is very disappointing, frustrating. You get angry a bit as you do all the hard work and prepare yourself well and, if we had a good result, everything would have been fine. Carling Cup last eight and in Europe doing well, probably seventh in the league and you throw it away."
Man of the match Nicky Shorey
Shorey's marauding down the left flank suggests that he has the mettle to impress the England manager Steve McClaren
Best moment Control and shot for the goal that put Reading firmly back into yesterday's match
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The Surgeon of Crowthorne
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The Surgeon of CrowthorneDo I detect the dread hand of SDR???Huntley & Palmer A gushing report from the Telegraph
The quiet man of the Premiership has impressed his personality upon his team, and against a toothless Tottenham the strategy worked to devastating effect.
At last some reports saying how well we played, instead of how bad Spurs were.
I know Defoe is in terrible form but think this is due the way Jol has treated him,sure Sir Steve could get the best out of him. Whatever the turnip says about him not being international class, for me he is a top goalscorer. My questions are1) Could we afford him? 2) Could wages be a problem? 3) Is he too small , too similar to Lita and Doyle?.
I know everyone goes on about our need for a big ,strong ,ball holding striker who can score , but where is this paragon of virtue? The only one with any track record is Hydrantson from Fulham, he banged in a load of goals at Watford and always looks good when I see him play for Fulham.
Other than that we would have to look in the lower divisions and take a chance.
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The Surgeon of CrowthorneDo I detect the dread hand of SDR???Huntley & Palmer A gushing report from the Telegraph
The quiet man of the Premiership has impressed his personality upon his team, and against a toothless Tottenham the strategy worked to devastating effect.
He always claimed he had "media chums", but we never believed him. In fact, I still don't believe him.
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The Surgeon of Crowthorne
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