Reading vs Hull City: Match Preview
The final warm-up before the first game at Birmingham City. Can the Royals perform like they have so far? Or will this game sum up what we all know could be a very difficult season?
Reading FC’s last match before the season sees us come up against a strong opponent in Hull City FC.
The Royals have had a positive pre-season so far, having beaten Millwall, Watford and Woking, but failing to pounce upon a poor performance from a fairly strong-looking Cardiff City side on Wednesday.
The Royals are hoping to change that this Saturday with what we all assume will be our strongest line-up yet.
Ahead of the game, we have your match preview.
What? Pre-season friendly
Season? 2024/25
Who? Hull City
Where? Select Car Leasing Stadium
When? Saturday August 3
Time? 15:00
Opposition manager? Tim Walter
Here are some other fixtures that we can focus on.
Birmingham vs West Bromwich: 15:00 August 3
Colchester United vs Cambridge: 15:00 August 3
I have chosen to focus on these two games, as they could show how strong these opponents are in our first two games. The first game of the season is against Birmingham City, and it is then followed by a first-round League Cup tie against Colchester.
The opponents
Hull City are a side that finished seventh in the Championship last season. They looked a very strong side last season under Liam Rosenior. It came a shock when they decided to let him go due to “underperforming” in that same season, but bringing in Tim Walter seems to be a solid appointment.
The ex-Hamburg manager has managed to get to the playoffs in two out of the three seasons he managed them. This could however also be considered a negative as he did lose both of those games, keeping Hamburg in the second division of German football.
When it comes to Hull City, a lot of players from their squad last year have either moved on, been moved on or were loans. Having seen different people predicting them in different places it is difficult to call how the Tigers will play against the Royals.
This has shown in their pre-season games with them losing to the likes of Fenerbahce, Newcastle United and a heavy 4-0 defeat to League Two Doncaster Rovers, while claiming a 2-2 draw against Serie A side Fiorentina.
The inevitable
The takeover. It is looking more and more likely that Rob Couhig is going to seal the deal and buy the club in the next couple of weeks. Having this in our back pocket can give us some confidence going into the season, but we have all had this feeling before when a takeover is on the way.
We cannot as fans, or as a team, get carried away. No matter what happens we need to support our team and carry that support into as many games as we can this season.
A positive that came out of the match against Cardiff City was the attendance of Joe Jacobson. If you’re not familiar with who that is, he is an ex-Wycombe and Cardiff full-back who has made 300+ appearances in the top four divisions. However, the influence he has on Reading could be massive. If Couhig buys the club, Jacobson will become our CEO.
My lineup
Here is my predicted lineup for the match.
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Joel Pereira in between the sticks looks to be our first-choice keeper going into the start of the season, with Coniah Boyce-Clarke the backup and cup goalkeeper.
At the moment we have a crisis at right-back with captain Andy Yiadom and Kelvin Abrefa out for this match and Tyler Bindon only recently playing for New Zealand at the Olympics. So I think that Tivonge Rushesha will start at right-back. However, it could also be Michael Craig.
With Bindon on International duty at the moment, we don’t have him available for this friendly. He should be back for the game against Birmingham City, but in the meantime we have played Harley Dean as Amadou Mbengue’s centre-back partner. He hasn’t impressed me at all, being described as too old for the game, so I have chosen the young Louie Holzman to partner Mbengue in the friendly.
Ruben Selles will be looking to play as strong of a squad as he can, hence my addition of Charlie Savage and Lewis Wing into the side. They form a solid partnership and provide both attacking and defensive qualities which can ultimately determine how the game goes for the Royals.
Femi Azeez, Harvey Knibbs and Sam Smith were almost formalities in the squad in the recent season, but the player I have been most interested in so far in pre-season has been Mamadi Camara. He provides similar to what Azeez does on the right and has a brilliant burst of pace to beat his man, which we saw in abundance against Cardiff. If he can make the step up from the academy to the first team, I feel like he can make a big difference to our attack.
Score prediction 2-1 Reading.
Come on you Royals!