You should give him a bloody good talking to. Just who does he think he is?

The Reading team will be:

                               Hahnemann

Murty          Sonko         Ingimarsson       Shorey

Rosenior    Harper        Gunnarsson         Hunt

                       Kitson         Doyle

Apart from two positions that would have been our strongest line up from last season.
The difference is Gunnarsson has come in for Sidwell and Rosenior has come in for Little.

Gunnarsson is not even close to replacing Sidwell and Rosenior is no where near as good a right winger as Little.

The way to beat us is to have two or even one very fast striker up top.

I would go with Martins and Owen if I was big Sam. Leave Viduka on the bench.

West Ham beat us 3-0 at the Madejski a few weeks ago and Bellamy tore us to shreds.
Its because we no longer have Sidwell protecting the back 4. We are very weak and exposed at the back.
And Ingimarsson and Duberry if he plays ahead of Sonko are not the quickest.

I think you will probably beat us because you have the firepower. The teams we have beaten at home, Derby, Wigan and Everton don't have the same type of firepower as Newcastle. The teams who have beaten us, West Ham and Chelsea had the right firepower.

As long as Big Sam gets his tactics right you can't lose.

Martins caused us all manner of problems at St James last season.

Martins would be the best choice to hammer Reading.

You shouldn't be........

If you lose it would be a tactical travesty of the highest order.

Interesting analysis, this and your other posts.  Did WHU play on the break or all out attack?

West Ham played on the break and they absolutely hammered us. We attacked them as we normally attack most teams that come to our place. But they played Bellamy up on the half way line. His movement was superb and it only needed a couple of great passes out of midfield to release him. He left our back 4 for dead.  That is definitely the way to hurt us at the Mad Stad. Personally I would be happier if Newcastle play with Smith and Viduka up front. That would suit us much better.

Lita is fit but he's not the first choice.

At the moment Kitson is top of the order. Then its between Doyle, Lita & Long. Doyle is slightly ahead at the moment.

Lita is a great finisher but he doesn't do enough work to get chances and to work for the team. His movement is probably not premiership level. If it was he would get a ton of goals.

That looks good but I doubt we would ever see it!

My main worry with the 5-4-1 would be Martins or Owen's ability to hold up the ball, Barton is the ideal choice as a CM that will get forward and support the front man so it may work. My thoughts are more on being solid a the back though and not giving away silly goals
We would be looking for a ball over the top like we did for Martins v City and Spurs to try and nick one.

I am just messing with possibilities I know Sam will probably go with a 4-5-1 or 4-4-2
---------------Given
Beye---Cacapa----Faye----Jose
Ger--Barton--Butt--Emre--Zog
---------------Martins
OR
--------------Given
Beye--Cacapa--Faye--Jose
Smith-Geremi-Barton-Zog
--------Owen--Martins

I agree. If we lose or draw, questions must be asked regarding our away form.

-------Given---------
Beye---Cacapa--Faye---Enrique
Milner-Smith--Barton---Zoggy
-----Owen ---Martins----

I agree with that line up. I think thats the right team for Saturday.
If you play that team it will make for an open and exciting game. You will edge it because Butt & Emre will definitely win the midfield battle over Gunnarsson and Harper. Quite easily I would imagine. Owen & Martins would cause havoc across our defence. Owen because his movement is amazing. Ingimarsson & Sonko always get done by good movement. Thats why Andy Johnson always scores against us and Martins will just knock Ingimarsson sideways with his blistering pace. Without Sidwell in our team, the defence is unprotected and are leaking goals all over the place.

I would honestly be very surprised if Newcastle don't win this game.

Reading will need to be beating the likes of Birmingham, Wigan, Derby, Fulham, Sunderland, Boro & Bolton this year. We can forget about beating the likes of Newcastle, Man City, Pompey, Villa & Blackburn this season. Last season it was possible but this year those teams have bolstered up alot.