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It looks as though we could well be without Lee Briscoe tonight after he went off during the first half on Saturday with a shin injury but Stan has said that Weller’s substitution was for tactical reasons and he will be available tonight.
It really is becoming an impossible task trying to work out who might start although we did get it 100% correct on Friday for the Sheffield United match. We could not have forecast thought the tactical plan with Alan Moore in a central midfield role.
If Briscoe is out then it will almost certainly mean a recall for Graham Branch at left-back in what I would expect to be an otherwise unchanged defence with Steve Davis very unlikely to be fit.
Midfield could see a start for Lenny Johnrose although I think it more likely that he will once again be on the bench with a likely unchanged four. There could though be a change up front where Ian Moore has made a dreadful start to the season, it is difficult to recall one positive piece of play from him in any of the games. There is little chance of Andy Payton being selected and I would think Papadopoulos at 20 would be considered too young. That could mean a start for Robbie Blake but only if he has his football boots with him rather than his diving boots.
Blake hasn’t kicked a ball in anger since being substituted in the Brighton game but the player who Stan pinned all his hopes and money on last season has to be given a chance to impress.
So I will stick my neck out and suggest we could start with the following eleven although no guesses whatsoever on the formation: Nik Michopoulos, Dean West, Mark McGregor, Ian Cox, Graham Branch, Glen Little, Paul Weller, Paul Cook, Alan Moore, Gareth Taylor, Robbie Blake.
That would see Andy Payton, Ian Moore, Dimitri Papadopoulos and Lenny Johnrose on the bench. With no other senior players apparently fit and not suspended that would mean one of the younger players would have to take a place on the subs bench and the likely one is Earl Davis.
Reading could ring the changes although as yet there has been no definite news from manager Alan Pardew. Having won promotion he has not been able to bring in a single player other than American goalkeeper Marcus Hahnemann as cover but is not happy with the start that has brought three defeats from four games and just one win.
Pardew has said he wants results and not performances and after the defeat at Leicester said, "I’m not here to say we played well, I’m here to get results. The facts are that we have played four and lost three, and that’s not good enough for me, my chairman or this Club.
"There could well be changes on Tuesday. We don’t want to keep playing well and not getting anything. This is a points business and at the moment we have only got three."
For more on Reading, a look back at our last visit to the Madejski and a feature on a past player from both clubs see our Match Preview