Premier League football 2012/13: Team guide – Reading
The squad, the predictions and the big-name players for the Premier League new boys
HOME GROUND: Madejski Stadium
MANAGER: Brian McDermott
LAST SEASON STATS
Championship: 1st (promoted)
FA Cup: 3rd Round
League Cup: 1st Round
Europe: Did not qualify
Top scorer (all comps): Adam Le Fondre, 12
SQUAD
KEEPERS
1 Adam Federici 21 Alex McCarthy 31 Mikkel Andersen 42 Jonathan Henly DEFENDERS 2 Chris Gunter 3 Nicky Shorey 5 Alex Pearce 6 Adrian Mariappa 15 Sean Morrison 17 Kaspars Gorkss 23 Ian Harte 24 Shaun Cummings |
MIDFIELDERS
4 Jem Karacan 7 Jay Tabb 11 Jobi McAnuff 14 Jimmy Kebe 16 Jay Tabb 19 Hal Robson-Kanu 20 Danny Guthrie 25 Jake Taylor 26 Brynjar Gunnarsson 28 Michail Antonio 37 Jordan Obita 40 Lawson D’Ath 45 Ryan Edwards |
FORWARDS
7 Pavel Pogrebnyak 9 Adam Le Fondre 10 Noel Hunt 18 Simon Church 29 Nicholas Bignall 33 Jason Roberts 44 Dominic Sameul 12 Gareth McCleary |
STAR MAN: JEM KARACAN
Quick-footed, classy midfielder who’s key to the Royals’ style
ONE TO WATCH: PAVEL POGREBYNAK
The big Russian scored for fun last season at Fulham
SUMMER TRANSFERS
IN: Chris Gunter (Nott’m Forest, £2.5m), Adrian Mariappa (Watford, £2.5m), Pierce Sweeney (Bray Wanderers, £500,000), Pavel Pogrebnyak (Fulham, free), Danny Guthrie (Newcastle, free), Garath McCleary (Nottingham Forest, free), Nicky Shorey (West Brom, free)
OUT: Mathieu Manset (FC Sion, £500,000), Brian Howard (released), Tomasz Cywka (released), Andy Griffin (released), Jack Mills (released), Joseph Mills (Burnley, loan)
STRONGEST LINE-UP
[GK] FEDERICI
[RB] GUNTER
[CB] MARIAPPA
[CB] GORKSS
[LB] HARTE
[RW] KEBE
[CMF] GUTHRIE
[CMF] LEIGERTWOOD
[LW] McANUFF
[CF] ROBERTS
[CF] POGREBNYAK
4-4-2
Style: Counter-attack
TOP 3 TWITTER STARS
1 DANNY GUTHRIE – 75,573 followers
//
2 JASON ROBERTS – 73,951 followers
//
3 NOEL HUNT – 29,805 followers
//
RATINGS
DEFENCE: 6
MIDFIELD: 5
ATTACK: 5
OVERALL: 5.3
No young football fan can afford to go into this weekend without picking up a copy of Match of the Day magazine which includes an in-depth guide to EVERY Premier League club, as well as all the latest transfer gossip, fun-filled cartoons AND the best quiz in football!