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Reading's Ups & Downs: Games 13-22

I'd been hoping to do these in 6 game chunks but for whatever reason this slipped back a tad. So this week it's a bumper look back, as we look back at the Premier League games starting at Villa and ending on Saturday against West Brom. You can find games 1-6 here and 7-12 here

Julian Finney

Last Ten Results:

Aston Villa (A) L 0-1, Manchester Utd (H) L3-4, Southampton (A) L 0-1, Sunderland (A) L 0-3, Arsenal (H) L 2-5, Man City (A) L 0-1, Swansea (H) D 0-0, West Ham (H) W 1-0, Tottenham (A), L 1-3, West Brom (H) W 3-2

Total: Won 2 Drawn 1 Lost 7 - Points: 7

PLAYER TREND NOTES
GOALKEEPERS
ADAM FEDERICI UP Federici has grown in confidence with each game and while he's still had one or two moments where you think he might have done better, by and large he's been in good form with two clean sheets in the last ten plus three games where he's conceded just one.
ALEX McCARTHY INJURED McCarthy has had to sit on the sidelines ever since the QPR game and it's unlikely we'll see him again this year
STUART TAYLOR LEVEL Seems to be warming the bench pretty well...
DEFENDERS
CHRIS GUNTER DOWN Another up and down month for Gunter. While he's regained his place from Cummings, his performances have been very hit and miss, with more miss than hit. The biggest blow has come this past week with the news that we've signed experienced right-back Stephen Kelly, could Gunter's days at Reading be numbered already?
SHAUN CUMMINGS DOWN As with Gunter, it hardly suggests your manager has faith in you when he recruits another right-back. Cummings is still young and has potential but he's seemingly third choice right now and a loan spell could beckon.
IAN HARTE UP Harte has come back in from the wilderness to start the last five games and in those matches we've earned seven points and have conceded just six. Harte's earned a couple of assists as well to give him a bit of a leg up over Shorey.
NICKY SHOREY DOWN Shorey might consider himself pretty unfortunate to be dropped given his overall performances this season but it's fair to say he wasn't at his best against Sunderland or Arsenal. Harte seems to have the shirt for now and it could be a while before we see Shorey again.
ALEX PEARCE UP Pearce still hasn't signed a contract but thankfully the club have put those issues to one side and have once again given last year's POTS a run in the team. He's repaid that faith with a string of fine displays and lets just hope a contract follows in the next few weeks.
ADRIAN MARIAPPA UP Mariappa has settled in well with Pearce and he's looked pretty solid in the last few weeks.
KASPARS GORKSS DOWN Gorkss was given a brief recall against Arsenal but was powerless to stop Arsene Wenger's side taking their Madejski tally to 12 for the season. He's not been seen since and is probably down to fourth in the pecking order now.
SEAN MORRISION DOWN Morrison looked a mainstay in the defence before an injury at Southampton ruled him out for a couple of weeks. Since then, Pearce and Mariappa have formed a good partnership and Morro has had to make do with cup and bench duty.
MIDFIELDERS
JIMMY KEBE UP Jimmy was somewhere near his best in the second half of the West Brom game and he's slowly started to get back to the form we know he's capable of. Kebe has also been impressive in defensive positions and we need the very best out of him for the rest of the season to stay up.
GARATH McCLEARY DOWN Despite an impressive cameo against West Brom it's still been a disappointing few weeks for McCleary who hasn't featured awfully much.
HAL ROBSON-KANU LEVEL Some good, some bad for HRK, who scored a great goal against United but otherwise struggled to make too much of an impact.
JOBI McANUFF LEVEL Good defensively but a bit frustrating going forward. Can't fault the skipper's effort but he's still shown his limitations at the top level.
DANNY GUTHRIE UP Guthrie couldn't have been on a bigger down after he refused to travel to Sunderland saying his 'head wasn't right' Since then he's made a return to the side and has slowly improved game on game, culminating in an arguably MOTM display against West Brom.
JAY TABB DOWN Poor Tabb. He's gone from regular starter to being told he's no longer needed as Reading have recruited Daniel Carrico and Hope Akpan.
JEM KARACAN UP Karacan's return from injury has certainly helped spark the side and while he's not been at his very best, it's still been a welcome return from the Turkish U21 international.
MIKELE LEIGERTWOOD DOWN Leigertwood's performances haven't been up to scratch in recent weeks and his injury has oppened the door for new signings Daniel Carrico and Hope Akpan. Ledge still has a role to play but how much of that is as a starter looks in doubt.
DANIEL CARRICO LEVEL Carrico lasted just 45 minutes on his debut but after less than 10 minutes of football that was hardly surprising. Far too early to make a real judgement on him.
FORWARDS
ADAM LE FONDRE UP Alfie continues to pop up with key goals and his penalty against West Brom was crucial. He's been mostly confined to the bench in recent games but still looks lively when he comes on.
PAVEL POGREBNYAK UP Feed the Pog and he will score! Three goals in his last three have seen Pog really win back the Reading fans and repay the faith of Anton Zingarevich and Brian McDermott.
NOEL HUNT DOWN Noel hasn't seen much playing time lately and failed to sparkle in a rare start up at Sunderland. Still a good squad option and great in the dressing room.
SIMON CHURCH DOWN I'd be shocked to see Church in a Reading shirt again. His loan spell at Huddersfield fizzled out fairly quickly and a move before January ends looks likely.
JASON ROBERTS DOWN Injury has kept Roberts out since the Southampton game and he shows no sign that he's near a return. With his contract expiring and Pogrebnyak flourishing, his days as a regular starter could also be at an end.