Reading FC v Charlton Athletic Squad Selector: The Results

Having seen off challenges from Burnley and Middlesbrough in recent weeks, coming away with a maximum six points, Steve Clarke now has to set up Reading for the visit of Charlton Athletic this Saturday. Having asked you what team you'd choose were you him, you gave us some interesting results.

Subs: Bond, Taylor, Cooper, Tshibola, McCleary, John, Piazon.

The first team

Building on a solid performance last time out against Middlesbrough, Ali Al-Habsi keeps his place in goal with 66.4% of the vote to Jonathan Bond's 32.7%. On the bench, the ex-Watford goalie's 40.9% puts him above Ali Al-Habsi (31.8%) and Stuart Moore (27.3%).

The back four picks itself nowadays, and you didn't surprise us in returning the dependable set of Chris Gunter, Paul McShane, Michael Hector and Jordan Obita. With no realistic challenger to his spot at right back, Gunter was the only man in the squad to rack up a score of 100%. Similarly, McShane (99.1%) and Hector (90%) weren't challenged by Anton Ferdinand (10%) and Jake Cooper (0.9%). Interestingly, despite solid enough showings from Andrew Taylor, the Wigan loanee only managed 5.5%, a tiny fraction of Jordan Obita's 95.5%.

In the middle of the park, the impressive form of Oliver Norwood (95.5%) and Danny Williams (84.5%) cements their places in the side on Saturday. Aaron Tshibola (28.2%) and Alex Fernandez (1.2%) are distant runners up.

Things get a little more interesting further up the pitch. Although Nick Blackman (99.1% - yes, one of you thought he should be dropped) and Orlando Sa (90%) take their places easily, there's a three-way competition for the last two spots in the side. In the end, Matej Vydra (45.5%) and Stephen Quinn (44.5%) sneak in ahead of Garath McCleary (40.9%).

The resulting set of players indicates that you're all fans of the 4-4-2/4-3-3 hybrid that's been in fashion in recent weeks (in the graphic above). Quinn plays on the left wing alongside Norwood and Williams, with Blackman on the opposite flank in more direct support of Sa and Vydra. Such an attacking set-up worked very well against Ipswich Town back in September, and will hopefully have similar results in the near future.

Subs

Keeping Jonathan Bond company on the bench are Andrew Taylor (58.2%), Jake Cooper (52.7%), Aaron Tshibola (65.5%), Ola John (65.5%), Garath McCleary (54.5%) and Lucas Piazon (60%). By and large, those are the players that most closely missed out on a place in the first team, but it's interesting just how unlucky Anton Ferdinand is. Despite him finishing third in the first-team choices for centre half, he's comfortably beaten (33.6%) by Jake Cooper in the junior category. Evidently, you either want him in the starting XI or not at all.

Missing names

The big absentee from the match day squad is Hal Robson-Kanu, who scores too low in both categories to see him either start or be a substitute. That said, the injury he suffered on international duty with Wales makes that understandable. Apart from him, poor Alex Fernandez and Paolo Hurtado can't get a look in at the moment, with both firmly locked out of Steve Clarke's first team plans.