It's official: Reading is for real

I'm not here to jump on the Reading bandwagon after a home draw with Manchester United, but I am going to go on record now, with a week left in September, and proclaim that the Reading Royals will finish in the top eight of the Prem. Some of you are scoffing, 'top eight, big deal'. Well for a newly promoted side who's never played top-flight footy, finishing in the top half of what is largely considered the toughest league on earth, then hell yes it's a big deal. What I like about this team is that they know how to score. And I don't care what type of playmakers you have on your eleven, if your squad doesn't have the ability to put up goals--especially away from home--then you're on a one way trip to the Championship. As in Coca-Cola Championship. And no, that's not a good thing you damn yankees.

Look at the teams in the bottom third of the Prem: Wigan, Middlesbrough, Watford, Charlton, Sheff. Utd (I'm going to omit Tottenham because they have top class goalscorers), where are the goals going to come from? I'm not going to go on a team-by-team breakdown but all you have to do is look at the rosters. The majority of these teams will not score 40 goals in a season. And if you're that bad at hitting the back of the ol' onion bag (thank you Tommy Smith), then by all means, atleast spend some of your gate receipts and go buy a Brazilian teenager and hope for the best.

Last year Reading netted something ridiculous like 120 goals. And granted, that's against Championship teams, but atleast they know what it's like to score. There's a culture of scoring, if you will. Not to mention they have an underrated and more than serviceable keeper in Marcus Hahnemann (who, with Tim Howard, is our netminder in South Africa 2010, just too early to tell who's backing up who).

Look, everyone needs a darkhorse. Somebody they can pull for not to win the damn thing, but put up a fight week in and week out. My darkhorse at the beginning of year was Reading, and if their first seven games of the campaign are any indication, then it looks like a lot of folks are going to come out of the woodwork in the coming weeks and join me.

Sambo tomorrows monday where's my Champions League preview? I need to redeem myself after last weeks picks.