Reading’s manager, Steve Clarke, has said his team will have to produce their best ever performance if they are to overcome Arsenal on Saturday and reach the FA Cup final for the first time in the club’s history.
“I know that if we play the perfect game, then we have a chance to go through,” said the Scot. When questioned as to how many times his side have attained such a level, Clarke replied: “Probably none – so it’s a big ask. But you have to ask it.”
Reading go into the semi-final still at risk of relegation from the Championship, though it would take an unlikely series of results for them to fall into the bottom three from their position of 18th. While a run of eight successive victories attests to the quality of Arsenal’s displays in recent weeks, Reading have not won any of their five matches since beating Bradford City in sixth round of the FA Cup, and the upswing in performances that followed Clarke’s arrival as manager in December has faded. Clarke, however, has a clear vision of how he wants his team to go about achieving perfection at Wembley.
“No mistakes,” he said. “If you make mistakes in possession and give the ball away to Arsenal they will punish you. If you make silly mistakes in and around your own box they have got players that will capitalise on those chances. Maybe in the Championship you can make two or three mistakes in a game and the opposition are not quite good enough to take those chances. But you know if you make them against a top team they will take them – and we have to be aware of that.
“I’d love to have 60% possession but you have to be realistic. Arsenal are going to have more of the ball than us, so we have to have a good defensive shape. Press at the right time and win the ball back, and when we win it back we have to show that we can be a threat, because if we don’t show we can be a threat, then for them it is a free afternoon. There is no threat and they can attack and attack and attack.”
A valiant defeat is not an outcome that would give Clarke any satisfaction. “The only way to enjoy a semi-final is to win it,” he said. “We’re not playing the occasion. We’re playing Arsenal. It has to be a day of work and focus on what happens on the pitch. The supporters can go and enjoy the day. For us we go with the mentality that we are there to do a job.
“It’s a great challenge for us, to give a little bit of excitement to the town. Reading have never played in an FA Cup final. These players have a chance to make history – what an incentive. [The players] won’t freeze and they won’t have any regrets, I can promise you.”
Clarke will have to make adjustments to the squad he chose for Tuesday’s 1-0 defeat by Bournemouth, as the loanees Nathan Aké and Kwesi Appiah are Cup-tied. Pavel Pogrebnyak is likely to start as a lone striker, while Jordan Obita is expected to fill in for Aké at left-back.
Meanwhile, Clarke indicated Jem Karacan could be in line for a heartening start at Wembley after making an impressive recovery from the injuries that have ravaged him over the past 18 months. Karacan started against Bournemouth only three days after making a comeback in the goalless draw with Blackburn Rovers, and Clarke has no doubt the 26-year-old is fit enough to feature at Wembley.
“He was a little bit surprised he started again on Tuesday but I was delighted with him on Saturday so I didn’t think it was right to leave him out again,” said the manager. “Can he play three in a week? Yes he can.
“It’s great for Jem. He’s worked ever so hard to get himself back into condition, back into shape. The medical staff have looked after him and we should take a little bit of credit for holding him back, we didn’t want to push him on too early. You’ve seen in the last couple of games he’s come back at a decent level.”
