Sent Off From The Bench

Paunovic has been under increasing pressure in recent weeks. Last Tuesday he received criticism from all quarters after a dire midweek defeat to Sheffield United, where he changed the shape of the team to nullify the opposition threat. Although there were some interesting takes by those who didn't seem to fully appreciate the formation, it was clear that it wasn't just the opposition's attacking threat that the manager put the mockers on. And yet, one win seems to redeem all. My personal view on The Gaffer is that, given the injuries in the squad, he's doing as well as could reasonably be expected. Obviously he's made errors, but he's also been handicapped by off field matters. The six-point deduction has made the gap to relegation closer than it ought to be, but the team are clearly good enough to comfortably pull clear over the course of the season and, indeed, have been achieving if Reading had started on minus 6.  So my issue isn't with him, but with th...

In the grand scheme of things, I consider myself a bit of an Andy Carroll sceptic. Reading have a penchant for signing players that spend the majority of their time in the physio room, and Carroll aligns with that transfer policy to a tee. It must be said that given the lack of other options, and a short term deal that has no real risk for the club, there isn't any big downside in gambling on the Geordie. With that being said, even I was calling out for the introduction for The Big Man at half-time on Saturday. Reading had a heap of possession just outside the box in the opening forty-five but couldn't translate that into chances. Drinkwater had a tame shot saved after good work from Yiadom, but the best chance of the half fell to Puscas after a fortuitous deflection off a Forest player. The flag went up for offside but it didn't matter as the striker couldn't convert anyway. Both managers had done a fairly good job at negating the other side's strengths. Forest...

When you look at George Puscas, there is no doubt that Reading overspent when it came to bringing the Romanian striker to RG2. Particularly when you look at the type of striker that suits the system that successive managers have tried to build, but it's not something that should be held against the player himself. The lack of any addition in his area over the summer means we've ended up in a position where The Rifleman is our only fit senior centre forward. The question is, how do you get the best out of him?  Reading are a team that love to play the ball to feet. Puscas, however, clearly doesn't excel in that area. He's not as technically proficient as most of the squad, and that leads to him getting crowded out in tight spaces. Teams that double up on him will largely negate his influence deeper and in that sense, he almost couldn't be further from Lucas Joao. To make matters worse he's often too passive when waiting for the ball to come to him, especially whe...

When your season starts with your manager having to watch your opening match from the hotel because he's not been hired in time to beat the quarantine, anything above getting relegated should probably be classed as a success. And Reading exceeded surely even the most optimistic of pre-season predictions. Veljko Paunovic Veljko Paunovic almost exclusively utilised a core group of players in a 4-2-3-1, only changing things when enforced. One of the consequences of that is that Reading had more players play over 3,000 minutes than any other side (roughly three-quarters of the season). That consistency is often seen as a good thing, but in a condensed season, it surely contributed to the injury woes. It can't have helped that the manager also used the second-fewest number of players over the course of the season. His substitutions were often categorised as late (Reading's subs played just 16 minutes on average, only Norwich's played fewer) or non-existent (Reading were 19t...

It is frankly unbelievable that Reading managed to lose a match where they were so in control. Huddersfield didn't have a shot for the best part of forty-five minutes, and it's no real surprise that they only came back into the game after Paunovic's substitutions. It's likely that they're still managing Swift's minutes, there's no point injuring him in a game like this, and Olise was clearly struggling but to replace them with Tetek and Moore shows a depressingly defensive outlook. Sone or Camara was right there, Veljko. Reading's midfield quartet ended up too deep, and too narrow. It moved Reading to a 5-4-1, but with a quartet solely made up of central players who were clearly not completely comfortable in the role they were being asked to perform. Huddersfield had far too much time and space inside the Reading half, with all four midfielders largely looking to camp out in front of the defence. Rinomhota hands across the Huddersfield player, but that l...

The final home game brings about the first win in eight matches. The 4-1-4-1 seen last week seems to have morphed into a 4-4-1-1, with Rowe given a freer role behind Harries and the Williams/James duo positioned alongside each other. The only real surprise was seeing Beth Roberts moved across to the left - presumably down to injuries given that Reading failed to name another LB on their short bench. Kristine Leine overlapping leads to the first goal, with plenty of bodies in the box to aim the cross for Things looked a lot rosier than recent weeks after two first-half goals saw Reading in control. The first, a slightly dubious penalty won by Emma Harries. A cross from Leine saw the youngster bundled over and, not for the first time in her career, Williams coolly sent the woman between the sticks the wrong way. The soon-to-be-retiree had played her part in the build-up, but instead of James or herself taking a ridiculous long shot, the team opened up the right hand side and reaped the b...

The last team that you want to play when your season has all but ended, is a side that have the opportunity to clinch something. Least of all the best team in the league that can win the title. With Moore and Rino injured there were surprise starts for Lewis Gibson and Dejan Tetek. Up front we saw the rare quartet of Ovie, Swift, EFL Young Player of the Season Michael Olise, and Joao. Gibson and Tetek had differing games. The Everton loanee struggled at the back, gifting numerous opportunities to The Canaries. Within the first two-and-a-half minutes, he'd played a poor pass that was easily intercepted by Buendía but he did manage to cut out the Argentinian's pass. In fact, none of his mistakes cost The Royals on a day where he made more than a few. His centre back partner, on the other hand, had a relatively good match outside of two horrendous mistakes that were punished. Holmes passing was crucial in playing out from the back again but, alas, it was two passes back to Rafael ...

Reading consigned themselves to another series in the Championship after failing to beat a lacklustre Swansea team. Little pressure on the ball and packing the midfield may work for Reading's opponents sans-Swift, but he can pick passes with ease Swansea's lone striker meant that the home side's defence had plenty of time on the ball. Much was made of Moore's attempted long balls out from the back. I think that him taking responsibility for attempting to progress the ball is positive, even if he didn't get it right on this occasion. It must be said that he's normally got a better success rate. In fact, it was only one of two occasions this season where he's failed to make a single long ball. The other way to progress the ball is through the midfield, and with John Swift back in the side, that was a much more realistic option. Rino and Laurent often looked to make runs forward to open space for Swift deeper. His range of passing and vision is superior to anyo...

 Reading's season is effectively done, but there are some interesting stories still to delve into; mainly around the churn in the squad. Rachel Rowe and Brooke Chaplen have recently signed contract extensions, but there doesn't seem to be anyone to take the deeper role at present.  With Fishlock having left, Williams seems to be tasked more with dropping deeper and progressing the ball. She completed 1,500 yards of passes - which is almost twice as much as any previous match. Likewise, the 600 progressive yards bettered her previous best of 350. It did admittedly help that Reading dominated possession, but Reading had a similar level against Bristol City earlier in the season, and Williams didn't hit those same numbers. On the whole, they used the same 4-1-4-1 system as during the FA Cup. James was the deepest midfielder again, but with the aforementioned Williams also looking to pick up the ball deeper. James' positioning allowed the full backs to push forward, particu...

Reading and Tottenham had played out two draws in the league, so it's no surprise that it took an extra half hour to find a winner. Without Fishlock, who returned to America after the West Ham match (not out of shame, it was always supposed to be that way), The Royals altered formation. James started alone between the lines in a 4-1-4-1 with Emma Harries up front. Bethan Roberts came in at right back to allow Harding to play further forward on that right-hand side. The youngsters had a fairly tough outing. Harries has a tendency to run toward the ball, rather than making more intelligent runs. It means she often ends up in other players' way and culminated with her running clearly  offside when she had the opportunity to effectively be played clean through. Before half-time, she also had the opportunity to beat the last player and pull across to Williams. The Tottenham player made a good block, but she shouldn't have been afforded the opportunity.  Roberts gets dragged insi...

 Reading won many plaudits after the game away at Manchester City, but realistically could have been on the end of a similar scoreline had it not been for some wayward finishing by The Sky Blues.  West Ham cut off options, Fishlock is forced to try a difficult pass out to Woodham on the left (out of shot) and turns the ball over The Royals have attempted to play out from goal kicks pretty much all year, and Moloney tapping to Fishlock has been used on many an occasion. It's worked before - the team scored against Bristol after a similar move - but it does come with risk associated. There didn't seem to be many options out from the box, and the midfielder's pass was cut out. The ball ended up at the feet of Kenza Dali, with Deanna Cooper standing off her rather than engaging. Still, The Hammers benefitted from a healthy slice of luck as her cross (as it patently was) ended up lobbing Moloney and sneaking in at the back post. Reading have seven players over, and two by the fr...