Sent Off From The Bench

After a good second half to last season, and a squad that largely stayed together, it was hoped that Reading would hit the ground running, despite a tough start. That start looks even harder given we've played three of the top 6, thankfully the international break meant our game against league leaders Stockport was moved to late October. Seven points from that run is a great return and we're the only team so far to take points off Birmingham or Charlton. David Button's form last season left a lot to be desired, and there were calls for Joel Pereira to take his place early on. At the back end of last season he showed himself to be a good shot stopper, a trend that's continued into this year, but with a habit of making costly errors with his feet. Thankfully his tendency to give up easy goals has, so far, been left in 2023/24. I would also say that while his shot stopping has been good, Opta have him as fourth best in the league for goals prevented, it can occasionally be...

Selles never particularly settled on who he wanted to play at left wing. Knibbs started the season as a narrow left attacking midfielder, when he moved into central midfield then Dom Ballard took his place for a couple of games before his season ending injury. Mukairu took over the role for a while, though would often be replaced by Elliott. Vickers had a few games there too. Later in the season Ehibhatiomhan was the option off the bench, before starting some games himself before, finally, Mamadi Camará took the last half hour of the season. I think there's two profiles amongst all of those names. First - Ballard, Mukairu, Ehibhatiomhan, and to an extent Knibbs - effectively strikers who look to cut inside and score themselves. Second - Vickers and Elliott - tricksy passers. I think the fact the latter were never first choice shows that it's probably the former that he prefers, but it's a position that Selles is happy to develop players in. I'm not sure the pool of pote...

Finally, the summer. As ever, the first question on everyone's lips are - "who are we going to sign?". For Reading there is a glaring requirement to bring in players all down the left hand side, and so we'll first look at who could fit in at left back. So, what do our current left back options give us? Reading have, largely, used three different left backs. Starting the season with Matty Carson, before moving to Clinton Mola and Jeriel Dorsett. Let's start by examining what it was that caused Carson to be dropped. The main reason he simply did not do enough work defensively. Of left backs that have played over 500 minutes this season, Carson ranks lowest in successful defensive actions per 90 with just 7.17. Mola and Dorsett are both around 11. Even in the U21's game against Sunderland in the Premier League 2 Play-Off Semi Final (a mouthful) his side was targeted. There's all sorts of defensive frailties in his game that are unnecessary to go into, but eff...