It's not unusual for LFW to tip a team to struggle and it ends up pushing for promotion (hi Huddersfield), but even the Reading fans are staggered at the scale of the turnaround brought about by Paul Ince this season, according to Simeon Pickup from The Tilehurst End.
Not going to lie, I'm amazed by Reading's start, what have you made of it so far?
It’s still not really properly sunk in yet; it’s exceeded our wildest expectations. Given how badly last season went and how difficult the task was over the summer to give ourselves a fighting chance of avoiding relegation, to be third in the division this far into the season is incredible.
Just as significant as the form is the fact that it’s thoroughly deserved. Reading have had good periods in recent years when we’ve relied a little too much on luck, but this time, we’re worth every point we’ve picked up.
Literally no Reading fan, myself included, is expecting us to maintain this form across the rest of the campaign. The question is instead still very much over whether we’ll stay up. That might seem oddly pessimistic to outsiders looking at how well we’ve started the season, but we’re only six months on from barely escaping relegation, so avoiding that fate is still the number one priority.
Reading’s league games so far…
Blackpool 1-0 Reading Connolly 9
Reading 2-1 Cardiff Long pen 27, Ince 63 — O’Dowda 4
Rotherham 4-0 Reading Wood 7, Washington 15, Lindsay 18, Ogbene 45
Reading 3-0 Blackburn McIntyre 14, Hoilett 61, Joao 78
Reading 1-0 Boro Fornah 28
Millwall 0-1 Reading Sarr 14
Sheff Utd 4-0 Reading McBurnie 11, Ahmedhodzic 46, 81, Ndiaye 62
Reading 2-1 Stoke Joao 2, pen 57 — Wilmot 40
Reading 0-3 Sunderland Roberts 39, 41, Clarke 69
Wigan 0-1 Reading Ince 63
Reading 3-1 Huddersfield McIntyre 21, Nicholls og 36, Meite 81 — Lees 90
Reading 1-1 Norwich Hendrick 60 — Hanley 50
What have been the keys to improving from last year's fairly dismal showing?
Defence, defence, defence. We’re a world away from last season’s leaky team which conceded goals for fun (87 in the league alone) and now - for the most part - we look rock solid. While we’re prone to the odd collapse, getting battered by Rotherham United (4-0), Sheffield United (4-0) and Sunderland (3-0), we’ve not conceded more than once in any of the other nine games (including four clean sheets).
That’s given us the foundation to go on and nick games by the odd goal; we’ve only won a match comfortably twice (Blackburn Rovers 3-0, Huddersfield Town 3-1). Without the creativity of John Swift from last season, or the ability to consistently feed Lucas Joao, we’ve instead had to rely on goals from set pieces and/or distance.
The team spirit’s been vital too. Reading have had to mould a siege mentality and real sense of togetherness to grind out points, which has gone particularly well at the SCL with the home crowd behind the team. Credit where it’s due though, the creation of that team spirit has been down to one man: Paul Ince.
Paul Ince was widely ridiculed as an appointment, presumably the locals are enjoying making people eat their words with him? How's he done?
Magnificently. He’s taken an average group, got them fired up, organised and confident, and we’re reaping the rewards. It’s hard to imagine this side doing this well without his influence - we’re noticeably better under his management for team spirit, game management and just generally making ourselves a bastard of a side to play against.
Tactically, he’s mixed. On the one hand, Reading have been a distinctly low-block, direct-attack kind of outfit this so far this season - the stats make that very clear, not that any of us are complaining. But pigeon-holing Ince as an old-fashioned, defensive, route-one manager feels like too much of a simplification. He’s experimented with a few different setups (currently 3-5-2 but also 3-4-3 and 4-2-3-1), tried a more aggressive pressing style (to an extent) to success in a couple of games (Blackburn and Norwich City), and even deployed over/under-lapping outside centre backs at points: Andy Yiadom and Tom McIntyre respectively.
Despite all of that positivity, there’s plenty of room for improvement offensively. Reading are one of the worst sides in the division for making chances in open play and we’re yet to find the net from open play on the road at all. This hasn’t been a problem so far and being too critical when this is still a team in transition wouldn’t be fair, but I’d like to see Ince develop this side of the Royals’ game to give us more ways to win games.
Likewise, Joe Lumley and Jeff Hendrick were eyebrow-raising signings for those of us who watched them at QPR - how have they done?
Very well and very meh, respectively.
Joe Lumley was written off by Reading fans even more than Paul Ince was when he came in - unsurprising given his calamitous reputation at Middlesbrough last season. However, besides an abysmal afternoon at Rotherham, he’s been as reliable as everyone else. He commands his box well and shot-stops well when required (which isn’t all that often), and he can shithouse with the best of them, which has gone down very well indeed with the fans.
As for Hendrick, he’s yet to really get going. While he’s been underwhelming rather than actively bad, the bigger problem for me is that it’s tricky to work out what his job’s supposed to be - he’s not clearly a holding player, box-to-box man, creator or anything else. He’s mostly just been there without massively standing out. That said, he opened his account on Tuesday with a nice finish from the edge of the box, so it’d be typical if he adds to that against his former club on Friday.
Apart from those two, how did your transfer window go? FFP restrictions aplenty...
Very well. Given the tight restrictions we were under (not only financial but also having to jump through several hoops to get EFL sign-off on transfers), we did really well to put together a squad as coherently as this. It’s a balanced, competitive group that’s full of good characters - dependable players, no one who thinks they’ve above playing for the club. It’s certainly good enough on paper to stay in the division.
It took us a while to get everyone in through the door, not least Naby Sarr who was waiting from late July until late August to have his move ratified by the EFL. But there’s a decent amount of quality and experience across the park, perhaps with the exception of the attacking-midfield zone where we’re light on creativity in central areas.
It’s not good enough to seriously maintain a play-off push across the season. We’re also having to make do with an older squad (six players in their 30s came in this summer) and don’t have that much depth as we’re restricted to a total of 25 senior players - including long-term injured absentees.
Ins >>> Naby Sarr, 29, CB, Huddersfield, Free >>> Tom Ince, 30, RW, Stoke, Free >>> Shane Long, 35, CF, Southampton, Free >>> Sam Hutchinson, 32, DM, Sheff Wed, Free >>> Dean Bouzanis, 31, GK, Sutton, Free >>> Nesta Guinness-Walker, 21, RB, Wimbledon, Free >>> Amadou Mbengue, 20, CB, Unattached, Free >>> Andy Carroll, 33, CF, Unattached, Free >>> Jeff Hendrick, 30, CM, Newcastle, Loan >>> Joe Lumley, 27, GK, Boro, Loan >>> Tyrese Fornah, 22, CM, Forest, Loan >>> Mamadou Loum, 25, DM, Porto, Loan >>>Baba Rahman, 28, LB, Chelsea, Loan
Outs >>> John Swift, 27, AM, West Brom, Free >>> Andy Rinomhota, 25, CM, Cardiff, Free >>> Josh Laurent, 27, CM, Stoke, Free >>> Alen Halilovic, 26, AM, Rijeka, Free >>> Brandon Barker, 25, LW, Nikosia, Free >>> Ethan Bristow, 20, LB, Tranmere, Free >>> Luke Southwood, 24, GK, Cheltenham, Free >>> Orjan Nyland, 31, GK, Released >>> Marc McNulty, 29, CF, Released >>> Michael Morrison, 34, CB, Released >>> Felipe Araruna, 26, RB, Released >>> Terell Thomas, 26, CB, Released >>> George Puscas, 26, CF, Genoa, Loan
Stand-out players and weak links in the side?
We don’t have stand-outs in the same way as years gone by - now relying much more on our collective strength. Most weeks, even when we play well or very well, praise is shared around the XI rather than an individual.
That said, the best answer is Tom Ince. His work rate out of possession has been unreal this season; he never stops running and harrying, whether he’s playing as a central midfielder or a striker. He embodies the committed, never-say-die attitude that seeps through this entire squad. He’s also got a moment of quality in him, having scored long-range winners against Cardiff City (open play) and Wigan Athletic (free kick).
As for individual weak links, my main worry is our left flank defensively: left centre back Tom McIntyre and left wing back Nesta Guinness-Walker. That feels harsh to point out after they’ve both played very well against Norwich, but it’s still a worry: they can both get caught out positionally at times, so it’s something you could exploit.
Revised expectations for the season?
We can’t keep this form up and finish in the top six, but we also won’t collapse to the degree that relegation is a serious worry. Even if we head that way in the back half of the season, we should still have enough time and resources to course-correct. Mid-table seems the likeliest outcome, so I’ll go with 14th. To be honest, as long as we stay up I don’t much care where we finish - we’ll probably have another mini squad overhaul next summer anyway. The key bit is continuing to get things right behind the scenes and improve in the long run.
Links >>> Official website >>> Tilehurst End — Blog >>> Hob Nob Anyone? Forum >>> Reading Chronicle — Local Paper >>> Get Reading — Local Paper >>> Elm Park Royals — Podcast
The Twitter @TheTilehurstEnd, @SimFromBucks, @loftforwords
Pictures — Action Images