There was a sense of optimism in the air as championship football returned to the Madejski, Gomes galvanised the club last season and now with a whole summer to mould his plans, everyone was excited to see what it'd produce. What I was hoping to see from this opening game was an attacking performance that showed promise, but moreover a cohesive defensive display from all areas of the pitch. Reading's attacking impetus has been missing for nearly three seasons now, even in Stam's first season we didn't score a shedload of goals - I wasn't expecting us to go and score 3 every game, I just wanted to see an improvement in our intent. Defensively wise, we have two of the leagues best centre-backs, after the re-acquisition of Matt Miazga, and with a whole pre-season to spend time solidifying the cracks that were present, I think anything other than solid would be doing the manager a disservice - I was disappointed.

After a good first 5 minutes, Sheffield Wednesday's attacking advantage was starting to show as Fletcher and, in particular, Harris started to cause real problems. The latter ran the show for the entirety of the first half, his pace and directness perfectly complimenting Bannan's vast array of passing. I couldn't help but see him as another potential thrifty free transfer that eluded us during the summer's soft transfer embargo. Harris' effectiveness was rewarded as he capitalised on Moore's momentary hesitation to speed past the centre back and slot it coolly past Virginia. It will be interesting to see if Lucas Boye can prove to be as useful.

With this goal, Reading managed to work their way back into the game and actually finished the half the stronger team. However, for all their possession, Reading failed to create anything, mainly due to their shape - the 'fluid' front four often sat in a horizontal, narrow line on top of the Owl's back line, offering no width whatsoever, and very little depth for Swift and Rinomhota to play off and progress up the pitch - after the break however was a different story.

In the second half, Reading came out looking fully refreshed; producing high tempo play utilising Barrow's pace on the left wing and relinquishing Richards from quite as much defensive responsibility to support. Crosses were coming in thick and fast but too often were not finding a Reading man, winning numerous corners in the process. Eventually, the ball fell to Barrett on the edge of the box, following another Barrow cross. It looked like the chance had passed him, with the number of touches it took to get the ball under control, but an inch perfect cross later and the stadium was holding its breathe; waiting to see the net bulge as Meite's header looped over Westwood.

The Takeaways

Somehow not a handball?

- Virginia has come under a lot of flack for some reason and I'm not too sure why. I know his goalkeeping style may be unorthodox but honestly, he didn't really do much wrong. His distribution was second to none all game and I really liked how quickly he got the ball out of his hands to start up attacks. He had some good moments; the first save against Harris from a narrow angle and a particularly difficult punch that he managed well from the 2nd ball of a corner. He did well to overcome his initial nervousness in his first game of professional football. I thought he actually did quite well. 

- Danny Loader on the other hand was barely anywhere to be seen. It's so frustrating when you can see how talented players are but it's not quite working out. That's the case with Loader at the moment - he's not a winger, he should either be playing behind the striker or as a striker. On the wing, he drifts far too much into the middle of the pitch, closing down the space for players like Swift to use whilst not offering an out-ball on the wing. This makes Yiadom push further up to offer a wide option and that's what lead to the first goal conceded. I think the signing of Boye and Olise's evident skill will lead to a little less game time for Loader, but he will be more influential in the minutes he plays.

- I thought Omar Richard's main role for Reading this season would be as a winger, or on loan somewhere else; today he proved otherwise. Omar has bulked up and looks to be a lot more defensively 'switched on' than last season, in which he had many more poor performances than good. However, he needs to be confident in his abilities, there were points in the game that the best option to drive the team forward was for him to dribble past players, which is one of his strengths, but instead took passes backwards or sideways. 

- I must be honest, when I saw we signed Charlie Adam, I was less than impressed, but I really cannot fault him whatsoever. He's a professional off the pitch, openly encouraging the team whilst warming up as a substitute and coaching players during the game. On the pitch, he was perfectly competent, even impressive at points, and seemed to ooze experience when it comes to how he needs to change the game he is being introduced to. He'll prove to be a good frugal signing and not a wasted one. 

- The players need more Bravery. Much alike Richards, there were options for Reading to take killer passes, balls over the top, or go on runs to really make meaningful attacking progress, but chose to recycling possession instead. I'm not saying that these options have to be taken every time they present themselves, but they do need to start actually some risks. For example, Swift was decent but his only real quality showed when playing long cross-field passes that utilised Yiadom's bombing runs, nothing down the centre of the pitch. 

- Reading do not need a new striker, they never have done, for the past 5 years Reading's problems have been in their build up and chance creation. A midfielder should be a priority. Reading need a real holding midfielder, it would allow Rinomhota to focus on helping during transitional phases, Swift can play further up the pitch in a free roaming no. 10 role where he is best and the centre-backs can get the cover they need. This one key role unlocks so much for the team and I really believe could be key to unlocking this team. 

Overall, there's still a lot of work that needs to be done, the problems of last season were apparent on the opening day, but will that prove to be a curable hangover or not? Looking forward, Hull next week is going to be another good test of where we will stand in this division. They are a team that are likely to be around the bottom of the table come the end of the season and so another performance like this would be start to get the nerves flowing.