Pre-Season Thoughts

by - August 02, 2019

A new season is on the horizon, and with it, another pre-season has come and past. Players have left, and even fewer have joined. We've played against decent opposition and actually held out own (for once), so where does this leave us with the visit of Sheffield Wednesday imminent? Here are some of my thoughts. 


1. The 'Reading Way' is back.

Astronomical fees and even bigger wages caused a 'light' transfer embargo to be placed on Reading this summer and we all know the reason why - Ron Gourlay. He spent big and it proved woeful. At least in Reading's penultimate period of uncertainty (Zingarevich) there were parachute payments to hold the club up, this time there was nothing. Gomes has long since spoken of Reading's big summer blow-out to thin the wage build and accrue some funds to balance the books and in doing so, much in thanks to the reinstatement of Nigel Howe, Reading have gotten their transfer identity back - Spend smart not big. We've seen loan signings for a young and promising keeper, a Reading loan star rejoining the fleet and free signings of proven players.

Moreover, the 'Reading way' isn't just shrewd spending, looking back to the 05/06 squad or 11/12 squads, it's when each member of the squad has a purpose. Whether they be youngsters taking their first steps into professional football, established pros or older bit-part players, each player was used and made an impact to the first team. The past two seasons, the first team squad has been so large it hardly fit on the back of the programme, with players like Meyler, Gravenberch, Popa, McNulty, Van den Berg and Aluko hardly having a look in, whilst considerably contributing to the torrid financial situation. I feel like the most recent signings have been pointing in the right direction, even Charlie Adam who received a rather disappointing reception from fans. Listen to the way he speaks - he has come in to play as much as he can; and failing that, inspire and help younger midfielders to improve themselves - similarly to O'Shea's role last year. Perhaps what is most important however, is that the club only gave him a one year deal - therefore it doesn't work out for Adam, the club won't be left worse off because of it.




2. Reading's academy will be front and centre this season, for better or worse.

The club's FFP situation has meant that there is a distinct inability to invest in anything more than is considered essential. Currently, according to the club website, the first team squad has ~12-14 non-youth, non-transfer listed players in it (depending on definition). Therefore, it is likely that the fringe spots in the squad will be made up of cheap youth prospects, whom we have seen utilised throughout pre-season. It was always apparent that we were going to see those who featured last year (Loader, Barrett, Olise, McIntyre etc.), but a considerable number of other academy graduates have made the step up in pre-season, and to great effect. Whilst a lack of championship experience is scary, they have proven themselves perfectly serviceable individuals, in particular Holsgrove, Holmes and Novakovic. I think it's not quite as doom and gloom as it was looking in the early stages of summer, and with a testing pre-season, putting them all through their paces, they might even surprise us - just look at how some of the stand out performances against Chelsea were the academy boys!

3. Tom McIntyre will see game time and his best position will be in front of the back four.

McIntyre has been Gomes' go to choice to partner Moore in pre-season. Whether that be due to the lack of another senior centre back or not, there have been glimpses of real quality. He likes to push out of defence and punish strikers who take their time sitting deeper to receive the ball and, go on runs from the back when the opposition push is lacking. However, due to this his mistakes are more noticeable and usually result in an opposition chance as gaps appear when he breaks the defensive line - very reminiscent to how Michael Hector first looked in a Reading shirt.

With the signing of Michael Morrison and Matt Miazga, two championship proven centre-backs, McIntyre is unlikely to get much of a chance to sit in the middle of the back 4 this season, but there is one defensive position that Reading have been crucially lacking in for well over 2 seasons now - a holding midfielder. Whilst Lewis Baker may have proved to be a fan favourite in the position last season, defensively he left a lot to be desired, often not picking up late arriving midfielders which led to the majority of goals conceded under Jose Gomes last season. I believe that with McIntyre's defensive focus and short, but decisive passing range, he can be used effectively in this role. Sitting just in front of the back four to break up attacks and quickly offload the ball to Rinomhota/Swift who would be freed to play higher up the pitch.

 4. Is 4-4-2 the way forward?

Whilst playing 4-2-3-1, Gomes tried almost every attacking member of the squad in the three behind the striker - Swift, Aluko, Barrow, Meite, Barrett, Olise and Baldock. The problem being that pretty no combination yielded consistent potency. Each of them preferred to play centrally or cut in and shoot, causing the team to push narrower and narrower until there is no space to exploit, which coincidentally was not helped by a lack of forward movement.

With a switch to 4-4-2, as seen in the Chelsea game, the wings have been exploited through quick counter-attacking football and high-pushing full backs. Meaning, not only have the opposition had to contend with 2 forwards, but also 2 wide players on each wing. We saw this movement perfectly in Barrett's goal against Chelsea - An overload on the right, created by a charging Yiadom run and quick interchange with Olise, dragged the defence to the right hand side of the pitch, allowing the ball to be quickly moved to the opposite flank in which there was more space.

Furthermore, the strike partnership of Barrow & Meite perfectly suits this formation, with the former's pace complimenting the latter's physicality in a classic 'Target Man and Pacey Poacher' style of strike partnership. My main worry is a defensive fragility through midfield, as playing Swift and Rinomhota together leads to a lack of cover for the centre-backs. Last season 56% of goals conceded under Gomes came from central attacks, with the vast majority being from late arrivals into the box lashing home the second ball; 4-4-2 doesn't prevent this, but could counteract its effects by imposing more of an attacking impetus. Overall, I don't think 4-4-2 will be the only system we see this season but it will be one of the key components in Gomes tactical arsenal, along with a 4-2-3-1 and 3-5-2. 4-4-2 gives us an outlet to actually pressure the weaker teams in the division, which was lacking last season, creating more chances against their defences and hopefully in turn leading to less disappointing dropped points like Bolton (A) and Rotheram (H/A) last season.


Share
Tweet
Pin
Share
Tags :

You May Also Like

0 comments