Opposition Preview - Reading

Blog written by ad_wilkin
Published: 28th August 2023 9:54

It’s not the most glamorous draw but Reading in the second round of the Carabao Cup represents a really good chance to progress through to round three.

It also provides a good chance for Town to bounce back from defeat against Leeds and get more minutes into the rest of the players in the squad.

Relegated to the League One last season after a six-point deduction, Reading were served a winding up petition for unpaid taxes on 27th June. This resulted in another one-point deduction for this season. In the backdrop of this financial uncertainty, it is perhaps a surprise that they have landed Ruben Selles as manager.

The 40-year-old coach has a variety of roles in football, working as a fitness coach at Aris Thesaloniki, chief data analyst at Stromgodset, assistant manager at Aarhaus, FC Copenhagen and Qarabag and was manager of the Valencia U18s.

After all of these, he joined Southampton as assistant manager to Ralph Hassenhutl and took the top job on a caretaker basis when Hassenhutl was sacked.

The Saints then turned to Nathan Jones who only lasted 14 games before Selles came back in to see out the season. He was unable to keep them up but will hope to have more success building this Reading side.

Pre-season isn’t necessarily a good indicator but Reading lost all five of their pre-season games. League form continued in a similar vein with 1-0 defeats to Peterborough and Port Vale. In this competition, however, they hit four past a strong Millwall side with a very young team.

Listening to fans thoughts, it sounds as if they are in a very similar position to when Town first got relegated to League One. An invisible owner who is no longer invested and no longer seems to care with a core of players who got them relegated from the Championship and seem unmotivated and scarred by the experience. Their bright spots seem to be coming from a couple of new signings and the youth progessing through.

Selles changed his squad after that second 1-0 defeat to Port Vale and gave those players that played so well in the cup a chance in the league. This switch resulted in better performances and back-to-back wins against Cheltenham and Stevenage. This weekend they lost 2-1 at Exeter, conceding in the 93rd minute but it was a much closer game.

<h1>Goalkeepers </h1>

Taking the number one spot at the start of the season was Dean Bouzanis. The 32-year-old Australian was number two last year to Joe Lumley, who is now at Southampton.

Bouzanis has largely been a number two throughout his career but does have a smattering of League One appearances from a spell at Oldham all the way back in 2013. He has already been displaced, however, with the signing of David Button on a free transfer and looks to be on his way out of the club having been made available for transfer.

Button brings more experience than Bouzanis with 196 Championship appearances including 13 for West Bromwich Albion last season. So far the 34-year-old has only conceded three goals in four games and made 11 saves, proving to be solid between the sticks despite a shaky debut.

With those two older keepers in the building it could block the path for Coniah Boyce-Clark. The 20-year-old Jamaican performed excellently in the win against Millwall, keeping a clean sheet and making four saves and will feel unlucky if he doesn’t get to start this one against Town.

<h1>Full-Backs </h1>

At right-back is captain Andy Yiadom. The 31-year-old Ghanaian is heading into his sixth season with the Royals and continues this one as skipper. He’s played 175 games for Reading and brings experience to that backline. However, he made a slow start to the season and was quickly replaced by Amadou Mbenge.

The 21-year-old made 26 appearances in the Championship and didn’t look out of his depth when he either stepped in for or came on for Yiadom. With Selles relying on his full-backs for the width in this team, Mbenge suits the role better than Yiadom as his athleticism means he’s able to get up and down the flank.

On the other side, the main man is Nestor Guinness-Walker. Where Yiadom is the solid steady option at right-back, Guinness-Walker offers a more attacking outlet. It was his mazy run into the box that won Reading their penalty against Port Vale.

Guinness-Walker started his career at the Met Police before going to AFC Wimbledon. This means he knows League One well with 84 appearances. However, his last appearance against Town did not go well, Wes Burns having him on toast, scoring twice as the Blues beat Wimbledon 2-0 in January of 2022.

This reflects what Reading fans think of him, saying he’s excellent going forward but awful defensively with calls for him to even be pushed forward to left midfield to hide his lack of defensive capabilities. Guinness-Walker’s another that is rumoured to be up for sale but is still making matchday squads at the moment.

The man who has taken the left-back berth for the cups and then latterly the league is Matthew Carson. Signed in February 2023 having been released by Accrington Stanley, this is his first season of professional football.

The opposite of the swap on the right-hand side, his introduction has provided more defensive stability to that backline, although he is still raw in a lot of aspects.

<h1>Centre Backs </h1>

Starting the league campaign at centre-half were the two Toms. Right-footed Holmes and left-footed McIntyre continued their partnership from last season where they played 6,531 minutes between them.

Holmes is 23 and McIntyre 24, so both have enough experience but also the years to learn and improve. However, following the poor start McIntyre has lost his starting place and Holmes has not featured in a matchday squad having been put on the transfer list.

The pairing that started the first round of the cup by comparison had 6,521 minutes less experience than their league starting counterparts. All of that coming from Nelson Abbey’s 10 minutes in the Championship last season. Abbey has slotted into the side seamlessly, captaining in Yiadom's absence and keeping three clean sheets in his four games.

The other half of the pairing is 18-year-old American Tyler Bindon, who has joined this summer from the LAFC academy. Fans are already warming to the American, comparing him to former Reading and Town defender Ivar Ingimarsson in the way he reads the game and wins headers.

Joining them on a free transfer from Birmingham is Harlee Dean. He only signed on 4th August and isn’t quite up to speed yet which explains the lack of starts so far.

The 32-year-old's addition brings an experienced head at the back as he’s eight years older than the next most senior centre-back. The former Brentford and Birmingham man also comes with a wealth of appearances (313 Championship, 110 League One, plus five League One play-off matches).

Dean will be looking to break up the existing partnerships and bring his experience and stability to this Reading backline. He replaced Bindon for the last game against Exeter and looked solid on his debut.

<h1>Wide (Advanced) Midfielders </h1>

So far Selles has set up in a 4-4-2/4-2-2-2 utilising Harvey Knibbs and Femi Azeez as the advanced midfielders.

Knibbs is a new signing, choosing to move on after his contract expired at Cambridge. He was one of the star players at the Abbey Stadium last year with five goals and five assists playing both left and right sides, and even down the middle in an attacking midfield role. He’ll look to carry this form into the new season with Reading and scored his first goal of the season against Exeter on the weekend.

Azeez has been at Reading since 2021 but has only been a bit part player in all of his Championship seasons, having to make do with mainly sub appearances.

Now 22, he’ll be looking to make that regular first-team spot his this season. He’s a player that works hard and has a bunch of tricks and flicks but seems to lack the final touch to finish it off. He did, however, get his first assist of the season against Exeter

Azeez's competition will likely be Mamadi Camara. The 19-year-old was signed from Feirense in 2020 and has worked his way through Reading’s youth teams, making do with mainly sub appearances so far.

Camara has lots of promise and is already an international, having won three caps with Guinea-Bissau. He showed that promise in the game against Millwall getting himself on the scoresheet.

Also in the squad but yet to feature and looking likely to be sold on is former Liverpool youngster Ovie Ejaria

<h1>Central Midfielders </h1>

The central midfield pairing in the league so far has been a mixture of youth and experience and has been the area where there has been the most consistency in selection.

Sam Hutchinson arrived from Sheffield Wednesday in July 2022 as more of a squad player. After making only 11 appearances in the Championship relegation season, he’s been a regular so far this season. At 34 he doesn’t have much pace and his job in the side is the sit and sweep up danger.

This leaves his partner Charlie Savage to do most of the running. Savage joins having been released by Manchester United following a productive second half of the season loan spell at Forest Green Rovers. The Welshman was one of few bright sparks as Rovers were relegated and has also been one of Reading’s better performers so far, consistently putting in 7/10 performances.

The cup line-up featured the experienced Lewis Wing, who joined on a free after an impressive season with Wycombe where he scored nine and assisted five. He will provide the goal threat in that central two that is lacking elsewhere and has since replaced Hutchinson a couple of times in the league.

Partnering Wing is another young Welshman. Tivonge Rushesha has joined this August from Swansea’s academy. A defensive-minded player he can play as a defensive midfielder or at right-back and suits the pressing game that Selles wants to play off the ball with fans calling for him to replace Hutchinson in the side. So far Rushesha’s had to make do with just the cup start but will be hoping for inclusion in this one.

To provide further depth in that midfield, Reading have signed Ben Elliott from Chelsea on a three-year deal. The 20-year-old midfielder has recently made his Cameroon debut and impressed in both Premier League 2 and the Papa Johns Trophy for Chelsea last year and will look to continue that into the new season where places are certainly up for grabs with Selles yet to settle on his best side.

<h1>Strikers </h1>

There is a distinct lack of options up front for Reading but by far the biggest name is Andy Carroll, once sold to Liverpool for £41 million after an impressive season with Newcastle.

The big frontman has since suffered with fitness problems and is going into his first-ever season in League One. A fit and firing Carroll would be an asset to any League One team, even at the age of 34 but he looks out of ideas and out of motivation with fans feeling that he thinks League One is beneath him and he’s looked a shadow of his former self so far.

Carroll's only appearances of the season were the first two games and included a penalty miss against Port Vale. Clearly one of the higher earners, he is the main player that Reading are now looking to get out of the door before the transfer window closes, and he hasn’t featured in any matchday squads since.

The other options in Reading’s squad are both youth products. Kelvin Ehibhatiomhan played eight matches (two starts) in the Championship last season and netted against Preston.

Ehibhatiomhan was the star man against Millwall scoring a brace, the first showing power and persistence to turn in the box and dink the ball over the keeper and the second illustrating a poacher's instinct to slide in after a defensive mix-up for Millwall saw former Town stopper Bartosz Bialkowski fail to get the ball away from his goal-line.

He followed that up with another double against Stevenage (a header and another tap-in). He’ll be looking forward to testing himself against another set of Championship defenders.

The other starter in that cup game was Caylan Vickers. This season is the first taste of competitive football for the 18-year-old but he has a decent U18s record with five goals and six assists in 28 appearances.

Whereas Ehibhatiomhan offers a physical presence, Vickers at only 5ft 6in provides the foil, looking to drop deeper and pick up knockdowns as he has played the majority of his football as an attacking midfielder rather than an out and out striker.

Also in the squad but yet to feature so far due to injury is former Cambridge frontman Sam Smith. He scored 13 goals in 45 appearances last season with six of those coming from headers as well as finishes with both left and right feet.

Smith is a player that Town will know well and have always managed to deal with effectively whenever they’ve faced him playing for Cambridge.

Also signed on the 16th August was Paul Mukairu, joining on loan from FC Kobenhavn. Mukairu is a bit of an unknown and at the age of 23 still doesn’t have many appearances under his belt. He played 10 games for Kobenhaven and scored no goals and only has 12 goals in 110 appearances in total.

He can play as a striker, or a left winger so may be used in either of those positions. This game would have perhaps been one where he would have liked to have got minutes but he only lasted nine minutes on Saturday, his second appearance from the bench for the Royals, coming off injured having only entered the field on 75 minutes.

<h1>The Teams </h1>

The Town team should be pretty straightforward providing no new training ground injuries. I expect Cieran Slicker to once again deputise in goal behind a back four of Dom Ball, George Edmundson, Elkan Baggott and a full debut for Brandon Williams in his favoured left-back position. Lee Evans and Jack Taylor will be in midfield with Omari Hutchinson, Sone Aluko and Marcus Harness ahead of them.

The shape of those three could rotate during the match with all of them being comfortable in any of those front three positions.

Cameron Humphreys is another that could feature in the 10 role but I think Aluko’s versatility and experience gives him the edge for this one.

Up top, Freddie Ladapo will have a point to prove with Kayden Jackson picked at the weekend after George Hirst picked up a knock.

Reading is a whole other kettle of fish. Do the first-round cup players, who are now playing in the league, start again? Do some of the original matchday one and two players get given another chance and which of the new signings get integrated?

With Bouzanis looking likely to leave I've gone for Boyce Clarke in goal. Yiadom back in at right-back as Mbengue has been struggling with a knock.

Selles might potentially look to get Harlee Dean some more minutes but I've gone for Bindon and McIntyre at centre-back with Bindon perhaps feeling unlucky to lose out to Dean in the last league game against Exeter.

At left-back Guinness-Walker could come in to replace Carson to rest the youngster and use this game as a platform to gain interest for a potential transfer.

The midfield is likely to be changed with the first-round cup pairing of Rushesha and Wing reforming for this one. Ben Elliott is another option and will also be pushing for his first start.

In the attacking areas, there aren’t too many options. With Azeez and Knibbs both performing well against Exeter, they could start this one to continue that form with Camara waiting in the wings.

Again, up front Reading are lacking options to rotate with really so it should be the little and large combination of Ehibhatiomhan and Vickers with Carroll unlikely to come back in out of the cold.

<h1>Action Areas </h1>

With Reading playing narrow there will be a bunch of space out wide for Town. Going forward that will mean that Harness and Hutchinson will need to keep the width but should favour their one-on-one dribbling to cut inside. Evans is excellent at hitting long diagonal so those two along with new signing Williams are likely to be his targets.

Defensively it will be interesting to see if Williams is kept wide or if he drifts into the midfield like the trial with Davis in pre-season. Edmundson and Baggott could have a challenge with two strikers and narrow attacking players to handle. Ehibhatiomhan is likely to find the weakest of the two and try and pin him so Town will have to be careful of that. The Blues' wide players may have to tuck in to pick up their midfield counterparts on occasion.

The second string Town side looked impressive against Bristol Rovers but with a few injuries now creeping in and an away trip against an arguably stronger League One side, this could be more of a test than the first round. I’m going for a 1-1 with Town winning 5-4 on penalties.

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