We did it, everyone! We made it through January! Now we are into the shortest month of the year and hopefully, for the love of Jimmy Kebe, we’ll start to get some of the bright orange thing in the sky
to return to us occasionally after that.
However, before we can look forward, we must look back on January and see what conclusions – knee-jerk takeaways, if you will – we can draw from this month.
We saw three wins, two draws and a loss. As well as this, there were some transfers in, some transfers out and a fan event. As ever then, there is much to discuss about our clown car of a football club. Shall we begin?
Performances and style of play
This is what I said in December’s knee jerks:
“Richardson will likely need to do this with the resources he has at his disposal, despite his asks for further investment. January will be interesting – we either come out of the other side looking healthy with a playoff push on the horizon, or we fall back to where we were before, and hovering above the relegation places.”
All we learned here was that I don’t know what I am talking about. We saw five arrivals (six, if you include the signing of Scofield Lonmeni-Dekam for the academy) and we are still no closer to knowing whether we are cranking up momentum for a playoff challenge or building stability for a crack at bigger things next season.
At this stage, I think we can conclude we’re almost getting the results in spite of ourselves. We aren’t playing well, the football isn’t convincing and we do seem to have an annoying habit of struggling to dominate games meaningfully, instead inviting unnecessary pressure onto ourselves.
We have been bailed out by brilliant individual performances because very few teams possess the kind of quality individuals that we do, such as Lewis Wing, Joel Pereira and Jack Marriott. Haydon Roberts can now be added to that list.
I think – a lot of emphasis on that word – we can see what Richardson is trying to do: make us difficult to beat. And to some extent, it’s nice having a clear tactical plan.
What isn’t nice is that it’s a plan which isn’t really getting the best out of the squad available to him, and maybe I am being unreasonable, but with all the support Richardson has been given with player recruitment and additional coaches, I don’t think it’s asking too much to want to see a little bit more output from the performances that make our victories seem a bit more convincing.
And possibly develop a better level of consistency (ie: stop throwing away results and turn more draws into wins). Only six games in February, so again, I don’t want to hear excuses about tiredness or needing time to implement signings.
That’s a lot of time on the training pitch over the last four months, literally more than any manager in recent times, so what is stopping Richardson from getting better performances?
The transfer window
On face value, one of the best windows we have had in a long time.
We needed a left-back after Matty Jacob was recalled by Hull City; Roberts was brought in and has been excellent since the very first minute he was on the pitch. It’s been an excellent signing for many reasons, but the fact he is also only 23 years old is really encouraging.
Ryan Nyambe was a strange loan signing to bring in, given our depth at right-back. However, Andy Yiadom’s performance levels have fallen off of the edge of a cliff in January, Kelvin Abrefa seems to have disappeared down the back of a sofa and Ashqar Ahmed is likely to secure a loan away to gain more experience of first-team football – which would also be an excellent move for all concerned.
However, while Nyambe has been more conservative than his first appearance, he’s been solid at the back for us and looks a good addition.
Will Keane, on paper, is an excellent signing: experienced at this level, a proven goalscorer, he’s worked with Richardson before (which was Keane’s most productive goalscoring period) and he offers an aerial presence with his 1.88m (6’2”) frame that we didn’t have previously.
He hasn’t been great, but there is some mitigation for this with him still getting up to match fitness and playing out of position as a 10 quite often. Despite this though, he has still delivered two goals in four appearances to relieve the goalscoring burden on Marriott.
Benn Ward is an exciting signing, and goes back to something we used to do back in our prime: recruiting the best from the lower leagues.
Whether he is a Richardson signing remains to be seen – his comments on Ward’s arrival were about development rather than instant impact – and it’s likely Derrick Williams will be the preferred choice when fit.
But with Jeriel Dorsett’s form wobbling, Ward could be a great addition to help shore up the back line.
It’s worth remembering that Ward was seemingly second choice, with a 30-year-old, injury-prone Ricardo Santos preferred. We will never know what could have been, but this feels significant for us and possibly a bullet dodged.
Regarding Kadan Young: Royals didn’t expect a busy transfer deadline day – it rarely is – but we were treated to a narrative over the course of the day that led to an apparently large bid being placed for Kyreece Lisbie.
This didn’t happen – no sense speculating as to why here – but we did see another loan signing drafted in, this time in the shape of Young. We’re told he can play anywhere across the three positions behind the striker, which is ideal for we need cover both out wide due to Daniel Kyerewaa’s injury and number 10, where options are short in availability.
While he doesn’t arrive with a proven track record at senior-team level as Roberts and Ward did, he did at least feature recently with Aston Villa in the Europa League and provided an assist, so he potentially has something about him.
He’s young, he could be exciting. It will be fun to see what he brings to the squad.
Overall, the window has probably finished better than it started. We definitely seem to have had a much clearer strategy than we did in the summer and I believe we have Richardson’s clarity in what he wants to thank for this.
My worry at the start of the window was that everything looked a bit short-term, with the signings we were bringing in: both in their ages and loan-deal arrangements, with the second part being fair enough. The worry around ages was that I don’t want to see us block the pathways to the first team for our academy players, one of the best features of Reading in recent times.
However, the end was more positive. The signings we made, in terms of players we actually bought, are young, proven at this level, fit, ready to play and, most importantly: they look good.
We have plugged some gaps and given Richardson some more options to balance the squad without taking away any of his options, other than Garcia, who was never really an option for him. This is encouraging.
Andre Garcia
I’ll never know why he wasn’t getting the minutes – I’m aware there was minute-management for his growth – but he’s just the kind of player we have been desperate to see come off the bench, and instead, we keep getting Matt Ritchie to do that.
I talk about this at more length in a dedicated article out soon, but the blame is placed firmly at the door of one individual (no prizes for guessing who).
Garcia has been given a chance to replicate the likes of Omar Richards, Danny Namaso and Nelson Abbey, who all moved further afield to aid their development. I only wish he’d been given a little bit more time with us before he left, but all we can do is be proud we’ve given the footballing world another great talent.
Good luck, Andre!
Mark O’Mahony
A strange situation: seemingly unwanted by Richardson and, if rumours are to be believed, not wanted back by Brighton because they want him out playing first-team football. However, with no takers, O’Mahony finds himself stranded in an unwelcoming environment through no fault of his own.
If you’re asking me – and for argument’s sake, let’s say that you are asking me – there are two viable options here. Brighton giving him academy minutes would at least mean he’s playing, gaining some experience and exposure.
Or why not just play him for us? I’ve said before he has the skill set to play in the number 10 role. Why not roll the dice? What’s the worst that could happen?
Good managers will make the most of the resources at their disposal and improve their squad through good coaching. It’s time for Richardson to earn his money and start doing that.
Haydon Roberts
Right, now I’ve finished complaining, I want to take a moment to single out one of the best January signings we’ve made since Jason Roberts, Nick Blackman or Zane Monlouis: Haydon Roberts.
There wasn’t much fanfare when he arrived, but I was really excited about his arrival. Much more so than Keane.
Why? This is a proper Reading signing: someone young, but with first-team experience at a proven level. Someone who fits the squad dynamic and is also versatile in the roles he can play on the pitch. Someone who has a high ceiling to improve and it wouldn’t be hard to imagine selling him in a year or two for a hefty profit.
Watching him dominate that left-hand side of the pitch and create so many chances has really underlined what we have missed from our full-backs in recent years, especially on the left, where we have been utilising players unsuited to the system or players out of position.
Roberts, if we can keep him fit, has the potential to really change how our season plays out. What a great signing.
Paudie O’Connor
I know Ben’s vocal about this on the TTE podcast, and I am completely in agreement with him. I’m just not seeing it. Whatever we thought we were getting, we didn’t get.
I don’t see him as a leader of the back line, and his decision-making is poor in crucial moments. He’s great in the air, but for a 6’3” centre-back, it would be worrying if he couldn’t win headers. What is worrying though is his lack of pace: it feels like he slows down those around him from being able to raise their level.
He got his goal against Exeter City and I am happy for him. When we didn’t have defenders available due to injury, he was fine as an option. However, we have better options available to be starting games now. So why is he still starting games?
Finley Burns
Especially when this guy has been collecting splinters on the bench for the last few games. He was excellent over the festive period and I would categorically say he was our best defender. Why isn’t he getting games? I literally can’t understand it.
Well, I can. Richardson and youth players, all over again.
Louisiana Day
Credit to the owners for trying to organise events to make things fun for the fans and bring more people to the stadium to watch the games. However, I can summarise why this was a miss (in my humble opinion), in two points:
- January in Reading is awful weather. Nobody wants to be stood around outside in the cold and rain/sleet. If you want to hold an event, get a heated marquee that will keep people warm, and sacrifice some of the car-parking space
- I don’t actually know what events outside the ground were there to represent the theme of the day, or offered anything different to a standard game at the stadium. Food and drinks stands? Why not some more interactive events, more music, big screens to show sports, small scale rides? Something a bit more atmospheric
There is a third point, and this is the most relevant of all: it’s hard to attract people to the stadium when the quality of football is not exciting to watch. If the board want to bring the crowds then they’ll need to have a quiet word with Richardson about helping them to do this.
Perhaps you can say it’s about rewarding the loyal fans who go there on a regular basis, which is nice, but if that’s the case, are they actually taking some time to ask the fans what they want from such events? I’m not sure. Still, these are first-world problems and it all could be – and has been – so much worse.
Jack Marriott
Let’s end on a positive: Marriott. Signing of the season? He’s certainly putting a very strong case forward. It’s almost laughable that he somehow finds a way to score a goal in each game, despite not getting a huge amount of service and playing against two, or often three, huge centre-backs.
Not just this though, his work rate is phenomenal. He’s not above tracking back to help the defence, and every game you can count clearances or headers won in our box from corners to support the team. He also works hard for the team when dropping into the space to play balls forward to bring others into play.
We’ve been saying for a while that this level of form surely can’t last. But… it has. So let’s just keep enjoying having one of the best strikers in the division thriving with us, especially after coming in so late in the summer window to a few eyebrows raised.
