I’m not sure how it happened, but it’s already October. The summer has breezed right past us and September has also had the audacity to speed through proceedings, as if 2025 were going out of fashion.
However, despite my misgivings that it surely cannot be – checks again – nearly mid-October (??!), the calendar never lies. Unless you’ve bought a knock-off one, then you’re likely enjoying a nice month of Octimbao with its 37 days.
Calendar ethics aside, six games of – for want of a better word – “football” happened in September 2025. It was definitely 11 Reading players kicking a ball around, but… well, we’ll get to that later. Here then are my knee-jerk reactions, defined as knee-jerk because that’s the bit and I’m sticking to it.
We’re talking September only, so while unfortunately we will cover that disaster-class against Swindon, we won’t discuss anything that happened related to Mansfield Town. And not just because it still gives me a headache to think about.
The system
I’m wary that the tone of this article has started off a bit Grandpa Simpson shouting at the clouds, so let’s start with something positive. Good vibes only for these couple of paragraphs people!
Well, that’s a bit of a lie. Mostly good vibes. Some good vibes. Definitely a reasonable vibe of some description.
The system! It’s – sort of – changed! Huzzah! We’ve now seen a definitive move away from 4-3-3 to 4-2-3-1. This is good news for Jack Marriott, as he now has a bit more midfielder support operating closer to him, and nominally good news for Kamari Doyle, as our most natural number 10 to fill that role.
In theory, this should go some way to providing us a shape that allows players to go in their more natural positions/roles and help to get some more presence into midfield, to plug the gaps where the opposition have been finding space. In theory, anyway.
However… it hasn’t really worked, has it? We’re still not great in either box and our midfield seems to exist only to play simple passes back and forth to each other. Marriott still seems to be ploughing a lone furrow, and our wingers largely seem to have no end product.
Which wouldn’t be the end of the world – though, it’s hardly ideal – if it weren’t for the fact that we keep making mistakes at the back which keep getting punished.
It’s one thing to struggle to create chances when you’re keeping it tight at the back (that’s a nod to 2024/25’s iteration of Huntball), but no good at all when you’re leaving the back door open for the opposition to get their spoils and sit back knowing Reading will struggle to break them down.
Philosophy is a bit of an “ick” word for some people, but it’s relevant here. You can play in any shape you want, really, but a philosophy dictates that players have a common goal in terms of how they move the ball around, defend, attack and transition between the two – and who is responsible for the various elements of that.
Right now, I’m not really sure what Hunt is instructing the players to do, other than presumably to win games? Which isn’t really happening either.
Ross made an excellent point on podcast episode 433 that it seems the likes of Matt Ritchie, Marriott and Derrick Williams (before his injury) seemed to be making their biggest impact by giving the players around them direction in terms of what to do. Surely that guidance should be coming from the dugout, not the senior players?
Something needs to change, and fast. More time together as a group should in theory help, but frankly, the September international break didn’t seem to make a jot of difference.
Do we miss Nigel Gibbs more than we realised? Do we miss the dressing room presence of Harvey Knibbs and Amadou Mbengue more than we gave credit to them for? There are more and more questions and fewer answers than Hunt, who needs to find a solution sooner rather than later to keep the wolves away from the door.
Poor performances
Things haven’t been helped by a lot of players not really performing anywhere near their level. Some have, and they will be discussed, but many haven’t.
I look at Ashqar Ahmed, Finley Burns, Charlie Savage, Lewis Wing, Kelvin Ehibhatiomhan, Doyle and Ben Elliott and worry. Ahmed is young and learning, but who is coaching him to be a better player through the first-team experience he is getting? The talent is obviously there.
Burns actively seems to have regressed in his performances compared to when he first came into the team. That’s not a good look. Similarly, Wing – aside from popping up with his usual worldie goal to salvage a point or three – seems the shadow of the player he was before, with more passes getting misplaced and more punts up field leading to nowhere, while less defensive tracking is happening.
Savage just seems worn out – physically or mentally, I don’t know – but he’s been less effective at getting further up the pitch lately to use his skills to craft chances or take shots.
Ehibhatiomhan hasn’t kicked on – he still disappears too often in games and is a player of moments. He will do something that frustrates the hell out of you – like not winning a header or being physical enough – and then five minutes later, he will do that thing and it’s like someone turned on the light because look how much him doing these things are knitting attacks together! Why can’t he do it more often?
Elliott doesn’t seem to know where he is supposed to be playing and Doyle is drifting. Another “moments” player, he doesn’t really seem able to get enough “moments” to do something to turn the tide in our favour.
Another thing Ross has asked on the pod, which I completely agree with, is this: can we name any player that has improved under Hunt’s coaching? The answer for me is no.
One or two players underperforming can be attributed to many things – lack of confidence, injury problems, integration to a new squad or style of play or things outside of football – but so many that seemed to have gone backwards is a sign that something at a coaching level can’t be right.
Paddy Lane
I think Lane is a great player: his last League One season, two years ago with Portsmouth, tells us this much. Now, more experienced and having also played at a higher level, he just seems completely lost. Where was the absolute star we thought we were getting? Where’s the guy who rattled off goal contributions like Tombola tickets at a village fair?
We’ve seen him play as a traditional winger on the left and as an inverted winger on the right – for what it’s worth, I like him as an inverted winger to get him into more positions to shoot – but neither seems to be working for him.
It’s not a problem in isolation – Daniel Kyerewaa is a player similarly going between two different sides of the field, but struggling to get that end product. This is at least more understandable, with Kyerewaa a young player, new to the league and country. But for Lane? It makes no sense.
There is a theme developing here, so I’ll allow you to draw your own conclusions.
Mark O’Mahony
I was there for the West Ham United under-21s game, and it really felt like this could be a turning point for Mark O’Mahony. I am still in disbelief that he wasn’t given the first penalty to take, subsequently missed by Ehibhatiomhan, but when he smashed in the second penalty of the night, to see the players all come and congratulate him, it all kind of seemed worthwhile.
Like a butterfly breaking out of a cocoon, here was the player we thought we were getting. He then did an absolute nonsense of an assist for Jeremiah Okine-Peters when he drifted out to the left. That type of pass from O’Mahony would never have happened without the goal.
Now I am left to wonder: is he actually more effective as a number 10, right now? We are crying out for our attacking midfielder to drift into the spaces and find ways to cut open defences with through balls, movement or both. Doyle has his moments in doing this too, but we’re yet to see any of it come off.
Maybe the solution is not pushing up a midfielder but getting a striker to drop back and win the balls from midfield to link up the play? You can’t help but feel the more time he gets afforded to play with Marriott, the better it will be for him as a player who is developing, but moreover, better for Reading this season.
I am excited to see what October will bring for O’Mahony.
Jack Marriott
What more is there to say? Fantastic signing. The goalscorer we needed. The experience we were lacking. Wonderful stuff.
Right, now, enough of that positivity. There’s no place for that here in my grumpy article, thank you very much. I am worried for two reasons:
1) He had a similarly explosive start when he moved to Wrexham and then the goals started to dry up. What if that happens here again?
2) What if teams realise he is the threat and take the same approach to mark him out of games entirely, much like what happened to Wing when he was pegged as the man who made things happen for Reading? Who will then be able to take on the mantle for finding a way to score?
League position
I’m not subscribed to the line of thought that it’s nice to not have to worry about the club existing or the club’s ownership.
I mean, sure, it is nice. I like it and I appreciate not having that cloud looming over us anymore. Though you do worry how much that was used as a motivation technique last season to find ways to pick up results, given how much the results have dropped off this season.
I’m subscribed to the line of thought that it’s a long season and we have plenty of opportunities to pick up points and move further up the table. However, October will be the month when we cross the line from “having time” to “needing to do something different and urgently” if we don’t see an uptick in the results.
We are almost sleepwalking into a relegation dogfight. Right now, the table is fairly congested in the middle and picking up a couple of wins will get us into some area of comfort. However, as October progresses, if we don’t get the points then we will likely be cut further and further adrift, meaning every point dropped will be further scrutinised.
“Must-win game” is a term I hear a lot in football, but I’ve never subscribed to that. All games have to be won. That’s the point of football, to win the games. Otherwise why are you playing?
We are reaching a stage where, to borrow another football anachronism, we are going to start seeing more and more “six pointers”.
It’s not the start we wanted under the new ownership, nor is it likely what they expected either. If nothing else, they have been clear in their desires to make the matchday events more eventful and more entertaining and to bring the attendances up.
I know the fireworks are divisive, but more music, more pre- and post-game activities and promotions all help, but ultimately entertaining football that brings successful results is what will bring the fans in.
Judging by the West Ham and Mansfield matches, the attendances aren’t increasing against the backdrop of the performances and results. It’s no coincidence.
Matchday experience
Despite the football being – and I believe this is a technical term – not very football-y or good, there are other things that need addressing from the perspective of the match day experience.
Get ready for these hot takes… the water still comes out too fast and too hot in the toilets! The WiFi is still bad! It’s definitely improved outside in the stadium area itself, but trying to check FPL is a like undertaking a Shrek-style quest to save the royalty stuck in a tower (see, it wasn’t a completely off-kilter analogy. I knew where I was going with that.)
The toilets themselves: while I think they’re better, it just amazes me that, from a business standpoint (meaning: frugality) we must honestly be losing so much money from the over-use of the water (which is bad for a club that has actively aligned itself for sustainability initiatives), and the cost to run the boiler constantly to get the hot water that hot just baffles me.
The timing of the West Ham game was a dinner-inconvenient 7pm kick-off. However, despite being one of the first people out at the half-time whistle to grab a pie (they weren’t ready pre-game), there were none left by the time I got to front of the queue, and I had to eat a disappointing sausage roll.
I don’t usually eat at the ground, so I can’t be totally sure if that’s the norm, but for Tuesday kick-offs, if that’s standard then it’s not great. I was really looking forward to that steak and ale pie.
Anyway, food sulks aside, is it getting better? Yeah, let’s be fair, it is. But is it getting better at a pace that matches the demand of the Reading fan? Not at all.
I honestly actively wonder if the ownership have had the real matchday experience. I suspect not – I think it would shake things up to see them live the life outside of the executive experience to really appreciate how to improve the overall experience and improve the attendances.
