The football season really is up and running now – we’ve gotten past the August sun, seen an international break happen and watched a cup run start and end. September has brought us six games, with the month finishing in a better run of form and Reading hovering outside the play-off positions.
Let’s dive deep into the opinions – knee-jerk reactions, if you will – of September 2026!
The football: a recap and a review
So said a writer not a million miles away from here during the August knee-jerk reactions:
“[September] will be a big month
to either get fans back on side or solidify the unity of fans wanting [Leam Richardson] out; there won’t really be much of an in-between here, unfortunately.”
That nameless writer turned out to be a bit wrong. However, I definitely think it’s clear to see we’re on a better trajectory now and there will be more fans back on side with the team’s performances than there will be with those wanting to rip it all up and start again.
Our four home games have seen three wins (all in September) and one loss, with 13 goals scored and five conceded.
On the road, three games (two of them in September) have seen two draws and one loss, with three scored and four conceded. This has left us with one of the better goal differences in the division by the end of September and that’s encouraging.
Starting the month with a 5-0 win against Mansfield Town was a delight (seriously, can you remember the last time we turned in a home performance like that?) and we didn’t even have to play so well to manage it. The challenge has now become how to deliver that kind of result against teams which don’t give us so much space to play into.
However, progress is progress and we will take it as long as the trajectory continues upward doing into October.
Predictable
OK, so those were the positives in terms of the performances, so let’s get into the negatives. I think this topic ties into Richardson’s in-game management (or lack thereof), but we are painfully predictable right now.
We know our starting XI, if everyone is available. Is there a risk that complacency will creep in? Similarly, it feels like our substitutions are always so predictable – maybe it’s about protecting the more injury-prone performers such as Jack Marriott and Haydon Roberts. You can almost put money (though I’d always advise against gambling) on Randell Williams and Jacob Brown coming on between the 60th and 70th minutes.
It’s great we have a system that works for us – and when it works it really works – but we’re not Arsenal yet in that we can just set up and play the same way against anyone and expect to win. We’re just not that good, or good enough to be considerably better than those around us in the league with aims of the play-offs or higher. We need to show we can have a Plan B.
Not just this, we’re also so painfully easy to attack against. I’ve lost count of the number of times we’ve failed to prevent the cross and seen it result in an attacker winning the far-post header and scoring a goal with one of the opponent’s very few chances.
Seriously, if I’m a coach of any other side in the division, that’s my game plan sorted already: break on the counter, get the cross in, have a runner at the back post.
It raises questions about what work Richardson and the coaching staff are doing to prevent this obvious flaw, but also why our full-backs keep letting it happen, why our centre-backs (consistently Paudie O’Connor and Benn Ward) can’t win the headers and why Joel Pereira isn’t coming to claim the ball.
We’ve got to improve on this, and soon.
Away form
There are two ways to look at this, I suppose. A strong push for promotion is based on winning your home games and picking up points on the road. In this sense, September has largely achieved that aim.
On the flip side, it would be nice to see us aim a bit higher – and subsequently achieve – more than just collecting draws on the road. We really ought to be winning more, at least a bit more occasionally.
The Cambridge United defeat is an obvious frustration, coming after a Mansfield game in which we didn’t have to play brilliantly and still won 5-0. In some respects we played better at Cambridge and had nothing to show for it.
Ultimately, we just need to get the monkey off our back and win a couple of away games in a row to help not only the players build confidence, but also the fanbase. October has trips to MK Dons and Wigan Athletic, with both in the relegation zone currently.
You do wonder if the players can sense the nervousness of the fans on the road, and whether that might be a factor.
The international break
Let’s get back to the positives again. I really liked the decision from the club – whether it came just from Richardson, I don’t know – to continue playing through the international break. We’ve built a squad for a reason, so let them play!
It might not curry everyone’s favour – particularly given that two of three who were called up were in our double pivot – but it will a) reduce fixture congestion later in the season when we have more injuries and less opportunity for rotation and b) give others a chance to impress. Liam Fraser has been solid when called upon and it’s great to see Luke Howard brought onto the bench as well.
Lewis Wing
The only downside to the international break was that it meant that, with Charlie Savage and Andy Rinomhota off representing their countries, there is no chance of Wing getting some rest.
It’s a strange one. OK, he’s the captain and we know what he can do, but why on earth does he have to finish every game too? Surely we can close out a match without him on the pitch, if you’re going to insist on having him start every league fixture?
The trouble is that we aren’t really seeing what Richardson is seeing, right now. My belief is that our strongest pivot at the moment is Rino and Savage, based on form/performance levels.
We all know how good Wing can be, but when was the last time he really delivered a trademark, man-of-the-match performance? He was beginning to struggle towards the end of last season, and this slump has largely carried into this season too.
If we had no other options, I’d understand. But we do. And the kids aren’t half bad either, if we need a rotation option from the bench. Wing is a good player – maybe even a very good player – but playing him in the hope he will rediscover his best form, rather than on the strength of his current form, is doing him and everyone else a disservice, when a rest could be what the doctor ordered.
Charlie Savage
Speaking of Savage, not many people would have caught this, but while I was watching RoyalsTV for the Wycombe Wanderers game, he messaged in to cheer on the Reading players, watching from the plane.
It’s just great to see how much he cares, and I’d like it if someone read this – having not known he’d done that – and just gave him his flowers.
Joel Pereira
He’s getting better, and a couple of clean sheets have helped to quell the concerns from the majority of the fan base, it seems.
The general trend since the opening day game against Luton Town has been to see him begin to claw back his xGC (expected goals conceded) to closer to 0. However, the Cambridge game then set him back again, so he’s now tracking at -1.5, which means he has conceded 1.5 more goals than he ‘should’ have so far.
Not drastically bad then. However, that shortfall could have been a point against Cambridge instead of a loss, or a win against Wycombe instead of a draw – examples of how much difference just one goal could make for our season.
His distribution remains painfully slow, however. He spends far too long trying to pick the pass before making it, and often the pass made is to just roll out to the centre-back in front of him, which is hugely frustrating when you have a goalkeeper who has a great throw on him and full-backs and wingers with pace to burn and space to run into.
Benn Ward
In August, Ward was our best centre-back while O’Connor struggled. Something somewhere has reversed and O’Connor has rediscovered his consistency and Ward’s performances feel like they have dropped off the face of a cliff.
I don’t know why, or what’s happened, but there is definitely a good defender there and it just seems to be spells of the game, rather than the full 90 minutes. However, with Conor Masterson and Josh Knight (possibly, if he’s recovered from injury) in the background, Richardson might be forced into making a change.
It does feel like, right now, being left-footed is the main thing keeping him in contention to be a starter.
Jack Marriott
He remains brilliant and the difference-maker for us. At the end of September, no one had scored more league goals in any of England’s top four divisions. Given his minutes are being managed, that makes it all the more impressive.
The question now, however, is whether we can do what we’ve not yet manage to do before and cope without him. We enter October with the very real prospect of him not being available for any of it.
It’s worth noting that, almost exactly one year ago, this was a reality faced by Noel Hunt and it didn’t end well for him, nor did it do our form any good. Let’s hope Jacob Brown and Jamie Reid are ready for the challenge.
George Earthy
Andy Rinomhota was a deserved winner of the TTE September player of the month award. However, you can’t help but feel after the way George Earthy slotted into the side that, had he stayed fit for the full month, it would have been him.
He really seems to be the number 10 we’ve been crying out for since Harvey Knibbs left, which weirdly was only last season but feels like a lifetime ago.
Earthy has been an excellent pick-up, and if he continues in this stead, he’ll long be destined for things higher up the pyramid, with or without us.
Paddy Lane
I wrote about Kyerewaa being the least nailed-on starter in August and the first game in September saw him dropped and Lane stepping up. And he has not looked back.
The end product is not quite there, but he’s quick, he works hard and he creates space and opportunities for others. Most importantly, you believe it’s only a matter of time. It’s mad to think that the best-case scenario for him before the season kicked off was being our second-choice left-back.
I mean… he still is, but he shouldn’t be, because he is clearly the best option on the left wing and should be allowed to stay there for the duration of the game, rather than shuffled back to accommodate Randell Williams. Perhaps this is not helping his end product?
Bearwood visit
I didn’t get the invite personally (given that I’m not at the required level of subscriber) and besides, I wouldn’t have been able to get there (it being a two-hour flight and 30-ish-minute drive away). However, I don’t feel like I missed out because Bobbins wrote an excellent summary of the experience that I really can’t recommend reading enough.
It sounded like a great afternoon – really educational and, more importantly, just a nice little win for supporters to be given that opportunity and insight. Sometimes, the wins can be quick and easy to keep a fan base happy.
Loans out
It’s just really good to see those younger players on the fringes – or those looking to break through from the academy – now being given the option to go and get meaningful first-team minutes to help them prepare for more regular involvement with Reading.
That’s a much better acclimatisation to the rigours of senior football than being thrown in at the deep end because there is simply nobody else.
Kelvin Abrefa, Abraham Kanu, Tom Norcott, Harrison Rhone, Reece Evans, David Hicks and Shay Spencer are all currently out on loan. Even better is the fact they are three- or four-month loan spells, taking them up to December/January time.
This is great planning for us because it gives them a chance to prove what they can do with regular minutes and provide a case for first-team involvement, should we be stretched thin with injuries or prove their worth to their respective loan teams so that they will want to keep them there longer.
Reading Women
Back where they belong, kicking off their new season in September and now being able to call the SCL their home stadium – as it should be.
If you haven’t had the opportunity to already, I highly recommend taking a few minutes to read Pete’s ever-brilliant match reports on the women’s team. The Reading men’s side aren’t the only group looking to break through to the next level this season.
