It was refreshing seeing a Reading side line up like the teams of old.
The Royals had an imposing centre-back in Philip Duah. He was absolutely impenetrable and, with a composed and highly intelligent Nathan Ferguson next to him, Reading looked very impressive at the back.
As someone who can also play at left-back, Ferguson looked good on his right foot, spreading play to Boyd Beacroft on the right very comfortably.
Duah had the best chance of the game as he hit the cross bar with a header from a corner.
Ferguson himself caused the ‘keeper to drop a high ball, showing that, despite his height, he was also a threat in the air.
When Duah would step forwards, Jacob Borgnis – a hard-working central midfielder and my man of the match – would drop in to cover him. Next to Borgnis was Shay Spencer, a composed central midfielder good at playing the ball around, with Tyler Sackey as a number 10 – forming a very balanced midfield.
Reading were a very energetic side who looked get it out wide, using their overlapping full-backs, who certainly had a bit of bite about them.
Beacroft was throwing himself into tackles, showing his passion and his attributes as a fantastic right-back. On the other side, the energetic John Ryan looked so fearless that he got wiped out pretty heavily by the opposition twice, and was constantly winning free-kicks.
Peter Scott’s side had two hard-working, quick wingers, tracking back to get into tackles, in Jeremiah Okine-Peters and Joe Barough.
There was a tall, mobile striker in Reece Evans, who you could tell would be a threat from crosses and who was also energetic in a press.
Out of possession he would drop in as a false nine alongside Sackey, sometimes making it a 4-2-2-2, sometimes a 4-3-3. This was due to the fact that he was generally man-marking Leicester City’s holding midfielder with the other midfield options also being shut off by Reading’s midfield.
With these wide players attempting to supply balls into the middle and a midfielder crashing the box, plus a proper striker up front, Reading looked like a side from years gone by.
They did struggle with their end product and perhaps left the ‘risky final third balls’ a bit late, but it was refreshing to see a side that summed up the Reading DNA and also have such a well balanced starting XI.
The high press worked wonders as the Royals were constantly winning it back from Leicester, who were trying to pass the ball out a lot, but with less physical players who would instantly be under pressure, resulting in them being muscled off the ball.
In terms of the formation, the 4-3-3 with a number 10 is something the first team should really be using. The hardest player to find is a creative 10 and, as good as Sackey is, he isn’t a Ben Elliott type.
However, with his physicality he certainly looks like a player in the Harvey Knibbs mould and the number of recoveries he managed made up for the lack of killer balls the attack had, not creating too much from open play.
“The high press worked wonders as the Royals were constantly winning it back from Leicester”
Rather than use a ‘killing action’, Reading would sometimes find themselves going backwards. In reality, this prevented Leicester from having much of the ball, and there wasn’t much for Harrison Rhone to do in the Royals’ goal all game.
You really have to wonder what the first team’s excuse is to not play with a number 10 when you have Elliott, Mamadi Camara and Kamari Doyle all available. Do we really need a Knibbs-type player to press in that position and not a more creative player?
These specific players seem to get shoved out wide or played further back, with one central midfielder (Lewis Wing) playing on the toes of the centre-backs.
If you have two regular central midfielders who can do both sides of the game – Wing, Charlie Savage, Liam Fraser, Tivonge Rushesha – they can rotate for the two midfield positions with the other three creative midfielders rotating in the 10 role perhaps.
If you really needed someone to sit in front of the centre-backs, surely it should be Fraser or even Finley Burns, who played in that role for Stevenage two seasons ago.
Back to the action and, in the world of tippy-tappy under-21s football, Reading did look more of a men’s team, trying to play their way. They controlled the game and looked rock solid: all that was missing was a late second-half winner.
Ratings
Harrison Rhone: 7/10
Boyd Beacroft: 9/10
Philip Duah: 8/10
Nathan Ferguson: 8/10
John Ryan: 7/10
Jacob Borgnis: 9/10
Shay Spencer: 6/10
Tyler Sackey: 6/10
Joe Barough: 6/10
Reece Evans: 6/10
Jeremiah Okine-Peters: 6/10
