Reading 1-2 Huddersfield: The defeat that brings Royals’ fans back to earth with a thud
Article by e-Reading's Christian FrankClick here to Follow e-Reading on Twitter!
After 4 points from 2 games Reading FC suffered their first defeat of the 2014/15 season, at home to manager-less Huddersfield. Previously bottom of the table, the Terriers were 1-0 up after 10 minutes through Jacob Butterfield, and after Harry Bunn put the Yorkshire club 2-0 up on 38 minutes the Royals looked down and out. Despite lively substitutions coming on in the second half, including debutant's Jamie Mackie and Aaron Kuhl, Reading never really looked like they could claw back a win, and a late goal from Mackie’s former Forrest teammate Simon Cox around the 80 minute mark proved to be nothing more than a consolation.
I could easily feel a sense of smugness after this defeat. Earlier in the day, when I told a friend we were playing Huddersfield, he said we should win the game. My prediction was an away win, and while it proved correct I didn’t get a warm glow inside; instead of being pleased with the result I was left frustrated. Frustration after a poor home performance seems to be a familiar feeling for me while supporting Reading under Nigel Adkins, and today was one of those performances I have become all too familiar with: 66% possession (mostly in the wrong places), 2 shots on target (with very few real chances to test Smithies in the Huddersfield goal), and a Reading defeat.
To start with the positives, Simon Cox’s first goal for the club since his return to Berkshire should be welcomed, and the Republic of Ireland international does seem to have that touch of class which the Reading squad needed. Cox should prove to be the much needed number 10, the missing link between the Royals’ midfield and the lonely figure upfront, usually the big Russian Pavel Pogrebnyak. Once Cox is up to full fitness, something he is still working towards after missing out on a real pre-season before joining from Nottingham Forrest, those two have the potential to be a dangerous little-and-large partnership.
However, the players around Cox in the ‘3’ of Adkins’ precious 4-2-3-1 formation need to do better. Nick Blackman is inconsistent - a less lovable Jimmy Kebe for our current squad – the former Blades player lurks ineffectually on the right side of midfield, offering no real width as he twists and turns to lose his defender, only to waste possession time after time. The most frustrating part of his usually hapless performances are those brief glimpses of quality he provides; time and again Blackman will be able to beat a defender, time and again he can get a shot or pass away, but time and again it comes to nothing. Wonder-goals like those against Swansea in pre-season, or Newport in the cup, are all well and good, but the inability to consistently provide those moments of magic means that the winger (or is he a striker, another square peg shoved into a round hole in this Reading XI?) frustrates more than he entertains. Once Blackman had ballooned a golden chance into the South stand, and placed a shot wide of the post at the other end in the second half, both I and Nigel knew it was time for a change – when Blackman fails to produce in two of those moments you know it will not be his night. As for the other side, Jake Taylor – who cannot be faulted for effort while playing for the team he has supported boy and man – is another player who seems ill-suited for the role in this trio behind Pogrebnyak. Despite his winning goal against Ipswich in Reading’s first home game of this 2014/15 season, I have seen little to suggest that Taylor has the attributes which make him appropriate for this position, and with Shaun Cummings playing behind him the balance of the team is all wrong.
How the team longs for someone to take the centre-midfield spot from Jordan Obita so that the pacey academy product can return to the left-back position he excelled in last season! After the half-time sacrifice of Cummings against Huddersfield, substituted for talented youngster Aaron Kuhl so that Obita could move to the defence and give Reading a left-footed outlet down that left hand side, we may see Adkins put his faith in the curly-haired midfielder in order to give the Royals more width and balance. In an ideal world Hal Robson-Kanu and Garath McCleary would be away from the treatment table, playing instead of Taylor and Blackman, offering width and more pace, but it is Adkins’ failure to adjust his tactics to suit the players he has at his disposal that most disappoints me.
With the wounds still fresh I will avoid dissecting the defensive performance that allowed an uninspiring Huddersfield attack to score two goals, and I will instead focus on the sublime (if accidental) chip from Alex Pearce, which clipped the Huddersfield crossbar as Reading threw men forwards in search of goals. If that had gone in the match would have been very different, and Pearce’s sublime step-over against Doncaster last season would have been surpassed as my favourite moment from the Irish centre-back. Again, despite the goals conceded, Pearce and Hector looked like they could form a fearsome partnership at the back. Hector was not as commanding as against Ipswich, and it was his ball to a flat-footed Hope Akpan which led to Butterfield’s opener, but his vision for a pass and timing of the tackle was only surpassed by fellow academy products Obita and Kuhl. With those three developing constantly we could have more success stories to add to the likes of Cox, Pearce, Robson-Kanu, Jem Karacan and Alex McCarthy, academy products in and around the first team squad.
Despite the disappointing loss at home, which highlights the tactical inflexibility of Nigel Adkins during his Reading career to date, with a promising batch of youth players emerging alongside the improving fitness of experienced new faces like Cox and Mackie, the atmosphere should not be all doom and gloom at the Madjeski Stadium. At least none of the players at the club would sit glumly on the floor feigning injury while his teammates played on, conceding a Simon Cox goal. Former Manchester City player Harry Bunn should be ashamed of himself, blotting an otherwise tireless and professional performance from a Huddersfield team which was, if uninspiring, impressive in its work rate and time-wasting ability, and well deserved 3 points.
With a trip to Stuart Pearce’s Nottingham Forrest up next, the Royals need to move on quickly from this result, and a much better performance will be needed next time out.
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