by Royal_jimmy »
01 Jul 2020 11:16
Having calmed down a bit from yesterday's showing I will elaborate on how I see the problems.
I agree Bowen has done an ok job taking over. He's steadied the ship and made us tough to beat when we are away from home. I went to more than half our away games pre-Covid and we set up well away from home. We are good at soaking up the pressure when the home side have to attack us, then we hit on the counter attack. Birmingham away was a great example when we came from behind and picked them off. Sheffield Wednesday was another. Our away record has improved greatly from last season. Ok we won twice away last year, we've won 6 away so far and had we had more luck I'd have said 8 wins. Definitely not too many issues there. With 1 up front we pack the midfield and don't let many in and I don't think anyone's truly outclassed us away from the Madejski except maybe Millwall. 1 day being outclassed away is no big deal.
What I am angry with and why I am not sure if Bowen is the man for the job is his inability to learn from mistakes and his 1 dimensional approach to games. We rarely ever play 2 up front at home, we should be doing it more often and we've won quite a few games this season comfortable that way. Here are some examples;
1. Reading 3-0 Luton where Puscas and Baldock started. On this occasion neither player scored and Luton were dismal but we still won.
2. Reading 2-1 Millwall where Baldock scored. In that game him and Puscas started. We played really well for most of the game, had many chances as well!
3. Reading 3-0 Derby. Joao and Baldock started
4. Reading 3-0 Cardiff. Puscas and Joao began that game and I imagine most of us remembered how well both players linked up together
I don't advocate that we play 1 up top at home every week. Sometimes teams have a lot of good attacking players and we need a more defensive approach. But what also bothers me is that we also don't create a lot of chances and to me, that's because we overplay, slow it down and lack an identity.
I'd stick to 1 up front at Luton Saturday and put Pele in there if he's available.
Against Huddersfield we must be positive. We should play 2 up front, high intensity and aim to nick an early goal and try get a 2nd one as they chase us. We should try something different like this, it does mean dropping Olise.
------------------------------Rafael-------------------
Yiadom-----Moore/McIntyre--------Morrison-------Richards
------------------------------Pele----------------------------------
------------Rinomhota---Swift------ Olise-------
-------------Puscas----------Baldock------------
If we win 2 games from the last 7 I will tentatively back MB to manage us next season but he's showed himself to be a limited manager since he signed the new contract. From the moment that Stoke equaliser went in, his man management skills have showed up to be appalling. Many of these players have future contracts and possibly new deals with us but the way they played yesterday showed they don't give a damn about the club. Looking at Bowen's facial expression yesterday he definitely looked a bit worried! Maybe his days are numbered.