Managerial philosophy - is Richardson ultimately doomed?

[Snowflake Royal]

At the core of it is that I don't think he has the right philosophy or outlook on football to really succeed, and an odd but good analogy is Southgate and England.

Love this. It says a lot but not in the way you think.

Southgate is head and shoulders the best England manager since 1966. On almost every possible metric, he outperforms his modern peers. Qualification - it’s in my lifetime we failed to qualify for a World Cup and a Euros. 2000 required a play offs. Two finals, a semi, a quarter. No manager comes close for sustained success. He even managed to iron out the squad issues that plagued England before.

No other England manager (bar Ramsey) from a host of different playing styles, personalities, squad depths get even close.

And yet it was never, ever enough. Always a new target, always a goal post moving.

Southgate was never the problem.

Amen

Richardson took over a team in turmoil mid-season, that you lot were scared would get relegated. He's currently in the pragmatic phase of work with what you've got to get results and he's got us contending for the POs. Results are dramatically better.

But you've got to have something to complain about haven't you. Under Hunt "Football's a results business". I don’t care how we win, we just need results. Now it's "Football's an entertainment business, I want to see good football". Hypocrisy

What you really want is just something to moan about.

[Orion1871]

Unlike Richardson and Reading, Southgate beat the teams his team should be beating. and lost to the first good team he came up against. And no, the worst German side in decades were not a good side.

Is Richardson doomed? Unless he comes up with a better and more sustainable game plan than he has in the last three games then eventually he will be because you can't keep getting lucky wins and draws.

The Barnsley game was a glimpse at the way we should be playing in possession. It's just working oit how you can create more chances than we did in that game.

[leon]

At the core of it is that I don't think he has the right philosophy or outlook on football to really succeed, and an odd but good analogy is Southgate and England.

Love this. It says a lot but not in the way you think.

Southgate is head and shoulders the best England manager since 1966. On almost every possible metric, he outperforms his modern peers. Qualification - it’s in my lifetime we failed to qualify for a World Cup and a Euros. 2000 required a play offs. Two finals, a semi, a quarter. No manager comes close for sustained success. He even managed to iron out the squad issues that plagued England before.

No other England manager (bar Ramsey) from a host of different playing styles, personalities, squad depths get even close.

And yet it was never, ever enough. Always a new target, always a goal post moving.

Southgate was never the problem.

Amen

Richardson took over a team in turmoil mid-season, that you lot were scared would get relegated. He's currently in the pragmatic phase of work with what you've got to get results and he's got us contending for the POs. Results are dramatically better.

But you've got to have something to complain about haven't you. Under Hunt "Football's a results business". I don’t care how we win, we just need results. Now it's "Football's an entertainment business, I want to see good football". Hypocrisy

What you really want is just something to moan about.

I love how Ian can write a post that you broadly agree with but writes it in the style that makes you want to fcuking hate him and disagree entirely.

It’s a rare talent.

[AthleticoSpizz]

He’s had plenty of practice

[Clyde1998]

At the core of it is that I don't think he has the right philosophy or outlook on football to really succeed, and an odd but good analogy is Southgate and England.

Love this. It says a lot but not in the way you think.

Southgate is head and shoulders the best England manager since 1966. On almost every possible metric, he outperforms his modern peers. Qualification - it’s in my lifetime we failed to qualify for a World Cup and a Euros. 2000 required a play offs. Two finals, a semi, a quarter. No manager comes close for sustained success. He even managed to iron out the squad issues that plagued England before.

No other England manager (bar Ramsey) from a host of different playing styles, personalities, squad depths get even close.

And yet it was never, ever enough. Always a new target, always a goal post moving.

Southgate was never the problem.

International managers also have a very limited amount of time with players, so playing 'basic' football is realistically all that can be achieved. You don't have the time for more complex systems seen at club level.

[stealthpapes]

Leon and Spizz one-two here actually one for the ages.

[leon]

Leon and Spizz one-two here actually one for the ages.

You know you love it papes you little minx

[Sutekh]

Now the Chronicle is pointing out the shortcomings.

https://www.readingchronicle.co.uk/spor ... excusable/

[morganb]

Article is behind a paywall but with a little jiggery-pokery here is the text:

Reading’s draw against rock-bottom Port Vale is inexcusable despite Leam Richardson’s post-match interview comments.


The Royals were in a comfortable position for the majority of the first-half which was capitalised by Kadan Young, who made a run into the box which pushed Vale’s goalkeeper Gauci into a mistake to take him out and award Reading a penalty. Skipper Lewis Wing stepped up as always does and made no mistake in putting the ball in the back of the net.

What happened in the next hour of football is genuinely inexcusable – Reading would go from being on the front-foot, dominating possession and causing Port Vale issues to being pegged back into a defensive shape for the remainder of the game and being put under pressure.

Reading had a total of 10 shots the entire game (Only two on target) – eight of which came from the first-half, mainly from Young, Kamari Doyle and Lewis Wing with star striker Jack Marriott not registering a single shot.

On the flipside Port Vale had a total of 13 shots, with six shots on target – four of which came in the first-half, which forced Pereira into saves. Vale had a whopping nine shots in the second-half when they had been pegged back in the first 45 minutes.

The Royals went from dominating with 69 per cent of the possession in the opening 45 minutes, to having only 43 per cent in the second half.

Jon Brady would make four substitutions in the first 15 minutes of the second-half – one of which was Everton loanee Martin Sherif who would ultimately score the equaliser for Port Vale with virtually the last kick of the game.

Whereas Richardson would make sporadic changes across the last 20 minutes of the game – first it was Benn Ward off for Jeriel Dorsett, then Reading’s two most efficient attackers on the day in Doyle and Young for Randell Williams and Paddy Lane. In the final five minutes of the game Marriott and Derrick Williams were taken off for Kelvin E. and Finley Burns respectively.

Paddy Lane would have the clearest opportunity to put the game to bed in the 90th minute after he was put through on goal, but his effort flies high over the cross bar.

The difference in the Royals’ and Vale’s second-half game management was absolutely stark – bring on new players early-on to change the tactical approach, rather than take off your best performers in the first-half.

The glaring issue is that if this was the first time this had happened to Reading it could be put down to bad luck or a bad day at the office – but Richardson’s second-half management has been a consistent and worrying pattern.

Take for example the Bolton Wanderers game on Tuesday, yes it was marred with three forced substitutions due to injuries and questionable refereeing, but Reading’s second-half was nothing short of a toothless performance. The Royals had 22 per cent possession for the second-half with only one shot at goal.

The game before that on Saturday against Wycombe saw a similar story unfold, Reading were comfortably 2-0 in the first-half, Wycombe came out the second-half swinging by scoring within four minutes of the restart then equalised in the 72nd minute. Hat-trick hero Jack Marriott did save the day two minutes later, but that wasn’t down to tactical ingenious rather a moment of class from Charlie Savage and the striker.

Reading again only had 25 per cent possession in the second-half and only had two shots on goal compared to Wycombe’s eye-watering 17.

So, for Richardson to come out after Port Vale game and say that the second-half performance issues can be ‘down to many things’ but that the Vale equaliser was a ‘moment’ is just not true.

He added: “Levels of fitness, levels of tactical awareness, teams changing. You've got to respect everybody.

“Port Vale have nothing to lose and they're a dangerous animal when they've got nothing to lose

“I thought we dominated first half, they threw caution to the wind and went for it.”

This is a glaring issue with Reading and specifically Richardson’s tactics and if it’s not addressed soon, the Royals hope to finish in the play-off spots is in serious jeopardy.