Each week, Simeon Pickup, journalist, lifelong Royals fan and editor of leading Reading fansite The Tilehurst End will delve into what has gone on at the club over the past seven days to give a view from the supporter base, exclusively for The Wokingham Paper.
By Simeon Pickup –
Reading’s 3-1 defeat at Sheffield Wednesday, which came a few weeks ago at Hillsborough, could prove to be a blessing in disguise for the Royals.
That loss – which, as it happens, was the only time Jaap Stam’s side have conceded more than two goals in a single game this season – ended the team’s FA Cup run in just the fourth round of the competition. Due to a combination of that, and Saturday’s original opposition Sheffield United having fifth round action this weekend, Reading have a gap of 10 days without a first team match.
Because of that, Stam has elected to take a squad of 26 players to Spain for a series of intensive training sessions. Although the decision has predictably attracted ridicule from a few on social media who see it only as a mini holiday, it is in reality a very good idea – here’s why.
The Royals aren’t, by conventional standards, the kind of team that should be in 18th place in the Championship. As I mentioned above, they’ve only let in three or more goals in the same game once through the entire campaign, so they’re hardly getting put to the sword regularly.
Instead, a combination of injuries, lack of confidence, and arguably stale tactical thinking from the manager means the same thing happens every week: start brightly, fade, concede the first goal, lose any competitive edge and lose. Very rarely do Reading get played off the
park from first minute to last.
Reading’s most recent two defeats are the perfect examples of that – despite putting in lifeless performances against Millwall and Middlesbrough, strictly speaking they were always in the game. Only the issue of confidence – killed off by opposition goals in each match – made it unlikely they would come away with a result.
To get these predictable problems out of the system, a change of scenery is the logical solution. The team seems to be weighed down every game by the previous defeat, so the cycle must be broken. Spending a few days in a completely different environment is an opportunity to purge those doubts, and hopefully brainstorm some new ideas going forwards.
Simeon can be found on Twitter @BucksRoyal and his website’s account is @TheTilehurstEnd.
Head back to wokingham.today later this week for The Tilehurst End Podcast Extra with The Wokingham Paper’s Tom Crocker and Simeon’s colleague Olly Allen, discussing all things Royals.
