Reading’s substitutes bench against Queens Park Rangers last Saturday had a rather youthful feel to it. All nine players were aged 23 or under, with eight having come through the club’s academy.
At face value, these are stats to be applauded. It could be used as an example of the club’s commitment to developing young players and Veljko Paunovic’s confidence in giving them opportunities.
But in reality, it starkly highlights the current lack of depth in the Royals squad. Recent injuries to Yakou Meite, Lucas Joao and Omar Richards, who join John Swift, Andy Yiadom, George Puscas and Felipe Araruna on the sidelines, have left Paunovic with a worrying lack of options.
Given the busy Championship schedule – clubs will play 12 games between November 21 and January 2 (one every three and a half days) – this was perhaps to be expected and Reading are far from the only team in the division to have suffered from a plethora of injuries.
Ahead of Wednesday’s game against Norwich, the Royals had used just 22 players in the Championship this season. Only Cardiff City, with 21, have fielded fewer.
In the absence of back-up in certain positions, Paunovic is forcing square pegs into round holes. Lewis Gibson put in an encouraging performance at left-back against QPR, but it is still not his natural position, while Alfa Semedo – a holding midfielder by trade – has tended to be used as a 10 and was even shoved upfront late on at the Kiyan Prince Foundation Stadium.
As discussed in a previous column, the Guinea-Bissau international lacks the creativity to play such an attacking role. But with Joao, Puscas and Meite all out, Sam Baldock is Reading’s only fit first team striker. You can’t fault the 31-year-old’s work ethic, but he does not provide the same threat as that trio and the Royals may struggle for goals in the next few weeks.
While it is good that Paunovic is including academy players such as Jayden Onen and Nahum Melvin-Lambert on the bench, he is not going as far as to actually play them. Dejan Tetek’s 12-minute cameo against Watford at the start of October is the only time an Under-23s player has been trusted in the league.
On Saturday against QPR, it was the four most experienced youngsters – Lewis Gibson, Michael Olise, Tom Holmes and Tom McIntyre that were brought on.
Reading appear to have gone from one extreme to another: for the last few seasons they have had a bloated squad that left some players isolated on the sidelines, but now the squad is arguably too small to cope with the vigorous demands of the Championship.
It raises the question of how much business the club will look to do in the January transfer window. As Adam wrote in this column last week, spending must be conservative as FFP guidelines still loom large, but equally, additions are surely needed if Reading are to maintain their promotion challenge.
Come the latter part of the season, it will be the teams with sufficient cover that cope with the run-in better.
By Olly Allen
