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Reading made their best ever start to a Championship season, winning seven of their first eight matches, but since then it has been a real struggle.
Following that start, the club have won just three times in all competitions and as a result, it has seen them fall all the way down to eighth in the table – only outside the play-offs on goal difference.
Not many people expected Veljko Paunovic’s side to make a start like that and be in and amongst the big boys, with the relegated Premier League trio of Norwich City, AFC Bournemouth and Watford many people’s fancy for the top positions in the table, as well as Brentford who were beaten in last season’s play off final against Scott Parker’s Fulham at Wembley.
It’s time to take a look at what exactly as gone wrong for the Berkshire club after their electric start to the season.
Keeping players fit is always a key part to making sure that a team can play in the right way and achieve the results they want to but Reading’s luck on the injury table seems to have been unluckier than most.
Yakou Meite of Reading controls the ball with pressure from Yuri Ribeiro of Nottingham Forest during the Sky Bet Championship match between Reading and Nottingham Forest at the Madejski Stadium, Reading on Saturday 5th December 2020. (Photo by Jon Hobley/MI News/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Both Yakou Meite and Lucas Joao were ruled out of the Christmas schedule after picking up injuries in the defeat to Birmingham City at the Madejski earlier this month and have been a huge miss for Paunovic’s side in recent games and the sooner they can get these two back fit, the better.
Prior to this, Omar Richards picked up an injury in the late win over QPR and is expected to miss a sustained spell of action having been absent in the defeats against promotion rivals Norwich and Brentford and had been a key player for the team prior to this injury.
Andy Yiadom, George Puscas, John Swift and Felipe Araruna are all also sidelined to highlight the problems which the club are having with injuries and with them impacting a lot of attack minded players, it is no real surprise that the Royals’ form and results have been impacted, with just one goal being scored in each of the club’s last four matches.
(Photo by Jon Hobley/MI News/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Paunovic did give Royals’ fans some positive news on the injury front and explained just how tough it is for him at present with having so many key players absent from selection after the 3-1 defeat at Brentford at the weekend.
“It definitely affects us a lot, especially when the list is so long and some of the guys have a long time until they recover.
“That affects the resources, the options and it’s a fact. We’re not using it as an excuse but it’s a fact that we have to deal with.
“We were punished and it’s just not normal. Most of them were unavoidable. We will look at that and focus on recovering our guys.
“The nearest to come back is Swift and Joao is also on a good way to return, maybe for the Boxing Day game.”
While you can’t completely pin Reading’s demise completely on injuries, having so many key players out all at the same time it has definitely had an impact and meant that the club’s management staff have been forced to constantly chop and change their selections, something which will not have helped their recent fortunes.
You also have to take into account just how competitive the Championship is now and unlike other leagues, no result is a given with so many more clubs being able to compete at a high level, Reading’s drop in form was always quite likely.
As mentioned earlier, very few people would have expected the Berkshire club to begin the season the way they did, judging by their finishes in the past few seasons, ending up 14th, 20th and 20th respectively and last season’s top scorer, Meite having been out for a couple of weeks.
