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CANARYKING

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Fair play to them - they've certainly come from nowhere! I guess it has been a masterstroke appointing Paunovic as manager.

The only thing I'd say is that they've had decent fixtures so far. I'd argue Watford, Blackburn and Borough are the toughest they've faced.

Has anyone seen any of their games? Are they as good as the table suggests?

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5 shots on target and 4 goals. Barely any possession and giving teams chances up the other end.

Either theyre one of the best drilled, disciplined teams with exceptionally clinical frontmen or they're going to slowly fall down the table.

The start they've had will always do wonders for confidence though and that can go a long way.

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One of my neighbours is a Reading fan and he can't believe they are doing as well as they are.

He's enjoying looking down on Norwich and asking when we are going to catch up.

I had tried to reassure him that with Bowen in charge (as an ex-Norwich man) nothing could go wrong.  However, his replacement seems to have turned things around. 

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It’s unusual for the early pacesetters to stay the course, but not unheard of.  I recall Gillingham being in a similar position in this division a few years back and they slowly but surely fell away.

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They have a beast of a striker João. A proper unit. His goal (their 4th) was excellent.

Ps. I didn't place that emphasis on the a as my predictive text did it for me.

 

Edited by sonyc

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2 hours ago, Wacky Waving Inflatable Arm Flailing Tube Man said:

Apparently before tonight, they were bottom in the league for both shots on goal and xG, despite being top of the table. 

As has been said, either they've got some extremely clinical finishers or they've been riding their luck somewhat.

I've just seen a few of their highlights and a number of their goals seem to be long range strikes that seem to find the back of the net. Who knows if they can keep it up. It looks like they commit numbers forward and play with a clear attacking intent.

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7 hours ago, CANARYKING said:

P 8 W 7 D1 L 0  For 15 Agst 3 - Points 22 

seven points in the lead, I had them down for relegation 

Why aren’t we them?

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Momentum is key and if they get their confidence up, as it surely must be at the moment, then they may be able to stay at the top.  However, they are bound to have some iffy games and how they react to that will govern whether they can maintain their challenge.

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A look at some of their highlights and recent stats would tend to suggest that they are having one of those spells where everything finds the back of the net and everything is breaking their way.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/54610089

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/54580027

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/54519017

If you look at the BBC stats for their games in particular their recent run is quite remarkable. Almost the polar opposite of us who are regularly utterly dominant statistically in our games. Reading have been unbelievably clinical. 

Whether this is sustainable for them long term remains to be seen. Obviously confidence builds and momentum will take you a long way but can you really keep scoring 75%+ of your shots at goal over a prolonged period and allowing your opponants to have twice as many chances?

Interesting in light of the discussions elsewhere on whether our high levels of possession paint a deceptive picture of our control in games. 

 

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There's a thread on the Reading forum which explains it from the fans point of view. 

https://hobnob.royals.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=188031

One of the posts pasted below summarises reasonably.

Olise is better
Laurent brings balance to midfield
We have depth in midfield with Semedo
Aluko isn't a complete waste of space
Richards has improved
Moore is better
The manager has changed - I don't think for one minute we'd be doing this well under Bowen, although no one thinks they'd be doing this well ever. I think we'd be much improved on last year, but not to this extent. We've got the balance between playing out and going long right for the first time in at least a decade.

Back to me, some of those names will be unfamiliar but of those, Olise is an 18-year old of high skill, having a similar impact to say, Cantwell or Buendia for Norwich, when they burst onto the scene.

Laurent is a midfielder who was a steal from Shrewsbury, Richards a young left back much like Jamal Lewis, say.

Liam Moore is the centre half who is Premiership borderline quality but was dropped towards the end of last season. He has been welcomed back into the fold by the new Serbian manager Paunovic and is now playing at the top of his game.

Missing from that list is Lucas Jaoa who has been around for some time in the championship but nobody has ever got him playing at his best, which is pretty devastating. The new manager has solved that though his injury record suggests it may not be for long. 

And Michael Morrison, a centre half, former Birmingham captain who we got on a free. His pairing with Moore is crucial at the back and part of the reason for the many shut outs we are getting. The other reason for that is that we are effectively playing two holding midfielders, Laurent and Rinomohta in front of Moore and Morrison. Teams are finding it impossible to attack us through the middle due to that pair's athleticism and understanding. 

With regards to the new manager whose main claim to fame before this was winning the World Championships under 20 tournament for Serbia. His approach is being likened rather optimistically by some to Klopp's approach at Liverpool.

That's a bold claim but there is a kernel of truth to it. At the end of one of the first games Paunovic called all the players back out onto the pitch for a huddle. But crucially he included all the backroom staff in that, injured players, one hobbling onto the pitch on crutches, and academy players. It was clear then that he was fostering an 'all reading from the same book' team spirit, something managers hack on about endlessly.

Also crucial to the improvement has been sorting out the form at home. Reading lost 15 games at home last season which is a shocking record. But the clues that improvement was possible was the away form which was impressive.

We are now winning games at home. How has that been solved?: For the first hour of games we have been relying on the defence to shut teams out then pick them off in the second half. A lot of our fans have been saying this is a risky strategy against the better teams, would include Norwich in that. A few mistakes and we're two-nil down and chasing the game. That hasn't happened, yet, so we don't know how we would fare in that scenario.

With regard to xG, well, statistics. We have been clinical in attack and had few shots, that is true. But when you go two-nil up in games you don't really need many more shots. Because we are confident defensively now, we are happy to conceded possession and watch the other teams pass it around in midfield until they founder.

Someone above mentioned our home game against Wycombe where they had more shots. Indeed they did but these were tame efforts in the main from distance and they did not carve out a single clear chance really.

All this has been achieved with arguably our best player, Jon Swift, out injured long term and the first choice right back Yiadom also out injured long term.

So will our form continue? Crucial to that is keeping Jaoa fit so watch that space. We play Coventry away tomorrow and I suspect we will win that if we play 80 per cent of the level we played at Blackburn on Tuesday.

Realistically our form will take a dip at some point, of course it will. Or will it? We only lost two games and amassed 106 points in our last promotion season from the championship. 

Lastly, having lived in Norwich for 35 years and count many NCFC season ticket holders as mates, the double whammy for me will be Reading and Norwich getting promoted at the end of the season. I don't think that is impossible.

  

   

,   

 

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46 minutes ago, norfolk royal said:

There's a thread on the Reading forum which explains it from the fans point of view. 

https://hobnob.royals.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=188031

One of the posts pasted below summarises reasonably.

Olise is better
Laurent brings balance to midfield
We have depth in midfield with Semedo
Aluko isn't a complete waste of space
Richards has improved
Moore is better
The manager has changed - I don't think for one minute we'd be doing this well under Bowen, although no one thinks they'd be doing this well ever. I think we'd be much improved on last year, but not to this extent. We've got the balance between playing out and going long right for the first time in at least a decade.

Back to me, some of those names will be unfamiliar but of those, Olise is an 18-year old of high skill, having a similar impact to say, Cantwell or Buendia for Norwich, when they burst onto the scene.

Laurent is a midfielder who was a steal from Shrewsbury, Richards a young left back much like Jamal Lewis, say.

Liam Moore is the centre half who is Premiership borderline quality but was dropped towards the end of last season. He has been welcomed back into the fold by the new Serbian manager Paunovic and is now playing at the top of his game.

Missing from that list is Lucas Jaoa who has been around for some time in the championship but nobody has ever got him playing at his best, which is pretty devastating. The new manager has solved that though his injury record suggests it may not be for long. 

And Michael Morrison, a centre half, former Birmingham captain who we got on a free. His pairing with Moore is crucial at the back and part of the reason for the many shut outs we are getting. The other reason for that is that we are effectively playing two holding midfielders, Laurent and Rinomohta in front of Moore and Morrison. Teams are finding it impossible to attack us through the middle due to that pair's athleticism and understanding. 

With regards to the new manager whose main claim to fame before this was winning the World Championships under 20 tournament for Serbia. His approach is being likened rather optimistically by some to Klopp's approach at Liverpool.

That's a bold claim but there is a kernel of truth to it. At the end of one of the first games Paunovic called all the players back out onto the pitch for a huddle. But crucially he included all the backroom staff in that, injured players, one hobbling onto the pitch on crutches, and academy players. It was clear then that he was fostering an 'all reading from the same book' team spirit, something managers hack on about endlessly.

Also crucial to the improvement has been sorting out the form at home. Reading lost 15 games at home last season which is a shocking record. But the clues that improvement was possible was the away form which was impressive.

We are now winning games at home. How has that been solved?: For the first hour of games we have been relying on the defence to shut teams out then pick them off in the second half. A lot of our fans have been saying this is a risky strategy against the better teams, would include Norwich in that. A few mistakes and we're two-nil down and chasing the game. That hasn't happened, yet, so we don't know how we would fare in that scenario.

With regard to xG, well, statistics. We have been clinical in attack and had few shots, that is true. But when you go two-nil up in games you don't really need many more shots. Because we are confident defensively now, we are happy to conceded possession and watch the other teams pass it around in midfield until they founder.

Someone above mentioned our home game against Wycombe where they had more shots. Indeed they did but these were tame efforts in the main from distance and they did not carve out a single clear chance really.

All this has been achieved with arguably our best player, Jon Swift, out injured long term and the first choice right back Yiadom also out injured long term.

So will our form continue? Crucial to that is keeping Jaoa fit so watch that space. We play Coventry away tomorrow and I suspect we will win that if we play 80 per cent of the level we played at Blackburn on Tuesday.

Realistically our form will take a dip at some point, of course it will. Or will it? We only lost two games and amassed 106 points in our last promotion season from the championship. 

Lastly, having lived in Norwich for 35 years and count many NCFC season ticket holders as mates, the double whammy for me will be Reading and Norwich getting promoted at the end of the season. I don't think that is impossible.

  

   

,   

 

Interesting to get more details and seems no doubt you have made a decent coaching appoint and appear to have recruited well. I've got no doubt you can harnass this momentum and stay up towards the top.

What will be interesting to see is how much can be read into the stats because notwithstanding what you say above, its clear that you are scoring a from an almost unheard of percentage of your attacking chances at the moment (for example 10 shots in the last 2 games and 7 goals) and are not actually creating very many chances in games and giving away a fair few chances that teams are just not taking. Those type of statistics would tend to suggest a dip is in the offing but then you should beat Cov away and then before you know it we are a quarter of the way through the season. We too were regularly outperforming our Xg stats in the early part of our promotion season two years ago but the confidence and momentum you get from winning games can be powerful. 

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1 minute ago, Jim Smith said:

Interesting to get more details and seems no doubt you have made a decent coaching appoint and appear to have recruited well. I've got no doubt you can harnass this momentum and stay up towards the top.

What will be interesting to see is how much can be read into the stats because notwithstanding what you say above, its clear that you are scoring a from an almost unheard of percentage of your attacking chances at the moment (for example 10 shots in the last 2 games and 7 goals) and are not actually creating very many chances in games and giving away a fair few chances that teams are just not taking. Those type of statistics would tend to suggest a dip is in the offing but then you should beat Cov away and then before you know it we are a quarter of the way through the season. We too were regularly outperforming our Xg stats in the early part of our promotion season two years ago but the confidence and momentum you get from winning games can be powerful. 

Hi. You say based on the stats we are' giving away a fair few chances that teams are just not taking.' I think that is misleading. The games I've seen I don't think I've seen the opposition teams creating hardly any chances where you say 'Oooh, they should have scored that.' As I say the 'chances' have not been clear cut. If they were you would expect us to have let in more than three goals unless everyone we've played has forgotten their shooting boots.

Two of those goals were scored by Armstrong on Tuesday night. Free scoring Blackburn with a top striker. Look at their two goals to provide clues on how to attack us, and it's not down the middle as my OP said.

Blackburn are a good team with some players that can really hurt you, make no mistake about that.

But what was notable about that game was that every time they got within a goal of us we simply upped our game and scored again. Sign of a good team? Well hopefully. You're right to say the confidence and momentum you get from winning games is powerful. Certainly the case.    

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23 hours ago, Jim Smith said:

A look at some of their highlights and recent stats would tend to suggest that they are having one of those spells where everything finds the back of the net and everything is breaking their way.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/54610089

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/54580027

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/54519017

If you look at the BBC stats for their games in particular their recent run is quite remarkable. Almost the polar opposite of us who are regularly utterly dominant statistically in our games. Reading have been unbelievably clinical. 

Whether this is sustainable for them long term remains to be seen. Obviously confidence builds and momentum will take you a long way but can you really keep scoring 75%+ of your shots at goal over a prolonged period and allowing your opponants to have twice as many chances?

Interesting in light of the discussions elsewhere on whether our high levels of possession paint a deceptive picture of our control in games. 

 

I don’t know much about Reading, but good grief, Blackburn’s defending was pathetic! Where was the keeper for the 1st goal. Two absolute powder puff attempts at tackles for the 2nd goal. Probably a good thing they are scoring lots.

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23 hours ago, Jim Smith said:

A look at some of their highlights and recent stats would tend to suggest that they are having one of those spells where everything finds the back of the net and everything is breaking their way.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/54610089

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/54580027

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/54519017

If you look at the BBC stats for their games in particular their recent run is quite remarkable. Almost the polar opposite of us who are regularly utterly dominant statistically in our games. Reading have been unbelievably clinical. 

Whether this is sustainable for them long term remains to be seen. Obviously confidence builds and momentum will take you a long way but can you really keep scoring 75%+ of your shots at goal over a prolonged period and allowing your opponants to have twice as many chances?

Interesting in light of the discussions elsewhere on whether our high levels of possession paint a deceptive picture of our control in games. 

 

Watching the Blackburn goals reminded me of some of the positions Hugill should be taking up in the penalty area. He often seems to wait for a ball in the penalty to reach instead of moving in front of the defender to attack the ball and score. Much depends on the cross as well. The Blackburn goals were scored by attacking to ball.

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Reading can try and convince you they are a decent team, but end of the day they are as bland and souless as you can imagine and even when full their stadium is always a libary.

 

Nevermind this. Never forgive them for this one.

 

 

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1 hour ago, cambridgeshire canary said:

Reading can try and convince you they are a decent team, but end of the day they are as bland and souless as you can imagine and even when full their stadium is always a libary.

 

Nevermind this. Never forgive them for this one.

 

 

Sounds like a rejected Eurovision entry.

It’s null points from me.

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3 hours ago, cambridgeshire canary said:

Reading can try and convince you they are a decent team, but end of the day they are as bland and souless as you can imagine and even when full their stadium is always a libary.

 

Nevermind this. Never forgive them for this one.

 

 

I quite liked it, I'd settle for fit bird doing a Norwich song where are you Myleene Klass

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Respect to Reading. 

1. They have goals from a number of players. 

2. They finish their chances. 

3. They don't concede easily. 

They deserve their league position. It looks like they have quality in their side albeit quality that has not been recognised by others. Joao for example was rated at over 7 by who scored last season and now looks like he might chase Ivan Toney for the accolade of Championship top scorer. 

There are a few others in the side who also look like they will end the season in double figures for goals scored. 

Based on what we have seen so far they should be considered as genuine title contenders. 7 wins one draw from 8 games and the best goal difference in the league. That isn't a fluke. It's not a lucky start either.

If other sides don't work out how to play them and continue to write them off then Reading are almost certainly getting promoted. 

 

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I may as well concede that I had Reading to win the league (was it Diane organising the pre season picks for the foundation?). So, I've put my money where my mouth is you could say. 

I think they are a very strong team, who play the ball very quickly and are especially strong in midfield, which has protected their defence. They have Joao in attack with the pace of Aluko. They do look very decent and obviously I don't believe they will falter or fall away. Cue...defeat tonight at lowly Coventry?

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Cov 1 - 0 up. They look half decent. 

Reading are playing well, but I get the feeling that they're high on confidence rather than sheer ability. 

Edited by ron obvious

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Funny how we all see a game. I've felt Reading have been stronger. That said, I cheered when Coventry scored as I want us to reduce the gap tomorrow lunchtime.

Edited by sonyc

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