Bradford City 2-0 Reading: Baffling, Part Two

Aimless, sloppy, turgid, vacuous, uninspired – take your pick of depressing adjective. The bottom line is that this was for the most part as bad as Reading have been this season…

…is what I wrote for my match report on Tuesday night’s home loss to Peterborough United, and if you’d rather get as quick an overview on Reading’s showing at Bradford possible so you can do something better with your Saturday evening, you might as well stop with those two sentences. Seriously, I wouldn’t blame you.

In both games, Reading showed some promise in the first half without really being that great throughout the 45 before going backwards after the restart – alarmingly backwards – to ultimately lose in limp, tepid, bland fashion. This team have tested my ability to come up with sour adjectives this week more convincingly than they tested either goalkeeper they faced.

And I’m still so very baffled. These two performances didn’t appear to be on the cards before this week (remember just how positive we were all feeling after the 3-0 win at Blackpool!). Hell, the second halves didn’t even seem likely based on what had happened 15 minutes earlier.

The trend that’s beginning to emerge, going by this week’s evidence, is of a weak mentality among the players.

Though they’ve had adequate time on the training ground under the new manager and have more than enough individual ability to at least be consistently competitive at this level (others will disagree), they struggle to react to adversity or assert themselves on proceedings.

Neither Peterborough nor Bradford outclassed Reading, but both found it too easy – pathetically easy from a Royals point of view – to defend the leads they established. Posh were barely troubled in the 22 minutes after retaking the lead on Tuesday, while the Bantams had Reading at arm’s length following Antoni Sarcevic’s 56th-minute opener. They had time to make it 2-0 through Bobby Pointon on 84.

You never really got the sense today that Reading had the sheer force of will to wrestle back the initiative and try to make things happen. This isn’t to say the players don’t care or that they have bad attitudes, but a concerning level of passivity and feebleness has crept in. Twice this week Reading have needed individuals to take responsibility, twice no one has done so.

This is now a big early test of Leam Richardson’s management. Though I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt for the time being as he hasn’t been here for that long, the following can’t be denied:

• Two really poor performances have come on his watch (I’m ignoring the Carlisle United display as he’d only been here for five minutes)
• It’s now his responsibility to make clear his standards and ensure the players meet them consistently

On the second of those two points, I was hoping (assuming, actually) that he’d be able to provoke a reaction out of his players following the Peterborough game. Though today’s first half suggested he’d managed that, the second half proves he hadn’t, so he must find answers before Luton Town’s visit on Thursday, otherwise this rut will only get deeper.

Richardson somewhat surprisingly made no changes to Tuesday’s team, although Liam Fraser and Mamadi Camara returned to the bench in place of Andy Rinomhota (who travelled but wasn’t involved in the matchday squad) and Matt Ritchie.

Reading (4-2-3-1*): Pereira; Abrefa, O’Connor, D Williams, Dorsett; Wing, Savage; Doyle, Kyerewaa, R Williams; Ehibhatiomhan

Subs: Stevens, Yiadom, Burns, Fraser, Garcia, Camara, Marriott

That asterisk is for the fact that Reading seemed to be switching between two formations today: 4-2-3-1 in possession but more of a 3-4-3 out of possession. The key point of difference was the positioning of Randell Williams, who operated either as a left-wing-back or a left-winger, depending on the circumstance. He did a decent job in his dual role in the first half, sometimes given space to attack down the left, but I’d have liked him to be more positive in taking his man on.

Richardson’s tactical adjustment helped the Royals negate the high-flying hosts pretty well defensively in the first half. At no point were Reading opened up, at no point did the visitors have to endure extensive pressure, although a general ability to slow the game down helped that defensive effort too.

Down the other end, Reading looked at their best when engaging Bradford higher up the pitch, pressing aggressively and forcing mistakes. There were a number of times in the first half the Royals did that well (generally earlier on in the game), although translating turnovers into convincing, lasting final-third threat was another matter.

There were chances though. Good ones. Kamari Doyle spurned the best of the bunch when a wayward Bradford back-pass played him in one on one, but he couldn’t beat the ‘keeper (saved). Kelvin Ehibhatiomhan fared no better on the follow-up, shooting just over the bar.

Otherwise a Daniel Kyerewaa half chance earlier in the game (getting into the box well at the end of a nice move but unable to pull the trigger), as well as an Ehibhatiomhan mis-kick, was as good as it got for the Royals in the first 45. Still, Matt on Twitter put it well when he said at the break:

“That’s the minimum standard we should be hitting away from home the rest of the season. Looking reasonably solid at the back, slowing the game down as much as we can and giving ourselves the best chance to come away with something.”

Half time: 0-0

The tone for the second half was set a few minutes after the restart. Jeriel Dorsett gave the ball away in his own half with a poor cross-field pass and Paudie O’Connor had little option but to drag back the onrushing Bradford player, preventing him from breaking through on goal completely (the centre-back was then rightly booked).

Bradford found the lead in the 56th minute though. With Doyle applying no pressure to the crosser, the ball went towards the back post, was nodded down, and Sarcevic slammed home for 1-0. Stopping the delivery at source, winning the header, being first to the knockdown – Reading didn’t manage any of those.

Reading had no convincing response to the goal (no positive one, anyway), so Richardson turned to his bench shortly after the hour mark. He made the obvious introduction (Jack Marriott) but not in the expected way, with Ehibhatiomhan (who’d again been disappointing on the whole, although I thought he competed in duels a bit better than usual in the first half) kept on the pitch.

Off instead went Doyle. Sacrificing the side’s only proper advanced playmaker struck me as odd – as it did on Tuesday – with Ehibhatiomhan given that attacking midfield role instead. Andy Yiadom also replaced Dorsett at left-back in a much less contentious swap (Dorsett having looked shaky after the break and Yiadom offering a bit more creativity in general).

Those changes made no difference to what was an increasingly incompetent second-half display. Reading too often looked sloppy and unsure of themselves, barely managing to get into Bradford’s half with any real conviction. A Kyerewaa blocked shot from the edge of the area, a long-range Savage effort (easily saved) and a Marriott header (flicked well wide) constituted the entirety of Reading’s second-half shots.

Another brace of substitutions (Liam Fraser and Andre Garcia for Charlie Savage and Ehibhatiomhan) in the 79th minute had a similarly limited effect, as did Mamadi Camara coming on for Randell Williams on 88.

By then though it was 2-0. On 84, Tyreik Wright burst down the right and lofted a cross into empty space at the back post, which Pointon gleefully capitalised on by finishing from close range (Yiadom in no man’s land). That goal put a bit of gloss on proceedings for Bradford, who didn’t come up with a huge amount in the final third after the break, simply converting their two efforts on target following the restart.

As for Reading, it made the mood even uglier in an away end that was particularly pissed off in the closing stages, and certainly at full-time, when loud boos rang out.

Full time: 2-0

As much as I feel a raft of individual changes are required on Thursday (I’d at least get Garcia, Marriott and Fraser into the XI, fitness dependent), ultimately this is a general issue of mentality too. Reading simply have to find a source of hunger, drive and ruthlessness (particularly in the second half) if they’re to put these performances behind them and start to climb up the table.