13 August 2018
By Hob Nob Anyone?
It was business as usual for the Royals this weekend as they enjoyed some good spells of football against Nottingham Forest at the City Ground before leaving with a 0-1 defeat. Reading have lost their opening two games of the Championship season and sit bottom of the table, as they continue the form that finished last season's disappointing campaign. There are some signs for optimism, but the truth is that despite the signings of Baldock and McNulty the Royals are dramatically lacking up front. There seems little doubt that Reading face a tough season ahead of them. Most Reading fans remain confident that Reading will avoid the drop but there are no signs that we should expect anything more with the current squad.
Playing away from home against a team expected to challenge for promotion this season, Reading did a good job in limiting Forest's chances. Despite Liam Moore staying at Reading he was again missing from the match day squad, allowing Ilori and McShane to continue in the centre of defence. The defence dealt with Forest with no issues for most of the game. After few chances it was 0-0 at half-time and it was Reading that went closest after the break with Meite putting a header just wide. However, it was a quiet afternoon from Baldock who found himself replaced by McNulty on the hour. McNulty also had no success up front and instead it was Forest that claimed the win on 68 minutes as they gradually too control of the game.
The Royals were never likely to come back from a goal down away from home - they last time we scored on the road was way back in March. Reading have now scored just a single league goal in their last five games and Clement appears to have a massive job ahead of him to turn things around. Despite the early pressure Clement remains confident of a Reading revival as the season continues: "It was too not bad a performance, particularly away from home against a team that played very well in their last game here... we had the advantage... The reality is we're an improving team. I can see the improvement so I'm not worried."
Reading now face Birmingham City at home on Tuesday night in the league cup before Bolton Wanderers visit next weekend. Reading will fancy their chances of some first league points of the season against Bolton who struggled last term and just survived the drop. However, Bolton will arrive with confidence after picking up four points from their opening two games.
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