Issue 7- December 1998

The mood has changed significantly around the Madejski Stadium in the last two months, as Reading have strung together a good series of results to move to the fringes of the play-offs. The early season pessimism seems to have dissipated and a new sense of belief surrounds the club.

It now looks as though the nadir of the season was the 2-1 defeat at Macclesfield, in front of less than 3,000 back on September 26th. At that stage, there were increasing mumblings of discontent and more than a handful of fans were questioning whether Burns was really the right man for the job. What do they think now, I wonder?

The lesson from this is surely the message we put in Issue 4 way back in August: patience is vital because re-structuring a club is a long-term job. Even if all is rosy behind the scenes (and it certainly wasn't when Burns arrived), then it can take a season or more to the squad in place. As I write, the 'Death Row Five' finally seem to be on their way out, with Legg destined for Cardiff, Swales off to Hull and Davies fit and willing to accept offers.

Remember that first game at Wrexham? The team that day was as follows:

Van Der Kwaak; Booty, Legg, Davies, Kromheer; Brebner, Crawford, Caskey, Gray, Lambert; McIntyre.

Of these, only Brebner and Caskey are now regularly in the first eleven and the rest are firmly on the fringes or on their way out. The 4-5-1 formation seems to have been consigned to the bin, although this may be a reflection of the players available rather than a tactical concession from Burns.

The squad looks considerably stronger and confidence has risen as a result. Some players have returned from injury, some new ones brought in and a few rehabilitated, as the manager adjusted his strategy in the face of the early season humiliations. The position in the table reflects the improvement but, in recent weeks, it has also been evident in the performances.

The away game at Northampton may prove to be something of a watershed. For the first time this season, the Royals looked a class above the opposition, with the style and quality of their play dominating the Cobblers, who managed manfully to live up to their nickname. If Buns really does believe that he can take Reading all the way to the Premiership, then the style of play will be crucial and, on this showing at least, we're heading in the right direction.

These lower divisions are still beholden to the long ball game, some ten years or more after such tactics first blighted the English game. Surely, however, any team with ambition can see that in order to succeed at the highest level, merely being big, strong and quick isn't enough. The name of the game in the Premiership is possession, since if you concede it, you may not get the ball back for a while. Northampton experienced this against Reading as the Cobblers persisted with an aerial assault which simply resulted in giving the ball to Casper and allowing him, Caskey and Clement to dominate the game.

Many supporters don't seem to like an over-emphasis on possession, perhaps preferring to measure superiority by an abundance of scoring opportunities. Interesting, then, to hear the comments from Neil Clement, who played his first game for the Royals at Sixfields.

Clement thought that Reading had played particularly well in the first half, a period which frustrated many fans due to the few scoring chances created. Maybe his view represents a Premiership stance, where it may be deemed more important to prevent the opposition from playing by denying them the ball than a gung-ho assault on their goal-mouth.

The Northampton manager, Neil Adkins, said after the game that Reading were the best side they had played this season. This is nice to hear but slightly odd coming from a man who's created a team of non-footballing Neanderthals, who simply lumped the ball skywards whenever they got the chance. If he was so impressed with a proper football team, why doesn't get his side to play that way? Even more bizarrely, he also berated his own team for not getting the ball into the box earlier, as though that had been the sum total of his tactical master plan. Thank God we have a manager with a slightly more sophisticated approach!

Having said that, Burns' new 3-4-3 formation seems to have been stumbled on by accident rather than design. He could, of course, have read the last couple of Up the Rs and realised that what he really needed was some penetration down the flanks but it seems more likely that a team thrown together to try to rescue the Stoke FA Cup game, played well enough to convince the manager to give it go from the start.

It's an adventurous approach and the extra possession seems to have revitalised Sarr, who's struck his best form since joining in the summer, but it does suffer from one major flaw. With three up front but two playing wide, the centre-forward can be completely isolated and ends up playing against three defenders. With Brebner in the side, this is not so much of a problem as he usually gets into the box to support Williams but with both of them injured, this could be a problem.

McInytre is a good replacements for Skittles but we don't really have an alternative to Brebner, unless Clement can fit the bill. A further loanee, Andy Wright, has joined from Leeds, ostensibly as cover for Sarr. Burns has indicated that he may be interested in signing both Wright and Clement, depending on how they perform over their loan periods. Even aside from the financial objections from the board, this may prove tricky. Clement is ambitious and seems to see his immediate future at Chelsea, whilst Wright is highly rated at Leeds and O'Leary seems keen to promote youth into the first team.

On the whole, the squad is beginning to look strong and well-balanced. With Polsten back and even Hunter apparently playing again (who hell he?- Ed), Burns can begin to play the team he wants to rather than a patched up version. If by some miracle he manages to sign both Wright and Clement, we will have a young squad with enormous potential. Clement, in particular, would be a tremendous acquisition - good in the air and with a great left foot, he looks, dare I say it, far too good for the second division.

After predicting in the last issue that Casper wouldn't sign, I must try to work the same magic with Clement. So, here goes: obviously, at the end of his two-month loan period, Clement will high-tail it back to Chelsea or sign for another Premiership club as he's got too much quality to drop into the second division. There, that should do the trick - he'll be signed up on a three year contract before the print's dry on Issue 7!