Real Football Man All of the Football, All of the time
It’s time for another guest article now as Reading fan Oliver Walsh – who you can follow on Twitter here returns. This week Oliver gives us his view on how the Playoff Semi Final between Reading and Fulham will pan out. As always Oliver it’s over to you
With the Championship so often associated with physical battles and ‘brawn over brains’, it is refreshing to see the Playoff Semi-final contested between two sides favouring a more aesthetically pleasing, possession based style as 6th place Fulham face 3rd place Reading.
Despite The Royals sitting above Fulham in the table, the London-based side go into the game as favourites, having won 5 of their previous 6 games including impressive wins over fellow Premier League hopefuls Huddersfield and Sheffield Wednesday.
Reading have also hit an impressive run of form recently, bouncing back from a startling 7-1 defeat versus Norwich with 4 wins from 5, albeit against weaker opposition.
Previous Meetings:
When Reading travelled to Craven Cottage in December their 5-game winning streak came to a shuddering halt as Fulham netted five without reply.
Jaap Stam’s side were uncharacteristically sloppy in possession on that day and were severely punished as Slavisa Jokanovic’s side found a cutting edge, which has eluded Reading this campaign.
The Royals were undoubtedly poor, however the overall perception of the game was that the scoreline favoured The Cottagers, with Danny Williams’s Red Card the turning point in the tie.
Following a dubious decision to abandon the return fixture due to fog, the two sides faced each other once again on the 24th of January.
Reading habitually bounced back from a poor result and won the closely contested tie 1-0, with Ali Al Habsi’s heroic penalty save in the 89th minute securing Stam’s side the 3 points.
Styles of Play and Key Players:
Both sides play a possession based and attractive style, with Reading averaging 57.5% of the ball and Fulham averaging 59%, the two highest in the league.
They both favour working a scoring opportunity as oppose to being direct, with a large part of Reading’s chance creation coming through their wing-backs and Fulham’s coming as a result of their wide attacking midfielders, notably Floyd Ayite and Sone Aluko.
At number 10 In their 4231 system, Jokanovic’s side have exceptional ball player Tom Cairney, who often controls the tempo of games and creates high fidelity chances for his side, making the most key passes in the Championship this season (101), the most passes (3219) while averaging the highest pass accuracy of any player who’s played over 5 games (93%).
Similarly, Jaap Stam’s side have young talent and academy graduate Liam Kelly, who’s exceptional passing range and vision allows him to control games from the centre of Reading’s 352, despite his 5 foot 4 stature.
The likenesses continues in defence as Fulham display impressive American defender Tim Ream, whose pinpoint passing has earned him a 91% pass accuracy this season, the most of any defender playing over 5 games.
Brian Tevreden managed to uncover yet another diamond in the ruff in the summer with the £1m signing of English centre-back Liam Moore, who has been pivotal in a Reading defence constantly changing around, making the most passes of any defender in the championship this season (2033).
Overall both sides will want to dominate the use of the ball and will both have the opportunity to do so with ease, as both sides generally don’t apply a great deal of pressure from the front on the opposition.
What the Managers Say:
Slavisa Jokanovic:
“It will be a tough two games for us and for them, too. We are confident, we believe we can play good football and win the games. With this mentality, anything is possible.
“It is going to be a very important 180 minutes for us. I expect we are going to be competitive and show ambition and desire.”
Jaap Stam:
“I don’t really care about how people talk about us. We know what we can do. We’ve proven that to everybody in the league. We’re focusing on ourselves and hopefully to make it difficult for the opposition.
“We know it’s not going to be easy because Fulham have got a good team and quality players. They have been looking for the moment to end up in the top six for several seasons already to go to the Premier League.”
Overall, I think both sides will win their games at home and the tie will be decided on how big a margin the Cottagers can fashion before their trip to the Madjeski.
Despite the fact I support Reading, the previous results and form lead me to believe Fulham will be the side progressing to the Playoff final.
Thanks Oliver and as always I look forward to your next installment
If you would like to give a view from your club or a particular competition on a weekly basis then please get in touch – you can email me at – realfootballmanwordpress@gmail.com
