Reading 0-3 Blackpool: Player Ratings
A bad day at the office all round and little credit to go around for the performance.
Joel Pereira: 7
Made a couple of really good saves in the first half to, as it would turn out, keep the score down. Beaten by a really good effort into the bottom corner from range for the first and needed more help from his defenders for goals two and three.
Michael Craig: 4
An uncharacteristically sloppy return to right-back for Craig, having played as the holding midfielder on Tuesday at Walsall. Didn’t look assured defensively and not good enough on the ball either, before being replaced by Ashqar Ahmed in the second half.
Amadou Mbengue: 5
A poorer-than-usual performance defensively from Mbengue, who left Reading too open in the first half. Didn’t deal well aerially with the lanky Kyle Joseph, either in the build-up to the first goal (when the Blackpool forward had time to win the long ball and control it) or for a chance when Joseph had a header under little pressure.
Injured later in the half and continued until the break, but had to be withdrawn for Holzman.
Tyler Bindon: 6
More composed than the others around him today: it’s somewhat reassuring to have a centre-back who seems less prone to losing their head in an otherwise poor performance. Actually made a really nice clearance in the build-up to the third, getting his boot on an awkward inswinging free-kick.
Andre Garcia: 4
Really poor all round, offering next to nothing going forwards. Caught out for goals two and three: nowhere near the finisher for the second (Garcia was berated by Pereira because of that), and I think he should be stronger in the challenge in the build-up to the third too, with the Blackpool player quicker to the ball before dinking it over Garcia.
Ben Elliott: 4
Sloppy, error-prone and struggled to get Reading going as an attacking force. Removed for Camara in the second half.
Lewis Wing: 5
Didn’t provide enough cover defensively for the back four, with Blackpool having too much room to work in. Not enough from him creatively either, although he did put in an excellent first-half cross to find Knibbs, who really should have scored. Pulled a shot wide of the post himself when found in space on the edge of the area in the first half - probably should have done better.
Charlie Savage: 5
Not a lot better than fellow attacking midfielder Elliott for the most part, but I thought he looked brighter earlier on in the game, having a couple of shots from range before later setting up Wing with a corner played to the edge of the box.
Chem Campbell: 4
Barely got into the game in truth, and struggled to impact the match all afternoon. When he did have one great opening in the second half, having won the ball back in Blackpool’s third, he had to play the pass in for the onrushing Smith but he didn’t quite get the execution right, wasting a good opening.
Sam Smith: 5
This was one of those games in which I’m not sure how harsh to be on the centre-forward, but I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt and go for a 5/10 rather than a 4/10. Smith didn’t bring a lot to Reading’s attack today - he didn’t have a shot at all - but he didn’t have much to work with.
Harvey Knibbs: 4
He’s just not a left-winger: we knew that last season and it’s still true this season, but Reading have had to put him there in the absence of Kelvin Ehibhatiomhan and inability of Mamadi Camara to impress there.
Knibbs being a poor fit there isn’t usually a problem, given he tends to make up for it by scoring, but he wasted a great chance to do so in the first half. Wing played an inch-perfect cross to him on the six-yard area, he had time to put it away, but somehow got under it and cleared the bar.
Probably should have had a penalty when he was taken down in the area in the second half, but I haven’t seen it back.
Subs
Louie Holzman: 5
Brought on for Mbengue at half-time and did alright on the whole. Tried to bring the ball out from the back to put Reading on the front foot, and hit one gorgeous cross-field out to the left wing.
Mamadi Camara: 4
You’d have been forgiven for not knowing he was playing. Camara got 22 minutes of normal time on the pitch (plus seven added on), but managed... three touches. I had to check that a few times in case WhoScored had glitched somehow, but nope... three touches.
On the one hand, Reading were 3-0 down and the game was dead for 25 of Camara’s 29 minutes on the pitch, so it’ll always be harder for an attacker in that situation to get into the game. But still... three touches. Crikey.
Ashqar Ahmed: 4
I really like Ahmed - he’s a talented right-back who generally looks adept all round and I’m confident he’s got a good future ahead of him - but this has been a horrid two games for him. First the sending-off at Walsall, now a pretty rubbish shift off the bench today, looking ropey defensively.
Jayden Wareham: 5
Brought on so that Reading could go 4-4-2 in a desperate throw of the dice at 3-0, couldn’t get into the game. Didn’t do anything wrong really but the game was too far gone for him to do anything right.
Average: 4.73/10
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