One Thing Each Reading Player Could Improve On Next Season

Tom suggests what everyone in the squad could work on ahead of the 2024/25 season.

Nobodys perfect. Even me. And if you didn’t spot the missing apostrophe in the second word of this article, chances are you aren’t too. Ha. Gotcha.

Unfortunately our beloved Reading FC players, and indeed manager, aren’t either, however close some may be. So here’s one thing each Royals player (not all of them, I don’t have all day) could improve on going into the 2024/25 season, in no particular order.

Sam Smith

His right foot. Is it stupid for me to say that, if his right foot were as good as his left, he could easily be a top-half Championship-level striker? Yes, I know if my grandma had wheels she would have been a bike, but still, there are a few howling moments I remember from last season for Smith, and they all seemed to land on his right.

An open-goal miss at home against Portsmouth particularly sticks out in my mind. Still, 15 league goals last season isn’t half bad.

Joel Pereira

Thankfully, it hasn’t cost us in terms of results yet, but there were a couple of occasions when Joel Pereira seemed to lose a bit of concentration towards the end of games and we conceded a goal, usually after a wayward pass.

Fortunately for Pereira, those moments are often coupled with an unbelievable one-on-one save or pushing out a top-bins-fated shot.

Charlie Savage

Have you ever watched a football match when, around the 40th minute, a player receives the ball or the commentator says that player’s name, and you almost feel inclined to turn to your mate and asked if he’s just been subbed on? When in fact they’ve been milling about failing to have an impact on the game.

Photo by Pete Norton/Getty Images

I feel like that happens too much to Savage. When he does have the ball, he can often make great things happen, but that doesn’t happen as much as I’d like. In the words of Roy Keane, Charlie, if you’re not at the races one day, think “you know what, what I might do is go and smash into somebody, just to make me feel better”.

Andy Yiadom

He’s 32. Apologies to any readers out there over the age of 30, but I’m sorry to say: your footballing career, if it’s not happened yet, is unlikely to come anytime soon. Yiadom has lost a yard of pace as of late, and looks a little less sharp than he used to be.

It could well have something to do with the fact that he’s played an average of 42 games in each of the five years he’s played at Reading. Having said that, geriatric megastars such as Ronaldo, Pepe and Luka Modric have continued to start at this year’s Euros, as did 38-year-old Jesus Navas, so maybe Yiadom does have a few more years of solid service in him.

Harvey Knibbs

The man has a remarkably good League One goalscoring record with us, ranking in the 71st percentile for goals, so what needs to be improved on here? The amount of shots he takes.

Granted, this could be a Reading FC team problem as much as, if not more than, it is a Knibbs problem, but the facts say that last season he ranked only in the 21st percentile for shots. The man needs to get on the ball more and get more shots off, because his conversion rate is deadly, especially around the six-yard box.

Tyler Bindon

For a 19-year-old centre-back, I think in most cases it would be as simple as saying “bulk up” or “get more physical”, but to his great credit I don’t think Bindon gets bullied about at all.

So, it may seem unusual for a defender, but I’ll say goalscoring in crucial moments. If Bindon and Mbengue are our new Tom McIntyre and Tom Holmes, then I’m wanting a spell for the New Zealander akin to McIntyre’s 2022 Easter weekend. He’s had his late equaliser against Lincoln City, but it was in a game of little importance.

It is absolutely a testament to Bindon’s performances that this is what I’m asking of him at the moment though!

Jeriel Dorsett

The reality is that, like a lot of last season, he’ll probably find himself playing at left-back again. That’s not necessarily a problem: Joško Gvardiol has just won a Premier League as a centre-back on the left, and he’s not exactly the profile of player you’d pick out as a fantastic crosser or particularly pacy on the overlap.

I’ll say Dorsett’s passing could be an area for improvement. Not that it’s been poor, but there’s not exactly too much to write home about so far. It helps that he’s left-footed, so I’d like to see a few measured pings down the line, over the top for Smith to run onto please Jeriel.

Ben Elliott

The Cameroonian has played 42 games for Reading across all competitions and scored one goal, registering three assists. That goal came in our 9-0 win against Exeter City.

Goalscoring and numbers are not everyone’s game, and it would be stupid to judge Elliott purely on that, as he adds so much to Reading’s performances. He was played out of position for large periods of last year too.

But still, I’d like to see more from him. Across the 2022/23 season for Chelsea in the league and Papa John’s trophy he made 10 goal contributions in 26 matches, showing he has the potential to far exceed his current numbers.

Lewis Wing

It’s difficult to ask much more from this man to be perfectly honest. Wing grabbed our team by the scruff of the neck and dragged us to safety with his goals and assists last season. Our biggest ask on the pitch is now to get him to stay fit for the whole year.

Possibly leadership too. Behind Andy Yiadom, I wouldn’t say there’s an obvious candidate for captain when he can’t play. Wing has captained the team on a few occasions up until now, but hasn’t come across as an especially vocal player to me as of yet. That’s if you really want to split hairs though!

David Button

Talking of hairs, Dave, that’s a department you could probably improve in a bit too! Joking aside, I doubt Button will be starting too many matches in the future. At 35 years of age, there isn’t much room for growth, and our goalkeeping union seems to be the only part of the club where we are surplus to requirements, with five seniors - all of whom, in my opinion, who could do a decent job in League One.

Therefore, Button’s job for next season is to serve as the perfect motivator for our first- and second-choice ‘keepers, and improve on throwing any ego he may have aside for the greater good of helping the others do the best they can. He sure does have a lot of experience to draw from and pass onto the younger players though.

Femi Azeez

Finishing chances. How a man can blow so hot and cold is beyond me. Everything that comes previous to finding himself in a goalscoring situation is always exemplary, but at the start of last season Azeez failed to find the net on so many occasions.

Ending the season on eight league goals isn’t bad, but I’d expect Azeez would want more from himself than he delivered in front of goal. He’s a winger with bags of pace, good movement and makes good runs, and being a left-footer playing on the right will limit him in some ways, but enables him in many more, so I think it’s his decision-making that’s cost him a lot.

Amadou Mbengue

No more funny business. And by that I mean getting sent off after the final whistle, rash sliding tackles in the penalty area, and trying to play hero ball. He has improved somewhat in this sense since joining Reading, but I can’t help but think Mbengue is still a bit of a loose cannon.

Hopefully his newer responsibilities as a more senior player can limit these tendencies slightly, as will maturing with age. There’s nothing wrong with being a strong character, but when someone tries to carry the whole team on their back too much, it can sometimes go a bit too far and end up jeopardising us instead.

What a player Mbengue is, so we must try and make sue he’s available to play in as many matches as possible this coming season, especially with our lack of centre-backs.