Rotherham United 2-1 Reading: Player Ratings
Reading put in a resolute if tepid first-half display, before a bad 20 minutes botched their chance to win three in a row.
David Button: 6
Made some good saves today including one important one over the bar towards the end of the first half. That was born out by him being in the positive column for goals prevented.
Not hugely to blame for either goal scored, given that the first was an excellent cross into a tricky spot, and the second saw his defence leave him almost isolated against three men ready to head it in at the back post.
Several Reading players argued loudly that Button had been fouled in the ensuing melee but only had themselves to blame for losing their men. Button even saved from an offside Hugill who raced through one-on-one in the second half.
Michael Craig: 5
A small issue with Craig playing right-back is that he struggles sometimes to understand when he needs to help Mbengue aerially. As a result, the space in between him and Mbengue especially from corners or crosses delivered to the back post is a space that opposition teams can target.
Not really up to it physically today and didn’t win any of his duels. Probably had his best moments of the game in the 10 minute period before he was withdrawn. Craig helped Reading progress down the field a few times after being reduced to 10 men.
Amadou Mbengue: 5
A game of two halves for Mbengue, though some was due to how the opposition chose to play around him. Good in the first half winning all of his aerial and ground duels and preventing Rotherham from getting too deep into the box. .
Fell off it in the second half however when the scheme from Rotherham seem to change to target his area at the back post.
Found himself unable to disrupt the men around Button for the second goal and for the first goal he wasn’t able to keep up with his man to stop him getting a touch at the near post.
Did have two crucial moments late on however when he was able to stop Rotherham from really running up the score.
Tyler Bindon: 5
Again good in the first half but then couldn’t keep it up either through scheme or individual reasoning. Had some good moments where he was able to help the Royals create chances from set plays, but he also gave away some unnecessary set pieces to Rotherham.
Statistically the most physically dominant defender for reading today and did some excellent one-on-one defending at times, especially in the first half.
Kelvin Abrefa: 5
Back in the starting lineup immediately after coming back from injury but unfortunately managed less than half an hour before having to be withdrawn. Had looked relatively agile in the first 20 minutes and helped play a rare ball into Rotherham’s third, but couldn’t continue.
Lewis Wing: 6
Scored an absolute peach of a free-kick today (and it’s fair to say he may have scored if he wasn’t hauled down to win the set-piece in the first place), putting a tonne of swerve and power on the effort from the centre of the box. Outside of that though, struggled to connect with his long balls downfield and gave the ball away a lot.
Overall didn’t have the ball as much as he usually does making fewer than 60 touches on that despite reading having more possession in the second half. Found himself reduced to a cleaning-up or defensive role after the red card and really couldn’t do much to affect play in the final moments.
Ben Elliott: 5
Currently engaged in a “mini slump” of sorts, Mostly due to the very high standards he set for himself earlier. The international break should do him well but Elliott has become a little bit sloppy and giving away fouls recently though he is still useful in winning physical duels.
Put one chance from outside of the box well over the bar and ball-striking is one area in which Charlie Savage does provide more to Reading than Elliott. If Elliott could develop that long shot it would be a very useful tool especially with Wing further withdrawn.
Harvey Knibbs: 6
Reading’s best midfielder on the day, helping the defence to repeatedly clean up second balls from the few times that Reading’s backline weren’t able to win the aerial ball in the first half.
Helped Reading calm it down as well a few times by winning free-kicks by not panicking on the ball and kicking it away when he had time in his own third.
Had a chance to equalise late on, but saw his hard and low effort blocked.
Chem Campbell: 5
A real non-factor today, successfully retaining the ball but really doing not much else. Had one moment when he stepped around a defender in a positive manner but elsewhere it was just a little too slow.
Overall Campbell just didn’t get himself involved in the game enough. Made just one touch in the box all day and was withdrawn for Wareham with Reading needing to change the shape up.
Sam Smith: 6
Easily Reading’s best attacker on the day, popping up all over the field to help Reading link up the few chances they got to play forward in the first half. As a result of his movement, he saw more touches than last week, and a far higher percentage of them in the box (20%).
Found himself rattled in the second half at times and was booked for dissent. Couldn’t quite wriggle free to find enough room for a shot, but interplayed really nicely with Wareham a few times after he came on to show Reading an idea of what Smith playing with a partner could look like.
Kelvin Ehibhatiomhan: 4
A performance with the headline written by his red card. Went to defend his teammate Garcia who had been put in a headlock by the Rotherham player, but unnecessarily shoved the man to the ground rather than separating the players, and had traveled to do so. While maybe not deserving of a red, it was certainly deserving of a yellow, and so Ehibhatiomhan had to go.
After having Reading’s best chance from open play in the first half, Kelvin had seemingly just shown his maturity by helping Reading to sure up the back post area from set-pieces after they looked shaky there. Minutes later, the same was unfortunately not on display.
Subs
Andre Garcia: 4
Had an indifferent performance after coming on, and mostly replaced Abrefa’s defensive effort, but was another who found himself riled up by Rotherham’s antics, and helped light the touch paper for the incident that led to Ehibhatiomhan’s red. Lucky to not be the player sent off in the melee, as he was also on a yellow card.
Jayden Wareham: 5
Looked the most positive of Reading’s subs today, getting two shots off that he was unlucky to steer just wide or see blocked. Made some nice quick plays with Smith back and forth, and with a Bristol Street Motors game in midweek, will hopefully pick up a start to continue some momentum. A little messy at times in duels, but arguably needs more minutes if we want less rust on him.
Charlie Savage: 5
Got himself well up the pitch when he came on, considering it was after Kelvin’s red card. Overall however the ball really didn’t fall to his side of the field enough, and he was only able to contribute on the ball with a cross and a blocked shot. Stood up when asked to defensively.
Harlee Dean: N/A
Came on late as Reading seemed to want to push Bindon up to hunt for second balls down. Gave the ball away dangerously at one point and had to be bailed out by Mbengue when he couldn’t spring the offside trap effectively to rectify his mistake.
Adrian Akande: N/A
Had precious little time to do anything in the game, making just two touches on the ball.
Average: 5.14/10
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