Matty Jacob Is A Long-Overdue Solution To Reading’s Problem Position
The Royals’ third signing of the summer, a loanee from Hull City, could well prove to be a vital addition.
A quick side note before I get started: Reading have played a variety of formations in the last few years and used both left-backs (those on the left of a back four) and left-wing-backs (those operating out wide in a back three/back five). Strictly speaking those are different roles, but for the sake of brevity and simplicity in this article I’m just going to homogenise them as ‘left-backs’ and ignore the distinction.
What do Kelvin Abrefa, Jeriel Dorsett, Andy Yiadom, Amadou Mbengue, Abraham Kanu, Andre Garcia and Tivonge Rushesha have in common? They all played at left-back for Reading’s first team last season, at least very briefly. What else do they have in common? None of them are left-backs.
Focusing just on last season would be detracting from a long-term issue. Reading have lacked a proper, dedicated first-team option at left-back since Omar Richards for some reason preferred a move to Bayern Munich over remaining in Berkshire at the end of 2020/21.
In the last four years a whole host of players have tried their luck at being Reading’s left-back. Before Garcia, Dorsett, Kanu and co it was Ethan Bristow, Baba Rahman, Nesta Guinness-Walker, Tom McIntyre, Matty Carson and Clinton Mola. Don’t forget triallists Achraf Lazaar or Brandon Ormonde-Ottewill either.
For a variety of reasons, none have quite done the trick and looked fully convincing on a regular basis. Some came up short offensively, others defensively, and a few might well have better fits in a different tactical system.
This certainly isn’t meant as a dig at those who’ve had to fill in at left-back, swapping positions for the sake of the team, and have unsurprisingly come up a bit short. Quite the contrary: some (Garcia in particular) have done better than expected and deserve praise for stepping up and doing their best during a particularly difficult time for the club.
But it’s still fair to say there’s been a long-term failure in Reading’s recruitment: either not bringing in left-backs of sufficient quality or not being able to sign one at all. It’s been a constant case of making do at left-back and little more.
Until Matty Jacob arrived on Friday afternoon that is. Not a centre-back who ‘can’ play left-back, nor a midfielder who’s able to ‘do a job’ - he’s an actual left-back. Just to really underline the point, he’s played there for parent club Hull City 22 times in the Championship, as well as getting loan spells with Pickering and Gateshead.
If you really weren’t convinced, he’s a left-back who was actually linked to other clubs too. So no, we’re not fooling ourselves or day-dreaming: Jacob is indeed an actual left-back. Yes, really.
And he comes with a strong recommendation too. The Likes Of Hull City blog (website here, Twitter account here) told us that Jacob’s signing is a “no brainer” for Reading.
“Matty is a proper left-back - strong, defensively sound and a good athlete. He’s not a modern left-back, more of a throw-back. Physical. Defender first.
“Big lad, won’t get bullied, puts his foot in.
“He brings experience and savviness and a calmness. This level (League One) won’t bother him for one second; he won’t be thrown for a second. He’s got a goal in him too.”
So it looks an awful lot like Reading have, at last, resolved their left-back conundrum. That’s been a long time in the making, and hopefully if Jacob has a strong season in Berkshire there’s the potential for his signing to become a permanent one in a year’s time. After all, a bit of long-term planning would be the perfect solution at left-back.
This has wider benefits for the team too, not simply addressing one specific issue. Reading can afford to return stand-in left-backs to their more comfortable positions: Garcia to the wing, Dorsett and Kanu to centre-back. That can only be a good thing for their development, not to mention the balance and overall cohesion of the side.
And whoever eventually becomes Reading’s first-choice left-winger this summer will be thankful for Jacob’s arrival too. The Royals have struggled for reliability in this department too, and while deficiencies at left-back aren’t a complete excuse for under-performance further up the pitch, it can’t have helped Kelvin Ehibhatiomham, Mamadi Camara and others to lack the security and support that a proper left-back would have provided.
Reading of course have a lot further to go in this transfer window, and more glamorous roles in the side to fill than left-back: primarily we’re still after a centre-forward and a couple of wingers either side. But it’s still refreshing, and a reassuring sign for the future, that Reading are at long last able to problem-solve, not simply make do.