Rotherham United 1-1 Reading: A Complete Waste Of Time

Not just no shots on target in the last half an hour or so of the game, but no shots at all. In a game away to a side that’s already been relegated. I know injuries have given Richardson a weaker hand, but today’s starting XI (regardless of our season essentially being done) is good enough on paper to at least muster up some vaguely convincing evidence that they want to win the game.

Reading (3-2-4-1): Pereira; Burns, O’Connor, Dorsett; Nyambe, Wing, Fraser, Roberts; Kyerewaa, Lane; Ehibhatiomhan

Subs: Norcott, Abrefa, Stickland, Howard, Ritchie, Osho, Patton

I may as well not have included the bench there. After all, despite Reading looking flat at best throughout the game, Richardson didn’t show any interest in his subs until it was too late for any of them to make a big impact. The obvious attacking change (Matt Ritchie) only came on in the 84th minute, for an injured Jeriel Dorsett.

If all else fails, at least this game could have been an opportunity for younger players. But no, Sean Patton (the other clear offensive option) had to wait until the 88th minute to come on, Emmanuel Osho was the first sub but only got nine minutes of normal time, Luke Howard got no game time at all and David Hicks travelled but didn’t get onto the bench.

Richardson said in his post-match comments that he didn’t want to throw young players on too early unless they made a mistake. It’s a weak excuse, for me. It goes without saying that youth will make mistakes – they need to do so if they’re to learn – but it’s on the manager to show faith in them. Giving them such so little game time (a combined 17 minutes!) surely screams to them that Richardson doesn’t believe in them.

Back to the original XI though – that shouldn’t get away without criticism. Reading started with three centre-backs and a pair of wing-backs in a game which was essentially a free hit, an opportunity to get on the front foot and remind fans that football is supposed to be a form of entertainment.

Why so many defenders? Why not start with a back four? Ritchie and Patton were available as extra attacking options, as were other forwards (Will Keane, Kadan Young and Mamadi Camara) who weren’t involved at all. Those last three might be a bit of a stretch, and some will counter that none are likely to be here next season, but that didn’t stop Richardson starting loanees Finley Burns and Ryan Nyambe.

The sad bottom line is that, of course, we’ve been here far too many times before. Little of what I wrote above is that new.

The end of the season should at least give you some sense of sadness that you’re going to be without club football for a few months over the summer, but Reading’s malaise is so deep-set and all-encompassing that I am most certainly not going to miss watching this side.

I’m an optimist though, perhaps overly so, and I know a good pre-season both on the training ground and on the recruitment front will go a long way towards turning things around. All things being well, we’ll be a much stronger outfit the next time we have a competitive away game.

At the moment though, that feels a long way off.