Sent Off From The Bench

Reading put last weekend's hammering at the hands of Arsenal behind them with a win against newly promoted Aston Villa.Reading kept the 4-3-3 that they adopted in the second half against The Gunners (although it could be described as a 4-3-1-2 if you were being particularly pedantic). Fara Williams conducted play from the base of midfield, while Fishlock and James played just advanced of her. After a difficult match last out for Fishlock, she looked much more assured with what she was asked to do on Sunday. She made more successful pressures than anybody on the pitch, despite being Reading's only substitution after 73 minutes, and consistently moved the ball forward after winning it back.Carter was again bright. Good with the ball at her feet, her main issue is occasional tunnel vision. It was her skill that won Reading the penalty for their third. Eikeland seems tireless, and can carry the ball into space well but seems to have an issue playing with her back to goal. She look…

I'd almost entirely forgotten what winning feels like, but the gift from God that is Veljko Paunovic has bestowed it upon us once again. Although, to be serious, beating a Derby side that only mustered one shot on target against Barrow could certainly prove to be a false dawn.Paunovic's first team selection brought no shocks and calmed some fears about last weekend's Colchester XI. Like Bowen he decided on a double pivot of Laurent and Rinomhota, with Swift flanked by Ejaria on the left and Olise on the right in front of them. Yiadom made a welcome return to the team after six months, alongside Joao who missed all but forty minutes of the restart. After a lot of talk around who would take the captain's armband, Moore may have been saved by the change of manager. You're already seeing Twitter change their take on the old-and-now-new Captain - he's been much better in these matches he's hardly been troubled in. (To be fair, the problem was the backlash to his…

Lucas Joao has been a crucial part of this side for the better part of a year now. His stock seemingly rises every match, whether he plays or not. Every Joao related take is notably prefaced with "If he stays fit". The problem is, judging by history, that's a completely unrealistic expectation. He's never completed 2,000 league minutes in a season in his professional career - which itself would be under half the number of minutes in a Championship campaign.

So then there is the natural desire to sign a Joao replacement, particularly after the issues last season without him in the side. Pedro Mendes has been touted as the missing piece, and one Serbian account even suggested Ivan Saponjic, a player in Paunović's U20 Serbian side, as someone with a similar style. In Mendes' case, are we really going to spend £5m on a player who won't be the first choice? 
If we do end up signing a replacement, what happens to George Puscas? He did enough last season to be co…

You've had an extended break since last year's football, pre-season squad building went well, then you come up against Arsenal. Reading were outclassed in almost every aspect. The narrow diamond allowed space out wide that was ruthlessly exploited by Arsenal, and their sloppiness on the ball hampered their attacking output.Both came together for the opening goal, as Kristine Leine's poor pass was intercepted. Jess Fishlock, the new OL Reign loanee, didn't close down quickly enough and Leah Williamson capitalised on the space by chipping the ball perfectly into Kim Little's path. Leine missed her head, and chance to amend, and Little's volley was exquisitely put past Grace Maloney.And that was really the story of the match - Reading a step off the pace, and Arsenal clinical. The second goal is Natasha Harding allowing Jordan Nobbs to run behind, and squaring it to a Vivienne Miedema. You don't need to follow women's football to know she's going to sc…

What can one glean from a glorified pre-season friendly?Well, we have certainly adopted Paunovic's preferred 4-2-3-1. We've already seen the new manager's interesting selections, but I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt to allow him to see more of the squad (wouldn't it have been amazing if he'd had pre-season to do that?). But I can't see anybody being in his team selection for Derby that wouldn't have already been there.The one player who probably does deserve an inclusion is Araruna, but it'll be very difficult to displace Yiadom when fit. He'll be disappointed about the goal though, being outpaced on the overlap - although those in the middle didn't help him out too much. The other full-back, Ethan Bristow had one good burst down the left-wing, but on the whole, doesn't look ready for this standard of football. It was noticeable they got in behind the LB on several occasions.Like under Gomes, the fullbacks pushed high, bu…

Veljko Paunović is Reading manager. The Serbian is a relative unknown here, but after leading his home nation to the U20 World Cup he put his name on the proverbial map. That lead to taking over at MLS side Chicago Fire in 2015, where he stayed for four years before being fired with one of the worst ever MLS records. For the past year, he's been unemployed.Serbia's victory at the U20 World Cup in New Zealand was a surprise. 2015 remains the only tournament that Serbia has qualified for since the dissolution of Yugoslavia. The tournament opened with a loss to Uruguay, a game in which they played a 3-6-1. For the subsequent group games they switched to a 4-2-3-1 or alternated to a 4-1-4-1; both Mali and Mexico were dispatched 2-0.They kept the same set-up for the knock-out phase, but were never as convincing, needing extra time in every round. An injury-time equaliser against Hungary combined with an own goal in the round of 16, penalties were required to see off The USA in the …