How Reading stifled Arsenal and even controlled the game

[CholseyRoyal]

For those like me who are absolute novices when it comes to tactics yet find them fascinating, I refer you to the following link:-

http://thetilehurstend.sbnation.com/201 ... cs-insight

Having read the article, it amazes me how disciplined we were for 99% of the game and how well the players kept their concentration to follow Steve's directions. It certainly must have been mentally exhausting as I bet it didn't come naturally to most of them.

Interesting the comparisons made with Rogers and Adkins! Given time with his preferred squad of players I think we have a very bright future ahead of us.

[Armadillo Roadkill]

Excellent and insightful article, and the screen shots work really well.

[Ian Royal]

Yeah, that is one hell of an analysis. Even considering the time constraints for professional pundits it puts them to shame.

[Muskrat]

Interesting article and good analysis much of which I agree with and also agree that Steve Clarke is much more tactically astute than Adkins or Rogers but but I certainly don't agree that the 4-4-2 formation "fooled us all". I knew what the team was going to be and how we would set up, and the BBC got the team selection and formation right before the game albiet they had Mackie playing just behind Pogrebnyak, which he did at least in part.

And it's obvious that you can't play a traditional four man midfield with two met sitting wide to recieve the ball from the central midfielders as we did in the 2005/5 season with Little and Convey/Hunt against Arsenal, I'd be very disappointed if Clarke and Keen hadn't spotted that!

[Gav]

Awesome article. Only thing I'd have liked to hear more of was how the introduction of giroud affected our formation and tactics to understand his impact better.

[6 Million Dollar Man]

Fascinating read. From my seat, high up, the two lines of four were evident, and from my untrained eye, I was worried that they were too close together, and that Mackie and Pog would end up being isolated. However, Danny Williams had probably his best ever game for Reading, breaking up attacks, running at Arsenal's midfielders, and showing a creativity not often seen before. My man of the match. I thought that the midfield four were not as flat in the second half, and this contributed to us controlling the game for much of this period

[download]

Looking back now, they employed a similar arrangement against Bournemouth with the obvious except of Pog who was out injured.

[Forbury Lion]

Excellent and insightful article, and the screen shots work really well.

+1

[TFF]

+2

[genome]

They had a similar superb preview article as well. I've been more and more impressed with TTE recently.

[melonhead]

yep, gr8 stuff

[Snowball]

Nice article

[Brum Royal]

Very good TTE, well done!

[Ark Royal]

Brilliant article. I am going to show that to my boys' team as an example of how important shape and discipline are. I get them to play 4-4-2 as I believe it is an easy system to understand in theory and enables players to express themselves going forward and maintain good shape when defending.

We were only discussing at the weekend during a tournament how important it is to play at least one forward - with pace - high against the last defender: we adjusted and ended up winning 4-1 with all four goals coming from longer passes hit in to the spaces beyond the last defender. Not Route 1, but just recognizing and executing that option when it was on.

Maintaining the discipline of two banks of four remains the most difficult task: it is physically and mentally demanding. The two photos 80 minutes apart show Reading's remarkable adherence to Clarke's game plan. I am admiring Clarke's tactical chops more and more.