I wasn’t able to watch the game unfortunately but sounds like we managed to take advantage of your defensive mistakes going off the highlights. Only side conceding goals you conceded that we’ve played were Derby if my memory serves me well, but I do think this is all fixable if TM decides to actually fix it. I know exactly how this loss feels like being a Reading fan, I’d be absolutely gutted but I wouldn’t be too disheartened, it’s quite obvious attacking wise you can score going off the chances you put away. If you can beat huge amount of the dross we have in the league I think a top 6 push is still possible, we did exactly that in 16/17. I think we scored all of our shots on target, I have no idea how and if it’s sustainable but the league table still brings a tear to my eye at the moment, our start has been absolutely incredible.

We don’t always counter at a high tempo, in the first half we particularly try to save our energy but obviously we will go forwards if the opportunity arises. In the second half we sort of have the hope the opposition is a bit tired so we will look to press more and counter at a better speed, as long as you have physically fit midfielders you should get away with it. When it comes to long balls though you will need a physical defence that can deal with Joao(teams normally surround him now), I’m sure you all know too well how quick and strong he is. I don’t want to make it seem like we’re amazing in attack as we are not, most the time we do something stupid and it’s frustrating to watch. For whatever reason so far we have been remarkably good at punishing a team for any mistake they make. As a Rotherham fan put it, “give us the chances and we will score”.

Think I will have to go for a hob nob. Mainly because they taste fantastic, but also because the Reading equivalent of this website is called HobNobAnyone?

Don’t know, but you’d think they’d be somewhat linked because at the time he was a failed MLS manager. Eddie is still here yes, was widely thought to be leaving initially.

I don’t have a strong opinion on Paunovic at the moment, it’s early days. I’m impressed by how he comes across in interviews, his game management and the players seem to love him despite the fact he demands a lot work ethic wise from them. No sporting director at the mo but our owners are unfortunately advised by Kia- although our signings seemed to be what Paunovic wanted and he doesn’t want any more signings at the moment so that is a good sign. Not much to say on our structure otherwise. Bowen going ironically got the same reaction as when he arrived, it seemed absolutely nuts to change your manager weeks before the season started when our new manager had just one week to prepare after quarantine finished. I do think it was the owners wanting a better manager so we could gamble with FFP(the EFL wouldn’t let us thankfully). Appointing Paunovic himself got a similar reaction, but it’s since come through that Bowen was a very divisive figure behind the signs- fell out with the club captain(Liam Moore) and got his son who was amongst our coaching staff off furlough first so I’m glad Bowen went in the end. Even more so because our club captain has gone back to his brilliant best after two poor seasons.

Not to worry, it is very unlike us to start well we’ve equaled/broken all sorts of club records, so I’m just enjoying the ride for now as I don’t expect us to keep this up- conceding one goal in 7 games is nuts. From what I gather you played really well against Watford just Ben Foster had a brilliant game. If that’s the sort of standard you’re setting over the season we are definitely in for a difficult night.

I set myself up an account just to answer that question(yes we did genuinely used to be known as the biscuitmen rather than the royals) Our preferred tactic is 4231 but the formation does change in game depending on how we’re doing, for example we got Laurent to sit deeper than Semedo and Rinomhota on Saturday so we became some sort of wide 433. We’re very much a counter attacking side who look to frustrate the opposition by allowing them to have plenty of possession. Laurent and Rinomhota sit just in front of our defence and they essentially fill in any gaps that open up(otherwise press the man on the ball) to restrict opponents to half chances and frustrated players taking long shots. This allows one of our fullbacks to push forward and not worry too much about losing the ball, even though both Esteves and Richards are fairly quick themselves so can track back well. Rafael hasn’t really been tested in any of our games although he has proven to be reliable whenever called upon I expect he will be tested on Tuesday. Attacking wise we are not particularly good. We try to counter but it’s normally given away straight away especially if someone presses us(we initially struggled to get going against Barnsley and Rotherham because of that). For some reason, we are ridiculously clinical at the moment and there’s question marks over whether that is sustainable. A lot of our goals come from us punishing a defensive mistake from a set piece in particular or these horrible long balls that defences seem to struggle to deal with. We are a quick and physically strong side. Paunovic is still trying to find the answer- he’s only been in the job for two months. I do think each of Norwich, Blackburn and Brentford will be a good test to see how good we are defensively, we’ve not really faced anyone with a particularly good attack. We haven’t trialed for a second in the league this season, so if you manage to get an early goal it would be a good test to see what we’re made of.