Championship 2021/22: Reading upset Fulham in their own backyard with clinical finishing – tactical analysis

The 8th game week of the 2021-22 EFL Championship saw league-leaders Fulham host Reading at Craven Cottage. After getting relegated from the Premier League and losing quite a bunch of talented players to Premier League and Serie A sides, Fulham have started the season well and look like one of the early contenders to gain second promotion to the top-flight in three seasons. 

On the other hand, Reading after a good 2020-21 season, have started in the exact opposite fashion to their opponents having suffered four losses in their opening six games. Having notched up a win last weekend against newcomers Peterborough, Reading would be looking to build and get their season back on a more consistent basis. 

This tactical analysis discusses the tactics deployed by both the managers and how Reading produced a clinical performance to clinch three points against Fulham. Let’s begin the analysis.

Lineups

Fulham made two changes to their lineup that beat Birmingham City in the mid-week. Robinson replaced Joe Bryan and Cavaleiro came into the lineup in place of Harrison Reed as Fulham went with a 4-2-3-1 system and Seri being pushed back into the deeper midfield.

Reading, on the other hand, made two changes to their lineup as Hoilett made way into the lineup and Holmes replaced Liam Moore. 

Fulham’s struggles with their positional play

With a 4-2-3-1 system, Fulham’s play under Marco Silva has been mostly playing down the wings and working their way through into the final third by using combinations and then delivering crosses from the wings or cut-backs to the likes of Mitrovic inside the box. This was made very complex to execute against Reading as the Royals often clustered themselves in the ball-near flank to ensure Fulham do not have numerical superiority. We can see an example of that in the image below where Reading have over-crowded their left-flank, Fulham’s right, and ensured that the progression through that flank is not possible. Both the pivots are positioned pretty much into that flank as Reading went with a ball-sided pressing in these phases.