How's Ruben Selles Getting On In The Reading Dugout?

11/15/2024 10:34 AM

Sim takes a broader look at the Royals' gaffer - and we'd like you to have your say too in the approval rating poll at the bottom of the piece.

We're well into the 2024/25 season now - 19 games in all competitions to be exact - so I thought it was a good time to generally check in on how Ruben Selles is doing as Reading manager.

I've also included our latest approval rating poll, which you can find at the bottom of the article. This'll be the third time we've run this vote on the Spaniard, having also done so in September 2023 and March 2024.

Those 19 games have gone pretty well for Reading overall, yielding 10 wins, two draws and seven defeats. So, if you've gone to every match this season, you're more likely (52.6%) to have seen the Royals win than you are to have seen them not do so. Or, to break all that down by competition, Reading have...

• Won half their League One matches
• Won two of their three EFL Trophy group games
• Won their only FA Cup match (Fleetwood Town)
• Lost their only League Cup tie (Colchester United)

Reading have also scored 32 goals and conceded 25 goals in those 19 games. Of course, as is apparently tradition now, a disproportionately large number of the goals scored came in the Pizza Cup (six in three games).

Reading's home/away disparity

The bigger theme really though is that Reading are very, very good at winning games on their own turf (nine wins out of 10) but very bad at doing that on the road. From nine away matches in all competitions, the Royals have emerged victorious just once - at Exeter City - while also picking up draws at Birmingham City, Stevenage and Colchester United (although that last game ended in a penalty shootout defeat).

Reading have also been comfortably dispatched by Wrexham (3-0), Bolton Wanderers (5-2) and Stockport County (4-1). Add those goals conceded to the one at Birmingham City, two at Rotherham United, one at Exeter City and one at Stevenage and you get 17 - the joint-highest number of goals conceded on the road in the division.

So undoubtedly Selles is doing a fantastic job in half of Reading's fixtures; he's made the SCL into a fortress, that's hugely commendable and it's been vital for keeping the Royals fairly high up the table. Equally though, there's plenty of room for improvement when it comes to tightening up and grinding out results on our travels - but opinions will inevitably diverge on how critical we should be here.

On the one hand, the stats speak for themselves. Reading aren't good enough as an away team - a return of one win, two draws and four losses puts the Royals 18th in League One based on away form - and that's Selles' responsibility to fix.

In the context of the broader situation in which he's operating though, should we reasonably expect much better?

After all, this is a small and inexperienced squad that's had injuries to contend with. When you're forced into playing a central midfielder at right-back and a 16-year-old at left-back, however commendably those players perform, mistakes will be made and points will be dropped.

Reading went into this season needing to sign a senior left-back to bulk out their defensive options. At least. Instead, three full-backs have been ruled out of action entirely (Andy Yiadom, John Ryan and John Clarke), while Jeriel Dorsett and Kelvin Abrefa have had severely injury-hit seasons.

Selles was also unable to bring in extra depth or experience in midfield or up front: the kind of players who can manage difficult away games effectively and make the difference in those trickier contests. Reading certainly have quality across the pitch, but that's also at the inevitable expense of inconsistency and inexperience - which get exploited on the road.

Could Selles be doing more, perhaps by adopting a different game plan in away matches? Possibly, but when the squad is set up to play a certain way and isn't big enough to include a lot of variety personnel-wise, changing tactics could just as easily backfire. More defensive or direct football isn't inherently more effective.

So I'm conflicted on the away record really. Fans are absolutely right to criticise the poor points return, but if that criticism isn't contextualised properly, it's wide of the mark.

Performances and developing players

Performances have been... decent on the whole, I suppose.

Reading started the season with some excellent all-round displays in the first month or so, particularly against Birmingham City, Wigan Athletic and Charlton Athletic. Since then though we haven't really seen standout team performances, and, while correlation doesn't necessarily equal causation, the timing of the Rob Couhig takeover collapse in September feels like an apt demarcation point.

In the seven games before that takeover news, the average of our Player Ratings was 6.03/10, but in the 12 since, that drops to 5.74/10. The average from the 19 games overall is 5.85/10, which is just above last season's 5.79/10.

The other side of the coin though is that Reading have shown recently they're more than capable of picking up wins without needing to be at their best - something that is, in and of itself, really encouraging. Reading failed to surpass 6/10 overall against Huddersfield Town, Burton Albion, Crawley Town, Exeter City and Bristol Rovers but won all of those games anyway.

Ideally we'd see stronger all-round performances from Reading, and a great way of doing that would be to establish more inconsistency in individual matches. Reading have, for example, played very well against Bristol Rovers, Exeter City and Stevenage, but they've also let themselves down in those same games: the end of the Rovers match, the second half at Exeter and the first half at Stevenage.

That'll hopefully improve in the coming months though. Reading have players to return from injury, younger players who'll develop, and a takeover situation to be resolved.

Where Selles is really excelling is in the development of individual players. There are various members of the squad who, while far from the finished article, have come on really well this season.

The most obvious examples are at full-back, where Michael Craig has taken to the right-back spot like a duck to water, despite typically being a central midfielder, while Andre Garcia is way surpassing expectations for a 16-year-old thrown in at left-back. I'd also include Ben Elliott, who's a much stronger all-round central midfielder this season, and Jayden Wareham, who's becoming an increasingly reliable option up top.

That's been a crucial part of the Selles era - and one we take for granted. Where would Reading be now if Selles wasn't the kind of manager who shows trust in his young players and knows how to improve them in a fairly short amount of time? Well, probably not in League One this season.

Keeping his cool

Last but not least: the takeover saga. Or, rather, how it's affected Selles himself. Scratch that: how it seemingly hasn't.

In reality of course the ongoing lack of clarity will undoubtedly be weighing on his mind, and no reasonable person would blame him if he seriously considered his position at the club. From an external point of view though, he looks unflustered, someone projecting composure and authority at a time when those qualities have been conspicuous by their absence from further up the club hierarchy.

Having a manager of this character is worth its weight in gold at the best of times, and certainly also at the worst. Selles' calmness and ability to stay on top of the broader situation is surely of immense benefit to players who just want to be able to focus on their football, especially younger squad members who haven't gone through anything like this before.

Approval rating

How well do you think Ruben Selles has got on in the Reading dugout so far? Give him a grade in our Approval Rating poll below from one (lowest) to five (highest). If it doesn't display on your device, try this link right here.