Life under Jaap Stam: The first week of competitive football

I know its early doors, but who doesn’t like to pass judgement.

Jaap Stam has now been at the helm of Reading Football Club for almost 2 months and the past few days have seen Stam take charge of his first two competitive matches with the club, but just how well has he done?

Well, at first glance, most would say he’s doing a pretty decent job, 2 wins from 2, 3 goals scored and none conceded makes for fine reading. But, lets take a closer look into this first week, and assess the positives and negatives of life under Jaap Stam.

Positives

The accomplished Dutchman has brought a new, refreshing style of play to the Madjeski Stadium, one which he has evidently worked on and seemingly perfected from his time spent coaching (and assistant manager-ing) at Ajax – total football. It is so revitalising watching this Reading team, who last year could hardly string 5 passes together, being able to pass the ball around elegantly with a new-found swagger that the fans have sought after for many years – something that eluded players in the (short) Brendan Rodgers era. A fluid, possession-based style is now encrypted into players’ minds under Stam, it seems, with the Royals enjoying 70% and 71% possession at Preston and Plymouth, respectively. With the team the ex-Manchester United defender is putting together, almost every player on the pitch looks comfortable on the ball.

Stam on his football philosophy: “I was a defender, but I like to attack as well. I was brought up on the Dutch way of playing… of course you want to attack but you also have to think of the other side, because you don’t want to concede a lot of goals. But attractive football is one of my philosophies”

Where the goals have been scored from is another important point, last season, the Royals barely looked a threat from set-pieces, and now, in a surprising turn of events, 2 of 3 goals have come from, you guessed it, set pieces. More and more each day, the surprise sale of Oliver Norwood to Brighton becomes a clearer blessing in disguise than first thought. Stam’s new recruits in the transfer market may have contributed to this, or maybe its just a different approach taken that predecessor Brian McDermott couldn’t emulate, but either way, the Royals are once again a threat from dead ball situations, as it should be.

An interesting stat to note, the win against Plymouth means that Reading have now kept a clean sheet in their opening 2 games of the season for the first time in 15 years, extraordinary! The fans will be hoping this can set a record-breaking trend.

I could easily go on, but I think you get the idea that, as a Reading fan myself, I have great expectations for the remainder of this season, and I’m not alone.

Negatives

 However, its not all sunshine and rainbows. Despite two opening clean sheets for the first time in 15 years, the defensive line still looks shaky. The only issue with Stams tactics, is that everyone must be confident and comfortable on the ball, even the centre-backs. Paul McShane and Jake Cooper are far from ball-playing defenders, quite the opposite in fact, which is where possession could be lost in a dangerous area when they see too much of the ball and their passing abilities let them down. This is why Van Den Berg has been trusted with partnering McShane at the heart of the defence. As a midfielder, he has better passing capabilities and is far more assured on the ball, but then positioning becomes an issue. He is not a defender by nature, so its going to take some getting used to. Adjusting your style of play to suit a new role, especially when its such a pivotal role, is no easy task. This adds to the defensive worries, poor positioning can leave Reading vulnerable to counter attacks and is definitely something Jaap needs to think about.

The inconsistency of Jake Cooper is another alarming negative. For a former starting centre back to lack consistency in such a large quantity is quite worrying, not to mention his ability on the ball, its fair to say its not impressive. Cooper has a lot of untapped potential that Stam hopefully realises, maybe he’s the man to polish those flaws that hinder his development? But, for a player who struggles to pass the ball about 15 yards without it going into touch, in Stam’s system, there isn’t much hope for him. If the never-ending Liam Moore rumours are true, then Jake may be packing his bags very soon.

Jake Cooper celebrating with goalscorer, Roy Beerens against Plymouth (credit getreading.co.uk)

The inability to finish the multitude of chances that come our way is another cause for concern, an unfortunate trait the Royals haven’t been able to kick for quite some time now. A 1-0 win against Preston doesn’t reflect the outlook of the game, the Royals dominated start to finish, but couldn’t get that elusive second goal that would have really put the game to bed and settled the nerves of some anxious fans. Oh how different the reaction would have been if Reading had drawn that game, if Ali-Habsi spilling that cross had lead to an equaliser, the reaction would have been very different. Stam NEEDS to work on this in the training ground, whether it’s a mentality issue or whatever, I’m not too sure. A 1-0 lead is far too precious to uphold and we can’t afford to bank on holding onto 1 goal leads for the rest of the season, otherwise we will get punished for it. Stam admitted in his press conference after the win against Preston “We should have scored a second goal. We didn’t do that and from there you know the opposition will change things in the second half”. Hopefully, this is just a case of start-of-season rustiness, and we can see Reading move onto pastures new on the finishing front.

“If you play like that, you create chances, you have to finish them off. But you have to accept that players can miss chances, just like a defender can make a mistake” – Stam on not getting the second goal vs Preston

The final point is more of a wish-list item and less of a negative, but after Obita’s injury scare, it is has become painfully obvious that we need to strengthen this specific department and sign a left-back to cover injuries. In retrospect, I would say I am very happy with the squad we have at present, but please sign a left back, Jaap.

It’s a long season ahead, so lets try stay grounded and not get ahead of ourselves, there’s still a long way to go, but I, for one, am interested to see how the season unfolds.

“But remember this is only the first game of the season. We had a good start but there are a lot of games to go.” – A rather prudent quote from Jaap after Preston.