Reading’s trip to Stoke proved to be an underwhelming affair; the game finished 0-0 after a relatively even ninety minutes.

The Royals head back to the Madejski with a well-earned point, but a closer look at the statistics shows what went wrong and why it was two points lost.

Saturday’s game saw Reading line up in their preferred 4-2-3-1 formation, with an unchanged side from the 3-1 win over Bournemouth. 

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The Royals performed particularly poorly when in possession, with attacking trio Swift, Olise and Ejaria poorly controlling the ball 11 times between them. John Swift failed to make any real impact on the game before his substitution on the hour mark, taking less touches (34) than Rafael (40).

However, centre-back duo Michael Morrison and Tom McIntyre performed well for Reading. The pair’s aerial capabilities shone through, winning nine duels in the air and finishing the game with a well-earnt clean sheet.

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The young Scotsman also completed the most successful long balls of any player on the field. Reading’s stand-in captain ranked as his side’s second highest performer against the Potters with a rating of 7.27, behind only Tom Holmes (7.32).

Omar Richards spent large spells of the game as a pivot-point for the Royals with the focus of Reading’s attacks coming down the left side. Richards took more touches than any of his teammates (76), whilst also registering the lowest pass success rate in 90 minutes (75.5 per cent).

The Royals finished the game with eight attempts to Stoke’s ten. The hosts seemed to find more space in the box whilst the majority of Reading’s efforts came from further out. Yakou Meite took half of the Royals’ shots (four) despite only playing the final half hour, but unfortunately for the Ivorian he couldn’t hit the target.

Reading’s only shot on target came through Ovie Ejaria; the creative midfielder also completed the most key passes (two) for Reading against Stoke. 

Michael Olise was fouled more times (three) than any other player on the pitch but failed to complete any successful dribbles at the Bet365 Stadium, with the Stoke midfield proving difficult to beat for the youngster and his teammates.

All in all, the Royals’ performance was worthy of a point but arguably no more. Stoke prepared well for Reading and contained the creativity of the midfield, preventing the likes of Ejaria, Swift and Olise from creating the chances for Joao, who could only muster one shot on the day.