Matchday 11 of the Championship was another one to forget for leaders Reading as they succumbed to a third league defeat on the bounce.
Despite this, the Royals continue to remain top of the table heading into the international break, which has probably come at the right time for them.
Three things we learned from Matchday 11:
Reading succumb to another defeat: For the first eight games of the season, everything went right for the Royals as they won six of their matches while drawing the other two. A strong scoring run and defensive record was behind the success, but they have completely lost the plot of late. The club have suffered three-straight losses on the bounce and have conceded thrice in each of those games. Elsewhere, they have netted only two goals and drawn blank in the past two matches, both on their home patch. Reading’s six-point advantage a few weeks ago has been reduced to just one and they could quickly drop down the table during the festive schedule unless they manage to return to winning ways. They face a testing challenge at Bournemouth after the international break.
Derby County’s dreadful form: The Rams dropped to the bottom of the standings on Saturday as they suffered a 2-0 home defeat to Barnsley. The club are currently experiencing their worst-ever campaign since the dreadful 2007/08 Premier League season where they were relegated with a record low points tally of 11. Phillip Cocu was not in the dugout as he was self-isolating after making contact with chief executive Stephen Pearce, who had tested positive for COVID-19. However, he was still communicating his instructions to assistant Liam Rosenior and it remains to be seen whether he remains the manager in a fortnight’s time. The Rams are winless in seven league games, where they have netted just three goals. Overall, they have managed a league-low of just five goals from 11 games and are one point below Wednesday (6), who started the season on minus 12 before the penalty was halved.
Barnsley on the up: Barnsley started the campaign without a victory in four matches and that was followed by the surprise departure of manager Gerhard Struber after just 11 months as he took the vacancy at New York Red Bulls in Major League Soccer. As a result, they opted to recruit former LASK manager Valerien Ismael for the hot seat and the former Bayern Munich man has changed their fortunes around. Under Ismael, the Tykes have managed to convert draws into victories and they have won three of their previous four league games under his management while keeping clean sheets. That has propelled them from 21st to 16th on the table and they are now six points clear of the relegation zone. Barnsley will be hoping to continue the good run of form after the international break with back-to-back home games against Nottingham Forest and Brentford.
Stats from Transfermarkt.com
