Reading ready for the Championship but QPR are the Premiership team

It was fitting that Reading and QPR played out a pretty dire 0-0 draw that confirmed both teams’ relegation from the Premiership. Reading never really looked capable of surviving, and the sacking of Brian McDermott in March was senseless. QPR had a squad assembled by a ten-year-old playing Football Manager, and the malaise that set in under Mark Hughes continued under Harry Redknapp.

For both clubs, missing out on the increased broadcast deal that kicks in next season (bottom will get as much in 2014 as City did for winning the league in 2012) is a blow to their short and medium term futures, but Reading and QPR have their own issues to overcome. Somewhat strangely, Reading look better prepared for the Championship but Queens Park Rangers are nearer the level required to be a Premiership club.

Firstly, let’s look at Reading. The squad has championship written all over it, with only Pavel Pogrebnyak having a CV that looks anything like top flight. Even then, the big Russian showed how unpredictable he could be when on loan at Fulham – he scored five goals in his first three appearances, but 1 in the next 9 – and the fact he chose the Championship champions over an established Premier League side hinted that professional ambition was less a driving force than the pay package he would receive.

The only other player who has been linked with a stay in the Premiership next season is goalkeeper Alex McCarthy, primarily off the back of his stellar display in shutting out Liverpool a couple of weeks ago. No one else has made an impression, even January player of the month Adam Le Fondre, whose goal scoring exploits started and finished over the New Year period.

The side is largely the same one that went on a storming run in the first half of 2012 to march to the Championship title. Added to this have been Gareth McLeary, Danny Guthrie, Steven Kelly and Adrian Mariappa, good second tier players or ones Premier League teams no longer wanted. With Nigel Adkins at the helm, it would be no surprise to see the Royals competing for promotion next season, and the club is run in a way that means they will have made the most of their season in the top flight, but should they get promoted again the starting XI and first team squad needs major investment to compete in the Premiership.

QPR, on the other hand, are laden full of so called ‘quality players’, but their performances on the pitch have beggared belief. There are Champions League winners in Julio Cesar, Jose Bosingwa, Park Ji-Sung; internationals like Rob Green, Loic Remy, Adel Taarabt, Stephane M’Bia, Esteban Granero, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Jermaine Jenas, Bobby Zamora; and Premier League players like Chris Samba, Junior Holiett, Adam Johnson, Nedum Onuoha and many, many others. For both Mark Hughes and Harry Redknapp to fail to find a team amongst that lot speaks badly of both the managers and the players.

QPR are a small club compared to the rest of the league, but they have a massive wage bill and have splashed out lavishly under Tony Fernandes. Loftus Road only holds around 18,000 but the club does have the allure of being in London, and plans are afoot to have a much larger stadium. However, in the short term they have to deal with that wage bill that is already excessive compared to their revenue in the Premier League, never mind the Championship.

Does Fernandes fund the club for another year and hope to bounce back up first time round? Do they try to cut the fat from the squad, or restart completely? Will Redknapp stick around? The club has far more resources on its playing squad than Reading, so if the Hoops decide to sell they can, hypothetically, generate more revenue but with so many players on such big contracts buyers might be hard to find, and Rangers may end up paying a large proportion of the players’ wages even after they have moved on, a bit like Leeds had to.

It is clear the squad is unbalanced and needs a spring clean – that would be the situation even if QPR stayed up – and if Redknapp sticks around he will show his ruthless side and get rid of the players he does not fancy (all of them?). As the ex-Spurs boss said, if the players think they are too good for the championship or think they will sail to promotion then why did they get relegated in the first place?

However, Redknapp is a proven Premier League manager, QPR do have a history of playing in the top league, and if they can get back into the Premiership, even after a lot of buying and selling, you would fancy them to stay up rather than Reading. The base level of the playing squad is, theoretically, much higher than Reading’s, the owner looks more willing to invest and pay high wages, and there is the lure of London (although I appreciate Reading is not far from London, it is still a factor).

Apart from the big shortfall financially, the other problem is whether whoever is left at QPR come August is ready for the unique challenge of the Championship. As this season has shown, anyone can beat anyone. The Championship is probably the most competitive league on the planet and if a team can get on a run they can suddenly surge right up the table, as Reading can testify. Will QPR’s foreign contingent be ready for the physical battles, the intense atmosphere at away grounds, the sheer number of matches? Only time will tell.

Plenty of sides have fallen out of the Premier League and struggled in the Championship despite appearing to have a higher quality team (Wolves and to a lesser extent Blackburn are prime examples this season) but with a summer window to shop Redknapp would be fancied to right the wrongs of the last twelve to eighteen months and get a team that can get out of the Championship and be ready to stay in the Premiership. Reading are a stable side and know what the second tier is all about, but as this season showed they are a long way from being a Premier League team.

McDermott needs to show Premiership respect

Reading sit bottom of the Premier League but the air of calmness around the club is thanks to the controlled and rational leadership of manager Brian McDermott. Last season the blue and white hoops struggled before going on a very impressive run, surging up the table and taking the Championship title. This time round, however, McDermott's men are unlikely to go on a second half blitz like last year and need to change their game plan if they want to stay up.

Monday night's 2-5 loss to Arsenal was a case in point. Completely overrun for an hour, it was only when McDermott subbed Noel Hunt and Pavel Pogrebnyak for Adam Le Fondre and Hal Robsun-Kanu, in the process moving from the the 4-4-2 which was stretched and penetrated at will by Arsenal's midfield and switching to a 4-4-1-1 that offer more cover in the middle and closed down Arsenal's three central midfielders.

There is a danger that Reading, one win from 17 league games and only nine points on the board, start chasing games, desperate for wins rather than accumulating as many points as and when they can. While it is refreshing to see a team struggling at the bottom of the table show no fear for more illustrious opponents, it also shows naivety from the manager.

Perhaps the 7-5 league cup exit to Arsenal at the end of October clouded McDermott's judgement, but a team who have conceded 36 goals - the most in the Premiership this season - should focus less on taking the game to the opposition and more on solidifying the defence and midfield. Only when Reading changed their system, and moving from a zonal midfield marking scheme that was torn to shreds to a man for man setup, could Reading take advantage of Arsenal's complacency.

Some games will be six pointers, must wins - they need to win at least one of their games in the period after Christmas and before New Years against Swansea and West Ham - but some they will do well to get one point, like the next fixture at the Etihad against Man City. At the start of the season, a narrow defeat would have been acceptable but now points are urgently needed, now they need results, and with a defence as porous as his McDermott might think attack is the best form of defence.

That mentality means you have to believe your opponents have more to fear than yourselves, that you cannot show them too much respect otherwise it will effect your game, and with a team like Reading, in the situation they are in, that could spell disaster.