The struggles of fitting in Sa, Vydra and Blackman

Matej Vydra returned from injury at Fulham and it made me realise it’s very tough to play Vydra, Sa and Blackman in the same team in their favoured positions.

Every time Vydra plays, Clarke plays him in behind Sa with Blackman on the right wing. This is not Nick’s best position as he has showed this season, he is much more effective in a central role. The only goals he’s scored from the right was at home to Ipswich and a penalty to Middlesbrough.

However, how do you fit Blackman in a central role? Will Clarke drop Vydra? Certainly not. Clarke brought Vydra here for a loan fee of 2.5m so there’s no way Matej will be on the bench if fit.

And it’s the same with Sa. Clarke brought Orlando to the club this summer and he’s started excellently. He’s a striker with different attributes to any other at Reading and is also a must starter.

So, should Clarke change the formation to a narrow diamond. In this way we could have Norwood, Williams and Tshibola (Fernandez at the moment) with Vydra in behind Orlando Sa and Blackman.

Despite that allowing Blackman and Sa to both play centrally with Vydra also on the pitch, it means Hurtado, Piazon, John and Mccleary will all have to settle for a place on the bench and I’m not sure that’ll go down well.

It’s decisions that only Clarke can make, but it’s certainly not easy for him.