Reading (c) – The ACN Review

Biggest Positive

Ahem, winning the title aside, then for me it is response to going 1-0 down. It isn’t something we’ve experienced as often this season compared to recent years so it was good to see such a positive reply to doing so after a sluggish start. This perhaps was best summed up with Kieran Dowell playing the opening 15 minutes of the match on his heels and the rest of it on his toes, more of the latter please, la.

Weekend Whinge

The inconsistency from the referee in the first half was mind-boggling. One thing I certainly won’t miss next season is Championship refs. Although, in conflict to that is that maybe my biggest whinge this week is that the goals we celebrated today will be the last at Carrow Road for awhile where we can do it without worrying about it being chalked off for a knee hair offside.

Moment of the Match

Another one of those days where there are just too many to choose from so I’m just gonna choose a top 3: Emi Buendia’s rabona pass to set Pukki away, Dowell’s finish for the second goal, and Xavi Quintilla’s superb free-kick all make the podium.

Farke Watch

He obviously refocused the player’s minds at half-time and with a couple of tactical tweaks we were completely dominant second half. Another good day at the office for him which featured a metaphorical cold bucket of water thrown over him near the start of the game and then a literal one in celebration at the end.

Random Star Performer

Andrew Omobamidele gave a Rolls-Royce of a performance. The last ACN match review I wrote was his full debut against PNE where I picked him out as the biggest positive. He’s now completed the ninety minutes six times (7 starts, but was subbed off v Watford) and although there are many aspects he still needs to work on, he’s very impressive for an 18-year-old. Composed on the ball with a nice knack of just appearing in front of the striker he’s marking to steal the ball, we really do look like we may have struck gold once again. He increasingly looks like an option to keep in the building next year rather than to loan out. I can’t help but feel his development is best served with Farke and his coaching team working with him on the training ground day-in, day-out.

Summary

Another 90 minutes where we proved just how good we are at this level. After the slightly anti-climatic day of winning promotion two weeks ago, it was nice to wrap up the title in this fashion. We still have the trophy lift to look forward to next week too, hopefully combined with another win to take us to 99 points. Put a flake in it, lads.

I won’t be making any bold predictions for now about next season. We’ve certainly improved elements of our game, but the Premier League can be especially cruel and ruthless. So much of it seems like keeping the momentum and confident flowing is vital. I’m never one that feels the club should actually spend a lot of money, but I feel this summer is the right time to do that within reason. Farke deserves a proper crack at it, we have a record amount of assets in the building giving us a bit of security too so it is time to make a record signing or two. Time to have a real go, AND please don’t take my Emi away.

While you’re here

We released a special edition Campeones 2021 t-shirt yesterday, pre-orders are open until midday on 7 May, make sure you get yours before then, available here

All profits go into making displays bigger and better when we get back to Carrow Road