Vote For Your November 2022 Player Of The Month

November wasn’t a particularly busy month of Championship action for Reading, with just the four games taking place before the World Cup break.

The Royals began with a 0-0 draw at Luton Town, just the second clean sheet since the end of September and second draw in the season overall, before losing at home to Preston North End and away to Watford. However, a turnaround away victory at Hull City put a much nicer spin on things.

So which player do you think stood out the most? We’ve put together a three-man shortlist for you to choose from as your player of the month. As it happens, it’s a completely different shortlist to the one that emerged for October, with previous winner Tom Ince not making the cut for the first time this season.

Tyrese Fornah

Average rating: 5.5 / Man of the match awards: 2nd (Preston H), 1st (Watford A)

On the face of it Fornah’s very much an outside pick for the November POTM award, but he had a decent month in his own right. Having been a substitute for the first two matches of the month, he earned his spot back in the starting XI with a bright half-hour appearance against Preston.

In truth, he was one of the few to come out of drab defeats to Preston and Watford with any credit, hence ranking highly in our man of the match voting for those games. Although he’s still pretty young and inexperienced, his attitude and ability shouldn’t be doubted. He’s showing up more senior midfield rivals Jeff Hendrick and Mamadou Loum.

Tom Holmes

Average rating: 6.0 / Man of the match awards: 1st (Luton A), 1st (Preston H), 3rd (Hull A)

Mr Consistency played every minute for Reading in November - again - showing how important he’s become to this side. Despite having a poor evening at Watford he stood out for better reasons against Luton, Preston and particularly Hull.

I’ve been impressed by how well he’s taken to the middle-centre-back role this season, putting in commanding and mature performances in a difficult position. Doing that despite an ever-changing set-up around him only made things harder; Andy Yiadom, Tom McIntyre and Amadou Mbengue took centre-back roles in November, in addition to Sam Hutchinson and Naby Sarr earlier on this season.

Amadou Mbengue

Average rating: 6.67 / Man of the match awards: 3rd (Luton A), 3rd (Watford A), 1st (Hull A)

Holmes’ defensive colleague Amadou Mbengue has probably been the best of the bunch in November, earning a top-three spot in our man of the match voting on each of the three occasions he played. Whether on the left of a three or right of a pairing, Mbengue’s shown his class.

There’s surely more to come from a player who’s still new to English football and is only 20 years old. As Bobbins wrote this week, hopefully Reading can secure a longer contract.

VOTE

Who is your Player of the Month for November? Vote in the poll below or, if it doesn’t show up on your device, click this link.