Harrison Reed interview: Fulham's 'Ginger Iniesta' on their free-scoring promotion push

Harrison Reed’s nickname has evolved in time. Before he arrived at Fulham, one team-mate affectionately called him Ray Donovan after the television character, who cleans up the mess, fixes problems and gets his celebrity clients out of trouble.

“I thought I’d shaken that one off,” says Reed, smiling from his club’s Motspur Park base. “The only new one I heard was Ginger Iniesta and I’m not too sure about it, but I’ll take it.”  

Inevitably there have been comparisons to Andres Iniesta when Fulham have been scoring at a rate of 2.6 goals per game, with 17 more than Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City this season. Yet it is the dirty side of the game that Reed thrives on.  

Before the goals started going in during 7-0 (Blackburn and Reading) or 6-2 wins (Bristol City and Birmingham), there is Reed’s graft that Fulham could not be without as they plot their way back to the Premier League.

“It is something that I’ve always thought about when I play. It is giving a foundation to build from,” said Reed. “We are scoring goals and doing amazing things attacking-wise but it is also important to nail down the fundamentals of the game. That gives a platform for the team to play the free-flowing stuff.

“Sometimes it is the two goals you concede that the manager is speaking about. It’s a message that it is not going to be five or six goals every week and there are times when conceding one goal will cost three points. The message is building the foundation to then go on. It keeps us on our toes. And those wins, the 1-0s, are just as satisfying as the 6-2s or 7-0s.”

Marco Silva’s team face Huddersfield Town this lunchtime and will look to take a step closer to returning to the top-flight at the first attempt. For Reed, anything less is