Paul Clement wants his Reading players to step up after latest loss



Posted Sunday, September 02, 2018 by PA

Paul Clement wants his Reading players to step up after latest loss

Reading manager Paul Clement has asked his players for “honesty” after his side’s winless run was stretched to six Championship matches with a 2-1 home defeat against Sheffield Wednesday.

Wednesday went in front after 12 minutes when midfielder Adam Reach guided home a shot from the edge of the area. Lucas Joao increased their lead, just 15 seconds after the interval, with a curling 20-yard effort.

Although Reading reduced the gap when skipper Liam Moore headed in from a corner, Wednesday held on comfortably.

“I take responsibility for this run,” Clement said. “It’s normal that the manager does that.

“I have a lot of control of a lot of situations. The way we train, the way we prepare and the tactics.

“But I’ve also asked the players to do the same and be very honest in their reflections on themselves.

“Whether they are doing as well as they can. I always reflect very honestly about games and I feed back to them in that way.

“At times we are our own worst enemies. I need 15 to 16 players turning it on every week and it is up to them to step up. Everyone needs to be fighting to play.

“The squad is united, don’t worry about that, and it is frustrating for everyone at the moment.”

Clement added that while there is time for Reading to improve, they have yet to reach the required standard.

“It’s demoralising when you put so much effort in and don’t get the results. We’ve got 40 games to go and we’re all digging in,” he said.

“It was a frustrating game and has been a very frustrating start to the season. It was another narrow margin of defeat in terms of the scoreline.

“But over the six league games, we are where we are because we have not been good enough. It’s as simple as that. We have got to find a way to stop this run.

”Losing can be a habit, like winning. We’ve got to get back to winning, with hard work and focus. There’s no magic formula and there’s no need to get into panic mode.”

Wednesday manager Jos Luhukay was delighted by his side’s third successive league win.

“The team worked hard and were very intensive for the 90 minutes long and the extra five minutes,” Luhukay said.

“In the first 20 to 25 minutes, we played very well. We had some chances and it was a fantastic first goal.

“We had some good combinations but it was not an easy goal for Adam to score. We started the second half directly with the second goal. We had spoken about that at half-time.

“That we must still try to play football, that we must still work together.

“Just before half-time, we lost too many easy balls. And we played too many long balls. When they later made it 2-1, then we had a situation where you have some difficult moments.

“In football, you sometimes have to go through that to get the three points. We are now in a little bit of a winning mood and the recovery is now important.

“We have had many games in the past three weeks and now we have the international break. I think that it is a good time as the players need a rest.”

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