News and Views

Royals Need A Break As We Head Into International Nonsense

10 November 2022
By Hob Nob Anyone?

It is turning into a very up and down and pretty inconsistent year again for Reading FC manager Paul Ince as he continues to try and get the club on an upward curve having taken the job at the Select Car Leasing Stadium on at the end of last February.

With 20 games played in the Championship season of 2022/23, Reading find themselves somewhat comfortable sat in 13th place in the second tier table on 26 points, but with three defeats and one draw in our last four matches, we are only six points ahead of the drop zone. 55 year old former Manchester United and England midfielder Ince will be determined to get another win on the board when we travel to Hull City this weekend, as of course, we then go into the pretty pointless season break for the World Cup out in Qatar and real football does not begin again until December 10th, when we welcome Coventry City to home soil. Odds on what happens against Coventry as probably similar to the odds on UK slot sites right now until we get closer to the game.

With Coventry having a similar season to ourselves, plenty of the errors we saw in the 2-0 defeat to Watford at the last time of asking will have to be addressed if we want to come out with a more comfortable three points, and Ince pulled few punches after that defeat when it came to what had to change.

Speaking to Berkshire Live as The Royals dropped to ten defeats for the season so far, and only registered one shot on target across the 90 minutes, Ince the dip in form was not just becoming a frustration for the fans.

Criticising the decision making of the players during the clash, he insisted that was the main problem, and mot the overall performance and effort they put in.

"I'm not disappointed at all. I'm disappointed in the penalty we gave away. I said to the players before the game, these are top players so you have to stand on your feet. In the first 15 minutes we struggled to get to grips with them and they caused us problems but then we make a stupid foul in our box which we don't need to make and that gives them the lift they needed."

Ince went on to say that after that ill disciplined helping hand, he thought the squad were much better in the main.

"After that we played some good stuff, got a foothold in the game although probably lacked that cutting edge up front. I told the players they'd given a good account of themselves. Watford are a top team with players like Joao Pedro and we're nowhere near that stage yet.

"We are a team under an embargo - a mix and match team - but we competed, gave it our all. You think about the two moments - the penalty and they score in the 87th minute to try and get something out of the game. They cost us the game, eventually. They had a couple of other chances but I said to the players, you're miles away from this level. We'll be at this level in two or three years time, if we are lucky. But you came, competed, played some good stuff at times but ultimately, we didn't have enough cutting edge up top."

Fans will more than understand the position the club is in with players, but there will be some who do not think this addition in the interview is the most helpful right now.

"We had one shot on target. The performance didn't disappoint me, it was the decision making. You can't do anything about it as a manager. If a player wants to make those decisions...the best players make the best decisions. The lower you go, the worse the decisions get."

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