Reading Boss Slams Performance As ‘Unacceptable’ After Second-Consecutive League Defeat

Having thrashed Championship outfit Millwall 4-0 in the EFL Cup first round on Tuesday at the Den, Reading were brought back down to earth with a worrying 1-0 defeat away at Port Vale.

This is the second-consecutive League One defeat for the Royals who put up a valiant effort in a 1-0 loss to Peterborough United last Saturday. However, this time round, the pill was harder to swallow.

Port Vale suffered a hefty 7-0 battering at the hands of Barnsley a week ago, the heaviest defeat in any game in England’s top four divisions since Wolverhampton Wanderers beat Manchester City 8-1 back in 1961.

Andy Crosby’s men couldn’t have been any worse than last weekend but not many would have expected Reading to come away without a single point.

After the game, head coach Ruben Selles was far from pleased with his side’s display, particularly in the second half, having missed a penalty in the opening 45 minutes too.

Speaking to club media, the Spaniard said:

“We came here with an idea and to put a performance together.

“During the first half, we controlled the game, got a penalty and had some situations – we limited them to only have some set pieces.

“The problem came in the second half when we lost our will to play football. And after the goal, our performance was not acceptable – nowhere near what it should be.

“We were not able to materialise our chances and that is why we lose 1-0 – we need to start to score goals and to keep them out. The situations are there for us and we need to be more ruthless.”

Selles also called the performance ‘unacceptable’ and vowed to rectify the team’s mistakes as quickly as possible:

“It is a bad performance from us here today. We need to correct this as quick as possible.

“We are disappointed with the performance, and what my team showed today – that level is not acceptable. We need to know that.

Writer’s View

Reading were unlucky to lose last week against Peterborough United as the game was rather even in terms of the balance of play.

However, the performance was subpar away at the Valiants and given that Selles labelled the display as ‘unacceptable’ in public, it would be interesting to hear what he said in the dressing room to his players.