Our five game unbeaten run has come to an end after a disappointing 2-0 defeat against Ipswich Town at Portman Road. The Royals had 72% possession but it was Ipswich who captalised with Callum Connolly and Joe Garner scoring in the first half to secure all three points for Ipswich. Reading only had one shot on target.
Jaap Stam was disappointed with the defeat and the first goal, he told the official club website:
“It is disappointing - especially when you concede an early goal like that.
“We’ve said many times about what can happen when you concede the first goal... but still it happens because we weren’t careful enough.
“Still, after that, we picked up, went and created opportunities to score - didn’t score - and the longer it stays at 1-0, the more they grow in confidence.
“We played quite well and then they come out on the break, win a corner and score their second goal. Two easy goals we conceded.
“And then it’s going to be difficult to get back into the game. They’re dropping in deep, making it compact and just waiting for that moment to break on the counter.
“We needed to do better with our choices on the ball and taking our positions and we should have done better. But it wasn’t easy over here, Ipswich are doing well and their team works very hard - we knew that before we came over here.
“In the second half, we created maybe two opportunities in front of goal where we could say we could have scored, but not enough!
“So we’ll keep on organising, keep on talking about what we need to do better to improve. Everyone is trying to do better in games - and the first thing that is very clear is not to concede certain goals from set pieces, and not giving balls away too easily to allow them to come out on the break.”
Next up for the Royals is struggling Burton Albion in what is the 500th game at the Madejski Stadium and the final game at home of 2017, Stam added:
“We don’t have the Christmas feeling - at least I haven’t. It’s just like any other week, playing a game and then going into the next game.
“Even on Christmas Day this year, we’ll be going into the hotel before the Bristol City game, and that’s how it is. We’re used to it.
“We’ll just prepare for the games. The Christmas songs and the turkey is nice when it’s there. But our focus is on the football.”