Jose Gomes Takes Responsibility For Charlton Loss

Charlton Athletic were the visitors to the Madejski Stadium on Saturday and picked up all three points in what was a disappointing display from the Royals. Reading started well in the first half, and should have gone into the break ahead, but George Puscas had his effort saved. In the second half, the visitors were well on top and ended up taking all three points with a 2-0 victory.

Jose Gomes was unhappy in particular with the second half performance and wanted to take responsibility for the defeat. He spoke to the official club website and GetReading.

Gomes on the defeat

“A lot of bad things happened in the second half, things that I didn’t like. But I am the only one responsible for this result. It was a difficult day. Because we didn’t get the points that we needed, that we wanted, that we prepared for. We have two weeks until the next game and I will now help my players be better and do the right things.”

Gomes on the performance

”We played very well in the first half, creating enough good chances to score. But we didn’t score. And when they scored at the start of the second half, my team looked scared.

“It’s not easy to score against our team - so when they scored, via a deflection, we looked scared and felt pressure. Teams will score goals against us, it can happen. So we have to find a way to keep the same energy, keep looking for a way to the opposition’s goal - and we didn’t.

“That is why I made the changes I made. Three centre backs and a holding midfielder was enough to stop their counter attacks. But the idea was to show the team that we can still win, that we can turn things around. Just because they scored one goal, it’s not as if we can’t find energy inside our bodies to score a goal against Charlton. We must do it. That’s what I was trying to tell them.

“We tried, we created some good situations, but not enough. So I’m not happy with the result. I’m not happy about the way we played in the second half. And I have to take responsibility for this game and look at the positives and the negatives to make us stronger.”

Gomes on taking responsibility for the defeat

“I take all the decisions, which players play, which substitutions I make - so sometimes it is easy to say this or that player didn’t play to his maximum. But we cannot give all the responsibility to my players. I must assume everything.

“I am frustrated because I really expected, with the game plan we had, to win the game. And the first half showed that we could stop their strongest points, block their offensive dynamic and create goal situations to score. So it’s a step back. But we are still on the right track, I am sure.”

Gomes on the international break

“We must use this to improve things but it’s not good to stay so many days without a game. Everybody wants to get a good result before it. We tried but we must give more from ourselves to get results because this league is very tough. In this league if you relax for one second any team can destroy any league.

“Since the start of the season until now, we need to find consistency - this game showed exactly this. First half was very good and we created opportunities to score, second half it was a different thing.”

Gomes on regret of taking off wing-backs

“This is the magic thing in football because if you play Playstation and change the players, you can play the game again but we can’t. I don’t regret doing it. Yakou and Lucas gave positive things to the game. Yiadom and Richards ran a lot too. I wanted to show my players the idea was to go to the goal. It didn’t turn out that way and we conceded a penalty.

“It was strange because their player pulled the shirt of Moore but the ref didn’t see it. The positive things were what my players showed and their mistakes so we have a chance to help them be better in the future. I take all the responsibility of the result.”

Gomes on Matt Miazga’s injury

“He is recovering. It’s not a big injury but if we used him like he was the risk of getting a big injury was very high.”

Gomes on picking up seven points from six games

“I wouldn’t have taken it at the start. We are five points far from my goal. Even with new players and the fact we should start pre-season after getting the new players in, so it wasn’t easy for me or them but no excuses.

“Even the way we started the season, I wanted five points more.”

Gomes on Tom McIntyre’s display

“He did well - before the game he had a small health problem and the medical department checked him. He refused to stay out - he wanted to play and did well. He is a tough guy.”