Jose Gomes On Well-Deserved Swansea Point

The Royals scored a last-minute equaliser to stop Swansea City from going top of the league at the Liberty Stadium. The Swans took the lead within the first three minutes but Reading equalised through Andy Yiadom in the 90th minute to pick up a really important point after a much improved second half display.

Gomes was happy to pick up what he felt was a well deserved point. He spoke to the official club website and GetReading.

Gomes on the result

“This result was more than deserved – for the club, for the players, for the technical staff, and also for our fans who supported us from the first whistle until the end; they were fantastic again. They deserved at least one point. But, to be fair, I thought we could have got three points from this game.”

Gomes on the game

“The first half was a bit strange. We came to the game with a plan, and we blocked their midfielders, their main source. But they scored in the third minute from wide, from a cross. Usually they are very, very dangerous through the middle – we managed to block this, and we did well with that.

“It was a quite balanced first half. In the second half, it was a completely different game. We were much better in my opinion. We controlled the game. They created one dangerous situation in a counter-attack, but we controlled the game and had Swansea defending in their box.

“We made some mistakes where we lost the ball near their box, where we could have used the ball better. But I am happy with what my players did and the spirit that they showed.”

Gomes on moving forward and keeping the spirit

“There’s ten points between us and Swansea. But if you came to the stadium and saw the game, you wouldn’t be able to say which was the team with 18 points and which has eight. The way that we have been working and the way that our players show this quality football, we will get the results. It is a question of time.

“I hope that we can keep this spirit – but of course, we want to score earlier in the game. It’s better for our heart! We expect to score after creating so many chances. We must turn these chances into goals.”

“For the number of actions we made, for the number of passes we made, for the amount of time that we spent in their half, we must improve the number of shots. We need to shoot more. If we can find a way to their goal, the chances to score will be higher.”

Gomes on the change of shape after Blackett’s injury

“It wasn’t a difficult thing to do. Boye played on the right, Joao was at no.10, Swift and Rinomhota in behind, and Ejaria on the left. Ejaria played there last season but not this season. He covered the midfield centre zone and Obita starting jumping at Roberts - their full-back. Sometimes Ejaria was behind him - it’s a small detail but they settled down afterwards.”

Gomes on injuries

“Obita had cramp. Blackett doesn’t look serious but we will see. Also a problem with Joao so we’ll see tomorrow.”

Gomes on the latest on Miazga

“He came back from injury and played 99 minutes against Wolves on Wednesday. He did well but he was very tired so it might be a risk to play him again - like the medical department said. McIntyre was on the bench if we needed another centre-back.”

Gomes on lacking the killer touch

“Even in the first half, we had some cut-back passes where we could have scored - two of them were corners. But in the second half so many times the ball was in their half and we should try to shoot more.

“Looking the team and how they played against Swansea away - it’s a very positive thing. We just need to trust and believe in them and in the process and in the way we have been working.

“Sometimes in football when we don’t win you look for the problem but when you finish the conversation you realise the problem is everywhere. Sometimes you have no problem - it’s football. When we don’t perform well and I can’t see anything then we must be concerned but lacking consistency is our problem.”