Ruben Selles Part Positive, Part Critical After 3-2 MK Dons Win

The Royals played host to League Two’s MK Dons in the first round of the FA Cup on Saturday.

In what has been another drama-filled week for the club, Reading managed to secure their place in the second round of the cup, with a 3-2 victory against the Dons at the Select Car Leasing Stadium.

Manager Ruben Selles felt that we could do better but got the result we deserved. Here is what he had to say; he spoke to the official club website and Reading Chronicle.

Selles on the victory

“We had a game of football, we competed playing with a young team, we got a victory and we are in the draw for the next round. No new injuries… so it is a good day.

“We can still do better of course – there are some phases of the game we need to control better, we should be more ruthless in finishing our chances to prevent us from going into the final minutes with the game still in the balance… but today is a good learning for us.

“We have been rotating a lot of players in the cup because we believe they can play at the level we need to compete. So it was good to see Caylan Vickers out there again, Kelvin scoring and back in the line-up, Joel Pereira got his opportunity after his injury – they are all working well and in the cup it gives them an opportunity to express themselves.

“The FA Cup is always difficult, you always see teams in higher divisions falling to teams in divisions below. And we could have finished the game off a little bit earlier instead of complicating it for ourselves.

“But we use the cup to develop ourselves. The boys have been performing well in these cup games – there are ups and downs during those games of course – but we deserve to go to the next round and I’m happy for the boys that we got the victory.”

Selles on late penalty appeals

“I don’t like to speak about referees, but they could also speak about the offside when we conceded the first goal, so it is what it is.”

Selles on different formations

“It is something that we tried to do today, especially to put high pressure with the 4-2-2-2 and against the ball having two eights. We were a bit caught, especially with the first goal, with the ball in between, which we should have defended better with the 10s. Overall, it gives more lines of passing and more to choose.”

Selles on half-time changes

“We were missing two things with the wingers: One-on-ones and pressure. We know Harvey [Knibbs] and Femi [Azeez] can do it. It was a matter of changing the dynamic of the game and being more aggressive on the pressure. We were much more aggressive in the second half.”

Selles on Dom Ballard

“He is a fantastic player and will score goals. It was not his day in front of goal, but it does not take away his qualities. Sometimes our task is to support the boys because we believe in them.”

Selles on Bristol Rovers threat

“They have confirmed that the interim boss will be there for the next two games so let’s see if he decides to play in the same way he has been playing. It will be a tough game at home and a League One game which will be competitive. We will try our best and try to get some points in the league.”

Selles on Lewis Wing

“In the beginning, he was injured so he came back to play some minutes and now he is fresh. That position we are putting him in, especially in possession, is putting him in some important spaces and he is a player who can make the difference for us.”