The Royals put in one of their weakest performances in a long time, losing 1-0 to Orient at the SCL.
The Royals had a disappointing return to league duty with a 1-0 defeat against Leyton Orient at the SCL Stadium.
Charlie Kelman scored the only goal of the game in the first half after a goalkeeping error to secure the points for Orient. This was the first home game Reading have lost at the SCL in six months.
Manager Ruben Selles was disappointed with the defeat. Here is what he had to say to the Reading Chronicle.
“I am disappointed with the performance we put in. We played a game plan that the opponents tried to implement but we never got the high tempo we like to play and got caught in some situations we should not have. In the end, the game was down to the key moments that went for them, and we didn’t.
“I think we started well, trying to put the tempo in the game, and had a couple of chances. One long throw-in changes the dynamic of the game, and we never recovered in the first half. In the second half, we tried and had a couple of good situations to score but overall, we were not at our best today.”
“I don’t think it was a bad performance, it was just the position of goalkeeper is always magnified. It is like any other young player we have - things happen in the game. We should defend that action better and the ball ended up in our net. We need to be robust enough.
“If we believe that the idea is correct - and we believe in the young boys - we know how we learn. We have been there before with almost any one of them last season. Things happen and we need to correct it and be better next time.”
“We finished last season and started this one with a very clear idea. Unfortunately, Joel injured himself making a kick and twisting his ankle. Coniah has been working well and waiting for his opportunity.
“He has played for us in the cup and with the national team, so I think he is working well so I had no doubts. David has been injured until this week, which doesn’t help. We have three good keepers, and they need to fight for the position.”
“Joel had the scan yesterday and will be out for some weeks. We don’t expect him back until after the next international break - maybe not the first game but in that period. He will be at least four weeks more.”
“We know that we can do better, but I think we did enough to score a goal in the second half. Sometimes you don’t get that. We need to be more mature in some moments of the game - but these games can happen.
“We know the situation and talk about our target. We knew Leyton Orient were a good team, even if they didn’t get the points that they deserved. Now, we need to analyse the game, have a week to prepare and try to win the next game. We can get things from today and use it going forward.”
“He is the player that we chose. He came very late in the window. We had been looking at Chem and think he can play on the left or the right. He has been training well and can play the idea really quick. He was as good as the team were and there is a good player there.
“There is good competition between him, Adrian and Kelvin. We will use them in the best scenarios that we think.
“The second half, Adrian being fresh, could have been more of a threat but unfortunately, when we arrived at that stage of the game there was less space, and we thought Chem could have made a good first half in tight spaces. There is always a reason why we do things.”
