Stam seeks finesse for Royals’ Cats trip
Reading boss Jaap Stam is remaining positive, despite seeing his side managing just three wins in their last 13 Championship games.
Saturday’s 0-0 draw at home to Sheffield Wednesday continued their disappointing form, going into this weekend’s vital trip to third-bottom Sunderland.
After shutting out the Owls, Stam said: “I think that we played well and created several opportunities in the first half. For the majority of the game, we dominated in how we wanted to play. We always had to be aware of their counter-attack.
“You could see their plans of sitting deep, waiting to win the ball and then knocking it over the top. But we defended that well and didn’t give anything away.
“The only thing that we didn’t do – and what we are lacking a bit – is scoring that goal. Against a team like Wednesday, it’s difficult to create opportunities. In the second half, they were sitting even deeper. “We played some very good football but, of course, you need to score to get the three points. “The players are disappointed that we didn’t get a win and you can always say afterwards that you deserved more. But that’s football.
“Sometimes we needed a little bit of finesse, a little bit of quality, with that final pass.
“That can give you that winning goal.”
The Owls were poor in the first half, barely registering a shot as their hosts dominated and spurned a series of half-chances. Wednesday improved after the interval, but Lucas Joao wasted their best chance when he lobbed weakly at keeper Vito Mannone.