[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSSJInyMSQA[/embedyt]
Jose Gomes praised his side for keeping one of the league’s most potent attacks at bay.
Reading drew 0-0 with Aston Villa at Madejski Stadium, but remain in the Championship relegation zone.
Gomes also gave an insight into what happened on deadline day and revealed co-owner Dai Yongge visited the team this afternoon.
Here is every word from the post-match press conference.
On the game…
We were better in the first half. We created some goal situations and we could have scored at least once.
The way Villa players attack is very dangerous. They are the third highest scorers in the league so they are really strong in attack.
It was good to finish with a clean sheet, even though we played out of our process in the second half.
It was a more direct football, and even with that, my players did very well. They were brave, fought and stopped a very strong attack.
On if there is an improvement in his team game by game…
I feel daily the players will give everybody and to the club what we deserve because the quality and the spirit we showed during this game gives us a big hope for the future.
The hope is untouchable for the way they are playing. We are definitely in a good way. It’s not easy to keep a clean sheet against Villa.
On Ejaria’s penalty shout…
Maybe, but this is a battle I cannot win. I cannot control it. My focus must be on what my players can do and this way if I put my focus on this issue then I can help them be better. In the next training session I can help them improve on the mistakes they did in the game.
But what can I do in training to have better decisions from the referee? Nothing. I cannot lose time and focus on this. It’s difficult but it’s football. We can’t do anything about it.
On training yesterday…
I would like to say a special word for all the people who work at Hogwood.
We couldn’t train because the pitches were full of snow and without their help – this is what I want. We are working like a family. They came from the office, everybody from the youth teams, they came outside to take the snow from the pitch.
We found a space to train so this shows an amazing spirit in the club. With this, we can get what we want.
On a visit from owner Dai Yongge…
Today Mr Dai was in the stadium and I invited him to come into the changing room after the game to let him feel the atmosphere of the players – the way we are living and what happens with us.
He got the chance to see how his players were fighting to achieve to the targets we want.
He liked the way we fought. He felt this. We would have liked to have given him the three points but it wasn’t possible.
On the problem in front of goal…
We created goal situations – three or four clear ones – but we must create more. We must produce more football and in the second half we played a different football so it was a second-balls game. When we did that we are out of our process and it’s not easy to create chances.
We put the balls in the box with free-kicks and crosses and we could have scored but it’s not our football. We showed are able to stop teams who play this football and we created some dangerous situations.
On if he is confident there are enough goals in the team…
We should score more, definitely. But it could be a worse situation if the team didn’t produce any danger to the opponent. We are producing football, we are creating chances. The finishing is missing. We tried, had four very good situations in the first half, especially one from Nelson that the goalkeeper saved. It was a great save, like Martinez also did in the second half. It was a very, very interesting game with emotion until the end.
We felt the support from the beginning until the end from our fans. I think they felt the same thing that we felt from the sidelines, that the players were fighting and that they tried against a very, very strong team. Their attack is very good. I think their striker (Tammy Abraham) has scored 14 goals. We have 16 games in front of us, so he
can score even more. He’s a very good striker and even their wingers are very good and we stopped them. We didn’t concede any goal.
On Nelson Oliveira’s injury…
I didn’t see him after the game. I don’t know. It was a very strange decision from the referee. It was his nose. I don’t know if it was broken, we will let you know.
On the ref having a difficult afternoon…
There was a lot of fight. Both teams wanted to win so there was emotion until the end with difficult decisions for the referee.
There were set pieces, corners and wide free-kicks, the ball in the box all the time, then they started playing long balls into the box again. It was a typical Championship game, full of emotion. The people in the stands liked what they saw, we just need to win and move out of this position that nobody wants.
On how close Yakou Meite was to leaving the club this week…
Reading received some offers, that were refused. But he’s happy to play. He’s not like, the club didn’t allow me to go, no he’s happy to play. He’s training very, very well and he showed that he wanted it. He fought, he ran, he tried. It doesn’t matter how far he was to leaving, the important thing is that he is with us and working well and he’s happy.
On if any more deals were close on deadline day…
No.
On if he is happy with the January business…
Yes. What the club did is very difficult, bringing in five players on loan. We didn’t spend any money, we sold some players so we helped this Financial Fair Play issue to be better and we improved the quality of the squad, so it was very good.
On if losing Bacuna was a big blow…
No. We have good players in the midfield.
