JAAP STAM says Reading fans “need to look at themselves” after some booed his side during the 1-1 draw against Hull City.
Royals supporters showed their frustrations both at half-time and also when Stam substituted Liam Kelly with Tiago Ilori during the second half.
Stam also addressed the slow start to the season and provided an update on injuries to Jordan Obita and Leandro Bacuna.
On the draw…
We made it difficult for ourselves by conceding a goal like that. You know if you play a team like that, you can see their intentions from the beginning of the game, sitting in deep and waiting for that moment to go out and break. We play against a lot of sides like that and it’s not easy. You need to show quality on the ball and all the right things to make it difficult for them.
If you’re 1-0 down then it’s even harder to get back into the game because you see how they’re set up with 11 men behind the ball, holding onto that 1-0. We deserved at least a point. We could’ve done better in possession in the first half. But in the second half we did well and fought very hard to get back into the game, eventually scored that equaliser they deserved. Of course we’re happy with a point but I don’t think Hull deserved to win to be honest.
They’ve got big defenders, big midfield players in front of them as well so it’s difficult to win these battles in the air and to score a goal. Our strongest point is to have possession and then you’re hoping to create opportunities and score goals.
On Bodvarsson’s goal…
He got it back in the space from Sone and it’s a great finish from him. His contribution to the game was very good.
We know he can score goals like that. He’s a great guy with a great mentality and works very hard for the team. He did very well for the team when he came on.
On frustration from the fans…
If I need to feel pressure from them and how they react at certain times then I think it’s a little bit wrong to be honest. I can’t believe as a fan you can only cheer when it’s going well and for the rest of the day not say anything. I think as a fan you need to support your team and not cheer against them because they’re working very hard to get results. It’s not only the fans who think about winning.
Last season we were sometimes lucky, but by winning it disguises that. The crowd is not telling me who to bring on. They need to look at themselves and not at me.
On Jordan Obita’s injury…
Jordan is not feeling too well to be honest. Hopefully it’s not too bad but from what I saw it doesn’t look that good at the moment. It’s his knee. I think when he slid down the slope from the pitch so they need to assess him now and they’ll look at him tomorrow as well.
On taking off Liam Kelly…
It wasn’t an injury. I took Liam Kelly off because I think he wasn’t playing up to his standards in what he can do. Also physically at that point in the midfield sometimes you need to make a change because they were out a couple of times on the break. With Tiago with his pace at the back he can recover so that’s how you make decisions.
On Leandro Bacuna missing out…
He had a problem with his knee yesterday so that’s why he couldn’t be involved. He couldn’t train yesterday, he had a knock on his knee but he’s not too bad.
On not scoring in the first half this season…
If I could say this is it, then we wouldn’t done it and we probably would’ve scored three or four in the first half. But you’re always looking how you can do it. You look at the opposition and how they play against other teams. They are usually more open against other teams but when they come over here you need to find a different way to get those openings, but it’s not easy. You’re working with human beings.
On if Reading are under pressure…
You can use the word pressure as many times as you want, but there’s no pressure from us. Everybody knows that we want to win. If you want to end in the top two then you need to win, we know that as well. But we’re not going to say there’s a lot of pressure on us because we haven’t won. We’re working very hard every day to get a win but it’s not as easy as it sometimes looks to be honest.
