Adkins pulls no punches

Nigel Adkins made no attempt to defend his side in their awful defeat to Barnsley, in what his most honest interview yet as Reading boss.

Reading were deservedly beaten by the relegation-threatened Tykes, who took an early lead thanks to Stephen Dawson. Pavel Pogrebnyak replied with a penalty kick, but a quick fire double in the second half compiled a miserable and gutless performance from the Royals, who are now winless in five consecutive home games.

Speaking to the Official Reading FC website, Adkins said: ‘We had a great opportunity tonight. We started brightly for a couple of minutes, but shot ourselves in the foot with a shocking goal given away. We got ourselves back in the game with a penalty that Pav won himself, but across the board we were not good enough tonight.’

‘We did not put two passes together, and I share the frustration with everybody out there because we had a great opportunity tonight and haven’t taken it. Now I’ve got to reflect on why we haven’t produced anywhere the sort of level of performance and ability that we’ve got, individually and collectively.’

If there is any minor positive to take from this defeat, it is Adkins’ post-match quotes, where for the first time as Royals boss, he reflected his anger in a performance. There have been times this season where he has defended his players too much, but last night he didn’t and well done for him for doing so, they didn’t perform.

As much as Adkins will take most of the brunt, due to him being the manager, the players could barely string any passes together. If the players cannot do the basics, then why does the manager have to defend them? It was a woeful performance from them and I fully expect a response this Saturday against Huddersfield.