Jaap Stam Acknowledges Reading's Poor Performance Following Defeat Against QPR

Saturday afternoon on the 5th August saw QPR beat Reading 2-0 in the first match day of the new FL Championship campaign.

Queens Park Rangers were victors at Loftus Road with the help of forward Conor Washington's double, which included a penalty after a foul from Reading's Tiago Ilori saw the Royals' defender get a red card.

In a post-match interview, Reading manager Jaap Stam told the press that his team were lacking the intensity and aggression that he was used to, as a strong QPR side came out on top, Get Reading reports.

Image by Samir Sattar

Stam praised QPR for the outstanding performance which included Conor Washington's double as well as Jamie Mackie's leadership in the Rangers' counter attack.

"Credit to them [QPR], they deserved the win. They fought for every yard on the pitch, won second balls, but they were also better than us on the ball and they worked well together. We didn’t – and it looked like we weren’t ready for it," he said.

"They created chances and they scored. Even without playing well, we created a couple of good chances but we didn’t score."

Image by Samir Sattar

The Dutchman was critical about his team's performance, admitting that it was like the players weren't ready for the bout, something that Stam found unusual compared to the previous performances his players have put in:

"We weren't sharp enough, not aggressive enough, not good enough on the ball like we normally are. We were up against an opposition who played well, but we were not playing to our high standards."

The clash at Loftus Road also saw an injury to Reading debutant Jon Dadi Bodvarsson as well as a heated dispute between Chris Gunter and QPR's Mackie.

Stam says there is room for improvement in his team in order to prevent the poor performances both home and away by his players:

"If you don’t play well - then other things don’t go well for you. So it was a difficult afternoon and we definitely need to do a lot better."