Gomes rant in vain as Reading go down to Blackburn
Posted Sunday, September 22, 2019 by PA
Reading manager Jose Gomes handed out a half-time dressing down to his players during their 2-1 Championship defeat at home to Blackburn.
Adam Armstrong gave Blackburn the lead in the eighth minute with his first goal of the season.
Top scorer Bradley Dack claimed his fourth of the campaign shortly after the interval to increase Rovers’ lead.
John Swift reduced the gap in the 57th minute but, despite mounting late pressure, Reading were unable to find an equaliser as they fell to a third successive league defeat.
Gomes said: “At half-time I was completely angry with them [the players]. I was really upset.
“We made tactical mistakes that we shouldn’t have. So I spoke with them and explained the things for the second half.
“But then the worst thing happened that could have. We conceded a second goal in the third minute [of the second half].
““We didn’t give up and tried to keep finding the Blackburn goal. We shot a lot of times and were much more dangerous in their box.
“The big lesson is that 45 minutes is sometimes not enough to win a game. And we gave the first 45 minutes to Blackburn.
“Of course I was disappointed with the result. We didn’t win.
“We prepared all week to collect the three points and we didn’t. So we are disappointed.
“But now we must look not only at our good moments when we win. Everyone is happy then, everyone celebrates, everyone pats you on the back.
“The thing is that when you lose, when we have these tough times, it is a special moment to learn – to be better, to be stronger.
“Everyone has ups and downs in their life and football clubs and teams as well. We need to learn from our mistakes as soon as possible.”
Blackburn secured their second successive league victory and manager Tony Mowbray said: “I thought we were very good in spells.
“We started both halves on the front foot and were very aggressive against a team who, at their best, are very good at passing and playing.
“Reading have some very good technical players and they’re always a real threat.
“You either decide to sit deep in a big block and make it difficult for them to get through or you get on the front foot and press them really high and take the ball off them.
“That was the option we went for and I thought that it paid dividends.
“I also thought that we moved the ball around well for long spells and probably deserved the victory.
“Reading came on pretty strong towards the end. Their attacking players are all very good, very gifted footballers.
“I did think that we lost a little bit of control [after going 2-0 up]. But we finished the game strongly, the last five or six minutes.
“Sometimes that can become a cavalry charge. But that never really happened because we were good at keeping the ball off them.”
Mowbray also praised Dack, who has now scored 40 goals in 100 appearances for Rovers.
He added: “For a lad who plays No 10, that’s a pretty special amount of goals.
“He’s not a centre-forward, he doesn’t play down the middle every game, but he scores a lot of his goals in the six-yard box.”
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