He’s been criticized for the style of play that he’s adopted at the Majeski Stadium, but Reading boss Jaap Stam isn’t about to change any time soon.
Instead, he’s encouraged his players to use the ball better, and tire teams out more.
Reading finished their draw with Birmingham with an impressive 71%, but Stam wants to see significant improvements.
“Sometimes we need to be a bit more patient and put pace on the ball higher,” Stam told BBC Radio Berkshire.
“We have to make the other team run all over the pitch and eventually tire them out.”
Stam came out in defence of his new style of play earlier this week, when he told fans they’d have to accept it as there was nothing they could do about it.
Although Reading are now unbeaten in five, they’ve scored just one goal from open play in their last three matches.
The Reading boss admits that his side weren’t sharp enough against Birmingham.
“If teams play like this, you don’t want to lose the ball, especially in the first build up, because they have quick players up front and can make it very hard for you,” he said.
“A couple of times in the first half we weren’t sharp enough, we weren’t patient enough.”
“We had a lot of possession today. We could have created and should have created more chances.”
