JAAP Stam's training methods have come under the spotlight after suggesting his Reading FC players are worked harder than those at most other club.

Royals' boss made the claim after Reece Oxford picked up a hamstring injury in training just days into his loan move from West Ham in January.

The 18-year-old defender has since recovered and made his Royals debut on Saturday when he came off the bench in the 3-0 defeat at Preston.

And Stam insists his training regime is 'a lot harder' than some players have experience in the past.

He told the Chronicle: “That's what most of the players say. I tell them they need to be honest and don't say it for the sake of it, but a lot of players find it a lot harder here in how we train.

“Because of all the games in the Championship some managers might take it easier, but we like the opportunity to train very hard.

“We like to push the players and stay on top of them because we have a lot of young players in the squad.

“It's not my style to let improving players do their own things, you need to be aggressive with them at times but also talk normally to them most of the time and give them good advice.”

Reading Chronicle:

Jaap Stam takes a training session at Reading's Hogwood Park.

Stam has coped with a host of injury problems this season with Liam Kelly and Jordon Mutch the most recent players to join a treatment room that also includes Tiago Ilori, Callum Harriott, Sandro Wieser and Danzell Gravenberch.

Stephen Quinn and Deniss Rakels are on the slow road to recovery from long-term problems, though neither is fit enough to play for the first team.

However, Oxford's lack of game-time for the Royals has opened up a war of words between Stam and West Ham boss Slaven Bilic, with the Croat telling a press conference today: “I'm surprised and not happy with it.”

However, Stam insists Oxford was not familiar with the intensity of training at Reading when he first arrived.

“When he came he said it was a completely different to what he was used to at West Ham,” he explained.

“There is more intensity in how we work and that's how he picked up a small injury.

“He is a talented player with a lot of potential. It's good to have him back now so we can use him.”

Bilic, though, rejected those suggestion during a West Ham press conference yesterday.

"We are training very intensely,” he declared. “Maybe with Recce and his change of club they train differently but the only thing I think is that Reece wasn't fit enough.

“He signed for Reading after a long injury to his ankle so maybe in the beginning he wasn't in the best shape.

"That was ages ago though, he will have had enough time to get ready."

Reading Chronicle:

West Ham United manager, Slaven Bilic.

However, there could be some good news for Stam ahead of tomorrow night's play-off six-pointer at Sheffield Wednesday (7.45pm ko) as centre backs Liam Moore and skipper Paul McShane have shaken off slight knocks and are likely to feature against the Owls.