JAAP Stam admitted the potential of his Reading FC side this season may not become apparent for another few weeks.

Royals have suffered a string of injuries in recent weeks with Yann Kermorgant, Jordan Obita, Jon Dadi Bodvarsson Joey van den Berg, Callum Harriot, John Swift and Liam Kelly all sidelined for the 3-1 Carabao Cup win over Millwall on Tuesday night.

And with Reading hoping to sign another striker and midfielder before next Thursday’s transfer deadline, Stam insists his squad is far from full strength at this early stage.

Speaking ahead of Saturday’s Championship clash at Birmingham City (3pm ko) he said: “The league is very important for us and Birmingham away this Saturday won’t be easy before a two week international break.

“They need to win like us because we’re all trying to finish in that top six.

“I think the league is a lot stronger this season so we need to get into our rhythm, like we did last season.

“But I see these four weeks at the start as an extension of pre-season because hopefully players are still coming in to join the club and there are a lot of injured players who need to get fit and back in the squad.

“We’re still not there like last season where everyone is fit and we have a lot of options. But the league has started and you need to play your games, although we are not yet where we need to be.”

Reading needed extra-time goals from George Evans and Sam Smith to see off Millwall in Tuesday night’s second-round victory after Shane Ferguson had cancelled out Leandro Bacuna’s sensational first-half opener.

Reading Chronicle:

(L-R): George Evans, Pelle Clement and Sam Smith celebrate Reading's Carabao Cup win over Millwall.

Stam, who made eight changes to his side, added: “You want to win within 90 minutes. We didn’t do that but we scored two in extra time so it’s a good result.

“It was difficult to play against Millwall, they dropped in very deep and didn’t give us much space which made it hard to create opportunities.

“But overall I was very pleased with how we played and how we kept our focus, especially at set pieces.

“You can always do better but some players played at the weekend and were tired, so it was a decent result and a very good performance to reach the next round.”

While Reading remain unbeaten at home this season, they have lost both league away games after defeats at Preston and QPR.

And Stam is demanding more consistency from his squad: “You don’t want to focus only on our home run, you need to find your rhythm away from home and win games,” he insisted.

“It’s not like we’re in a crisis, not at all, but we need to do better in away games.

“We made a lot of mistakes at Preston. We gave easy balls away which gave the opposition confidence.

“Sometimes that’s down to having a young squad because players need to grow.”

He added: “When you are doing well a player gets eight or nine out of 10, but you don’t want to drop to a four when you are not playing well, you need a certain line you don’t drop under, you need at least a six or six-and-a-half.

“You can have an excellent game when everyone is talking about you like when we beat Aston Villa then have Preston. That’s going from up here to down there.

“But it’s also about whether we can make player choices.”