NICKY Shorey has urged his team-mates to 'buck their ideas up' and prove they do not need to be replaced by new signings in January.

Royals' poor start to the season has led to plenty of questions being asked not only about manager Brian McDermott but also the players.

Although many of them helped the club win the Championship last year, they have so far failed to excel in the top flight.

As such, talk amongst the fans has already turned to the upcoming transfer window and who might move to the Madejski.

Amongst those linked with Reading are Russians Roman Pavlyuchenko and Andrey Arshavin, Nottinham Forest goalkeeper Lee Camp and out-of-favour Stoke City midfielder Wilson Palacios.

But Shorey - whose position is perhaps the least under threat given his impressive performances - does not want to see a complete overhaul of the squad, rather a few significant additions.

"New players always bring new enthusiasm and make the players that are here buck their ideas up a bit and try and push on," he said.

"Hopefully we will add a few but we don't need to go silly, the lads have shown they are more than capable but we need to do it for 90 minutes. Spending money doesn't always get you where you want to be, we have to pull together as a group."

If Reading owner Anton Zingarevich does decide to loosen the purse strings in January, the current crop have just a handful of games left to nail down their positions.

And it could potentially be a similar story for McDermott, who is the bookies favourite to be the next Premier League manager to leave their post.

The former Slough Town boss leapfrogged Sunderland boss Martin O'Neill to the top of the betting after the defeat at the Stadium of Light on Tuesday evening.

But for Shorey, who was part of the Reading side that were relegated in 2008, there is no doubt that the current manager is still the right man for the job.

"We back the manager 100%, it's not right to talk about him," he declared. "He's doing a marvellous job every since I came here, every lad here would die for the manager."

Following their meeting with Arsenal on Monday evening, Reading face a tricky run of games as they travel to Manchester City and then entertain in-form Swansea and West Ham.

It doesn't get any easier in the new year either as Royals go to Tottenham Hotspur on January 1 and also take on Chelsea and Newcastle later in the month.