"It’s not good viewing" says Reading FC defender after heavy defeat to QPR

Speaking after Reading were easily beaten 4-0 by QPR, Morrison said; “It’s embarrassing, it’s embarrassing. 

“I’ve waited four months to get back in and play and we’ve conceded four goals in the last two games. That’s embarrassing.

"So yeah, it’s extremely difficult as players and you try to go over and acknowledge their (the fans) support because we do appreciate it but you’ve got all sorts of signs telling you to get lost - which is completely acceptable when you put in performances like that.

“We brought 2,000 fans, it’s a terrific effort. Especially at the end of January, performances and results haven’t been very good for a little while and we wanted to do well as a team.

"I thought for 10 or 15 minutes we started bright, we looked positive, the penalty decision didn’t go our way - which probably wasn’t (a penalty) - and then we conceded and fell apart a little bit. It’s not good viewing."

Morrison in action against QPR. Image by: JasonPIX

After their decent start, QPR took the lead through Lyndon Dykes’ 13th minute header. From there, the Royals collapsed. QPR had increased their lead to 3-0 by half-time before making it four just after the interval.

“I think it makes it very difficult for ourselves when we concede a goal within 13 minutes,” Morrison continued. “Then what you’ve planned during the week changes, you have to be more aggressive and step out of your shape a bit more. 

“Sometimes that can look messy maybe, I suppose that’s an excuse - when you concede early it does change your game plan, it does change what you’re trying to do. You might step up further than you would do when it’s 0-0, especially away from home. 

“So I think goals are changing the way we want to play and obviously when you do concede you want to get on the front foot and sometimes that’s our achilles heel, we were caught out today a couple of times on counter-attacking play when we probably had too many people in front of the ball trying to score goals, trying to be positive to get back into the game, and that’s where we’ve come unstuck.”

The defeat was Reading’s sixth in a row and the four goals took their total conceded for the month to 23.

Veljko Paunovic during his side's defeat to QPR. Image by: JasonPIX

“I think it’s a confidence issue at the moment,” Morrison said of the barrage of mistakes that has been plaguing his team. “When you get caught in that rut where you feel like everything is going against you, you try even harder to stop the mistakes…and you try even harder and sometimes it goes against you. 

“I think it’s one of those things where you try to keep composure but it’s easier said than done. Because we’re hurting, we don’t want to lose every week, we don’t want to be coming in at half-time with results like that.

"It makes it really really difficult. So I’d say it’s definitely a confidence issue and all you can do is work hard through those patches, whether you scrape a 1-0 win, whatever you do just to get that point to pick yourself back up.”

Morrison has become Reading’s stand-in captain following Liam Moore’s demotion and the 33-year old explained the responsibility he feels to mentor a relatively young defence around him.

“At centre-half when you’re conceding so many goals, there’s a problem,” Morrison said. “Not only do you look bad as individuals, you look bad as a team and you can’t win games. Some of my job is to take that onus and support people like Tom Holmes and Luke Southwood, Tom Mac is coming back - it’s nice to see him back on the grass…and yeah you always try to help the young players whether it’s going well or bad. 

“And particularly when it’s going bad it’s trying to keep them level-headed, keep yourself level-headed, and just trying to make them understand…sometimes when you make one mistake, in the game you can’t fix it. That mistake is done, you have to look past that and have that mindset of ‘okay that’s done, I can’t make up for that now, don’t make another mistake.’ 

“It is really difficult when you feel like things are going against you and today was probably an example of over-committing some players forward and getting caught on the counter-attack.

“We’ve got a good enough team and we need to start putting in performances. It’s all well and good saying you’re good but it’s about action, it’s about performances, it’s about actually doing it."

Questioned on the future of his under-pressure manager, Morirson offered his support.

 “I think he’s been dealt a really really difficult hand. 

“You can talk about a lot about ‘excuses’ and you can say they’re excuses but they are difficult problems to solve. When you think of getting a job it’s not what you’re looking to do. He’s been fighting fires all season, from day one, and it's been a really difficult job. 

“We’ve all got to come together now. We haven’t got the injury crisis now, we’ve got some good players in there, and now it’s putting the excuses to the side and all following our instructions and putting in a better performance for the team, for the manager, and for the football club.”