The USA international has battled back from surgery and got his first 90 minutes of the season under his belt last Saturday.

But it did not stop Royals from losing 1-0 at home to Charlton Athletic, their seventh defeat in 11 games in all competitions.

It leaves Nigel Adkins’ men 14th in the Championship and closer to the relegation zone than the play-off positions.

And with pressure increasing on Adkins to turn their fortunes around, Williams believes the current squad is lacking sufficient quality.

He told the Chronicle: “The problem with us is we are not consistent.

“To make it into the play-offs you have to be consistent, especially at home. But with us there are too many ups and downs.

“We win 3-0 then we lose 3-0, with us you just never know what you are going to get.

“I thought we could build on the momentum we got from beating Rotherham recently, but at the moment I think we are not good enough.”

The 25-year-old added: “I still think we are a hard-working, honest group of players which is important for the position we are in at the moment.

“I believe we can turn this around because personally I want to play for promotion and not be fighting relegation.

“I like to win and be successful which is why I came to Reading.

“But when you are middle of the table it’s like being nowhere.”

Reading have a similar number of points at this stage of the season as they did in the 2011/12 campaign when a sensational finish saw the team win 17 of their last 23 games to secure the Championship title under former boss Brian McDermott.

However, Williams is not so sure Adkins’ squad can match that incredible feat.

He declared: “Christmas is a really important period for us. We have lots of games and if you can go on a run and win four or five in a row your season can turn around.

“But for me that is too many ‘ifs’.

“I don’t like to look back at what happened three years ago. That was then and we shouldn’t compare this season to the one when we got promoted.

“We need to look at ourselves now and for me I don’t think we are ready to be promoted if I am honest.

“As players we have to ask ourselves whether we have enough quality. We have to be hard on ourselves and look at what we are doing wrong.

“It’s up to us to do better in our next game and in the future.

“My dream is still to win promotion, it is why I joined Reading. I still have to hope it will happen.”

Reading are without a fixture this weekend due to the international break and return to action with back-to-back away fixtures at Cardiff City then Norwich City.

Williams confessed: “When you lose your last game before an international break the vibe is not good. We have to go to Cardiff and get the three points.”

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