THE DECISION to appoint Paul Clement sparked a mixed reaction from Reading FC fans.

While some were excited by the 46-year-old’s eye-watering CV, others questioned his lack of frontline management experience.

With Royals on a landslide towards League One, there is no doubt that the former Bayern Munich and Real Madrid assistant deserves credit for keeping Reading in the second-tier.

However, things have not exactly gone to plan for Clement, and that was evident in the toothless 1-0 defeat at the hands of Phil Parkinson’s Bolton Wanderers on Saturday.

As the manager said himself after the game, Reading had so many chances to put the ball in the back of the net – but the same old problems just kept creeping up again.

It begs the question of why can't the players put the ball in the back of the net?

Does more need to be done to improve finishing on the training ground, or is it just a case of bad luck?

In fairness to Clement, he was brutally honest when he spoke to the media after the game.

Some may have blamed the defeat on the decision to turn down a strong penalty shout in the first half.

Clement insisted he is happy with his squad and stressed he expects one or two players to depart this month, with Swansea City winger Nathan Dyer coming the other way.

You cannot fault Clement’s enthusiasm, but unless things turn around this week he is likely to be under serious pressure.

Reading have lost the first three league games of the season for the first time since 1959/60 – an appalling feat which Clement will not want his name next to.

They now face two extremely tough away games, one at Ewood Park against newly-promoted Blackburn Rovers on Wednesday and the other against Aston Villa this Saturday.

If the unthinkable happens and Reading come away from those two games with zero points, which they could well do if they perform the same way they did against Bolton, then it will only be a matter of time before supporters really start to turn on the manager.

I cannot imagine Reading's owners will be best pleased either.

Here's hoping for our first points of the season - they can't come soon enough!