Ruben Selles, manager of Reading FC. Reading FC players depart for Spain for their pre-season training.
THE BOSS CHALLENGES HIS ROYALS FOR ONE LAST PUSH BEFORE THE YEAR 2023 ENDS
The Royals have one last game to end 2023, and it’ll be infront of home support as Crystal Palace visit the Select Car Leasing Stadium on Sunday 17th December, kick-off 1pm.
After back-to-back wins already in December, Liam Gilbert wants his side to put in the ultimate performance to give the fans, and indeed the players, the ultimate ending to 2023.
“There are definitely lots of positives that came out of both games.
“I think we’ve touched on the professionalism from everyone in both performances, and obviously, to score a late equalizer against Bristol, going into penalties – I thought how we handled that situation was very positive.
“Then, where that puts us going into Sunday, we can feel confident and have a positive mentality.
“I think one of the big things we identified as a group of coaches is to be more clinical; we saw that display against Cheltenham, and while we only scored once against Bristol, to capitalize on the chance it was, was very encouraging.
“I’ve said throughout the last few months, we’ve been constantly creating chances, but we’ve always been inches away from converting, whereas this week we’ve been on the money.
“Obviously, having the likes of Charlie [Wellings] back, she’s been superb since coming back in. But I’m sure she’d say the same; we have to work as a collective to make those opportunities and exploit the right areas, hopefully, we’ll continue to build on this.
“Everyone works their socks off for each other; that’s been very apparent the minute we walked through the door, but getting players back from injury just adds that little more competition and depth, which has really helped players kick on.”
Crystal Palace was Liam Gilbert’s very first competitive game, so it’s almost fitting that he’ll end the first half of the campaign against them at home. Ahead of the game, he explained how much he’s learned from these first few months about his group of players, but also individually as well.
“I think I could write a book about everything.
“Learning about the individual characters, as that’s a massive thing when coming into a big group dynamic. What makes people tick, how to get the best out of one another, and how we can improve as a group of coaches.
“It’s just been a constant process, and we’re starting to get to a place now where everything is becoming a lot more consistent in terms of how we apply ourselves, and what we are doing.
“Come the New Year, we want to make sure we return to the place we are now straight away and push up the league table.
“For me personally, this has been the biggest learning curve in my career, especially over such a short period of time.
“It’s been a big jump up, which I knew it was going to be, and no matter how much you prepare, there is always a curveball that comes your way. And I think, overall, we’ve dealt with that.
“But on the whole, I’ve loved every minute, and I think as long as we stay true to the growth mindset, everything will move forward, and I firmly believe that.”
To finish, Gilbert assessed Sunday’s opponents and what he hopes to see from his team on the weekend and going into the New Year.
“They [Crystal Palace] are a massive challenge; they’re in very good form, and they deserve to be where they are in the table.
“They’ve got so many quality individuals all over the pitch, and they play an attacking brand of football.
“Going into every game, though, we’ve analyzed them, identified some spaces where we believe we can exploit and get a result from.
“As I mentioned at the start, this week I hope the girls can take a lot of credit, belief, and confidence from, and if we can bring it all together on Sunday, it will be a really complete performance, and what a way to end the year that would be.”
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