Patrick Viera's post -match comments:

"I think we weren't brave enough to play out the back. We were missing players today, there was a lack of confidence in possession. We didn't allow ourselves to play."

In a nutshell. Top priority for Jan: buy another CB who is comfortable carrying. I'm sure Dougie must be able to recommend one that he's seen on his scouting missions.

PV has started to become negative. More frightened to lose than go for the win. His treatment of Hughes and Eduoard is odd to say the least. He can't decide where to play Olise (who never played wide right for Reading!!) - honestly the next 3 games: Everton, Southampton and Watford, if we don't get at least 7 points, the honeymoon is well and truly over.

The fact PV is publicly highlighting concerns shows he will want to change things. He started brightly without having to rely on the squad as whole. Now injuries have hit and performances have slumped he will start to learn more about the players he has.

One thing his team need to learn is that Kouyate's job is to win the ball, block shots and be a big b@stard in the area for set-pieces. Do not give him the ball, you take it off him. His role is to do the dirty work. Gallagher kept giving him the ball unnecessarily, possibly mistaking him for Jorginho and Kouyate repaid him by misplacing nearly all his passes (surely he broke some kind of record on Sunday? Can you have a minus score for passing accuracy?) Two games running Schlupp has been wearing his invisibility cloak. I thought he deserved his chance to stake a claim. Sadly he looks as lost in the role as he did in preseason. He has looked best as a sub with the simple instruction "get in the box".

No doubt Everton will sack Benitez and hire Zidane before we play them on Sunday.