After the first five minutes of the game I was left wondering if the Royals would ever get out of their own half as Spurs stroked the ball around denying Reading possession with their movement, excellent touch, and accurate passing. Reading seemed understandably over-awed by their opponents and lacked the confidence to attack with any purpose in the opening phase of the game. McCarthy had to parry a fierce drive and a Sigurdsson header in the fifth minute as Reading worked hard to keep Spurs at bay. Strong appeals for a Reading penalty were denied by Howard Webb after ten minutes as Pearce challenged for a cross at the far post and a Spurs hand was raised and made contact with the ball. Webb blew for a push by Pearce. The inevitable goal came when Sigurdsson (who had received a warm welcome from the Reading fans) slid the ball inside Harte for Lennon to race onto and cut back for Defoe inside the box. The quality of the move was matched by the quality of the finish.

To their credit Reading kept their heads, apart from a couple of horrendous misunderstandings between Mc Carthy, Gorkss and Pearce which on another day would have been severely punished, and the Spurs lead was restricted to one goal in the first half. McCleary offered a glimmer of hope as he turned Spurs defenders inside out and had to be halted with clumsy challenges. The resulting free kicks, which presented Reading with their best opportunities to get back on level terms, were wasted with poor quality delivery in to the danger area. Reading hung on and were still in the game at half time.

As always, Brian McDermott was proactive, switching to a more attacking 4 4 2 formation replacing Karacan with Le Fondre to play alongside the lonely Pogrebnyak up front. The second half was more encouraging for Royals fans who were behind their team throughout. No longer suffering from the inferiority complex which had inhibited their play in the first period Reading began to cause some anxious moments for the Spurs defence. As they pushed on however they looked vulnerable on the counter attack from a very pacy and skilful Spurs team. The next goal was crucial and it came from strange looking strike from Bale which looped into the net from a ball cut back from the right. That would probably have been enough to secure the points but for good measure Defoe turned past Gorkss on the half way line and outpaced the rest of the Reading defence to fire a superb shot inside the far post. The hat trick almost came when the England striker spun and volleyed over from ten yards. Reading completed the scoring with a very good goal when Robson-Kanu tucked away a delightful ball to the far post by Le Fondre.

Spurs are one of a half dozen clubs Reading will be unlikely to take points from this season, but there is enough in their performances so far to indicate they are capable of picking up enough points elsewhere to avoid the drop. It was good team effort today although I would like to see a bit more from McAnuff. When a team is behind they look to their captain for leadership. Not much evidence of that today.
John Wells

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Reading were given a demonstration in Premier League football this afternoon at the Madejski Stadium - going down 1-3 to Spurs. If anything the scoreline flattered the Royals who were 0-3 down until the last minute when Robson-Kanu grabbed a consolation. After being genuine contenders against Chelsea in our last league showing - 25 days ago - it was back to reality today as the Royals struggled to compete. The visitors were superior in every department, created a whole load of chances and looked comfortable throughout. Robson-Kanu's late goal was followed with a strong penalty appeal for the Royals with the last action of the game. It might have ended 2-3 but most of the home fans had already left at that point with the only possible outcome being defeat.

Federici's mystery injury was back giving McDermott the chance to try McCarthy in goal. McCarthy was immediately called into action as Spurs began their first half domination. An impressive double save kept the scores at 0-0 but it was only a matter of time before Spurs took the lead by making the most of their superior pace against Harte. The cross from the right was stuck home by the dangerous Defoe. Defoe could quickly have doubled the score with a superb touch that beat two Reading defenders to set himself up nicely - only to put his shot wide. McCarthy seemed to have been taking training tips from Federici and a careless half-kick set Spurs up another chance which they failed to take. Then there was a clearance off the line from Pearce as the traffic was only one way.

Reading's tactics of packing the midfield and leaving just Pogrebnyak up front had been spectacularly unsuccessful. Spurs dominated possession and long kicks up field continually failed to find targets - Gorkss only ever found a Spurs player. It was obvious to all and no surprise to see McDermott change things around at half time, bringing on Le Fondre to play with the Pog. For five minutes Reading were on top with Le Fondre looking lively. We won a few corners and looked like we might get back into the game. But it was short lived and Spurs soon took control, calmly passing it around leaving Reading short of ideas.

The second on 71 minutes was again from the right - Bale on the scoresheet from the resulting cross. And the third followed shortly afterwards as a long run from Defoe saw him secure a deserved second goal. Spurs were happy to then run down the clock and barely let Reading get a touch until a nice move secured the consolation. At least we pushed forward into injury time but it was little more than a token gesture.
Graham

We just weren't in the first half at all, although still should have gone 1-0 up with what was a penalty. Admittedly it was a tough call from Webb's angle, so I don't blame him for giving a shove instead. I'm starting to get seriously worried about our defensive qualities. We let Defoe drift away from the defence and sit around the penalty spot three or four times in that game and in everyone he had an effort where he could have scored. And in fact did on two occasions. I'm pretty sure I saw the same dodgy qualities a couple of times against Chelsea. There is no oxf*rd point in the centrebacks marking the six yard box if the strikers are standing on the 18 yard line unmarked because midfield hasn't followed in to pick them up.

Much better second half. Yes we looked much more open, but we made Spurs work for it and really troubled them. ALF completely turned us around and I think we have to start two up front the majority of our games. There are a lot of phenominal attacks out there, but there are also plenty of them with weak defences.

McCarthy nervy but no costly mistakes. Just. Harte poor, set pieces, absolutely rinsed for pace a couple of times, failed to win possession a few times when any normally paced leftback would have done and dropped an absolutely howler than went unpunished - like McCarthy. Pearce pick of the defence for me. McAnuff failed to create much, but then our midfield was chasing shadows a lot in general.
Ian Royal

I don't know where everyone has this idea we play football 'the right way' because what I saw this game was, bar a few good passing moves, a lot of hoofing it forward into the channels which eventually lost the ball. We don't look good enough. I could probably accept relegation but I'm worried we'll get battered week in week out. We look poor at the back (McCarthy and Harte with their comedy first touches) and lightweight upfront (on the rare occasion we make it into the final third with 2 players). Hoping for a much better performance against WBA away.
Davezk

Does the Captaincy make you immune to substitution. McAnuff was simply not good enough, didn't track back and didn't stick to his position when Tottenham got the ball. This put Harte in sticky situations when we needed two player back in the corner. I know Harte didn't have a good game but Mcleary was always back helping Gunther when needed. I would have brought Kanu on straight away at half time and would certainly have never played 4-4-1-1. It pushes our midfield so deep that we never advance with the ball with the impetus that we had last season on the counter. Tottenham were good today but if McAnuff had been tracking back we wouldn't have gone 1 down and then who knows what else would have been different.
rob9182

It was an ordeal for Reading. They had gone 25 days without a Premier League match after a downpour washed away their game at Sunderland. In the circumstances, the squad could have been deemed rested or, if all went badly, stale. As it turned out, they were so ineffective for so long that they forfeited any right to an excuse.

Brian McDermott's team were always in trouble even if the clinching goals were delayed. A better co-ordinated Tottenham led from the 18th minute when Defoe applied a strong finish to the cutback from Aaron Lennon in a move initiated by the outstanding Gylfi Sigurdsson. The Reading goalkeeper Alex McCarthy – deputising for Adam Federici who had a knee injury – had been fully occupied before Defoe struck.

The failure to exploit Reading's vulnerability was the one criticism that could be levelled at Tottenham. It was a flaw that must have been particularly irksome to André Villas-Boas as he searched for his first Premier League win as Spurs' manager.
The Guardian

Andre Villas-Boas secured his first victory as Tottenham manager as Premier League newcomers Reading were outclassed at the Madejski Stadium...

Jermain Defoe gave Spurs an early lead and such was the scale of their domination that Villas-Boas might have been frustrated it took until the 71st minute for Gareth Bale to double their advantage. Defoe then concluded a 50-yard run with a powerful angled finish as Reading - overrun throughout - faded badly, even though Hal Robson-Kanu pulled a goal back in stoppage time.

For Reading, understandably rusty after 25 days without a game, this was a chastening lesson in what will be required to survive in the top tier, although they met a Spurs team in no mood for anything other than victory after their indifferent start to the season.
BBC Sport