It is hard to find anything positive to say about this dismal performance from the Royals as they slumped to a disappointing defeat at home to the team, which before today’s game, were second from bottom of the Premier League. Wigan on a run of poor form were made to look very good by a below par Reading side. Brian McDermott so often gets his selection right it is hard to criticise his decisions but today he surrendered the initiative by picking a very defensive midfield trio of Leigertwood, Karacan and Akpan. In a catastrophic six minutes either side of half time Reading conceded three goals and the game was effectively over. Pogrebnyak’s sending off extinguished any faint hopes of recovery and Wigan played the game out comfortably, only prevented from inflicting greater misery by a string of excellent saves by Federici. Reading failed to register a single shot on target in the entire game.

Wigan took full advantage of a tentative start by Reading and almost scored in the third minute when Di Santo wriggled past Karacan, in spite of several illegal attempts to stop him, and it took a very good save from Federici to deflect his shot wide for a corner. Reading’s defensive midfield successfully flattened passing Wigan’s angles forcing them sideways and backwards but when they did win possession, the quality of passing was poor and they soon found themselves backpedalling again. Reading did enjoy a few forays into the Wigan half. Akpan mistimed his leap and got underneath a good cross to head over from close range with the goal at his mercy. Kebe hit the side netting when the ball fell to him at the far post, and it took an outstanding tackle by Sharner to deny Pogrebnyak a scoring opportunity at the near post from an early low Kebe cross. Shortly before half time Reading hit a particularly bad patch and failed miserably to find each other with even simple short passes. Wigan took the lead from a corner through Kone. It was a scrappy goal and subsequently found to be the product of a handling offence by Caldwell. Then, in added time, sloppy play from Morrison conceded possession on the half way line and Beausejour found Kone in acres of space who clipped the ball into the net over a defenceless Federici to send Reading in two nil down at the interval. Harte, not for the first time, was caught out of position and unable to recover. The booing that signalled the end of the half was understandable but unforgiveable. No true fan should boo their own team.

Substitutions came thick and fast for Reading in the second half. Hunt, Le Fondre and McCleary were all thrown into the fray in desperation. Le Fondre was on from the start of the half to give a more attacking formation. It made little difference. Pogrebnyak was not having his best game but as usual he had lacked support in the first half. Appalling defending put the result beyond doubt as Reading naively allowed Figueroa play a one two on the edge of the box to make it three nil with a good finish. Not only were there huge holes in the defence but also nobody seemed to want to take responsibility for ‘going with the runner’. Pogrebnyak, clearly hacked off with the whole thing, stepped across Figueroa to block his run and, in my view harshly, received a red card. If goal difference keeps Reading in the Premier League this season, then Federici will be able to claim responsibility for survival for his saves as Wigan stroked the ball around opening up Reading on several occasions. The ground was virtually empty by the end as Reading fans began drifting away long before the end. (The official attendance of 22,321 was hard to believe!) On this occasion the ‘early leavers’ didn’t miss much. There was a strong whiff of relegation in the air.
John Wells

Where do I start? Firstly we were at home against a side who have not won in the league this year, second from bottom of the league. That tells me that an early goal would probably knock their confidence and we could push on from there! So Brian Why Oh Why play a 4-5-1 formation inviting them to come at us. I can understand playing this formation against the Man U's etc. But this was the team 2nd to ffin bottom!

Apart from Feds,(who probably stopped us from another Bristol Rovers type result) Kelly, Akpan and Marriapa the rest were absolutely dreadful. What Karacan brings to the team I have no Idea. The one midfielder who was playing well (Akpan) was taken off. Morrisson (who I have really rated) had a mare! I cannot recall one shot on target. Their keeper had nothing to do and will not have an easier game

I'm a big fan of Brian but he got it badly wrong today. Wigan were made to look like Barcelona by our inept game plan. That's down to the management I am afraid.
Short and Curly

What annoys me is that we must surely scout teams we are about to play, yet our tactics do not change much. Against Wigan we had no answer to their game plan of one touch quick short passing, then when they don't have the ball pressure the opposition quickly (Rogers Swansea !!). Our tactics rely on wing play and 'punts' up the middle with direct passing, so with a 4-5-1 that does not work at all, especially with two defensive midfielders. When the wingers get there one striker to aim at who has been outpaced by our winger and so is not there, or punt up to our lone striker who has little chance. Long & short - we were tactically beaten, resulting in us being outplayed and well beaten.
MeMeMe

Having slept on it, what's the point of ranting and raving when all those loyal Royals that were there yesterday and most other fans far and wide know how bad this was. It was verging on shameful by a bunch of so called professionals. All I will say is BM needs to have a long look at himself in the mirror , to play so defensively in such a vital game against one of the few teams that were below us in the league is unforgivable. Gutless , spineless , humiliating , no fight , no passion , no desire , no effort , no skill , no ideas , no pride is just a flavour of how bad this was. I'm ranting.... apologies it's just so depressing.
Nick Newbury

Reading's defending was beyond bad at times, but they have been in encouraging form lately and this defeat must be seen in context; victory over Villa, their next visitors, would refresh their hopes of survival. But with Pavel Pogrebnyak suspended following his dismissal for a reckless challenge on Figueroa, they will be deficient up front.
The Guardian

For Reading, it was a humiliating afternoon and, to add insult to injury, they finished the game with 10 men, after striker Pavel Pogrebnyak was dismissed for a cynical trip on Maynor Figueroa. Wigan are masters of escape acts and will be increasingly optimistic of engineering yet another one, especially as they are now four points better off than they were at this stage last season.

After both sides had wasted good chances in the opening half, Wigan took the lead shortly before the interval. Gary Caldwell got free from Jean Beausejour’s corner and bundled the ball towards the back post. Reading claimed he used his arm, but referee Phil Dowd allowed play to continue, and Figueroa’s goal-bound header brushed in off Arouna Koné at close range. The Reading manager, Brian McDermott, said: “It definitely shouldn’t have been given. I spoke to Caldwell and he said himself he’s handballed it. Unfortunately, the ref hasn’t seen it.”

Wigan doubled their advantage in added time at the end of the first half. Beausejour produced a contender for pass of the season, striking a diagonal through ball from the halfway line that fell straight into the path of Koné. The striker raced down the inside right channel before delicately lifting the ball over Royals’ keeper Adam Federici.

Wigan took advantage of more slack Reading defending after half-time, as Figueroa and Franco Di Santo cut through the back-line with a neat one-two, allowing the former to slot home the third.
The Telegraph