‘We’ve lost our mojo’, says Royals manager

READING manager Veljko Paunovic says his side has lost their mojo.

The Royals were thumped 4-0 by Huddersfield Town in the Championship on Saturday to inflict a fourth defeat in their opening five league matches.

Paunovic is enduring a much tougher start to this campaign than the last when they were the early pacesetters and his leaky defence have shipped 13 goals so far.

He said: “I think it is a game to forget as soon as possible. We can’t ignore how we feel but we have to use this defeat as a catalyst to bring back the spirit and the mojo we have lost so far.

“We all should have done better today, especially in the second half. In the first half everyone did their best and we had urgency to defend.

“The second-half performance wasn’t good and we all feel responsible about it. We need to use this hard feeling as a catalyst to fix things.”

Huddersfield’s Sorba Thomas set them on their way to a third straight win when he whipped in a cross for Lewis O’Brien to score on 39 minutes.

The 22-year-old winger then sent an in-swinging free-kick into the box for Matty Pearson to poke home the second soon after the half-time break.

Thomas then produced a fine solo run and his low shot across Royals’ goalkeeper Rafael Cabral found the bottom corner on 66 minutes.

Danny Ward claimed the fourth for the hosts when he latched on to a cross from Josh Koroma and rounded Cabral for a tap-in.

The Royals had named new signing Alen Halilovic on the bench and gave striker Junior Hoilett a first start of the season, but they offered little.

After the match Paunovic blamed the poor start to the season on his team being “incomplete” which he said had been the case for the whole of pre-season.

Reading has since announced the signings of Chelsea midfielder Danny Drinkwater on a season-long loan and defender Scott Dann on a free transfer.

Drinkwater, 31, joined the Blues from Leicester in 2017 but has only featured 23 times for the Premier League club since then.

Dann, 34, has agreed a one-year deal after his release by Crystal Palace.

The centre-back scored 16 goals in 181 appearances during seven and a half years with the Eagles.

The Royals have a week off due to the international break. They host Queens Park Rangers next Saturday, kick-off 3pm.