After a narrow 1-0 defeat at home to Sheffield United, downbeat Royals manager Steve Coppell stressed the need to rid our players of the anxiety that hamstrung the team's attacking play once his side went behind.
"1-0 down and given our recent home form, and everything about the situation, we get so anxious when we go a goal down now," he reflected after Brian Howard's strike was enough to rob the Royals of any points at Madejski Stadium.
"It's almost panicky - we lose our shape and there's just an element of anxiety about it and how we go forward. I always like my teams to play forward and wide, but we go too straight and too long when we panic.
"And it doesn't matter what you say to the players, or how often you try to tell them to retain their shape and have faith that we're going to create opportunities if we keep doing the right things...because it is panic.
"It's understandable given the importance of any game like this one but you just wish sometimes that you could have a five minute breather, have a chat to them, tell them 'it's OK, we're going to create chances.'
"But the goals have gone cold and we don't do 'throw the kitchen sink at the opposition' very well.
"There are some teams that really thrive on it - throwing centre halves forward and getting the ball in there.
"But we're at our best when we get the ball out wide and we get crosses in, keeping a good strong shape.
"Once we'd gone behind and a couple of things started to go wrong we give more opportunities to the opposition."
Reading had played some tidy football and created some good chances before the goal went in - Dave Kitson striking the crossbar most notably, and just moments before Howard's goal.
And Coppell was relatively satisfied until the Blades dealt a killer blow with a rather scrappy strike on 59 minutes.
"The first half, like a lot of games against the top teams, involved a lot of sparring.
"But I thought we were just edging it at half time - I thought we were set up nicely for the second and for the first ten minutes after the break, I thought it was looking good for us.
"But then we started giving away silly fouls - and that's a critical part of their game, plus we didn't have Cisse on the pitch and he's important for us in those situations.
"They've got four players who can really hurl it into the box with long throws and at set pieces they have some strong players in the air. And from the second phase of a free kick, it cost us."
