Reading Reaction: Room for improvement

Last updated : 10 August 2014 By Paul Farrington

The opening home game against Reading ended in a 2-2 draw as the Latics came from behind to equalise with a last gasp James McArthur header.

Callum McManaman had initially given the Latics the lead before Reading took over the ascendancy in the second period.

Latics manager Uwe Rosler was quick to praise McManaman after the game commenting that the winger was the difference between the sides in the first half.

Speaking to the club's official website he said: “I think we competed reasonably well, I think we had been the better team for most of the game but the difference between the teams in the first-half was Callum McManaman. 

“This is the difference with Callum, when you have him after a full pre-season, he’s a different player compared to last year.
 
“Throughout the whole pre-season and throughout the friendly games he’s been excellent so I’m very happy for him to get the goal – especially in the first-half he was fantastic.
 
“That’s what we want from him; we want him to contribute with goals and assists.”
 
The area of disappointment for Rosler was that of fitness. Injuries have take their toll in pre-season and the squad struggled to enact his pressing game plan.
 
“In the second-half, I thought the game opened up a little bit and I thought that we would get a little bit more time on the ball and play more of our football but obviously second-half we missed energy all over the pitch,” Rosler continued.
 
“We had too much pressure on us from sitting back and, if you don’t have energy and running capacity, you can’t play the way we want to play.
 
“I have some sort of understanding as to why that happened because in the engine room we had players who have not been part of our pre-season after coming back from injuries.
 
“For me, we got out of jail and it was a very important point for us, especially when you see other results in the division.”

Next up for the Latics is the trip to face Burton Albion on Tuesday in the Carlin Cup.