Reading Play The Right Way - Johnson

The legendary Manchester United defender took over the reins at the Madejski Stadium in the summer and a recent run of four straight league wins has seen the Royals shoot up to third in the Championship table.

The head coach will be hoping to end that storming run in Berkshire tomorrow, at the same time stemming his own team’s spell of one win in seven games.

“Jaap Stam has come in and has tried to educate supporters and players with regards how he believes football should be played,” Johnson told Bristol City Player HD.

“They’re very expansive and make a lot of passes. Sometimes that can be quite frustrating for English fans to watch, especially when a lot of those passes take place in your own half.

“However, it’s clearly working for Reading so no one can argue when you’re being successful.”

The City boss added: “They’ve got a good side that we have to respect, but at the same time I think we’ve performed better against that sort of team.

“That’s probably down to the physicality of the Championship. We’ve got a lot of younger players, under the age of 23 or 24.

“To get a team that is ready-made, full of 6ft 4in players, who are strong, quick and good on the ball costs millions in terms of transfer fees, wages and agents’ fees.

“I keep trying to sell the story of where we are and hopefully people can enjoy that. We’ve had a bit of a dip in terms of results recently and we want to turn that around pretty quickly.”

City will be backed by more than 3,200 supporters at the Madejski Stadium, something Johnson is looking forward to seeing.

“They’re the lifeblood of the club and have provided us with great support already this season,” he added.

“I’ve got good memories of huge travelling support at Reading and it’s great that it’ll be the same tomorrow.”

City fans will be able to pay on the day at Reading at non-member prices.