Prematch Press: Carling Cup Round 2
Written by Mark Stokes on Monday 24th August 2009

Simon Davey talked to the media this morning before heading off with the squad to Reading in preparation for the second round of the Carling Cup.

To the fans it is clear that not everyone is playing as well as they can and it certainly hasn't escaped the notice of Simon Davey who commented, "We will go to Reading as strong as we can and to win the game. There are players who are not at full tilt who should be. I need to put a side out that can win, and that can also give a kick up the ass to those not in form, but balanced with whom we have available.

"We have had two or three players that haven't performed to the level we expect at Barnsley, but there hasn't been the players in backup waiting to go in and put them under pressure."

"The relationship between the players and myself is very good and they realise that when they don't perform it is my job to crack the whip and they are professional enough to understand that. The players who have been dropped agree with the decision."

A win on Tuesday night will be important in view of Saturday's repeat fixture at Oakwell.

Simon said, " Every game means something. If we go to Reading and beat them in the Cup it will give the players more confidence when they come to us on Saturday. Reading are under pressure, they have lost 3-1 at home at the weekend and haven't had the best of starts. So let's see who are going to be the most bullish of the two sides.

"There is no 'let's give up attitude' and when we have all our players fit and in form we will compete in this division. The last three games we know the results haven't been right. Saturday's performance was better than the result showed. Do we want a repeat performance of when we went to Reading last season? Yes and more because we want to win.

"I didn't feel we deserved a defeat on Saturday. I felt we had enough in that game to get at least a draw and we shaded it at times. They dominated for a 10-15 minutes spell and unfortunately they scored in that spell. I still felt after that we bounced back, had a lot of possession and counter attacked, but couldn't get the goal and when we did have a clear-cut chance Hume has hit it over the bar.

"The margins are very very slim. If you win on Saturday then we have four points and go up six or seven places."

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