Confident Sanchez talks a good game but cannot disguise Fulham's frailties

Sanchez certainly does not lack self-belief and, even after losing the first game of his new job, he was happy in the knowledge that he had proved to his new players he is a good manager.

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"I could have written the script on the first half," he said. "I could have put it in an envelope, given it to you and said, 'That's what will happen in the first half'.

"I could have guaranteed that. Why? Because I'm a manager and I can see things before they happen.

"There's a change of manager and the team go out and do one of the things I told them not to do. They concede a goal, their heads go down and everyone is thinking this is going to be three or four-nil.

"At half-time, I didn't say 'I told you so' but I explained that I'd told them what will work and what won't work. I told them to do the things that will work and we'll be a good team.

"In the second half we proved we were equal, if not better, than Reading in most areas of the field. If they do that there won't be a problem. If they do what they did in the first half, there will be problems.

"It's an easy decision for the players. Which one will benefit them most? Playing like they did first half or like they did in the second half? The answer is obvious."

Fulham's players and fans may not share the confidence of their caretaker boss after one win in 16 Premiership games. They slide ever closer to danger and still have Arsenal and Liverpool to play.

Northern Ireland boss Sanchez said: "They said I couldn't beat Spain, couldn't beat Sweden, couldn't beat England. So I've proved the impossible is possible. That's why I'm here. That's my unique selling point at this moment.

"If they want to see what can be done against the odds then they've only got to look at what I was achieving two weeks ago," he added, in reference to Northern Ireland's brilliant win against Sweden in a Euro 2008 qualifier.

"Once they know 'Yeah, he knows what he's talking about' — which I think they do now — then they'll get the rewards that go with it and they'll do it better next time."

Despite the Sanchez spin, Fulham were far from impressive. They were exceptionally sloppy and error-prone for the first half-hour and slightly better thereafter.

But the fact that Reading have lost some of their early-season fluency and potency in front of goal ensured it was a tight contest, right up to the final seconds when Michael Brown clipped the bar with a left-foot curler.

Stephen Hunt scored the crucial goal in the 15th minute, forcing Kevin Doyle's low cross into the roof of the net from close range.

Antti Niemi made splendid saves to deny Brynjar Gunnarsson twice and Ian Pearce fired a good chance over before he limped off with a recurrence of a foot injury.

Papa Bouba Diop was unlucky to see a header ruled out for offside by a flag-happy linesman in first-half stoppage time and Simon Davies squandered another clear opening when he was clean through on goal.

Reading's first win in eight games boosted their chances of qualifying for the UEFA Cup and inspired a prickly reaction from manager Steve Coppell.

"We were a little bit offended by the attack that we hadn't won for so many games with the quality of the teams we were playing against," said Coppell. "We shouldn't compete against the top five teams and yet we are competing.

"We haven't hit a wall. We haven't run out of steam. Portsmouth came here with a five-man midfield. Arsenal and Liverpool played strong sides against us.

"If you're playing against the best teams you're going to struggle. They're bigger and better than us. They've got more guns than us.

"To be fair, I thought we played until we scored, then it was almost a relaxation. We were conscious of just getting the three points against a team that weren't in a desperate situation, but desperately wanted to win."

Reading midfielder Steve Sidwell, who has been linked with a move away from the club, was not in the squad as Coppell looked to try other players as he looks ahead to another season in the Premiership.

Gunnarsson impressed in Sidwell's position, with Coppell adding: "He was very strong against a very strong midfield. If Siddy does go I've got to get another one in anyway."

FULHAM RUN-IN

Saturday - BLACKBURN(h)

April 29 - ARSENAL (a)

May 5 - LIVERPOOL (h)

May 13 - MIDDLESBRO (a)