Marek Matejovsky has bemoaned the selfishness and long-ball tactics of his Reading team-mates.

Upon his arrival at Reading in January, Matejovsky was billed the ideal linking player - unselfish, hard working and an excellent distributor.

Two months into his stay, the Czech midfielder is still coming to grips with the single-minded approach employed by many of his new team-mates. Just as he expected of the Premier League, unselfishness is a rare commodity.

"Strikers are solving it individually although they can give a pass," he said.

"When they can pass, they would rather try to go past the opponent. This is what they were telling me at the beginning of my Reading spell - they bought me because they wanted to see some more passes. [They wanted me] to change the style of the game."

The 26-year-old, who has been capped seven times, has been trying to instil the virtues of a short-passing game during training sessions with Steve Coppell and his staff.

"We had a kind of practice match and there were some moments when a player kicked a long ball to the strikers and they saw how angry I was about it. I gesticulated a few times," he added.

"I am not saying that we can always play short passes, but if the possibility is there, we should try it, shouldn't we?"

Matejovsky also shed light on the approach of his manager, painting Coppell as a hands-off operator.

"If the coach feels that one should improve something, we usually speak with him individually," Matejovsky explained.

"Mr Coppell is the boss here but basically he does nothing during training. He just walks and looks how every player is committed. Everything else is the three assistants' job."

When asked which Reading player impressed him most, he had no hesitation in naming Nicky Shorey.

"The player with best technique in our team is left back Nicky Shorey," Matejovsky said.

"A defender! What things he can do with the ball! It is not about tricks, it is about how he can stop the ball and how he can pass the ball in difficult situations."

Matejovsky, who joined Reading on a three-year deal from Mlada Boleslav,has started the last five Premier League games for Reading.

Will Tidey / Vasek Kadlec / Eurosport