Reading manager Steve Coppell has backed the intelligent football knowledge of his players to help them think their way out of trouble.The Royals are stuck in the Premier League relegation zone following eight straight defeats and even victory at Middlesbrough on Saturday will not guarantee an escape from the bottom three.

Coppell has been less than impressed with performances on the pitch but has been given hope by the players' attitudes off it.

"I have a lot of bright players who think a lot about football," Coppell said. "Sometimes they appear a bit blasé in their belief that everything is going to be all right but I know that when they go home and sit down they are thinking very seriously about the situation, individually and collectively, and how they and we can improve.

"They have come in with ideas, we have had open forums during this period and ideas have come out, which has shown they are thinking about the situation.

"They are not just turning in for training and then going off to play golf."

Coppell is nevertheless set to make a number of changes at the Riverside following their most recent loss.

The Royals slipped to a 2-1 home defeat by Aston Villa on Sunday but the manner of the defeat was more comprehensive than the score suggested.

The former Crystal Palace boss is likely to make four or five, with defenders Kalifa Cisse and Ibrahima Sonko the men most at risk.

He said: "My conclusion after the Aston Villa game is the same now. I have shown more than enough faith in a lot of people and would be justified in changing all eleven, there's no problem about that.

"But because I have faith in a lot of them there will be changes but not that many of them.

"And I don't want anyone to assume or presume that the players who will be left out are being blamed.

"I don't think there is anyone at the moment who is jumping out and saying 'look at me, I'm playing really well, I should be the first name on your team-sheet'.

"There is a collective responsibility here and I am not part of the blame mentality. I would never isolate players and criticise them. I might in the dressing room but never in public.

"I hold the naive opinion that every player wants to win a football game and every mistake is a genuine mistake. You can tell when players are not genuine."

Coppell also revealed that almost a whole team of reserve players had been knocking on his door asking why they were not being given a game.

He said: "I have had a lot of conversations with players who have been outside the first team and they say 'I should be playing' so this will be an opportunity for some for sure.

"I have had seven or eight players who have come to me to say 'I should be playing because those in my position haven't set the world on fire' - it may be that I have been too loyal to some players."

Strikers Dave Kitson and Kevin Doyle have been firing blanks since December but Coppell gave no indication that either player would

be making way for England Under-21 forward Leroy Lita.

He added: "Leroy has had opportunities this year. It is not as if he has been crying out for games. He has had seven or eight and he hasn't scored."

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