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Jackett has his work cut at Rotherham as they prepare for new era

Championship: Rotherham v Reading

By Matthew Brady

Championship strugglers Rotherham United begin life under Kenny Jackett this weekend with the visit of Jaap Stam’s Reading side to the New York Stadium.

Former Wolves boss Jackett takes the helm in South Yorkshire following the sacking of Alan Stubbs, who leaves the club in a perilous league position.

The Millers sit bottom of the table and have won just one of their opening 14 games in all competitions, against Brentford in August.

Jackett remains buoyant about his side’s chances this season, and believes creating a bond between players and supporters will be key to Rotherham’s success.

Addressing the media at his first press conference, he said: “I want to show the supporters a passionate and enthusiastic group of players that want to play for the shirt.”

However support alone won’t be enough to see Rotherham safe, and Jackett will be desperate to try and repair the leakiest defence in the division.

Reading find themselves favourites despite new manager Stam struggling to pull his team out of their current slump following a bright start to the campaign.

The Royals are winless in their past four games, giving Aston Villa their first away victory in over a year last time out at the Madjeski.

Stam has recently come under some criticism as a result, with some sections of supporters suggesting his possession-based style is too predictable to be successful.

The manager himself admitted this issue in his post-Aston Villa interview: “The opposition knows how we’re playing and they’re making it difficult for us to score goals.”

The Berkshire club will look to winger Garath McCleary – no one has scored or assisted more for Reading this season.

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