Friday 17 April 2015 01:17, UK
Steve Clarke knows Reading will have to play the "perfect game" against Arsenal if they are to have any chance of reaching the FA Cup final.
However, Clark accepts it will be a “big ask” given the players have yet to produce such a performance this season since he was appointed late last year in a bid to turn things around.
Clarke has been unable to improve their league fortunes to date - in fact, they have slipped from 16th to 18th in that period - but they have fared much better in the FA Cup, leading the Royals to a first semi-final in 88 years.
The Gunners now stand between them and a first ever final and Clarke is aware of the task facing his side at Wembley this weekend.
"If you make mistakes in possession and give the ball away to Arsenal, they will punish you," the Reading manager said.
"If you make silly mistakes in and around your own box, they have got players that will capitalise on those chances.
"Maybe in the Championship you can make two to three mistakes in a game and the opposition are not quite good enough to take those chances.
"But you know if you make them against a top team they will take them and that is what we have to be aware of."
Asked how many times his side have played the perfect game, Clarke said: "Probably none. So it's a big ask! But you have to ask it."
The fact one bookmaker has Reading at 14/1 to win the semi-final underlines the heights Reading will have to scale at Wembley, although Clarke clearly believes they can progress.
The Royals boss spoke of "when" they beat Arsenal - "it wasn't a slip of the tongue," he insisted - and pointed to the side they overcame at the quarter-final juncture as an inspiration.
"Nobody expected Bradford to go to Stamford Bridge and score four goals and win 4-2," Clarke said.
"Why did they beat Chelsea? Probably because Chelsea were not quite 100 per cent on the day and Bradford were.
"That's what happens and that's why cup competitions are great because anybody can beat anybody on any given day."
Why did (Bradford) beat Chelsea? Probably because Chelsea were not quite 100 per cent on the day and Bradford were.
Clarke has experienced FA Cup success on several occasions, most recently as part of Jose Mourinho's coaching staff when Chelsea won in 2007.
That was a special moment for the Reading boss, although the Blues' triumph a decade earlier meant even more to the former defender.
"It was just the best occasion," Clarke said. "For me it was great, first trophy for Chelsea in 25 years, so we made a little bit of history.
"And winning it as a player is slightly different to winning it as a coach, if I win it as a manager then maybe I can compare the two."
Clarke cracked into a smile when reminiscing about the 1997 triumph – emotions not necessarily expected from the Scotsman.
"Do you think I get emotional?" he asked. "I do actually get emotional, but I keep it well in check when all you guys are around.
"But my players know that I can get emotional, both good and bad.
"You try to give the players a little bit of the experience that you have had, you try to make them aware of how good it can be. But at the end of the day it is down to them.
"If they need those little words from me to help them then fine, but by and large they will know how much it is going to mean to them if they can make history.
"To get Reading to the final of the of the FA Cup would be a marvellous achievement, and that is what we have to focus on at the weekend."
