Leeds boss Garry Monk responds to Reading hostilities

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Garry Monk: Feels Swansea City have improved after talk with players

Garry Monk: says Leeds are not ready for play-off challenge

Leeds manager Garry Monk has urged his players to ignore any talk and concentrate on playing football ahead of their meeting with Championship play-off rivals Reading.Monk’s fourth-placed side are just one position and two points above the Royals going into Saturday’s match at the Madejski Stadium.

Aside from the promotion race, there has been additional hostility between the two clubs after Reading boss Jaap Stam took exception to Leeds fans calling his side’s style of play boring during their meeting in December.

Monk, however, insists he is only interested in the game.

“We are very focused on ourselves, things outside of our control are irrelevant to us, we try to do our talking on the pitch and we will continue in that way,” he told Leeds’ official website.

“We were seven games unbeaten going into the (international) break and we want to try and continue that. I’m sure our focus will be the same and we are ready for these next eight games.”

Despite his difference of opinion with some of his opponents’ supporters, Royals boss Stam insists he has plenty of respect for Leeds and the work done by Monk.

“They are a physical side and the work ethic within the team is very high, but they’ve got a lot of quality too,” Stam said on Reading’s website.

“I’ve got the utmost respect for them and what they’ve been doing all season, the manager has done a great job. They get results and they are very hard to beat and as a result they are doing very well in the league.”

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