Coppell hoping to get Shorey, and Reading, back on track
Reading manager Steve Coppell has challenged Nicky Shorey to regain the club form that made him an England international.
The 26-year-old has two caps to his name and was an unused member of the squad that recorded back-to-back victories over Israel and Russia this month.
Lost his edge: Coppell believes the club need to get Shorey 'excited by the challenge of playing for Reading again'
Steve McClaren picked him for friendlies against Brazil and Germany on the back of some impressive performances last season as Reading defied the odds to finish eighth in their first Barclays Premier League campaign.
This term it has been a different story however and the Royals travel to Sunderland tomorrow looking to climb out of the relegation zone.
Shorey has been far less influential at left-back than before and Coppell believes a combination of playing for his country and having a move to West Ham blocked last month was behind it.
He said: "He would prefer to be plying his trade at a higher level. That's his long-term goal and he is, on a monthly basis, being excited by the challenge of playing for England.
"Now we have got to get him excited by the challenge of playing for Reading again.
"We need him to be right at the top of his game and there are quite a few players who have yet to reach the levels they were performing at last year."
Reading lost their last game 3-0 at home to the Hammers, a result that forced Coppell to admit that the current campaign was likely to be much tougher than the first.
The previous league fixture, at Bolton, had also been a 3-0 loss so changes are expected for the clash at the Stadium of Light.
Coppell said: "Letting in six goals in two games is a concern and something we hadn't expected to come onto our agenda.
"One 3-0 was bad enough and I gave the players the benefit of the doubt but in the last game we were well beaten.
"If we had beaten West Ham it would have been a great start given the fixtures we had been given but we didn't.
"I don't know which way to take it at the moment. Can we get back on track? I don't know.
"It's important that over the next five games we put ourselves in a healthier position."
The game will also be marked by a celebration of the life of Ian Porterfield, who died earlier in the week.
The Scot famously netted the goal that won Sunderland the 1973 FA Cup final at Leeds' expense and he went on to be both a player and manager at Reading. Coppell said: "There will be a mutual appreciation of someone who contributed so much."
