Mark Irwin, The Sun:
Terrible Tottenham were simply too bad for words.And their England ‘superstars' were awful to a man.
From Paul Robinson in goal right through to substitute Jermain Defoe, they were all culpable in some part.
Robinson, the best shot stopper in the country, was twice beaten by angled drives into the far corner.
Skipper Ledley King struggled all afternoon and failed to respond when Kevin Doyle bagged Reading's third goal.
Fellow centre-half Michael Dawson gave Nicky Shorey far too much time and space to score Reading's first, while Jermaine Jenas was totally overshadowed by Steve Sidwell in midfield.
Aaron Lennon was equally ineffective and Defoe missed a glorious opportunity to level seconds before Doyle's killer third.
Former Arsenal trainee Sidwell inspired Royals to an unexpectedly easy three points.
Yet, for most of the first half, Spurs looked as though they would cut Steve Coppell's men to pieces with their precise passing play.
Yet Spurs' lack of a killer instinct soon to come back to haunt them as the lethargic Dimitar Berbatov allowed Reading to ride out the early pressure.
Even so, there was still no warning of what was about to follow when the Royals grabbed a shock equaliser in the 38th minute.
If that was bad, much worse was soon to follow from sloppy Spurs who then had other good opportunities to level. DREAM TEAM STAR MAN - STEVE SIDWELL (Reading)
Neil McLemen, Daily Mirror: In front of a record home crowd creating an old-fashioned atmosphere, the nouveau riche Royals ran up their best ever top-flight win.
Reading chose to outthink and outplay Tottenham - with Steve Sidwell outstanding in midfield. It was proof that sometimes the good guys can come first.
Yet no-one could have predicted this result halfway through the first-half. Reading began brightly but Tottenham soon gained control.
But instead of pressing home their advantage, Tottenham were too easily undone by sloppy errors at the other end.
Spurs were criminally poor at the back but also lacked any guile going forward.
Reading were worthy of their two-goal margin, and of climbing above Tottenham into 11th place in the Premiership.
Gary Jacob, The Times: Uninspiring, if not uneventful. Tottenham were lethargic.
They offered no drive, no urgency and, more tellingly, no invention. It was mostly the Tottenham defenders who were led on a merry dance.
Although Tottenham continued to enjoy a large share of possession, they failed to create good goalscoring opportunities.
Michael Dawson was hesitant and failed to close down Nicky Shorey for the Reading equaliser. Dawson and Paul Robinson had an argument but there was little dispute that Tottenham's defending was even more amateurish when Reading took the lead seven minutes later.
Seconds after Jermain Defoe had missed an opportunity to equalise, Reading added a third.
Oliver Brown, Daily Telegraph: Against a toothless Tottenham restraint and reserve not normally the hallmarks of a team with such rich attacking potential worked to devastating effect.
Nicky Shorey, unflappable in defence and scorer of Reading's stunning first goal, combined patient shepherding of such dangerous strikers as Dimitar Berbatov with powerful surges forward.
Reading were wise to take a measured approach. They made light of Tottenham's extra man in midfield with forensic, penetrating play.
Shorey, who was eclipsed in his energy only by the tireless Steve Sidwell, made a memorable impact. With Tottenham in the ascendant after Robbie Keane's 23rd-minute penalty, the defender was calmness personified in rifling in the strike that sparked Reading's recovery.
Tottenham were soon thoroughly deflated. Even Aaron Lennon, a garish blur in his canary-coloured boots, fell some way short of his exemplary standards.
Their unravelling spread from the centre outwards, as Jermaine Jenas and Didier Zokora conspicuously lost the thread in midfield; their passing was haphazard and their attempts at control weak.
Zokora was clearly at fault for Reading's second goal seconds before half-time, with some lax marking.
This setback unsettled Tottenham, and a compelling Reading offensive ensued with Paul Robinson unusually off colour.
Matt Scott, The Guardian: The reasons for Tottenham's unexpected slip were manifold and manifest. Goals from Nicky Shorey and Steve Sidwell ensured Tottenham's early lead from Robbie Keane's penalty was overturned before half-time and Kevin Doyle's third was no more than the home team merited.
Keane's penalty should have been enough to provide Spurs with the spoils here as a defensively minded, three-man central midfield should have closed out the result after Reading's dominance in the first quarter-hour.
But lapses of concentration gave Reading a route back.
Shorey and Murty were indeed pivotal to Reading's win: the narrowness of Spurs' midfield formation should have been counteracted by their full-backs' foraging but, pushed back by their opponents' positive running, seldom did Benoît Assou-Ekotto or Lee Young-Pyo advance.
Reading did not let up and their goal was a reward for Sidwell's box-to-box performance in which he and James Harper overshadowed a more numerous midfield, where another germ of Tottenham's problems lay. Ghaly and Jermaine Jenas were misplacing their passes and it meant that, when Didier Zokora broke up Reading's advances, he had no reliable outlet through which to build counter-attacks.
When the Ivorian was isolated his contribution became that of a fifth defender and, 2-1 down at half-time, that was not what Tottenham needed. The early exchanges of the second half continued in similar vein.
Man of the match Nicky Shorey. His marauding down the left flank suggested that he has the mettle to impress the England manager Steve McClaren.
Conrad Leach, The Independent: Tottenham succumbed all too easily against a Reading side whose confidence showed no signs of having subsided.
Having out-thought Reading in the opening phase, which led to their only goal, they were subsequently outplayed by their hosts and out-thought by Steve Coppell.
There had been little threat from either side when Spurs suddenly showed some purpose around the penalty area.
Reading failed to support Kevin Doyle, their only genuine striker in their starting line-up, while Seol Ki-Hyeon, nominally his partner, was dropping deep to pick up the ball on the flanks. With little support from midfield, there was no pressure on the visiting back four.
Then up popped Nicky Shorey. If the midfield had been guilty of staying too deep, the left-back took the chance to wander up and duly grabbed his unexpected reward.
Steve Sidwell had been as guilty as any of his fellow midfielders in not pushing up, but when Reading then had a corner in first-half stoppage time he made his presence felt.
Yet despite giving the hosts the lead the truly pivotal part of the match arrived in the 79th minute. In the space of 40 seconds, Jol's men could have drawn level yet they suddenly found themselves two goals down and in deeper trouble.