Match Day Thread QPR v Burton

Back now and fed with a glass of red in hand.
Great to see RTID, Beth, Nines, Terry and Roller. That was the only highlight!

Terrible team selection. What possible reason could there be for changing the team that played against Fulham? A gigantic cock up by Ollie.

Doughty was very poor. He's terribly slow and one paced and was completely off the pace all game. He's a decent player with a nice left foot, but he'll never get the chance to use those abilities at this level because he's so slow and ponderous. With Luongo being terribly inconsistent, doing one good thing followed by one bad, you could have driven a dozen teams of coach and horses through the centre of our midfield. Burton out played us through the middle and were by far the better side, looking threatening with almost every attack. Time after time our midfield was non existent and players were running at our back four.
Lynch is strong in the air and an organiser, but a complete donkey on the floor. Bidwell is simply terrible and must be the worst left back in the division. Furlong is young, with potential, but very ordinary right now. Burton's defence looked far more solid than ours all game.

With Hall playing in the sweeper role, we were left, time and again with 5 across the back and a huge hole through the middle. It doesn't work at home when teams aren't there to be countered.

The only bright points were Lualua and Wszolek who at least looked half decent and Washington was twice the player Sylla will ever be when he came on. Sylla really is one of the worst forwards I've ever seen play for Rangers. Manning looked twice the player Doughty is and should have started along with Mackie who was sent on ridiculously late on by Ollie. This was a very, very bad day for the Rangers boss.

We haven't played for a week so no one needed a rest. Play the strongest team against Burton and rest players at Toon where we'll get nothing anyway.

Today was a complete waste of my time, money and effort and I showed more effort getting to the ground than many of those who played on the pitch.

 

Cheers (I think) Col, for putting the effort in to enlighten us to the direness of our performance today - very disappointing...

 

Always appreciate your opinions Col. Bidwell has never looked more than ordinary and couldn't agree more about doughty. The guy doesn't have a sprint in him. I can only see our club going backwards at the moment. It is so frustrating considering we had two cracks at the premier league.

 

What's with this players needing a rest business anyway? Mackie might not be a world beater but the last thing he ever looks is tired and Manning is 20 for fecks sake, rest my arse

 

Dreadful result, don't get why would change the team that were playing well.

Squad really needs strengthening desparately otherwise a risk of being drawn right into a dogfight.

 

It's vintage Holloway and vintage Rangers to be fair. Get a little run going by grinding out some results and then get turned over by somebody we should beat. The story of us.

 

totally agree. Let Polter go by all means...when you've got decent cover. Every transfer window, regardless of manager, we make the same schoolboy mistakes. Madness.

 

Had to work today and only just seen the result and read some of the comments here. Totally agree with those asking why change a winning (or at least settled and grinding out results) team. If I was managing a team I like to think that I'd put out my strongest team for every game, which means starting with somebody like Manning against Burton and if he gets injured and can't be played against Toon, then so be it - I would then pick my strongest available team against them and so on.

I don't like this pragmatic approach. It's the same baloney that denies us a cup run every year.

 

I was at the game and I think Col's analysis is very fair. Ollie got it completely wrong with team selection (no Mackie or Manning, two recent stars) and tactics. Whatever formation Ollie thought he was playing, in practice it ended up 5-4-1 for the entire first half against one of the poorest teams in the division. At home! Personally, I thought Sylla struggled manfully throughout to hold the ball up but he got very little support in the first half. I don't think we had a meaningful shot in that period. Washington helped out fairly impressively when he came on after half time and we changed to 4-4-2 but, by then, we were playing far too much hoof ball and head tennis which became more and more desperate as the second half wore on. And, my God, did it wear on. From the start, Doughty went AWOL and I don't want to see him again in a hurry. I am a big fan of Luongo but he messed up some decent work with some awful passes. Pavel Szolek was probably my man of the match and Lua Lua showed some tricky skills and balance so it was worth giving him an airing. Other than bringing on Washington at half time for Hall, which was enforced by injury, Ollie's other changes came far too late.

A very poor game and an even poorer performance.

 

Looks like we've 'gone for a burton' 'got the chop' 'bought it' once again............................
I don't know what to think with our current crop.
We seem to be going nowhere at a great rate of knots..

 

Was it just me, or did anyone else notice that after about 30mins most of the team seemed to take it upon themselves NOT to pass to Sylla unless absolutely the last resort ?

Maybe it's not just the fans who have realised how useless he is.

 

Hard to pass to him when he's offside which is about 89 minutes per match.

 

Thanks for that honest assessment Col. Your opinions on football matters are 100% respected. Cheers.

 

"I'm sorry Olli!" as Stan Laurel used to say constantly to his rotund friend , it now applies to our present manager. He got it so wrong yesterday. What was he thinking? He so underestimated Burton. Are we that much superior to some of the Championship strugglers that we can afford to rest two of our better players and still hope to produce some sort of positive result? I think not. We are gradually getting embroiled in the mix at the bottom and yesterday was our chance to move comfortably above this. But no, Olli, in his cackhanded way, thought we could beat them without a strong team citing that these players were "tired" after 4 games. Personally, I think his decision had nothing to do with next weeks match against Newcastle. In all honesty, we haven't got much chance of a result there so why not have given it all yesterday? Bizarre! We are a pretty average side at present and managed by a pretty average manager with not a lot of hope of strengthening the side by much before the month's end!
Anyway, slightly at a tangent, what is this all about when teams keep putting out under strength sides in games, especially the Cup? What a utter farce yesterday! Good luck to the Oxfords, Lincolns etc,etc but when a team like Newcastle or Spurs field an almost reserve side to play lower opposition in the competition it just undervalues the tournament. Why should fans be made to pay full prices in that case?
Years ago football teams looked forward to the magic of the FA Cup, and that included the bigger sides. Not anymore apparently. As long as they can try and manipulate things to their own advantage these days, it seems OK.
Oh well, for all my whinging and griping, nothing will change for the better but had to get it all off my chest.
Have a pleasant weekend all!

 

Given that he's been brought back and should be keen to impress, Doughty was awful. Looked disinterested and seems as if he's running through a swamp all the time.

 

Totally agree.
He should never be selected ahead of Manning again if they're both fit etc.
If the lad from Man Utd is reasonably decent, which I suspect he probably is, then we will have enough options in centre midfield to let Doughty return to his level (league 1).
Also, Ollie needs to abandon this sweeper system at home until we have two genuine wing backs.

 

Lost Hall (bad)...and Sylla (oh dear what a shame) for Newcastle

 

Nines was I better off staying at home nursing my knee?

 

Spot on with regards to our midfield.
My lad is a decent centre mid and I honestly think that he would have enjoyed playing in Burton's midfield yesterday.

Ollie really went down in my estimations with that team selection.