We REALLY missed Barton tonight.

Sorry we'll all bow down to your opinion seen as you know so much. Get off your high horse man. Everyone is different. Barton would have made a big difference for me but wouldn't have solved all the problems. Shola was the main one. Tiote was another main one and his desire to give them the ball. Barton was the guy who got hold of the game and got his team passing. We could have done with that, no doubt it for me. As for Santon, SWP may have given just as torrid a time.

 

Have a look back at who fed those two the ball though. Invariably it was Barton. Just a good footballer who does a quietly effective job.

 

QPR fan here - I was at the game last night and thought we should/could have scored from the dozen or so chances we created but a point was great against the Toon. Barton clapped the Toon fans when he walked out, went over to acknowledge your support at the end and spent a lot of time shaking hands and chatting to your players too. There were a few boos when he got the ball but on the whole I think your fans treated him very well. It is obvious he has strong feelings for your club and he has been at pains to point out he never had a problem with the players or fans.

Great game last night by the way, proper entertainment. Cheers & good luck for the rest of the season.

 

This is what was wrong with our game, we went 4-4-2 the went 4-3-3 and the front 3 were dropping deep so the midfield was crowded out and allowed them to easily win the ball and break out with pace (SWP & Taarabat) When you are over run players get more space and will make others look ****e.

People have slated pardew for his tactics but he had to second guess how they were going to line up.
5 new players in the squad and Barton was on the left for large spells of the game, how do you work tactics against the unknown?

Tiote looked off his game and Strolla was an embarresment, everyone else did ok and Best has gone up massivley in my estimations. He battled and dropped back into midfield to help out, shame he didn't have a strike partner to play in cause the lazy twat was either static or on his arse!!!!


Credit to QPR they had a buzz of expectation and the whole team were up for it, lucky for us they didn't have their shooting boots on.

I'll take the point away from home any day.

 

I don't need to look back, I was paying extra attention every time Barton got the ball given the circumstances, and he did nothing spectacular, few easy passes but was ultimately very quiet for him.

 

I still say we missed Barton though. Everyone has made valid points to an extent and I'm not saying he's the be all and end all, not by any stretch, but to play a four man midfield without Barton's influence really show's where we went wrong. Raylor got tortured by SWP no doubt, but Santon should be able to sort that out. We could have had two world class strikers upfront yesterday and still not scored. We lost the midfield battle outright, we desperately needed another quality body in there.

I reckon HBA would do the trick with his movement and ability to retain possession but until he's fit we really could have done with having Barton available.

 

Everyone to their own I suppose, I thought he was superb and rarely gave the ball away, and was part of a midfield that had complete control of the game. Didn't mean look back in a sarcy way by the way, just think its strange everyone is raving about Taarabt/SWP, yet Barton is deemed to be quiet despite being the one feeding the ball all game long.

 

Get them passports out.

 

Who you kidding? I never put them away in the first place man!

 

Whoa lads don't even curse it, the charge has only just begun! Haha. Is that an incredibly hot picture of Kat from LA Ink as your Avatar? Maybe when younger?

 

Missed him he went missing most of the game for qpr, every now and then hed play a good pass or make a decent tackle. I think because we played poorly we are focussing on losing barton and how we would of helped us, if anything JB would of been a hinderance he couldnt of dealt with taarabt in midfield and on the wings taarabt and phillips would of done him time and time again, what we really lacked tonight was the willingness to play forward instead of hoofing it up to best and ameobi. Obertan was poor for all his pace he looks to scared to beat a man and run at defenders unless hes got acres of space! Cabaye was too far back, we played the way qpr made us play rather than the way we should of played, i would of started with best upfront and obertan or cabaye in the nolan role, and marvaux jonas outwide tiote holding. We had no desire to get forward and it was dissapointing, we missed a lot of things on monday but barton was not one of them, he was poor.

 

Come back, Joey come back. Start the official campaign to have him returned to his rightful owners, in his spiritual home. He doesn't want to be there, you could see, he was even feeling Colo's cock in the tunnel! Love him and he was fantastic last night. We need him and I'd love him to be doing what he did last night for us. Really helped them boss the game as he used to for us.

Unfnortunately that train has sailed!

 

The journal described his performance as "underwhelming" and "mainly anonymous". Whilst I agree there is a certain amount to be said for 'unsung heroes' who quietly go about influencing the game, that has not exactly been Joey's strength in the past! He likes limelight and lots of it.

 

He does but for other reasons. He has always been a quietly effective footballer. You often find they are when not blessed with great skill or pace. You have to pass and move, and influence the game by getting the team into a ryhthm. He does love a bit drama though! Wouldn't worry about the Journal or any other paper, they know dick all. One give Obertan a 4 and R Taylor a 6?? Which game were they watching!

 

Obertan was ****e to be fair, but R Taylor was an absolute nightmare.

 

Aye I thought Obertan was poor but 4 is well harsh bearing in mind him and Jonas had to travel 40 yards with the ball before reaching the opponents half. He lacks confidence too. I have sympathy with Raylor but he probably was a 4! Tough going against SWP and particularly when you're not a left back. I actually think Santon not playing was a bonus. Could have been a baptism of fire which set him back.