I've been feeling the need for a thread to discuss QPR tactics in more depth. Some people don't like to talk in much detail, preferring 1 sentance posts, and that's fine. This is probably not for you. I just wondered if others were interested in having a thread where we break down the tactics being employed by Warburton over the season and/or discuss what changes we would make, especially considering Warburton seems to be a bit all over the place at the moment.
I'll get it started:
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Firstly, I wouldn't even dream of sacking Warburton at the moment. I believe he is the right man for some long term stability and would only start to think about replacing him if we are promoted (I'm not sure I could see him being smart or wily enough to keep a team in the EPL, could you?).
For me, he is getting a few blindingly obvious things wrong lately.
The main issue is his use of two strikers, whilst not having any natural wingers or crossers of the ball. We can all see this is not working. Unlike some others on this forum, I think Austin and Gray are more than good at this level. We actually have a set of 3 strikers that most teams in the league would love to have. The issue for us is two of them really don't fit with our tactics and the types of 'creative' players we have.
I've noticed so many times recently that whichever striker is/strikers are on, they call for the ball a lot and nothing is provided them. I'm not talking about these massive long balls from the back line or keeper. Those do happen occasionally, but are usually poorly executed. I'm talking about smaller, looped through balls or through balls on the ground from the midfield.
It feels like Warburton has specifically told the team to only make a forward passes when they're 100% sure it will get to the player. But this is not how football works. You have to take chances, at least in the opposition half. We can't be scared too much of giving the ball away. I would like to see us make the opposition defences work more in this respect. We just need to put pressure on teams, make them sweat.
We also change our striker/s too often. In fact, Warburton is generally tinkering with the whole 11 way too much. I appreciate that we have a few injuries at the moment (self inflicted, from buying injury prone players). But we need some consistency, and up front is where we should start. We need to allow 1 striker to get into a rhythm, and that has to be Dykes. He is the best suited for the way we play.
So, for me, I would be playing one striker, with Willock as 2nd Striker, and Chair playing his usual roaming attackin midfield role. Ball should be the holding/defensive midfielder until Field comes back (who will still be injury prone even when fit again). And I would be asking Johansen/Amos and Chair to be looking out for any time Dykes or Willock raises their arm calling for a pass (in other words, trust the forwards!)
I'd be willing to stick with the whole wing back system for now, as long as one of the wing backs has been given the order to cross as regularly as possible, including making some early crosses. Could possibly switch to 4 at the back and have an extra midfielder to keep a hold on the middle of the park.
I could write more but let's get the ball rolling!
I'll get it started:
----------------------------------------
Firstly, I wouldn't even dream of sacking Warburton at the moment. I believe he is the right man for some long term stability and would only start to think about replacing him if we are promoted (I'm not sure I could see him being smart or wily enough to keep a team in the EPL, could you?).
For me, he is getting a few blindingly obvious things wrong lately.
The main issue is his use of two strikers, whilst not having any natural wingers or crossers of the ball. We can all see this is not working. Unlike some others on this forum, I think Austin and Gray are more than good at this level. We actually have a set of 3 strikers that most teams in the league would love to have. The issue for us is two of them really don't fit with our tactics and the types of 'creative' players we have.
I've noticed so many times recently that whichever striker is/strikers are on, they call for the ball a lot and nothing is provided them. I'm not talking about these massive long balls from the back line or keeper. Those do happen occasionally, but are usually poorly executed. I'm talking about smaller, looped through balls or through balls on the ground from the midfield.
It feels like Warburton has specifically told the team to only make a forward passes when they're 100% sure it will get to the player. But this is not how football works. You have to take chances, at least in the opposition half. We can't be scared too much of giving the ball away. I would like to see us make the opposition defences work more in this respect. We just need to put pressure on teams, make them sweat.
We also change our striker/s too often. In fact, Warburton is generally tinkering with the whole 11 way too much. I appreciate that we have a few injuries at the moment (self inflicted, from buying injury prone players). But we need some consistency, and up front is where we should start. We need to allow 1 striker to get into a rhythm, and that has to be Dykes. He is the best suited for the way we play.
So, for me, I would be playing one striker, with Willock as 2nd Striker, and Chair playing his usual roaming attackin midfield role. Ball should be the holding/defensive midfielder until Field comes back (who will still be injury prone even when fit again). And I would be asking Johansen/Amos and Chair to be looking out for any time Dykes or Willock raises their arm calling for a pass (in other words, trust the forwards!)
I'd be willing to stick with the whole wing back system for now, as long as one of the wing backs has been given the order to cross as regularly as possible, including making some early crosses. Could possibly switch to 4 at the back and have an extra midfielder to keep a hold on the middle of the park.
I could write more but let's get the ball rolling!
