Bloody hell I recorded the game and watched it this morning, I should have stayed in bed. It's so QPR to have this great season and fudge it away right at the death. I wonder if Charlie hadn't picked up a knock if we still would have persisted with this no striker business? Warbs obviously knows more than I do but you have to question his man management at the moment. The freezing out of Dom Ball has long irked me but surely after last week George Thomas would have been absolutely buzzing? Why would you not harness that energy again? Especially as we looked so lethargic. Persisting in playing players out of position and out of form whilst completely blanking others doesn't seem very conducive to building team confidence to me. We still could have lucked a draw if not for the Marshall error, but to be fair he also made several saves as well. Couldn't really argue if we'd lost be 2 or 3 really.
You maybe correct in your opinion but in mine, so far, Hendrick hasnt added anything more to our team that Dozzell or even Amos did prior to his arrival. He is a good player, dont get me wrong, the point i make is whether we actually needed him.
Hendrick has done very little and seems to not complement Johansen at all. Amos and Thomas have done little wrong when given a chance as far as I can see. Field is clearly the best of the lot.
Warburton actually said he made mistakes yesterday picking the side, but blamed it on not rotating tired players. Nothing to do with the fact some have been out of firm for ages or he played them out of position ! Sick and tired of hearing we're punching above our weight, Huddersfield, Blackburn, Luton, Preston and Millwall are punching above their ****ing weight and Notts Forest were bottom when they got rid of Hughton and hadn't won a game ffs. We may have been in a false position but the squad was decent not weak, selection problems and letting Dykes go and play for Scotland when he already had an injury were more damaging than anything else. Not strengthening in the attacking third in January was always gonna be a disaster , whether you blame it on funds or not. Everyone else around the top 6 did so, and we're paying the price for it now. On current form and performances we'll finish around 10th or 11th if nothing changes !
If I’m honest I now see us as a 7th place team. But a little more and we’re in a play-off position. So it’s fine margins. I agree it’s time we saw a bit more of Amos, Thomas and Ball; but they can’t all slot in the middle, so it can only be in rotation or substitutions. We need a striker back though. We need goals!!
But we need good players, no? Before his arrival and Field's return from injury we were frequently overrun in midfield. Not now. Hendrick passing through the midfield is usually accurate and quick, and seems to compliment Johansen and Field very well to me. We look a solid unit there at last. I agree Dozzell is also a good quick passer of the ball but lacks a bit in his positioning and hasn't looked quite ready for Championship football, at least for a promotion battle. I reckon Amos is better further forward, an alternative to Chair, not in a central 2 or 3. For me our problem yesterday was not our midfield or defensively, but the lack of strikers, Willock out of position, Chair ineffective and Albert not at his best. Plus Marshall's error. The stats confirm this too, 57% possession against one of the top teams without much passing around the back 3, but only 7 shots, 2 on target.
In his post match interview Warburton kept banging on about the players being tired and how Wednesday night took a lot out of them. And yet Blackburn played Wednesday night and didn't look leggy (albeit very ordinary). True they didn't play with 10 men for half a game. But Willock was sacrificed in that game coming off at half time so surely would have been the freshest. And yet he was the first to be replaced in this game! His excuse of players being over-worked and how Charlie and Dykes both picked up injuries is really pathetic. Another reason we should have strengthened with an attacker in January, then. Particularly as all 3 strikers are notoriously injury-prone. If Warburton doesn't get back to picking the side and system that got us in this lofty position then we're going to finish mid-table.
Bloody hell I still can’t believe we blew it yesterday. Warbs should have brought in another striker… even if a young Arsenal/Chelsea striker on loan.
Gray was on the bench and came on, if Warburton don't think he's up to the task then he should've sent him back in January and got in another striker. We needed to get in an attacking midfielder or another striker and we didn't, the writing was on the wall but the majority of the people on here were happy with what we had and didn't see the need to strengthen. Its no good moaning about it now, we are suffering because of it. Managerial decisions and tactics are just conpounding the situation. We went a ridiculously long time scoring in every away game on the trot, it's now either 4 or 5 away games on the trot we've gone without scoring once and against some truly turd teams. Blackburn had gone 5 or 6 games without scoring themselves, we are the gift that keeps on giving !
I think we are in slight danger of unrealistic expectations at the moment. We've grudgingly accepted we seem to be going down the Brentford model, developing talent and selling at a profit thus attracting diamonds in the rough who aspire to the PL. In that context Bees hold the record for the 'nearly' team losing both a place in the playoffs and playoff games too before achieving their goal last year. Potentially this is the first of a few 'nearly' seasons before we see the success we all want. They had some managerial change along the way too. I really like Warbs but if a change is needed to achieve that goal, that too will happen in due course.
Almost any keeper would have saved that mate, it was a terrible flap. I think most keepers would have put their fists together and punched it clear.
Absolutely true. On the flip side of that, I suppose a lot of people feel that these opportunities won't come along very often and are frustrated at the way we seem to be ****ing it up through bad selections and tactics. It may well be that Warburton is reaching his zenith with us.
If you can bring yourself to read it, here's Clives report... https://www.fansnetwork.co.uk/football/queensparkrangers/news/57166/a-role-reversal-–-report
It’s possible. And it’s been said before. And MW has turned it around and gained masses of support for doing so. Funny ‘ol game.
Entertaining as always. He always has a snipe at fans who criticise tactics etc, but not everyone is an "up and at 'em" idiot who doesn't understand the game. I like Warburton, but Clive is far too generous concerning Warburton's near obsession with sports science and the number of fixtures. Yes, we give the ball away too much, but we should be taking bigger risks, playing forward passes into the feet of Chair and Willock, playing in their correct positions. We're giving the ball away poncing about with square and backwards passes, which at least Clive acknowledged.
I also wasn't impressed by Warburton getting eggy with Sky's post-match interviewer, for asking legitimate questions about our form. He got really tetchy and pointed out no-one was questioning Blackburn's points tally yet they're only a point above us. Ignoring the bigger picture that it's now 5 points from a possible 18 (plus an FA Cup defeat to Peterborough) and we've thrown away all our games in hand. It wasn't a good look and one which our rivals will see as him being clearly rattled.
