Well played the manager and the team. After all the insults and negativity on here for the whole of the summer break I' m not sure we as a group of fans deserved that.
Nobody was good enough last season but they still played, some not even putting the effort in. Sinclair hasn't just learned how to play in the last 4 or 5 weeks. He's a raw player, wants to impress and wants to win. He has been given the chance to start a game instead of coming on 2 or 3 down, in a formation that suited him perfectly. He needs a run in the team, he may have a poor game next week but still needs to stay in the team.
What a great day out - completely unexpected but that’s QPR. Thought we looked very solid for the most part. Had some initial concerns- mostly re Kakay and dozell. Kakay played well and when he made a rare mistake, recovered well. Smyth and Armstrong were excellent and Dykes was effective. We had good shape and stopped Cardiff playing through us mostly. Great hassling by Smyth to set up the goal, shades of Hoillett at Wembley but with a better end ball. My son was getting a beer and missed it. Because of where we were sitting, he didn’t realise there had been a goal, it was so quiet. had a perfect view of Sinclair’s run and precision cutback to Paal. Superb finish. Lots of grumbles from the Cardiff fans around me. Kept schtumm, just in case. Substitutions cost us some shape and momentum and sadly, Adomah looks totally shot. Begovic looked assured and provided some confidence to the defenders (the goal was an aberration) and even though the last 10 minutes (sorry 20 with time added) were a little squeaky bum, the win was just reward for a much improved performance. Bumped into a few lads at Cardiff Central who were cock-a-HOOP, and spotted a car on the M4 with the reg J900 QPR heading home and happy. All I need now is a result on Wednesday and I get to see them again in Bristol before heading back to Aus. URsss
Come to Southampton and join the 2000 doing gear in the toilets at 3-0 down after 20 minutes. Glad they put in a performance for you.
2 games in. One absolutely terrible, one much improved. Ainsworth has been poor by his own admission. Hopefully, he's learning and will improve.
A very minor injury according to the Official, and already back in tailored training. The other reasons have been floated by others.
We played 3 4 3 I guess you call it (or 3 4 2 1) until the subs at least. Kakay RCB, Cook CCB and Fox LCB. Smith RWB, Paal LWB, Field LM, Dozzell RM, Chair CAM, Dykes withdrawn Striker, Armstrong most advanced Striker.
I’d have said it was a 4-4-1-1 though Paal was higher than Kakay. Some bloke showed a graphic on the Twatter. I’ll try and dig it out.
Agree with you it looked like he'd lost weight. He also lasted longer than I remember him managing before.
Ok! Sinton and London called it that at the start and it looked like it to me, but you don't get a great overview on QPR+ on a laptop
I must admit (like most)I couldn't see us getting anything from this game after last week's capitulation.
Out of possession Smyth dropped to wing back, making a 5 with Paal on the other side. In possession it reverted to a 4 at times as Smyth went forwards. It worked well and enabled a high press with Dykes playing in a no.10 role at times. There was a lot of rotation in transition periods. Very hard to master to be fair and something that won't work every game. We kept a shape and a defensive line in and out of possession, whether it was a 5 or a 4. We obviously dropped deeper as the game went on. Smyth and Armstrong were on their arses and Cardiff were naturally going to pile on the pressure. The Adomah substituon really **** me up.
It was actually a great example of shuffling across field depending on the scenario. Smyth and Kakay played very closely when out of possession with Paal coming right across. The same on the other side with Fox and Paal. The major key in succeeding with such tactics is pace on the transition, something we clearly lacked last season. Smyth and Armstrong breaking with such speed that the former was often getting doubled up enabling our support to find some great pockets to play in.
