Been back from the game for a while and thought I'd relax with Mrs Rangercol's excellent shepherd's pie and enjoy a glass of red before putting fingers to keyboard. NW stood by his promise to pick a strong team and I'm not going to criticise him for that. Even in the light of Ali's injury, he had to play a strong side imo to try to turn the terrible run of games around. He was damned if he did and damned if he didn't imo! Plus, there wasn't a lot to choose from!! Well, I have to say that we were really, really awful for much of today's game. With well over 5k Rs there, the players just didn't seem up for it at all. NW again fell short tactically, at least in the 1st half. We started with 4-4-2, something a lot on here have been calling for and we were completely out-played for the entire half. They set themselves up with a fluid looking 4-2-3-1 and just passed their way through us! Mackie and Smith were isolated out wide, leaving huge gaps in the midfield, enabling MK to run at our back four at will. I could see this after 15 mins so surely NW could!!? MK should have had a penalty when Hill stupidly raised his hands when blocking a cross and stopped the ball with both hands!! We were very lucky to go in at half time level and the huge away crowd were booing the players off and telling NW to sort it out! To be fair, in the 2nd half, he did change things. He pushed Macheda out to the left and smith in behind DJ in a more fluid 4-2-3-1 or 4-4-1-1. We immediately looked better and were on top for the first 15mins of the 2nd period. I should add that Smith was pretty dire all game and Macheda, whilst running some good channels and supplying a couple of good crossed does not look the answer up front! HH was brought on for a very disappointing DJ, who just didn't look match fit at all! I thought he looked over-weight and had no spark whatsoever! Then, against the run of play....disaster!! I thought it was HH but the radio said it was Hill who tried to chest a corner instead of heading it away, it went to an MK player who slotted into the corner of the net. Cue our own fans singing...."Premier League? You're having a laugh!!". Not sure I've ever heard anything so embarrassing!! Macheda is taken off for Bothroyd, who looked as miserable as sin when he got off the team bus and Buzz comes on for........................... Derry.....NOT THE AWFUL SMITH!! Bothroyd looked lethargic and Buzz did nothing. Then....more disaster!! Ali goes down after stretching for the ball in the middle of the park. Everyone around me fears the worst as he's stretchered off with what looked like a very serious injury!! (Anyone have any news on what he's done?). Amazingly, out of nothing and from a long punt forward, HH tangles with their keeper and then finds the ball at his feet in the 89th minute with the goal beckoning!! He calmly slots it home, making the finish look easier than it was imo as there was a player back on the line! Mk are all over for us for the extra 5 mins and come close from a last minute corner. Then more boos greet the final whistle. There was a tangible feeling among all those around me that something has to change!! I honestly feel that it may be better to get rid of NW now and still have a chance of staying up. The players looked lack-lustre and couldn't string 3 passes together. We had TWO efforts on target in the entire game!! If you had dropped someone into the ground who didn't know better and asked them to pick the Premier League team, it wouldn't have been us!! Fair play to MK. They really wanted it much more than us and played some good football at times. As for us? Against Newcastle....no Taarabt, Traore, Barton or Faurlin!! And maybe.....no Warnock?!! Ratings: Cerny - 7 Did nothing wrong Young - 6 Not as good as usual Gabbidon - 6 Defended well but played a couple of terrible passes, putting us into trouble. Seems prone to these lapses a lot! Hall - 7 TBF...probably our best defender, although his distribution was awful as usual Hill - 5 Poor and should have given a penalty away when raising his hands to block in the box Mackie - 5 Ran a lot but produced next to nothing Smith - 4 Ran a lot but produced even less Derry - 6 Solid, but exposed in the first half Faurlin - 6 Looked the only player capable of knitting the play together for us. Looked a bad injury!! DJ - 4 Awful Macheda - 6 Ran some good channels and put in a couple of good crosses. Didn't look threatening Subs: Bothroyd - 5 Looked lethargic (Is he on his way?) Buzz - 5 Did nothing special HH - 8 Scored the equalizer, which we really didn't deserve.
Fair play col . i think if we are going to get shot of Neil then it has to be now so, giving any new guy time to bring in his own players. i wasn't confident when i saw our line up which screams out championship except for maybe young and faurlin. its not looking good without barton , faurlin traore and more importantly taraabt!
Cheers for the summary Col. Nice work. Just hope TF watched the game and heard the chants. Only he can sort this out now. NW is dead out of answers.
Thing is...that team should easily have done a job on MK!! They looked so disinterested!! Something looks seriously wrong to me. Watching the team get off the bus and how they warmed up...I thought "here we go, they don't look up for this at all!!"
It all sounds pretty desperate mate. Can you find any positives at all, apart from HH and the fact that we didn’t actually lose?
I find it highly remarkable we're calling it a positive that we have to play another game against terrible opposition getting found out once more. I'd rather have played a really weak team and lost in hindsight.
It's a struggle, it really is. No-one wants us to play well and win more than me I assure you! But they just didn't look right to me. I presume a few of them fear the chop when/if we get new players in, but if that was me, I'd be doing everything possible to show the manager my worth. HH did take his goal well and he is a definite plus. Macheda did ok and ran the channels well...but he doesn't look the answer to me. DJ was truly awful, looking over weight and anything but pacey!! I do wonder if we should get rid of NW and see if a "new broom" can turn things around? I'm not sure about that though, as I am a big supporter of not having a revolving door for managers.....BUT can things get any worse? Also, we have absolutely zero creativity without Adel. Ali retains the ball and is the only one to knit things together, but there is nobody, apart from Adel who gives us any spark (maybe SWP now and then!!).
The replay gets rid of another game for Barton's suspension and with no Tarrabt and, I presume, no Faurlin that has to be good!
I've not seen us live since WBA so I'm a little out of date. In that match we looked capable in bursts but short of conviction. One win, at that point , would have boosted confidence and resulted in better performances. Do you think that is still the case, or do you think that we have degenerated further?
I have said on here for ages we need a creative midfielder but NW doesnt seem to have one on his shopping list.The majority of folks on here seemed happy with our midfield but you will get nowhere passing sideways and back.Faurlins injury may be a blessing in disguise.
I'm going to have to think about this Col. I feel like i've jumped in a time-machine and gone back eleven years!
it's just been getting worse and worse. To me, Warnock has failed to get the new signings to play for him and at the same time by introducing these new players has alienated the team of last season. Under Warnock I can't see us ever winning again as he's lost the dressing room.
Times must be grim, I'm agreeing with my old mate Col. Has that every happened before? There is no way on God’s earth that an injury to Faurlin will do us good, unless we sign Alonso to replace him. It may help some of the doubters realise just how important he is to us.
Ridiculous ,well ,we will see. Stranger things have happened when people are forced into situations they didnt want to go into.
Oh I don't know. I think we are on the same wavelength quite a bit!! Obviously, the pass Faurlin played to Hill for the goal against Norwich was a figment of my imagination!!
Whatever you say Col, I don't want to mke you angry again I'm not sure how Faurlin got this reputation, just like Wilkins before him. If he didnât positively contribute he would soon be out of his ear, but this has not happened. Warnock stated that getting him to extend his contract was his best signing at QPR. If his injury is long term, we are in serious trouble.
Why are we in big trouble because we lose Faurlin.Nothing could be worse than where we are heading right now.Some situations force changes that may be for the better.
