I don't think that's a good call at all, I think that team will lose, or at best draw. Two wingers will unbalance us, and I'm tired of BAE and Modric.
HI Roo, I won't quote your post as it's too long, but the reason we have to change is precisely because the QPR game is so vital, and what Harry's been dishing up lately hasn't worked. I know Harry won't make wholesale changes, but he has to make some. Nelsen for King, Livermore for Lennon for sure. Then I would like at least one of BAE or Modric out too.
Morning Gh10 i get what you're saying about things not working, and 3 months ago I would have agreed with you, if we were in this position. unfortunately, as much of a must win for us as this game is, it is also the same for QPR. - they are scrapping for premier league survival. I know you've followed football for many years, and it doesn't need me to tell you that teams at the bottom find a new sense of belief at the end of the season. - lets just look at Wigan! the problem, is that it's just as much of a must win game for them, as it is for us. we can't risk dropping first team players who are fit. the squad is bare and it's far too risky right now and unfair to put pressure on youngsters at this stage of a season. we've had some rotten luck recently, but harry is right, we've not played badly. - we're due a win! i agree with the comments about king. it's very sad, as ledley is a hero for me, but his days are over. as for Benny, he's had a couple of bad games, but come on.... he's been one of the best left backs in the league this season. he's due a couple of ****e games. lets all start thinking positive with 5 games to go as we're more than capable of beating the teams we are yet to play!!! COYS!!
You have to wonder if he's 'left' already, considering his substandard performances of late. Again I know it's all too radical/unwise, but a dogs of war mid of Sandro Livermore Parker, behind VDV Bale and ADe might be more set up for the 'battle of Loftus Road'.
Fair comments Roo I'm at a loss what to think TBH. Trouble is I think Harry is in the same boat. I'm not a big fan of BAE, so can't go along with the idea he's one of the best LBs in the Prem. Unless we're talking one of the 10 best, then that's half the Lge. To me Rose is the better option, but I kow it won't happen and can see why it shouldn't happen. Anyway, que sera and COYS. I've lost faith in Harry and think he'll pick a team(s) that will see us fail to win at QPR and fail to get top 4. Overall Harry has done well for us, but I think his time is up, and he's going to leave with us looking back on recent disappointments as well as the great times he brought too. Shame for him, shame for us, the cookie crumbled and it left a bad taste in the mouth at the end.
Rose did well for us at the end of last season and has looked pretty capable when he's been given a game in this campaign, if a little rusty. He should've been used more or loaned out. I'm a fan of Assou-Ekotto, but he's basically playing every game and I think it's begun to tell, as it did last season just before he picked up the injury which ended his season. Figueroa at Wigan is out of contract at the end of this season, if I remember correctly. Perhaps we should pick him up as cover for BAE and let Rose gain some experience elsewhere, as he's not learning anything on the bench?
Just for the record, I was more saying that Walker could, in theory, make a decent centre half, not that I would advocate bringing him at this stage of the season.
fair enough GH10, if that's your opinion, then of course, you're entitled to it. i personally think Benny is top drawer, but each to their own. the thing that's baffled/p*ssed me off most this season, is our incapability to sort out the "dead wood", and our bizarre loan options we've made. (outwards) sometimes you've gotta swallow your pride and take a hit. it hasn't worked out for GDS, bentley, etc etc as we all know. but I do not believe that there was not at least 1 team who would have taken each of those players. no matter what we got for them, we should have sold. they will never recover their values and each week we have them costs us a fortune. we should have just got rid. - we've done plenty of other good business that outweighs the dead wood, so its not a massive issue really is it? then there's the outward loans. corluka and bassong in particular. - there's mixed opinions of corluka on here, but the guy can do a job. he was our first choice RB for a few years, and although slow, he knows it and therefore his style of play is adjusted his lack of pace. he and lennon have combined very well in the past. Although KW is a very good player, i actually think the partnership between lennon and corluka was slightly better. but whatever opinion one takes, KW VC and AL provide some good options to a right hand side giving us versatility. VC can also play at CB, he played there for city before joining us. During the few times he's played there for us, he's always done a decent job. - this is exactly who we need right now. he's a good squad player. we've made a school boy letting him go. then there's bassong. Now, i know he's not everyone cuppa, but he's also capable of doing a job. had he been kept also, and we'd given him and corluka some game time, our players would be a lot fresher right now. then there's the other obvious players that should have had more game time, which we've spoken about to death.
They still have to play Man City and Chelsea, so as good as they are playing, there are still pitfalls ahead.
Is Kaboul def out? A lot of the speculation is based on people expecting him not to make it. Nelsen and Kaboul would be comforting.
If you accept G10's suggestion that our best side is the 4-2-3-1 with Livermore in it, then our back-up at the start of the season would have been: Cudicini; Corluka, Dawson, Bassong, Rose; Lennon, Huddlestone, Sandro, Pienaar; Defoe, Pavlyuchenko. Fitness issues meant that this wasn't to be, but that's a strong side, in my opinion. It doesn't even include the likes of Kranjcar, Dos Santos, etc. How we've ended up scraping around for players is beyond me, in all honesty.
Fair comments again Roo and PNP. I'm simply at a loss over all of it, how things have collapsed so badly. Yes, perspective says 6th and a FA Cup semi-final is about right for us, so if we get 5th, that's a little bit better than our finances suggest. But ATM, it's hard clinging onto that perspective.
I am in complete agreement with Roo. We cannot at this stage be playing youngsters or playing players out of position, if, as is the general thought that Kaboul will be unfit we have to pick between Gallas, King and Nelson. My thoughts are that it will be Gallas and Nelson. With regards to BAE I also agree he has been one of the best LB in the league this year, although he has looked a little tired in recent matches he is by far a better option that Rose IMO. As we are away I would play Parker and Sandro/Livermore in the middle at the expense of Lennon, with the option of bringing him on should we need him. I have a good feeling that we will get a win on Saturday and this will hopefully spur us on for the remaining games. If we get back to some sort of goalscoring form, we could easily win all our remaining games.
Hi SSAs, your basic tenet re selection goes along with my view of what Harry might realistically do. If he swaps King and Lennon for Nelsen and Livermore, as I wanted him to do for the Chelsea game, I'll go with that. I'd like more, but that would be an acceptable compromise between change and revolution I think.
IF we win against QPR and Arsenal and Chelski draw then everything will seem very different and all the pundits will be reporting things differently (we would be three points behind Arsenal with a game in hand). Of course its not certain, but who thought Wigan would win at Arsenal? The trouble with the speculation is that it only seems to be going in one direction at the moment. Sure we might lose against QPR but we've a good chance of beating them too, but which way it will go is speculation depending on how much water in your glass I guess. However, it is a FACT that Arsenal and Chelski play each other and there is only a total of three points possible between the two teams... maybe even two points. They don't both get three points and whichever one doesn't will have a whole heap of added pressure from fans and pundits.
For me the issue comes down to - are players like Modric, Parker, BAE, and Walker, who've played pretty much every PL game for months and a few others besides, tired or are they just lacking a bit of form. I don't think any of them have been poor enough to be dropped, but they've looked a bit off the pace in some recent matches. I'm not sure why people are so down on the King/Gallas partnership. I didn't think they did too badly on Sunday until we started to leave gaps in front of them as we chased the game. Gallas even did a reasonable job on Drogba for the goal, forcing him to turn onto his weaker foot and shoot from a poor place. Most days it would have gone in Row Z and most of the rest the keeper would have stopped it. Almost any team we pick ought to beat QPR if we play anything like to our abilities and actually finish off chances. Happy to leave it to Harry now, because it is far too late to solve the problem of lack of rotation. Wenger says stuff after matches that implies that Arsenal have a means of measuring fatigue of individual players and thus when they need to be rested. I assume that this is based on measurements of blood protein levels or similar. Anyone know whether we do this?
Good stuff as usual PS I'm sorry though when I see King I see someone out of shape and basically 'past his sell by date'. With someone more solid like Nelsen, Gallas might cut it, but King and Gallas is a partnership of two ageing, injury-hampered players. Maybe I'm wrong, we'll see more on Sat or not.
