Far from me being pedantic but the recent negativity has raised the point of teams gelling at the start.I give you the example of Paris St Germain who had a net spend of over £58million in this window and have drawn their first 3 games and were booed off on saturday. QPR's net spend is a tenth of that yet the expectations seem to be set much higher than an established European team who regularly play in the champions league.I'm not carping on here just giving an example of how things can go at the start of a season,Real Madrid too have had a shaky start and look at the size of that club. Having regularly gone to games for 40+ years i have learn't to curtail those expectations as i hate being disappointed,iv'e mostly set the bar low and anything above that becomes a welcome bonus.maybe in 10 years we will be in the champions league or maybe back to square one who knows. I have seen some fans saying with the money we have spent we should be in the top 6 already,well if the team had hit the ground running we may well have been but the team didn't so were not.We have spent very little compared to some,look at liverpool £15 million on the player from swansea who taarabt made look a mug last season and some say we panic buy???. Mark Hughes is trying to build a squad and it looks like Tony Fernandes trusts him,just imagine if warnock was spending this money i shudder at the thought.I say take the Clive Dunn route and DON'T PANIC!!!!!!
Good post Ade, many on here had ridiculously over-optimistic expectations to begin with not realising our defence was still pretty threadbare, well they've had the wake-up call. We are a work in progress but I would expect some improvement and some strengthening to come. At least we've broken our duck even if points may be in short supply in September...
M'bia looks like it's as good as done and carvalho s a very strong possibility so there are two top drawer defenders,the options up front seem to be pretty good as does the midfield but as you said the defence needs attention.
Spot on I'm fed up with the negativity on here. Seems to be an expectation of instant success. Give it time we will succeed! Interestingly there was an article today highlighting the number of keeper errors so far this season. They say the new ball is moving more and later making it harder. True or not I don't know but hey let's support Green and see how he can do rather than berating him.
Ranger74 the technology of the footballs has changed apparently and teams all across europe have mentioned its areodynamics resemble a balloon lol,and lots of keepers have struggled with its sudden change of direction in the air.green is a top keeper and will save us more points than he gives away in my opinion.
Excellent post, both in content AND easy to read paragraphed presentation. Thanks for heeding Stainsy the other day Ade. Cannot disagree with a word you've said in any of your recent posts mate. Expectations can often be irrational and invariably lead to disappointment. Were our expectations Hughes' fault... or our own? There's a lot to bring together atm. Let's just watch and see how MH copes. His reputation's on it but early days.
Great thread. It's worth remembering that when Hughes took over Fulham in 2010 they only won two out of their first fourteen games. Although they drew many of their other games they were in 17th place on fourteen points. This of course bought the Fulham faithful to call for Hughes scalp, they didn't buy into Hughes's football philosophy and questioned his ability as a Premiership manager. My point? After being in 17th place after 14 games, Mark Hughes Fulham went onto finish in 8th place that season. Pretty incredible huh? I'm not saying that will be the case with us, although I'd love it if we did. It just goes to show that if QPR as a collective, the players, staff and us the fans stick by our team and give them all the support we can, you just never know what can happen. We've only just begun. Btw here is Fulhams record of that season..... FULHAM* 2010/11**results P W D L F A W D L F A Pts Pos 38 8 7 4 30 23 3 9 7 19 20 49 8th Table * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Sat Aug 14 * Premier Bolton Wanderers Away Drew 0-0 Sun Aug 22 Premier Manchester United Home Drew 2-2 Wed Aug 25 LC 2 Port Vale Home Won 6-0 Sat Aug 28 Premier Blackpool Away Drew 2-2 Sat Sep 11 Premier Wolverhampton Wanderers Home Won 2-1 Sat Sep 18 * Premier Blackburn Rovers Away Drew 1-1 Tue Sep 21 * LC 3 Stoke City Away Lost 0-2 Sat Sep 25 * Premier Everton Home Drew 0-0 Sat Oct 2 * Premier West Ham United Away Drew 1-1 Sat Oct 16 * Premier Tottenham Hotspur Home Lost 1-2 Sat Oct 23 * Premier West Bromwich Albion Away Lost 1-2 Sat Oct 30 * Premier Wigan Athletic Home Won 2-0 Sat Nov 6 * Premier Aston Villa Home Drew 1-1 Wed Nov 10 * Premier Chelsea Away Lost 0-1 Sat Nov 13 * Premier Newcastle United Away Drew 0-0 Sun Nov 21 Premier Manchester City Home Lost 1-4 Sat Nov 27 Premier Birmingham City Home Drew 1-1 Sat Dec 4 Premier Arsenal Away Lost 1-2 Sat Dec 11 Premier Sunderland Home Drew 0-0 Sun Dec 26 Premier West Ham United Home Lost 1-3 Tue Dec 28 Premier Stoke City Away Won 2-0 Sat Jan 1 Premier Tottenham Hotspur Away Lost 0-1 Tue Jan 4 Premier West Bromwich Albion Home Won 3-0 Sat Jan 8 FAC 3 Peterborough United Home Won 6-2 Sat Jan 15 Premier Wigan Athletic Away Drew 1-1 Sat Jan 22 Premier Stoke City Home Won 2-0 Wed Jan 26 Premier Liverpool Away Lost 0-1 Sun Jan 30 FAC 4 Tottenham Hotspur Home Won 4-0 Wed Feb 2 Premier Newcastle United Home Won 1-0 Sat Feb 5 Premier Aston Villa Away Drew 2-2 Mon Feb 14 Premier Chelsea Home Drew 0-0 Sun Feb 20 FAC 5 Bolton Wanderers Home Lost 0-1 Sun Feb 27 Premier Manchester City Away Drew 1-1 Sat Mar 5 Premier Blackburn Rovers Home Won 3-2 Sat Mar 19 Premier Everton Away Lost 1-2 Sun Apr 3 Premier Blackpool Home Won 3-0 Sat Apr 9 Premier Manchester United Away Lost 0-2 Sat Apr 23 Premier Wolverhampton Wanderers Away Drew 1-1 Wed Apr 27 Premier Bolton Wanderers Home Won 3-0 Sat Apr 30 Premier Sunderland Away Won 3-0 Mon May 9 Premier Liverpool Home Lost 2-5 Sun May 15 Premier Birmingham City Away Won 2-0 Sun May 22 Premier Arsenal Home Drew 2-2 *
The way I see it is that our squad is markedly improved on last seasons one, but our first eleven isn't. Over a full season we'll see the results on having a stronger squad, now in the early parts we will struggle for consistency but eventually we will be stronger as a unit. While we keep on improving so is our opponents and this makes getting favourable results harder. I'm confident we'll see wastly improved performances in the next three games as we are once again the underdog and the pressure is more or less off. With greater strength in depth we won't be as predictable as last year, something that also will help us in the long run. Just be patient as it won't bear fruit after only two games. I'm 100% sure we're in for a very enjoyable season, unless of course you expect us to be top 6.
This is the best thread I have seen in ages. Spot on, as are the replies. Have been saying this for weeks. I am still optimistic we will have a very good season. Just see some problems in MH not knowing his best players and formation at the moment.
yeah i agree and i made this point the other day i just feel when the window shuts and all players are in he will be able to start working out his best 11. This is the best squard we have had for a long time, And it will improve and for people saying sack him bring in some one new makes no sense he will still have the same players and will most likely change the way the team plays so it doesn't mean it would even work bringing in a new manager. Just give him time to work and get behind him and the team, slagging players off and the manager after two games is just utter stupid.
Excellent thread and some very good comments. I would only add that my worries are not that we didn't beat Swansea or Norwich and didn't play well. My worry is that Hughes hasn't got the tactical nous to get a good squad of players playing good football. I remain hopeful and I'll certainly be the first to congratulate him if/when he does!
i think as for not beating Swansea we tottally did not expect them to be that good. And after watching them against West ham feel they will be in the top ten this season. As for Norwich we played awful but if we are all honest we would have taken a point, Knowing that we never get nothing from this fixture normally. If you can play bad away and still pick up points that is not a bad thing but our home form is going to be key to staying up this year.
If we "never get nothing" then we surely always get something!!? Sorry!! (Double negative and all that!). I'll get me coat!
Ade in a very short time you have become one of my favourite posters ( sorry 9's/Col and all) You are a voice of sense and reason in times of panic and dispare . In fact, if you were female I might of already asked you for your hand in marraige. Ade....... I salute you sir