"""""""" âMy legs wonât get there â Iâve been punishedâ admits honest Hill 08/10/2012 by David McIntyre QPR defender Clint Hill has admitted he canât cut it as a Premier League left-back. The 33-year-old played in the centre of defence for much of last season and ended the campaign as Rangersâ player of the year. Fabio is out injured. And after being given a torrid time during recent defeats against West Ham and West Brom, Hill concedes he has been exposed in a position he no longer feels totally comfortable in. He was outpaced for both of Albionâs first-half goals at The Hawthorns and was replaced at half-time by Armand Traore, who has been nursing a hamstring complaint. âIâve got to that age now where I know my limits,â Hill explained. âIâve been punished a few times because my legs wonât get there at this time in my career. âIâm trying to do a job because weâve had a few injuries with Fabio and Armand. Heâs come in so hopefully heâll be alright now.â Despite a summer of more big spending, Rangers go into the international break bottom of the table and without a league win this season. They are also yet to win away since Mark Hughes took over as manager in January. An influx of players, several of which have arrived from overseas, has been touted as a reason for the teamâs dismal results. But Hill said: âI donât like using that as an excuse. Everyone plays football no matter what league, language or country you come from. âThereâs still the same white lines, ball, a goal and 11 men. Itâs very frustrating because if you look at the team on paper you think you should be higher. âWeâre surprised where we are, but thereâs no given right that we should be any higher. The league doesnât lie. âWe havenât performed to anything like the standards we set in pre-season. I donât know why that is â itâs just not going for us. All we can do is regroup and go again. âThe higher you go the more you get punished for individual errors and mistakes. As soon as we cut them out I think we might start getting decent results.â """"""" I still reckon he's about our best CB though.
Respect to that man. Honest player and honest man too. Such a shame he was denied the goal against Bolton. Likely would have been his only PL goal.
Without question although that's not saying much is it? TBH I can't see us surviving without the defence getting another serious makeover in January. Not what you want mid-season but as most of us said all summer we have major deficiencies at CB. MH has lost much credibility on this point alone IMO.
I think this is why we like him, honest doesn't dodge the bullets. Now if I know this, you know this, he knows this, why the hell doesn't MH know this ! Surely Dyer is the is the Rb\Lb replacement when we have a problem, I think I'd rather go Mackie RB and move Bosingwa across than have Clint being out paced again. Don't get me wrong I like him but as a CB please.
Only to be expected from good honest pros like Hill & Derry. These are 2 guys whom I hope the new management will take a look at for the long term development of our youth, pray that Ainsworth is also not forgotten. Only tempered slightly by how the .... was this not seen by MH before? - Is this another example of the fans being absolutely clueless and the great MH,TF & DT knowing and seeing something mere mortals cannot?
I love Clint...player of last season. Thank you Clint. As I always said..he may of been at fault for the goals...he put his hand up. That is really honest Sparky is not stupid...no he is not...if he plays Clint in that position, is because at the moment, he is the best we have got there....because everyone else is injured...or would cause TOO much disruption to play others there. It shows desperate we are And how things could change if we had a stable defence
Maybe he should have alerted MH to this prior to the game. However even I could see for the past 2-3 years that Hill isn't a particularly good left back. Strong heart, crap legs.
You are very faithfull to Hughes, Beth! We did have other alternatives than Clint at LB, and I think it is at CB where we need to avoid most disruption. Nelsen and Clint played well there against Spurs, and we only went down when Ale and Granero tired and could not provide defensive midfield cover during the last third of that game, when Spurs came on strong and quick. So why did he change that pairing for Reading, West Ham and Hammers. Arguably Reading was an opportunity to try other CB pairings, but though I didn't see that game it didn't sound like it worked so well - so why not continue to play Clint and Nelsen at CB, and fill LB with Onouha or others against Hammers, or Bosingwa or Traore when they were fit Saturday?
Isn't the answer that Onouha hasn't looked any better, and Traore didn't look match fit and would have struggled for 90 mins? Fact is, we were weak in defence when the season started, and four injuries at the back has exposed this brutally.
All true, but against WBA he could have player Bosingwa at left back and Onouha at right back. At least we would have had pace in both positions then.
And against Hammers he could of played Onouha (who is quick) at LB and Mackie or possibly M'bia at right back. Obviously not ideal but nothing could be with our injuries especially then. But surely we would have been better off keeping the CB pairing of Clint and Nelsen that had worked at Spurs, than disrupting that, AND exposing Clint to the pace of tee water etc at LB.
True, Col. I have to admit that while Clint has provided sterling service as a CB, he looked out of position on Saturday.
It would be refreshing if Mark Hughes was as honest. Who knows he may even elicit sympathy.........maybe not, not that kind of guy.
Really? I'm sure he can get up a head of steam on the training ground but in match day situations his response time is slow enough to outweigh any athleticism he may have. Sadly I think we will remain vulnerable if he is any part of the back 4.
This is what I find on Wikepedia on Onouha, which I have read before other places: """" An outstanding junior sprinter; aged 14 he finished in second place in the final of the 2001 English School's Athletics Association Junior 100 metres contest, clocking 11.09 seconds and beating current Great Britain sprinter Craig Pickering.[5] He is also currently the co-national record holder for boys under 15 standing triple jump, in the Sports Hall events held annually throughout the UK, the record is held with international long jumper """""" I don't think there is much doubt he is quick. I think he's an Ok defender, I just don't really see why he has become so poor going forward, when I think of the goal he scored for Sunderland that was put on here a lot before he joined us.
Why do SOME supporters think we know better than the manager? He is the only one seeing the whole picture day in day out regarding players fitness and performance in training. If someone is left out there is probably a good reason. Yes he makes mistakes but that does not make him wrong for the job. There have been glimpses of what this squad is capable of and we need to support QPR which includes ALL players and ALL staff.
