Rangers held by Shrimpers in goalless pre-season friendly draw at Roots Hall ... (try to make that sound exciting!) please log in to view this image QPR head to Ireland on Thursday for the second leg of their European Tour and they signed off in England this evening with a 0-0 draw at League Two Southend United. Manager Harry Redknappâs side will play two games during their six-day stay in the Emerald Isle and it was two Irishman that ensured this pre-season encounter at Roots Hall ended all square Twice in the first half QPR goalkeeper Brian Murphy thwarted Southendâs Republic born striker Barry Corr, whilst the Râs were forced to play without a recongised striker throughout as a makeshift side failed to test the hostsâ custodian. Rangers lined-up in a 3-5-2 with Matt Phillips and Michael Petrasso starting in attack and trialist midfielder Jack Collison partnering Ale Faurlin and Michael Doughty. There was also a first start of pre-season for South Korean full-back Yun Suk-Young following his appearance at the World Cup. Southend created the first chance of the match when Myles Weston called Murphy into action inside the opening 60 seconds before Suk-Young forced a save from Daniel Bentley at the other end for the Râs. Stopper Murphy was then able to claw away Barry Corrâs header from Craig ***anâs cross from the right on 14 minutes as Rangers kept the scores level. The move was repeated shortly after, this time from the left, as Westonâs cross found Corr unmarked in the box but the Irishman could only guide his header into his fellow countrymanâs arms. The match failed to find any real tempo until seven minutes before half-time Conor Clifford saw his 25-yard drive skim the top of Murphyâs crossbar moments after Phillips had tested Bentley from distance himself for the Râs. QPR made two changes at the break with keeper Murphy replaced by youngster Joe Lumley and Suk-Young making way for Frankie Sutherland. However, it was the Shrimpers who enjoyed the better of the early second half chances as Lumley turned Cliffordâs long ranger around the post before saving the resulting corner kick. That early opportunity proved to be the only real action of the second half as both sides used a plethora of substitutes to hand their squads match practice ahead of the start of the new season. Southend: Bentley (T. Smith 77), ***an (***an 46), Coker (Jordan Williams 78), Ibenfeldt, Thompson, Richards-Everton (Prosser 46), Guyonnet (Deegan 46), Corr (Brown 87), Weston (Chedozie 68), Atkinson, Clifford (Jenkins 60). Subs not used: Jason Williams, Bridge, Farrell, Pinnock, Payne. QPR: Murphy (Lumley 46), Harriman, Onuoha, Hill, Donaldson (Kpekawa 79), Suk-Young (Sutherland 46), Collison, Faurlin, Petrasso (Comley 64), Phillips (Sendles-White 62), Doughty. Attendance: 3,193 (435 from QPR) Read more at http://www.qpr.co.uk/news/article/3...ited-0-qpr-0-1794128.aspx#tF1Vjl34koxZRJAv.99
Blimey hanging on for draws in pre season against League 1 sides Orient and Southend doesn't fill with me confidence for fixtures like Man Utd, City, Tottenham away etc let alone our home fixtures.. Even reflecting on our good fortune with the playoffs and season generally we need a few new players to start to show we can stamp our authority on games and score a few goals.
We won all our pre season games 2 years ago and got relegated, it doesn't mean a thing. It was essentially an Edl team tonight, so no need to panic.
The only conclusion I would draw from these pre-season matches is that we will try to play 3-5-2 next season. For that formation we have excellent defensive foundation, but they have not yet played together in these "training matches". As for the rest of the team, yes we need to strengthen and we need to clarrify what is the future of our nomads of Loic and Adel. But there is really no need to push the panic button. We should have a clearer picture our potential 1st team for the Hull opening match during the PAOK game on 9th August.
I think we should be playing our first team now. No more fielding all the players. But, if I'm really honest, I think it would take a couple of months to fully adapt to a totally new system like this. It's such a different system that it takes time to learn and get used to. I think we're going to start this campaign slowly.
Surely Arry will need to play his intended first team soon, with this new system. Or maybe he thinks it xcan wait till Hull! Saw a bit of United playing Inter in a friendly in front of 60K in the US I think it was - a bit of a contrast from our friendlies against lower legue teams.
Of course it can wait until Hull. These are triffic lads. I don't need to give them tactics because they're good lads who know what they're doing.
