http://statesidesuperhoop.weebly.com/blog/as-yellow-as-a-bunch-of-lemons As Yellow As A Bunch of Lemons 10/6/2014 1 Comment Picture Another match come and gone. Another loss. Another spineless performance. Another press conference filled with excuses after excuses after excuses. Lastly, another series of copy & paste tweets from the chairman on how we're not good enough but things will get better and keep the faith. Keeping the faith is all we ever do as QPR supporters. For the last 2-plus seasons now of Premier League Football however, the cliché of "keeping the faith" is not cutting the mustard anymore. Our Premier League experience after 15 years away from the top flight division of competitive football in England has been a tale of misfortune, deception, and filled with players who lack the drive, commitment, and passion needed to grace the blue and white hoops. Sprinkled into the mix has been some great moments as well. The comeback against Liverpool. The miracle against Stoke City. Survival at Manchester City. And the impossible at Stamford Bridge. But these moments are too far, few, and in-between of what we have thought to expect by this point in our status of the club. By no means has any supporter truly expected to be challenging for European positions or better, nor did we expect to become some brand like a Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea, or the others. But what every supporter did realistically expect was to compete, and challenge comfortably with other mid-table opposition. Not allow the likes of West Ham United to walk over us as though we were the second-coming of Derby County back in 2007/2008. The 2-0 defeat to West Ham United was another clear exhibition of everything that is going wrong with this club. Once again, we played vastly inferior to opposition who took advantage of our misfortunes and timing. But no that is not the sole reason for defeat. There are bigger issues to deal with here at QPR. Issues that are within the depths of the club of which a supporter can only image. The particular match once again showed our ineptness in tactics, game plan, and sense of urgency. But more than that, this match exhibited our lack of having a backbone, a killer instinct, a will to do what it takes to position yourself to come out on top. We can spend time analyzing another brutal lack of judgment in employing a 4-5-1 formation where two holding midfielders in Sandro and Karl Henry were employed; essentially taking away the creativity aspect from the midfield and thus forcing the likes of Niko Kranjcar and Leroy Fer to retreat further back to make-up for that lack of creativity going forward. But no lets not spend time analyzing that stroke of genius. Nor should we bother talking about our stale and unsorted backline who was being taken to the cleaners in OPEN PLAY on a regular basis and making Stewart Downing look like the second coming of Xavier Hernandez from FC Barcelona. Nope, no reason to go there. And since our lack of formation creativity led to crap service to Charlie Austin all afternoon, then there is no reason to beat that dead horse either; although it was amazing how he seemed more unleashed with the introduction of another forward after halftime (Duh Harry!!!). Nor should we lastly bother talking about how we continuously look to absorb pressure all match while looking to hoof it up-field like a poor-man's Stoke City from the mid-2000s...well actually, maybe we should bother with that after all. Long are the days where players played for the shirt and left it on the pitch for the sake of putting in a shift in a QPR shirt. Nope, that is a thing of the past. Instead, we are now filled with players (and coaches) who have more important things to focus on. Book sales, Twitter love, punditry, dreaming of moves to Italy and abroad, commenting on the affairs of other clubs, balancing QPR with part-time work in the booth...whatever it is, it's there. But where is that focus on the pitch, in practice, on set-pieces, in the tactics, and in the results? With so many distractions, it is fair to say that maybe that focus just isn't there, or shared by everyone. Now I know that I am not at Harlington on a daily basis documenting all that is going on, but the product is not equaling to the billing. Instead, we are fed a long list of excuses on why things are wrong, instead of focusing on what is actually going on. We are now seven matches into the new campaign and we are being told of lack of match fitness around the players at the club. Sorry I don't buy it. for instance, how are you going to fully explain to me how a player like Leroy Fer, and Dutch international who featured prominently during the World cup just a few months back after a campaign in the Premier League, is not match fit?! Where on earth did he lose his fitness? Yet someone like Niko Kranjcar looks to be in mid-season form, yet he wasn't even with us for any of the pre-season?! Likewise, I'm not buying this thing about "needing time to gel as a unit". Sorry, but I look at clubs like Southampton (who was completely raided of nearly all their top talent!!), Liverpool, Swansea, Leicester City, and the aforementioned West Ham - all who had to deal with significant player movement and dealings - and they are clearly not having any issues "gelling". In fact, if you think about it, we have been attempting to "gel" for nearly four years now! Time to put that excuse to rest in the grave. But I will tell you what I am noticing as a clear issue within the squad, and that is this lack of having a backbone! Think of it from this perspective: Michael Jordan, Christiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Pep Guardiola, and others within that same realm. They all have one think in common: the killer instinct. The sense to put things to bed. To not take no for an answer. A hunger, passion, and desire to do whatever it takes, whatever is necessary, to position yourself to succeed. No, I am by no means comparing any of our players or coaches to the abilities of those mentioned or not mentioned. But what I am doing is comparing the quality of that killer instinct to what we currently have in the squad. No player, coach, or backroom staff member has that quality to kill the opposition off. The desire to want it all. The need and will to do what it takes to come out on top. In other words, we do not possess a member with a backbone. That toughness and relentlessness needed to push everyone to the limit. This is where we are failing. We can talk injuries all day, and lack of chemistry and fitness, but where is that one player, that one member, who possesses that quality and can will others in the process? We don't have it. What we have instead are members who are very passive-aggressive. Those who are happy to defer to others. Those who do not want the sole spotlight on them. Those who cannot carry a club to higher depths. Think about it. We have a passive owner who has proven to be a sucker for a good deal in the past. We have a passive manager who will talk about everything wrong about the club except when it comes to the tactics and procedures of the club. We have a CEO who is essentially a non-football man. And as for the players...well not one of them carries that ability to literally pick up the team and mount them to new heights. Again look at some of the people I mentioned and think of it from an instinct standpoint. We don't have it. We lack backbone. We lack aggressiveness. We lack passion, desire, and commitment at this point. Some will say it leads to the captain of the club. So is that the one captain who still carries a bad reputation with the refs in Joey Barton? Or is that the inspirational captain who can't get a sniff of the pitch at the moment in Clint Hill? Yes we can talk all we want about tactics, formations, lack of fitness, and lack of chemistry. But in the end, where is that killer instinct needed to get after these mid-table clubs? How is it that the like of Southampton, Stoke City, Leicester City, Crystal Palace, West Brom, and West Ham all seem to not fear the opposition and actually establish a game plan? Why must we play the name on the front of the shirt and not on the back while looking to absorb pressure even from the likes of Hull City?!?! All these other clubs have that instinct in one way or another. But we don't. They don't care that you call yourself Manchester United, or Chelsea, or Liverpool. They will go after you with all they have. If they lose, at least they can say they gave it a right go at it. Can we honestly say that after seven matches this season? Can we honestly see QPR changing to that type of philosophy in the very near future? I mentioned all those previous clubs because, on paper, we have more of the potential than those clubs do. But while we are playing on just potential, they are actually putting that potential to use. You can only live on potential for so long. At some point, either you fulfill it or you don't. Passion, pride, commitment, desire, will to win, winning mentality, never-say-die attitude, killer instinct...backbone. Things that are not evident in the club at the moment. At some point in the very, VERY near future, we need to figure this out. Otherwise, it will be a repeat of 2012/2013 all over again. Agree with the poster - see my earlier thread on passion.....
Oh my goodness thank you so much for posting my article! Really appreciate it. I'm glad that you agreed with what I said.
I can only wish our players could be as thorough in their performances as you have been compiling this post. Well said, mate. I don't think you left anything out. The comment about players being too pre-occupied about 'other teams or coaches' ...... re: Rob Green really struck a nerve. I remember reading that on the weekend about how Green has a lot of support for Fat Sam ................. stuff Fat Sam, Green should of been thinking about how we were going to beat them, not have a 'love in' with the pie eater.
