Spot on. We have the players suited to a system we will only play very reluctantly, and then with no confidence. We will never win away because we don't have a striker able to play on his own up front and pose any kind of threat. We are tactically neanderthal. We had effort yesterday, but nothing else.
Very good analysis, Col. I would say that Dunne was as good as Caulker. I thought that they worked well together and deserved a partnership 8.
Agree with a lot of that col, but I thought that Isla was our best player. Green (apart from his kicking), Caulker & Henry were the only other positives. How many times in his career has Karl Henry been his teams best midfield passer of the ball? I can't remember the last time I predicted correctly the score! I just need to be right now that we will beat Swansea. Alas, I think we will follow that with defeats against Sheffield United, Burnley & receive a tonking from manure!
Well it wasn't particularly inspired viewing I have to say! The way I see it is what we are crying out for us for someone to put his foot on the ball and actually look up and read the play, could Krancjaer do that playing deeper alongside Henry? In the past I was always a big fan of Wes Hoolahan (apologies Col!) who seemed to be able to direct play, are his best days behind him? No idea. I agree with what everyone on here says regarding JB, he'll never be a ball playing centre mid, I like his energy and his harrying of the opposition but it needs someone to sit down with him have an honest conversation about his role in the team, I don't think that's happening. I guess even at a professional football club some tough decisions are shyed away from, well this is Queens Park Rangers after all!
Thank you Col and on the money again. At times I think Henry is the only player capable of playing the game … lucky he was sharp as ever yesterday and snuffed out a lot of dangerous play I really am not keen on this current side at our club and Palace looked very dangerous at times on the break. I currently feel we have excellent effort throughout the side but without application and skill we are always going to look second best in terms of football
My view is that we have a group of players who individually are the equal of 5 or 6 of the other clubs. What we appear to lack is a tactical plan and style of play, or even a back up plan B when plan A fails. Yesterday plan A was lump the ball up to Bobby. When that wasn't working we had nothing alternative to offer. Coupled with a Rob Greens terrible distribution we were probably fortunate to get a draw. And coupled with no one to grab hold of midfield distribution and wingers who couldn't hit a cows arse with a banjo, we have a badly balanced squad. Where do we go from here, I don't know, but what really terrifies me is the thought of Harry being let loose with the cheque book again.
I'll start by saying excellent write up again Col, called it virtually how I saw it. I'll then add that it was a very very poor game of football, poorest I have watched for ages. Simply 6/7 yard passes going astray. Neither team really looked like scoring, and Palace were just as bad as us. It was very hard to believe there was two Premier League teams out there. Joey, simply awful. I'd generally agree with the 2 rating and I think he's got a nerve to criticise fans on twitter after such an inept performance. Henry covered brilliantly, and was probably our best player. Him and Barton both guilty of playing hoofball far too many times though, but we know Henry especially is limited in possession. Although his final ball was terrible, I thought Hoilett tried his best to attack their fullback and was simply hounded out the game, which was more to do with Palace defensively doing well than Junior not trying, so I would have given him more than a 5. Our two strikers just looked tired and couldn't really get going. On to Swansea, where a much improved performance is needed to get anything out of the game. Play like we did yesterday and we'll receive nothing.
I had Henry MOM, with honourable mentions for Caulker and Isla. Barton was very poor and Zamora might as well not have been on the pitch. The 442 formation has worked for us at home for a while, but it's time to give up on it now. We are desperately in need of some central creativity. When I checked the Sky app before the game, they had the line-up as 352 with Isla and Hoilett as wing-backs and it looked much better balanced with Fer central.
Away from home 4-2-3-1 would work better if Sandro was fit alongside Henry. Barton just isn't good enough & is too careless in a central 2. Fer is not a left sided midfielder so he's prob been a but harshly judged as he's been played out of position all season. I'd try him in the middle of the 3 & tell him he's got license to get in the box. Vargas would be one of the wide men as the system depends on pace in those positions. Guess we're stuck with Hoilett in the other one given the paucity of the options. The holding 2 should, in theory, give the full backs some freedom to provide additional width as well It could be tweaked to 4-1-3-2 at home by replacing one of the 2 holding players with another striker or by moving Vargas up front and utilizing one of our other plethora of quality wide players Sadly it's a pretty average bunch HR is working with but 11 changes in 2 games even allowing for the hectic Christmas does reinforce the fact he hasn't got a f****** clue and the players must be as confused as we are about the strategy
Thanks Col. Painfull viewing yesterday. We play the margins at home and have been rewarded handsomely recently imo. Yesterday the ball wouldn't drop for us and in the end based on the performance should be satisfied with the one point. Agree re Henry, he's been our best player apart from Austin, I have a bit of a mancrush on him If you look at our central line I think we have seen consistently good performances apart from Barton. Green, Dunne/Caulker, Henry and Austin deserves a lot of credit for the points we have. Personally prefer a 4-1-4-1 to the 4-2-3-1. Imo it's a waste to use two defensive/holding midfielders when we lack creativity badly, and Henry would cope very well alone protecting the back four. --------------------------------Green-------------------------------- Isla-------------Dunne------------------Caulker-------Hill/Yun --------------------------------Henry-------------------------------- Vargas----------Kranjcar---------------Fer--------------Hoilett --------------------------------Austin-------------------------------- Play like this at home and away and I'm positive we'll see more consistent performances and points.
I have no real answer to our problems in midfield but: a) Krancjar and Fer are just too slow and too similar in their style to play in the same team (both easily run off the ball by a pressing play which nearly every PL team now uses) b) Both Hoilett and Vargas are confidence players with no confidence (Hoilett has been shakey for some time but now Vargas seems to get more uncertain with every game). I agree with others that it might just be worth giving AT a try.
I must admit, for the second game running I'm seeing the game differently from the consensus (maybe its the time of year?). I thought it was a decent game, although far from great. Plenty of missed passes for sure but that was also due to the high tempo pressing from Palace who I was very impressed with. They look a really decent team. Well drilled, very physical and extremely committed. They look better than the sum of their parts. Fair play to the Palace setup for knitting together a competitive PL team with such meager resources. I thought our commitment was good (although Nines who was at the game questioned it. There's some things you can only see in the Stadium vs on a Screen). I felt we matched them physically and gave good effort throughout. Perhaps that's why Barton is so miffed at the booing. But if he learned to pass the ball to his teammates he wouldn't get booed. Yesterday was a classic tale of two scrappy teams cancelling each other out. I don't necessarily think that makes for a bad game. When my team's involved I often find such games compelling. Okay, its probably different if you've paid a lot of hard earned to go and watch it. You want to see entertaining football. Hoilett made a meal of a very good chance near the end when the ball fell nicely for him just outside the box. If Fer or Austin were on the end of that I think they might have buried it. We need to beat Swansea now. If we do we're back on track but we're making it very hard for ourselves.
Swords Hoopster, whilst it wasn't a classic, some of other match reports and observations certainly appear to be a tad exaggerated - and as you allude, perhaps it is a case of 'buyers remorse!' I noticed one thing however that hasn't been mentioned - and that's the accumulative disjointed distractions of the pre-match and half time 'stuff'. The kick off was held for a minutes' applause to mark the loss of members of the QPR family in 2014, that was appropriately appended to include the thoughts of the impending tragedy that was breaking with the loss of flight QZ8501. Then on 5 minutes, a further minutes' applause to wish Clarke Carlisle well on his road to recovery. Half time began with a proposal and acceptance in front of an approving Spark the Cat and disapproving crowd reminding the groom to be that he didn't know what he was doing. Followed by a long and largely inaudible interview with Mark Lazarus, compounded further by his meandering wander to and fro the School End to vociferous applause from the travelling Crystal Palace fans. The usual kids relay race started very late, just as the Crystal Palace players re-entered the field oblivious as these nippers whizzed between them as they did their usual leaps and sprints to warm back up [Palace's coaching team even laid out a fresh set of cones!] As if that wasn't enough, we were lambasted with the screeching saxophone solo at the end of a post script pig bag; the players all ready in position to kick off as the din blaired out! As if in sympathy, the jumbotron also decided to lose a few sections of pixels, before giving up completely. No doubt the ICT guy had recommended turning it off and on, as it reappeared apologetically at the end of the match. So with all of these 'extras' going on it's a wonder that a game of football broke out at all! Perhaps the boo-ing was more a reflection of the uninspiring mood - an accumulation of sadness, reflection, confusion and bemusement. An off day at Loftus Road.
We are about to sell him to Italy - he will go there and we will watch on telly him scoring and assisting for fun and Harry will shake his head - I lead quite a large team at work - not all of them are saints - but my boss in turn expects me to get the best out of them - use them for what they are - or manage them out of the team - we pay him a wage and don;t play him because of a grudge - only in football would this be ok. Really we would never even have him on the bench to come on for 15 mins when we were losing away? Any probably bye to him - the sulky boy will hopefully find success elsewhere.
OK, after reading some of the mixed reports, i took the plunge and watched the whole game yesterday afternoon trying to make sense of the reports. I had no drink, no obstructed views, no bumping and jostling and a clear view (as much as is screened ) of all the pitch. I had no sentiment or emotion, just straight forward viewing. I have to say that i find it very hard to lnk so much of the criticism to the ame that i watched. I'll happily accept that it wasnt a classic but for so long now on this and other boards, i've been reading drivel about being happy going back to the NPc and playing.Well, there you are, we were served up a good NPC game and i stil hear criticism and negatiity...Make your minds up please. Personally, i didnt judge the game on the last 20 mins or so, (which so often happens when attending games and getting cught up in the "experience), i was trying to judge the 90 mins. For my part, although we werent great, there were some decent moments, i think they all tried and i dont think the booing (at the players) wa justified. Im not quite sure why exactly we think we have a divine right to win this game, but CP were not a bad team and were more of a threa going forwards than we were. We seem to be missing the link up and short of ideas in the oppos half TBH (and Harry must take the blame for that) and we sem to be missing a bit of quality. I'd drop Barton or Sandro when he's back TBH. Henry is having a great run and i stated a while back that Caulker would be the first name on my team sheet after Austin. We need a creative CM and if fatty aint going to help us out (not gonna start) then we need to bring one in. Hoillett, Phillips, SWP are all the same player in disguise and cross for ****. Hoillet being the best of the bunch just needs to sort out his final decision makng pass. Fer was ok, Isla and Vrgas did fine to me. Charlie looks to be steadily improving and he is starting to link the play as well, although i dont think thats where his real talent is. He too neds help, but sadly, watching the press confr, i think Harry has already made his excuses for not getting another decent striker in. ..If only Remy hadnt left Anyway, to me it was a case of average teams cancellig each other out and 1 point was a fair result IMO.It wasnt a loss. MAyb eits just the view you get from watching games from afar and detached but thats how I saw it? Opinions eh? Keep the faith boys..we're staying up. Bring on the Swans !
Respect your opinion LaLa but I hope he goes on to have a dog of a career. I'd never wish injury on any player so I hope he stays fit but gets fu*ked over by agents, managers and Chairmen until he's playing in the Moroccan second division and regretting every morning of his life, the time he spent disgracing QPR FC and its fans who paid him 50-odd thousand pounds a week for him to not even bother to train and do his best for the grotesque amount of money he was given at the time. If he ends up an alcoholic in a bedsit in 20 years time, at least it will ease some of the hate some fans feel toward him right now. Signed: One bitter wee kant
Really you think it is that simple ? Or TF/QPR Board would allow Harry to be so childish. That is complete "lala" thinking !!
