1. Another top performance by Hoilett and my MoM by some distance. Warnock is working his magic with him as he did with Adel Tarrabt. 2. "We were really lucky to keep Matt Phillips." Really? Yet another lack lustre and unintelligent display. 3. How can we play so well and create so few real chances? 4. While it was great to see us trying something new with Petrasso how can Luongo be sitting on the bench given 2 & 3?
On Hoilett, my views are well documented and I don't want to start another debate about him. Similarly my views are well known on Phillips. However, Austin is key to us scoring and loves crosses. Phillips can at least cross a decent ball, so I'd like to see Warnock getting him performing. I like Luongo and I think he was playing well before he was dropped. Maybe there's something happening on the training ground that we're not aware of, maybe concerning Chery too? I don't think both Cherry and Fer can play in the same team and I'd prefer Fer behind Austin with Hoilet and Phillips either side.
I thought Petrasso did very well. I know Charlie is a great striker but I saw him head three balls unnecessarily into the paths of Leeds players yesterday when he had time to place his distribution better. As 9's said elsewhere, but for the Leeds keeper who was excellent, we would have won by three. There is no argument against keeping Warnock as far as I can see. It looks like a totally different team with the same players - what a difference a manager can make !
Did we play that well if we created so few good opportunities? I thought we were very poor before Austin came on, despite having loads of possession against a very weak Leeds side. I fear that not really playing for 65 minutes against Burnley et al will lead to a very different result....
Whilst Hoilett had a very good game, I'm surprised you could pick anyone other than Faurlin for MoM. I also thought that Phillips had a decent first half in an unfamiliar position, winning 4 or 5 headers. Good to see Petrsso getting a start, but he was largely ineffectual. Chery looked sharp and creative when he came on.
I think we possibly showed Leeds a bit too much respect and, until it was obvious how poor a team they were, we played a bit cautiously. Once the subs were made and we took the lead we looked a different and more confident team. Warnock is still learning about some of our players and I'd back him to get the blend right. I'm dreading TF making an appointment in the next week or two that could stall our improvement and take us backwards again. If it ain't broke etc...
I thought that the issue was that Warnock had said that he didn't want to remain as manager Great to have Charlie back yesterday - instant impact - and certainly the Leeds defence looked panicked every time he got the ball I thought Sandro and Ale worked very well together in the centre, albeit that we were up against a poor Leeds side We could and should have won by more than a solitary goal, and this gives more cause for some concern as we have much better sides to play in the coming weeks However, our defence does deserve much credit for their collective performances over the last few matches, transforming us from having the leakiest defence in the division to one of the tightest A win is a win though - more please!!
I thought we played well. Easily the better team and had they equalised at the end we would have rued missing the several good chances we had to add to our goal.
Perhaps with Neil installed as manager for the season we can extend a helping hand soon to bring in Steve McClaren as coach?
Only watched on QPR player, so happy to be corrected if I missed stuff, however Hoilett looked like a different player - have been very critical of him in the past - but more central and with the option of passing both to left and right he seemed to have more about him. Was he more central for Blackburn? Petrasso making his debut was solid and did some good work down the right - seems unfair to expect him to set the world on fire straight away Faurlin is class I thick Smithies deserves a go - I don't dislike Green, but I think we now need to be looking to the future Charlie will be rarely unmarked in the box like he was for the goal - didn't seem to have to do much to find space My U9s won today against a team that took us to the cleaners earlier in the season - our first season and we are making good progress, so a good weekend all round!
Hmmm... you could be right... I think it's called 'doing an Adebayor'? On the other hand it might just be Colin's legendary 'arm around the shoulder'...
we created at least 3 clear cut opportunities and should have won by 2 or 3. We started playing better after the goal and I suspect we just grew in confidence and stopped being so tentative. However, Leeds after the break were twice as pony as they had been before it so maybe that was it! First half we were solid and compact - nothing wrong with that in my book.
Of course. His new found desire to play for Canada six months before his ludicrous contract expires is no coincidence.
