Bloody hell!! That was just dreadful. How that was mostly the same players as the team who played Leeds is a complete mystery. Jimmy looked like a rabbit caught in the headlights on the touchline and when he did the right thing in bringing on Washington to go 2 up top, he ****ed it up by moving Chery out to the right!! It really was ****ing clueless all round against a very average Preston. Player ratings and comments: Smithies - 5 - Poor. Took an age to distribute the ball and messed up punches, one of which leading to their opening goal. Kicking was almost Greenesque at times. So slow to move the ball out! Perch - 2 - Terrible, just ****ing terrible. Onuoha - 2 - As bad as Perch. Seemed to be in a complete daze all game and seemed permanently at half pace. Crowned it all off with an own goal. Caulker - 3 - Nearly as bad as Perch and Onuoha. Back to his old self!! Bidwell - 4 - A very average defender imo. Poor free kick delivery. Hopefully Robinson can step up. Henry - 4 - Poor game from him. Luongo - 4 - Just kept hooking the ball forward aimlessly. Cousins - 4 - Looked out of place on the right. Poor. Ngbakoto - 4 - I was looking forward to seeing him. Wish I hadn't bothered. Chery - 6 - At least tried to make things happen. Surrounded by dross! Polter - 6 - Worked tirelessly and should have had a penalty. Subs: Washington - 5 - Looked lively, but missed a golden chance after a superb first touch. El Khayati - 5 - Offered some much needed width, but tried too much on his own. Why didn't we try to pass the ball as we did against Leeds? All we did was punt the ball forward aimlessly. The defence were truly terrible. All over the place all game. We had no width with one terrible right back and a very average left back. It doesn't work with Cousins on the right. Jimmy needs to get his act together. Where to from here? Relegation battle?
Largely agree with that Perch has only ever played well on the left Bidwell looks limited Cousins must be better that this I reckon The only time we ever look like doing anything is when Chery speeds it up Long ball all day I'll give them "it was very windy" (yes I know both teams etc) With current injuries I'd have Henry RB Perch LB Cousins CM Goods to see Washington looking lively Like El Khayati but not sure he could do it for 90 mins Ngbakoto kept waiting for the ball to roll to his feet - may have to cut him some slack for a time Not an easy day for keepers
Cheers Col, sounds bleak. On the plus side we have had two games of weird hope, which is more than most recent seasons, and I didn't buy a season ticket. It's going to grim once the Olympics finishes and we don't have that excellent distraction. But at least I won't be constantly sleep deprived.
A very bleak and disturbing read. What happened to a set of players that only one week ago looked sharp, organised and well prepared????
Agree with most of what you said Col. I knew that we had a certain amount of dross on our books and those players played accordingly this afternoon. The biggest disappointment for me today was the French winger. He just wasn't at the races. Maybe it will take him some time to adjust to the Championship style of play. I thought his first touch was poor, he never linked well with Bidwell and he didn't track back. As I said, hopefully he will adjust soon but my initial thoughts are that maybe, he is not cut out for English football. I would much rather have Shodipo on the left wing ahead of him. Hopefully, we can just put it down to a bad day at the office but looking at the team today, I would say we have a handful (3 or 4) of Premiership players and the rest are league one. We could find ourselves in a relegation battle pretty soon if we don't pull our socks up and we don't make considerable investment in the squad in the next 10 days.
I said when we bought him,i hope they don't waste Cousins on the wing because of our lack of wide players. His best position is playing in the middle,he did brilliantly there for 2 seasons with Charlton,so why do we not play him there ? We've been down this road so many times,buy a decent player then play him in a position where he's less effective. You would have thought we'd have learned our lesson from wasting Vargas in a position he was less effective in,but no the same clueless **** carries on time after time. I really can't understand what our managers and coaches are thinking most of the time,it's just stupidity of the highest order. On another note,Perch is absolute garbage and Bidwell isn't much better. Oh and Luongo still hasn't scored !
These performances so far may prove to be just how we are ................ very hot to very cold. Maybe by seasons end, we won't know whether to love them or hate them Ah the joys of being a QPR fan always proves to be so frustrating.
Thanks Col. I am not around so never got to waste my time at HQ. It would seem that 99.9% of QPR fans said it was shocking, although you get a few that haven't got a clue. I think this is what we can expect all season, a win. a draw, lose two. After the Leeds game i said i had had to eat humble pie but maybe i ate too quickly?
It's worrying that so many players can perform so half-heartedly, JFH was talking of fitness and high-tempo but has he told the players? 10 days of the window remaining and unless we take advantage of it we are going to be looking nervously at those below us...
If our team of professional footballers are already tired after 3-odd weeks of the season.....it doesnt bode well for the rest of what is a very long, taxing league season
Agree your assessment, Col. JFH is now saying the team were tired, and they certainly looked that. Sure, they had the Wednesday game, but they looked like they'd had two nights on the tiles thereafter. The newbies were disappointing yesterday, but we'll have to see how they bed in. Next stop for the first team is Wigan away next Saturday, and JFH needs to have his men functioning properly by then.
A bad performance and defeat at Wigan will get many fans asking questions re JFH. You talk a good game Jimmy, get your players motivated for it!
Onuoha is lucky to get 2. We started ok but Preston had us sussed after 15 minutes which is the point at which you need to reorganise. In my mind's eye I can see Clint Hill leading such a reshuffle but not in my most optimistic dreams could I imagine Onuoha doing the same. And he capped off his total lack of captaincy skills with schoolboy defending for their goals. If there is any long term changes that are appropriate for JFH after just 3 games this is the area to look into.
I'm not saying he's brilliant every game but for such an inexperienced player he's consistent and comes across as more of a leader than Onuoha, Caulker or Perch. Perch always looks a bit depressed to me.
It may have something to do with his chronic defensive shortcomings, which is always a concern for a defender
