Barnes had a fantastic impact last game but he still doesn’t offer enough in the 10 for me, even less so up front! Idah gave us far more in my opinion. Van Hooijdonk should have been in for Barnes. I k is we have a few games this week but you’ve got to win the game in front of you before we start resting players for the next match, the game was far from won as QPR were very competitive. Surely Sarge has been back long enough now that we can take some of the cotton wool off?!
Núñez replaced Sargent presumably to protect the lead, but then we were left with a tired Barnes up front. Rowe and Hernandez did well enough when they came on but sad that those two points slipped away. On to Watford at CR!
This ^ Subbing Sargent reminded me of Hughton taking off Redmond when we were leading in that crucial end of season away game at Upton Park. WHU then scored twice and took the points, more or less deciding our -- and Hughton's -- fate. If you take off your major threat, at least put another threat on in his place. Especially if, at the same time, you reduce your chances of keeping the opposition out by subbing the only specialist RB in the match squad.
Stacey was apparently throwing up in his hotel room all night, so the sub was somewhat planned as he wasn't fit for 90. Does beg the question of why, if you knew by the early hours of this morning that your RB was unwell, Kellen Fisher wasn't in the matchday squad. Even if he didn't travel with the team, he'd have had time to get down this morning.
Saw Barnes and the manager moaning a bit in the post-match interviews. Genuinely no idea why. A competitive game but no particularly bad challenges. Seemed to give you loads of marginal calls once we’d equalised. I know Barnes is unpopular with you guys but I thought first half he was quite good. Mugged a newbie ref into some nothing free-kicks as he does. He was a passenger for the last 35 mins or so. Good game though overall. Fair enough result.
Maybe Fisher was also unwell? He's been on the bench most matches I think. Haven't seen any replays yet but, in the event, it doesn't appear that Sørensen was in any way at fault for the equaliser. Finger pointing by the Radio Norfolk commentators was chiefly directed at Hanley for allowing Frey to get ahead of him to the cross.
I didn’t hear criticism of Hanley from the commentators and haven’t seen any sign of it since. The second goal Hanley didn’t allow Frey to get in front of him, that was the marking position with Hanley behind and Gibson in front - that’s correct defending and should be safe. The problem was that Gibson mistimed his block on the cross and it fell into Frey’s feet - with an outstanding swept finish. Pretty difficult to defend. Hanley might have been able to do better but it wasn’t a goal clearly down to his mistake. That reflects eg WhoScored which ranked Gibson 5.97 (and flags his weaknesses in concentration, dealing with crosses and tackling) https://www.whoscored.com/Players/86458/Show/Ben-Gibson whereas Hanley was 6.63 which is pretty good for a match we conceded two goals, and flags he has no significant weaknesses. https://www.whoscored.com/Players/86593/Show/Grant-Hanley
Robbie decided 2 years ago that Handley & McLean were the main problem holding back the brilliance of Dean Smith. He wanted them out & will never change his opinion despite both players captaining the side & 2 of the first names on the team sheet when fit. He us looking for any criticism of them every game because he's too stubborn & arrogant to admit he was wrong , or in McClean’s case has had one of his best season's to date & improved drastically under Wagner. I'm hoping it's a tongue in cheek troll that someone inevitably falls for but if so , he's committed to the bit .
We should give some credit to QPR for their battling performance. For an away game, 12 shots to their 14, 56% possession and considering our use of longer passes, a pass success rating of 83% indicates a decent performance. Sara and McLean both on 7.7, Sargent on 7.4 and Sainz on 7.0 suggests the core of a good performance away from home.
I agree with your analysis Rick - QPR gave a good account of themselves and have been on a decent run of late, and it showed. If anyone was to blame for the first goal it was probably Gunn with a slightly mistimed parry, but it was a fine finish from Colback. The second goal, as said above on this thread, was really rooted in terrible concentration at the throw in.
It turns out that Fisher was summoned, and travelled down to the team hotel by car. But then not included among the subs anyway. Goodness knows what the youngster made of it.
Pretty certain it was Darren Kenton on Radio Norfolk. Similar remarks in Southwell's post-match "Verdict" (YouTube) when expanding mid-video on his opening reference to -- I think the word is "errors" but it sounds a bit like a cross between "mares" and "errors" -- leading to the second goal (passage starting at min 7:20).
Fine, but that suggests he thinks it wasn’t Hanley’s fault alone… Which it wasn’t. Whereas you tried to blame him entirely, despite all the stats and other views believing he had a good game…
Thought he struggled a bit in the first half. Got a very cheap free kick when he was done for pace and went down. Second half he and the rest of the defence were much better.
