QPR & Norwich – Apparently your season is over already So with 9 premier league games completed this weekend, we now know that Swansea and Fulham will be playing Champions League football next season, Totenham and Arsenal will finish mid table at best and Liverpool will be relegated. Sorry Norwich and QPR fans, the number of points you will gain this season will not even be enough to get a driving ban, let alone stay in the Premier League next season. Obviously, I am being facetious. But reading through the media coverage of the weekend’s football, you would think that the season is in fact already over. It drives me insane to see so many broad conclusions made from a single 90 minute match, played on probably the hottest day of the year. Listening to a particular sports radio phone in last night, in 60 minutes the assembled “experts” convinced themselves that Arsene Wenger is now suddenly a terrible manager, that Rob Green is the worst goalkeeper ever to play in the premier league and that Michael Laudrup is the new Jose Mourinho. Apparently Southampton are definitely going to finish in the top half and Norwich are definitely getting relegated. All that based on one result. Top scorer in the Premier League this season? Let’s have a look back to the start of last season shall we? Wolves won 2-1 away at Blackburn, and also won their second game of the season. What happened to them – relegated. Bolton won 4-0 away at QPR, what happened after that – oh yes Bolton were also relegated. Swansea lost 4-0 at Man City and were roundly predicted to struggle but lo and behold they finished nowhere near the relegation zone. The point is, no matter how your team performed this weekend, don’t get either too excited or too down. If football has taught us anything over the last few years, it’s that it’s truly unpredictable, and you always get another chance. That chance will come in just a few days time, after which I bet the “experts” will be predicting Norwich as future champions and Swansea for the drop! http://www.footballfansonline.net/2012/premier-league-season-over-already/
That would have been most welcome at 5:00pm on Saturday - a very grounded article. Not sure that winning the Championship and then losing 3-2 to Man City results in anything other than a hard fought 17th place does it?
It's a very interesting one and see how easy it is to shake ourselves down and start again .... I detect fear in many ... fickleturds I am going for two teams and Norwich are at home. Both teams will be cagey and hope to grow in to the game. Norwich have the history and there team albeit poor has a settled feel but with a new manager... questions I have no idea how they will play as I don't watch Norwich ...I am thinking we will have another debut in Jose and therefore I think we will play: I think being away with a point to prove is good for us. I think we will play a lot tighter and Faurlin may make the bench if he comes through today.
We need to get something out of the Norwich game. With the following 3 fixtures, you couldn't rule out being pointless after the first 5 games of the season. The pessimist in me is coming out again.
I think you'll see Derry come in along side Diakite but who will be drop I'm not sure, could be Mackie with Park moved out to the right or Adel. I'd like to see Traore back in for Fabio, never seen why he isn't first team choice. I hope your right and Faurlin does make the bench, means he'll be starting the week after I bet.
I predict this ... if we win the day then we will see a wave of wonderful emotion on here on Saturday and we would no longer have a crisis and MH will be king again. If we lose then we are down and we need new manager and team ... I also think my first game at LR will be a funny old thing as it's West Ham at home on Oct 1st and TF may have some weird feelings ... It's possible we may go into that game still without a point on the board 9 points behind West Ham IMO.I think if this happened then TF may look at the situation with a heavy heart. This is a fear inside for me and I do need to record it on here... My nightmare is this:
Take your inner pessimist down the pub, get him pissed and push him in the canal on the way home. You'll feel much better, I promise.
Thoughts? We need something from the game, with City, Chelsea and Spurs following this one it's possible we could lose our first 5 games and that could be a massive hit to confidence. Teams (what I think MH will pick)? Green, Bosingwa, Ferdinand, Onuoha, Fabio, SWP, Diakite, Park, Hoilett, Taarabt, Cisse. Formations? 4-4-1-1 Predictions? We're due a win against Norwich and I think we'll sneak it 2-1.
I'm pretty much with Vale_Hoops, although I'm hoping Fabio's defensive lapses were just part of the overall trend and won't be a common theme and so he can stay in the XI and hopefully improve. I think the main talking point would be to include Shaun Derry and Bobby Zamora. There was all too often huges gaps between the midfield and defence which Diakite and Park seemed unable to plug, a position which would be filled by Robert Snodgrass on Saturday who in my book is limted but effective in the right areas. I think the key to team selection could possibly be Bosingwa and where he currently is in terms of fitness. He is much better going forward than Onuoha, and thus his selection could mean that playing Derry won't be such a negative move. If Mackie is dropped, then Park can operate on the right of a midfield three which encourages Bosingwa to overlap and offer the width with Derry covering him in the event of a counter attack. This would also allow Hoilett to play a free-er role, and to ensure that Taarabt gets a lot closer to Cisse which was a main concern at the weekend. Cisse thrives off a partner, which could well mean the inclusion of Zamora if we revert to a 4-4-2, although based on performance I expect that would be at the expense of Taarabt...again a very difficult decision to make. If I picked the team, I would go for: Green Bosingwa, Ferdinand, Hill, Fabio Park, Derry, Diakite, Hoilett Taarabt Cisse Subs: Murphy, Onuoha, Traore, SWP, Mackie, Zamora, Johnson
Is this a good time to bring up Hughes away record? ================================================ QPR have been dreadful away from home - they have the worst away points haul in the League picking up just 11 (and ten of those were gained whilst Warnock was in charge), and it’s hard to see that stat changing with trips to Stamford Bridge and Eastlands to come. As a compiler, this isn't a massive surprise. Mark Hughes teams have always performed well at home, but his insistence on playing for draws away from home has backfired at previous clubs and is backfiring spectacularly this season. His away record as a manager since leaving Blackburn makes very poor reading. He presided over a total of four Premier league away wins during his year and a half in charge of Man City and, despite leading Fulham into Europe, during his year there he only managed three away wins the entire season. It is clear to see watching QPR away from home that we seem to play with a fear of losing. Now is not the time for that fear to be an issue. " http://www.fansnetwork.co.uk/football/queensparkrangers/fb_news.php?storyid=16873&
Think we need Cerny or Murphy in for Green. Clint and Nelsen as CB's (I'd give Nelsen a go if we haven't got a desperately needed new CB in). I think Hill is much better than Anton. I hope Traore is back from injury, otherwise it has to be Fabio again I suppose. We need Derry as DCM not Park who looks out of position there, if if we haven't got a desperately needed new DCM in. I'd play 4 2 3 1 with Derry and Diakite in the 2, and Hoillet, Adel and Cisse in the 3, BZ up front. -----------------Cerny--------------- Bosingwa----Nelson ------Hill-----Traore ------------Derry-------Diakite-------- Cisse-------------Adel-------------Hoillett ---------------------BZ---------------
I have no answers to your original post Northy. For all we know Hughes might sign 3 more players before the Norwich game. Christ knows who he will pick or what formation. What I do think though is that Norwich will be quite physical in midfield with Johnson, Snodgrass & Howson which will rip through a Tararararararbat / SWP / Hoilett 'creative' core. Bit of steel needed. That for me says Diakite / Derry although that is hardly a tried and tested combination is it? There is also danger in rushing Faurlin back for Saturday in the big '6 pointer'....
Hughes needs to work on something other than 'Give the ball to Adel and see what happens' just in case it isn't working. Most of the time letting Adel loose would be enough to get at least a few good chances if not the odd goal or two but when it didn't work against Swansea the team looked short of ideas. I would like to see Adel play up along side Cisse or bring Mackie infield as some of the second ball chances our wayward or parried shots created could have been poached for goals. Two up front would give us some firepower which was sadly lacking on Saturday. Bootswinger could go right back, Traore left back leaving any two from Hill, Anton, Onuoha as central defenders. Green - (surely can't have as bad a game so soon) Bosingwa - Onuoha - Hill - Traore SWP - Diakite - Park - Taarabt Cisse - Zamora Subs - Murphy, Mackie, AJ, Ferdinand, Fabio, Derry.
