Really on the money Colin or Cod as I get me French muddled Granero is a super talent and like a lot of the players is rebuilding confidence I think expression going forward will come when our new players are bedded into the foundation Harold has really built upon Unbeaten in January bar Last Sat which can't count It's great to be QPR There Saturday with my boy In Z6
Cheers Col. Question for ya. What will Harry have to change to make us more attacking against the so called 'weaker' teams' ? We simply can't continue to park the bus.
Well I think he'll go two up front on Saturday with Remy and Zamora (Crouch!!????) and play 4-1-3-2. I'd still like 4-2-3-1 if we played it right and got the 3 behind the forward further forward and interchanging. Probably need a fit Hoilett for that imo.
Trying not to making it sound too simplistic Col but I always played a 4-2-3-1 being told that it was the job of the back 7 to keep it tight and not concede and the job of the front 4 to get forward, score goals and win us the match. At the moment for us it's 10 men behind the ball. I know we have to park the bus against superior teams but just not so sure we will be capable of becoming more offensive at the switch of a button. Harry has shown that he can teach us how to defend. This alone won't keep us up. He now needs to add a more attacking edge to us which will allow us to score more goals and win some matches.
Don't bring Wong into it Nuts, he hasn't got a squad number. Great bit of marketing for China though.
Good report Col, important that you keep them coming as they provide the best post match debate, don't you dare stop To be padantic though, Hart's save from Taarabt was before Cesar's from Barry. Sorry Re the penalty incidents. The Remy one was to me a foul, not a penalty though as Lescott touched him outside the box. The proof is in Lescott's reaction, watch how he focuses on making it clear with both his feet plantet to the floor OUTSIDE the box. He knew he had impeeded Remy and wanted to make sure the ref wouldn't give a pen. With the pace he runs into the box with it doesn't take more than a fraction of a touch to bring him down, it certanly wasn't a dive. Onuoha got the ball, just. But it was a clumsy looking challenge that looked a penalty at first. Even though it wasn't I believe we were lucky the ref didn't give it. As you rightly point out the decissions went in City's favour. What prevented him from giving it might be cause of the uncertanty minutes earlier with the Remy incident. If he didn't think Remy should have had a free/pen then surely a yellow card should have been given. One thing I'm a bit surprised about is that no one have mentioned the incident were Silva kicked out against Derry?! Derry came in heavily (without catching the player) and a furious Silva kicked Derry in the leg. Derry made nothing of it. Not so sure if it would have been the other way round. Did anyone see this? Right in front of the Ellerslie Road.
In my memory, Taarab't chance was quite late in the half, but I'm sure you're right mate. Yeah I saw Silva kick out at Derry. Typical of Dowd that he managed to miss it, or chose to ignore it!!
Great write up Col, as always. Pretty similar to my report and how I saw it. Atmosphere was very good last night.
As I said, pedantic. Timeline often appear different from watching it live as opposed to the telly. From Sky Sports match report: "Mancini had goalkeeper Joe Hart to thank for keeping his side level after 39 minutes. The England international spreading himself to block Adel Taarabt's shot following a surging run into the box by the Moroccan. Whatever Hart could do, Cesar could do better, the Brazilian diving full stretch to his right to superbly palm away Gareth Barry's goalbound effort three minutes later."
Cheers Col, top work as ever. I'm sure you've covered this in recent weeks but I've been so impressed with the improvement in Ned's game of late. All of a sudden he actually look like a defender. So what do you think about the possibility of him being moved into a central role? While it is supposed to be his natural position he seems to have finally nailed down the full back position, and one of the things that Stan and I were assured by yesterday was that we did have some pace where it was most needed.
I've been singing his praises for a while, but only as a defender. He really doesn't offer much going forward. He is very quick and I wouldn't mind seeing him at CB where his pace would help Hill out. Although it looks like we may have landed Samba!! He was superb last night imo.
Ah, another Col Report from Ellerslie Road! Won't bother with the word 'excellent' as these write-ups of his are now quality assured and expected product. For us, his audience, it'll end up being a case of 'no Col, no comment' at this rate! Echoing similar comments from one or two others, the outstanding feature of last night's game was the way the atmosphere complemented the effort, energy and commitment out there on the pitch, such was our collective determination to get something out of a match against the prem champions. And, it worked. The greats from the mighty Citeh predictably had much of the possession yet rarely really threatened. So was it the team performance that spirited us fans into creating that animated wall of sound - or us that inspired the players into the dogged display they maintained throughout the game? All I know was that both parties were evidently up for it from the moment the crowd gathered as the warm ups progressed. If only that could be the case every time the Rs have a match on. What a fantastic night! As for Col's report. Largely agree. Needed it like a pinched arm just to know I wasn't dreaming! As for Granero. Yes he's been struggling but with the right attitude (and that's coming imo) he's no lightweight and certainly not our weakest link. Getting harder to see who is as the weeks go by. Coming to terms with the need to battle in support of our DMs.
Cheers col. I'm a bit late coming to your thread. I nearly missed it due to a combination of frantic transfer activity threads and picking up a 'Job' as we were preparing to go off duty. ( Poor old ladys house burnt down and I had the misfortune of finding her dead dog. Very unpleasent.) Anyway, on another take of your threads, as everything that has to be said has been said. I was just thinking, .... How great will your posts be in twenty - thirty years time? I wished I could go back and read some online posts from the 70's and 80's like these. Just to get a real persons take on matches as opposed to a journalists sterilised point of view. Keep em coming mate.
