In my opinion there are 3 good reasons for thinking we might just do this and ensure our Premiership survival 1/ Injuries and fitness. I didn't see or hear any of the match yesterday but was told that Samba looked a hell of a lot fitter and stronger yesterday than he has previously. Was a good article in the Independant about him on Friday saying that he got bored watching TV all day in his Moscow flat, surely that can't be good for a modern day footballer ?. And with Hoilett returning from injury and looking good and Remy showing his true potential surely we can get the results we need. Now if Bobby could get fit to play with Loic then i really think that would be a great partnership up front. 2/ THAT Dubai article. If i was a player who was told by the club to go training in a foreign country and then allowed by said employer to have one night on the town having a few beers, it would mightily p*** me off that it was (so it seems) incorrectly reported that the whole team were treating it as a stag night and not taking it seriously. Surely it must of got the back up of a lot of the players and give them something to prove to the football world at large (Good start yesterday lads) 3/ US-The fans. Lets be honest LR has been like a morgue the last few games and the atmosphere has been tense and quite frankly terrible. Reading a few of the threads and posts on this board you can see a little bit of belief emerging and hopefully this will continue at the games, starting saturday. I'm a great believer that we the fans can act as the 'twelth man' and actually play some part in victory . We have gotta show fine voice and show the players that we do believe in them, if they can play to their true potential. LR can be an intimidating place when the fans are on form, but it needs us, the the fans, to make it like that. Maybe I'm mad for still believing...........but i for one ain't giving up till Adel starts singing 'Skyfall' on the pitch at halftime.
Samba was huge for you yesterday . Didn't help that we kept kicking the ball straight at him , but he did VERY well none the less !
Sorry to spoil the afterglow but... Yet again our possession stats are truly abysmal even when playing another struggling club. We got lucky yesterday but teams pay for it over the longer term. With the quality of players at our disposal its madness that we can't do better than this but every manager in the land now knows that we give up the ball easily when pressurized. It has become self fulfilling. Our winning goal game from a combination of players who otherwise barely featured in the entire 90 minutes. Our 'quality' of football is now at its lowest ebb since we got promoted and in a truly torrid 18 months that's really saying something.
Samba always makes me think of the famous Bill Shankly quote after he'd signed Ron Yeats, he told the press "He's a colossus, take a walk around him"...
I really can't agree with this. Betty did ok, but Park had easily his best game for us. He was everywhere, tackling and shutting down. I have been his biggest critic since joining us, but, having watched the entire game I think he was good yesterday.
Yes, agree, Park was really hustling for the ball all afternoon and most importantly made the play for Bothroyd's goal. He does look a little flimsy at times, going down like a bit of a girl, but perhaps some of this is the work of a seasoned professional trying to win free kick decisions. Also thought Boswinga had quite a good game, although late on that dipsy doodle twinkle toes move getting the ball out of a dangerous defensive position made me very nervous. Granero seems to continue to have absolutely no confidence and Taarabt should certainly slot into that position against Sunderland. Was very mpressed with Hoilett in this game - he was always tackling back hard and made that goal for Remy. Perhaps having former Blackburn colleague Samba in the team, encouraging him, gives him renewed confidence. Samba was immense (literally) and really grew into this game, despite a few early poor clearances, straight to opposition players. For a tall guy, I guess he doesn't have to jump much to reach the ball, although sometimes he gets out-jumped by shorter opponents, who win the ball in the air. His fitness level is noticeably improving each game played - he may also grab us a few goals in our remaining matches.
I was pleased to hear that Samba was good because, as ever, MOTD was not representative. The first clip showed Samba trying to jump (minimally) for a ball that was then squared from which Southampton should have scored. Looking forward to seeing him in action at HQ with a full house crowd behind the lads. WE HAVE TO BEAT SUNDERLAND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Think the Sunderland game will be interesting for several reasons. A point will do them and be another step towards safety, so we will have take the game to them. If we're going to beat Sunderland we will have to get more possession and create chances. We normally allow teams to dictate the play so it will be interesting to see how we approach this game knowing that we have to win. Counter attacking football won't work here against a team who IMO will gladly take a point.
I have to agree with you Aaaargh. But nevertheless a win is a win, and in itself could give us the mental boost that could save us - just ask Fergersen!
What we need to remember is that although we have Harry here this is still hughes team and he wanted us to play in a counter attacking way, we have got to get used to not having the ball and just being hard to break down and hitting on the counter. At the moment we could play like Stoke and win games and ill be happy as long as we win a few and stay up that's what matters from now till end of season. I have looked at the games left we and the 3 teams above have to play and IF we can get that home win on Saturday I think we COULD get 14 points from the remaining games, and I think as long as we can score a few goals we could stay up by skin of our teeth as I think 34 points could be enough this season.
In Remy we stand a chance (if he stays fit), the defence is looking solid. Big problems persist in the middle, Granero is like a rag doll & Mbia is getting worse.
Such a shame. At the start of this season we were being touted as having the finest midfield out side of the the top teams! Now look at it.
I've been thinking about this too. I think Sunderland will try to do to us what we did to Southampton and hit us on the break with Sesspit's pace. Be really interesting to see how Harry sets us up.
Only problem with that is we have only scored 3 once this season against Walsall and even on Saturday we only had 3 shots on target and scored 2 of them.
It out of qpr's control and in the hands of teams above you.....They have a small cushion so its up to them, what qpr must do though is win 2/3rds of the games left at the very least and others lose. the two above you does not matter its the 4th from bottom that is the important team, goal difference could well come into play so keep as many clean sheets and score lots of goals is the answer...It may still not make any difference but you have to try and hope for the best....
As long as we beat the teams in it with us and match the results of the other when we not playing them all will be fin, I can see us getting 14 points more and that I think will be fine as it will be very low this year for relegation.
