What a poor game that was! One good thing from today was meeting several of you on here for the first time - great to meet you all and to put faces to names and have a few beers with you. Meet-ups like that certainly help to shed the gloom over our team at the moment. Look forward to more meet-ups next season. THE GAME We actually started ok, and the majority of the play was in their half. Chances were at a premium however, and a penalty decision out of nowhere gave us that chance we needed. I have no idea if it was the right call as some bloke entering the stadium late was stood up in front of me right when the incident happened. All I do know is that Remy finished is nicely sending the keeper the wrong way - right in the corner as well. In typical rangers fashion however, we shoot ourselves in the foot time and time again - today was no different. Bosingwa who was being booed throughout was punished for a slight tug on the Newcastle player who had just rounded him. Looked a soft one, but a pull nonetheless. Ben Arfa duly stepped up and finished even better than Remy right into the top corner - no chance for Green. That set up a pretty dire 15 mins or so for both sides. Neither put any real attacking moves together with poor passes a feature of the game. Boos continued for Bosingwa and MBia - whilst I wouldn't personally boo a QPR player I can understand the frustration with these two players, but again I wouldn't boo. Then what looked like a routine throw out from Green to Bosingwa turned sour. Bosingwa in his wisdom decided to play it back to Green but under hit the pass. Green rushed out to kick but was tackled by Gutierez who deflected it into the path of Goufrann who poked it into the empty net from 18 yards. Quite possibly the worst goal we have conceded this season. The first half ran out, and it was onto the second half. Rightly so imo Bosingwa and Mbia were replaced - Bosingwa as the atmosphere wasnt helping, and he cost both goals, and Mbia for a generally poor performance. Derry had a good calming influence in the middle and was spraying the ball around well. We were creating opportunities but struggled to break them down - Townsend often having to run sideways to create chances as he was heavily marked on the wing. Neither side really did enough to get any more goals tbh. Elliott the Newcastle keeper was shown a second yellow for handling outside the box but despite a man advantage for 10mins we failed to really put the pressure on. A drab end to our season at home. THE RATINGS GREEN - 5.5 - no chance with the pen, but did play a part in their 2nd - although not too much blame tbh. kicking was poor though. TRAORE - 6 - got forwards well and was solid enough. nothing spectacular though. HILL - 7.5 - solid throughout and kept things tight with onuoha in the centre. both left goufrann unmarked for their 2nd. havent seen it again but cant help thinking they may have been better positioned? rightly given POTY though. ONUOHA - 8 - MOM - didnt really put a foot wrong tbh aside from what i said above for hill. won most headers and kept things tight. good option for next season. BOSINGWA - 4.5 - booed throughout and struggled really. gave away a pen and mistake made for their 2nd. did make some nice passes and runs forward as he has done recently. but i have given him a low score for two big moments he caused in the game. MBIA - 4.5 - again badly struggled. never really at the races and several missed passes, tackles you name it. just never got going. lots of energy but more running around like a headless chicken if you like. JENAS - 6.5 - average performance really. didnt seem he ever had total control of the midfield but made several tackles and decent passes out wide. HOILETT - 5 - poor again imo. pushed off the ball time and time again and never really did much. had lots of time on the ball but ineffective to say the least. did have one good run and shot in the 2nd half. TOWNSEND - 7 - peoples views can go either way with townsend on this performance imo. was heavily marked and was closed down very quickly to prevent him getting a run on someone. often had to run into the middle and pass sideways which didnt help our attacking play. but was central to many good chances and moves. always trying to force the issue. REMY - 6.5 - again a quiet game with chances here and there. a nicely finished penalty and a few other attempts but never really got the service he needed from the midfield. ZAMORA - 4.5 - again opinions could go either way here. imo he was pretty awful. didnt win many headers and just not at the races. just ineffective really. nothing really came off for him and despite lots of running he didnt try to win enough headers imo which would have helped us to retain possession better. SUBS: DERRY - 6.5 - full of effort and composure. a calming influence helping us to regain a bit of control of the game and made several nice passes. did the simple things well. had a terrible shot that he skewed well wide but got a massive cheer for it! not many players will get that! FABIO - 6 - solid. must say didnt notice him too much which must mean he did the key things well enough. TAARABT - N/A - came on in the 82nd minute which was too late imo. barely had much of a touch of the ball. THE FINAL WORD Another game where you cant help but feel we were just going through the motions really. Atmosphere was flat as it has been recently apart from those booing Bosingwa and MBia. We struggled to retain possession for long periods with poor passes occurring frequently. But the biggest issue I have at the moment is the lack of imagination that we play with. Its just so basic. Making runs into space is something we dont seem to do and our set pieces are just awful. Every sodding corner we get ends up back in our half within 30 seconds. Its often sideways passes with us and we just lack the spark and the energy to get at defences and ask serious questions. I bet school kids could play with more imagination than us. Its that basic. Is it lack of effort? Lack of ability? Or because our fate is already sealed? I dont know, but it is very worrying. Harry has a massive job to do in the summer, and whilst I understand those who are unsure of him as some of his decisions do baffle me, we need to stick with him (which I am sure many agree with). Imo we seriously need to ship quite a few out as there is something fundamentally wrong with this squad looking at the way they play.
Cheers Judo. Although you told us the line up down the pub before the match, I didn't actually realise that Zamora was on the field until the second half when he was down our end; he made Jenas look influential! Derry's curling pass down the wing with the outside of his foot was the highlight of the match for me. Unfortunately it was just outside of Townsend's reach. Enough said.
Agree, that was a great pass (well almost!). Not something you would expect from Derry really with the outside of his boot. He did have a good influence on the side in that second half.
Cheers Judo. First home game I've missed so nice to read a report. Was the booing really loud against Mbia and Boswanker or just an isolated few?
I would say more than an isolated few, more so towards Bosingwa, and that grew after his poor back pass.
I should also point out another moment that shows how amateur our play is - Green picked up a back pass from Traore so gave away a free kick in the area. Thankfully nothing came of it, but it was a head in your hands type of moment!
Deafening against Bosingwa, cries of "off, off, off" and choruses suggesting to Redknapp to substitute him. I've never booed any of our players, but really couldn't ague against it. Unfortunately his woeful back pass came seconds after I'd said he wasn't playing to badly!
Good stuff Judo. Hopefully you and Col will have some wins to write about next season. See you in August mate.
and I thought rangers would win today this was my bet Liverpool everton spurs and good ole rangers to win, I have to get out this obsession that rangers will win
As roller says, deafening! I've seldom experienced that before ie fans booing their own players to the extent that the manager takes both of them off because if it. I did not join in - a personal decision to never boo one of our own players - yet I have to confess that it was an interesting demonstration of people power. It's sad that it has come to this but that is the last time we will ever see either of those two playing in The Hoops.
Cheers Judo but i think you could probably just save yourself some time by "copying & pasting" any other previous report from this se4ason !
That's funny. I just wished it wasn't so true. How the heck did it get this bad? I sat there today and remembered how I felt before the Swansea game. Nineteen games later ( Plus Cup games ) I just had a sense of deja vu. Every game with the exception of a couple it has felt like friggin ' Groundhog Day.' But then again.... in Groundhog Day Bill Murray improved day on day, so it is in fact a ****e analogy.
Thanks for the report Judo. As I wasn't there, I enjoyed the read. Glad you enjoyed your meet up with the lads.
Thanks for the report...again not there either....and as for other thread...it sounds like the best part was the meetup first. It seems the atmosphere hasn't got to Derry at least, he could be important next year (how sad to say that). We have a nucleus of a team Green, Hill, Onuha, Derry, Mackie, Faulin and Jenas...and look how many are "old boys"! sad again
Don't be surprised if Redknapp keeps one or both of Mbia and Boswanker. He really rates Zamora after all!!!!???????????
Nice to have met you Judo and your family. Harold needs sitting down in a chair and a few things discussed ... The chair from the Green Mile would do it for me ... I can see the pre meditated twitch just he thinks the power is going to be turned on. Crimes in my book He has eaten our soul from the inside To not sort out the dressing room To spend 12 million pounds on John Coffey ( like the drink but not spelt the same way) and not play him To remove our most creative player we have ever had at the club by putting Adel on the bench ... The player who is capable of almost anything If someone snaps him up ... Watch him play then To not play Fabio enough To think of himself before the club To allow that idiot Cockrel into our club To shatter a squad of talented players to the point whereupon its hard to see how they can call themselves footballers and even slag them in public so we again potentially lose more money on them ... If anyone buys them! .. These players IMO are very good players and will rise again like cream to the top Feel free to add any you can think off But this rat will jump ship and it all starts falling down . A new manager and a real sort out would IMO get this lot playing again I can only hope there is a twist and he walks now or gets offered a new job
This seems to confirm the season can't come quicker enough for both players & fans. The only problem is that the players are still getting paid yet in truth, they are already gone. Thanks for your report, Judo.
