Well, performance wise as I said yesterday, it was terrible, really awful infact! But, we somehow nicked the three points, which made the long trip back to Sussex so worth it. THE GAME We lined up in a 4-5-1 formation, with Jenas and Carroll sitting behind O'Neil in the more advanced midfield role - that i didn't expect to be honest. Yeovil came out of the traps flying, really got into our faces and we couldnt cope with their quick closing down and quick attacks. Rob Green kept the score at 0-0 with two fine saves in the first half. Matty Phillips also missed a sitter for us, which was our only real chance of the first half. Our midfield was non existent throughout really, leaving Austin very alone up front, forcing him to come deep time and time again. Defence was solid, but without any protection from midfield, chances did come for Yeovil. We couldnt keep the ball, and kept on giving cheap possession away. Second half was the same story really, Yeovil had a number of shots saved by Green, one another excellent save. We would have been 3-0 down had it not been for him. Our midfield continued to struggle, and it was becoming a real slog for us. Matty Phillips had the chance for a number of runs down the wing, but seemed scared to and we ran out of ideas completely. Kranjcar came on and had an impact. Then out of nothing Austin won us a penalty, and duly put it away! 1-0 rangers, and my god were we lucky to be! Yeovil then brought on a massive bloke up front who cause problems, but Dunne and Hill dealt with him superbly. As has been the story of our season, we then shut up shop and closed the game out. Three very very lucky points, but on a day when the others at the top of the league mostly drew, they are vital ones. THE RATINGS GREEN - 9 - superb, we would have been 3-0 down had it not been for him, and he collected crosses in the closing stages confidently. 6 clean sheets in a row now, 1 off our club record. ASSOU-EKOTTO - 7 - part of a solid defensive unit, not helped by the fact the midfield was non existent and he had little back up really. made several nice clearances when under pressure and showed a few nice touches. HILL - 9 - no protection from the midfield, but he dealt with everything superbly, including the big striker they put on towards the end. DUNNE - 9.5 - MOM barely put a foot wrong tbh, cleared everything, and was always around to make the block/tackle. showed composure under pressure and led the defence as a unit well. SIMPSON - 7 - again, not much protection from the midfield in the wide areas but a solid performance. coped well under pressure, and made some good runs forward to try to unlock yeovil. JENAS - 5.5 - now i have seen others say jenas has a good game, but i honestly cant see it. he was awful imo, along with the whole midfield who were no where to be seen for the 90 mins. kept on passing to yeovil players, not creating space, no movement. CARROLL - 5 - again, didnt do an awful lot, but for me he should never be playing that deep. I thought he was meant to be an attacking midfielder? only had two games for us, but so far I am not convinced. we had zero control of the midfield until barton came on to help. PHILLIPS - 6.5 - had the chance to make several runs at the defenders but failed to do so, and we seemed to not want to attack tbh. a lack of movement from the midfield gave no service to Austin. No runs into space from either winger meant we rarely committed men forwards. TRAORE - 5 - poor imo. made everything look difficult and often forgot to take the ball with him. often ran into defenders and struggled to do anything of note. O'NEILL - 6 - always tried to run into space, but again struggled to pass the ball well and was guilty of giving the ball away a number of times. gave no support to Austin. AUSTIN - 7 - had no support whatsoever, but worked his socks off for the team and created the penalty out of nothing. won several headers but nobody took the gamble to run behind. SUBS: SWP - 6.5 - came on and was fully committed, winning several challenges and looked to make a positive impact. made a difference. KRANJCAR - 6.5 - nothing special but worked hard and did the simple things to try to give Austin a bit more support. BARTON - 6.5 - helped to regain a little bit of order in midfield, and was calm under pressure. helped to close the game out. FINAL WORD Well, I think I know what the talking point here will be, Jenas. For me he was part of a midfield that was shocking, it was really that bad. No body was running into space, no one wanted to run down the wings, and our major problem was the gap between Austin and the rest. He was forced to come deep to look for the ball, leaving no body up front. We did not commit enough people forwards. Compounding all that was a midfield who couldnt pass the ball and I dont think many were up for the game as Yeovil were. We all knew they would be up for it, and we were told we would take nothing for granted. It didnt seem that way, we were very very lucky to come away with all three points. I have to say, I think our major problem yesterday was the tactics, not the players. We went with one sodding striker against Yeovil (with all due respect), we should never be doing that. I know we are short of numbers, but if its that bad, give someone liked Hitchcock the chance to impress. We can't play that negative in games like that. It seemed we were happy to get a point. As I mentioned, playing Carroll that deep shows our tactics for that game. Surely him and O'Neill should have been the other way round? Against better teams we will come unstuck if we continue to play that way. For a number of games now we just havent clicked going forwards. It needs to soon as we will soon be playing the teams just below us. I am getting worried about that as we wont keep winning 1-0 all season. Goals need to come, and soon. However, lets finish on a positive. Our defence were superb, especially Green, Hill and Dunne. What character they showed to clear literally everything that went their way. Also, as we have said a number of times, champions are the teams that win when they play badly, and we did just that. Those points could prove vital what with the other teams drawing yesterday (Forest, Leicester, Blackpool). Cant bee too unhappy with the fact that we are still unbeaten, have kept 6 clean sheets in a row, and are top of the table. I dont really care how we go up, as long as we do!!
Thank you Judo, for as excellent review. Jenas is not proving the midfield general I had hoped....I understand why Barton didn't play (4 yellows or death of a friend). But surely that made it a match that Henry HAD to play in...that I do not understand. Agree with respect to ONeill and Carroll being the wrong way round. But I would give Green MoM.....we would have definitely lost and maybe lost badly without him
I couldnt agrue against Green getting it, he was brilliant. He made three excellent saves. I just felt without Dunne then Yeovil would have had even more chances.
Great report. Thanks and confirmed as accurate by watching the highlights or, from the QPR perspective, the low lights and then the penalty. Actually, that is unfair. Rob Green's saves were definite highlights! Thanks again.
Thanks Judo - I can follow on BBC "2 minute" updates but they don't give anywhere near the depth of coverage of your match reports. And my family were in Colchester yesterday so no help from them either It does sound like it was a difficult choice between Green and Dunne.
i am praying that when we get all players fit, we will start really hammering teams. Harry must have a plan up his sleeve some where. judo do you think KRANJCAR will make a difference from what you saw of him. i know he is not match fit yet
My worry with Kranjcar is that I never really rated him and don't remember him being the great talent that most on here seem to describe. Hope he proves me wrong!
Jenas couldn't boss the midfield in a five-a-side paraplegic league. How he has had such a career is one of life's mysteries.
I think he had the potential to be an England regular, but a combination of bad injuries and a bad attitude have conspired to limit him. He was very quick when he was younger, with bags of ability imo. I actually think he'll be good at this level.
Commentators suggested he was doing well for the first 20mins- then i didn't hear his name again for the rest of the game. Still, 20 good mins V Yeovil is more than we usually get out of him!
I thought jenas played well ,was at the game , sprayed the passes around with class , this was not a game for Tom Carroll should have started with Henry I'm afraid we needed experience and strength .
Pretty much 'on the money' Judo. I was surprised at Carroll not being the forward midfielder, especially with only one up front. I thought Jenas started well, said to my Lady he was playing well - then he went totally pants! Traore was shocking though. He was given the position we all wanted him to have a game at, on the wing, and just didn't look prepared to grasp the opportunity - I don't think he wants to be at the club and should be given his wish as his Xmas present. I think Matty Phillips will come good, at least he was in the action. Will be interesting to see if HR goes back to 4-4-2 when he has strikers to choose from. Agree that Hitchcock should have been given a chance in a game like Yeovil - who knows what difference it would have made. We got the 3pts, so I suppose I should be happy, take it and move on... so now it's 'Boro! Thought your player scores were bang on though Judo. Completely agree on Dunnie too - awesome game. Our success is built on our defence alone at the moment. Only way is up for the middle of the park.
Cheers Judo. Good read as always and I didnt get any coverage so id be intrested to know if others agree with all you say. Positives are that we are not conceding & we are top. Lack of goals is starting to become a worry now. Any ideas on how to combat this ?!
Pretty much how I saw it except for Jenas, I thought he was clearly the best of the three cm and wasn't helped by Carroll who was a passenger and O'Neill who worked hard but wasn't incisive. When you have three cm, someone has to play the taarabt role. You are right about how bad we were, you really had to be there to see it.
Sometimes see creative midfielders sitting deeper or behind a more attacking midfielder...good examples would be Pirlo, Xavi, Alonso, Scholes or even Carrick. Deep lying playmakers. Maybe Harry had that in mind with Carrol? O'Neill being the man to make the runs between midfield and attack, along with the wingers... Cheers for the report Judo - good stuff!
I don't think even the most rabid Spurs fan is claiming that Carroll is even remotely in the class of the players you list Jammers, at least not yet. Thats a role for a hugely confident, experienced, talented player. If Harold was trying Tom in that position, shows how highly he thinks of him. Pirlo! If only......
