Just back. Absolutely buzzing. Isla and Phillips ripped Sunderland to pieces first half and Fer was outstanding all game. Every player had a good game apart from SWP. On a sour note apart from Fer's injury, there was a bit of trouble within the first ten minutes between our fans and at least one ejected. WTF is that all about?
Well done Stamford, you deserve a medal. If you keep going to the away games as a QPR fan you will eventually get your reward. Tonight was one of those moments. I can't get my head around the in-fighting though. That's just completely bonkers.
I've paid my way to every single away league game this season and we've lost every single one First game I get taken as a guest (by some rather disappointed Sunderland fans) and we win Sadly they're unavailable to take me to Hull Well done to the Rs fans that made the long journey, rather like me I guess in hope rather than expectation I thought SWP was OK last night (particularly his outrageous nutmeg), but the space afforded to us by Sunderland, particularly down the flanks, was outrageous - a near constant invitation to attack. Sunderland looked lethargic for much of the first half, and seemed very intimidated by the fact that we'd actually decided to give it a go If Fer's injury is serious it will be a major blow - he was excellent last night, full of running, strong in the tackle (unlike some of his other performances this season), scored a great goal, and hit the inside of the post with another effort. He'd been hit hard in a challenge a few minutes before going off, so I hope that it might just have been the cumulative effect of the challenges on him rather than a single calamitous injury Biggest difference last night seemed to be that every player was really up for it. If somebody lost the ball they worked hard to retrieve it, and off the ball we were constantly pressing and forcing Sunderland into mistakes. We operated much more as a unit, and the passing was much slicker and accurate in general I couldn't believe how quickly the Sunderland fans started booing and getting on their players' backs - really started at 0-1 when Fer had just hit the post. That really showed how much dominance we were enjoying The feeling amongst the home crowd reminded me of our home game against Middlesbro' a few seasons back. They were on an appalling away run and then smashed us 5-1!
I think ROB GREEN deserves MoM he pulled off some cracking saves and definitely kept them at bay as they could have scored 2 if not 3 last night
It was bloody hard containing myself in the Sunderland crowd who were very pissed off. They were poor to be fair and we had a bit of luck but the effort and comittment was obvious to see. Yun and Isla played like wingers in the first 45. If your going to play one up top then there's few better than zamora to hold it up. As one Sunderland fan said " he old man's it" which I believe is a reference to knowing the game via his experience. Even when he's doing the fouling he can make it look like he's the one being fouled. Phillips was a joy to watch when on. Pace , confidence and some wicked crosses. Barton was for me immense in his off the ball work. Constant pressure on their players. I left feeling like we had just one the champions league such was the wait for an away win.
Phillips seemed to play with real confidence last night - we can only hope that this inspires him for the rest of the season
I watched it live via an "ok" stream but again it was by no means great. Last night I think is a classic example of the saying "you make your own luck". The key to it for me was that from what I could tell from the stream we pushed up and on to them in their own third from the first minute and made it hard for them to play out and we turned over possession in midfield more so than we normally do. Whilst Caulker and Rio and Green were getting all the plaudits, for me, for once, we seemed to be able to dominate the midfield and Barton, Henry, and Nico seemed to be able to calmly pass through and around the middle and get the ball out to Phillips, who by some miracle has rediscovered the art of crossing. So I was really impressed with the Midfield tonight. However, for the entire 90mins I also felt that we always looked like we were about to give a goal away - and on reflection I think this stems from them seeming to have plenty of joy getting past Yun quite easily and the same with Isla, neither of whom seemed to want to put any tackles in - hence, perhaps why Caulker and Rio were kept so busy. I have never been one of those who have slated Rob Green, a goalie, just like all players WILL make a mistake from time to time, it's just a goalie's one tend to be remembered. Green was brilliant at times last night and kept us in the game and in the lead throughout. So time to enjoy the victory, but let's not get too over excited, there is still a long road ahead and we will have to perform to that standard as a minimum every game between now and Leicester away and sometimes have to play even much better.
Far too sensible post 4string......... But it still feels great waking up this morning after a win, plenty to build on for the rest of the season.....
I watched it on a very good HD stream and I thought there was a brilliant calmness and composure about our play which we all know leads to the most important factor in football … confidence Respect to all who went to the match
I think it's as simple as that - confidence. When you have a manager who continuously bleats on about how 'difficult' everything is and how good the opposition are, and what a good job their manager is doing, it's hardly surprising that the team take to the field thinking that they can't win. Ramsey has picked people that were outcasts under Redknapp, has given the team confidence and has got them playing with intensity and belief. Not rocket science. Just a shame we couldn't have escaped the Redknapp pall of negativity sooner.
First off kudos for the brave few that made the trip. 50+ years of supporting the Rs but I've never yet made it to Sunderland. The key question today is can we convert this result into a winning formula. I have seen us play the closing down game several times in recent months and that appears to have been the key last night. But like many sides we don't seem able to keep that up for 90 minutes (unsurprisingly as even Barca and Bayern fade toward the end) and we leak goals in the 2nd half. The difference yesterday was of course the two first half goals but you can't have tactics that assume we will always have such a luxury. Any thoughts on how we can complete the picture?
For personal reasons I was unable to watch (on the web) the last two matches which were the only league matches that I did not see this season. But yesterday, I could not believe what I was watching. It was as if we were a different team. We were pressing high, holding the ball, attacking fast on the counter attact. In short, we were causing problems and looking dangerous We also scored a goal and not immediately let one in. We even took a two two goal lead and then kept a clean sheet. We even won away!!! Many good thing I do not recall us doing. Green was brilliant, but I was even more impressed that we seemed to have a game plan, it was efficient and we stuck to it. We were whipping in some incredible crosses, and I do not remember too many all season...and this was from a team that I thought did not have goals in it. I went to bed with a smile on my face... and it was a for a QPR football reason! Well done and long may it continue!
