Yesterday was the worst game all season. Even if we'd scored a winner in the last minute I would still be saying it was the worst game all season because we were against a poor team and we were absolutely clueless. But let's go back a few games. About 4 or 5 games ago, which is not far back. I felt like we were at our best and were finally getting in to at least 4th gear. At that time, I was thinking that now we're going to see how good our team is and now we're going to see us climb back to the top of the table. I'm ignoring the cup game because it really doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things. So what has gone wrong since then? I think we can rule out the loss of Steve McClaren to a large degree because, if they were some of our best performances, these games were without him (although I would prefer him to be our manager now, but lets put that aside because it's impossible now). We lost Charlie Austin, which is a big deal. But surely, if the team were playing so well then the loss of Austin should only mean that we would score less goals but still play well and dominate teams across the pitch. So Austin cannot be the only change. It can be argued that the loss of Austin impacted the team on a more psychological level, which is a fair point but I really don't think we can blame that for our recent performances, which have been shocking. Furthermore, we actually played well in our first game without Austin, against Burnley. Admittedly, we were more vulnerable but we played a more gung-ho style against a team who are quite deadly. Arguably those tactics and the game plan were wrong but we did play some good football and scored 3 goals! The loss of Phillips was significant but not so significant, in my opinion. He is a good player but since we've lost him another player has stepped up and played arguably as well as Phillips, namely Traore. We also lost Simpson, which I think is more significant than losing Phillips, especially because he played every single minute of every game up until the moment he got injured. In my honest opinion, the biggest issue that could be responsible is the fact that the management team has consistently made large changes to the starting 11. I don't have the stats or date but we have all seen dramatically different teams appearing in each fixture. Around the time of the above results there was a lot more stability. We had a core in the team and, whether or not you like all of the players that were part of that core, they were consistent and gave a sense of "team" which currently isn't there. I think everyone can agree that the team (again!!!!!) look like a bunch of strangers. We had a consistent back four, we had O'Neil and Barton in the team almost every game, with Krancjar often there. We had Austin each week. We also had AJ who, like him or not, does inject movement into the team and get the other players fired up and moving. The inconsistency of selection is obviously not the only problem. We also have seen that we simply do not have a gameplan recently. I said above that we have looked a team of strangers but even a team of strangers could do well with a decent gameplan. For example, we went up against a weak Championship team yesterday and did not play according to their weaknesses at all. They often gave us yards of space and we did not use it, which was epitomised by Carroll sometimes having yards of space and not venturing forward an inch but instead passing the ball sideways. If he'd have moved forwards, he might have found a more telling pass! I refuse to believe that they would have all repeatedly done this if they were told otherwise by management. If they were told to press Charlton all the way and use space or challenge them and put their players under pressure thus forcing errors out of them, they would have done so. So either the players are so lacking in confidence and are utterly afraid of teams like Charlton (unlikely) or they weren't given a good plan within which they could apply the pressure upon Charlton. They also do not seem to be told to take chances. They will not knock the ball forwards into a 50/50 chance. They seem to only wait for a perfect chance, which nearly never comes along. Is someone not telling them to take chances and let the defending players deal or not deal with it? What has struck me recently is that I have been unable to point out any of our players who have looked truly bad or have played particularly poorly. They have all looked ok and have all looked as though they could do a job, which makes me draw the conclusion that they simply do not have an effective and specific plan for each specific game, and that this is happening consistently. So, we are consistently without a plan and we are picking the team inconsistently. This is a deadly combination. I've made this thread in a bid to get all the different ideas of our problems into one place. I've included a lot of my own opinion too but I hope my bid to draw everyone into a central place to discuss all possibly problems is not in vain and I hope I have articulated things that are on a lot of our minds. Please add more possible issues that I may have missed!
Hope you're up for some constructive criticism aw because that was one tough read (and that's coming from a serial rambler!!) Your effort alone cannot leave this without at least one reply and as I've kept largely out of the weekend's carnage I'll choose this thread to provide my kroner's worth. The truth to the matter is that our current predicament/over reaching position/call it whatever we will has come as a result of: 1. Lack of class - The club tweets its affairs out in the open, takes on mercenaries who most are with us for one last big pay cheque, makes largely crass promises that do not take into account how hard the Championship actually is. 2. Lack of identity - Both on the field and off it - You cant get to where you want to go until you've worked out where you've been and why. 3. Lack of management - Both on and off the field - I'm doing well with refraining from my Flyeresque attitude towards Tone but I think we can all admit he's made some serious cock ups and crucially the same ones repeatedly. 4. Lack of constant care - How could we have ended up with a squad after all this money that includes - AJ, Zamora, Dunne, Hill, O'Neil, Benayoun, Jenas, SWP? Personally - Never expected to go up this Season, expected us to spend it getting rid of ALL the deadwood and starting again with a young vibrant squad that was learning to play the QPR way - a team we could fall in love with again.
To put things into a bit of perspective, my Burnley supporting mate told me yesterday that last saturday was the 6th succesive game that they have started with the same 11 players......speaks volumns.....
We've been playing crap all season, austin was covering the appalling form with his scoring. Now we have no Austin to score and thus we have no one to score. Wed have won that 3 months ago and everyone would have been happy except me. Eg yeovil away was worse than that and they had 5 or 6 great chances but we got a pen and sneaked it. As I've said elsewhere, we look like were starting the 2nd leg 3-0 up or get paid on completed passes rather than wins or goals scored, they honestly look like they are trying to throw the game by not scoring on purpose.
Don't martyr yourself. I'd love it if you really were a lone psychotic voice, but plenty of people on here were unhappy with the football being played even when we were winning.
Thanks Jm. You have some good points in there which suggest to me you also don't think Arry and his staff are doing a good job. Time to find someone else now to get us upm to the Promised Land I think.
Those are good points but to be fair this thread was about the change of form in the above mentioned games into the ****e form we're currently in. It does indeed say it all. Can a manager be so dumb that he doesn't see this? Flyer, if we've been so terrible all season then explain the form we had in the above mentioned games. I'll agree with you about our early form, wins and clean sheets because I, too, felt that we were one spot of bad luck away from being a poor team. But we picked up and got better and when we had the good set of games listed above I thought 'here we go, we're in gear now.' I'm still not sure it's worth it unless we could get a truly great manager who knows EXACTLY what to do in this situation. Unfortunately, all of those managers are at very good teams.
Indeed there were! Here's one where several highlighted issues / worries including myself. http://www.not606.com/showthread.php/232010-Lacking-in?p=5448046#post5448046
awjm Sorry, but I can't agree with you that we played well in those games apart from a twenty minute spell at Ipswich. Doncaster & Huddersfield mainly outplayed us & if they had more quality would have returned home with three points. As far as the Bolton match went, I thought it was by far our worse performance at LR this season. We played far better in the defeat by Reading than we did in that period.
Since joining us he's spent little time out injured and he still deserves a place in the starting lineup, so it is harsh.
... this ... similarly, our changes have been minimal throughout our unbeaten run ... Liam Moore bust a rib and was replaced by Wasilewski ... Konchesky got himself a red and in has come Schlupp ... but it has been business as usual in the attacking third throughout this unbeaten run ... everybody seems to know their jobs and there is a collective belief in the side...
I wouldn't agree that we played well in the matches where we won 4 on the spin. We were lucky to win those games. Even Ipswich away - we were awful until Kranjcar scored, and then got a quick 2nd to seal the game.
We don't have a big squad by any means and have been relatively fortunate with injuries, but Pearson has put together a great squad, that is balanced well with youth and experience. He shipped out the big time Charlie's and we now have a tremendous team ethic and play some fantastic football Our owners we never hear of which is a good thing. They are not on twitter, or changing our clubs names or colours etc. thank god. We are debt free and very lucky to have them My point is that it has taken Pearson time to stamp his mark on this squad and he won't bring in players for the sake of it and certainly not house hold names at the risk of upsetting or disrupting things so a completely different approach to a certain Mr Redknapp. IMO until you bring in a manager with a different approach and owners that keep off twitter there could be a season or two more in the Championship I'm afraid.
Good OP Aj... Im with danish on this one Was resigned to us being mid table this year and we've exceeded my expectations.....i think the only thing not been mentioned yet is that some of the "house hold names" are not actually very good, and are living on thier past history.
