Good morning, sitting in a Leeds hotel room this morning, long drive ahead of me later. Wonder when Bagel Nash open? So it was 8 points from 5 games in August. That is averaging 1.6 a game, theoretically just about enough to scrape a play off place if maintained all season, though not guaranteed. What do people feel about our prospects now, realistically? Defence feels better with Wootton, have transferred my defensive worry from Lees to Warnock now, as the weakest link. Anyone think differently? September is here, though the first league game is 2 weeks away thanks to the International bore-fest. We have Bolton (A), Reading (A), Burnley (H) none of which sounds easy, but fortunately we end the month with that ever popular fixture, Millwall (A). How will the table look at the end of September? My views - despite the disappointment yesterday we remain a hard team to beat and I think we are heading for a position somewhere between 8th/9th and 5th/6th. Right on the edge of the playoff places. If we fix the winger problem and preferably get someone with some goals in them as well, we might firm up the chance of a playoff place. Don't see us as auto candidates now, whoever we realistically bring in, unless we perform transfer miracles in January. I like to look at how we are doing, comparing to the same fixtures of the previous season. In August we ended 1 point up on last season, and the 4 September games yielded only 4 points in the equivalent games last season. I can see us doing a lot better, in fact a good month is on the cards (looks like 8 points to me), so we should end the month tracking at least 5 points better than last season cumulatively. As we missed the playoffs last season by 7, if we can do that we have closed most of that gap already and will be looking like playoff contenders.
I have learnt long ago that the worst thing you can possibly do is predict which games are bankers for points Personally the way we lack goal scoring chances we will be doing well to earn 5 points from those four fixtures.
Morning all. We lost 1-0, albeit at home, to the eventual & likely league winners. So not too bad at all. I doubt we'll get any further players in during this TW, but I'm quite happygo to RM. with the side we've got. When everyone's back, I think Peltier should remail at RB & Byram should. Assuming we continue with the diamond, I think Austin at the base & Murphy on the right with Ross in the free role at the head of the diamond. Up top I'd continue with Varney, but I'd have Smith or Poleon depending on the game plan & the size of opposition CBs. On the bench, I'd have Brown as cover for Austin, Drury as cover for Warnock, Green to do a number of roles, Diouf for McCormack who I might be tempted to play up to leaving Diouf the free role at the head of the diamond. All in all, I am quite positive about our chances.
Still a few hoof balls played. Final ball lacking. Need an out and out goal scorer. Already lost at home which should be a fortress. Lost to a mediocre rangers team (at least on the day). On the positive, team is still taking shape. Got a few kids to brighten things up. Wootton was solid. Diouf showed that we need more quality. Hopefully result adds pressure on transfer signings.
In a side so clearly lacking in quality and final ball, there has to be a place for Diouf. If he had come on yesterday at same time as Poleon and Smith, qpr would have had more to contend with and possibly not scored. He was the only one with the quality to cross the ball properly. We're not good enough yet for autos but play offs a possibility. I really hope we see some better games this season as the three televised ones have been simply awful spectacles
Don't know that there was a lot of hoofball (aimless kicking it up field to someone with no support). There was a few long balls, but Varney did have support from Hunt && Ross. Not Varney's fault that Hunt really didn't offer anything. As someone else said on another thread, if QPR are supposed to be the strongest team in the division, we don't have a lot to fear. We can and will get better. Will be interesting to see how Murphy progresses if Mowatt is seen sitting on the bench for the next game waiting his big chance. I also hope that Byram moves up to RM & Peltier remains at RB.
I think there was one main difference between the teams yesterday that we should really take note of (although it may have looked different on the telly). When we had the ball in midfield, they closed us down quick, causing us to miss our passes. When they had the ball in midfield, there was always someone available in space for the easy pass. Made Barton look great, when all he was doing was stroking the simple ball. How did this happen. Simple - we play too narrow with this diamond formation, bringing pressure on us when we've got the ball, and leaving too many options to cover when they've got the ball. What's the answer? I'll leave that to BM, as I'm sure he's aware of the problem. I do think however that we have the opportunity to return to 442 when Byram returns. If we repeat last years success of pairing him with Green on the right, we get a bit of width & movement that we've been lacking this season. On the left, we can play either Tonge or Diouf for that little bit of creativity. I'd like to see this team tried out ... ................... Kenny ...................... Byram .. Wooton .. Pearce .. Warnock Green .. Austin .. Murphy .. Tongue/Diouf ........ McCormack ........................... ..........................Varney................. It pains me to put Varney up top as I don't rate him. Strikes me that he's the best we've got to lead the line, sadly. Personally, I see this as more of a problem than the winger issue (didn't stop Sir Alf, did it?). Ok, this is where you give me pelters now. Let the stoning begin .....
WJ, thats what I have been saying for ages and happy someone else has the same view. I would play a very similar team, but certainly either a 442 or a 451 which has been my favoured formation for a while but we don't really have the players to play 451 imo so probably a 442. Murphy doesn't look effective enough as a LCM/LM and should really be in the middle with rudy imo. Ross would benefit more playing as a striker alongside either Varney, Poleon or Diouf even. I don't see Diouf as a wide man so I think we need to sign a LM desperately. The right side we can either go with the Byram/Green combination down that side which was probably our most consistent attacking threat last season or play Peltier and Byram down that side (with Byram playing RM obviously). And 2020, I don't think Warnock is the weak link in that defense. Just think he had an off day, if he has a couple more bad games there then bring Drury in who imo hasn't had a bad game for us but for now stick with Warnock as he is generally pretty good. I think Peltier is the weak link to be honest, he was pretty decent defensively against QPR although some minor lapses letting SWP get away from him very easily and then Hoilett in the second half but he hasn't been that solid in previous games. Think he is very poor going forward for a full back, to me full backs need to provide the extra width outside wide midfielders and even more so when we are playing a diamond formation. Warnock always seems to be there on the left and is always getting into positions to cross the ball whereas Peltier doesn't and often looks uncomfortable in possession.
From what iv seen i think you are right you look like a team difficult to beat,but you also look like a team thats going to find goals very difficult to come by i think you will lose more games 1-0 than you'll win 1-0 you are a million miles away from top 6 unless you find a couple of good wide players and an out and out goalscorer (JMHO)
