I'm not in the 'Harry Out' camp just yet but I am becoming more and more frustrated and confused by his team selections. Harry and his staff seem to have sorted our defence out and having the tightest, meanest defence in the league IS a credible achievement. It's our malfunctioning midfield that really concerns me. Constant chopping and changing of both players and formations has left me believing that even at this late stage in the season, Harry still doesn't know our best team. Last nights selection was simply baffling IMO. No pace, no width, no protection and no result. Almost every member on here commented on that before the match even started. Why pick a team that was always going to struggle? I've been wondering lately if Harry has the balls to make the really tough decisions? Hill and Dunne have been fantastic but Surely Onouha should be getting more games. I firmly believe that he hasn't the balls to drop one of them. Onouha is no longer a young pup. He definitely isn't a full back and can't develop as a CB unless he gets games. Harry had the perfect opportunity this year to let Onouha get great experience beside either of the warhorses, before he was really tested at a higher level. A real opportunity missed IMO. Harry's decisions in his midfield selections are even more ridiculous. His midfield selections seem to have no definite shape or structure. Slow players out wide, similar players beside each other in central midfield, selections with no pace. Square pegs constantly in round holes. I'm wondering if Harry has to play Carroll as part of the loan agreement. I just can't see what he brings to the team. Kranjcar and O'Neill are two others who consistently underwhelm but are picked regardless. I'm also wondering if Harry talked them into coming to the club with a guarantee of football and now he hasn't the balls to drop them for more creative players. I'm at a lose end to understand his recent team selections. Can somebody please explain them to me?
But then With the greatest of respect NUTS, you're contradicting yourself there. On the one hand you say they've put together the meanest defence in the league then almost immediately you complain they haven't done something else. That just don't add up mate.
Good to see you finally seeing it nuts, you were the one giving me the hardest time when I was saying the same things months ago, even when we were winning. I want to know what he says pre match because we are awful in the first half of every single game and are usually behind at HT because he will not make a first half sub or tactical alteration, neither will he bring on the third sub before 80 mins.
Looks like you are not in the 'Ignored by Flyer' club Nuts, unless he made an exception because he liked your thread title....but as Chairman by (un) popular acclaim you are hereby made an honourary member whatever. I don't think Harold gives a toss about this club, and increasingly doesn't care about his own reputation. I'm in the USA on business and did not see the Derby game, but it seems from comments on here to be more of the same. The fact that we are still up there with a shout tells us all we need to know about the quality of this league. I have given up on expecting something to 'click', I simply don't understand why we don't try and play with a consistent shape and personnel and take the game to the opposition, Injuries aside, every game brings changes to the team with neither rhyme nor reason. I can't blame the players, strategy, tactics and motivation are all lacking, solely down to management. Thankfully the opposition is so dire usually this doesn't matter. Does anybody seriously want Harold to pick the 20 new players we will need in the summer if all the end of contracts and loan players go?
Well, I've always been pro Harry but the jury is still out on this one. One thing I've noticed over a period of time with Harry is that he will stay with his favourites, time and time again. If you have been frozen out, regardless of how good you are, you won't get a look in ............... that simple really. Wouldn't surprise me if Harry favourite movie is 'The Great Escape' ............... cause he seems to very fond of sending players to the cooler. The only difference with him is that there is no coming back. Zilch, zip, nada.
Fair points Swords. I suppose I was trying to give Harry and his staff some credit for the performance of our defence but at the same time point out that Onouha should be getting more games. You're right of course, if is a contradiction.
A contradiction in some way, but the point stands in my opinion. Hill and Dunne have provided solid and pretty consistent cover so on the one hand, why change it? But on the other, Onouha is the future, is a class act in his own right and is only sitting on the bench now because of injury. He should be playing. It's the quick fix for short term success V looking to the future argument.
Flyer The vast vast majority of arguments/difference of opinion I've had with you has been down to your opinion on older players and not on team formations. I have always wanted a team with a mixture of youth and experience. I thought Harry summer signings had a good mix of this with Simpson and Austin balancing the purchases of Dunne and Jenas. I thought the contracts that were handed out over the previous two years were nothing short of scandalous but I did applaud the fact that Dunne, Niko and O'Neill were all given shorter more appeasing contracts. You immediately ridicule any player we are linked with that's 30 or above, where I feel I look past that and what he can bring to the team. Dunne has had a good season and proves my point while Niko has been very poor which proves yours. Roller will testify that from very early in the season I was dismayed at the lack of creativity in our midfield. Like many on here (including your good self) I could look past the result and see that our performances were poor and that we were only scraping over the line. The vast majority of managers and pundits recognise that this is the most competitive league in the world and you need experience to get out of it. That's why Warnock bought in Hill, Derry, Kenny etc. Harry has attempted to do the same but my overall point above is that he is constantly playing players in the wrong position and therefore stifling any change of creativity. We don't take the game to the opposition, we rarely go hard at teams from the off and we don't create enough until we inevitably concede and then start chasing the game. The players and squad are good enough IMO, it's just that his selections are not giving us the best chance.
I don't like Harold But no way as a man dies he go until he has served my club There in it is him ... it's about him No he stays until he gets it right Making excuses in his next book He is a wrongen
warnock bought in derry and hill in because we needed leadership. redknapp brings in old players because he cant coach or do tactics. I reason i ridicule every old player linked is we have the oldest squad in the entire FL already, maybe even in english football although fulham run us close and its not doing them any good either. we have no future and thats hardly surprising with a manager in his 70s, look was SAF did to man u, thats what redknapp will do to us but much much worse, glad to see TF finally realise that.
Unfortunately the short answer is no. Our recent away game at Derby substantiates this quite alarmingly. In our home game against them earlier this season they set up relatively narrow and packed the middle of the pitch. They played a high intensity and physical bullying game in which we were fortunate to come away with the three points. This has been their style and gameplan all season, but at least they had one. This is why I don't get Harry, If I knew how they were likely to set-up and play why didn't he? ( My team selection on the relative match day thread should acknowledge that I'm not saying this with the benefit of hindsight. ) Derby have scored a lot of goals this season but have also conceded a lot. They hadn't kept a clean sheet for ten games. This would suggest that they are keen to attack but prone to the counter-attack. Harry's starting eleven failed in that he didn't have the right bodies on the pitch to withstand a physical battle. Neither did it have the pace to break and attack clinically. It was a team in limbo of what was needed one way or the other and was destined to fail before the game had even kicked off. We should be going at teams from the off getting the first goal and let them worry about what they're going to do. Not the other way round. We have the players to do this but he lacks the bottle to go for it, especially at home. Hence the nervous and subdued atmosphere at Loftus Road.
In an ideal world I would agree with Flyer that it would be great to develop a team ... we are not IMO in that business ... Its about getting a foot hold as a club in the top flight to build upon. 100% behind the club and their policy ... This is Football and we are lucky enough to be able to assemble a squad that should do a job (money) ... for sure some bad signings and we all know know you can't buy a team but don't expect anything different ... we want success and we want it now before the door slams shut on what will become a closed shop of top tier football. What gets my goat about Harold is that he is all about himself and agree he could chuck it all in at anytime leaving us where?. Stories and some how getting rid of talent that has a bond with the club is again all about Harold ... Taarabt (no not another thread) but there is a perfect example of ego's clashing and Harold getting his own way. Spin it that they the signings were all crap and didn't care and you get to a point where we are today... A club whose fans can dismiss any player as crap now and throw them away while grabbing at straws about new players that would we think may be the answer. Harold's job is to get us up and it's his way or the highway ... any true footballing person can see where his failings ... he is not a good coach but he has presence and personality ... a PM but if anyones thinks he runs the country then they are the ones who are deluded ... The man must not get away with it at our club ... he stays until he gets it right ... expect him to try anything and everything to protect himself. We pay and use him and then one day we get Bircham back a man you bleeds for the club
He is not a coach at all, he doesn't believe in tactics or coaching, he said that himself. He said football is 90% about buying better players. He's wrong, we are continually getting done by better opposition managers who get their tactics spot on. Its no. Wonder we generally look clueless if he doesn't give pre game instructions and just believes our better players just need to go out and win. I bet we don't even have an opposition scout who watches our opponents before they play us. Even building up a database of penalties showing which way players or goalies usually go or if players give the eye before kicking. Modern managers will do that but redknapp is a dinosaur. Its littles things like that which will add maybe 5 points a season, set pieces will add 5-10 points and its clear we don't do it, in fact I don't think we scored a set piece under redknapp until the last few weeks which is hardly surprising since corners never beat the first man until kranky started taking them.
We're now at the stage where arguably our best 4 players are out for the year. With the squad we have left, there isn't a great amount tactically that can be done. Harold's favoured formation was to play 2 wingers with a lone man up top in a 4-3-2-1, but now we simply don't have the players to do this. At the same time, we are starting to see many of this seasons more consistent players go off the boil. Its up to Harold now to motivate the team and do the best with what we have. Whilst Onuoha may be the younger (only just) and potentially better option, he has not been in the same class this year as Hill and Dunne who have won us games with their play. And whilst Kranjcar and O'neil have underwhelmed this season, who else do we actually play? Hoilett who has absolutely no footballing brain and can't even beat them out for a place in the starting 11? SWP who is off league 2 quality now? Traore who can't stay fit for more than 2 games? Benayoun/Jenas who look the shadow of the players they were 5 years ago? Its very easy for us as fans to sit back and say he hasn't got a clue and should playing so and so instead of persisting with a team that isnt working, but who would you actually play?
The concept that Carrol might be on some sort of 'must play' loan deal bothers me. Obviously we don't know that is the case (and likely never will) but if it is true, how is that in the best interest of QPR? It's actually in the best interest of Tottenham. I have read most of the negatives and positives re Harry. I'm not enough of a tactition to comment really BUT if we get pasted at home by Reading then questions should certainly be asked.
Only messin' NUTS I know what you is trying to say Bond seems to reinforce your theory that the four or 'em don't know what they're doing: “It is most unlike Harry as his teams have traditionally played open and expansive football and there are always plenty of goals in his teams. For one reason or another we have found them hard to come by this season. We have plenty of forwards on the books now but we have found the goals hard to come by. Our season has been based on not giving very much away but one goal was too much for us at Derby. It wasn’t how Harry wished it to be, it wasn’t how we planned it to be but it is how it has turned out to be."
We have a mystery. This is the same bloke who a) put together the best Spurs squad in years and had them playing the type of football most fans drooled over b) coached a shrewdly built Portsmouth side to exceed expectations c) has developed excellent young talent wherever he has been d) was the almost universal choice of the nation for the England job. But at QPR we have seen nothing but unbalanced dealings in the transfer market, mind-numbingly negative tactics on the pitch and no sign of youth development other than an unthinking preference for Tom Carroll. I recognise we have been hugely unlucky with injuries during his tenure but frankly this goes nowhere near explaining the anomaly. Do we call in Scooby Doo to investigate?
Sorry but we have a fantastic squad for a championship outfit ... really no need to pick out players IMO. SWP League Two ... sorry but he could never play at that level ... He is far too good. I can't understand how we rate players on here? What's next? Green could break a arm and then we have Murphy in ... yet a world class keeper won't be considered. The fans are against Cesar ... he is this years Bosingwa Harold main problem iMO is that he hasn't got a complete settled side in this own mind ... he treats great names and great players as bloody assets and we get surprised when it don't click. As things get tight I am certain the cream will come to the top ... it's been my belief all season hence my 10 Points prediction. Charlie Austin, Matt Phillips etc big loses but we have no excuses here we have players that would get straight into any side in this league ... we have them because we can afford them (some how?). This brilliant selection of players has a job to do ... time to raise their game all round because sorry but Foxes, Burnley, Derby, Forrest are playing out of their skins they have teams we have yet to find one. Harold has to earn his peanuts now. I will never accept that we haven't got the tools to do the job here Any other player in this league which top teams and footballing people look at would have gone in Jan to better clubs ... they haven't there is a good reason for that. Flyer I have met and he without could pick a better team and motivate them tactically using what we have now.
