Games apparently on the red button - so those not going / sky etc will be able to have a good watch. We enter this fixture in probably best form of the season, 4/6. Gaps 4 points, a settled side of sorts is starting to take some form of shape, and we're taking the lead in 4 of Lambert's 7 games. QPR away provides a stern test however. They won 1-0 at Forest yesterday, a surprise perhaps however they did very well to add Wells + Hamed before the transfer deadline. I think this game will be one too many for us at the moment, and will be a 2-1 / 2-0 loss. Something around this. We have players ie Dozzell / Harrison who surely won't be able to start. I think QPR's midfield is quite some margin ahead of ours, players like Freeman / Luango / Eze. I streamed the 2-0 at Portman Road - could have been 5 that day. I expect a better performance, however I think with the condition of the squad for fitness ( Downes left out yesterday, Bishop perhaps the same fitness reasons??? ) I think this will be quite a big ask. I happen to think QPR are going under many peoples radar and have an outside chance at the 6th spot. Have some good players there. McLaren was ridiculed pre going to QPR and after an early season I think 7-0 slap by WBA, but the press aren't laughing quite so much now. Doing a good job there is Shteeeveee. As for team - Gerken Spence Pennington Chambers Knudsen Nolan Chalobah Downes ( think will come back in ) Lancaster ( from what I gather Edwards didn't take chance v Blades ) Sears Roberts Maybe Harrison / Dozzell and Edwards to come on!? Anyone going? Thoughts?! Of course hope to be wrong and here's to 3 points C O Y B !
A scrappy 1-1 draw again if we can ride our luck like we did against Sheffield.We'll certainly need to stiffen up in midfield as we were overrun/passed off the pitch for significant periods of the first half particularly.
I gotta feeling we'll win this, call me crazy o know, but it's definitely winnable. They're a good team, but imo, not as good as sheff Utd. 2-1 win, and the great escape continues
I think you’re right about Harrison Westy. I’m sure he’s more than capable of playing the two games but managers these days are very soft on players. 2-1 Hoops.
A very interesting point you raise there re softness of today v yesteryear - here is my take on it. The modern day player does seem to pick up a hell of lot of injuries that weren't common in the 50s - early 90s. Heck, back then men were I suppose you could say real men, all sorts of dangerous tackles were allowed, teams only had one substitute and a club would perhaps have 14 - 18 players that would play the full season! Nowadays is tame by comparison, rotation in cups everything else. I can certainly see why a lot of people take issue with footballers, call them greedy pussys etc. So in theory, why should Ellis Harrison not start v QPR? He scored v Sheff Utd, people say he played well and certainly in the 70s/ 80s - no question whatsoever, he would start this fixture. I don't think these flimsy boots with zero to little protection weighing nothing coupled with players wearing shinpads minus ankle guards are a particularly good idea - however many do that these days. I'd say the tempo is lightyears ahead of before. I've seen various games, heck even from 97 / 98 / 99, the tempo is just soooo much quicker. The quality of players in this division is so far ahead of even 10 years ago due to the parachute ££££ let alone going back any further. He's also going to be nowhere near fully fit, and a lone striker. A non fully fit striker vs two fully fit CBs! Difficult. We also ( supposedly ) have sports Science people in this day and age who can monitor everything, potentially forecast if an injury is about to happen. So perhaps they will have some bearing on decisions?! We don't need the likes of repeat injuries like Bishop + Huws = god knows what's happened with Bishop now. Perhaps training, not deemed fit enough for the Blades game and back into the 18 v QPR? No idea. Didn't hear anything at all re Bishop and surprised he wasn't in the squad. We need Harrison for the full season to be fit. He's just back from injury, we don't need a player just back then out for another three months. Is he good enough? No idea. But he's scored, so I'd like to find out. I happen to think we require better still, however he perhaps fills me with more confidence than either Jackson or Roberts. I guess we'll see what happens come the line up anyway.
Who would have thought Bart would not even be in the side? Everyone is capable, including Harrison, of blowing it or making a contribution in equal measure - I still think the biggest mistake Hurst made was playing one up. Harrison and Jackson together I think would have hit it off. Then doubt and frustration and negativity creeps in and you never know. It’s up to him now to grasp the nettle and if he shows the desire he could nail down a regular spot.
I've got this game down as Lambert's start of the season game. He's been with us for about the length of a pre-season and it looks like the team is just now getting to grips with how we wants to play. The results up to this point, whilst important for our league position, I've kind of written off as Lambert's bedding in period. The signs are positive that we can get out of the bottom three so I'll go for a 2-1 win over QPR. The season starts (again) now!
I just don’t understand why Lambert gets so much slack for things Hurst was lambasted for. Most of the new players were signed at the 11th hour in the summer and did not do pre-season. I expect results to continue in much the same vein, but I’m hoping for a miracle. I’m not going to get excited about picking up odd wins, that would happen even with the poorest of manager and is nowhere near what is required. A win against QPR on the back of the last two results would indicate that we’ve turned a corner.
And I don't understand why you think he shouldn't be given a bit of time to get his ideas across. I guess you were expecting the team to go from whipping boys to a solid team in the first week that Paul was appointed!
Hurst ( for me ) warranted no time as I have very good contracts close to the club and the players absolutely hated him pretty much from the get go. Coupled with his interview when the players were getting changed ....... of the Exeter cup loss / his general demeanor I really struggled to take to Hurst. Pre hiring, I wanted Hurst or Clarke ( Bristol Rovers ) for the job. To me, they were the two stand out candidates, and it's a shame Hurst's tenure didn't work out. Lambert is going about things well. He's protecting his players, getting a bit of continuity, the players like him, he's doing a lot of the fundamentals of football management well in my opinion. He has a poor set of players to work with, and he's closed the gap. We look in much better shape under Lambert than we did under Hurst.
Not the point San Diego. Why was this more than generous welcome not extended to Hurst? I do happen know the answer, by the way. I did not expect a lot, given his track record. It has pretty much gone as I thought it would so far. Hopefully I will be wrong but I think everyone will be coming back down to Earth with a big bump in the next few weeks.
Indeed, ordinarily an elite or more experienced manager would have had a proper clear out. Or failing that the responsibility should have fallen to a more clued up owner to know what’s going on at his club. Having said that, it’s not easy even at the biggest clubs and Man United, Chelsea and Arsenal and even the great Sir Bobby Robson have all fallen foul of this type of behaviour. Is it part of the job? In fact yes. Does Lambert deserve credit for manufacturing some kind of togetherness? Yes. But if it’s only skin deep and not backed up with tactical nous and hard work from everybody then it’s not enough to win football matches.
I take another draw out of this one. Amazing to see the four / five teams above us are also struggling to pick up wins, gives me hope that we can actually avoid relegation. Still a massive challenge, of course, and one I'm not overly optimistic that we can achieve. The upcoming Millwall and Rotherham games are absolutely crucial six pointers though.
I agree, and it's stating the obvious that the Rotherham and Millwall fixtures are 6-pointers, but we ideally would like to keep the gap to 4 (maybe 5 at worst) going into those games. Will totally knock the stuffing out of us if we lose the next two and are back to 8/9/10 points from safety.
Stretchy. Bang on. We have to keep going and keep going. A set back or very bad run at any point may knock the stuffing out of us. The next four games won’t keep us up but they may finish us off, and that’s how it is going to be until the Spring. Nuggets. The issue we face is that three of those four teams need to be considerably poorer than Town for us to survive. But the reason we all love football so much is that extraordinary things do happen.
Hampy posted something and fieldmarshall was not happy that he posted something. Here we go again indeed. Happy Christmas.
Track back through the threads and you'll see that I backed Hurst longer than many on here. I was happy with how Hurst wanted us to play initially, unfortunately it became pretty obvious he was clueless when he started changing things constantly when results were not coming. Combined with the stories coming out of the club about the dressing room unrest and I think it was a good call to get rid of him. In contrast, Lambert has come in and been positive about everything and is doing all he can to unite the club and fans. He is very much like Mick in front of the media, we were brilliant etc, but he has an attack minded approach to the game that makes for much better viewing. I have more faith that we will avoid the drop with Lambert's approach than Hurst's and don't regret us getting rid of him.
The sun shines out of Lambert's behind but he is selling a myth and that tends to do more harm than good in the long run. I think players and fans alike are going to be left feeling cheated.
