Match Day Thread QPR v Aston Villa

Thats the way I saw it.

 

I said before kick off that Smith was a defensive selection against Samba...who was quiet and not good. (remember he got his reputation at Blackburn for being a CD who score goals/ alot of goals). I thought Snodgrass was good and Bidwell did well..

Unfortunately Cousins did not do well...and it was all down to Adomeh (who is a life long QPR fan isn't he????) having free range of the park (and being one hell of a player)

UPDATE ON FOODBANK
It was not there (corner Loftus/Ellersie Rd) at 1.30...was there at 2.40. I got rid of my bag and AKUTRs Dave Thomas' bag there ...they were doing OK on donations and money too. Well done club/foodbank people. Hope they got a biit

 

My point is made though as others are positive we played 4-4-2.
The players must be quite confused.

 

Didn't notice Smithies distribution so much yesterday, apart from one terrible pass to Scowen that he redeemed himself for with a save. What I found terrifying was seeing Lynch and Baptiste trying to play out from the back.

 

Possibly out for season according to twitter yesterday.

 

Hard to see our formation on the stream but it looked like Baptiste, Lynch and Robinson in a back 3 first half anyway, which is what the Official were saying. Cousins a poor RWB. Don't know why Pawel is not used there if we are playing 3 5 2. But I found the first half depressing enough, thought we looked relegation material. 2nd half of mainly hopping freezed frames looked really horrible. Coming after Forest it was very depressing.

 

Didn't notice Smithies distribution so much yesterday, apart from one terrible pass to Scowen that he redeemed himself for with a save. What I found terrifying was seeing Lynch and Baptiste trying to play out from the back.

 

What I saw last week somewhere.

 

Matt Smith NEARLY did something unpredictable with his smart volley on the turn. Surprised everyone in the stadium! That's his one moment of surprise for rest of season! Still love the fella. Does his best.

 

The problem is that Ollie doesn't seem to know what his best team/formation is. Playing Smith up front with no one out wide to supply him with crosses is simply inept and I'm beginning to lose patience with him.

 

They presumably don't fit into Ollie's preferred wing back formation. Problem is, neither do Bidwell or Cousins. We'd be better off playing 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 or even 4-4-1-1 to get our wide players into their best positions. Ollie over thinks it imo and we will continue to slide the wrong way whilst winning the odd game.

 

I didnt see yesterday's game but sorry dont see Smith as starter. I like him but pretty sure we havent won a game this year when he has started. I was happy and surprised at the start of the season when Olly left him on the bench and we won a few. Normally It disrupts us and we dont play enough football. I note he didnt have any supply yesterday and that is scandalous but apart from Forest, Washington and Sylla have done the business lately. Maybe with Tuesday's game he wanted to rest them, however I come from the Ginger Mourinho school of play your best team at all times.....

One other thing....Olly is starting to say exactly the same thing when we lose.....what we did and did not do.....DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT YOUR THE MANAGER .

 

You're spot on that we don't have the players to match the way Ollie is trying to play. I don't necessarily agree that 3 at the back can't help make you a better side defensively, as England have improved immeasurably in that department since adopting that formation. However, apart from the obvious difference in ability of the players, England also have wing backs that play as wing backs etc and CBs who can play a bit.

We DON'T!! I've said this since the start of the season..............we don't have one single wing back. Ollie either uses full backs there or tries to adapt wingers to do it. It isn't working, other than the odd game or two. Then yesterday he plays Smith up top with no wide players to supply him.

After the loss to Forrest, I said to Roller "back to the drawing board" and he he chastised me for it (rightly I thought at the time). But the more I think about it I really do think we're getting it wrong on the whole and that it's mainly down to Ollie's muddled thinking. We have to cut our cloth to match our financial position, I get that, but he can still play the right players in the right positions. Cousins at wing back? FFS!!

 

Nice one, but what formation would you play? In the absence of Hall we lack a defender who can pass (Robinson is the closest), and in a 4-5-1/4-4-3/4-4-2 we lack a central attacker who is mobile and can reliably control the ball and hold it up. I’m not sure that 3-5-2 is too complicated, especially if they train to it and play it week in week out. It’s the limited personnel (which we have to live with) and the constant fiddling with line ups which is our Achilles heel. I like 3-5-2, but if we don’t play that I would go 4-5-1 turning to 4-3-3 when we are going forward and with Freeman at 10 (injuries permitting):

Smithies
Furlong. Ned. Hall. Robinson
Scowen
Luongo
Pavel. Freeman. Shodipo
????

 

I'd have thought that by now the players should be getting used to playing 3 5 2, and we have got that working quite well for us earlier this season. I think we have lost a lot by not using Pawel as the RWB. Even though he seemed to have lost the confidence to beat a man, he still contributed well to our better passing football going forward, and is a good accurate crosser of the ball which we really miss now. He was certainly much better defensively than Cousins. With Baptiste behind Pawel as a right sided CB we weren't as open on the right side of our defense as we have looked the last 2 games. Up front I'm still waiting for Ollie to give Smith and Sylla a start together, but they will need supply from out wide.

 

That's the problem though...........who from?