I'd agree with the consensus on here: only Scowen, Robinson and Baptiste came out this with particular credit and any one of them could legitimately be called our MOTM. Smithies was largely untroubled and Freeman had probably his worst game for us but still looked a good player. Samuel made a bright (ahem) cameo appearance. Apart from the ref (various crimes, as listed above), no-one was actually that bad but there was a lot of perspiration and very little inspiration. In itself, that is a positive: not long ago we were not displaying either of those qualities. For me, our worst features were Bidwell's predictability going forward, Smith's lack of mobility and Wszolek's determination to avoid taking his man on. Whilst we struggled for the first 20 minutes, over the full game we had more and better chances than Burton but failed to take advantage of them. In contrast to the Ipswich match, which was a joy to watch, this was seriously tedious with none of the clever, quick passing I was starting to drool over. We've now dropped points at home against two of the favourites for relegation.... It's very clear in my mind: we badly missed Luongo who, apparently, was ill.
Do we think Luongo would have had the key to unlock their 5:4:1? Definitely disappointing to have dropped 4 points against Millwall and Burton. Perhaps we can beat them away when all the injuries are better?!
And Wheeler, where was he? I haven't seen anything about injury or illness or did I miss it? Regardless of that I was quite happy with the starting line up. Ngbakoto was the only change from what I predicted in the op. I think this was just one of those games that have to be written off. Although we should've had enough about us to win the game we are still a developing team with a lot of regulars out and new players bedding in. This transition may not bear fruition until well into the new year.
The commentator on the Officials live stream said before the game both Wheeler and Lua Lua were injured. Since then it has been clarified, Lua's injury resulted from Ollie dropping him for being late for training. Maybe one of Wheelers weels fell off.
Playing Ngbakoto in the centre was ridiculous, and afterwards Holloway said he was 'disappointed' with him. Plain bad management.
Yes I agree. He said he played him in case we got a free kick or a corner and hoped that it would get us something. He also said that Burton didn't play how he expected them too. https://www.qpr.co.uk/videos/interviews/ollie-on-burton
Yeah he said that they didn't play like they did at home against Fulham which I believe was 4-4-2. They played against us in a 4-5-1.
QPR fire blanks in Burton bore draw - Report Sunday, 24th Sep 2017 14:07 by Clive Whittingham QPR turned in their worst home performance of the season on Saturday, and were perhaps lucky to escape with a 0-0 draw against Burton Albion. Burton Albion are a bit of a problem for Championship clubs, teams, managers and supporters. To look at their stadium, their attendances, their budget, how recently they were a non-league team, their team on paper, and most of what little money they have spent sitting up in the stand injured for the season you’d think they should be ****. Easy win. Got to be beating Burton Albion at home surely. Clubs with the support levels of Norwich, Sunderland, Sheffield Wednesday, the budgets of Birmingham, Villa, Derby, the pedigree of QPR, Forest, Leeds, they all look at Burton, particularly when they’re playing them at home, and think they should be winning. With that comes an arrogance and a complacency. Supporters sit back and wait for it to happen – Loftus Road like a morgue on Saturday. Players don’t play with the same hunger, intensity and tempo as they would against other opponents – compare all of those things in QPR’s recent games with Ipswich, Reading, Sheff Wed and Middlesbrough to Saturday. And managers start to take chances and make selections they wouldn’t do against other opponents, thinking that if it doesn’t work they’ll get away with it because it’s ‘only Burton’. The rest is here ... https://www.fansnetwork.co.uk/football/queensparkrangers/news/46633
I can't be bothered to write many of my thoughts on the game, mainly because the game was oh so forgettable. One thing I will say is this... I have never seen a referee make such a pig's ear of a game without even having an important decision to make throughout. Shocking.
I would say most on here had us down to be struggling from the off So far I think we have a far better team than expected and can easily be in the mix
Another enjoyable read from Clive and I really like his reports these days. A couple of points I'd take issue with were that the referee wasn't good for ANY minutes let alone the first seventy; Freeman was nowhere near as good as Clive described; he never once mentioned just how unbelievably bad Bidwell was with the ball at his feet and Burton didn't have two up top, they barely had one up there most of the game unless they were on a counter attack. I completely agree about Scowan and Holloway. Scowan was the best player on the pitch by a very long way and showed that he can play a bit as well as being a destroyer (the useless ref penalising him for a great bone crunching, but fair challenge). Holloway simply messes with everything too much and his tinkering could well do for us. Yeni couldn't play central midfield, a position that is much harder than people acknowledge, to save his life and all the changes during games will never lead to any real continuity. Please stop it Ollie!!!! Lastly, I had exactly the same thoughts when the guy ran onto the pitch. He stood near players with his arms outstretched and I genuinely was waiting for something bad to happen. All the while the stewards, who must surely be the worst in football, just stood and watched him from the side. Surely to **** they and the police must have some measures in place for just such an occurrence?!!
