I feel I should withdraw my comments that I made yesterday about Lua Lua. On the contrary, he showed great determinism to play so shortly after the death of his father. No wonder he struggled. I don't do twitter but I have read some of his comments that he tweeted (?) yesterday and I hope that he reads this forum. Sir, I apologise.
Not sure the club understood what Sylla meant when asking for more support up front. please log in to view this image please log in to view this image
It is very Interesting. It seems that we are generally consistent, but with minor differences, probably due to local networks. Thanks for the info.
I watched the QPR+ stream. I agree the review is restrictive as regards to the global perspective compared to watching live matches. My comments are consistent with the views of the commentators at the match, who I agree could have been also in error. I draw your attention that Bidwell did tend to stay back and this may be the root cause of the misunderstanding.
I don't think we played 3 at the back at any stage Ski. It was 4 at the back, then 2 at the back when we were chasing the game, then 9 at the back for the last few minutes. But it doesn't really matter, as long as they were doing whatever it was that Holloway had told them to do. I don't think the commentators on a club broadcast are any better informed than we are, and are probably a lot less knowledgeable than some on here, such as Bob.
Apologies mate. It was definitely a flat back 4. When the subs came on it showed we were really going for the win which was positive.
Andy Sinton is the side Commentator - I think he knows what he's talking about! They were joking about how there was no doubt Perch and Bidwell were playing proper backs today late on in the first half I think it was. Both, especially Perch, got forward to good effect. Ned and Baptiste were the only 2 CB''s until Perch replaced the latter there late on.
Yes, all credit to Lua Lua for that. And though he was at fault for the goal, a very bad pass into danger, and dodgy generally defensively, he gave Hull problems by trying things on the ball. You could see that for example when he turned his man out right and set up Luongo/ Washington for the move Freeman should of finished, and also from all the free kicks he won from the opposition trying to foul him off the ball.
OK, let's do this Lua Lua thing. His dad died on Friday, but he says he is ok to play and is picked. Respect to him. He certainly didn't hide during the game, and from his own tweets he knows he wasn't great. This is not a criticism of him. But honestly, why would you pick him? When my dad died, within a couple of hours of my telling my boss, she and the two levels above her (the equivalent of Ollie, Les and Tony) had contacted me to say take as much time as you need, forget about work. This for a job which does not involve the short term pressure of performing in front of a baying, mercilessly critical, mob (13,000 yesterday? Lots of empty seats). What kind of man manager thinks someone who has lost their dad in the last 24 hours should be put under that kind of pressure, no matter how keen they are to play? I know Ollie says he played after his dad died, but so what, it's like aged consultant doctors insisting that juniors should work insane hours just because they did. I'm struggling with this. Even if you have no human sympathy whatsoever, and are purely focussed on the 'good of the team', I would still leave him out on the grounds that his performance could not be relied upon, for entirely understandable and forgivable reasons.Is Holloway so fixated on his 'system' that he thought Lua Lua was the only right sided option (even though no way is he a wing back) given Pavels injury? In which case is it a sustainable system? Confused and uncomfortable.
In an interview with Ollie after the game he talked about somebody (Ngbakoto?) being absent due to his wife going into labour and rightly gave the player leave to attend the birth. This being the case you would've thought bereavement would've been treated in a similar fashion. PS regarding your last comment I recommend anti-psychotic drugs and maybe some kind of cushion...?
Must admit I didn't even realise that we'd re-signed the lad Lua Lua is he on loan or permanent? Anyway maybe he said to Ollie that he wanted to play on Saturday as it was a way of taking his mind off things and felt it would help with dealing with the death of his father. We all deal with things differently and maybe it was better to be doing something. Whatever the circumstances delighted to find that we have 7 points more than a lot of posters thought we'd have during August. Now if we can just turn over Cardiff next Saturday things would be looking up although I'd take a point here and now. Up the R's.
I know I'm in a minority on this but I think it's bollocks that it's now a given that a player misses a game because his wife is having a kid.
Tell us what you think once you have been through the experience. Even better tell us what your partner thinks if you choose to miss the birth in order to work.
I'm not sure it's wise to add to the amount of anti psychotics I am already taking. Thanks for the cushion plan though.
I think it's different if you're a footballer than if you're in a normal job. If the manager says something along the lines of "your head won't be right for the game, go to the hospital" then fine, but I don't think it should be a given that players miss a game for it as it seems to have become all of a sudden. I accept I'm in a minority on it.
It's one of the few things that I'd say you have to go through personally before you can have a balanced view. Though I have to say that, after being there for the birth of both my kids, I didn't get a warm 'what a miracle' glow and shed a lake full of tears, more of a relief that it was over for my wife as it looks rather painful, then a dawning and not entirely pleasant sensation of the level of responsibility I had for the rest of my life, especially with the first one. I fail to see that being a footballer would make any difference, and a manager would be mad to say 'you have to play' to a player who asks to miss a game for this reason. Similarly with an actor in a play, which I think is a comparable profession. If your mind is elsewhere you won't be able to do these spectacularly unimportant jobs properly. Even more so if you are doing something with more consequences, like driving an ambulance or directing traffic. Tricky decision for a player who will miss the Champions League or World Cup final for this reason though.
Good post SB but I am not sure it is fair on Ollie Different people have different ways of dealing with bereavement and if he thought it would take his mind off it and asked to play then he might have thought he was helping. Hindsight is a wonderful thing I know but what if he had played a blinder?
People do strange things in grief and the first 24 to 48 hours, some folk can be riding some sort of adrenaline wave. It's entirely possible that LuaLua asked to play so he could 'do well for dear old Dad'. For the record, I think your bosses did the right thing as did mine three year back when my Dad died too.
