Saturday sees the return to league action with play-off chasing Norwich visiting relegation threatened QPR Apologies that the content took longer than usual, but life got super busy! QPR may be third from bottom, but they have been picking up some vital points recently warming wins against Millwall and Blackburn and a draw against Huddersfield in their fight for survival. Looking at their games recently they have been tight with only the odd goal in it. Their defence seems to be fairly solid, but scoring has been more of a problem with Lyndon Dykes their top scorer with 5 goals. Norwich have been playing some tough teams lately with their most recent being an excellent win against fellow playoff chasing Coventry. Scoring hasn't been as much of an issue for Norwich it has more been keeping them out at the other end which has been the problem. Slowly however there seems to be signs of improvement that has coincided with the return from injury of some of their best players. Top scorer Jonathan Rowe should be back after breaking his hand. Though Duffy is injured Hanley is back and I suspect likely to replace him. Sargent should be raring to go as should new signing Sydney van Hooijdonk will be champing at the bit for game time and goals. Form: QPR WDWLL Norwich WLWWD Regardless of form, this, like all the games recently is another 'must win' game for Norwich to keep their play-off hopes alive.In the Championship everyone can beat anyone (maybe except beating Leicester) so we must remain focused for the game,
Thanks Zog. Let's hope Hooijdonk is a masterstroke signing!! Fingers and toes crossed. Just need Rowe back to help the supply.
Correct, HMQC. A WhoScored rating is 6 + x - y, where x and y are values added or subtracted depending on the player's performance measured by WhoScored metrics. So every player starts a match with a rating of 6. The ratings given in the projected line-up are historic, i.e. summaries of previous perfomances.
Here's the Pinkun Presser summary: Shane Duffy (calf) out for at least 10 days. Follow up scan required. Wagner indicated later in the presser could miss a few games. Jon Rowe (broken hand) has returned to team training this week. Missed the Liverpool and Coventry City games. Available for QPR. Danny Batth (hamstring) another who has returned to team training in recent days. Not featured since the FA Cup replay at Bristol Rovers. Grant Hanley now fit again and could play at QPR. No other fresh fitness concerns reported from Wagner. Sydney van Hooijdonk has trained for a full week after his deadline night move from Italy was confirmed.
We couldn't ask for a kinder schedule for the rest of the season. This is the sort of game from which we need to take all three points. We can't have a let down here. It will be interesting to see Wagner's strategy for this game.
That kinder schedule has come about because we've just had five games against teams above us in the table (Southampton, Hull, West Brom, Leeds and Coventry), 5 games from which we took 10 points. With Rowe returning, we have our best attack available and Hanley and Batth are available again in defence to replace the injured Duffy. Hopefully we'll use that strong side to attack with intensity and take the game to them.
Hoping Hanley's return brings a bit more stability and composure in defence. Results have been improving recently but at no point have I felt like our defence have "got this". If not for some Gunn heroics, recent results could have been very different.
Which components of our defence do you think are chiefly at fault Hairy? The CBs, the midfield pair in front of them, the forward-looking FBs, the inverted wingers not covering for them, the front two not pressing effectively or offering an out-ball? Over the last 14 league games, i.e. since Cardiff (A), we've halved the rate of goals conceded to (marginally) under a goal a game, and conceded more than one goal in only two games (Watford and Ipswich). Surely that suggests quite impressive defensive stability, not the opposite? Someone, I think one of the local journos, said at the weekend that we were 5th in the form table over those last 14 games, which hardly bespeaks defensive instability?
We're actually 5th in the form table over the last 5, 10 and 15 games and even on points with the two teams above us over 5 games. In those 5 games against teams above us we've conceded 4 goals and scored 7. We have improved defensively as a team and especially with the inverted wingers supporting the FBs. Sainz and Rowe in particular have improved over recent games as have Sara and Núñez and Gibson has had his best spell since joining.
Yep agreed, the stats don’t tell the full story. If you look at xG against us (and of course xG is not a “stat”, so should be treated with a big healthy dose of scepticism, but it’s a useful proxy for going behind the pure goals figure), the last four games all our opponents were “expected” to have scored more against us and actually we should have lost both the Hull and West Brom games. That matches the more nebulous impression from watching the match and ignoring the hard stats, that we got lucky defensively and still aren’t as solid as we would like even if we are defending more successfully now. Hanley is our best centre back so he will undoubtedly help strengthen the defence, but we also need consistency in the squad as that’s what helps most of all.
I think that depends on whose xG stats you look at. Flashscore had Hull on .97 against our 1.32 and West Brom on 1.76 against our 1.82, which could indicate some subjectivity involved in the assessment.
Interesting that if those last 5 games we have played 5 of the top 7 form teams, the only other teams being ourselves and Leicester
There is also a little matter of Ipswich as well. They and Leicester are the only top 9 teams we have left.
