Match Day Thread QPR vs Reading

Manning will come back like a long lost son. The kid can actually pass a ball from midfield which will be a revelation.

On one hand I feel a bit for Cousins because I do think he tries. He’s just a liability when he’s anywhere near the ball which isn’t an ideal quality in a supposed box to box midfielder.

 

I agree with Ellers, our expectations show how far we have come. However the result shows how far we have to go.
What is amazing is after all these years of buying midfielders, we haven’t cracked it and are still very susceptible in the middle and lacking in depth and creativity. It’s poor when one man drops out and we are a shadow of ourselves - that said we have been without Rangel, Cameron and Hemed (more benched recently) and now Luongo.
It will be interesting to see if Manning comes back, he seems to be in the bench at Rotherham; not sure if that’s because they are picking a team knowing he won’t be there or if his form has dropped.
It will be interesting to see what team appears against Villa.
Onwards and upwards!

 

The odd thing about Cousins is I can remember Charlton coming to Loftus Road and Cousins absolutely dominating in a brilliant box to box midfield display. Think he was their player of the year before he left too.

I'm still convinced there is a good player there somewhere, but not on show at the moment. Did have some nasty injuries which can impact a player, or maybe needs to be a big fish in a small pond. Who knows.

 

Does this mean we won’t be getting The Times Championship performance of the week for the third consecutive week?

Disaster.

I’m pondering the relatively short trip to Aston, twinned with Aleppo, on New Years Day. Apparently you can buy tickets for the away section on the gate, which sounds odd to me. Anyone going?

 

One good thing about yesterday's game was the absence of timewasting, which has become an absolute scourge and is never satisfactorily dealt with by referees. Both teams wanted to win it in the second half, but no doubt if either had gone ahead we would have been treated to all the usual tricks, starting with the goalkeeper having a little lie down every time he catches the ball.

 

Im going...that is to Villa not Aleppo. Got my ticket already though (daft like that)

 

Hang on stroller...they were doing all that nonsence with the free kicks, rolling ball, wrong place (one kick took three attempts), ball not leaving the area at goal kicks. The falling over dead was also time wasting. Reading started it early, so you probably thought is was normal

 

Was pondering it myself although Ellers has very kindly invited me over for some red button action. Probably dependent on hangover though I do fancy it.

Chronic lack of trains leaving Aston for Brum between 4:45 and 5:15 rather predictably.

 

I just thought that the ref was being over-fussy about the position of the kicks. If they were doing it deliberately, they should have been booked. I really didn't get the usual anger at blatant time-wasting, though.

 

There was a bit towards the end when we were on top but by Championship standards nothing to cry over.

Thought their attitude given their position was admirable though they didn’t look that bothered about missing chances. If we’d got one I think heads would have gone down. Alas no.

 

Mmmm. I wouldn't get carried away by Manning. He's only made 13 starts for Rotherham out of 25; that's a team in 22nd place in the table, so he struggles to get a regular starting berth for them. His pass completion rate is just 68%.

 

Yeah because he tries difficult passes. I’m not saying he’s Pirlo but he’s better than Cousins. I’m better than Cousins.

 

Just back home after a detour. Well, that was a trying afternoon! Just 26% possession (per BBC) in the first half; it was like we were playing away to a top team and were aiming for a draw. And a very boring draw at that.

As Nines says, I think the problem was that the central midfield pairing were too deep and there was too much of a gap between them and Eze; and too much space between Eze and Wells. A No.10 needs to be puling the strings up front and Eze has been nowhere near that level recently but he's young and he'll come good again. I can imagine Freeman playing in that position yesterday and he would have been much more involved, influential and creative. Eze often seemed to let the game, and the opposition players, pass him by. We made so many poor clearances which we just couldn't hold on to up front and Reading just kept on coming back at us. Our defence did generally look well organised and effective, limiting Reading to, I think, just one shot on target in the first half.

I think this game also showed the value to us of Luongo, as if that needed demonstrating again. Cousins in an appallingly poor replacement. He made more effort in the second half to close the opposition down and made one long pass to the left wing but other than that he was, yet again, anonymous. And this was after some more promising performances recently. When his contract expires, we should let him go; we can easily do better. Luongo gets forward more than Cousins, covers better defensively, is a better tackler and is more creative (although the latter is not his strongest suit): the full Monty really, for someone playing in that position.

And what about the substitutions? How could McClaren leave it until the 90th minute to change things? That is totally, totally inexplicable. Was he happy with a draw? I would have replaced Cousins with Chair who would have offered more energy and a bit more going forward. And I would have taken off Eze, moved Freeman inside to take his place and brought on one of our wingers to inject some pace out wide and to give their full backs something more to think about defensively. Some might argue that this should have happened at half time. I would have settled for the changes any time between 60-70 minutes. But to leave any changes at all until 90 minutes is an effing joke.

That there were some relatively good performances is perhaps surprising: Wszolek, Freeman, Leistner, Furlong and Lumley spring to mind. Lynch and Bidwell were OK, Wells worked hard and Scowen was effective (one of his better recent games). To have these performances and yet still draw says two things: firstly, Reading were better than expected, passed the ball well (generally) and were quick to close us down, particularly in the first half. Secondly, those performances suggest it was our tactics, shape and (lack of) substitutions that let us down.

To be fair, Reading probably deserved a draw, although we could have nicked it as we increasingly raised our game in the second half. But, there again, Reading had some good chances as well.

Nevertheless, we've had a good haul of points overall in recent weeks and it's been much more fun to watch than in the second coming of Ollie.

 

Yes, I've not seen you play but I suspect you are better than Cousins. Are you doing anything on Tuesday?

 

Abusing Cousins mainly.

 

Went to both games over Xmas with my two sons and yesterday was so boring. Boxing Day game was great. Couldn't believe there were no subs until 89mins. They looked knackered to be honest. I would have changed it at half time and brouht on Chair who looked great on Wed.

 

I don't get Shhteves thinking at all..... With the players looking jaded and lethargic it was obvious a few substitutions were needed.... What was he thinking yesterday?

 

I think, like the rest of us, he had fallen asleep.

 

What was the gate yesterday?