I never compared Armstrong to Ferdinand. They are/were at a completely different level to each other. One was the best player who I ever saw live in a QPR shirt and who had a very successful career domestically and internationally. The other is a young lad of 20 who is trying to begin his career. He is working hard to do that and despite my national affiliation, I think all of us should be patient with him. He is still very raw and misses plenty. The best of strikers miss lots of chances. His contract is up this Summer so I have no doubt he will leave on a free and go elsewhere and have a successful career. Remember, we sent Les on a loan spell with a Turkish club when he was young too. What I was doing is comparing his work rate to that of Willock who for the last 15 months has not put in the effort and clearly wants out of the club.
Armstrong was our best player by a country mile yesterday. Can't understand all the criticism of him.
Pretty sure have a year option on him, so expect we'll sell him in the summer if anyone puts an offer in....or he can accept a new deal with us
If some of our fans make him the scapegoat for the entire squad underperforming for the whole season and we end up relegated, I have no doubt he will be off elsewhere especially as he has already received abuse on social media.
Thought we played pretty well again yesterday but came away with nothing, which has been our story recently against the better teams. We have been poor against the other teams at or near the bottom of the League. If we could manage to play as well as we did today against the teams near the bottom we might escape relegation, but that probably means we need wins against both Huddersfield and Millwall to give us a chance.
I enjoyed yesterday. I was there. I still can while I think there is still hope of snatching 4th bottom and moving on next season. I am not so sure of all the criticism I don't think we could have done too much about the goals Full backs were decent and steady Clarke- Salter is very good and we are much better at the back with him in the team Jimmy had a great game. He won every header and every battle. He pushed forwards from the back on several occasions into the space on offer and was unlucky not to score I have seen his long passing worse! The defence had a good mix of playing it around at the back and passing it long with success to Armstrong. They mixed it up well and into both channels so I think Watford pressed us less than other teams have recently as we had a plan B. Midfield was better/less bad than it has been for a while I thought Colback had his best game that I have seen (this is a relative term) That was until he got booked (could have been a red I suspect but I haven't seen it again) after that he palpably held back on the 50/50s in the middle of the park, which he had to to stay on the pitch. I guess a better manager would have subbed him earlier. He seemed to pass it around quickly crisply and forwards until then I take the criticism of his effort on the goal, especially when you compare it to Smyth? throwing his body on the line in defence at around 80 minutes. Sam was solid as he normally is. I think we benefited in midfield from No Dozzell, the defence mixing it up and having 4 players ahead to pass to. There just seemed to be space and time to play in the first 66% of the pitch At half time my mates thought we'd done OK Chair was average but we have higher expectation of him. I thought Willock did OK and rarely loses the ball. His ability to collect and shield it under pressure is very good. He is still the only player you want the final ball to go to as he is comfortably the most likely to put it in the net. For that reason alone I don't think you can ever sub him. (Until others start scoring 5 per game) The benefit of having Armstrong on the pitch was clear for all to see. He gave much much more than 110% He inteligently seemed to run both channels which helped the defence as per above. We have all spent 12 months saying he is a young powerful beast with a poor touch who needs game time to improve He is a young powerful beast with a poor touch who needs game time to improve So we should let him get on with it, training him and keep off his back. I like Dykes dropping and when he does he shows that he has the best touch of any squad member except possibly Willock. (I write the above knowing our options from the bench) We always always always look better with Smyth on the pitch. I would like him to get more game time Yes we need to score more but we are creating chances which is progress I thought Watford were decent going forwards but had no backbone, possibly due to being beaten up by us. I would like to try Our back 5 Field and Chair in the middle (Barry Bannan style). I'm sure I saw Chair in that role in his very very early days Willock middle left a bit more advanced alongside Dykes - dropping collecting and advancing and attacking the space in anticipation that Smyth will deliver as he often does Armstrong and Smyth running the channels with Amstrong running both channels and not staying on the left all game Will we go down.? 55% likely currently but a little more luck and confidence and training that could shift that in our favour Have we got any strength in depth. No It was an enjoyable, but yes very frustring , game. I can enjoy it provided we do not go down which we haven't yet. I am being realistic given our squad
Good mix of views SPB and good to hear from someone there to see it all. Armstrong is young and needs time. Probably any other year he’d gain experience on loan, but we need him - experience or not. I hope he doesn’t go. That highlights how the experienced players need to take on the greater responsibility. Colback not to get booked and contribute all the time he’s on. Chair and Willock to give us more creativity. So glad to hear we’re mixing it up now, we really need that. It’s all finer lines than when GA was in charge. Maybe Marti’s progress is slower than we’d like (and limited by the abilities we have in the squad). Let’s hope we can pull back some points in the next couple of games.
100% agree. Armstrong gives it everything, every game. He'll know more than anyone, he should be putting those chances away so let's not get on his case. I'd really hate to see him leave us because he's going to get better - I just hope that's with us. Troy Deeney made a reasonable point yesterday about there being no senior striker at QPR for Sinclair to learn from when it comes to finishing, composure etc. Maybe there's a job for Les after all
Hmmm … how many good strikers did Les find during his tenure? An amazing striker himself but he’s no scout for strikers by a ****ing lonnnnnnnggggg chalk.
Think we have the option of another year for Armstrong. Expect he’ll go for a pittance/nothing after bossing League One.
Having seen the video of their 1st goal again, although Begovic's footwork is a but suspect, he did take a couple of small steps before the dive, the main issue is that he tried to save it with both hands, whereas he would have got more reach going 1 handed, the same way their keeper did with that stoppage time save from Dunne.....
A lot has been said about the save by their goalie. It was competent but no more. He did what was required but the curl on the ball took it into his body not away from him so it was hardly world class.
