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Thread | Midfield General(ly)
at 10:19 19 Dec 2023
Hundreds of years ago when I actually played football I had trials for a local team. These were simpler days and we were asked to split into three groups - defenders, midfielders and attack. I walked to the midfielders. Coach then returned and said 'are you sure? Because you should know that whenever I see the ball in our own box I'm expecting to see you there. whenever I see the ball in the middle of the park I'm expecting to see you there and whenever the ball is in the oppo box I'm expecting to see you there too, non negotiable.'
What has happened to the QPR midfield? Watching Bannan on Saturday dictate terms against us for about the thousandth time in his career was so on brand for us... For the last two/three years we haven't had what I would call a proper, consistent midfielder. Yes, I know some of them have had the odd stand out game or moment but that's all they are, moments. It's so long since we had someone who you thought could take the game to the oppo, you know, try and dictate terms to teams, impose ourselves, not just wait and see what happens.
I understand SF is a holding/breaker upper type and that's fine to a point, but he now seems incapable of doing anything that involves moving forward (and might account for his woeful finishsing). And he's not alone. All our midfield seem to be able to do is occasionally win a ball, pass it sideays and then jog off, job done. Broadly, the midfield seems to be watching life pass it by.
Maybe it's me. Whilst I watch a lot of football I don't really get what's going on any more. I look back at performances like Roy Keane at Loftus Road for Forest or before that, Gerry Francis' career for us and wonder if that role, the hard tackling, creative, ten goals a year lynchpin of a team, I wonder if that role exists any more. I wish it did. Saturday's game was appalling, almost a negation of the game I grew up loving.
So what says the board? What has happened to the midfield generally and is there a role any more for the midfield general? |
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Thread | The view from corporate...
at 14:34 6 Aug 2023
So because I couldnt get a ticket yesterday I took up a longstanding invitation to watch a game from my neighbour's box at Watford. Lovely day out, great company, free beer, all went swimmingly well apart from the...well you know, the football.
Pre-kick off all the Watford fans were seriously talking about long how their new manager would last this year. You think as a fan base we're alone in being damaged by the indifference of players? Not a bit of it. And here's the rub. At Loftus Road last year Watford collectively and blatantly downed tools. And I know we all know this but it's the one thing that can't be forgiven of your team isn't it, not even bothering to hide the fact that you can't be arsed. So when Watford strolled around Vicarage Rd yesterday scoring goals at will the main surprise amongst the Hornets wasn't the ease of the game, it was things like 'look, they're talking to each other' and 'they're backing each other up.' They were amazed at the turn around in the collective will and organisation. So look at the difference between Watford from last season and the team now.
And now let's look at us. Arguably, we are now in a worse position (and that's being kind). We've had an off season where nothing has really happened to significantly alter things on the pitch. Yes, we have financial constraints but they haven't been hidden from view have they, so where are the 'rough diamonds' and nuggets from the lower league? The decision to let Masterson go still baffles me.
Next month is my 50th anniversary of my first game at LR and truthfully, I cannot remember a worse first half of football from a QPR team. Every single aspect of it was off. Keener observers than I will point out the miniutiae of what went on but it was nine minutes before Ilias (on his day, our best player and one that the Watford fans were worred about pre-game) touched the ball and about five mins after that a high,wafty, non-penetrative vague pass was sent his way, all 5' 7" of him. What a waste. I nevr thought I'd see a QPR goaly time wasting whilst four down. Shameful.
Two observations. Firstly, irrespective of cramp and hotheadedness, Armstrong HAS to start. He has pace, aggression and some 'x' factor about him. If he cramps up, sees red etc then so be it.
Secondly, whereas I'm usually one of the 'let's give XX 10/15 games and then take a view' supporters I'm afraid that performances like yesterday are only going to fuel the rapidly growing discontent and for once, I'm beginning to think that they might be right. At the moment, QPR is like a pint of sour milk. You don't need to take more than one sip to know that.
I have no idea where we go from here (apart from Cardiff obviously). |
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Thread | Less psychology, more self respect.
at 13:10 19 Apr 2023
Give me strength.
As the crowd drifted away on Saturday it felt like the lifeblood of the club draining away. I have absolutely no idea what is behind this mass psychosis amongst the players. I have no idea why Taylor Richards stopped to do up his laces in the middle of a passge of play at Rotherham (and where incidentally I watched him warm up in disbelief, he is clearly not well). And I have no idea why Dozzell on Saturday spent so much of his time fiddling with his hair. Again and again and again. A grown man fiddling with his fringe while all hell is breaking loose around him. Chris Martin's comments about commitment 'off the pitch' is so revealing as is the perpetual shambles of the Tyler Roberts situation. Again, I have no idea why Roberts is clearly taking the piss but when did the club lose so much control of this season that they have also jettisoned their self-respect? To borrow from Clive's review, the tail is indeed wagging the dog. I am sick and tired about hearing about how 'fragile' our players are. My sister is sometimes 'fragile' after a 14 hour shift in A and E, but I'll give her that. It's time for this lot to have a long hard look in the mirror, grow a pair and so forth, insert your own metaphor here, but for the love of god have some self respect.
I've supported QPR for nearly 50 years now, through thick and thin. We all know the deal, we've all got the scars. But this iteration of incompetence is new level, in that I genuinely feel that we are being treated contemptuously by a lot of this team and by definition, the club. I know this might attract some criticism but neither me or my son will be going tonight, as we both arrived at the conclusion that we don't actually know what we'd be supporting any more... |
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Thread | One inexplicable moment today
at 20:53 4 Mar 2023
Just got back. Should be more angry than I am.
What can you say, because the team that played today tried, it's just that they're not very good, and in some respects are becoming worse.
A few positives - Drewe looked composed and in the first half especially made a few decent passes. His first unforced error of the second half was because the ball took a bad bobble and it was good to see a few other players geeing him up. Throw-in will be handy for the rest of the year... Armstrong made an immediate impression when he came on and even if he is only good for 60 (raw) minutes I'd be starting him. His pace is frightening. Finally, we played better over the 90 than of late. Had Johansen's volley not been kept out by what from the away end looked like an incredible save then who knows?
But that's it. As much as I love and appreciate Kakay's effort and application, he is currently not defending to a standard that is anywhere near what is required. Neither is Dickie. Both of them need some time away to either improve or regain confidence. I am still trying to process how our defence managed to let Hugill score the first. Awful, and another three goals shipped.
Did anyone else see this? In about the 75th minute, and about ten minutes into his game, Richards was in the absolute middle of a passage of play where the ball was bouncing around between possession. It was about five yards from him. And he suddenly stopped playing and started to tie his laces. And then started feeling his ankle. And then carried on as if nothing had happened, whilst Rotherham charged up field, thank you very much. What is going on with him?
Fair play to the Millers, good ground, good result for them but jaysus, we made them look like Brazil at times.
This is a very bad QPR team, we are in trouble. |
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Thread | Analyse this...
at 11:28 27 Feb 2023
I was so traumatised by what I saw on Saturday that I have been forced to write something on this forum for the first time in about six years (Vacherin) in the hope that someone might explain things better to me…
Clive’s metaphor of the plane falling out of the sky is excellent, if only because the far easier one would have been the warm golden glow of unseasonal sunshine that bathed LR for the first ten minutes of GA’s reign. In that glorious ten minutes there was a high press, snap in the tackle, Tim about thirty yards further up the pitch, Kakay bombing down the right and we were better. And then the sun went in, it got cold again and well, you know the rest. I wasn’t the only one on Saturday in the SAR left so perplexed by what I’d just watched that I actually caught myself staring at the pitch in an increasingly empty stadium about ten minutes after everyone had gone. I’ve seen the good the bad and the indifferent down the years at LR but this new iteration, this latest version of how badly wrong QPR can be, is unfathomable to me. There seems to be some kind of psychosis amongst the players, a sort of detachment from reality summed up perfectly by the two times Dozzell and Dunne, seemingly so schooled into this backwards/sideways nonsense that has blighted football generally and us in particular, managed to smack the ball Senywards in a game where we were 3-1 down at home and with space to move into going forward. This seems to be a club-wide phenomenon and has been going on for ages now. Sam Field is an excellent example. In a team stuffed with creativity you could just about see a role for him, breaking things down, dogging the midfield, a disruptor. But can this team really carry a midfielder who plays almost 100% of the time with his back to goal, whose go to pass is back, occasionally sideways? And, he’s one of the ones trying! One year ago Rob Dickie might reasonably have been looking upwards at a lower echelon Premier League team and be thinking, ‘yeah I could do that’. He is now a gibbering wreck. And he is just one of a handful of players who have actually become worse over time, rather than what QPR should be doing (needs to be doing) with young talent. And then Chair, the only irreplaceable player in Saturday’s team, falls to the ground clutching a hamstring, exit stage right leaving team that would spend the rest of the game clutching at straws. Our injury crisis is freakish, needs looking at. Dykes contracts pneumonia, Blackburns’ first goal is a direct result of a freakish deflection. And on and on it goes, this perfect storm of bad luck, poor management, lack of direction and perhaps more importantly a group of players who couldn’t give a sh*t about QPR.
I suspect that what we are currently looking at is a group within a group. Anyone who has ever undertaken anything, in sport, in business, in life, will know that the joy of succeeding in a shared endeavour is the fact that it is a communal effort. It must be very difficult for those in the squad giving the proverbial 100% (who didn’t love Kakay’s effort on Saturday?) To know that there are those currently being payed by QPR who really do not care. If the constant absences (both on and off the pitch) are noticeable to me then why are the club’s management unwilling or unable to do something about it? Have we really ended up in a situation where a group of professional footballers have downed tools in the knowledge that they are irreplaceable? This is a question, not an assertion.
Who knows where we go from here, but before fate dealt its mortal blow on Saturday, I saw enough to think that maybe, just maybe, there’s enough in GA to work this out, squeeze two wins and a couple of draws out of the season that we need and then give him the scope to undertake a complete summer clear out of the chancers, fakers and injury prone, the millstones dragging us all down. And to this end, in the spirit of this detachment from reality and in the face of incontrovertible evidence which would suggest we all know what is going to happen next Saturday I am going to cheer the Rs on at Rotherham next weekend.
Come on you Rs. |
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Thread | Ticket available for today...
at 11:28 27 Nov 2010
Sadly, Mrs _tf_ has a fit of the vapours and will not be able to make the game today. I have a spare ticket in the Ellerslie block W and only want face value for it obv (£30). Email me on tomatyesno@yahoo.co.uk if you're interested but before 1pm. Cheers. |
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Site Scores| Forum Votes: | 78 | | Comment Votes: | 4 | | Prediction League: | 0 | | TOTAL: | 82 |
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