| No Sam Field 22:26 - Feb 3 with 11383 views | queensparker |
I feel bad posting this, as the man has been putting in Herculean efforts for years at QPR keeping back the Championship hordes. And in the first five minutes it felt like the whole team were looking around wondering where he was to put a tackle in.
But it did also seem today that the midfield were turning and passing forwards more than I’ve seen for a while. And it’s an element of Sam’s game (and that of the gladly departed Dozzell) that we’ve been sorely lacking.
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| No Sam Field on 22:40 - Feb 3 with 7416 views | ChrisNW6 |
Competition for places, especially in defensive midfield is great news. Colback due another suspension and Hayden getting match fit, I think Sam will be back in the starting XI after ban. Finally we seem to have a full strength squad with a better looking bench. Remember it wasn't that long ago when we were playing Sam Field in defence. | | | |
| No Sam Field on 23:49 - Feb 3 with 7215 views | HAYESBOY |
Bearing in mind Colback is on 9 yellows, Field will be back in at some point.
I think Dykes is the one who needs to look out as Hodge looks like he will be the one played higher up the pitch. | |
| Smells like a trout farm in here |
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| No Sam Field on 00:03 - Feb 4 with 7156 views | Match82 |
Feels like this influx is going to not only give us options with personnel but the way we play too. Exciting. | | | |
| No Sam Field on 00:05 - Feb 4 with 7150 views | QuillPenRiot |
Dykes looked good today, other games too though not against Huddersfield, as he shows composure on the ball, decent speed in this league and always looking forward. He’ll have a role to play once MC figures out how to work in Frey as he gets fit. Hodge and Hayden are starters, At least MC now has options, Hodge could play forward it seems, Sinclair on the wing, either wing, with Frey in the middle may be nuclear. Interesting to see how MC builds the midfield behind that | | | |
| No Sam Field on 01:27 - Feb 4 with 6980 views | Midlands_Ranger |
The bursting forward run of a midfielder by Hodge.....yeah....that's the stuff we been missing...and he clearly knows how to take a chance on goal the way he moved his body over that ball for the strike. I really like Field but he ain't got any instincts when it comes to scoring a goal. He is a cdm and that's cool, he's great at that. [Post edited 4 Feb 1:31]
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| No Sam Field on 02:33 - Feb 4 with 6873 views | nix |
To be fair, we’ve often been left without an outlet coming out of defence because teams do a high press on us and we haven’t had much mobility in midfield so it’s been hard to pass out from the back whoever has been playing defensivel midfield. However, now we have Hodge and Hayden as well as people with pace like Smyth and Sincs it should be harder to just shut us down.
Field will still be important to us but great that we have other options and can freshen things up. | | | |
| No Sam Field on 08:03 - Feb 4 with 6460 views | ingeminate |
Field is tenacious, works hard and is really good at breaking up play. Same time he gives far too many needless free kicks away in dangerous areas and offers nothing going forward. Makes darting runs into space, demands the ball dramatically and then passes back to whoever passed it, but not in a way that creates space! I was looking forward to see how we went without him which says it all. | |
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| No Sam Field on 08:13 - Feb 4 with 6395 views | mcqpr10 |
I think this is now probably the first time in his qpr that field is not an automatic starter. Good to have competition for places. Also, think that long term field would be more suited to playing at centre back. | | | |
| No Sam Field on 08:24 - Feb 4 with 6319 views | Northolt_Rs |
Yep. Dozzell and Field in MF was suicidal and a big part of why we have been such a poor team this season. Great win yesterday and Hodge looked very good even aside of his well taken winning goal. Onto Naaarwich at LR on Saturday. That will be a tough test for our lads. | |
| Scooters, Tunes, Trainers and QPR. |
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| No Sam Field on 08:54 - Feb 4 with 6212 views | ThGrimRanger |
Armstrong must’ve wondered what the feck was going on for our second goal when one of our own midfielders made a run beyond him. When does that ever happen? | |
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| No Sam Field on 09:46 - Feb 4 with 5961 views | Burnleyhoop |
My thoughts exactly. How often do you see Dykes or Field (or Dozzell for that matter) move into space in the box to create a goal scoring opportunity? Hardly ever, and that’s why we don’t score enough goals and Cifuentes has looked to change it.
With 16 games still to go, the likelihood of staying up has improved dramatically. Our form continues to improve whilst the teams around us are tanking, especially Stoke.
Shame Northern wasn’t there yesterday to witness the shift that we have all been waiting for and so desperately needed.
Personally, I think Dykes game time will now be strictly limited to covering the striker role only. And now we have 3 of them. | | | |
| No Sam Field on 10:55 - Feb 4 with 5697 views | bosh67 |
I think Sam is good. A bit off form but good at this level. | |
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| No Sam Field on 10:56 - Feb 4 with 5699 views | Paddyhoops |
Very good points there. Our midfield has been very static all season. No movement whatsoever .
Dozell being the main culprit. Don’t think he has it in his locker .
Early days with Hodge but the signs are good .
Great ball from Armstrong mind. | | | |
| No Sam Field on 11:08 - Feb 4 with 5668 views | baz_qpr |
Blackburn cut through us a number of times especially first half where the defence was exposed. They should have been 1 up in the first 5 and we were the most open we've been for a while. So I think we gain and we lose with Field being out. EDB is progressive and gets forward, I hope we extend his contract. Hayden I think will become 1st choice. But its good to have competition | | | |
| No Sam Field on 11:31 - Feb 4 with 5570 views | ParkRoyalR |
Disagree on this Burnleyhoop,
Now we have mobile midfielders who can break the line and actually run behind defences and our target man, Dykes could become a key player in the run-in.
Dykes does this similar role well for the Scotland team, pinning back the Centre Halves, creating space for the 10's and flick-on's for the midfield runners.
Cifuentes is still making mistakes for me as bringing on a clearly unfit Frey nearly had disastrous consequences yesterday as we were unable to hold the ball up, press and lacked presence defensively for last half hour.
Dykes's overall play has been decent enough of late (not great by any means) but now we have mobile midfielders, potentially supported by Cannon & Larkeche in our next game, I would drop the experiment with him as a 10 and revert back to Dykes as our target man in a 4-3-3 or a 4-2-3-1 and use Armstrong as a last half hour sub if we need to go to two up top. | | | |
| No Sam Field on 11:51 - Feb 4 with 5535 views | dmm |
You make some interesting points and I agree with you regarding how Dykes is used in the Scotland set up.
I too have wondered if, with the new players, Cifuentes might return to his favoured 433. To be able to switch shape positively will make us less predictable and give Cifuentes more to work with. | | | |
| No Sam Field on 12:22 - Feb 4 with 5468 views | ParkRoyalR |
Yes, Dykes contributes more to a team in a 3-5-2 formation with Wing-Backs and a 2nd striker, but its noticeable how we seem to lose control of games when he's subbed off, with the opposition Centre Back being able to step up and overload the midfield area,
It's pleasantly surprised me how much Armstrong has unsettled experienced Championship defences in recent games but for these positives I still don't see him as capable of starting as a lone striker, the negatives still out-weigh the positives overall within the team for me, harsh as it is not to start him (unless he starts instead of Willock),
Likewise I would'nt consider dropping Field as similar to Dykes, does alot of good work for the team all-over the pitch and its these fine margins that could be crucial,
Still think our best Starting XI fits a 4-2-3-1 better than a 4-3-3 with Hayden & Field in the 2 for me with Chair, Hodge, Willock & Dykes upfront (harsh on Colback but Hayden can be the ball player in the 2 and Colback partly at fault for our last 2 goals conceded)
Cifuentes has got options now and just hope he's learned how important your Substitutions are in the Championship and not to leave yourself short of height, graft & physicality when trying to close out games. | | | |
| No Sam Field on 12:32 - Feb 4 with 5441 views | traininvain |
Not a chance in hell that Cifuentes will drop Armstrong after his contribution over the last 5 games or so. We’re unbeaten in three games with two wins and you don’t change a winning team in our predicament unless you have injuries and suspensions.
Armstrong’s clearly raw and his technical ability often lets him down but we don’t have another centre forward capable of getting us higher up the pitch with the ability to in behind the opposition defence.
He’s also managed four goal contributions during this spell and every opposition defender will have come off the pitch knowing he’s had a tough afternoon. This simply wasn’t happening until Armstrong started playing up front. [Post edited 4 Feb 12:40]
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| No Sam Field on 13:11 - Feb 4 with 5323 views | QPROslo |
100% this. Hope you are right. | | | |
| No Sam Field on 13:27 - Feb 4 with 5277 views | ParkRoyalR |
I think you might be missing my point, early days granted, but Hodge seems to be that rarity at our club in recent years, being a mobile Midfielder with good technical ability who can break the line and actually run past our Centre Forward or Defender. We hav'nt had an attacking Midfielder with these 3 attributes in a very long time.
Our last 3 games saw a dreadful performance against Huddersfield, a home win against a very poor Millwall side and a narrow win yesterday against a team free-falling with maybe no wins in 8 games (not sure)?
My post was about Hadyn & Hodge bringing a different dynamic and options for the Manager.
A straight-forward 15 yard pass yesterday by Armstrong has been lauded by some as exceptional which does show how poor our pass & move game has been for some time and how low we are setting the bar for Armstrong.
Cifuentes changed the team after a Win and a Draw so with better players now at his disposal, I would expect him to twist again, as we will shortly facing far better opponents than we have in our last 3 games. | | | |
| No Sam Field on 13:47 - Feb 4 with 5203 views | traininvain |
Ok let’s see what happens vs Norwich but I’d be very surprised if Cifuentes starts changing the system, dropping Armstrong etc.
I agree that it’s positive to have more options in the squad, particularly in midfield. But I don’t see any half decent manager dropping Armstrong when he’s causing the opposition so many problems that Dykes will never be able to replicate.
And we saw yesterday that Armstrong links well with Hodge as Ireland u21 teammates. | | | |
| No Sam Field on 13:55 - Feb 4 with 5155 views | ParkRoyalR |
I am not sure we can say Armstrong links well with Hodge on the basis of one very straight-forward pass, and for all his running in behind in the 1st Half yesterday, there was no end product, in fact basic passes were not seen or executed,
I agree Sinclair gives our team a different option but with Hodge & Hadyn we may now have a better option than Cook whacking it over the top for Armstrong to chase as we saw against Huddersfield to zero effect without a shot on target for 80 odd minutes,
Its now whether Cifuentes continues with that very basic tactic or thinks Hadyn & Hodge allow him to put together a team that can pass & move the ball up the pitch to greater effect than the long-ball tactics versus Huddersfield.
Interesting to see what he does, but regardless of Starting XI, I hope he can get his Substitutions right in these forthcoming games as could be key to our survival. | | | |
| No Sam Field on 14:49 - Feb 4 with 5058 views | traininvain |
Disagree that it was a very straightforward pass from Armstrong to Hodge. It needed a bit of craft to beat the Blackburn defender and it was perfectly weighted for Hodge to take on and finish. I was actually a bit taken aback that Armstrong had that pass in his locker.
Agree that Armstrong should’ve have done better in the first half but without him upfront we don’t get anywhere near as high up the pitch and we certainly don’t have another striker capable of getting in behind which helps us push teams back and take more control of games.
I can’t imagine that many will be looking at our recent performances and concluding that we need to drop Armstrong and get Dykes back upfront, he’s been much more effective in behind Armstrong.
Hodge and Hayden did well as subs but it’s too early to be hanging our hopes on them after 30 minute of football each and I thought the overall team performance was stronger with our starting eleven yesterday. Still good to have more options and our sub bench suddenly looks competitive. | | | |
| No Sam Field on 14:52 - Feb 4 with 5045 views | SteveB |
Clive is the Jonah, ban him attending games for the remainder of the season....  [Post edited 4 Feb 14:53]
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| No Sam Field on 16:45 - Feb 4 with 4862 views | BrianMcCarthy |
"Cifuentes is still making mistakes for me as bringing on a clearly unfit Frey nearly had disastrous consequences yesterday as we were unable to hold the ball up, press and lacked presence defensively for last half hour."
Agree that the substitution nearly cost us the win, and for the exact reasons you list.
The problem was, though, that Armstrong was on a yellow and once again was tiring.
And I'm not sure who else could have been brought on for him. | |
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