| Hall, Luongo, Set Pieces. 17:12 - Dec 28 with 2468 views | freddieeddie |
I don't go as much nowadays but watch every live game and go the odd game. I was shot down on here when I said I would out Luongo, Chery to replace them with Holloway type players.
I know Hall is very rated on here as a future star centre back for us.
After watching yesterday I'm even more adamant Luongo is very overrated and that's nothing to do with the penalty he gave away. I've never seen him play well or look
Any threat at all. He is poor defensively, shoved off the ball too easily. I pray we get a few quid for him and he goes. It's like watching a little kid playing against grown men.
I was shocked how bad QPR were yesterday defending set pieces. Every single set piece Brighton won, every one. Hall was out jumped and out fought literally every corner. If he is our future along with Luongo and Chery then we are bang in trouble.
I don't think we will go down, I think Holloway will keep us up. We are certainly playing better than when JFH was in charge, that was just painful to watch. We seem to be having spells under IH where we are playing well enough but lack punch up front.
[Post edited 28 Dec 2016 17:14]
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| Hall, Luongo, Set Pieces. on 17:26 - Dec 28 with 2436 views | BazzaInTheLoft |
Weird. Football is definitely subjective. If Smithies wasn't in there i've got Luongo down as my player of the season.
Cant disagree with anything else. |  | | |
| Hall, Luongo, Set Pieces. on 18:50 - Dec 28 with 2361 views | freddieeddie |
That just shows how bad we are in my opinion. I don't go much now but seen a fair amount. Just think he offers very little. | |
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| Hall, Luongo, Set Pieces. on 03:38 - Dec 30 with 2180 views | Neil_SI |
I like Luongo a lot, and while his rash and naive tackle for the penalty ultimately cost us any chance of getting something at Brighton, he didn't do too badly otherwise.
He needs to be playing in a settled side, system and formation and then we'll see him flourish. His best spell, for me, came under Chris Ramsey. I don't think he's hit the same heights since, but there's been some matches this season where he's been very good in a different way to how he was utilised under Ramsey.
The squad has gone through a lot of managers and different ways of playing in recent seasons, so that's not helped anybody settle and know what they're supposed to do in any given phase of play and this impacts on players like Luongo. He's a player that's very good at moving a team through the phases, so from defence into midfield, into attack. Or from defence to counter attack. In those moments, he usually uses the ball very intelligently and very well. But, we (as a collective) seem to become confused or hesitant when we're transitioning through these phases.
Luongo tried to make things happen against Brighton, but we were quite static in places, or have a habit of becoming static when players are on the ball in key areas. That's a sign of low confidence, which is obvious, considering we've lost six on the bounce. Players are bound to hide, but he's not one of them. It might mean he makes more mistakes than we'd like, but it's better to be there trying to make things tick than not wanting the ball at all.
Could obviously do with a goal, and was close against Brighton.
All in all though, for a player we signed from the league below, he's certainly made the step-up to Championship level and has the capacity to solidify and move further forward. I've been very pleased with his progress and hope there's loads more to come from him. |  | | |
| Hall, Luongo, Set Pieces. on 16:04 - Dec 30 with 2001 views | baz_qpr |
| Hall, Luongo, Set Pieces. on 03:38 - Dec 30 by Neil_SI |
I like Luongo a lot, and while his rash and naive tackle for the penalty ultimately cost us any chance of getting something at Brighton, he didn't do too badly otherwise.
He needs to be playing in a settled side, system and formation and then we'll see him flourish. His best spell, for me, came under Chris Ramsey. I don't think he's hit the same heights since, but there's been some matches this season where he's been very good in a different way to how he was utilised under Ramsey.
The squad has gone through a lot of managers and different ways of playing in recent seasons, so that's not helped anybody settle and know what they're supposed to do in any given phase of play and this impacts on players like Luongo. He's a player that's very good at moving a team through the phases, so from defence into midfield, into attack. Or from defence to counter attack. In those moments, he usually uses the ball very intelligently and very well. But, we (as a collective) seem to become confused or hesitant when we're transitioning through these phases.
Luongo tried to make things happen against Brighton, but we were quite static in places, or have a habit of becoming static when players are on the ball in key areas. That's a sign of low confidence, which is obvious, considering we've lost six on the bounce. Players are bound to hide, but he's not one of them. It might mean he makes more mistakes than we'd like, but it's better to be there trying to make things tick than not wanting the ball at all.
Could obviously do with a goal, and was close against Brighton.
All in all though, for a player we signed from the league below, he's certainly made the step-up to Championship level and has the capacity to solidify and move further forward. I've been very pleased with his progress and hope there's loads more to come from him. |
What is it you like about Luongo Neil? Help me out here I see a player with good attributes with the ball at his feet, but has yet to control a game in midfield, can't hit a long pass or strike a ball well, and holds onto the ball far too long I just don't see where he plays, lets compare him to say a Martin Rowlands a player in a similar position bought from League one played championship highest level. |  | | |
| Hall, Luongo, Set Pieces. on 16:16 - Dec 30 with 1973 views | stevec |
| Hall, Luongo, Set Pieces. on 16:04 - Dec 30 by baz_qpr |
What is it you like about Luongo Neil? Help me out here I see a player with good attributes with the ball at his feet, but has yet to control a game in midfield, can't hit a long pass or strike a ball well, and holds onto the ball far too long I just don't see where he plays, lets compare him to say a Martin Rowlands a player in a similar position bought from League one played championship highest level. |
Watched his first game at Charlton, them backing off against a relegated Premier team, time on the ball for first 25 minutes, not bad. Then Charlton sussed everything you mentioned and he was well and truly ran over.
Been like that ever since, out of his depth, a liability. How the fck anyone rates him is a mystery.
Martin Rowlands? A class apart. |  | | |
| Hall, Luongo, Set Pieces. on 16:54 - Dec 30 with 1954 views | Neil_SI |
| Hall, Luongo, Set Pieces. on 16:04 - Dec 30 by baz_qpr |
What is it you like about Luongo Neil? Help me out here I see a player with good attributes with the ball at his feet, but has yet to control a game in midfield, can't hit a long pass or strike a ball well, and holds onto the ball far too long I just don't see where he plays, lets compare him to say a Martin Rowlands a player in a similar position bought from League one played championship highest level. |
Lots of things mate.
Like you've highlighted there, he has good attributes with the ball at his feet. His technical ability is in decent order, but there's also a smart football brain in there as well. Watch how and where he passes the ball when the team is transitioning through a phase, such as a counter attack. He usually picks the right type of pass, with the right weight, and in a style that encourages the move to progress forward but isn't hurried, so allows the receiver an opportunity to still make a decision on what to do next. So he knows when to ping to feet and when to play in front of a player, and that can make a vital difference in how play materialises.
We have so many other players who do not really necessarily understand angles, or weight of pass, or realise when to pass directly to feet or in front of a player to shift them forwards. You can control play in different ways, and Luongo controls play like this, rather than be a player who dictates and gives and goes. He does it in a more considered and composed fashion. He could probably be a bit more of an explosive runner type if there was the quality around him to consistently be able to play incisive football, but we don't have enough players who can do that, so it can stall him.
Last season he created a lot of goals, so he has that killer pass in him (composure), and he's a decent crosser of the ball in open play as well, but we've not really put him in those positions to deliver. His cross for Sylla's first-goal at Loftus Road, a prime example of that.
I think he's decent in terms of tackling, pressing and heading the ball, too. Not the finished article by any means, but midfielders don't appear often with so many attributes that are reasonable, which can further be worked on. He can shoot, but he hasn't been deployed in that way here, and he does need to work on that more and obviously get himself a goal. But he scored 13 for Swindon in two seasons, so he does have it in him (at least at League One level).
He's also physical, in the sense that he's got the legs to get around the pitch, and while he doesn't have explosive pace or incredible strength, he has enough of both to compliment his range of qualities on the pitch. Not to shabby at all, for someone we signed from League One and have asked to make the step up.
I guess his problem here is he's been used in wide positions, deep midfield, central midfield and advanced midfield. I actually like him either at the base of the midfield, or at the top of it, but either of those positions cause him problems at the moment because of the way we play. He's not going to be the best defensive midfielder in the world unless he has a good partner with him and the players around him capable of passing and moving it without fear around the back.
At the top of the midfield, well, we've got a lot of players who can play in there, and again, if he plays there, he needs other players to be better so he can make use of his talents. If the wide players are not defensively minded, he can't go all out attack from there as they'd leave too many holes in behind and too many opportunities for the opposition to attack and exploit.
Where he can be a little unusual is he sometimes has those matches where his body dynamics look a little strange, and his stride becomes very rigid, short and upright. I'm not sure why that is, but whenever I see him in that mode, he never seems to play as well as he can.
Still, he has a solid season under his belt from last year, and this year I was hoping to see him kick on and take it forward. It's debatable whether he has done that, but we are struggling and he and the team have been in and out of form. Hopefully he can post a strong second half of the campaign, we need him to.
The positive thing though is we're seeing a young guy being used in a lot of positions and performing reasonably well in them. For me, his best period was under Ramsey when he was utilised further forward, but he's been pretty good in spells in the role he has now, and the role that JFH was trying to use him in. They feel his defensive game needs improvement, and it does, and maybe that will add another string to his bow or help him round out as he firms his main positions down.
I'm not sure he is comparable to Martin Rowlands at this stage. Rowlands was a very good player, and was versatile, but he was fairly seasoned by the time he arrived at QPR. We picked him up with 6-7 years experience and around 200 appearances behind him, whereas we've picked up Luongo with practically 2 years and around 90 appearances behind him. It might not sound a lot, but that's a big difference in terms of experience levels, and Luongo needs the time and space to add to his experience to take his game to the next level.
As a side point, I never felt Rowlands controlled the midfield for us (very tough to do in the modern game anyway due to the physical levels of most players). I always felt his best performances out of all the positions he played was when he was wide left, able to drift inside and use his qualities from there. But he was certainly good enough to play centrally and that's where he seemed to want to play as well.
Rowlands also grew into a leader. He never really struck me as one initially but over time he became one for us. Maybe he always was and I never realised until his time came, but there you go. Still time for some of these young players to grow in that sense too. | | | |
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