Getting to know Marti 20:33 - Dec 16 with 4828 views | SherryHoop | When Marti came in it was such a contrast to GA that it felt amazing. There was clarity, a system, confidence and results. It felt like everything was going to go smoothly and he could do no wrong. Over the last 2 games we are starting to get to know him better as a manager. This means we are understanding his limitations as well as his strengths. There have been some strange selections, a lot of subs, changes of systems in the game, poor in game management. He is a proactive manager and is always trying things. He has a limited squad and inherited a team with a losing mentality. He is very eloquent and professional. I am very happy we have him. The sooner that we fully understand how he works and he fully understands the league and our players the better. I am hoping to keep ticking along over Christmas, picking up a win or two and then go on a run with the home games in January. If he can pick up a couple of players to help keep us in the division I would like to see him have 2-3 windows to build a team. Anyway it feels a bit like when you get a new girlfriend and she seems amazing but after a few months you realise she has daddy issues. No one is perfect. | | | | |
Getting to know Marti on 21:47 - Dec 16 with 4574 views | TommyQPR | The squad is quite threadbare and lacks real cohesion, imo. Inconsistency will always be a theme for the time being. There are too many players who are looking away or worrying about new contracts. There are a number of players out of contract come the end of the season, or who will have only one year left. That breeds a certain kind of passivity and indifference if not handled correctly. If Cifuentes didn't know the scale of his task before joining us, he sure does now. The substitute situation needs to be rectified but I'm sure Marti can adapt and prosper. I'm just slightly worried the squad could halt his progress and hard work prematurely. | | | |
Getting to know Marti on 22:34 - Dec 16 with 4417 views | ted_hendrix | I'm not sure about Martí Cifuentes and I don't think now is the time to go over-elaborating about the bloke. He's had what 8 games in charge? for me that's not enough for him to work out his players he'll have a good Idea by now but not the whole picture. He's had a pretty good run of results so far but today was one almighty smack in the kisser for him and us. He's lifted our spirits for a while but hey ho here we are again back in the relegation zone (like It or not that's where we deserve to be too). There's an awful lot of good about him but I'm one hell of a bad bastard to please and we are still currently In the relegation zone, so as a consequence and In terms of league positions he's achieved nothing yet. That's how I see It anyway. | |
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Getting to know Marti on 22:53 - Dec 16 with 4337 views | Third_Division_South | I think a lot of what he’s doing is over these early games is looking at the squad, giving everyone a chance and working out the strengths and weaknesses are and where strengthening is needed. Personally, if we could get 6 to 8 million for Chair in January, I’d sell and reinvest in two/ three players to improve the squad. | | | |
Getting to know Marti on 23:00 - Dec 16 with 4295 views | The_Beast1976 |
Getting to know Marti on 22:53 - Dec 16 by Third_Division_South | I think a lot of what he’s doing is over these early games is looking at the squad, giving everyone a chance and working out the strengths and weaknesses are and where strengthening is needed. Personally, if we could get 6 to 8 million for Chair in January, I’d sell and reinvest in two/ three players to improve the squad. |
For me, if we can get anything at all for Willock then we should take it and get rid. Would rather keep hold of Chair, who is a far better pro | | | |
Getting to know Marti on 08:05 - Dec 17 with 3902 views | dmm | This is a good thread with some well reasoned posts with which I'd largely agree. We understandably hit a little high with our Cifuentes new manager bounce (when was the last time we had one of those) but have now somewhat fallen back to earth. What we do have though is real hope we can lift ourselves out of the relegation zone. Based on what we've seen so far, Cifuentes has the ability to achieve that, even with an unreliable squad. The run of four consecutive home league games in January will be crucial. | | | |
Getting to know Marti on 08:36 - Dec 17 with 3814 views | Spaceman_P | I agree wholeheartedly with the OP's viewpoint. But I think the most worrying thing is how our players down tools when things don't go our way. I fear on Saturday against Southampton they will just have a loser's mentality, when they should be hoping to win by a large margin. Yesterday's loss was huge and will come back to haunt us at the end of the season. saying that, I am happy with how Marti is managing the team and at least hope we can stay up this year. | | | |
Getting to know Marti on 08:45 - Dec 17 with 3797 views | NorthantsHoop |
Getting to know Marti on 08:05 - Dec 17 by dmm | This is a good thread with some well reasoned posts with which I'd largely agree. We understandably hit a little high with our Cifuentes new manager bounce (when was the last time we had one of those) but have now somewhat fallen back to earth. What we do have though is real hope we can lift ourselves out of the relegation zone. Based on what we've seen so far, Cifuentes has the ability to achieve that, even with an unreliable squad. The run of four consecutive home league games in January will be crucial. |
To be honest not really panicking over the Sheff Wed result. Marti has turned it around but we know the weaknesses that have been here at QPR for the last 18 months. He has done pretty well over his short tenure, we are not conceding many goals our defeats have been by the odd goal and we have picked up points and home form has improved. If you take last 3 games, win, draw, defeat this is probably how it will play out until end of the season. On this basis we will get to around 52 points which should see us stay up and if we can really get the home form going then possibly get nearer 60 points. | | | | Login to get fewer ads
Getting to know Marti on 09:31 - Dec 17 with 3695 views | nix | Our squad has struggled with the high press/low block consistently over the seasons. I remember when we played Barnsley a few seasons ago under Warburton there was a thread about it. We do have a couple of really good, creative players in Willock and Chair but their ability is not so much about passing the ball really quickly and getting us up the pitch, it's in how they use the ball. I didn't see all of the Plymouth game but certainly the Wednesday game they absolutely starved us of time on the ball. This led to us giving the ball away more often than usual and having to win the ball back. We were then on the back foot and had much more pressure on our defence especially in the second half. Our defence tends to do quite well when attacks are more spaced out - possibly in part because the midfield are able to track back in support. But they get creaky when put under sustained pressure. Another slight factor is that we had a referee yesterday who gave most of the 50/50s to the oppo and ignored some blatant fouls for them - one in particular where Chair was hauled back by someone's hand/arm at around head height and the ref just ignored it. Whereas we have had a couple of matches where we got the rub of the green. It makes a difference because if you have to keep winning the ball back because the other team got a soft freekick, it piles on more pressure. Not saying that's wholly why we didn't win yesterday, that shot from Field was criminal, but it all adds up. | | | |
Getting to know Marti on 09:38 - Dec 17 with 3665 views | QPROslo |
Getting to know Marti on 08:45 - Dec 17 by NorthantsHoop | To be honest not really panicking over the Sheff Wed result. Marti has turned it around but we know the weaknesses that have been here at QPR for the last 18 months. He has done pretty well over his short tenure, we are not conceding many goals our defeats have been by the odd goal and we have picked up points and home form has improved. If you take last 3 games, win, draw, defeat this is probably how it will play out until end of the season. On this basis we will get to around 52 points which should see us stay up and if we can really get the home form going then possibly get nearer 60 points. |
I wish I could share your optimism. I don't think we've played especially well since Preston. Hull were better than us but Willock, mostly, won us the game. Plymouth with 11 men and Wednesday were both better than us. I don't think we are yet to lose a game when Willock has scored, so keeping him and Chair fit and in form is key. So will be keeping most of the 1st teamers fit. I doubt we have FFP room to improve the squad much January. We lack goals from the strikers, also we really only have 4 regulars in midfield in Field, Dozzell, EDB and Colback. Thin, and Colback has been out a lot with suspension and injury. | | | |
Getting to know Marti on 10:40 - Dec 17 with 3521 views | Gloucs_R | In comparison to Ainsworth he has worked absolute miracles to get us back within touching distance of the teams above us and actually give us a real chance of avoiding relegation. I would like to think that he's giving the squad a chance to prove themselves at the moment and he's assessing each one to see what he needs moving forward. I very much doubt we have any money to spend in January but out of all of our managers in the past few years I would like to see Marti have the opportunity to rebuild this club and bring in players who suit his style. Saying that I am really disappointed with the results against Plymouth and Sheffield Wednesday. Two massive games and we desperately needed the points out of both of these. Either he underestimated the opposition or overestimated the ability within our squad. For me we have two areas of real weakness. One is our midfield, with the exception of field they are all league 1 standard. Don't get me wrong, there are glimpses that a couple of them might develop and progress but this league takes no prisoners. The other challenge we have is our striker. Lyndon is not a natural goal scorer and I really don't think he suits this style very well. The rest of the strikers we have are at best league two standard currently. | |
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Getting to know Marti on 10:46 - Dec 17 with 3509 views | Northernr | I said in one of the previews this week that one thing we are going to have to get used to is, in the three game weeks he's going to pis about with the team a lot. Against Preston there isn't a QPR fan alive who'd have left out Chair and Cook. We win, he looks a genius and gets loads of praise. This week I think he's cost us momentum and points in two important games, and it hasn't worked for him. Sometimes it will and sometimes it won't but I think we need to get our heads around that's how he's going to manage, and it will cause him problems here with this squad because another thing we've said before is there is such a lack of depth in the squad. | | | |
Getting to know Marti on 11:04 - Dec 17 with 3439 views | francisbowles | Marti takes job with team 6 points adrift of safety. I think he will have negotiated that he can make a couple of cheap signings within our wage structure. They may be frees or more likely loans and we may offload some of the existing squad to achieve it. I find it difficult to believe that a club as desperate to bring him in as we were, we persuaded him to leave Hammerby before the season had ended, wouldn't have agreed to squad strengthening. | | | |
Getting to know Marti on 11:21 - Dec 17 with 3389 views | Gloucs_R |
Getting to know Marti on 11:04 - Dec 17 by francisbowles | Marti takes job with team 6 points adrift of safety. I think he will have negotiated that he can make a couple of cheap signings within our wage structure. They may be frees or more likely loans and we may offload some of the existing squad to achieve it. I find it difficult to believe that a club as desperate to bring him in as we were, we persuaded him to leave Hammerby before the season had ended, wouldn't have agreed to squad strengthening. |
Let's hope so! | |
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Getting to know Marti on 11:21 - Dec 17 with 3389 views | bosh67 |
Getting to know Marti on 22:34 - Dec 16 by ted_hendrix | I'm not sure about Martí Cifuentes and I don't think now is the time to go over-elaborating about the bloke. He's had what 8 games in charge? for me that's not enough for him to work out his players he'll have a good Idea by now but not the whole picture. He's had a pretty good run of results so far but today was one almighty smack in the kisser for him and us. He's lifted our spirits for a while but hey ho here we are again back in the relegation zone (like It or not that's where we deserve to be too). There's an awful lot of good about him but I'm one hell of a bad bastard to please and we are still currently In the relegation zone, so as a consequence and In terms of league positions he's achieved nothing yet. That's how I see It anyway. |
The thing is Ted... ingredients! Marti is having to try and make lobster bisque with fish fingers! | |
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Getting to know Marti on 11:30 - Dec 17 with 3359 views | PunteR | Maybe he needs to be a bit more pragmatic with his team selections. Just play your best team. Then again he's probably still trying to work that team out. We're going to lose more football matches till the end of the season but I don't think over analysing the manager and picking holes in his decisions is the way forward atm. Compared to Ainsworth its light and day and I honestly thought this club was on its knees. With the appointment of Marti C its given us a chance. I think we really need to back this manager. He obviously has a good understanding of the game, I just think he needs to get to know his players. I didn't see the game yesterday but the Plymouth game highlighted to me the quality of our players. How many misplaced passes was there, poor decisions, heads dropping.? Yesterday showed we couldn't see a game out. I've seen enough of Marti to know he's probably our best chance of getting anything out of this season. Unfortunately I know our players too. | |
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Getting to know Marti on 12:09 - Dec 17 with 3261 views | BostonR | Blimey - let’s give the bloke a chance. He’s done pretty well given the mess and lack of points he inherited. Any manager heading up a squad with Kakay, Dykes and Kelman as senior professionals would struggle. Dykes is woeful at Championship level and Kakay is step 3/4 level at best. Get a decent striker in asap and another decent centre-back and I think with Marti running it we will do fine. | | | |
Getting to know Marti on 12:37 - Dec 17 with 3204 views | lassel |
Getting to know Marti on 11:04 - Dec 17 by francisbowles | Marti takes job with team 6 points adrift of safety. I think he will have negotiated that he can make a couple of cheap signings within our wage structure. They may be frees or more likely loans and we may offload some of the existing squad to achieve it. I find it difficult to believe that a club as desperate to bring him in as we were, we persuaded him to leave Hammerby before the season had ended, wouldn't have agreed to squad strengthening. |
In fairness, the original agreement was that he would see out their season and take over before the international break but Ainsworth was so catastrophically awful we had to move fast and he had to make a decision. I’m sure he will be allowed to bring in someone cheap, so most likely someone he knows from his past clubs and out of contract. Highly doubt any loans as it’s a huge myth that they’re cheap. Highly likely the only way he will be able to spend money is if he sacrifices Chair cheaply to do it. | | | |
Getting to know Marti on 01:07 - Dec 18 with 2801 views | BrianMcCarthy |
Getting to know Marti on 10:46 - Dec 17 by Northernr | I said in one of the previews this week that one thing we are going to have to get used to is, in the three game weeks he's going to pis about with the team a lot. Against Preston there isn't a QPR fan alive who'd have left out Chair and Cook. We win, he looks a genius and gets loads of praise. This week I think he's cost us momentum and points in two important games, and it hasn't worked for him. Sometimes it will and sometimes it won't but I think we need to get our heads around that's how he's going to manage, and it will cause him problems here with this squad because another thing we've said before is there is such a lack of depth in the squad. |
I agree with all of that, except I'd add one slight caveat in that we don't know the players' fitness/niggles etc. One example is that you pointed out helpfully that Cannon looked injured prior to his half-time hook on Saturday against Weds which I didn't spot on the stream (and thought might be card-related), another might be the building but not yet total availability of returning players like Willock. Otherwise, I completely agree. | |
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Getting to know Marti on 08:34 - Dec 18 with 2504 views | Hastings_Hoops | Looking at the other thread listing the out of contract players, I would expect there will be some jiggery pokery going on with players going in Jan on a free and some continental /Scandinavian players coming in - hopefully cost neutral - otherwise there will be more random sponsorships going on. | | | |
Getting to know Marti on 11:14 - Dec 18 with 2371 views | baz_qpr | Would be interested to know in his other roles whether he has come up against 3 games in a week, if not he has to get used to that and he is trying to keep everyone at peak fitness. I missed Plymouth so cannot comment, I thought the half time sub was bold, but Wednesday went bolder with 4 upfront and unfortunately we were really struggling to cope with that especially with EDB out their and Jimmy Dunne's continuing poor form. I thought we had to go 3 at the back to deal with it. But we lost that second half in midfield. He could and perhaps should have put a man marker on Bannon. Also wtf has happened to Field in the last few weeks, our best player for over a year and he is in terrible form at the moment and with Colback out that is really not helping | | | |
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