| End of Term 23/24 – Attack on 14:54 - May 26 with 2420 views | PhilmyRs |
| End of Term 23/24 – Attack on 14:47 - May 26 by 1JD |
Kakay did have a good turn of pace, he was rarely beaten for speed. But nowhere near as fast as Sinclair of course. He was strong, physical, a good speed. All physical characteristics.
And not a direct comparison, no. More so, the physical / athletic nature of Kakay significantly outweighed his technical characteristics and natural footballing talent. Not too dissimilar for Armstrong for me. |
We’ll agree to disagree on Kakay’s speed. For me he was relatively slow, saw him taken to the byline for speed numerous times. Not a skill I’d associate with him. What I would agree with you on is that they are both technically not very good footballers but the difference is Sinclair has more obvious and natural physical talents (e.g. speed) which could help him make it with us, Kakay never had that to fall back on so needed to develop the technical side more which he ultimately struggled to do. |  | |  |
| End of Term 23/24 – Attack on 15:08 - May 26 with 2412 views | 1JD |
| End of Term 23/24 – Attack on 14:54 - May 26 by PhilmyRs |
We’ll agree to disagree on Kakay’s speed. For me he was relatively slow, saw him taken to the byline for speed numerous times. Not a skill I’d associate with him. What I would agree with you on is that they are both technically not very good footballers but the difference is Sinclair has more obvious and natural physical talents (e.g. speed) which could help him make it with us, Kakay never had that to fall back on so needed to develop the technical side more which he ultimately struggled to do. |
Fair enough. We all see things differently. What is interesting is that Lyndon Dykes is 3rd or 4th quickest player at the club. That’s from a player who told me he regularly clocks top 3 in sprint drills. I would never have believed that. The fastest player at the club before he moved on this summer was Arkell-Jude Boyd. | | | |
| End of Term 23/24 – Attack on 15:39 - May 26 with 2364 views | PhilmyRs |
| End of Term 23/24 – Attack on 15:08 - May 26 by 1JD |
Fair enough. We all see things differently. What is interesting is that Lyndon Dykes is 3rd or 4th quickest player at the club. That’s from a player who told me he regularly clocks top 3 in sprint drills. I would never have believed that. The fastest player at the club before he moved on this summer was Arkell-Jude Boyd. |
Interesting. Wouldn’t have called that either although Dykes mobility for a big man is one of his better qualities. Recently, we’ve always been a slow team - before Sinclair, Bright probably the fastest I can think of. So I guess making you top 3 or 4 in our team for speed isn’t the biggest shocker. A few people have said Chair’s rapid, again, haven’t seen it myself. | | | |
| End of Term 23/24 – Attack on 15:48 - May 26 with 2352 views | 1JD |
| End of Term 23/24 – Attack on 15:39 - May 26 by PhilmyRs |
Interesting. Wouldn’t have called that either although Dykes mobility for a big man is one of his better qualities. Recently, we’ve always been a slow team - before Sinclair, Bright probably the fastest I can think of. So I guess making you top 3 or 4 in our team for speed isn’t the biggest shocker. A few people have said Chair’s rapid, again, haven’t seen it myself. |
Yeah, I can only assume Dykes is effective over a longer distance when his long stride clicks into gear. Chair is definitely not quick, and regularly gets caught up, and has to check back. Freeman was the same.
Both can never really get away, unlike Eze for example, who just pulled further and further away in full flight. What chair is good at is acceleration over over small 10 metre sprints. It’s the longer distance foot race where he struggles, although I have seen some improvement this year. | | | |
| End of Term 23/24 – Attack on 15:50 - May 26 with 2348 views | Northernr |
| End of Term 23/24 – Attack on 15:08 - May 26 by 1JD |
Fair enough. We all see things differently. What is interesting is that Lyndon Dykes is 3rd or 4th quickest player at the club. That’s from a player who told me he regularly clocks top 3 in sprint drills. I would never have believed that. The fastest player at the club before he moved on this summer was Arkell-Jude Boyd. |
Again I think that says more about how slow we are in general than how quick he is.
I’m about the 5th quickest person at QPR. |  | | |
| End of Term 23/24 – Attack on 16:19 - May 26 with 2305 views | ParkRoyalR |
| End of Term 23/24 – Attack on 15:50 - May 26 by Northernr |
Again I think that says more about how slow we are in general than how quick he is.
I’m about the 5th quickest person at QPR. |
C'mon Northern, whats that saying, if you can't say some something nice best...... 
Does'nt surprise as never bought into Dykes being slow, likewise Dunne, but would'nt say either are quickest off a standing start, which is more important the higher the level you play. | | | |
| End of Term 23/24 – Attack on 19:43 - May 26 with 2143 views | gazza1 |
Speed is not just about running fast.....seeing things first beats fast runners, speed of thought does as well, reading the game is important for speed. Most important is speed over the first 10 yards, that's where it all happens.
Armstrong is just a fast runner basically and if Dykes is fast then I have not seen it!! | | | |
| End of Term 23/24 – Attack on 22:36 - May 26 with 2042 views | Lblock |
Excellent stuff
However….
Did I miss the Managers one? |  |
| Cherish and enjoy life.... this ain't no dress rehearsal |
| |
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| End of Term 23/24 – Attack on 08:44 - May 27 with 1878 views | thehat |
Thank you Clive - Another great write up and pretty much spot on with my thoughts too.
I have been a big critic of Chair this season especially in the early part of the season for all the reasons you stated but no doubt he finished the season strongly and cares for the club. Fingers crossed he has a good lawyer and can get his situation sorted out over the summer.
Another great bit of business from Les in signing Taylor Richards who I believe is one of our highest paid players.......Just imagine how much better we could use that salary under the new regime.
Looking forward to listening to part 2 of the Patreon later today. | | | |
| End of Term 23/24 – Attack on 10:21 - May 27 with 1786 views | nadera78 |
| End of Term 23/24 – Attack on 11:45 - May 26 by TK1 |
Really good, all of these End of Term reports.
On Armstrong, everyone is being much too harsh and judgemental of a 20 year-old in his second full pro season for a rubbish team, when he needed a long loan first: four goals and four assists in a relegation battle out of 20 apps is very good. Compare him to Smyth who has had several years as a striker in pro football but is no longer trusted in that role. We've got the best of Smyth, that's it, he's not going to mature at 27 in September. We're nowhere near the best of Sinclair Armstrong.
He's not Clive Allen, Paul Goddard or Kevin Gallen who came through a competitive pro youth system, high natural ability coached properly throughout their teens. He was playing for Cherry Orchard in Dublin as a winger until converted to a striker for RoI at U19 level. He's relatively new to football, certainly to playing as a lone 9 in a bottom six Championship team!
Les Ferdinand signed for QPR at 19. He didn't play for the 1st team until he was 20, was immediately sent on two loans, one for a season, and slowly eased into the QPR team when he was 22. I saw all those early games and the comparison is so valid: LF had power, pace, terrified defences but could only score instinctively too. He missed sitters and scored worldies. He got dog's abuse. Don Howe - who knew a thing about footballers - didn't rate him, wanted to sell him to Millwall for £250k. It took a whole season of G Francis coaching him and Wilkins (and Sinton) mentoring/feeding him to become that player he became. It takes time with players like that.
But whether it's with us or someone else, 23/24-year Sinclair Armstrong will be in with a very good chance of being a big player. The goals and assists were all distinct and high quality. Time will knit them together into one package. When that happens, he's a proper player. Having him here already is the best chance we have of ever signing a striker like that. |
Good post. I posted something similar (copied below) on a thread earlier this season and I think Ferdinand's stats are really interesting:
Just on the Les Ferdinand thing (and I really need to emphasise he was my favourite ever CF, so I'm not saying Armstrong will ever be anywhere near Les' ability) I've just looked up his stats and it's quite interesting. We all remember it took him a while to get going after he joined the club, but the stats are quite stark.
The season Les turned 20, 1986-87, he played 2 games and scored 0 goals.
Turning 21, 1987-88, he played 2 games for us and 3 for Brentford, scoring 0 goals.
Turning 22, 1988-89, he played 29 games for Besiktas, scoring 18 goals.
Turning 23, 1989-90, he played 9 games for QPR, scoring 2 goals.
Turning 24, 1990-91, he played 21 games, scoring 8 goals.
Turning 25, 1991-92, he played 25 games, scoring 12 goals.
And that's really when he hit his stride, aged 24/25, and went on to utterly dominate defenders and score buckets of goals.
Again, I'm not saying Armstrong is going to be anywhere near Ferdinand's level but, bearing in mind he only turned 20 last summer, we really have no idea what he is capable of. What we do know is that he's still very young, still growing into his body, hasn't had an ideal development plan, and that he's improved leaps and bounds over the past 2 years. | | | |
| End of Term 23/24 – Attack on 11:06 - May 27 with 1758 views | 1JD |
| End of Term 23/24 – Attack on 10:21 - May 27 by nadera78 |
Good post. I posted something similar (copied below) on a thread earlier this season and I think Ferdinand's stats are really interesting:
Just on the Les Ferdinand thing (and I really need to emphasise he was my favourite ever CF, so I'm not saying Armstrong will ever be anywhere near Les' ability) I've just looked up his stats and it's quite interesting. We all remember it took him a while to get going after he joined the club, but the stats are quite stark.
The season Les turned 20, 1986-87, he played 2 games and scored 0 goals.
Turning 21, 1987-88, he played 2 games for us and 3 for Brentford, scoring 0 goals.
Turning 22, 1988-89, he played 29 games for Besiktas, scoring 18 goals.
Turning 23, 1989-90, he played 9 games for QPR, scoring 2 goals.
Turning 24, 1990-91, he played 21 games, scoring 8 goals.
Turning 25, 1991-92, he played 25 games, scoring 12 goals.
And that's really when he hit his stride, aged 24/25, and went on to utterly dominate defenders and score buckets of goals.
Again, I'm not saying Armstrong is going to be anywhere near Ferdinand's level but, bearing in mind he only turned 20 last summer, we really have no idea what he is capable of. What we do know is that he's still very young, still growing into his body, hasn't had an ideal development plan, and that he's improved leaps and bounds over the past 2 years. |
Those figures jump out at me in the context of why Les may have presided over late developers (holding onto dev squad players until 22, 23, 24) in our own setup based on his own experience | | | |
| End of Term 23/24 – Attack on 13:13 - May 27 with 1680 views | ParkRoyalR |
| End of Term 23/24 – Attack on 10:21 - May 27 by nadera78 |
Good post. I posted something similar (copied below) on a thread earlier this season and I think Ferdinand's stats are really interesting:
Just on the Les Ferdinand thing (and I really need to emphasise he was my favourite ever CF, so I'm not saying Armstrong will ever be anywhere near Les' ability) I've just looked up his stats and it's quite interesting. We all remember it took him a while to get going after he joined the club, but the stats are quite stark.
The season Les turned 20, 1986-87, he played 2 games and scored 0 goals.
Turning 21, 1987-88, he played 2 games for us and 3 for Brentford, scoring 0 goals.
Turning 22, 1988-89, he played 29 games for Besiktas, scoring 18 goals.
Turning 23, 1989-90, he played 9 games for QPR, scoring 2 goals.
Turning 24, 1990-91, he played 21 games, scoring 8 goals.
Turning 25, 1991-92, he played 25 games, scoring 12 goals.
And that's really when he hit his stride, aged 24/25, and went on to utterly dominate defenders and score buckets of goals.
Again, I'm not saying Armstrong is going to be anywhere near Ferdinand's level but, bearing in mind he only turned 20 last summer, we really have no idea what he is capable of. What we do know is that he's still very young, still growing into his body, hasn't had an ideal development plan, and that he's improved leaps and bounds over the past 2 years. |
Ferdinand was very athletic (sure he played in goal for Christoper Wren as could'nt get in school football team otherwise for first few years) as opposed to just being a fast runner, a very and significant difference. | | | |
| End of Term 23/24 – Attack on 14:30 - May 27 with 1585 views | CLAREMAN1995 |
| End of Term 23/24 – Attack on 08:44 - May 27 by thehat |
Thank you Clive - Another great write up and pretty much spot on with my thoughts too.
I have been a big critic of Chair this season especially in the early part of the season for all the reasons you stated but no doubt he finished the season strongly and cares for the club. Fingers crossed he has a good lawyer and can get his situation sorted out over the summer.
Another great bit of business from Les in signing Taylor Richards who I believe is one of our highest paid players.......Just imagine how much better we could use that salary under the new regime.
Looking forward to listening to part 2 of the Patreon later today. |
I was enjoying this thread over a nice breakfast on Memorial Day until I read "Richards is one of our highest paid players I think " and immediatly got frustrated and almost angry.
All the struggles, ass kickings ,physical poundings the core QPR players recieved from August to May to earn their pay while Richards did nothing to contribute only draw a paycheck is just plain wrong .
This must have caused issues in the dressing room or training ground or did Marti and the rest of the squad washed their hands of his drama in the succesful survival fight .
Fair play to them because in every other job on the planet it would cause trouble and rightly so .
We have to cut him ASAP | | | |
| End of Term 23/24 – Attack on 20:49 - May 27 with 1408 views | Loyalitat |
| End of Term 23/24 – Attack on 10:21 - May 27 by nadera78 |
Good post. I posted something similar (copied below) on a thread earlier this season and I think Ferdinand's stats are really interesting:
Just on the Les Ferdinand thing (and I really need to emphasise he was my favourite ever CF, so I'm not saying Armstrong will ever be anywhere near Les' ability) I've just looked up his stats and it's quite interesting. We all remember it took him a while to get going after he joined the club, but the stats are quite stark.
The season Les turned 20, 1986-87, he played 2 games and scored 0 goals.
Turning 21, 1987-88, he played 2 games for us and 3 for Brentford, scoring 0 goals.
Turning 22, 1988-89, he played 29 games for Besiktas, scoring 18 goals.
Turning 23, 1989-90, he played 9 games for QPR, scoring 2 goals.
Turning 24, 1990-91, he played 21 games, scoring 8 goals.
Turning 25, 1991-92, he played 25 games, scoring 12 goals.
And that's really when he hit his stride, aged 24/25, and went on to utterly dominate defenders and score buckets of goals.
Again, I'm not saying Armstrong is going to be anywhere near Ferdinand's level but, bearing in mind he only turned 20 last summer, we really have no idea what he is capable of. What we do know is that he's still very young, still growing into his body, hasn't had an ideal development plan, and that he's improved leaps and bounds over the past 2 years. |
So in Les' supposed fallow years, from 1989 as an inexperienced striker, he scored 22 goals in just 55 games!! All achieved at the highest level, I might add.
There's no comparison, either in the near future or way into the future. [Post edited 27 May 21:02]
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| End of Term 23/24 – Attack on 22:28 - May 27 with 1338 views | Northernr |
| End of Term 23/24 – Attack on 20:49 - May 27 by Loyalitat |
So in Les' supposed fallow years, from 1989 as an inexperienced striker, he scored 22 goals in just 55 games!! All achieved at the highest level, I might add.
There's no comparison, either in the near future or way into the future. [Post edited 27 May 21:02]
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Could do with a fallow year or two like that from our strikers next season! | | | |
| End of Term 23/24 – Attack on 22:38 - May 27 with 1328 views | VancouverHoop |
He's said, on more than one occasion, that it was his time in Turkey that turned him into an effective player. | | | |
| End of Term 23/24 – Attack on 23:20 - May 27 with 1303 views | queensparker |
A great read that.
I disagree on Sinclair though, he clearly terrifies high quality defences already, his attitude is good and he does remind me of when Sir Les was rubbish for years and then was suddenly amazing.
Coaching him into the right choices on the pitch shouldn’t be beyond our management team and I think he’s potentially a big player |  | | |
| End of Term 23/24 – Attack on 09:17 - May 28 with 1149 views | robith |
Personally I would be happy to never see Willock play for us ever again, and I know he's been inured but at points he general demeanour and endeavour has been absolutely appalling. Recall there was a game he kept telling Armstrong to stop running so much, presumably cos it made him look bad.
Yes, Chair is our best player but personally off the field stuff does sour it for me. I know you can't trust everything you hear, but a of chat he was the Tool Downer In Chief in the dressing room under Critchley, and then let's face it, we go down after our rivals go on a run inspired by a guy who was convicted of attempted murder. This place would be on fire. I know it's a weird one but it really doesn't sit right with me and every time I try to explain it away, I realise there it is, the last of my credibility has gone [Post edited 28 May 9:17]
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| End of Term 23/24 – Attack on 10:14 - May 28 with 1077 views | nadera78 |
| End of Term 23/24 – Attack on 20:49 - May 27 by Loyalitat |
So in Les' supposed fallow years, from 1989 as an inexperienced striker, he scored 22 goals in just 55 games!! All achieved at the highest level, I might add.
There's no comparison, either in the near future or way into the future. [Post edited 27 May 21:02]
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'Fallow' would suggest there was something before those years for LF, which there wasn't. Well, there was Hayes, I guess.
When both players were 20, Les had 2 games and no goals. When Les was 21 (ie next season for Sinclair) he had 5 games (3 for Brentford in the 3rd division) and no goals.
Les was very much a development project, over a number of years, jus as SA should have been. Instead, our chronic mismanagement meant we had no option but to throw him into the first team. In that context, he's done very well.
I said outright I wasn't suggesting SA would or could turn into LF, I was trying to put some meat on the bones of player development, especially for players who haven't come through a proper youth set up. | | | |
| End of Term 23/24 – Attack on 10:51 - May 28 with 995 views | Antti_Heinola |
| End of Term 23/24 – Attack on 09:17 - May 28 by robith |
Personally I would be happy to never see Willock play for us ever again, and I know he's been inured but at points he general demeanour and endeavour has been absolutely appalling. Recall there was a game he kept telling Armstrong to stop running so much, presumably cos it made him look bad.
Yes, Chair is our best player but personally off the field stuff does sour it for me. I know you can't trust everything you hear, but a of chat he was the Tool Downer In Chief in the dressing room under Critchley, and then let's face it, we go down after our rivals go on a run inspired by a guy who was convicted of attempted murder. This place would be on fire. I know it's a weird one but it really doesn't sit right with me and every time I try to explain it away, I realise there it is, the last of my credibility has gone [Post edited 28 May 9:17]
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Armstrong does sometimes run too much. I know fans love a trier, but as a striker you have to learn when and when not to chase. You need to make sure that when you really need it, you have the ability to put the after burners on. I'm sure half the reason he used to get so many cramps was related to that. He needs to be smarter.
Chair was one of the few whose work rate remained the same under Critchley. |  |
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| End of Term 23/24 – Attack on 11:33 - May 28 with 928 views | Jeff |
| End of Term 23/24 – Attack on 10:51 - May 28 by Antti_Heinola |
Armstrong does sometimes run too much. I know fans love a trier, but as a striker you have to learn when and when not to chase. You need to make sure that when you really need it, you have the ability to put the after burners on. I'm sure half the reason he used to get so many cramps was related to that. He needs to be smarter.
Chair was one of the few whose work rate remained the same under Critchley. |
i'm obviously in absolutely no way equating the two,
But i watched Messi at Camp Nou about 5 years ago, and he was absolutely incredible at knowing where to be and when to move. He basically stood still for large parts of the game, but every movement he made was a decisive impactful one - absolutely no wasted energy at all |  |
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| End of Term 23/24 – Attack on 11:43 - May 28 with 907 views | TheChef |
Re Andersen:
"The guy should do Grolsch adverts – stop, it isn’t ready yet."
Ah man, proper LOLZ at that |  |
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| End of Term 23/24 – Attack on 13:08 - May 28 with 760 views | Antti_Heinola |
| End of Term 23/24 – Attack on 11:33 - May 28 by Jeff |
i'm obviously in absolutely no way equating the two,
But i watched Messi at Camp Nou about 5 years ago, and he was absolutely incredible at knowing where to be and when to move. He basically stood still for large parts of the game, but every movement he made was a decisive impactful one - absolutely no wasted energy at all |
Messi's an interesting one.
His work rate as a younger player was always excellent, and then as he got older, as you say, he was/is a master at conserving energy and bursting into life when he needs to (those famous stats at the last World Cup about how much he was walking about, are a good example). Zidane was very similar in that regard - no wasted motion (that film of him put to Mogwai's music demoinstrates that so beautifully).
However, when you're winning games on your own most weeks, you're allowed to maybe not run as much and do the hard graft. Sincs is not there yet :) | |
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| End of Term 23/24 – Attack on 16:41 - May 28 with 619 views | TK1 |
| End of Term 23/24 – Attack on 20:49 - May 27 by Loyalitat |
So in Les' supposed fallow years, from 1989 as an inexperienced striker, he scored 22 goals in just 55 games!! All achieved at the highest level, I might add.
There's no comparison, either in the near future or way into the future. [Post edited 27 May 21:02]
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There is a comparison - just not when Les was aged between 23 and 26 (which is what you're doing here) and Armstrong when he's 20. Like LF when 20, we have no idea what SA will be like at 23.
At 20, Ferdinand had been a pro as long as Armstrong but played just two pro games, scoring 0. Meanwhile, a 20 year-old Armstrong has made 40 appearances for QPR this season, scored four times (and made three assists). He's also scored three times in five matches for the Irish U21s.
That's the comparison. There's more tangible potential there in 20 year-old Sinclair Armstrong than in 20 year-old Les Ferdinand. Where it takes him is in his hands, and that of his coaches, and the gods. But he's playing more successfully at a higher level than Les at 20. And they have very similar profiles.
One final thing: he may not have been raised in West London, but he came through playing for the U18s and U23s, so while we are constantly moaning about A) the academy not producing, B) that we need strikers, it seems to me perverse not to follow this investment which is closer to satisfying both criteria than many candidates for a while at least through to maturity. (With the caveat that I don't know any of the agent or club politics) | | | |
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or at least just check back and hold it up waiting for the support. 