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Reply | Illias
at 12:04 18 Sep 2024
Where did you see that? Someone asked him going in to the ground last night how he was and he simply replied "bad" apparently. |
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Reply | Utterly Sick of It
at 12:01 18 Sep 2024
I clearly meant that over the last three seasons we've been circling the drain for long periods over each season and that it is therefore too soon in SEPTEMBER to start saying we won't go down. There are no guarantees. Anything from play-offs to a relegation battle is still available to all.
I am not pessimistic at all. I'm not pessimistic because we have an excellent and pragmatic coach. I am optimistic because of him and I trust him to pick and instruct the players above people who do not take training or look at data. But I don't think MC knows his best team yet, and I don't anyone on this board does either. Because we haven't seen any of them play together enough.
We lost 1-2, had a last minute chance almost equalise. I do not think that Dunne or Frey makes any difference to that outcome. In fact, let's see who we think are our first eleven is in April: may well be Celar at 9 and Ashby or Heverton at RB once they bed in. Nobody knows. They've been brought in for those roles though. |
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Reply | Utterly Sick of It
at 10:29 18 Sep 2024
The main thing about this thread that I find incredible is that I do not understand how anyone can look at how the team played at Sheffield Wednesday and say, yes, that's our best team. We were appalling. And in fact, all season we have only really played well for half an hour of any game at most.
The uncomfortable fact is neither we nor the coaching staff really know at this stage what the strongest team is. Our most expensive signings for some time all started last night. They *have* to work. And to work, they must play sometimes. Varane looks like he may have benefited from this. But the only two players we know are top quality - Chair and JCS - are injured. Without those two to hold it together, we are a whole new group trying to rub along.
Also, the idea already stated thread that "we will neither go up nor down this season" is mental. How could anyone look at the last three seasons and think that? We've been circling the drain. It's mid-September. We could easily go down. There's a lot to sort out with this squad |
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Reply | Utterly Sick of It
at 10:16 18 Sep 2024
More competitive than losing 1-2 with Lloyd almost scoring in the last minute? No. I think you may be massively overstating the powers of all those players.
Did you see how we played against a much inferior team at Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday with all those players? We looked like they'd all dropped half a valium before kick-off.
Chair and JCS may have made a bit of a difference. But I think we will have to get used to not seeing Chair for quite a while.
I did not leave disappointed by a lack of competitive intent. Neither did anyone I went with or spoke to in the pub after. What can I say? I'm not being contrary. |
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Reply | Utterly Sick of It
at 09:45 18 Sep 2024
But...there were loads of tackles. The biggest cheer from the R Block apart from the goal was when Varane cleared out Munoz with a massive tackle. Smyth could've got a red for a tackle and we got four yellows, all for fouls...there were tackles! But also, tackling Lerma and Eze is hard because they are very good at keeping the ball. I mean, I really didn't see a lack of effort or intent. With Madsen I saw someone who doesn't know how to tackle, really, but like it or not he's our first choice number 8 now. He is full strength.
it was really close. A couple of inches to the right from Lloyd and it's pens. And I don't think we have a team that would've guaranteed a more competitive outcome than that against Palace at the moment. That's a bigger but different problem
.
I don't imagine anyone in the coaching staff believe they are choosing which games they'd rather win - I think it's closer to crisis than that. They're trying to remain competitive when we are still miles off. |
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Reply | Utterly Sick of It
at 09:28 18 Sep 2024
That's how i saw it. I thought we played well second half and they were surprised by that, scored a flukey winner but we were inches from pens with Lloyd's shot at the end. It was nip and tuck against a very good PL team second half, after we were overawed in the first half and knocked by their opener. I mean, it might have been closer had JCS and Chair been playing, but they're injured.
i find the tone of this thread hysterically flouncy. We have three injured centre backs. That's a fact. Nobody knows how close to the red Dunne or Frey are, and would they have made a Chair-like difference? (No). That was a first team squad who gave it a good go. I feel we also learnt a lot about the relative merits of EDB and Varane. And the "first eleven" played a lot worse at Sheffield Weds. Were they just tossing it off, or are we just not a coherent team yet? I say the later. MC is bedding it all in. Palace have a very settled first 18, to which they've added a £30 million striker.
I really enjoyed the game and the atmosphere. Could have gone either way. Never mind. |
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Reply | Palace cup tickets
at 18:52 4 Sep 2024
I guess we'll see if we charge a tenner for adults and let kids in for free when we play Orient at home in the next round. |
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Reply | Palace cup tickets
at 13:49 4 Sep 2024
It's not disingenuous in the slightest. And we got to a play-off final and then promoted with those prices so the football was quite good.
In Div 2 (or L1 in new money in 2004) with Frayling's lower priced tickets we averaged over 14k at Loftus Road.
That went up by 2k when we did. It took Paladini (and Briatore) to comprehensively dismantle that ticketing goodwill. By 2009-2010, coming 13th in the Championship with some lovely players, we were averaging 12k. So we were fuller in L1 with cheaper tickets than in the Championship with better players.
I think £19 is decent. I've bought a ticket. But I also think Brentford charging a tenner for adults and letting juniors in for free is better, and smarter long term. The two things can be true at once. |
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Reply | Palace cup tickets
at 09:26 4 Sep 2024
Yes. Or...you just reward your loyal home fans who've been through three seasons of turmoil and dirge football with cheaper tickets in a nice local derby against higher placed opposition. Nice bit of fan PR, fill the ground, good vibes. Different strokes. It's the old Jim Frayling model which meant we had a packed ground in D2 even.
I'm still going though, of course. |
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Reply | Palace cup tickets
at 08:11 4 Sep 2024
On one hand:
I bought three pints of lager in Covent Garden the other day. It cost me £24 and they lasted in total about ten minutes. And we had to stand outside the pub to drink them.
£19 + booking fee for 90 minutes of 3rd round cup football against a Prem team in a local derby featuring our former favourite son is insanely good value in comparison.
On the other hand:
Brentford are charging all adults a tenner for their game against Orient. Less attractive opposition, for sure. But still. [Post edited 4 Sep 8:12]
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Reply | Dykes sold apparently
at 11:48 30 Aug 2024
Disagree. It's the owners' money. If they want to overspend massively in L1 on a load of Championship level players (some of whom have failed at that level), that's on them.
It's the model Fulham used successfully first under Keegan and then under Tigana (Tigana!) and which numerous clubs - including QPR - have failed with disastrously. If (big if) they come up, they'll have a load very highly paid players on long contracts who we know are not quite good enough for anything above a lower Champ team.
They have to hope that Chris Davies is Kevin Keegan or Jean Tigana, too. (He's probably not). That's a lot of gnarly pros to manage for a 39 year-old novice when the going gets tough. |
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Reply | Dykes sold apparently
at 10:55 30 Aug 2024
Exactly this. Been used since the 1920s.
Interesting to note - to my mind, anyway - that Spain won the Euros in 2012 with Fabregas as a false 9, because they had so many technical midfielders and wingers, they just adapted. Chair could definitely play that role centrally with Dembele and Saito either side, with Madsen and/or Anderson just behind him with a Field/Varane holding. You look at the squad QPR have built this window and it does look to be with that in mind. Celar also looks like a forward who comes to the ball in that mould.
If you have a central forward who drops to the ball, it allows your technical midfielders to get beyond into forward positions. It's why Chair always looks like he's holding the ball too long: nobody breaks ahead of the lines and makes space for the pass. Dembele and Saito will, Madsen/Anderson fill in the gaps behind. Ironically, I think Dykes could actually do the false 9 better than a real 9 too.
This is quite good about the false 9 history:
https://www.coachesvoice.com/cv/what-is-a-false-nine-explained-messi-kane-firmin |
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Reply | Transfer rumours 2024
at 15:59 29 Aug 2024
I think that's exactly what they're thinking: have a look at it in January. Might need a striker then, might need a LB (and they may sign that RB they've been after for some reason). We have a first team and a good bench until then though, with lots of players to bed in. Let's see where we are in four months without burning through the cash now. |
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Reply | Transfer rumours 2024
at 15:28 29 Aug 2024
So (pushes up glasses in nose)...
You're saying: we had a first choice pair of centre backs in 19/20. And then we had a reserve pair of centre backs. And we also had Cameron (who had played centre back many times). So we in fact did have CBs, we had five. You don't think three of them were good enough (they weren't), but the numbers were there. It can't have been that much of a CB crisis as that January 2020 we made FOUR loan signings: two CFs, a winger and a midfielder who barely played. We didn't sign a CB, though. Probably no need.
And you know what? It was absolutely fine in the end with those CBs because we finished 13th.
We have several left backs at the club now. As you say, we've just loaned one out who presumably the club don't think is good enough to challenge this season. Maybe they'll sign another tomorrow or in January, or maybe they reckon between Paal, Fox, maybe JCS , even Shann in the Development, who is highly thought of, the club has enough left backs. Instead, perhaps they're choosing to spend their money elsewhere. I don't blame them if so. HR is not Football Manager.
There are loads of players for every position at QPR, as always. More to come too. The question is, are they good enough? We shall see. |
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Reply | Transfer rumours 2024
at 09:24 29 Aug 2024
Ha! I reckon Chair, Dembele, Kolli and Lloyd all fancy a bit of that false 9. I bet Smyth could give it a bash too. Maybe even Anderson. We've got loads of forwards who don't really have a position now. It's the game model, baby! |
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Reply | Transfer rumours 2024
at 08:57 29 Aug 2024
Don't worry about the squad sizes, the places available. I can't believe people are even debating it.
"We can't go a whole season with just two strikers!"
Even if, for the first time ever, QPR don't try to loan out/sell and loan in/buy loads of players in the last 48 hours of this window...you do all realise that the window reopens in January, right? Then, once again, more players will join and more players will leave.
Every window, every season, it's the same: QPR sign loads of players. Do not worry. We will never, ever go short of players in any position. It's never about volume, that's never the issue at QPR. It's always about quality.
(And for what it's worth, when Chair is fit, and if he's still here, I can see Marti sometimes playing without a CF and with a false 9 instead. Pep will be doing the same this season from time to time. Where he leads, MC follows.) |
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Reply | Dykes sold apparently
at 14:27 27 Aug 2024
He scored six goals in 41 league appearances last season (30+ starts), and one of those was a penalty. He didn't score once between January and April. One assist all season.
In the season before, he didn't score at all between November and April. Eight goals in total.
In 21/22, he only scored two goals between October and May - and they were in the same game. Eight goals in total.
In the last two seasons we've escaped relegation by the skin of our teeth and Lyndon Dykes has contributed 14 goals from across 80 games, with around three assists.
I don't think Cifuentes is a particularly radical thinker in deciding this is not the guy that will change that sequence for him, aged 29, nor for trying different players up top. The team were malfunctioning just as badly with him in the team. |
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Reply | Dykes sold apparently
at 13:25 27 Aug 2024
Bemused not everyone is glad about this. What is Dykes good at?
He has a poor first touch and technique. He's a very unreliable finisher. He doesn't score headers (or win many), he doesn't create assists, he's not particularly fast. Every season he's been the number 9 there are threads on here suggesting that what this team needs is a number 9 to flourish.
He's 29 next month and therefore as a CF past his prime. He cost £2 million and scored 37 goals in 166 games. He's been a poor signing by any metric. To my eyes, this season's Frey looks to be better at Dykes's role - strong number 9, bullies CBs, chases balls, threat in the air, veteran - and that we need a different, more agile and much younger CF to be third choice.
A million quid for a well-paid CF who doesn't score or assist goals at Championship level and is about to hit 29 years-old is great business, surely. |
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Reply | Dykes sold apparently
at 11:27 27 Aug 2024
I can understand feeling sentimental about Ilias Chair, but Lyndon Dykes? Come on.
He's 29 next month. So if he goes to Brum, and they come up, he'll be 30 in the Championship. Will he have improved bullying L1 defenders in that time?
According to Wiki he's scored 37 goals in 167 games for us, which is a poor return for a number 9 who also takes pens. He's always appeared very game, but has his technique improved in any noticeable way since we re-signed Austen on loan to help him out? I don't think so. He's always looked more of an athlete than a footballer to me.
I think you sell 29 year-olds with that kind of record on big wages for £1 million (Mail reporting it's £1.5 btw) and buy a 22 year-old with potential for a quarter of that price generally. We can cry about the price, but you can only sell for what someone is prepared to pay. Why hang on to a 29 year-old number 9 on a three year dry run otherwise? |
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Reply | Varane
at 17:33 5 Aug 2024
I don't think anyone at the club is expecting anything but a finish well above lower bottom half.
I seem to remember you were the poster who told us in January that the club were cutting their cloth for League 1 then, that they'd accepted relegation and we should too.
When told this was unlikely as there were 23 games left and we needed maybe 7 wins you replied (and yes I did look this up, it is petty, but the condescension was striking):
"We all want to believe that it’s all to play for, but at some point we as supporters need to be as realistic as the club are about the chances of us putting those 7/8 wins on the board."
In fact, we put another nine wins on the board. The club was not planning for L1. This summer they are not planning for a lower bottom half finish. They're planning for top ten, minimum.
And I agree with them. I think we'll start slowly and grind out some points, it will be painful initially, but we will build up a head of steam.
But we'll see, I guess.I don't see the squad, the coaching staff or the mood of club as anything as negatively as I have done in previous years (or as you do, clearly). |
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