A third defeats of the season to the division's whipping boys Peterborough United put a horrible dent in QPR's flagging play-off aspirations, and turned the Loftus Road crowd on players and manager for the first time in several seasons on Sunday morning.

My God, where do you start?

Of course, the answer to that is an introductory colour paragraph on the great Swindon Town capitulation of 1993/94 (Ollie) where QPR lost twice to one of the worst teams the Premier league has ever seen, spurning a chance to go second in the top flight in the first instance, and then crashing 3-1 in the return fixture in W12. The mirroring of that second scoreline here against Peterborough — who have won eight of 42 games this season, three of those against QPR — makes it all too perfect. But I’ve written that tiresome ‘typical bloody QPR’ drivel too many times already, and I am no more in the mood to do so again today than you are to read it. So, let’s be grown ups about it, you and I can both acknowledge the colourful context introduction goes here, and move on without actually writing/reading the fucking thing.

I’ll leave the team selection, tactics, and seemingly wild substitutions for a little later, because I have Some Questions about all of those which I’m going to attempt to do firstly respectfully, secondly out of genuine bafflement and a desire to learn, and thirdly in the hope that some of the things that cooked my brain in the Loftus Road sunshine yesterday might have had a similar effect on you and we can discuss and suffer together up here in the cheap seats. None of it is leaning in any way whatsoever towards regime change. I will attempt to avoid dipping into graphic sexual imagery where possible, but please be aware that I’ve been fighting a strong urge to Arthur Fowler my sitting room for the last 24 hours and possibly the only thing that’s prevented me from doing so thus far is that I spent Saturday dusting and hoovering the bastard thing instead of watching QPR because QPR decided they wanted to give away a rare Saturday 15.00 kick off and play on a fucking Sunday breakfast time this week to give the poor little lambs some extra rest after their midweek exertions in defeat at Nottingham Forest. Perhaps next time just play it where it lays and stop fucking us all about eh? Reliving it all again may be the thing that tips me back over the edge, and both you and the soft furnishings next door should be prepared for that.

Let’s instead go through the motions of writing a report on the first half of the Peterborough game — a first half you may remember from such films as QPR 1 Cardiff City 2 and Man vs Nature: The Road to Victory. Off we popped at something that might pass for an acceptable pace. Albert Adomah, recalled at right wing back, advanced into acres of space on seven minutes with Gray in support and got the pass wrong. Soon Gray and Amos were combining in a press to win the ball back high up the field with Peterborough largely committed the wrong side of the possession, and that allowed Amos to stride forward completely unchallenged and pick his spot from outside the box with a beautiful finish and opening goal. Come here Luke let me give you a cuddle. A QPR central midfielder stepping on, pressing an opponent, driving towards goal, running beyond the strikers, having a shot, scoring a goal — you want to watch yourself boy, they’ll be chucking you off a cliff to see if you fly if you’re not careful.

Soon Ilias Chair had Gray running neck and neck with the last defender chasing a bouncing ball towards visiting keeper David Cornell, of the Cornell Institute for Public Affairs, and given his recent hot streak of three goals in three games, and the fact he got to the ball first, and the keeper being stranded well out of his goal, the simplest bit of the whole thing seemed to be the chipped finish, but Heidar Helguson he is not, and the media boys won’t have to waste any time clipping this botched job for the end of term highlights reel. Hopeless.

Better though. High up the field. High up the field. Gray won one back, teed up Ilias Chair, he shot wide. Offered two chances and the largest urban development site left in the Greater London area to produce a cross from the right Albert Adomah picked out Gray who headed against the inside of the post from the edge of the six-yard box. Chair also came very close to scoring direct from a corner against this opponent for the second time this season — striking the top of the post.

What did we learn from Cardiff boys and girls? Second goal when on top. School for the fucking gifted. One long ball down the field isolated Dion Sanderson against Jack Marriott in the penalty area which wasn’t necessarily terminal as long as he didn’t allow the Posh forward to turn but became a big problem as soon as Marriott did exactly that — I’d use the old cliched comparison with a turnstile to describe Sanderson’s defending here but Marriott was able to click through him a lot easier than I’ve been able to gain access to Loftus Road this season. Although debutant goalkeeper Keiren Westwood initially made a fine save the danger remained and Jonson Clarke-Harris buried the rebound low and true. Westwood had, bizarrely, spent sometime pre-kick off squatting down on the penalty spot and hiding under a towel. He may have been starting to wish he’d stayed under there.

Rangers had been the better team, created the better chances, led the game against the team lying bottom of the table, but you couldn’t say this hadn’t been coming for them, or Sanderson. The visitors were wide open through the middle, and Norwich City loanee Bali Mumba was so haplessly out of his depth Grant McCann had no choice but to keep switching the wing back to whichever flank the play hadn’t been down for a while and then sub him at half time. But they could have scored after four minutes when Sanderson, inexplicably, turned from a forward-facing position back towards his own goal and calmly slipped a perfect through ball in for Marriott to have a clear run on goal — a first save for the new keeper to make straight away, welcome to QPR Keiren, we do shit like that a lot. On 21 minutes muscle-bound Sammie Szmodics hit the top of the bar from just inside the area with a chance created entirely by impressive visiting centre back Josh Knight striding out of defence with the ball and driving into the opposition half, with all the panic that inevitably brings. I remember when our centre backs used to do that and wreak similar havoc. Your flesh mother used to bring me pudding.

What I hoped for in the second half was more of the stuff that had worked, and less of the stuff that hadn’t. Well, derrrr. You may think that sounds ridiculously simplistic but given what QPR actually decided to do instead I don’t think anything goes without saying with this lot at the moment. More high press from the midfield, more central midfielders stepping out and onto their opponent, more men committed to the attack. Just flood the Loft End and overwhelm them for goodness sake, play at a pace and tempo they can’t live with — one away win all season and 76 goals conceded in 38 games tells you they can’t live with very much at all. Keep the ball away from Dion fucking Sanderson, go down the Winchester, nice cold pint, wait for it all to blow over, etc etc etc. Instead… my goodness. A shitting of the bed so comprehensive there was more shit than bed by the end. Easily the worst 45 minute performance QPR have produced under this management.

An abysmal, embarrassing shambles than started with Jimmy Dunne’s lazy hack at Munba’s replacement Harrison Burrows for a penalty kick that raised precisely zero objections. If David Webb is getting the decision correct it must be pretty obvious. If Uncle Frank says no, it must be really bad. Clarke-Harris dispatched, though for one glorious moment it looked like Westwood had bailed his new team mates out on debut — he looked disappointed, having gone the right way, and perhaps with more match practice he would have got there. Not a lot he could do two minutes later mind, with Marriott giving the Wheel of fucking Fortune playing right centre back for QPR another spin out in the channel again and marauding into the area before dispatching the ball brilliantly into the far top corner. Sanderson could scarcely have done more for the Peterborough cause here had he been playing for them and trying to do it deliberately. Gus Caesar levels of just terrifyingly, rank incompetence that would finish, three minutes from time, with him deciding to have a go himself from the edge of the penalty area and getting the shot so hopelessly wrong and wide it hit Albert Adomah, the right wing back, on the side of the head and nearly knocked him clean off his feet. It’s in the top ten individual nightmare showings this one — agonisingly close to a never-seen LFW rating of 1/10. Made Jack Marriott, five goals all season, look like a Greek God.

Then, Warbs’ McClaren moment. A triple substitution on the hour in which it was decreed that Andre Gray, who’s scored three in three and had a hand in setting up the opening goal, would be removed so Charlie Austin could play alone up front; actual goalscorer Luke Amos, the only midfielder we have who is currently willing to press high and run beyond the strikers, should be removed for Jeff Hendrick who does none of that and looks thrilled to bloody death about it; and Andre Dozzell should come off for George Thomas. At one point it seemed like Jimmy Dunne was going off, which would have made some sense as you obviously don’t need a back five when three one down at home to Peterborough U-fucking-nited but was clearly the wrong man with Sanderson absolutely begging to be put out of his misery, but then they changed their mind, stuck with the failed system, left Austin to slob about up front alone, and posed precisely zero threat of ever getting back into the game for the final half hour of play. For the first time in Warburton’s reign, open dissent and revolt rolling down from the stands at this point, exactly as Schteve suffered here in his last week in charge when he had also started to make changes the paying punters could not compute. A third defeat of the season to the worst team in the league in the offing — you humiliate your supporters in this way, that often, at your peril.

A rare error from Knight presented Austin with really rather a presentable chance immediately, but he snatched at it horribly. I’m clearly building up here to talking a lot about the loan signings, the formation, the substitutions, where we go from here etc. The knives are out, particularly for Hendrick, and I understand that and agree with it, as I will come onto. But let’s not let Austin’s influence here pass without mention. While accepting the service was crap, and he wasn’t a good lone striker even at the absolute peak of his powers, his contribution here would have embarrassed a traffic bollard. For somebody who made rather the big deal out of only wanting to return to QPR if they were serious about a promotion push to turn up and play like this — and, without wishing to stick the knife in too deep, looking like this — in a game as important as this against a team the rest of the division scores against for fun was really rather irritating, to say the very least. Not good enough by any stretch.

A sad and and desperate dive in the penalty area by Ilias Chair brought more grief from the QPR fans than it did the Peterborough players, and he deserved that. Like Thomas he did at least keep running, trying, and was often the only one on the field talking to team mates during a plethora of prolonged stoppages, but this was a pathetic attempt to cheat the referee. The shock of seeing Hendrick so far forward that he actually managed to glance a near post header wide of the far corner so acute I might actually commission an oil on canvass to mark the occasion. These were Rangers’ only two forays into the Peterborough box in half an hour of regulation time and eight minutes added on at the end for the visitors’ flagrant time-wasting antics. A flock of feral pigeons assembled in Cornell’s penalty box to peck at the grass seed 20 minutes from time and remained there for the duration — they knew as well as anybody this was a safe space for them on Sunday afternoon.

The gamesmanship on show in the final third of this game, at times, had to be seen to be believed. Referee David Webb, as we’re now well aware after previous encounters, is so biblically inept at dealing with this issue it destroys what little credibility and authority he has in the rest of the game. For Cornell to emerge from this without a yellow card was astounding really. With all three substitutions made Jonson Clarke-Harris hit the deck for the umpteenth time on the afternoon holding his thigh suggesting he’d suffered a dead leg or hamstring pull. He limped off to the touchline but then, after a brief conversation with the bench, returned to the field and sat straight back down holding his head. This was then deemed worthy of a concussion substitution allowing the visitors to remain with 11 on the field and, trying not to get sued here, seemed suspect to me. Referee happy to just trundle along with the lies and bullshit.

Football, like both codes of rugby before it, is about to be overrun with concussion protocols, head injury assessments, legal cases, bans on heading the ball, and plenty else besides which will creep and creep and creep until, like rugby league in the UK at the moment, you no longer recognise the sport you’re watching. Any complaint from you and I will be met with accusations that you are a dinosaur who doesn’t care if footballers become dribbling vegetables after they retire, that this is A Very Serious Issue which “football has ignored for too long”. And then you see this. Down clutching his leg one minute, off under concussion protocols the next. At the very least the assessment should be made by an independent, rather than club, doctor to allay any suspicions the player might be rather conveniently concussed in the context of the game.

Each Peterborough ‘injury’ apparently necessitated the on field presence of an enormous man in a yellow suit who moved at the speed of rust — somebody I’m absolutely sure we’d have seen just as much of had they been losing the game 2-1. Most frustrating of all, it was just so totally unnecessary. The game was won, and in fact could and should have been won by more. Peterborough by far the better team now, playing the better football, with Knight pulling all the strings from the back, and Marriott offering all the threat going forwards. It could have been any score the basement dwellers liked, and only Westwood’s brilliant one on one save in injury time stopped it being at least 4-1. QPR were a shocking, embarrassing rabble. The substitutions had such a detrimental effect on the team that not ten minutes after they were made, with Peterborough again putting us through the pain of the bloke from the side of the Mega Bus waddling onto the field to tend to somebody else’s ‘injury’, half the team had to come over to the bench for a re-brief and a piece of paper with further instructions was sent onto the field.

So, like I say, some questions. Of course I’m going to fully Neil Oliver this — admit that I know fuck all about what I’m talking about, and then opine on it for ten minutes regardless when I should probably stick to pointing at the seaside and talking about how pretty it looks. But, like the Swindon introductory paragraph, I’ll keep the qualifying caveat that I don’t know what I’m talking about, never coached, never played, never managed, have no idea about the physical fitness of the players or the sports science status of the squad etc etc yadda yadda yadda brief. Fan in the stand, my point of view, maybe you’ll agree, maybe you won’t, maybe you’ll have some of your own, maybe you’ll think George Thomas was a six and not a five. Disclaimer seen to be there but not there to be seen.

Here are some things I don’t understand. I don’t understand where Lyndon Dykes has gone, particularly when he’s apparently allowed to go away with Scotland next week having not played for us for five weeks now. I don’t understand why I’m sitting here watching Josh Knight, part of statistically the worst defence there has been at this level for many years, calmly striding out with the ball and dictating play, when that was one of our strong suits throughout 2021 and now ours barely come out of their own penalty area. I don’t understand why, three one down at home to a team with said worst defence in the league, you would take your in from striker off and not go two up front. I don’t understand why, with the game already lost and the team’s promotion chances desperately in need of a win, you would stick with three centre backs and two wing backs right through to the bitter end. I don’t understand why the player who it seems the back three system suits best, who it’s all built around really, has been dropped after 97 consecutive appearances to accommodate Dion Sanderson. He was not only atrocious here, has done exactly the sort of stupid, braindead things this manager usually hates and punishes harshly in the games with Blackpool and Forest and been rewarded by walking straight back into the side, but also necessitates a complete reshuffling of all three centre backs into new positions. The back three system so sacrosanct we cannot deviate from it even for half an hour in a 3-1 home loss to Peterborough, but not so precious that we can’t play musical chairs with the centre backs to accommodate a Premier League loan? We’ve got a player we own - admittedly one who couldn’t get fit often enough but somebody we scouted hard and wanted to sign last summer and has played well for us when he did make the field - currently playing well and regularly out on loan in Germany while Dion Sanderson makes mistakes and learns his trade on our time. It makes such little sense that you now see typical online conspiracy theories bubbling up, that Barbet has been dropped because of a contract situation, that Sanderson has to play under the terms of the loan, that we have to pay more money to borrow him the less he plays. It’s the same with Dykes, it’s just so weird that Chinese whispers start up about it. It’s not just me is it? It doesn’t make sense to any of you does it? Help me out. I don’t just want to shout and swear at them, write the whole thing off as shit, demand sackings and bloodlet. I want to know. I’m curious and utterly mystified.

I didn’t understand anyway why a club that is ostensibly meant to be developing players to sell has suddenly fallen head-over-heels in love with two Premier League loan players who we are trying to crowbar into this team and force-feed minutes whether they’re playing well or fit with the team or not, at the expense of younger players, in better form, who we own. Even if they were playing well, which they’re not, this is not what we’re meant to be doing. Now five goals from central midfield all season and Amos has four of those himself from ten starts and 14 sub appearances, including one here. Only Andre Gray has a better goals-per-minute ratio than him this season. Are they trying to protect his knee? Fair enough. It’s the only thing I can think of to explain the change here. I’m sorry, I didn’t get it, I don’t understand what Jeff Hendrick does at all. Even the fucking piece of paper with instructions from the bench got passed backwards from him and then shifted around the back three. It's just our default. There are rugby league teams who pass forwards more than QPR at the moment.

I don’t understand. I don’t understand. I don’t understand how we’ve gone from what we were, to what we are now. Why are we so miserly? Why don’t we go forwards? Why don’t we pass forwards? I just, I can’t, I’m sorry. I desperately don’t want to be the gobshite football blogger, I know I’m just ranting now, it’s been a great season, we’re punching above our weight, financial restrictions, I think this management has done a terrific job for the club, I absolutely want to see them remain in place and go again next season… but I find so much of what’s happened over the past couple of months inexplicable and weird. So inexplicable and weird that you go looking for sense and explanation in conspiracy theories about dressing room unrest, the message it has sent loaning players in and playing them above the players that got us here in the first place — nail me to the wall and I think there’s something in that personally, I think it sends a dreadful message to people like Dom Ball and Luke Amos, you can’t tell me this looks a happy camp now. For me in team selection, signings, style, principals and more we've gone away from what worked for us, and from what we're meant to be about. I come back to the Masterclass with Warburton posted recently on YouTube, talking about how we set up and play, about how we never want two defensive midfielders square of each other, how we always want the wing backs to be high, and the midfielders to be aggressive and stepping onto opponents in advanced areas of the pitch. And then I look at us now and I just, I just shake my head.

I’m sure Warbs would sit down and very calmly, very intelligently and very eruditely explain to me how this player is injured, that player is carrying a knock, this one is fatigued, somebody else went to a back four against Peterborough recently and got their arse handed to them, this player has a problem in his home life, this player has done well in training… I’m sure if we sat at a video screen he’d be able to say ‘look at Jeff here, look what’s done with that, that’s why he’s valuable, that’s why we like him’. I’m sure he’d say teams have done their homework on us, and stopped us doing a lot of the things I miss about our early season performances. And it would all make sense, because he’s the professional and I’m a moany gobshite, and I’d go away from the meeting feeling like an ignorant prick again. I’m sure he’d also tell me he absolutely doesn’t set the team up to go out and play like that, at all, and that he’s as frustrated and annoyed as the rest of us.

But a three one home loss to Peterborough? A third defeat to Peterborough in a season, to go with another against Barnsley? You can’t tell me something isn’t wrong here. Nor that the criticism, on this occasion, isn’t valid.

Links >>> Ratings and Reports >>> Message Board Match Thread

QPR: Westwood 6; Adomah 4, Sanderson 2, Dickie 4, Dunne 3, McCallum 4; Field 6, Dozzell 4 (Thomas 57, 5), Amos 7 (Hendrick 57, 4); Chair 4, Gray 5 (Austin 57, 3)

Subs not used: Barbet, Ball, Odubajo, Mahoney

Goals: Amos 9 (assisted Gray)

Bookings: Field 66 (foul)

Posh: Cornell 6; Ward 6, Edwards 7, Knight 8, Kent 6, Mumba 4 (Burrows 45, 7); Taylor 6 (Fuchs 71, 6), Norburn 7, Szmodics 6; Marriott 8 (Poku 76, 6), Clarke-Harris 7 (Taylor 90+2, -)

Subs not used: Grant, Beevers, Blackmore

Goals: Clarke-Harris 39 (unassisted), 52 (penalty won Burrows), Marriott 54 (unassisted)

Bookings: Mumba 45 (foul), Marriott 56 (foul), Nordburn 67 (time wasting)

QPR Star Man — Luke Amos 7 I can only think his removal, and his struggle to get gametime, is them managing his knees after two ACLs in three seasons. If it’s anything else then, I’m sorry, on this occasion his removal for Jeff Hendrick was an absolute joke.

Referee — David Webb (Durham) 5 Goodness me he’s hard work this guy. Play-acting, injury-feigning and time-wasting are chronic and endemic in the Championship. This official, rather than clamp down on it, rewards it. As with every game he’s refereed this season, the goalkeeper was allowed to engage in a whole load of blatant cheating without punishment. At one point the referee actually made the point of marching all the way back down the field to talk to him about it, offer no punishment, and walk all the way back, wasting yet more time. One yellow card for time wasting given some of the stuff that went on in the second half was a total joke. Clarke-Harris going down with what looked like a clear dead leg, hobbling badly on his way off, only to return to the field, sit down with his hand on his head, and then be allowed a fourth substitution for concussion is just wrong. That protocol has been brought in to protect players and their long term health, not for that. And this referee was completely complicit in it. One of the most infuriating officials in a league where the standard of refereeing is racing hard to the bottom.

Attendance — 13,753 (800 Peterborough approx.) Not a single one of them onside with the substitutions — Steve McClaren levels of vitriol pouring down from the stands over those.

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Petros added 17:18 - Mar 21 Nailed it, well played.
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sinceApril66 added 17:39 - Mar 21 So much been looking forward to reading this for some desperate consolation and expression of how mystifying the afternoon was… And it really does help that we’re in this together… I agree with nearly all you say… Would love to hear Warburton respond… My son even, despairingly, wondered, only just jokingly, if we could have Todd Kane back rather than watch another cross (???) from Adomah not look remotely like he knew who he was aiming for! I loved Austin the 1st time and Adomah’s spirit and occasional flash… but I don’t see why they should ever play for QPR again… especially as Mo’s been so good recently and has that rare, missed quality of pace. I’ve so appreciated Mark’s whole approach from the start… and now, even I ams starting to wonder if he’s too in thrall to bigger name players… and, just maybe, we could find the next coming continental genius before they become Klopp or Conte..?

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QPROslo added 18:06 - Mar 21 Shirley Hendrick replaced Dozzell, who had hardly got Invoved. It looked like it from where they played, and I think Warburton said as much after the game. Thomas replaced Amos, no idea why unless as you say he's protecting his knees, and Austin replaced Gray. Even though the electric boards had it all different if I remember right, it all happened at the same time.
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Paddyhoops added 18:06 - Mar 21 That's made angry all over again. We've fallen off a cliff and we're not climbing back up again. Pathetic performance and I definitely think there's disharmony in the camp. What else could be the reason for the collapse. Sure we have injuries but we're pound for pound better than this lot. The shit housing only added fuel to the fire and when I seen 8 minutes flashing up , I thought f**k this I'm off. Last time I did this was at 4.0 down to Newcastle. Great report as always. Stick with it we have a nice Easy one next.

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extratimeR added 18:13 - Mar 21 Well done Clive for trying to report this match and not completely lose it. I think the Second Half was arguably the worst I have ever seen, bearing in mind the quality of the players, ( easily on a par with the legendary midweek Ipswich game). Luke Amos, are we trying to force him out of the club? Someone might soon solve the problem by signing him for next season, not a million miles from here. I have no evidence of a dressing room problem but it really looks like we have got one. Well done for reporting this shambles in a balanced way Clive. Painful

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Patrick added 18:42 - Mar 21 There was I thinking "well if you take Barbet, Wallace, Johanson, Willock and Dykes out, that's a group of influential players" ... and then I remembered they all played against Millwall, to no effect whatsoever. Ouch. Have we done a Schteve, flogged the same dozen outfield players, have them knackered in February but tried to replace them with players nowhere near as effective? (And the continued overuse of the two Prem loans certainly stinks to high heaven.)

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AshteadR added 18:53 - Mar 21 It couldn't have been easy to write, but that was a great report Clive. Plenty of very valid questions. The game unfolded like a very bad dream. Boro looked like a park side to start with and that's how we looked for the 2nd half. No leaders, no urgency, no drive. It was bizarre watching it happen. When you only have one shot on target and Dickie is your best centre back, scoring 4, it rather sums things up.

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komradkirk added 21:12 - Mar 21 i would agree with all that report. i got out of bed at 4am to fly over to watch that mess. my 179th game and the only thing that second half reminded me of was 0-0 with cambrodge united and getting done by grimsby.but we knew how bad we were then. i would have liked the inevitable bottle job to have been closer to the final day though. sad, angry,frustrated,accepting, its an emotional road to hell currently

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Myke added 21:32 - Mar 21 Hi Clive, I feel and share your pain. The only question I will have a go at answering is: "I didn’t understand anyway why a club that is ostensibly meant to be developing players to sell has suddenly fallen head-over-heels in love with two Premier League loan players who we are trying to crowbar into this team and force-feed minutes whether they’re playing well or fit with the team or not, at the expense of younger players, in better form, who we own" So, if we agree that this policy of developing players to sell has only properly taken off since Warburton took over three years ago (McClaren abandoned the plan after game 3), then I would argue that in all three years we have loaned in prem players to augment our development policy. In Year 1 (19/20) it was Hugill and Wells as we had no senior strikers of our own and with Eze/Manning/BOS providing the ammo, they both thrived and ensured our primary objective of staying in the Championship, while developing said Eze/Manning/BOS and off loading all three with varying levels of success. In Year 2 (20/21) we bought a couple of strikers who didn't actually score that much. So by Christmas Warburton found himself staring into the abyss and loaned FOUR players, (3 from the prem) and they transformed our season so much that our primary target of staying the Championship, while developing young players top sell, was achieved so convincingly that whispers were made of a promotion tilt next season. Warburton and Co clearly agreed and all 4 were signed permanently. So far, so wonderful, six high-profile players loaned in (4 from the prem) and not a word of discontent from the faithful, not a single dissenting 'send them back to where they came from' voice to be heard. Year 3 (21/22) Expectations raised. A promotion tilt expected and so, another Prem loan (Gray) added, to 'give us something different'. Despite the shifted expectations, the overall goal remained the same, to develop young players and sell at a profit, and plenty of 'noise' around Dieng/Dickie/Willock/Chair, so everything going swimmingly. Warburton, infallible, decided we needed to augment our promotion push with another CB and had his initial target sabotaged by Forest. Everyone agreed Sanderson had done a good job for Birmingham, so in he came. Hendrick became available late in the window, an experienced, respected, international player, very much of the Johanson mould and he came in too. But now, with expectations higher than ever(automatic promotion discussed ) the wheels came off. and Sanderson and especially Hendrick get slaughtered. Even though they were just the latest two in a long pattern of signing prem players on loan to fulfill a specific purpose, while not losing sight of our overall stated goal of buying young, developing and selling high. Their only crime? It hasn't worked. If we had not improved last season, it would have been Johanson/ Austin/Field who got pelters. Ditto Hugill/Wells the season before if they had not scored goals. Hendrick and Sanderson are not the reason why our form has collapsed, not the reason Dickie has become afraid of his own shadow, not the reason Dykes has disappeared, not the reason we are as slow as paint drying in the rain, but boy are they getting blamed for all of it.

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rkk76 added 22:29 - Mar 21 Such a good write up and exactly how a lot of us feel at the moment. The decisions in January haven't been good ones. We had a core group of players that were playing well and two systems both based on 5-3-2 doing well. I haven't seen the two striker up-top away for a long time that was working so well. True, with Dykes injured and Austin so lacking at the moment we probably dont have a striker to partner with Gray - but still. I hate to say it but i can't see us finishing top 10 atm, which is a real shame. We should stick to our players only from now on. For me that includes playing Dykes instead of Gray when he is fit. Gray can come in away for the 5-3-2.

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062259 added 22:30 - Mar 21 One shot on target from 13 attempts, against the worst team in the division. Peterborough registered 8 out of 12. Ouch.
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Burnleyhoop added 22:35 - Mar 21 We have been poor for weeks now, not remotely playing with any confidence or belief across the entire team. The reasons are varied and many, including poor individual form, injuries, absences, team selection and tactics. We have had no stability and now look like a bunch of strangers out there. Let’s not kid ourselves, the season is done and we should go back to basics. I think it is highly unlikely we will sell any of our players in the summer as no one has covered themselves in glory and frankly we wouldn’t get much for any of them with the way they are playing. Personally, I would send the loanees back and release the old guard where possible. The forward positions and wing back spots have been problematic all season, along with a distinct lack of pace in the team. I think Warburton has lost his way this season due to the pressure of being in the play off spots and the expectation of making a genuine promotion challenge. We have also pushed out the boat financially to support this endeavour which has backfired badly. Ultimately, we are simply not good enough and lack quality in too many areas. It’s back to the drawing board in the summer and another rebuild job with little or no money likely to be available. In a season that promised so much, it is hugely disappointing to watch things fall apart so dramatically, but not all of it can be laid at Warburtons door.

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AussieRs added 22:44 - Mar 21 Great report thanks Clive. Fair, honest, grim. The thing for me is that we have become slower and slower. Nick and Andy on Comms often talk about how "we are yet to get into our passing rhythm". I am struggling to work out what this tempo actually is. Slow of ball, slow of foot, slow of mind. There used to be a bloke who played for Sydney FC who passed it sideways so often that fans took a drink if it actually went forward! This is us now. What was truly odd vs Peterborough was we did not start like that. We began more like the now storied Reading game, which appears more like an aberrant high water mark now than any level we could aspire to weekly. But our humans moved about well, often forwards, as did the ball. Nice. To see us sink back further and further was EXCRUCIATING. Particularly because there is clearly real quality in this team, especially when Willock is playing. My own view is that key to our failings has been central midfield where the ball always seems to drop to them, the headers are always won by them and the good through balls are nearly always played by them. JoJo at the "got there quick as I could" fouling stage of his career. Hendrick might have been a good player but we haven't seen it. Even against crap teams, you generally have to at least compete in the midfield or risk getting overrun. We have failed to dominate here too often, right through this season (despite Field often being excellent). Glimpses of quality not enough to compensate for soft belly. Such a pity, given opportunity for play-offs. Hurts. QPR 2 Fulham 1. Dead cert. COYRs

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xianwol added 23:50 - Mar 21 One thing you could have emphasised more - why drop Odubajo who has been our most consistent player since Barnsley? Others excellent analysis
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snanker added 23:51 - Mar 21 Merci Clive and thought you had the right to go a bit harder !! Some astute follow up comments above and think Burnleyhoop is spot on re pressure of raised expectation which has seen players retreat into their shells, compounded by injuries, bemused loan signings, team selection dressing room angst, shifting tactics and general all-round fatigue. WTF is going on questions all fair enough but getting a straight answer may only encourage more shithousery, finger pointing & confusion ! At least fans hopes got a run for their money this season until the final furlong which is now looking to be a lot longer down the stretch ! Plenty more hurdles to come the very next one the highest !! Ugly ?

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Northernr added 02:04 - Mar 22 Guys some class comments above. Thank you and well done for engaging in a thoughtful way with this. I'll respond to a few of the points raised in depth tomorrow but just before I clock off the day Myke, the key word in your great post is "augment". That, like the McClaren season, is not what's happening here.
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gavster31 added 12:13 - Mar 22 Sincerely appreciated report as ever. Think I just needed to read someone else say what I saw to slow down the endless reeling I’ve been doing since about the time of their equaliser. Solidly blaming myself for commenting just how awful they were after 10-15mins, clearly showing why they are bottom of the league, and scoffing at the fact they’d beaten us twice this season. Triple serving of egg on face please Chef Warbs. Would love to be the romantic that knows it’s all still to play for, I know there’s always one team on a slide that let’s loose their grip on the prize of a play off spot by capitulating at the wrong moment. Seems there’s two this year, us and Blackburn whilst everyone else is coming on strong. And being honest, losing to Barnsley, Cardiff & Peterborough (again-again) and chuck in that loss to The Chicken Farmers to boot, I’d be more hopeful of making that last spot as a Blackburn fan than an R. Was fun for a while at least.

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loneranger1 added 12:59 - Mar 22 Thanks very much for putting yourself through that, Clive. Such a shame and so hard to put your finger on it. At this stage, my expectations are well and truly lowered... Would happily take seeing no more of Hendrick or Sanderson in a Rangers shirt and just be competitive (and get some more points) for the rest of the season. Feels like that's probably too much to ask right now

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TacticalR added 13:46 - Mar 22 Thanks for your report, which can't have been easy to write (and get right). We didn't lose the game when they scored, we lost the game when we scored and then couldn't get another goal when we were on top. However, the problem isn't just Peterborough. The issues are of longer standing: over 10 games QPR and Peterborough are bottom of the form table. So you are right to follow the match report with a more general look at our situation. Agree completely that there are a lot of questions. What exactly is Dykes' injury? What has happened to Austin? What has happened to Chair? Why didn't Barbet play away at Forest and at home to Peterborough? The problems keep on coming: today it was announced that Willock is out for the rest of the season. I honestly think we need to forget about the play-offs and plan for next season.

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