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The whole team looked like they couldn't run, and as I have said before, in the Champ, you don't run, run, run, you lose.
We sat back way too much and did not press them enough. So much so that in the first half, at 35 minutes and 3-0 down, we sat back while they played it around the back, waiting for halftime. Hello, you're LOSING!
I mean, you're 3-0 down? Time to get frantic and go all out berserker, what do you have to lose? 4-0? Does not matter if you're dead anyway. But get a goal back before half-time and make it 3-1, and then there is a small chance of a way back.
It was like watching Ainsworth's QPR against Blackburn when the whole team didn't want to cross the halfway line. In that game, Dozzell had a breakaway on the wing, looked up, realised he was the furthest forward, and then decided to pass back as Blackburn players fretted and scrambled back for no reason as Dozy played it back anyway!
The worst players were Field, Varane and Morgan, who just sat in front of the Back four and didn't press the opposite middle at all. Free midfield reign all of the first half. All the Swansea midfield had to do was collect the ball from their defence, turn, look up, and then play another ball to a free Swansea player, and so on, until they could have a shot at goal. Kohil was totally on his own for a one-man press.
As Swansea had a free midfield pass then Fox and Paal were exposed for lack of pace, which Ronaldo took full advantage of. Fox is done, he cannot run back quick enough (remember Champ is run run run). Paal had that game where he's phoned it in. Must be hoping for his Jan move now we are so close. No need to get injured just before the move.
Paal was so bad that Saito was fully occupied the whole game supporting him and, therefore, didn't venture over the halfway line either.
On the up side, Chair has moved from 10 mins, 20 mins, 35 mins to 45 mins. So, the next is 60 mins, which means he's ready to start. I expect him to start against Norwich. Frey was back for a few mins as well. The team was so bad Ashby looked like he was decent, despite also giving the ball way quite a few times but at least he was trying to get forward and also challenging to win the ball.
This was like the Oxford half, but this time, Swansea are a proper Champ team who know what they are doing. And tore us apart. It was too easy for them.
Swanseas' tactic was clever; they decided to press us hard and attack high upfield and risk breakaways. It's a very risky tactic because if the oppo wins the ball, then you will be facing a counterattack, possibly outnumbered. This usually results in a goal if that keeps happening. They need not worry as ...
It worked as our middle decided not to compete in the middle at all and just let em have it. Cue 1-2's all over the park from a team that specialises in 1-2's. If we had challenged them in the middle, then they would have fewer balls on our left and right, and we would have gotten out and up the field as Saito and Smyth could now get forward to support Kohli. We did this a little in the second half, which is how we know it was possible.
Players let Marti down big time as they relaxed over the Christmas break. There is no relaxing in this league; it's all run, run, run. They tried to hide behind the formation of two banks of four (an old Gerry and Holloway tactic). But that only works if you run run run.
You can say it's wrong; it should be about the quality of the football, but teams will do this to you and win. I have noticed it coming into the Prem more now. This is how Villa, Forest and Bournemouth have improved up the table by introducing a lot more of this into their games now. It seems Man City's slow build-up is going out of fashion.
Swansea are not lamo Oxford, they have proper Champ players, they will tear teams apart that don't compete. And they did.
We can see he has a great left foot, dribbling skills and has some pace. However, I am not seeing many headers being won or much hold up play, looks more like a left winger in playing style than a hold up player.
For your question, Oxford and especially Brizzle did a tactic that exposed our flaws in the middle. They overloaded the sides, blocking us from attacking down the flanks. This meant we could only attack through the middle. With Andersen and Madsen who cannot get up and down the pitch quick enough. Andersen does not have the legs for it and Madsen, may have the legs for it but he needs to get fitter quicker (just like Frey was off the pace last season, but learned to up his game and run run run to be ready for this season).
As we had no middle attack option in those two games being forced down the middle with no legs, this meant in those two games we could not get any attacks going as our flanks were doubled up against always. Brizzle were really good at doing this. The only time they failed to do this was when Smyth scored. Oxford failed as they were so poor they let Field come through the middle and score two goals ... nuff said.
For PNE, Morgan came in and had the legs for it and also the skill. Hence whatever PNE did we had an answer. He also helped break the press which means it was not all on Varane to do this. PNE tried the same tactic of doubling up on the flanks and were caught out as we now had a middle game. To the extent that Field should have scored when Morgan played him in (all down the middle that move).
If Morgan can maintain that capability against other oppo, then we now have a strong midfield in Varane, Field, Morgan with Colback to return for those who miss games due to yellows (Field I am looking at you). It also mean's Madsen is behind all of those 4 now.
Somehow, Morgan comes out of the blue and, luckily, is picked to start? No this is not by luck, Marti and the team must have analysed those two games (Oxford & Brizzle) and saw what the oppo were doing and our weakness. Then come up with a plan to fix it.
This is what good managers do, mistakes get made, but they fix them. Warbuton was good at doing this. Wildthing was not, he actually made them worse like for example the treatment of Willock.
Another thing I noticed is that Beenie comes on for Smyth on the flank. So, I assume as Demble is out till March, that this is the option they are thinking of if Smyth gets injured. I am not sure about Beenie; he runs around a lot (good) and does not do stupid things (also good), but he is not really showing me anything that's a game-changer (not so good).
It's early days for Beenie, but I am not seeing anything like I saw for Varane and Saito when they first came in but were poor at the start.
I like it because it means when we get the reverse, we can just carry on. Some player goes down with banged head, ref waves play on, we score and win the game (the key difference here).
The Oppo team goes nuts. Marti afterwards says, "Well, I understand that their upset, but the same happened to us against PNE. PNE played on, scored, and we lost our captain to injury. That's the champ."
The bit Marti won't mention is that we went on to win that game so, the only bad thing about that goal was Cooks injury.
And then the oppo will have to suck it up and we get the win (which is the difference that won't be mentioned) :p
Chair isnt match fit yet and we have seen with rushing back WIllock how you can ruin a player.
Saito was not bad but not great either in that game. People forget that this PNE side is not like Oxford; they have decent defenders, it's just that day the whole team played so well that we made them look like Oxford.
So, Saito was up against better players than other teams and I suspect he was required to stop PEN coming down that side until they PNE gave up. Chair came on against tired legs, but he did what was needed. Even before the goal, he put in a cross that nearly fell to Smyth for a tap-in.
Chair is the better player, but he's not match fit yet.I would go with sub and come on for last 35 mins next time. And see where we are. Saito might get more joy against Swansea, who are less into the beat-em-up side of the Champ.
He was not used to the "run run run" of the Champ.
Now he realised if he runs and puts himself about a lot, that matches up to the oppo capability there and then he betters them as he has the skill to put his foot on the ball and win and play it.
If he carries on like this, we should expect bids of £10m plus as Prem clubs love this sort of player. Compare to Tim Iroegbunam (who likes to think of himself as this type of player but isn't) who went for £9m.
Who is better Iroegbunam or Varane? I think it's our Varane.
What more interesting is that Morgan has now made a massive case to be in the middle with Varane and Field. With those three, if Morgan improves will be highly effective in the Champ. Colback will struggle to get back in the team, let alone Madsen who is behind all of them.
It's clear he's being coached by Marti and the other coaches.
A noticeable difference is that once he uses his pace and dribbling skills to go past a player, instead of just putting in a cross, he now looks up to do the cutback.
This only works if the other QPR players are moving into position to receive the cutback. Which they are, as it also means they have been coached when Smyth gets into that position to do this. Otherwise, Smyth has no one to cut back, too.
Another tactical move we are using is the cross from the left to the far post for a tap in. Chair did this in the second half and the oppo defender just got enough of head on it to divert it away from Smyth who was about to use his pace to tap it in (a type of goal he has scored before even Marti arrived). Then, soon after, the Chair did it again for Dunne (what's he doing there, must be coached) to nod the winner.
These two tactics we shall in my biased view see again from the team as they are working.
Another one to watch for is corners. If you see Dunne or the corner taker rubbing their head from back to front with a hand, this is a signal that the ball will go to the near post. I have not worked out what they have as the signal for the far post, if they have one. But, I have seen Andersen, Paal and Chair all do this near post signal and seen Dunne do it in the box too.
They are being coached constantly, make no mistake.
But its handy if you dont want QPR to put our best team out and you fear going out. Shows they fear us if they are banking on a few of those players, backing up our injury list away at Plymouth.
Let Go: ****** Andersen He's injured sometimes, but he seems to lack the legs to get around the Champ anymore. Also, his form has dropped recently. We have Dembele now, and if we get Saito, we don't need him.
Fox Injured every season and for lengthy periods, and he cost us a game when he did play. Playing better now, but he cannot be relied upon, so, no, he will be let go.
Colback Better player than Fox, but injured even more often (competing with JCS on the injury table) and prone to rash outbursts like he's player in Football Manager. Madsen was supposed to replace him. I think we need to let go as with his high wages we could get someone like Isaac Hayden instead (who hopefully will be free and out of his expensive Newcastle contract by then).
Paal It's clear that he phoned it in for some but not all of the games. We should sell him in January for whatever we can get for him. Watford will buy him for £500K. He got the skills but he's not quite fast enough. We cannot do better than him, but we can possibly get someone the same level who actually wants to stay.
Keep: ****** Dunne Should obviously be kept,as he can play a number of positions across the back line. And wins lots of headers from corners. Is also an outlet when we cannot break the press. Chips in with a few goals as well.
Cook Marti just stated he's prem class, which is a message to renew his contract to the board. I suspect we shall keep him as he seems to like playing for us. Also, not injured that mutch for an old player.
Chair I thought we had two years left. But it does mean in the summer we need to renew or sell him as he's on his last year. We should renew, it will cost, but he's worth it and also such a contract renewal will bring stability to the club. We might not sign Saito so, best to ensure we keep him regardless.
Frey We need to keep him, as his goal record is decent, he's cheaper than buying a forward outright. And we shall need to do that anyway, but if we let him go, we shall need to buy two new forwards which we cannot afford. So, we should renew him, assume he's the backup forward and sign a new forward that is the main one.
Kolli As we know, 3 forwards is not enough. If we keep Frey, sign another, then with Celar we shall need one more. Either we sign a second forward (impossible on our budget) or we give him a contract. Give him a contract as that's cheaper than signing a new forward.
Saito It's obvious to sign him. But we need to do that in January for some money, as otherwise, he's out of contract in the summer, I believe. And of course, someone like Cardiff will come in and offer more money, and then he's off. The whole Japanese fans on the website webinar was, of course, to build the club up for him.
Come to QPR. We have Japanese fans. Look, look, we are in sexy London with Japanese schools for any kids you may have or yourself to learn English better. London is the least alien city for Japanese people in Europe. Look, Westfield has a Japanese shop. It's easy to get direct flights back home to Japan, and so on. All those other stereotypes to win him over (footballers are not renowned for being smart and doing their own research).
We were supper lucky to get a draw from that. We did nothing all game accept Smyths goal and that's only due to a complete brain fart by the brizzle keeper.
Brizzle keeper does not come out, and it stays 1-0 with them all day long.
To be fair, our defence was pretty solid. They only had the free kick, and that was due to some Field charity..
Andersen is gone; his legs are totally gone. Saito was poor as well in this game. Kohli was ill, as we know, and should not have played. Lloyd is not really a target man, but he tried his best.
We need Chair in for Andersen or hope Madsen can do it while Chair gets match fit. Andersen is a sub only at best now. And season end needs to be let go. I hope to see Frey on the subs bench soon, and Kohli should have recovered from illness for the next match, hopefully.
We cannot play like we did against Oxford and Bristol again; otherwise, we will start losing games. We got 4 points from games we should have probably only got 1; this is down to Marti.
When Varane was rested, Morgan was just okay. I think Morgan's playing well wasn't because Varane was so good; it was more because Norwich was so off the pace. This is not to say Morgan is not valuable; he certainly is and is one for the squad now, not the future. He's already proven himself, in my view.
It should be Field and Varane, as this allows everyone ahead of them to stay ahead of them. This is important as Madsen cannot get up and down the field quickly enough.
Also, Field is entirely fresh, and we can now see the partnership with Varane devolpe. Not to mention, Field is useful for defending corners and getting back for those crucial tackles on the left side.
This also means Saito can stay forward a bit more, as Ashby is coming in for Paal, and he will need cover.
I doubt we shall see Frey on the bench, but it seems there is a chance Chair may be there, or it's still too early for him. Either way, we shall see what it means for Frey if Chair is present or not.
Oxford will be a grind game, we shall need Field for that. They will press us and charge into us, they won't let a kid like Morgan play. I fear Charity Park Rangers turning up again.
It's clear we need a LB and CF in Jan on loans as these are our weak areas in the squad. I would be greedy and want a creative midfielder as well. But we won't get that, as three loans would be way too much money.
He's not that fit, but he's managing his fitness well.
What he seems to be the best at in the Champ is positioning. He just fills the gaps or makes it really hard for even fast-paced forwards to get a shot away or any space to even run into. Reads the game the best.
If, we can get the ball up the other end, break the press and then keep it there, this is a nightmare for other oppo attacking teams.
As how do they break past QPR's defence with so few attacks as Cook is used to wave upon wave of attacks and now you only a have a few to try and beat a man who is 99.9% accurate in everything he does in defence.
We would be down last season and this season without Cook.
The spine last season was Asmir (yes, he made some crucial saves), Cook and Colback. If we had a better forward, we would not have been in so much trouble. Defence starts at the Papa Furlong frontline.
This season, we have Nardi, Cook, Varane and Frey. But the last two have been unavailable for too many games and Varane took time to get going. Bring that spine back and we look tough enough. Then we only need the creatives around them to make it happen. Add in extars like Field, Dunne, Morrison, JCS, and you look hard to score against. And has it not been so, recently?
The spine is there once they are all fit. Cook is critical to that. New one plus one contract for me.
Chair does something that none of the others can do.
When you give him the ball again and again, he gets you out from the press, which means you can get the ball up to the final third.
In the past we just gave it to Chair and Willock and this got into the final third and out from balls being flung back at our defence for 90 mins. Problem was they both took too long to do anything with it and the oppo defence got back quick.
Over time Chair started playing in balls fast in attack, even Willock would take on his man and cross quicker by the end.
Saito is starting to do this, he's not quite there yet. But he's proving a possible outlet on the left compared to our right side of Dunne's header on or Cooks ball over the top for Smyth to run onto, which is aspirational in its effectiveness.
I quite like the idea of Saito at LB when Chair comes back. He would need help in that position, but attacking wise it would cause major problems for the oppo.
Or, Chair is in the middle, with Saito on the left and Smyth (Dembele) on the right. This means Madsen would be dropped, but I can live with that for the upside of a more creative attack (which we still need). Then these three can rotate across the pitch, creating even more havoc for the oppo. Dembele draws the oppo LB infield, creating space for the Chair to nip in behind, or even the Chair goes left, and Saito does the same. That should create the spaces we need.
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