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Reply | Madsen
at 02:45 6 Feb 2025
No idea what JCS or Chair being unavailable has to do with our recruitment, but I think it's clear that there was a.reliance on data for our signings. In the main it seems to have made sense - e.g. Varane being the closest profile statistically to Hayden, who we were looking to replace. But with Madsen I think it's absolutely clear there wasn't enough physical assessment. I'm not a scout and I doubt the rest of the season ticket holders at LR are, but it didn't take many of us long to work out he was an empty shirt when faced with a high tempo physical game. An assessment I believe was already echoed by Gallen and others that had seen/assessed Madsen already.
Ultimately I don't think you can look at just stats/data and assume that translates into the championship, a league that shows you again and again that a certain level of experience, nous and management of the physicality is just as important as anything else. |
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Reply | Chair finally in the middle long term?
at 01:29 6 Feb 2025
Very possibly. My assumption is that Morgan is just the better presser of the ball and has the legs to hurry and harass the person in possession, in the same way Amos used to do.
The reason I was surprised is that the last time we played 2 of the 3 'usual' midfielders was at Norwich away, in that case it was Morgan and Field alongside each other, with one going and the other sitting. This time it was less a 4231 and more the usual formation. I guess it's Marti trying to keep the same defensive shape and a level of consistency, but swapping Chair for Field (positionally) meaning we have more conviction when we have the ball.
Altogether it's a really interesting (and imo welcome) change, and with more options available post injury / transfer window at CB and attacking midfield, I wonder if this is a step towards a more expansive Marti style of play... |
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Reply | Chair finally in the middle long term?
at 20:30 5 Feb 2025
When out of possession, absolutely. But Field isn't close to good enough as an 8 / advanced CM and Varane is a pure DM in the Hayden mould. We looked much more attacking and creative last night. Let's live a little, it's only the Championship. |
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Reply | Chair finally in the middle long term?
at 20:00 5 Feb 2025
In short, YES. We play best when running through Chair, who is still our best player, and having him in the middle is the way to achieve that. He can drift from side to side, linking up with both full back / winger combinations (as he did brilliantly for the move that led to the Paal free kick and opening goal), and offer himself as an option in the final third. Both Smyth and Saito staying wide gives him and Morgan more space centrally, and I trust that S&S work hard enough both ways to not make the lack of another DM as much of a liability.
The downside is out of possession and figuring how to stop quick transitions. I was a little surprised Chair essentially took the Field role when we didn't have the ball - dropping deeper alongside Field who took the 'Varane' position, and Morgan was still being the one to press, but Marti addressed it himself in the post-match - there's still stuff to work on to find a better balance. The upside of being more threatening - especially if/when we regain possession high - is well worth the balance risk, IMO.
Also, as Brian mentioned, this only worked at all due to the work rate of Chair and Morgan, so we need to find ways to rotate them effectively and be quick to adjust if teams are exploiting the change too much. |
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Reply | Frey
at 17:32 5 Feb 2025
Feels like a very QPR player, and I mean that in a good way. Unorthodox, turning circle of an Islet, varies between the touches of Bergkamp and the corner of a shed, and I'm not convinced parts of his body don't work independently. But, he's got that knack of being where he needs to be amongst the chaos of a penalty area, he works very hard and generally presses well, he does the doggies defensively and he absolutely loves the physical stuff. I also think he works great 'softening up' the defence in anticipation of a Kolli or Lloyd to come in and take advantage.
There was a point in the 2nd half when we're chasing the winning goal and he wins a corner hustling and bustling. He shrugs the defender, places the ball in the corner, then jogs into the far side of the penalty area purposely bashing into every Blackburn player on the way. One of the BBurn lads objected and Frey squared up and gave him the full Wealdstone raider treatment. If nothing else, I love to have a bit of that in our forwards.
The only part I hope he can continue to improve is his back to goal game... It's better than any of our other forwards, clearly, but the ball doesn't stick to him or get played off him with purpose as often as you'd like - but it's absolutely a coachable trait. |
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Reply | Out of contract (again)
at 17:06 5 Feb 2025
Fox - Nope
Colback - Take Option
Andersen - No
Paal - Extend to sell / leave if no deal
Dunne- Extend as a priority
Cook is the big ? for me... By all accounts he's our biggest earner, by some margin compared to most others, and he's showing signs of wear and tear - especially since returning from his injury. We have also done well to bring in Morrison as a natural successor, so at some point you're blocking his progress by extending the contract of a 33/34 year old.
I think it's Cooks experience, leadership and nous that we'll miss most if he leaves, but that's a big salary if you're not also one of our best players / defenders... Ultimately we have time to decide and see how he goes for the next few months to make a decision in the summer, but if we don't extend we have to focus on bringing in a few more savvy/older players to compliment the youth focus. This league demands it. |
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Reply | Madsen
at 16:25 5 Feb 2025
The positive thing I take from him being left out - other than the fact that's what he deserves given his performances - is that Marti is clearly not under any pressure to force playing time for the players he's been given.
Considering the outlay and contract, you'd assume ownership would want Madsen out there regardless, similar with Kolli starting, but it feels like Marti is left to manage his team how he sees fit which is exactly right and how it should be, but we know hasn't always been the case...
It is a problem we will have to address at some point though, because 35 year old Colback is coming on for an 18 year old youth player to play in the position we paid millions to fill with Madsen. It's a big big position of need and we've done the biggest part of our budget on it already. |
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Reply | Window Dunne and dusted, where to from here? Preview
at 17:13 4 Feb 2025
I'm not as confident that Dunne will be straight back in, but hope I'm wrong.
Feels like a very tricky fixture - a disjointed week, new signings not really moving the needle, and Blackburn have a lot of players that seem to always do well against us... Hoping for a bounce back performance and stopping the slide |
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Reply | Vale signs
at 13:01 4 Feb 2025
I imagine it will be a mix of Chair, Dembele and Vale behind the striker. Assuming Saito isn't permanent and Andersen isn't retained, that's 3 technical attackers that can rotate.
I guess you could also put him LCM in the current set up, replacing Field as a more progressive player that can drift to the wing like Morgan does.
Ultimately though we have no idea, he still needs to get fit and show he's worthy of a start before we figure out where he's best. |
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Thread | Vale signs
at 00:45 4 Feb 2025
https://www.qpr.co.uk/news/2025/february/03/harvey-vale-joins-qpr/
Is there already a thread for this? I looked but couldn't find one. If so lock this and I'll repost, but wanted to add some thoughts now he's done.
Firstly, this seems like an overall good deal for lots of reasons, but the excitement from the Ultimate Team social media kids is like they've just got a DM from Bonnie Blue. There's a LOT of hyperbole for a kid that has about 50 appearances to his name. Colour me intrigued...
The pros
- 21 years old. I really like this new strategy of pursuing young players, both first team and for the development squad. It's the right way to go about it and although a mixture of youth and nous is absolutely fundemental for this league, a club like ours can only sustain itself by developing assets become first team players and then sell
- Good pedigree - I'll contradict myself slightly as the academy system doesn't carrry as much weight for me as it does others, but if you did come through an academy system you would be hard pressed to beat the Chelsea and England youth one. Chelsea Academy player of the year winners list reads as follows;
2015 - Dominic Solanke, 2016 - Fikayo Tomori, 2017 - Mason Mount, 2018 - Reece James, 2019 - Conor Gallagher, 2020 - Billy Gilmour, 2021 - Tino Livramento, 2022 - Harvey Vale
Whilst I wouldn't put it past us, we'd have signed the only dud in the list if he doesn't make something decent of himself, and if he gets anywhere close to those players we're laughing. You might also ask why Chelsea would sell someone with such high potential, but then you see that everyone on this list except Reece James is playing elsewhere, and you realise the plan for these kids never involved the first team.
- Flexibility. Again, I'm never that enamoured by the trend of academy boys that can play multiple positions as lots of players 'between' end up not really being great at one thing or the other - but - the exceptions are those that are just good enough to do what you need them to. This is a lad that reckons his best position is inverted RW, but who was touted as of the best LBs in League One when he was moved there for a full season at Bristol. Marti is a modern coach and you know he likes tactical flexibility, having someone he can move around in game will be preferred, and it means he can add depth to multiple positions we're currently weak in
The cons
- Pro appearances v Academy. To put it bluntly, I couldn't give a toss how good someone is in the modern academy world... Of course Vale would be at the tippity top as far as pedigree, and credit to him for deciding to jump out early and get proper football at a permanent home, but the difference between a PL2 player and a lad with 100 pro appearances is stark. Look at Edwards compared to Ashby by way of a recent example. The good news is Vale has around 50 pro appearances and a full season with Bristol under his belt, and Kieran Morgan has shown the jump between dev squad and first team isn't as big for some as others, but I reserve the right to limit my excitement until I see how he handles the Championship, because he's completely unproven at this level.
- The tone of the signing. This is a bit of a personal one maybe and fully happy to accept I'm reading too much into things, but I never like the signings that are seen as a 'coup' for the club, and are treated as such. The tone of his player interview was a good example - a lot of 'why did YOU choose QPR' and 'what's so good about us over other options'? I find it a little self deprecating when signing a seriously injured 21 year old with a single season of league one behind him... Of course if he matches the lofty expectations and all the hype is close to real, that makes perfect sense, but I feel like we sometimes get all hot and heavy for players that are in demand choosing us, and act like we're just happy they're here. Really you want a kid to focus on trying to get in the team first, and then proving why he deserves the long term contract we've given him...
- Chelsea. I know I know, it shouldn't matter, and I guess it doesn't REALLY. Modern world, and if we excluded players coming from Chelsea we'd have a pool of about 7 kids to choose from. But I think it's worth acknowledging, by him especially, that there is a rivalry and you don't get a clean pass just because you're highly rated. You need to play that stink off you at QPR because if you come with a bad attitude and poor play - academy player awards or not - you'll just be a Chelsea reject...
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Reply | Yang Minh-Hyeok
at 17:18 29 Jan 2025
Pretty much how I see it. On paper it's an 18 year old kid with minimal pro appearances that we have no hope of signing permanentl, but as you've said, this feels more like another body that adds to the forward options. We're also desperate for pace and direct running, something that only Smyth does consistently and that alone makes him look like a world beater in this league.
I'm fine with it. Worse case we have a warm body that can cover multiple positions, best case we have a wonderkid for 6 months. |
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Reply | Rest of the Championship thread
at 22:50 28 Jan 2025
Reminds me of that Sunderland doc when the manager wouldn't take no for an answer and ended up paying about 5 times his max fee to get Will Grigg |
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Reply | New Year transfer window rumours
at 19:44 28 Jan 2025
Let's not act like his performance against Doak is the only reason we're cutting our losses with him - that Cambridge debut was probably the most out of depth I've ever seen a player at this level.
A shame though, along with Madsen that's 2 key positions we signed people for that have proven themselves completely incompetent and we need to find alternatives for 6 months later... |
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Reply | Chair - positional change
at 00:57 28 Jan 2025
First hour for Norwich away we had a deeper 2 man midfield of Field and Morgan and it worked well - esp playing out from the back.
I like the 3 man we've had recently, especially our of possession, but I'd like to see Chair central/drifting and Saito left... |
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Reply | 28 years ago today.
at 22:54 25 Jan 2025
Front row of Ellerslie next to my Dad. Trev and Brevett running toward us when they were celebrating.
My other overriding memory of that was the bloke next to me jumping around so much he fell over the hoarding and landed on the pitch. He jumped back over quickly, but then a few mins later 2 coppers came along picked him out and took him away - leaving his bewildered looking mrs behind. My dad immediately made me switch seats. |
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Reply | Injury update
at 14:09 24 Jan 2025
Only one left sided CB isn't great news... Although I guess Morrison did well that side when he played earlier - let's hope Edwards is just as capable.
The JCS thing is a little odd... He hasn;t been fit enough to start more than 1 game, despite being back available for selection for weeks, and then surgery is required on an issue he picked up on Monday? What a shame that he couldn't build on last season, at the start of his contract too...
Great news about everyone else, Demebele back in the mix is also really positive, some more pace and direct running will be huge for this team, and lessen the reliance on Smyth. |
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Reply | New Year transfer window rumours
at 13:26 23 Jan 2025
Not disagreeing, but the issue is a proven version of that is beyond our means - even if 'proven' does exist at this level - and you'd struggle to bring Evan Ferguson to QPR even on FIFA.
The best chance most teams have is what we have done with Celar - find someone for a few million and hope they become a Gykores, Szmodic, Brereton, etc in time and with good coaching. |
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Reply | Dunne off?
at 13:20 23 Jan 2025
If he's out of contract this summer, then there won't be a fee. He's free to agree a deal elsewhere and will move for free at the end of the season.
Another reason it's imperative that we offer a deal - even if its' with the intention to sell. The loss on the pitch and financially is too big to let him walk. |
| | simmo
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