Back from the game - QPR

[SHORT AND CURLY]

Just back got home.
Firstly the ref was clueless.
Mills was elbowed in the head within the first 30 seconds and that set a precedent.
He let the fake hoops get away with persistent fouls and then after they hit the post and the awful Hulse, (missed an open goal) Tarabat or what ever he is called jiggled his way through our defence before carrying out a pike with a triple somersault to gain an extremely dubious penalty.

I would not normally defend Mills but having been booked and seen the play acting by their no 7 you really cant blame him for going off on one. He was lucky not to be sent off.

That was about it for the rest of the game any 50/50 went their way. No 7 throwing himself to the floor, the grey haired centre back kicking out elbowing anything in his path.
The ref then surprisingly sent one of theirs off for a two footed lunge up the other end before we reverted to a typical Warnock game with time wasting and niggling fouls.
Not saying we were any good (Apart from Longs goal) but QPR where nothing special.

By the way dont let anyone tell you that Reading has poor fans. QPR fans sat without a wimper for most of the game.
Despite going season after season I forgot how cramped and soulless the place is. The pitch is tiny, rubbish fans, totally tin pot place. Truly awful ground. The only saving grace is that there are a few boozers in the vicinity.

Goodnight

[Big Foot]

Is Taraabt better than Sigurdsson?

[pea]

Not at all, he's a complete show off and goes for the selfish option 9 times out of ten when they'd be far more effective if he was a team player. To be honest he drew a couple of fouls and got a penalty out of one of them but wasn't actually a big threat despite all his fancy footwork. Dives more than anyone else in the division too.

Faurlins a much better player than him. Also he left their left back so exposed by not putting in any sort of defensive shift unlike sigurdsson.

[prostak]

Hate 4-5-1. I don't care if it works occasionally. Hated it under Pardew and hate it under McDermott. With the quality wingers we have here we should be playing two up front.

That seems counter-intuitive. Surely the counter-attacking 4-5-1 plays to the strengths of wingers who can cut inside more than the sainted 4-4-2? Plus, we employed the former during all but the closing stages of our best result of the season (not necessarily also the best performance, of course) - the win at Burnley.

Has Snowball done any stats for performances under each tactic?

[floyd__streete]

Thoroughly mediocre effort again from our thoroughly mediocre team. To be honest, it is hard enough to raise enough interest in travelling a few miles down the road to watch Reading so that will be my last away game for a while because it is absolutely not worth the effort and expense to watch such an uninspiring side. The last straw was the persistence with 4-5-f*cking-1 from the first whistle of the 2nd half at 1 down against 10 men. Even with one less player QPR passed the ball around us with ease, Taarabt was predictably the best player on the pitch, Reading managed predictably few efforts on goal and it was a predictably boring 90 minutes of nothing football. The only player to come out with any credit for us was the 'keeper who made a couple of excellent saves. If QPR could finish properly the game would have been over by half time anyway.

[Tredder]

do you lot only see one side of the game, jesus, firstly, the red card was never a red, and even so, you had 55 minutes, yes, FIFTY FIVE minutes, to win a game against 10 men, you'd never have known who had the tem men in the second half, Adel was leagues above any Reading player, you'd LOVE to watch that week in week out, take the defeat on the chins, you were beaten by the better side.

[Wimb]

do you lot only see one side of the game, jesus, firstly, the red card was never a red, and even so, you had 55 minutes, yes, FIFTY FIVE minutes, to win a game against 10 men, you'd never have known who had the tem men in the second half, Adel was leagues above any Reading player, you'd LOVE to watch that week in week out, take the defeat on the chins, you were beaten by the better side.

Can't disagree with much of that, nor what Floyd said, though I felt at the time and even after seeing a replay that it could be given as a red, they aren't always given but the ref was justified given what he saw as even Colin admitted after the game.

Sorry Pea but the guy had Griff in his pocket the entire game, won a penalty, had a hand in both of the other goals and got a couple of our players booked I don't know how that's not considered 'a threat' The diving and theatrics are annoying and he's so good he doesn't need them but that doesn't take away from his ability on the pitch. I'd have Taarabt over Sig personally as I think he can create more then Sig did but having only seen a couple of games he's played I can't really say for sure. Needless to say though if QPR somehow choke this he won't be there next season. Short and Curly don't know what game you were watching if you think QPR are 'nothing special' and the penalty was about as clear cut as they come.

[Winnershroyal]

do you lot only see one side of the game, jesus, firstly, the red card was never a red, and even so, you had 55 minutes, yes, FIFTY FIVE minutes, to win a game against 10 men, you'd never have known who had the tem men in the second half, Adel was leagues above any Reading player, you'd LOVE to watch that week in week out, take the defeat on the chins, you were beaten by the better side.

Yeah, we were well beaten but get over yourself,"you'd LOVE to watch that week in week out" , Donny Rovers move the ball better than you, Swansea are more disciplined at the back from what Ive seen this season.

As i said, you were good, certainly better than us, but It's a long road, you are there now, let's see in Feb.

[Elmer Park]

Football supporting is all about passion and fair play to the posters on here who have shown that with their comments. However I think there has been a bit of overreaction. Yes it was disappointing that we couldn't put on a better show but at the end of the day we were away to one of the two best sides in the division on a day when they played pretty well, our faults showed up and we caught Taarabt on one of his good days. To win the game we needed them to have an off day like Burnley did when we played them and to get the first goal.

We are what we are. We have decent players but are not an outstanding side. Every area of our team has some strengths but the shortcomings are no secret so I for one wasn't surprised they showed up against very good opponents. Our back four has plenty of experience and composure but is susceptible to pace and movement and our centre backs are still trying to form a partnership. Our midfield players are hard working and competent but we rely on our wingers for creativity apart from the odd through ball. None of the midfielders are suited to the role as an attacking midfield player which is pretty important in the modern game and the midfield becomes a bit lightweight if we play 4-4-2 with such attacking wide players. Our first choice wingers can be very good but like most wingers are inconsistent and our back up wingers very raw. Our strikers ask questions of the opposition defence but lack a little composure in front of goal and at the moment are all best suited to supporting a different type of striker. In my view pretty much all of this showed at QPR.

All in all we are a decent side who will have good and bad results during the season. We are not one of the best sides in the league but neither are we terrible. If the Club were more financially committed I would say we are a work in progress and the Manager will gradually try to change the squad to give us a better blend of players. As it is I think as supporters we will have to try and enjoy the good days, because the side is good enough to give us plenty, but take defeats like the QPR one on the chin as there will be a few of those days too with this blend of players.

[pea]

Lol at us being a thoroughly uninspiring side. Some fans need to get a grip. This is the best team in the league, their midfield cost about £8million to put together whereas ours cost £1 million. They're unbeaten all season and we are the only side to get a goal in open play at Loftus Road and had Harte or Church taken their sitters or Kenny not got his finger nails to Howards shot we couldve got something out of that game. QPR looked threatening and more incisive but we stayed in the game until they reverted to timewasting.

As for uninspiring we just came into this game on the back for thumping a playoff rival 4-0 away from home and tuning around a 3-1 into a 4-3 against another of our rivals.

This season the money of QPR, Leicester and Cardiff (to an extent) will give them a massive advantage as everyone else is costcutting. As long as we can beat our playoff rivals and anyone else below who cares about how we do against QPR away at the end of the day because they'll be miles ahead come the end of the season.

[Royal Lady]

I care how well we do against EVERY SINGLE TEAM in this division, because I support Reading. If everyone had the thought "oh it's ok they're top and a better team than us, so it doesn't matter if we don't beat them" we wouldn't have any fecking supporters.

It might have been our shortest journey to a game this season, but when you pay your money for a ticket, pay your travel expenses and expect to see your team turn up too, it's pretty galling to see a bunch of blokes who are PAID bloody good money to go out there and perform, do pretty much nothing.

No shots first half, reminiscent of last week against Doncaster. Personally, I think other teams must relish playing us - they know we're going to come out with only one striker every bloody match. Yesterday was crying out for us to START with how we finished against Doncaster - I'd have put Church and Hunt up front to start and Antonio in place of HRK from the off.

Wednesday will be embarrassing.

[prostak]

Elmer Park, that's an excellent post.

[under the tin]

do you lot only see one side of the game, jesus, firstly, the red card was never a red, and even so, you had 55 minutes, yes, FIFTY FIVE minutes, to win a game against 10 men, you'd never have known who had the tem men in the second half, Adel was leagues above any Reading player, you'd LOVE to watch that week in week out, take the defeat on the chins, you were beaten by the better side.

I think you're underplaying it Treds.
On another day, Hulse would have scored two by half time, and even playing against ten men, we huffed and puffed with little end product.
Rangers always looked more incisive, and in Tarabt, you have one of the most technically gifted players in the division.
The better side won on the day.
As to whether Reading could have made a better job of giving you a game, well that will be the subject of the hand wringing on here for the next few days.
The league table doesn't lie. Rangers are a better side than we are.
Reading are a work in progress. Activity in January will determine the direction the club is going.

[Royal Lady]

Tbh QPR v Reading is the ONLY game Tredds every goes to.

[Maguire]

do you lot only see one side of the game, jesus, firstly, the red card was never a red, and even so, you had 55 minutes, yes, FIFTY FIVE minutes, to win a game against 10 men, you'd never have known who had the tem men in the second half, Adel was leagues above any Reading player, you'd LOVE to watch that week in week out, take the defeat on the chins, you were beaten by the better side.

Isn't that pretty much what all the Reading fans have said?

[Schards#2]

Gutless and toothless in equal measure.

Coming from one of the more intelligent football posters on here that is worrying.

FWIW do you think that the loss of Siggy has had a detremental effect on the squad?

Despite the stats it seems that the goals from him from distance are missing from the current players.

Partly the loss of Sigy as a player but more so the failure to reinvest more than 1% of the proceeds.

That just sends as clear a message as is possible regarding the ambitions of the club and it's been picked up on by the fans who are becoming fewer in number. What's the point in investing time, effort and money following a team who's ambition doesn't extend beyond being financially viable? It's not an inspiration to make the blood rush through the veins.

It's hard to imagine that it doesn't ultimately impact on the players who know that in the unlikely event of our leftovers put a good run together, those who are responsible and can command a fee will be promptly flogged off.

[Schards#2]

do you lot only see one side of the game, jesus, firstly, the red card was never a red, and even so, you had 55 minutes, yes, FIFTY FIVE minutes, to win a game against 10 men, you'd never have known who had the tem men in the second half, Adel was leagues above any Reading player, you'd LOVE to watch that week in week out, take the defeat on the chins, you were beaten by the better side.

Odd that you restrict yourself to the two games a season then.

TBF, after 40 years of watching Reading, there isn't much that would stop me going to watch them but if we appointed Warnock as manager, that would.

It doesn't matter who he manages or how good the players in the squad, within months they will be a unit of cynical divers, cheats, time wasters and thugs. Club after club after club.

[Maguire]

It doesn't matter who he manages or how good the players in the squad, within months they will be a unit of cynical divers, cheats, time wasters and thugs. Club after club after club.

The problem with this observational is that it makes you (one) sound like a bitter hater, even though it's 100% spot-on as an observation.

[LoyalRoyalFan]

After some reflection.

Federici - 6 - Decent save for that free-kick.
Griffin - 6 - Calm/composed at times, let the winger get past him far to easily at others.
Khiznashvilli - 6 - Calm and composed all the time.
Mills - 6 - Played reasonably well in the first half, didn't see much of him in the second half.
Harte - 5 - Set piece taker that struggles to take free kicks that aren't directly in front of goal. Defensively poor.
McAnuff - 7 - Man of the Match. Got past his full-back time after time. Only issue was his end product.
Robson-Kanu - 5 - Pretty anonymous.
Karacan - 6 - Puts the effort in, but not one of his better performances.
Howard - 6 - Lacks the end product to his game. Good player still.
Tabb - 6 - Pretty anonymous after 20 minutes.
Long - 6 - Goal was the only thing of note.

A word on the atmosphere. Thought it was decent until the last 10 minutes when we were 3-1 down.
QPR Fans - quiet for large periods of the game.

[Snowball]

But I thought that Terrabt was the difference
QPR were more physical and more cynical (nothing else should be expected from Warnock) but this guy is a class above anything else in the Championship
I don't know if we thought about man marking but we should have tried it - perhaps noone has the pace to keep up?

That's what Burnley did.

They put 37/38 year old Alexander on him for the whole game.

He got away once and scored.

I think either Tabb should have been told to man-mark him, or we should have given the job to Armstrong and made it a ten man game (at the start)


We were outclassed but just swap in Taarabt out of their team into ours and we'd've won 11-v 11. He made a HUGE difference.


Yeah, I know spend-ambition etc, but that is NONSENSE, just ONE of QPR's owners is worth 19+ BILLION

They lost 5 Million in 2007, 6 Million in 2008. How much in 2009 and 2010?