QPR - Back from watching on TV

[bcubed]

We lost to a better team than us who will be playing in the Premier League next season.

QPR are a typical Colin team, as witnessed by the first late and dangerous challenge on Karacan within 2 minutes of the game; anybody to suggest their red card was undeserved is having a laugh - the guy KNEW he wasn't going to get the ball, but went through on Kebe anyway, ankle high on the standing leg, could quite easily have broken his leg.

Also, how did Tabaat not get a card? Apart from the 2 hoofings of the ball well after the whistle has gone, there was his forehead challenge on Karacan AND his blatant dive in the 2nd half....

As for us, we were comprehensively outplayed and even when we did threaten, Long missed an open goal; yes, I'm sure someone will vomit statistics that show Long is the greatest player ever to play the game, but the fact is, he missed an open goal, 2 minutes before halftime, with the opposition down to 10 men; talk about significant misses!!!

And as for the pitch, simply terrible. All those rugger apologists note; in football, you cannot pass the ball or play the ball with any confidence when the pitch is as rutted and bumpy as the Mad Stad pitch is, and this is down to London Irish 100%. IF we want to see quality entertaining football, get rid of the rugby.

Agree with all of this
I think most observers would call that a typical Warnock team perfomance - Adie Williams called them "nasty", though he wasn't being critical

When they do get promoted I don't think they will get away with these rough house spoiling tactics as every push in the back and every over the top tackle will be greeted with a quality Premiership dive.

For now it's an excellent approach for any team when playing Reading as we are far more dangerous in open play so to constantly cut players down is a sound tactic
(Cue statistics proving the opposite)

[gazzer, loyal royal]

who cares what Warnock does, it should be about us. Playing a Warnock team shouldn't be any different to however many times we've played them in the past. We just didn't have a gameplan when they went down to 10. We never got the ball out wide to get crosses in, it was just hoof ball, time and time again. We lack a full back with attacking intent, how many times did Harte overlap his winger? I know Griffin tried but its just not in his nature.

They're number 4 broke up play and got it wide so quickly, I can see why Ledge never got a game at QPR. My god how we missed him last night. My QPR mates said we never got into the game in the centre of the park. Long again was our best player, and looked like our only threat until Manset who came on (who looks amazingly unfit btw).

Simon Church is so low on confidence and was generally useless last night. But we can't play Manset and Long together from the start as we will get overrun in midfield. We miss Gylfi, but players like him don't come along every day.

[RoyalBlue]

We lost to a better team than us who will be playing in the Premier League next season.

QPR are a typical Colin team, as witnessed by the first late and dangerous challenge on Karacan within 2 minutes of the game; anybody to suggest their red card was undeserved is having a laugh - the guy KNEW he wasn't going to get the ball, but went through on Kebe anyway, ankle high on the standing leg, could quite easily have broken his leg.

Also, how did Tabaat not get a card? Apart from the 2 hoofings of the ball well after the whistle has gone, there was his forehead challenge on Karacan AND his blatant dive in the 2nd half....

As for us, we were comprehensively outplayed and even when we did threaten, Long missed an open goal; yes, I'm sure someone will vomit statistics that show Long is the greatest player ever to play the game, but the fact is, he missed an open goal, 2 minutes before halftime, with the opposition down to 10 men; talk about significant misses!!!

And as for the pitch, simply terrible. All those rugger apologists note; in football, you cannot pass the ball or play the ball with any confidence when the pitch is as rutted and bumpy as the Mad Stad pitch is, and this is down to London Irish 100%. IF we want to see quality entertaining football, get rid of the rugby.

Agree with all of this
I think most observers would call that a typical Warnock team perfomance - Adie Williams called them "nasty", though he wasn't being critical

When they do get promoted I don't think they will get away with these rough house spoiling tactics as every push in the back and every over the top tackle will be greeted with a quality Premiership dive.

For now it's an excellent approach for any team when playing Reading as we are far more dangerous in open play so to constantly cut players down is a sound tactic
(Cue statistics proving the opposite)

Agree with most of this, particularly about Taarabt avoiding a yellow card. I'm sure he laid hands on one of our players when he threw a tantrum about a freekick awarded soon after their guy was sent off.

It is a great pity that they scored because I was looking forward to the petulant and sulking little sod being substituted (he was the one player in their team who didn't raise his game and work harder when they went a man down, not good from a captain) and us returning the 'Taarabt's too good for you' song to the QPR fans.

I'm very against the egg chasers being allowed to b*gger up the pitch but have to say that despite how it looked yesterday it must have been reasonably good to play on as QPR didn't have too much trouble with their passing, even with the wind. Perhaps it's a bigger problem for the likes of Kebe and Jobi who like to run at players with the ball and find it more difficult if it is bobbling all over the place.

[Tredder]

They're far and away the best team in the division, imagine what they'd be like to watch if they had a real manager that didn't send his players out to do people? Obviously we were poor, not troubling (not so) fatty Kenny enough, but you can't be too downhearted, unless you're one of those clowns who thinks we should spend far too much money. Tarabt is massively over-rated by the way and would probably be better if he wasn't sat on his arse most of the game.

pointless point to finish off, the ref was poor and this was exemplified by his failure to book Routledge (easily their best player fwiw) for going into the crowd to celebrate, maybe he's had enough of that old woman Colin bitching at him?

LOLz @ the finerain and royalblue tag team btw!

Just LOLz

[PEARCEY]

Taarabt does dive a bit though Tredds. Quality player though. He was lucky not to receive a yellow last night. Your lot lost if for five minutes before half-time but we didn't take advantage. After the interval QPR did very well.

[The Glory Days :(]

Personally saw nothing of Taarabt .. he stuck on the left most of the game :s to target griff? who i personally thought play taarabt as well as anybody possibly could! biggest problem, would Long have finished his shot just after the sending off if he was fully fit? :/ painkilling injections were reported ...

[Snowball]

Long looked blisteringly fast, BUT he looked in pain after every run

[Ian Royal]

Frustrating game against a team clearly full to bursting with confidence and form. They passed it around very well compared to us.

Federici - 6 not a lot to do really, not sure about his positioning for the goal but it was exquisitely placed in the corner.
Griffin - 7 solid
Harte - 6 out paced by a mile for their goal
Mills - 5 stupid and lucky to still be on the pitch at the end, showed his good technical side and his poor mental side.
Ingimarsson - 6 better than Mills but bullied by Miller several times.
Karacan - 6 possibly a bit harsh but the fact we couldn't control the game against 10 men doesn't say a lot for the midfield
Tabb - 5 probably harsh, but did less positive stuff than Karacan (though he has a calmer temperament) and was probably more guilty of playing unnecessary hoofball
McAnuff - 6 some good work going forward, but not enough - works hard all over the pitch
Kebe - 6 threatened, didn't deliver, drifted in and out.
Long - 7 good work rate but it didn't come off for him
Church - 6 some nice stuff but a step back from his Cardiff performance - I wonder if the home pressure and lack of support had an effect?

Manset - 7 some lovely play and strength... good player in the making
Robson-Kanu - 5 forgot he came on tbh. Prefer him to Antonio as a starter, but probably not as an impact sub.

[The Glory Days :(]

Long looked blisteringly fast, BUT he looked in pain after every run

agree with this but personally i think QPR have not a lot of pace at the back, it was like Long could run as quick as normal but in expectation of thehurt at the end only ran 80%?

[Ian Royal]

Taarabt does dive a bit though Tredds. Quality player though. He was lucky not to receive a yellow last night. Your lot lost if for five minutes before half-time but we didn't take advantage. After the interval QPR did very well.

Agree. Taraabt is fantastic, but he's a cheating, petulent little shit too.

[prostak]

I saw the last 10 minutes of each half due to the 'joys' of Schalke vs Dortmund

Not as bad as "Doncaster away on an iPhone"

still.

Prostak 10
Prostak's Lass 10 - possibly more for the face she pulled over my "is that finnish?" comment.

Game - errr

end of 1st half ... we looked good, they were a man down, a couple of good chances (Mills, Church, someone went close off a volley).
end of 2nd half ... urgh. Proper urgh.

Manset looked lively. He's HUGE.

Aw, thanks. I think it was unfortunate that we managed to encounter south Manchester's entire Dortmunder population (3) on the night of the worst Revierderby in years. Got my HNA meet-up account off the mark though. I think H was more impressed that you almost identified her language rather than offended at the Finnish error, she pulls that face quite a lot...

[Woodcote Royal]

I'm a huge a fan of Brian McDermott yet there is no doubt in my mind that most of the blame for losing to 10 man QPR falls at his door.

I give him an A Star for signing Leigertwood; the vital addition that has allowed has us to play 4-4-2 undefeated whenever the player has been in the team and a C minus for adopting the same formation against the best side in the division, having known for months that our QPR loanee could not feature in this fixture. IMHO, everything that went wrong last night stemmed from that decision.

Having said that, I travelled to the Mad Stad in fear that Howard would be our midfield replacement and was somewhat relieved on arrival to find that Tabb had got the nod. However, just the latters lack of inches meant that he would not impose himself on the game in the same way that Leigertwood has in recent weeks.

Meanwhile, upfront we have just one striker who can currently justify a starting birth and, for me, that same player has now mastered the art of playing the lone roll.

Furthermore, and as much as I believe Simon Church has a bright future in the game, bar one rasping shot that was too close to the 'keeper his contribution was none existent on the night....................we effectively played with 10 men until Manset came on.

There is no shortage of complaints about Kebe's performance but why do his detractors give him so little slack for being regularly surrounded by 3 opponents?

And, more to the point, why is he often surrounded by 3 opponents? Because he's our most dangerous player and we rarely deviate from a rigid and very predictable 4-4-2 that makes him easy to isolate......................this is child's play to a manager of Warnock's experience.

With Kebe isolated and McAnuff too preoccupied saving Hartes blushes hoofball became the only game in town. The fact they scored from their only shot on target was unfortunate but by the end we looked as though we wouldn't have found the back of the net had we played all night.

I thought QPR were a very decent side but with the right tactics we should have won once they went a man down. We needed that extra midfielder and would not have missed Church. Brian should counter opponents attempts to isolate Kebe by, at the very least, giving him a try in a freer role.....................and up against the Warnock led bully boy tactics from QPR would have been a good place to start.

[Snowball]

Long looked blisteringly fast, BUT he looked in pain after every run

agree with this but personally i think QPR have not a lot of pace at the back, it was like Long could run as quick as normal but in expectation of thehurt at the end only ran 80%?

Very likely. I also wondered if he was a bit p-eed off
about his other main striker not doing as much work?

[Snowball]

I'm a huge a fan of Brian McDermott yet there is no doubt in my mind that most of the blame for losing to 10 man QPR falls at his door.

I give him an A Star for signing Leigertwood; the vital addition that has allowed has us to play 4-4-2 undefeated whenever the player has been in the team and a C minus for adopting the same formation against the best side in the division, having known for months that our QPR loanee could not feature in this fixture. IMHO, everything that went wrong last night stemmed from that decision.

Having said that, I travelled to the Mad Stad in fear that Howard would be our midfield replacement and was somewhat relieved on arrival to find that Tabb had got the nod. However, just the latters lack of inches meant that he would not impose himself on the game in the same way that Leigertwood has in recent weeks.

Meanwhile, upfront we have just one striker who can currently justify a starting birth and, for me, that same player has now mastered the art of playing the lone roll.

Furthermore, and as much as I believe Simon Church has a bright future in the game, bar one rasping shot that was too close to the 'keeper his contribution was none existent on the night....................we effectively played with 10 men until Manset came on.

There is no shortage of complaints about Kebe's performance but why do his detractors give him so little slack for being regularly surrounded by 3 opponents?

And, more to the point, why is he often surrounded by 3 opponents? Because he's our most dangerous player and we rarely deviate from a rigid and very predictable 4-4-2 that makes him easy to isolate......................this is child's play to a manager of Warnock's experience.

With Kebe isolated and McAnuff too preoccupied saving Hartes blushes hoofball became the only game in town. The fact they scored from their only shot on target was unfortunate but by the end we looked as though we wouldn't have found the back of the net had we played all night.

I thought QPR were a very decent side but with the right tactics we should have won once they went a man down. We needed that extra midfielder and would not have missed Church. Brian should counter opponents attempts to isolate Kebe by, at the very least, giving him a try in a freer role.....................and up against the Warnock led bully boy tactics from QPR would have been a good place to start.

Good Post

[AthleticoSpizz]

...and back on form

Welcome back Wooders!

its been too long

[juanpablo]

lol at the jimmy hate creeping back in, majority of people rating Church higher? Sorry dont get that

[sandman]

Our industry deserved something out of the game but our creavity certainly did not. The Queer People's Republic didn't play well but they created one chance and won the game - it's what title winning teams who aren't record breaking football geniuses do - Man United have been doing the same all year.

Church needs confidence. He has the ability but it's about finding a way of harnessing that ability and installing some confidence in him which a loan period and or a run of games could do. HRK is a different matter he is a league 1 player at best. I just can't see it, his decision making is awful and he isn't even beating people, something which the people who criticised James Henry lauded him for. Again, a loan period could help him but I can't see him having a long term future here and can quite see why we were rumoured to attempt to swap him for Austin.

As for the long ball, it's all about confidence. Think about pre 05/06 and post 06/07 those were teams who played some nice football but went on long periods where they lost games and fell out of the running for the play-offs. When they went on those bad runs they resorted to guess what? Hoof ball, they had no confidence and were losing so stopped doing the things that got results and switched to something that they weren't good at. Players do that at this level even if mangers tell them not to. Mangers at the higher level rarely spend every minute of the match on the edge of the technical area balling at the players because they don't need to, the players are technically sound and they don't need to be constantly encouraged from the sidelines. That's why managing Reading is much harder than it is to manage Barcelona.

Fed - Could have got a stronger hand on the goal. 6

Griffin - Did well and makes up for his lack of pace far better than Harte. 7
Harte - Struggled and is the undoubted weak link in defence. 5
Mills - Improving game by game as the season goes on. 7
Ingi - Coming to the end now but a great servant. Get Khiz back in for Norwich and hope he doesn't mess up like he did in the home game against them. 6

Kebe - Struggling to find his best form at the moment. It's not hate it's a fact. 6
Jobi - Good in the first half faded badly later on and teams have sussed the switch to centre mid. 6
Karacan - Worked tirelessly as usual but we need. 7
Tabb - Just like Karacan but we needed creativity having said that I think his substitution did more harm than good. 7

Church - Just needs confidence. Stick with him and he can be a good striker. 5
Long - Worked hard but wasn't quite at the races as evidenced by the failure to score when Kenny messed up. 6

Manset - Some nice skills but needs to get fit. 6
HRK - Poor. 4

[juanpablo]

agreed sandman but no need for the disclaimer you rated him higher than church

[Ian Royal]

Watching the highlights - even though we really let QPR off in terms of taking the game to them we still had more than enough opportunities to get at least a draw. Which is kind of encouraging and kind of disappointing.

Long missing an open goal - I thought it was quite a hard chance originally, but on a second & third viewing I think he probably should have scored that.
Church had two shots on target, one too close to the keeper (can't really complain about it though) the other blocked by the defender.
Mills had one blocked off the line
Manset stabbed wide when he ought to have hit the target.

[bcubed]

Watching the highlights - even though we really let QPR off in terms of taking the game to them we still had more than enough opportunities to get at least a draw. Which is kind of encouraging and kind of disappointing.

Long missing an open goal - I thought it was quite a hard chance originally, but on a second & third viewing I think he probably should have scored that.
Church had two shots on target, one too close to the keeper (can't really complain about it though) the other blocked by the defender.
Mills had one blocked off the line
Manset stabbed wide when he ought to have hit the target.

Surprised more people haven't mentioned this- it was pretty embarrassing. Set up nicely for his right foot, he went for it with his left and practically hit the corner flag!