| Injuries 20:14 - Oct 10 with 43984 views | monners1969 | 2 questions How many fit players do we have? Do I need to bring my boots and deep heat on Wednesday ? |  | | |  |
| Injuries on 21:40 - Oct 22 with 2560 views | StreathamRanger | In terms of what would represent success and progress, we're on 17 points from 11 games. I'd like to think we could repeat that four times leaving us on 68 points from 44 games. Last season 70 got 6th place. I think therefore it's reasonable for us to think this team could make top 8 this year. That being said, it's the championship and the wheels can come off very quickly. Serious failure would be relegation but I can't see that happening. Just hoping we are in with a shout of top 8 going into the last few games. I've enjoyed the football so far this season. The injuries are definitely frustrating but I'm not going to lose my head just yet. Our squad runs deeper this year. |  | |  |
| Injuries on 21:57 - Oct 22 with 2486 views | terryb | In reply to nix, I will list which clubs I think we should finish above. This is not based on money spent on transfers, but on the quality of the players at the club. Of course, our injuries might change the picture completely. I'm sure many will disagree with my choices, but I won't be changing my opinion at present whatever arguments are given for or against them, but I'm certain that they will change as the season progresses :- Preston, Blackburn, Burnley, Bolton, Stoke, Cardiff, Bristol City, Watford, Derby, Lincoln, Charlton, Portsmouth. I then think we are in competition with Norwich, Millwall, West Bromwich, Sheffield United & Wrexham for the last two play off places. The teams to finish above us are Southampton, West Ham, Middlesbrough, Swansea, Birmingham & Wolves. As I say, I base this on what I think is the quality within the Championship squads, irrespective of transfer fees & wages. At present, it would be easy to swap Stoke & Norwich over (many would), but just as easy to include Wolves in our competition for the play offs. I think all of this fits in exactly with the expectations Hunter expressed. [Post edited 22 Oct 22:37]
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| Injuries on 22:51 - Oct 22 with 2269 views | TK1 |
| Injuries on 19:09 - Oct 22 by nix | It’s very frustrating with Burrell. Particularly as he doesn’t have a bad injury record as far as I know and looked so good for the first half of last season. I’m not sure about Dieng as he hasn’t done very well after leaving us so maybe he had one good season? Dickie I heard fell out with someone in the club and wanted to go and had a terrible drop in form. Willock obviously was the hamstring injuries which was terribly unlucky just as he was starting to look like he’d be worth a lot of money. It does seem harder for us to get big money for players than some other clubs manage. Edwards does look promising but then the sell on clause plus what we paid for him mean we’d have to get quite a lot before it looks like a decent profit. We’re cursed obviously. |
We signed Dieng for nothing, got 120 games out of him and then sold him for £2m. This was a decent development club success, but for QPR it was a monumental outlier. He also had the absolute textbook development route of U21 team, then successful loans through non-league and the pyramid before becoming our number one for three seasons (as long as that fellow 'one season' wonder Smithies was number one). We sold him for £2m pure profit at his peak, which his subsequent career suggests was the perfect time to sell. Let's see if we get that kind of a markup on any recent free U21 signings soon. For everything the current leadership describes as a "development club" model, Seny Dieng is the textbook example. Selling a few free signings for seven figures every other season is how we get this thing going. For every Eze, you need some Diengs and Kelmans too. We currently have neither in play. |  | |  |
| Injuries on 00:04 - Oct 23 with 2121 views | DejR_vu |
| Injuries on 21:14 - Oct 22 by Hunterhoop | Hold on. You’ve asked me two direct questions in posts quoting me, which makes it looks like you are asking me, and both of which I’ve answered. Who we should finish ahead of? I’ve answered that. You didn’t agree with me, but I answered it. And then whether finishing top 8 would be over achieving, which again, I answered and provided even further context. I don’t think you’re being fair to make out I have twisted your questions. I have answered both clearly and, yes, I did extend and evolve the answer to cover points I deem really important regards the collective narrative. I’m sorry if you don’t and those points bore you, but I’m entitled to post them. I’ve also, very deliberately, been posting on here a hell of a lot less these past couple of months because you, more than anyone, have made it very clear you don’t want to read my posts. I only jumped in today because I thought that original narrative you were pushing was not accurate. I think it’s a bit of a snide comment to make out I want to discuss a topic too often. I’ve hardly posted for weeks. And you haven’t answered my question though, not that you need to. But don’t make out I’m avoiding your questions. It’s disingenuous. [Post edited 22 Oct 21:30]
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| Injuries on 07:06 - Oct 23 with 1888 views | gigiisourgod |
| Injuries on 00:04 - Oct 23 by DejR_vu |
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Interestingly both Dunne and Stephan called this (and the teams fitness/load management) out (slightly indirectly) in their post match West Ham interviews, which I can’t imagine Mr Nourry would have enjoyed. Think decisive action needs taking imminently regarding the medical team at QPR and if Nourry is not prepared to do it (through personal relationships or whatever) then the board need to go over his head. It feels like this has (and more importantly will) held us back for a few seasons and feels like the main reason for stopping us having a successful ‘25/‘26 campaign. What makes it worse is the perceived cover up and disdain they have shown for the supporters intelligence at the forums etc. |  | |  |
| Injuries on 07:25 - Oct 23 with 1831 views | GaryBannister86 |
| Injuries on 19:52 - Oct 22 by Hunterhoop | I’ve said this for months and been super clear in my answer to your question. I’ve answered it many times before. Top 8 - big success Top 10 - Expectation Top 12 - Acceptable Bottom half - should be deemed a failure from the leadership (not necessarily Stephan if his hands have been tied with injuries) given all the context and investment which we’d done to the hilt. I believe the squad can make top 8, should be top 10, probably will be top half. If they aren’t I really don’t think there are many excuses for this leadership group. CN will have had money to spend, hasn’t had to sell any of his best players, been able to bring in his own head coach, his own staff, a structure of his own making, we’ve bombed out anyone he or BW didn’t like, his game model. He’ll have had 3 full seasons plus a season auditing the club and hiring people into it before that. When do you judge if not this season? If we finish bottom half, do you agree that it would be a failure? And as per my original post, injuries can’t be used as an excuse, not after 3 years. It’s part of the job. |
Couldn't agree more that this season is really fair judgement time on Nourry (and the owners, really). We have to be sniffing the playoffs or this plan just is not working. I'm so fed up with all this "next season" crap. Jam tomorrow. Blah blah. Never comes. |  | |  |
| Injuries on 08:13 - Oct 23 with 1730 views | numptydumpty |
| Injuries on 07:25 - Oct 23 by GaryBannister86 | Couldn't agree more that this season is really fair judgement time on Nourry (and the owners, really). We have to be sniffing the playoffs or this plan just is not working. I'm so fed up with all this "next season" crap. Jam tomorrow. Blah blah. Never comes. |
What I would say though is, we have only played poorly ie the last game. And this forum can generally be very reactive to the last game. Yes, the injuries are an issue, but currently we have done ok this season in games. I dont think at all, its time to be calling for Nourry's head etc. Appreciate the want and need to be in the play offs and the total frustration with injuries, but so far the squad has dealt with them ok. If we beat Swansea on Saturday, there will be nothing spoken about Nourry, but the club and team will be praised. My view re the Performance team is much the same as others on here. But we are currently nineth and yes can appreciate also some games have been kind but we could have easily got more out of games against West Ham and Middlesborough. The time for calling for Nourry's head is far from now, and yes the injury situation is farcical, but the squad depth is much improved, and we can cope with many injuries, which is a positive. The direction appears upwards. The likelihood is even if we get in the play offs this season, we wont go up. One in six chance at best. For me, the injuries is the only area where we have failed to improve during Nourry's time here. Three years ago we were being beaten most games at home by three to nil, with the oldest squad in the league and playing the worst football, I have ever seen at the club in fifty years of following the team. Now we have one of the youngest squads and at times have played some very decent football. For me, this all needs some perspective. The club has improved massively since tbe nadir of Ainsworth's team and we were heading for League One and total oblivion. After some bad news and bad performances, there are always calls on here for Nourrys head. When we win, its others that get the praise and he doesnt even get mentioned. Lets not immediately predict darkness forevermore. [Post edited 23 Oct 8:15]
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| Injuries on 08:25 - Oct 23 with 1686 views | Wegerles_Stairs |
| Injuries on 07:06 - Oct 23 by gigiisourgod | Interestingly both Dunne and Stephan called this (and the teams fitness/load management) out (slightly indirectly) in their post match West Ham interviews, which I can’t imagine Mr Nourry would have enjoyed. Think decisive action needs taking imminently regarding the medical team at QPR and if Nourry is not prepared to do it (through personal relationships or whatever) then the board need to go over his head. It feels like this has (and more importantly will) held us back for a few seasons and feels like the main reason for stopping us having a successful ‘25/‘26 campaign. What makes it worse is the perceived cover up and disdain they have shown for the supporters intelligence at the forums etc. |
This is the problem we have had since Ruben took over. When the owner is absent, an issue like this which any supporter can see with their own eyes, is not addressed. It's why Brighton and Brentford are where they are, and we're facing Groundhog Day. And who does Ruben delegate to? Lee Hoos, who appears to still be picking up his salary as 'Chairman', but is like a minor royal in terms of his influence, and Nourry. Nourry surprises me. I thought he would have done something about this in the summer but he backed his mate and that could be his biggest mistake. There is no doubt we have a better squad now but if they’re not on the pitch and we finish in the lower half of the table again, he has failed, particularly considering we've spent the Eze windfall now. This was the season and if it's torpedoed by injuries again, he only has himself to blame (though it'll probably be someone else's fault). |  | |  | Login to get fewer ads
| Injuries on 09:20 - Oct 23 with 1550 views | nix |
| Injuries on 21:57 - Oct 22 by terryb | In reply to nix, I will list which clubs I think we should finish above. This is not based on money spent on transfers, but on the quality of the players at the club. Of course, our injuries might change the picture completely. I'm sure many will disagree with my choices, but I won't be changing my opinion at present whatever arguments are given for or against them, but I'm certain that they will change as the season progresses :- Preston, Blackburn, Burnley, Bolton, Stoke, Cardiff, Bristol City, Watford, Derby, Lincoln, Charlton, Portsmouth. I then think we are in competition with Norwich, Millwall, West Bromwich, Sheffield United & Wrexham for the last two play off places. The teams to finish above us are Southampton, West Ham, Middlesbrough, Swansea, Birmingham & Wolves. As I say, I base this on what I think is the quality within the Championship squads, irrespective of transfer fees & wages. At present, it would be easy to swap Stoke & Norwich over (many would), but just as easy to include Wolves in our competition for the play offs. I think all of this fits in exactly with the expectations Hunter expressed. [Post edited 22 Oct 22:37]
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Thanks Terry. That’s a very fair list. I also think it shows what we’re up against with only two places left after listing a very likely group of pretty certain clubs for the top 6 as it stands now. I also largely agree with the five clubs we’re fighting with for the remaining places. I’d possibly just add Stoke because I think they probably have added some quality this season. Having said that they haven’t done particularly well against top half teams overall and have some difficult games on paper in November against West Ham, Millwall and Birmingham so we might know a bit more about them then (not trying to persuade you, just a comment!). That leaves us with a one in three chance of making the play offs which is about right probably. November will be an important month. We have to keep within touching distance of the playoffs points wise even if we’re not actually in them. |  | |  |
| Injuries on 09:39 - Oct 23 with 1468 views | Padulas_Shampoo | Just going back to the subject of injuries... I know a few people find this sort of thing triggering as data and stats can tell any old story. But as I'm absolutely sick and tired of what I perceive to be the same old bloody problem for the last three years, I've been keeping a close eye on minutes played data across the championship on fbref.com I see people in every single debate saying it's not a unique problem to QPR as the Championship or football generally has suddenly turned into the Hunger Games and any club should count themselves lucky to finish a match with more than about 6 players still alive. Well... The way to check that is compare us to the rest of the clubs in the competition. Here are some visuals showing the % of minutes played by our most used eleven players relative the average across the entire division from 2020 to present. Yes, I know that doesn't definitively account for injuries alone due to suspensions, pre-existing injuries and transfer windows etc. etc... But in my mind it's about the clearest way you can easily view how often we're putting the players we want to have on the pitch, on the pitch. I'm afraid it's not pretty reading. I've taken the liberty of also plotting when Ben Williams arrived at QPR. In the three years prior to his arrival we were only worse than average in one season and only by 6%. We were above average in his first season, but the next three have been a disaster at 11%, 15% and 11% worse than average (so far). Given we're likely to see another period of flux in terms of player selections over the next couple of months, I'd expect this season's numbers to get a whole lot worse over the next 4-5 games. The reason the absolutes spike this season in the top chart are due to the smaller sample size. I can't give a like for like number as I can't find the data after 11 games in previous seasons. The bottom table shows only the % variance to league average though so is more like for like. I might not be telling you anything you don't already know here but think it's worth pointing out that by this measure QPR have been affected more than the league average, whether that's up or down. For me there's a clear trend that points toward a problem. I've no idea whether that's training regimes, pitches, diet, weather, Heathrow emissions, a voodoo curse or recruitment... But whatever it is - given we have a heck of a lot of performance and data staff at the club - my expectation would be that the root cause is found and addressed. And that should probably happen inside of three years. It also fits the narrative we seem to consistently hear from inside the club. I think we're all being let down by this to be frank. Both the fans and the players. It absolutely needs to stop. |  | |  |
| Injuries on 09:55 - Oct 23 with 1419 views | TK1 |
| Injuries on 09:20 - Oct 23 by nix | Thanks Terry. That’s a very fair list. I also think it shows what we’re up against with only two places left after listing a very likely group of pretty certain clubs for the top 6 as it stands now. I also largely agree with the five clubs we’re fighting with for the remaining places. I’d possibly just add Stoke because I think they probably have added some quality this season. Having said that they haven’t done particularly well against top half teams overall and have some difficult games on paper in November against West Ham, Millwall and Birmingham so we might know a bit more about them then (not trying to persuade you, just a comment!). That leaves us with a one in three chance of making the play offs which is about right probably. November will be an important month. We have to keep within touching distance of the playoffs points wise even if we’re not actually in them. |
November is too early for anything. A three or four match match winning run in Feb or even March can change the whole picture, while we can still afford to lose two on the bounce now. This squad, if largely fit, I have seen enough of to know we can go on a run when it really matters. Hull proved last year that looking at net spend and all that is no reliable indication or help in predicting outcomes. End of November 2025, the play-off positions included Stoke in 4th, Preston 5th. Absolutely meaningless by April. Southampton who made the play-offs were 14th then. Ipswich who were promoted automatically with some swagger were 8th. Hull were 7th but nobody seriously thought they were going up. It's the Championship. Accumulate points best you can and time the run-in. But above all, get your best players fit and be lucky. |  | |  |
| Injuries on 11:12 - Oct 23 with 1211 views | wombat |
| Injuries on 17:20 - Oct 22 by Hunterhoop | The hardest thing for club’s of our size and league position is selling players for big money. We’re always tempted to hang on for more money in a year’s time and better results on the pitch. Hardly ever works out like that. |
think the mian issue is the person doing the valuation is doing it based on a spreadsheet and some other fancy AI based info. rumour was they valued varanne last season at 10 million yep thats pounds , . he was never going to be worth that in a million years , we turned down offers of around 5 million . This season we might get 2/3 max for hi its profit but not the huge wad of cash they thought they would get. at present we dont have a high value sellable player id say in the team, which is worrying with the amount of money we have spent in recent years |  |
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| Injuries on 11:17 - Oct 23 with 1195 views | Northernr |
| Injuries on 11:12 - Oct 23 by wombat | think the mian issue is the person doing the valuation is doing it based on a spreadsheet and some other fancy AI based info. rumour was they valued varanne last season at 10 million yep thats pounds , . he was never going to be worth that in a million years , we turned down offers of around 5 million . This season we might get 2/3 max for hi its profit but not the huge wad of cash they thought they would get. at present we dont have a high value sellable player id say in the team, which is worrying with the amount of money we have spent in recent years |
The one valuable asset we've got who is in form and fit is Edwards. We're all focused on the next few games without these players which is natural, but as TK says nothing is won or lost in October. The bigger problem here is Dembele, Burrell, Kone, Poku, Saito, Madsen, to some extent Lamptey... all of these players have been bought with the idea that we develop and sell them. Nobody's going to buy these players off the back of their current fitness records - and deleting historic injury updates off the official website will fool nobody. It's not ideal for our on pitch prospects, it's catastrophic for the business model. |  | |  |
| Injuries on 11:17 - Oct 23 with 1185 views | StreathamRanger |
| Injuries on 11:12 - Oct 23 by wombat | think the mian issue is the person doing the valuation is doing it based on a spreadsheet and some other fancy AI based info. rumour was they valued varanne last season at 10 million yep thats pounds , . he was never going to be worth that in a million years , we turned down offers of around 5 million . This season we might get 2/3 max for hi its profit but not the huge wad of cash they thought they would get. at present we dont have a high value sellable player id say in the team, which is worrying with the amount of money we have spent in recent years |
We could make a good profit on Edwards. Perhaps Burrell if he can stay injury free and start scoring again. Madsen may be a little too old for a big offer. I think he's 27/28. |  | |  |
| Injuries on 11:49 - Oct 23 with 1087 views | daveB |
| Injuries on 11:17 - Oct 23 by Northernr | The one valuable asset we've got who is in form and fit is Edwards. We're all focused on the next few games without these players which is natural, but as TK says nothing is won or lost in October. The bigger problem here is Dembele, Burrell, Kone, Poku, Saito, Madsen, to some extent Lamptey... all of these players have been bought with the idea that we develop and sell them. Nobody's going to buy these players off the back of their current fitness records - and deleting historic injury updates off the official website will fool nobody. It's not ideal for our on pitch prospects, it's catastrophic for the business model. |
long term that is of course a concern on the sales but for this season and getting the team to perform those players out tomorrow may be available for selection in 4 games but for how long, can't see any of them doing more than an hour for the first 2/3 games back next month then in for one rested the next. Thats the pattern with players here at the moment and then as soon as they play 3/4 games in a row and begin to look like their old self they breakdown again. |  | |  |
| Injuries on 11:55 - Oct 23 with 1070 views | Northernr |
| Injuries on 11:49 - Oct 23 by daveB | long term that is of course a concern on the sales but for this season and getting the team to perform those players out tomorrow may be available for selection in 4 games but for how long, can't see any of them doing more than an hour for the first 2/3 games back next month then in for one rested the next. Thats the pattern with players here at the moment and then as soon as they play 3/4 games in a row and begin to look like their old self they breakdown again. |
Well this is the issue with the "none of them are long term, the cavalry are coming next month" approach to the messaging isn't it? No good if you're losing players at a rate of three a week. |  | |  |
| Injuries on 12:45 - Oct 23 with 889 views | daveB |
| Injuries on 11:55 - Oct 23 by Northernr | Well this is the issue with the "none of them are long term, the cavalry are coming next month" approach to the messaging isn't it? No good if you're losing players at a rate of three a week. |
Back after the international break has become a new catchphrase at the club last few years, international breaks treated like a magical passage to a new beginning. |  | |  |
| Injuries on 13:29 - Oct 23 with 750 views | nix |
| Injuries on 09:55 - Oct 23 by TK1 | November is too early for anything. A three or four match match winning run in Feb or even March can change the whole picture, while we can still afford to lose two on the bounce now. This squad, if largely fit, I have seen enough of to know we can go on a run when it really matters. Hull proved last year that looking at net spend and all that is no reliable indication or help in predicting outcomes. End of November 2025, the play-off positions included Stoke in 4th, Preston 5th. Absolutely meaningless by April. Southampton who made the play-offs were 14th then. Ipswich who were promoted automatically with some swagger were 8th. Hull were 7th but nobody seriously thought they were going up. It's the Championship. Accumulate points best you can and time the run-in. But above all, get your best players fit and be lucky. |
True and that’s an encouraging viewpoint. It’s a bit misleading about Hull because they spent €11 million, €15 million and €31 million in the three seasons before they went up. This was offset by selling a few players for a lot but still meant they had a decent investment of players in their squad. My point as earlier is that it’s not net spend it’s the value of your squad that’s important as it correlates albeit imperfectly with the quality of players. Of course that doesn’t reflect the underlying performance of the club which is a different question for which net spend is much more important. Yes I agree with everyone injuries are a big issue and will make a huge difference to how we do. I certainly don’t think all is lost if we’re not in the playoffs now. It’s not exactly what I’m asking though as it’s more about who we SHOULD be better than as that keeps cropping up on the Board. Be lucky is extremely important and seems to be a challenge! |  | |  |
| Injuries on 13:44 - Oct 23 with 683 views | KensalT |
| Injuries on 13:29 - Oct 23 by nix | True and that’s an encouraging viewpoint. It’s a bit misleading about Hull because they spent €11 million, €15 million and €31 million in the three seasons before they went up. This was offset by selling a few players for a lot but still meant they had a decent investment of players in their squad. My point as earlier is that it’s not net spend it’s the value of your squad that’s important as it correlates albeit imperfectly with the quality of players. Of course that doesn’t reflect the underlying performance of the club which is a different question for which net spend is much more important. Yes I agree with everyone injuries are a big issue and will make a huge difference to how we do. I certainly don’t think all is lost if we’re not in the playoffs now. It’s not exactly what I’m asking though as it’s more about who we SHOULD be better than as that keeps cropping up on the Board. Be lucky is extremely important and seems to be a challenge! |
I don't think Hull is a useful example here. They gambled by massively overspending and got away with it. Over the summer they had to offload £6m worth of players to avoid a points deduction. It didn't hurt them because they were promoted, had Premier League money to spend, and those were mostly players they would have wanted off the books anyway. Although Liam Miller is wasted at Birmingham! If Hull hadn't got promoted they would have come into this season on the back of a fire sale with a weak squad and would probably be looking at a bottom eight finish. [Post edited 23 Oct 14:24]
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| Injuries on 13:55 - Oct 23 with 627 views | Northernr |
| Injuries on 13:44 - Oct 23 by KensalT | I don't think Hull is a useful example here. They gambled by massively overspending and got away with it. Over the summer they had to offload £6m worth of players to avoid a points deduction. It didn't hurt them because they were promoted, had Premier League money to spend, and those were mostly players they would have wanted off the books anyway. Although Liam Miller is wasted at Birmingham! If Hull hadn't got promoted they would have come into this season on the back of a fire sale with a weak squad and would probably be looking at a bottom eight finish. [Post edited 23 Oct 14:24]
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They've also taken a huge loan out on the stadium, despite not owning it. Big source of controversy in the city at the moment. Shambolically run club with a fantastic manager. |  | |  |
| Injuries on 14:07 - Oct 23 with 574 views | turnsey |
| Injuries on 09:39 - Oct 23 by Padulas_Shampoo | Just going back to the subject of injuries... I know a few people find this sort of thing triggering as data and stats can tell any old story. But as I'm absolutely sick and tired of what I perceive to be the same old bloody problem for the last three years, I've been keeping a close eye on minutes played data across the championship on fbref.com I see people in every single debate saying it's not a unique problem to QPR as the Championship or football generally has suddenly turned into the Hunger Games and any club should count themselves lucky to finish a match with more than about 6 players still alive. Well... The way to check that is compare us to the rest of the clubs in the competition. Here are some visuals showing the % of minutes played by our most used eleven players relative the average across the entire division from 2020 to present. Yes, I know that doesn't definitively account for injuries alone due to suspensions, pre-existing injuries and transfer windows etc. etc... But in my mind it's about the clearest way you can easily view how often we're putting the players we want to have on the pitch, on the pitch. I'm afraid it's not pretty reading. I've taken the liberty of also plotting when Ben Williams arrived at QPR. In the three years prior to his arrival we were only worse than average in one season and only by 6%. We were above average in his first season, but the next three have been a disaster at 11%, 15% and 11% worse than average (so far). Given we're likely to see another period of flux in terms of player selections over the next couple of months, I'd expect this season's numbers to get a whole lot worse over the next 4-5 games. The reason the absolutes spike this season in the top chart are due to the smaller sample size. I can't give a like for like number as I can't find the data after 11 games in previous seasons. The bottom table shows only the % variance to league average though so is more like for like. I might not be telling you anything you don't already know here but think it's worth pointing out that by this measure QPR have been affected more than the league average, whether that's up or down. For me there's a clear trend that points toward a problem. I've no idea whether that's training regimes, pitches, diet, weather, Heathrow emissions, a voodoo curse or recruitment... But whatever it is - given we have a heck of a lot of performance and data staff at the club - my expectation would be that the root cause is found and addressed. And that should probably happen inside of three years. It also fits the narrative we seem to consistently hear from inside the club. I think we're all being let down by this to be frank. Both the fans and the players. It absolutely needs to stop. |
Good post, I think the use of the most-used XI might even make us look better than the reality. You'd assume parachute/stronger teams naturally rotate more if they have a full 18 players better than most of the league. We, on the other hand, have had issues with depth for years and would arguably have more cause to keep our "best XI" more concrete. I wonder if our relation to the mean changes if you look only at the most similar budgets or average league positions to us. |  | |  |
| Injuries on 14:13 - Oct 23 with 537 views | Northernr |
| Injuries on 09:39 - Oct 23 by Padulas_Shampoo | Just going back to the subject of injuries... I know a few people find this sort of thing triggering as data and stats can tell any old story. But as I'm absolutely sick and tired of what I perceive to be the same old bloody problem for the last three years, I've been keeping a close eye on minutes played data across the championship on fbref.com I see people in every single debate saying it's not a unique problem to QPR as the Championship or football generally has suddenly turned into the Hunger Games and any club should count themselves lucky to finish a match with more than about 6 players still alive. Well... The way to check that is compare us to the rest of the clubs in the competition. Here are some visuals showing the % of minutes played by our most used eleven players relative the average across the entire division from 2020 to present. Yes, I know that doesn't definitively account for injuries alone due to suspensions, pre-existing injuries and transfer windows etc. etc... But in my mind it's about the clearest way you can easily view how often we're putting the players we want to have on the pitch, on the pitch. I'm afraid it's not pretty reading. I've taken the liberty of also plotting when Ben Williams arrived at QPR. In the three years prior to his arrival we were only worse than average in one season and only by 6%. We were above average in his first season, but the next three have been a disaster at 11%, 15% and 11% worse than average (so far). Given we're likely to see another period of flux in terms of player selections over the next couple of months, I'd expect this season's numbers to get a whole lot worse over the next 4-5 games. The reason the absolutes spike this season in the top chart are due to the smaller sample size. I can't give a like for like number as I can't find the data after 11 games in previous seasons. The bottom table shows only the % variance to league average though so is more like for like. I might not be telling you anything you don't already know here but think it's worth pointing out that by this measure QPR have been affected more than the league average, whether that's up or down. For me there's a clear trend that points toward a problem. I've no idea whether that's training regimes, pitches, diet, weather, Heathrow emissions, a voodoo curse or recruitment... But whatever it is - given we have a heck of a lot of performance and data staff at the club - my expectation would be that the root cause is found and addressed. And that should probably happen inside of three years. It also fits the narrative we seem to consistently hear from inside the club. I think we're all being let down by this to be frank. Both the fans and the players. It absolutely needs to stop. |
Thank you for doing some work to provide some hard facts on this. The bundle of weekend stats and facts for the Championship this weeks also tells me QPR have made 40 changes to their starting XI this season, more than any other club. |  | |  |
| Injuries on 14:21 - Oct 23 with 473 views | Antti_Heinola |
| Injuries on 13:44 - Oct 23 by KensalT | I don't think Hull is a useful example here. They gambled by massively overspending and got away with it. Over the summer they had to offload £6m worth of players to avoid a points deduction. It didn't hurt them because they were promoted, had Premier League money to spend, and those were mostly players they would have wanted off the books anyway. Although Liam Miller is wasted at Birmingham! If Hull hadn't got promoted they would have come into this season on the back of a fire sale with a weak squad and would probably be looking at a bottom eight finish. [Post edited 23 Oct 14:24]
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I'm amazed Hull's transfer dealings haven't been more discussed, and instead everyone seems to have believed their guff about getting promoted without spending money. With the sales - here's what the Beeb said in July: 'Aidon Shehu had been sold to Panathinaikos for a reported £2.5m. The sale of the 19-year-old - signed from Southend United two years ago for a small compensation figure - is effectively pure profit for Hull's PSR calculation. The Albania Under-21 international did not make a first-team appearance for Hull and spent the end of last season on loan at Scarborough Athletic.' Excuse me? So a player you signed for nothing from Southend, never played, went on loan to a Conference North side, where he made 4 sub appearances according to Soccerbase, you then managed to sell for TWO POINT FIVE MILLION POUNDS? Can anyone guess how many times he's played for Panathanaikos? Still, I'm sure Hull fans will sing at City and tell them how they're cheats. |  |
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| Injuries on 14:28 - Oct 23 with 431 views | KensalT |
| Injuries on 13:55 - Oct 23 by Northernr | They've also taken a huge loan out on the stadium, despite not owning it. Big source of controversy in the city at the moment. Shambolically run club with a fantastic manager. |
Call me naive, but how is that possible? |  | |  |
| Injuries on 14:53 - Oct 23 with 352 views | E1Hoop |
| Injuries on 14:28 - Oct 23 by KensalT | Call me naive, but how is that possible? |
Along with Sheffield Utd’s plan to change ownership to avoid payment this is another example of something i would like to do in my life. I have just spoken to my next door neighbour and informed them that i have taken out a loan on their house and am now off to the Cayman Islands. |  | |  |
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