By continuing to use the site, you agree to our use of cookies and to abide by our Terms and Conditions. We in turn value your personal details in accordance with our Privacy Policy.
Please log in or register. Registered visitors get fewer ads.
Apropos Sky and its role in all this... Not so many years ago I was at a business event in Birmingham where I met a lawyer and we got talking about football. he said he acted for a number of PL clubs. One of these had received a call from Sky in December asking if they intended to do much business in the January window. 'No,' was the response 'we are quite happy with the squad we have.' 'Well don't expect to get on the TV much in the second half of the season...' said the Sky person before ringing off. And yet they talk as if all this is nothing to do with them.
I feel for Bury FC, its staff and supporters. The only hope I can give them is that it happened to my home town team Dartford, who went west with Maidstone in 1992. They started again and after 14 nomadic years they got a ground back in the town and a few years later they were back where they started, somewhere between the Conference South and the Conference.
I accept the general arguments against changing the manager but watching the recent games does raise the question of whether someone else could get more out of this group of players. Certainly the line-ups (formations) don't help Olly's cause and as for the substitutions, well they just seem to be based on the notion of throwing people on, mixing it up and hoping for a break. Not sure I want the drama of change at this point in time but to be fair to the Board, if they see a couple more performances like this I wouldn't blame them for pulling the trigger.
Thanks for the comments. On the line-up, I meant to say 'kick towards' rather than 'kick off towards' :-) But you are right, it must have been Rangers who chose to kick that way. Goodness knows why - the sun must be more of a problem in the second half.
On the ref - well, to be honest in all the mayhem I didn't watch the ref that much. All I know is that I didn't recall getting agitated with him so I gave him the benefit of the doubt.
And, Myke, I did not aim that comment at you. Of course everyone's opinion is valid, it's just that in a game of 90 minutes I do wonder why the internet world comes unglued with each each negative twist and turn. And I really do think some of the comment about Chris Ramsey, Les Ferdinand is vindictive and unnecessary.
Wonderful report of a brilliant day. I still can't believe we won - when we went down to ten men I honestly thought the game was up and that it would only be a matter of time before Derby scored. But, the team defended wonderfully, albeit that is something best appreciated in reprise - at the time it still seemed like they were only one slip away from disaster. And what a time to score...
I honestly never thought I would get to see them win a final in my lifetime. I wasn't a fan in '67 and if they take another 28 years to get back to Wembley I may not be around to see it. But, it was great to be there with my son and with a wonderful crew of mates that I feel privileged to be part of. I will still be replaying that Zamora goal years from now.
Once again, thanks for the excellent stuff you've done this year. I know it's been hard and you've had more commitments away from QPR this year but I hope you can carry on next season. You R's!
Great stuff, Neil and a lot more measured than the rant that occupied 25 miles of the M4 on the way back from Swansea :-)
It's interesting to speculate whether a rational analyst of the QPR situation at the start of the Fernandes reign might have advised a cautious approach to spending money in which the prospect (and greater probability) of relegation could be viewed in the context of having money in the bank and time to develop the necessary infrastructure. As a short-term approach it might not have been popular with fans but it might have made better business sense. As it is we seem likely to be heading for the same place having spent a vast amount of money pointlessly.
Thank you for the positive comments on the report. I enjoy writing them, but I am always conscious of the need to try to reach the very high standard set by Clive. The worst part is the player scores because the way I watch games I notice those playing well and those who are not and the rest sit in my mind within a group where I find it difficult to distinguish between them.
My point about Fernandes was challenged in one post. I am well aware of his difficulties but even within recent history we have seen naive ownership (Wright, Briatore and Ecclestone, Fernandes) hand significant money to the so-called professionals in a desperate attempt to get promoted/stay in the PL and by and large it hasn't worked. All I was saying is that if he can't learn the game himself he needs a Director of Football on the right terms who he can trust to make better calls than the managers (Warnock excepted) seem to have done.
Finally, the Mbia tackle can be excused by careful analysis of the circumstances but he has considerable form in the area of bundling into people. In all honesty it was a typical end-of-game, low blood sugar misjudgement and I agree with the comment that it should be seen as one act in a tragedy that has been unfolding for months.
Hoops_Legend - I have tried to respond to Antii Heinola's comments in the post that follows soon after his. It is the style of this site to try to add colour to the match reports and in my view the presence of a large number of new and occasional attenders on Saturday was hughly relevant to the mood and atmosphere in the stands. I was also fascinated by what they made of it all - the performance and the reaction to it. I did not intend to be critical of them and I'm fully supportive of cheap ticket schemes that encourage people to come to games.
Antii Heinola - I seriously hope you are not accusing me of 'nastiness directed towards non-ST holders or even Korean fans there to support Park' because if you are then that is a serious and unacceptable misreading of what I have written. The mention of 'occasionals' was merely an attempt to describe the background to the rather unusual atmosphere inside Loftus Road, not in any sense a 'barb' or attempt to criticise people for taking advantage of the cheap tickets because, duh, that was the whole purpose of the promotion. I tried to make three points (1) that the performance completely undermined the attempt to attract more regular attendance by those who came on a one-off basis on Saturday (2) that the ground remained relatively full in circumstances that would normally have caused it to empty and (3) the reaction to the debacle would have been a good deal uglier had the normal crew been there.
Re the comments about Mackie by others - I'm inclined to agree that his limitations are frustrating but I do find it hard to criticise him for Saturday's performance that took place alongside other players who were no more competent and applied a good deal less effort.
Hats off to you mate for an excellent, measured report. As you know, I walked out at half time. I have been to every game in this dreadful year, bar Blackburn away, and I had simply reached the point where I was either going to have a apoplectic fit or I was going to deck the two Liverpool supporters sitting in my mate's seats courtesy of Viagogo. Even then I could not escape because the game was on in the pub!
Not much more to say really - just hope next year will be better!
Jim - I'm not saying that is what will happen, I'm merely pointing out that if we are to survive we need to get 36 (or maybe slightly less) points from somewhere and suggesting how that might be done. I would agree that it is equally possible to contemplate the remaining games and conclude that we are doomed. Incidentally there are rather a lot of draws in my forecast and we could get there with more wins and more defeats.
Roller, Lewis, Rrrspricey - the principal contention I am making is that we should not focus on the other teams around us at this point as that will involve much futile emotional energy. I don't know whether we will need 35, 38 or 42 points but the way I would manage expectations now is to set off knowing that we need a certain number of points from somewhere. The danger of focusing on other teams around us at this stage is - IMHO - a risk of too much focus on the result of each game leading to excessive pressure and possible catastrophic loss of morale of players and fans if immediate results don't go our way. I'm not saying that the results of other relegation candidates is not important in the long run and relative results in the final games will, indeed, dictate the outcome. Witness last year when Bolton effectively relegated themselves by failing to beat WBA and Stoke when a win in either game would have killed us. The Atherton philsophy is to break the task into chunks and assess progress against benchmarks and that in essence is what I'm advocating.
It's all conjecture of course and just for fun. It was stimulated, though, in part by yet another football expert on the TV who, when asked about QPR's chances, said 'Ooo-er, well, they're a long way behind at the moment...' About as insightful as someone telling me where bears do their business!
Clive's view on a match are always delivered with complete honesty after a period of reflection and, given that he watches every game, are based on a perception that extends beyond what has just been served up. Having done these reports myself on a couple of occasions I know what a balls-ache it is to keep track of the game (thank God for the BBC's minute by minute text stuff) and then to decided whether some opposition player that you've probably barely noticed deserves a 6 or a 7. Compare the detail of these match reports with most of what you read in other media up to and including the national papers and there is nothing that comes close to providing the insight, the humour or, on many occasions, the particular little nuggets that Clive spots in a game.
He and I don't always agree on what we see but on this occasion he called it exactly as I would have done. Having watched every game this season, we are consistently witless in the final third of the pitch and we desperately need more energy and creativity in that area. At times yesterday we threatened to show it but the substitutions drew our sting and the last 30 mins was hugely frustrating. Having seen Sunderland batter Norwich in the second half yesterday without due reward, I was quite depressed last night because they showed far more energy than QPR and created many more scoring chances and still didn't get any points. Having said that, if they keep playing like they did in the second half they will get results and we need to do the same.
I do not believe all is lost - and I have submitted an article for the site in which I analyse why by looking at the points potential for each of the remaining games - but all I saw on Tuesday night at a cold Sunderland and on Saturday at home were one or two green shoots of recovery. In my humble opinion, we've dropped four points this week - 60% of our take thus far. We keep worrying about other teams and whilst their form is not irrelevant when we actually play the likes of Villa and Sunderland we have to win if only to be able to get away with poor results against the better teams. If QPR can garner another 35-38 points from somewhere, I doubt that we will have to worry about others and that's what we should be concentrating on. The 'somewhere' is the likes of the two games we have just played.
Splendid stuff, reflecting the ire of one who has suffered every minute of every bloody game since who knows when. There's been a lot of pro-Hughes spin in the media this week and whilst I really hope that those sentiments prove right there were just too many witless things going on at Arsenal last week to convince me that the corner was being turned. Let's hope for better this Sunday but I fear that it will start to go all wrong the minute the words 'Wright-Phillips' emerge from Andy's mouth as he reads out the starting line-up in the pub...
I will also be interested in the analytical wisdom from Neil in due course. From my viewpoint we showed fantastic ball retention and recycling in the first two-thirds of the pitch but there was something lacking in the final third - the movement seemed limited and I wonder what percentage of the much-vaunted pass completion came from the need to go back and recycle because of the lack of forward penetration. When we did get forward option selection was often hurried and execution poor - esp the Hoilett chance. Despite the possession and the obvious splendour of parts of the display, 9 shots of which 6 were on target tells something about what went on (or didn't) in the final third.
The outcome left me very frustrated but unlike last season where there seemed to be little hope of serious improvement I see real cause for optimism. We've certainly cured the woeful tendency to give the ball away so easily and an improvement in the final third is surely deliverable through coaching, training and review. One obvious issue to address is the need to have at least one or two players moving away from the man with the ball instead of everyone rushing towards him.
The injuries are a worry and that's two weeks running where we've been forced to change early in the game and a 'settled side' seems a faint hope at the moment.
All in all I remain confident that the breakthrough will come and we will get to see some excellent stuff. I reserve the right, however, to review that confidence after another five games!
It was great to see us genuinely match them in every department. I know we beat them last year but that was a bizarre match in which they pressed their self-destruct button with the two sendings off though even then they gave use the run-around in the second half with nine men. This was a much, much better performance by QPR with clearly still much more to come. I genuinely thought we would lose this one and that it would be into next month before we saw the cohesion we saw on Saturday, so I was very pleased with the performance and I'm really looking forward to the Spurs game.
Yes, thanks for the clip of the 2001 game 18 stone, although it still makes me shudder. Bank Holiday Monday was sweet revenge, albeit with a different club and long overdue. Last minute winner involved a comedy deflection as well :-)
I think it should also be said that the pre-season was pants for the nth year running. This year's excuse was that we didn't know we were going to be a Premiership team until 2 mins before the end of the season. Hopefully, that status will be secured earlier this year and we can then combine some decent challenges in amongst the shirt-selling tours. The game on Saturday was like what often happens in pre-season. Remember the Div 2 QPR beating Chelsea 3-1 and Leyton Orient (I think) hammering the freshly-relegated Newcastle United? The latter game brought about a storm amongst the players but when they finished shouting at each other they got their act together and went out and won the Championship. We can hope...
Got home by 8.45, Clive after 45 mins wait at KX. Dartford are played 3, lost 3 but they are still part-time, expectation is modest and I think they'll find their feet in due course. I'm going to watch them at Cambridge on Monday. Last time I went there (with QPR) it didn't end well - I was key witness in the prosecution of a Policeman who tried to start a riot!
From my viewpoint Mackie got exactly the same contact on the ball as he did when he scored the winner against Liverpool; it's very much the style with which he shoots - head down, get it on target with more side than laces on the ball.
It was a terribly bad day all round, especially for MH whose reaction to the situation was odd to say the least. I still can't believe we went through the whole game with only one recognised striker out there, and not even either of our 'hold up' specialists at that.
Onwards and upwards - but patience will be necessary. Given the fixtures and the work that needs to be done it wouldn't surprise me if we were bottom of the league at the end of September with 1 point or less. At that point I'm sure TF and AB will be enjoying the benefit of the full range of the opinion of the fan base whilst the likes of Chris Wright and Flavio Briatore look on and have a quiet chuckle to themselves.
The number of changes we've made suggests to me that we will endure another cold start for Mark Hughes, i.e. a difficult period of up to ten games in which he gets his 'new' team to play his way. After that, as Clive says, it will be fine. An autumn of discontent beckons, but we'll be ok by mid/late season.
By continuing to use the site, you agree to our use of cookies and to abide by our Terms and Conditions.