BFG QPR

[Zip]

Never ever understand criticism of Gunter and it’s more a fans knowledge of the game is the problem. What do you want him to do... sit on him for 90 mins. Whilst the bloke is out on the wing without the balll he is doing no harm. This means Gunter can play inside and cover. As soon as the ball is played out wide Gunter legs it over there to block the run best he can. It’s not rocket science.

I quite like Gunter actually but he was a long way from the opposition player and it was obvious the ball was heading in that direction. It meant a guaranteed cross every time as Gunter was too far away to prevent the cross. That is not rocket science either.

Don’t recalll one occasion when ball comes over and he has whipped in across before he gets there. Cross comes in or does not when put under pressure by Gunter. HTH.

There were a number of crosses that went in during the second half because Gunter could not get across in time. HTH.

[RegularRoyal]

Wow, what a difference. The effort from the whole team was such a contrast to the rest of the season, and the stadium was absolutely rocking at the end. Yes, there is still a huge amount of work to do, but there was more excitement in that game than most of the rest of the season put together.

It's interesting how we all watch the same game, but see it so differently.

E.g. Edwards... yes, he was shot before the end, and that contributed to him giving away the penalty, but I would argue that was his best game for Reading... didn't stop from start to finish, even when he was knackered. I'd love to see the player running stats for that game, and I'd be very surprised if he wasn't way ahead of everybody else on the pitch.

Easily Illori's best game in a Reading shirt. If he made any mistakes, I must have missed them.

Also, Aluko's best game for Reading. Apart from his goal, he put in a massive amount of work defensively... something we haven't seen before. I'm sure his running stats will be 2nd only to Edwards.

Blackett also deserves a huge amount of credit. After the stick he's taken recently, to put in a performance like he did (sliced clearance aside) showed a lot of character.

[Snowflake Royal]

Agreed Leon. Been saying for a while now that fitness levels have been a problem. The players looked out on their feet yesterday and I thought Clement took too long to replace Swift who should have come off ten minutes earlier.

Frankly pre season was a complete clusterfuck

Agree with the point that QPR really attacked Gunter’s flank by switching an additional player to that side in the second half. It was a problem because Gunter was outnumbered without the support from the player in front who I thought was Barrow rather than Aluko.

Definitely Aluko right, though they may have switched briefly. Barrow had bright orange / yellow boots on, at least that's the easiest way I could tell them apart given my terrible eyesight.

[Zip]

Agreed Leon. Been saying for a while now that fitness levels have been a problem. The players looked out on their feet yesterday and I thought Clement took too long to replace Swift who should have come off ten minutes earlier.

Frankly pre season was a complete clusterfuck

Agree with the point that QPR really attacked Gunter’s flank by switching an additional player to that side in the second half. It was a problem because Gunter was outnumbered without the support from the player in front who I thought was Barrow rather than Aluko.

Definitely Aluko right, though they may have switched briefly.

Fair enough. He was slow to back up Gunter at times.

[Snowflake Royal]

Agreed Leon. Been saying for a while now that fitness levels have been a problem. The players looked out on their feet yesterday and I thought Clement took too long to replace Swift who should have come off ten minutes earlier.

Frankly pre season was a complete clusterfuck

Agree with the point that QPR really attacked Gunter’s flank by switching an additional player to that side in the second half. It was a problem because Gunter was outnumbered without the support from the player in front who I thought was Barrow rather than Aluko.

Definitely Aluko right, though they may have switched briefly.

Fair enough. He was slow to back up Gunter at times.

He looked like he was wading through treacle at times even first half. Defence isnt his strong point

[Muskrat]

More entertainment in one game than I've seen all season at home. Back to the Reading of old, blood and thunder never say die attitude. However it has to be said QPR were far better than us (apart from the first 20 minutes) and should have left with something. Biggest thing for me was our fitness levels. We were out on our feet after 75 minutes and survived after that on sheer adrenaline. Get the fitness levels up and should be ok.

[CountryRoyal]

Any teams fitness will be pushed when you’re defending for most of the game.

I think our previous style has something to do with it, were so used to seeing a lot of the ball and not a lot of movement that I’m not surprised their fitness levels (stamina) may not be up to scratch. They’re mostly a young and athletic bunch though so I’d imagine with proper training they’ll be up there within no time.

[The Reverend]

If we win two more

I see a flaw in your plan...

[CountryRoyal]

Not sure if it’s been mentioned but whilst his overall performance was a bit lacklustre I thought Swift’s set ball delivery was very good, far better than Kelly of late.

[tidus_mi2]

Not sure if it’s been mentioned but whilst his overall performance was a bit lacklustre I thought Swift’s set ball delivery was very good, far better than Kelly of late.

Absolutely agreed, there was one free kick that was just dying to be poked home that everyone missed.

[Hound]

Yep did mention it. They were absolutely top class. Ht hard, with curl and accuracy. Impossible to defend. Shame we had so few of them

[Snowflake Royal]

I'm surprised so many people were impressed by QPR. Their finishing was awful. Genuinely terrible. Mannone barely had a save to make, they came closer to hitting the corner flag than the net a couple of times and that penalty was shockingly bad. Perfect height to save, not near the post and not hit particularly hard.

Yeah, as we tired and decided to defend the lead they ponced around tidily in midfield dominating the game. But if you can't crack our defence when we're down to 10 you're not going to get far.

[tidus_mi2]

I'm surprised so many people were impressed by QPR. Their finishing was awful. Genuinely terrible. Mannone barely had a save to make, they came closer to hitting the corner flag than the net a couple of times and that penalty was shockingly bad. Perfect height to save, not near the post and not hit particularly hard.

Yeah, as we tired and decided to defend the lead they ponced around tidily in midfield dominating the game. But if you can't crack our defence when we're down to 10 you're not going to get far.

Completely agree, QPR were nothing special, they certainly got through our defence far too easily but most teams seem to do that, despite that, we seemed to restrict them mostly to speculative long range efforts that were either blocked or went harmlessly wide, hence their 3 shots on target.

They were better no doubt but considering the confidence the team must be in after the run we've had, I'll take any win when it comes around, same teams but without a run of 1 win in 18, I reckon we'd dominate the match.

[CountryRoyal]

I'm surprised so many people were impressed by QPR. Their finishing was awful. Genuinely terrible. Mannone barely had a save to make, they came closer to hitting the corner flag than the net a couple of times and that penalty was shockingly bad. Perfect height to save, not near the post and not hit particularly hard.

Yeah, as we tired and decided to defend the lead they ponced around tidily in midfield dominating the game. But if you can't crack our defence when we're down to 10 you're not going to get far.

Ian everyone has highlighted their finishing as a problem but *beyond that* they were a good side and played well, you’d have to be blind not to see it. We’ve also seen time and time again it’s not always easy to break a team down with 10 men, I think that’s testament to the willingness and effort we put into organisation and discipline. It’s unfair to insinuate that they were poor just because they couldn’t beat us and “we are shit”.

It’s a game of opinions fair enough but a lot of QPR fans reckon that performance wasn’t far behind their Fulham and Villa ones.

[Zip]

I'm surprised so many people were impressed by QPR. Their finishing was awful. Genuinely terrible. Mannone barely had a save to make, they came closer to hitting the corner flag than the net a couple of times and that penalty was shockingly bad. Perfect height to save, not near the post and not hit particularly hard.

Yeah, as we tired and decided to defend the lead they ponced around tidily in midfield dominating the game. But if you can't crack our defence when we're down to 10 you're not going to get far.

Ian everyone has highlighted their finishing as a problem but *beyond that* they were a good side and played well, you’d have to be blind not to see it. We’ve also seen time and time again it’s not always easy to break a team down with 10 men, I think that’s testament to the willingness and effort we put into organisation and discipline. It’s unfair to insinuate that they were poor just because they couldn’t beat us and “we are shit”.

It’s a game of opinions fair enough but a lot of QPR fans reckon that performance wasn’t far behind their Fulham and Villa ones.

Agreed. It’s been a long time since a team dominated possession like that at the Mad Stad.
Yes their finishing was very poor but they created a number of very good chances. I’m just glad they messed up. We also created almost nothing in attack.

[Snowball]

I'd swap their midfield for ours any day

[biff]

Really proud of the whole team's showing. Although JvDB still made it painfully obvious he's a league out of his depth. And gunter needs to sort himself out defensively, as he cant seem to... defend. Though he did throw a ball forward once. Fair play.

[Lower West]

Although JvDB still made it painfully obvious he's a league out of his depth. And gunter needs to sort himself out defensively, as he cant seem to... defend.

Hopefully we set a team up to play to it's strengths. Rather than a formation which so obviously doesn;t suit some of the current squad. JVB can play a pivotal role. Just needs to accept his own limitations.

[Snowflake Royal]

Personally, I thought that with a better ref and better conditions we could have won that comfortably. I counted six cynical pull backs to stop breaks, four in the first half that went uncarded where we could have really hurt them, plus another couple where poorly weighted passes (I remember one in particular from Aluko) also would have had us away.

QPR had so much possession because a) we moved the ball front to back quickly with no dicking around and b) second half we settled in to see it out and just punted it back to them. I also remember some horrendous crosses and crossfield balls.

Different opinions and all, but I thought they looked exactly what they are, mid-table.

[Hound]

They were a lot better than their league position imo Ian. They way they zipped it about in midfield and carried it forward was exceptional. Agreed they weren’t able to then carve out good chances (I don’t think they had many at all Zip) because we defended brilliantly though, and maybe they lacked something in the final third.

Seen plenty of bang average teams dominate us this year (Sheff Utd, Brentford etc) but they were definitely better than the average side that’s come here

It reminded me of the Fulham PO home game last year actually