BFG QPR

[Berry]

It was like the Tenacity, Spirit and Flair period had resurfaced..... Brought a tear of happiness to my eye yesterday

Piss off Nigel.

I certainly will oxf*rd

[The Real Sandhurst Royal]

Enjoyed the game.

A wonder goal, a sending off, a sh*t referee capped off with a penalty save in injury time resulting in three point ceratainly got the fans back on side. Illori, Moore, Blackett and Aluko all played well.

Martin, what a waste of space no effort, no closing down, dd not look fit.

Big shout for the QPR number 7 Luke Freeman, ran the midfield.

[Ascotexgunner]

Let's not carried away. Same faultlines still present in spades. QPR should have scored at least 2 in first half and looked a far more cohesive team..

But still, fcuk 'em. Bodies on the line and passion won the day. The quality should follow, I hope.

Agreed. QPR are in the bottom half and should really have won today. The stats confirm we had just 5 attempts at goal. They had a staggering 27. They dominated possession with 67%. We still switched off painfully at times. From one corner they had a player completely unmarked.
Loads to work on and we remain far from safe.

27 shots but only 3 of them were on target. A lot of them were long range shots blocked by the back line. 14 blocks in fact.

I saw QPR at Fulham a couple of weeks back. They could have hit Fulham for 6 with better finishing. I get the impression they really are better than their position suggests.

[From Despair To Where?]

Sensible comments by Holloway about the ref. Basically said, it's the ref's responsibility to stop the game if a player is injured and he shouldn't wait for a player to make the decision for him and boot the ball out of play. Also said the ref was shit for both teams.

[windermereROYAL]

Agreed. QPR are in the bottom half and should really have won today. The stats confirm we had just 5 attempts at goal. They had a staggering 27. They dominated possession with 67%. We still switched off painfully at times. From one corner they had a player completely unmarked.
Loads to work on and we remain far from safe.

27 shots but only 3 of them were on target. A lot of them were long range shots blocked by the back line. 14 blocks in fact.

I saw QPR at Fulham a couple of weeks back. They could have hit Fulham for 6 with better finishing. I get the impression they really are better than their position suggests.

Best side I`ve seen this season down here, and that includes Wolves, their fans must be pulling out their hair why they are so low in the table. obviously they have clicked in the last few away games.

[Snowball]

Let's not carried away. Same faultlines still present in spades. QPR should have scored at least 2 in first half and looked a far more cohesive team..

But still, fcuk 'em. Bodies on the line and passion won the day. The quality should follow, I hope.

Agreed. QPR are in the bottom half and should really have won today. The stats confirm we had just 5 attempts at goal. They had a staggering 27. They dominated possession with 67%. We still switched off painfully at times. From one corner they had a player completely unmarked.
Loads to work on and we remain far from safe.

27 shots but only 3 of them were on target. A lot of them were long range shots blocked by the back line. 14 blocks in fact.

This. I only remember two saves, the tip-over and the pen

[Snowball]

Will do a write up in a bit but wanted to ask/note that we seems to score a lot of very nice goals against QPR. Didn't McCleary get 1 in each of our league games a few seasons ago? Both great shots from distance.

Good shout, Long scored from outside of the box at Loftus Road as well. Think we lost 3-1 iirc.

THAT, I remember.


and he "waved" to the Reading supporters afterwards (cough)

[NewCorkSeth]

27 shots but only 3 of them were on target. A lot of them were long range shots blocked by the back line. 14 blocks in fact.

I saw QPR at Fulham a couple of weeks back. They could have hit Fulham for 6 with better finishing. I get the impression they really are better than their position suggests.

Best side I`ve seen this season down here, and that includes Wolves, their fans must be pulling out their hair why they are so low in the table. obviously they have clicked in the last few away games.

Bit of a stretch. They're better than they are doing but better than wolves? Pffft..

[tidus_mi2]

It's Illori, not Illuko.

It’s Ilori, not Illori.

Well oxf*rd, I was closer at least.

[leon]

As noted above, I thought QPR were a good side. Best I’ve seen since Wolves

QPR supporting mate told me early in the season that Freeman (#7) was a proper talent and he was right. Looked a cracking player

They moved it about quickly and precisely in midfield and were cynical when they had to be. This is a side that battered Villa and should have beaten the Barcelona of SW London in their last away 2 games

Showed how good we were defensively that Mannone had 2 saves (one the pen) in the entire match. Not like they put more than 1 or 2 presentable chances off target either

Agree with all of this.

Noticed also that the defence was set up very narrow. I think this suits Blackett, as he's acting more like a wide centre back than a full back. And it meant that Moore was in his ear a bit more. But QPR noticed as well, and particularly second half they overloaded the flanks, as that's where there was space. A number of times there were two or three QPR players facing Gunts, (with Aluko nowhere to be seen), he clearly didn't know whether to stick or twist, and stood off to stop them running into the box, but he wasn't stopping crosses. If you're going to set up defensively like that, you need midfielders to track runs, rather than standing and watching. The Occasionally, Aluko did come back to help out, but he seemed dead on his feet from about 70 minutes.

Which leads me onto something else. Swift is unfit still, but a lot of other players were struggling from about 70 minutes on. The sooner Karl Halabi starts work properly on these guys, the better! I think fitness is a big part of why we concede so many in injury time.

Some excellent points in both posts.

I wasn’t looking forward to this game. QPRs way form is pretty good and they absolutely battered Fulham. So we really ground out a result.

This team really has poor fitness levels. They were blowing after about 70 mins. A mate who hasn’t been for 14 months remarked on it.

I think Stam was far too soft on them and they took advantage.

[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.

[PremAddict]

Agreed. QPR are in the bottom half and should really have won today. The stats confirm we had just 5 attempts at goal. They had a staggering 27. They dominated possession with 67%. We still switched off painfully at times. From one corner they had a player completely unmarked.
Loads to work on and we remain far from safe.

27 shots but only 3 of them were on target. A lot of them were long range shots blocked by the back line. 14 blocks in fact.

This. I only remember two saves, the tip-over and the pen

Great three points. Only saw the extended highlights but the gulf in quality looked larger than the Grand Canyon (which I was traveling back from yesterday). Still, even though QPR had only 3 on target, they looked like they were just running through our midfield and there were plenty of times our defense just looked like spectators.

[Lower West]

Best side I`ve seen this season down here, and that includes Wolves,

Any team playing us currently looks good. We are poor. Hopefully Tuesday we'll see the first signs of Clements reign.

[paultheroyal]

Still haven't won at home on a Saturday this season - Clement out.

In all seriousness it was a fantastic result, but we did ride our luck at times. QPR could've had at least one or two in the first half, and we offered very little offensively in the second half.

Still, there were obvious signs of improvement which is encouraging considering how little time Clement has had with the team. Lots of very well timed challenges on the ground, as well as not being afraid to kick it upfield instead of nervously passing it across the back four. Also some glimpses of what could be a very good counter-attack with Barrow and Aluko, though it never quite clicked in the final third.

Aluko's goal was superb, certainly the best I've seen at the Madejski for a while - McCleary's vs. Burnely a few years ago is probably the only one I can think of which comes close.

Ilori looked a lot better than usual, and even Blackett was fairly solid (albeit one mistake where he sliced the ball back into our box which forced Mannone into making a save at the feet of one of their strikers). I thought Gunter was superb defensively.

Edwards and Joey both disappointed, the former seemed very off the pace getting caught in possession a few times and the latter still causes my blood pressure to sky rocket every time he goes into a tackle. One of his challenges in the first half would've been more at home in a London Irish game. Yann and Martin were both pretty anonymous during their respective times on the pitch (apart from when Yann was sent off, of course...).

Speaking of the sending off - thought the ref was fine first half but very poor second. Though it did cause the crowd to get a bit animated which was much more enjoyable than usual!

Overall, a very good win which eases the immediate pressure and creates a healthy gap to 22nd, but it probably masked an average performance which we'll need to improve upon in the future.

Kelly’s goal v Derby a few weeks ago was up there with Aluko’s. Surprised you thought Gunter was superb. He gave their wideman all the space in the world.

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.

[paultheroyal]

Quick fire observations...

Full praise to ilori and especially Blackett for top performances.
Edwards was blowing out of his arse from 60 mins and should of been off earlier.
Kermorgant confirmed what we already knew that players are thick... just what was he thinking.
Paul Clement blue and white army is a tongue twister for me to sing.
I’d question the attendance of over 20,000.
Atmosphere was fantastic and great to see each party clap one another and songs beijg sung out the ground.
Lot more direct out the back with little risk take although still couple of hairy moments.
Pitch held up well to all that water.
Anyone thinking we need two more wins to stay up is dillusional. Going to need more than that.

[Hound]

If we win two more, Barnsley (no wins in 6) need to win 4 out of 7. Alternatively Sunderland need to win 5 out of 7, or Burton 5 wins and a draw out of 7

Cannot see that happening

[Zip]

Still haven't won at home on a Saturday this season - Clement out.

In all seriousness it was a fantastic result, but we did ride our luck at times. QPR could've had at least one or two in the first half, and we offered very little offensively in the second half.

Still, there were obvious signs of improvement which is encouraging considering how little time Clement has had with the team. Lots of very well timed challenges on the ground, as well as not being afraid to kick it upfield instead of nervously passing it across the back four. Also some glimpses of what could be a very good counter-attack with Barrow and Aluko, though it never quite clicked in the final third.

Aluko's goal was superb, certainly the best I've seen at the Madejski for a while - McCleary's vs. Burnely a few years ago is probably the only one I can think of which comes close.

Ilori looked a lot better than usual, and even Blackett was fairly solid (albeit one mistake where he sliced the ball back into our box which forced Mannone into making a save at the feet of one of their strikers). I thought Gunter was superb defensively.



Edwards and Joey both disappointed, the former seemed very off the pace getting caught in possession a few times and the latter still causes my blood pressure to sky rocket every time he goes into a tackle. One of his challenges in the first half would've been more at home in a London Irish game. Yann and Martin were both pretty anonymous during their respective times on the pitch (apart from when Yann was sent off, of course...).

Speaking of the sending off - thought the ref was fine first half but very poor second. Though it did cause the crowd to get a bit animated which was much more enjoyable than usual!

Overall, a very good win which eases the immediate pressure and creates a healthy gap to 22nd, but it probably masked an average performance which we'll need to improve upon in the future.

Kelly’s goal v Derby a few weeks ago was up there with Aluko’s. Surprised you thought Gunter was superb. He gave their wideman all the space in the world.

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.

[leon]

27 shots but only 3 of them were on target. A lot of them were long range shots blocked by the back line. 14 blocks in fact.

This. I only remember two saves, the tip-over and the pen

Great three points. Only saw the extended highlights but the gulf in quality looked larger than the Grand Canyon (which I was traveling back from yesterday). Still, even though QPR had only 3 on target, they looked like they were just running through our midfield and there were plenty of times our defense just looked like spectators.

Not exactly. We were under the cosh all second half with the midfield offering little protection but the defence were solid and despite QPR having a lot of the ball in front of us I’ve seen more worrying games even when we went down to 10 men.

[CountryRoyal]

Hopefully Tuesday we'll see the first signs of Clements reign.

We’ve already seen some - haven’t seen that level of defensive organisation for ages.

There was a moment when we lost the ball and a combination of VDB and Blackett defended the situation perfectly, blocking off the options whilst on the back foot with multiple QPR players running full steam.

There were several similar occasions where you thought under Stam we’d concede but the players actually got themselves into the right positions.

Also Gunter and Mannone not having 30 one-twos with each other was noticeable.

[paultheroyal]

Kelly’s goal v Derby a few weeks ago was up there with Aluko’s. Surprised you thought Gunter was superb. He gave their wideman all the space in the world.

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.