QPR Post Match

[Scaring Europe to Death]

Funny when the microphones picked up a QPR fan ridiculing Sagna for the amount of money he earns

Not convinced that QPR are the right club for that particular taunt.

 

[JoeMercer'sWay]

A lack of confidence that has come about from being wide open most of the time, thus knocking our players, especially our new guys, and you can't just expect it to tighten up with 3 in midfield, you have to train in that style repeatedly, you have to plan for the opposition and plan to deal with them. We move to it on the one game that the opposition plays 4-4-2, showing the faults in Pelle's style and approach. He's now damaged the confidence of the players, and they're now making poor decisions even in a tighter formation because of the problems caused by being wide open and under intense pressure earlier in the season.

He's not building confidence, he's not building a clear strategy or plan forward and he's clearly not filling them with confidence on or off the pitch, doesn't matter how technically good they are, some are clearly not putting their top effort in (which not only Pelle but Txiki as well should have dealt with) but many just lack any real confidence in what they're doing, and there's not the leadership in the side at the moment, most importantly in the heart of the pitch.

It's a concern, but I'm confident the squad will be heavily refreshed next summer, but in the mean time the buck stops with Pelle in sorting the mess out, the mess he's, imo, largely created himself.

 

[i8rags]

I personally was pleased with a draw. Just about says it all.

 

[mr t]

How did Barton escape a booking for that tackle on Fernandinho?

 

[Blue Punter]

Strange sort of performance. At times the passing was atrocious.

Taking the conditions into account, I thought we were guilty of overplaying it a little bit. Their defence was poor, so an early ball over the top was as effective as trying to pass the ball through them.

It seemed we were trying to play like we do with Silva, but without Silva being there to execute the game plan. I just wish we would have stuck a few more low crosses from out wide across the 6 yard box. Missed Kolarov in that respect tonight. Amazed Zabba didn't get the nod as he's more likely to overlap than Sagna.

Milner should have been on for the start when we knew they were gonna be in our faces. Nasri could have come on for one of the holding midfielders when QPR were flagging a bit in the second half.

Need to find our best back 4 and stick with it. Sergio was awesome again.

 

[Tricky_Trev]

I blame the recruitment policy since we won the league in 2012. Look at our best players... Hart Zabaleta Kompany Toure Silva & Aguero all been here since pre 2012. What have we done in the 5 transfer windows since we won the title in 2012?

This. Txiki is shite

 

[Armaan]

I totally agree.

I totally disagree. You don't win the league twice in 3 years, and finish runners up in the middle year, plus win one of the other domestic cups with just 4 good players. Don't judge the team on just 2 months - during which we've managed to stay in the top 3. Average my a****

I agree with the original post in some sense. We have a very good core of players. Kompany, Hart, Silva, Aguero, Toure, Zabaleta. All very good overall and all occasionally go through the odd injury and bad spell. It's everything around them though that's the problem. Both title wins were very narrow. Doesn't change the fact we were the champions. But most of the time it's as if those core of players are doing all the heavy work. A few years ago when Mancini first walked through the door and just before him, the club laid down the gauntlet and went out without hesitation and brought in the likes of Aguero, Toure, Silva. We knew fully well we were buying three world class players. The rest have been in hope that we can get something out of them. It's a shame that we haven't pushed the boundaries as far as we can as we really haven't reached our full potential yet. It's as if half a job was done and the rest of it was just left incomplete...


But if we really want to compete with the "elite". We have to have quality all over the park. We may find some form in the league, but we'll always fall short in europe unless we have the players to go and do it. Unless we just wing it one year like Chelsea did.

Hole in one. Post of the thread.

 

[Jimfv1]

Oddly enough so am I. He might have been slower than a Norfolk remedial class, but he held his position in front of the centre halves and he passed the ball to a City shirt, and until Lampard came on, he would have been pretty unique in that capacity in the City midfield today.

Things that drove me to distraction this evening were physical and mental weakness, the number of times we gave the ball away cheaply, the fact that we were second to everything, that we lost every header, and that we put ourselves under pressure with stupid balls across the back four.

For 30 minutes we were dogshit and could have been 4 down, but thereafter a few positives kick in. We at last showed some fucking fight, we dominated most of the 2nd half, we created some really good chances, and if it had gone on another 5 minutes we would surely have won. Contrary to some on here, I thought Sagna had his best game in a City shirt (not saying much I know), Nasri improved as the game went on, Navas was half decent as well, Lampard came on and looked calm and used the ball well, and of course we have in Sergio the best player in the league by a distance.
Ya Ya was a disappointment in an advanced role though, Fernandinho's still well below his best, and Clichy I won't even start on.

Those bellyaching about the performance being absolute gash, need to give their heads a bit of a wobble. It was shagging it down, Dean indulged non stop fouling by Zamora and Austin all afternoon, much of it fucking dangerous stuff like charging into or backing under (with no intention of playing the ball) City players who were mid-jump, so that they were flipped into the turf head first, we could have wilted but we didn't, and we finished the game well on top having had 23 shots at goal away from home. It wasn't Socrates and Zico's Brazil, but nor was it Cambridge United under John Beck, and after the fortnight we've had, we may look back at this as a decent point and the day we started righting the ship

That my friend is the best post that I have read all night.

I think it's the accumulation of average to dire performances that has people worried. From coasting along at 2-0 up in Moscow we have all of a sudden become a side who looks like they would concede goals against any team whether home or away.

Maybe the criticism is over the top but surely even the most optimistic posters are concerned by what they are seeing. We are all over the place defensively and that means everybody from front to back. We are relying on one player to bail us out time and time again and luckily he does. We could easily have been 3-0 down today before we got going. Why is that?

It's all very well saying last year this and 2011/12 that but currently playing like this we will struggle to get in the top 3 and we could well be out of the CL in the group stages again.

We have our easiest run of games of the season now when we are playing at our worst which unfortunately is a leveller. Energy and desire will sometimes prevail in these situations and some of our players are lacking even this basic requirement.

The break has come at the right time because I think everyone needs a break from this, the players, the manager the fans...everyone. Let's hope we click again and soon because if we don't we have a real fight on our hands.

Thank god for OB1's post, this summed up what I saw on TV too. Hart's error at the start could have been a massive blow and we were shaky when they got the ball of us after the first 8 minutes until they scored. Once we equalised we were on top in the game until Fernandinho was subbed. I know Fernandinho isn't playing as well as last season but he's being subbed in every game or being used as a sub. IMO he should have played the full 90 today alongside Fernando.

Some of our passing went astray and this is mostly down to individual errors but the state of the pitch and the torrential rain made the match more of a cup tie than we would have liked too. Zamora should be booked for his blocking antics and wrestling players but fair play to him he used his strength and pushed the rules of the game as far as he could and got away with it. I think some of QPR's bookings were a bit harsh and maybe the referee should have given some leeway due to the weather conditions.

We do have probably the strongest squad in the league but the team isn't performing like it should be doing. It is the formation, tactics, lack of change and compensation for how other teams/players do and a loss of confidence and form from some of our players. I still think that top four can be achieved, and I'll be happy with this, but I don't think our owners will thank Pellegrini if we continue our poor performances.

I do think that overall today was another poor performance with this squad of players but I can understand after watching the game that getting a point here is something to be thankful for. I agree we will not win the league every season, but if we carry on playing like we are at the moment then we won't pick up any trophies this season. If playing long balls over the top becomes our plan B then this will be stopped soon enough by opposition teams, and we will have to come up with something else. I don't expect to win every game, but if the players can put in a good performance in each game then we as fans should be happy. I'm as concerned as the rest of us by our current run of results, conceding goals and sloppy passing and it is all linked. Pellegrini must know what is going wrong but his job is now to fix it, and quickly.

 

[kp789]

I totally disagree. You don't win the league twice in 3 years, and finish runners up in the middle year, plus win one of the other domestic cups with just 4 good players. Don't judge the team on just 2 months - during which we've managed to stay in the top 3. Average my a****

I agree with the original post in some sense. We have a very good core of players. Kompany, Hart, Silva, Aguero, Toure, Zabaleta. All very good overall and all occasionally go through the odd injury and bad spell. It's everything around them though that's the problem. Both title wins were very narrow. Doesn't change the fact we were the champions. But most of the time it's as if those core of players are doing all the heavy work. A few years ago when Mancini first walked through the door and just before him, the club laid down the gauntlet and went out without hesitation and brought in the likes of Aguero, Toure, Silva. We knew fully well we were buying three world class players. The rest have been in hope that we can get something out of them. It's a shame that we haven't pushed the boundaries as far as we can as we really haven't reached our full potential yet. It's as if half a job was done and the rest of it was just left incomplete...


But if we really want to compete with the "elite". We have to have quality all over the park. We may find some form in the league, but we'll always fall short in europe unless we have the players to go and do it. Unless we just wing it one year like Chelsea did.

Hole in one. Post of the thread.

I find it hard to argue with any of that.

When we signed Aguero, Yaya and Silva, they were big big names, like Di Maria was when United signed him, or when Chelsea signed Costa etc. They are all proven at being top top players at the very highest levels within the game. No criticism to some of the lads we have brought in, but they arent exactly the Ronaldo's or Xabi Alonso's of the game. The players we have brought in are not bad players, they are more or less 'like for like' replacements in the most part. We need to improve, not consolidate.

 

[blueplan]

Strange sort of performance. At times the passing was atrocious.

Taking the conditions into account, I thought we were guilty of overplaying it a little bit. Their defence was poor, so an early ball over the top was as effective as trying to pass the ball through them.

It seemed we were trying to play like we do with Silva, but without Silva being there to execute the game plan. I just wish we would have stuck a few more low crosses from out wide across the 6 yard box. Missed Kolarov in that respect tonight. Amazed Zabba didn't get the nod as he's more likely to overlap than Sagna.

Milner should have been on for the start when we knew they were gonna be in our faces. Nasri could have come on for one of the holding midfielders when QPR were flagging a bit in the second half.

Need to find our best back 4 and stick with it. Sergio was awesome again.

Zaba needs a rest. He was not only physically tired, ball watching in the centre with VK & Fernando on a 5 on 5, but had a brain fart (mental fatigue) in letting Doumbia slip by him on his side for CSKA 2nd goal.