QPR v Milwall 18JUL20 4 - 3 FT [57pts/14th]

In respect of the game I have only seen the highlights but Manning looked outstanding and was not only scoring and hitting the bar but creating good chances for other players. If he could improve his defending then the world would be his oyster. I would expect a Premiership team or higher placed Championship team to take a chance on him in the belief that their coaches can instll some defensive skills into him.

As expected Millwall dominated us in the air and we looked so fragile when they played the ball into our box. As mentioned by kingfisher it's vital that Lumley commands his area better. What didnt help Lumley though was how lightweight the defence was and how he got no protection from our centre backs. The result of the aerial bombardment was that Millwall scored 2 goals, hit the post from Bodvarson and had 2 goals disallowed.

What really didn't help was the fact that 5'11" Osman Kakay was given the task of trying to mark 6'5" Matt Smith. Why Warburton couldn't see that aerially it was a mismatch I don't know. What makes the whole situation stranger is that we knew this would be exactly the tactics that Millwall would use prior to the game and we didn't seem to have the players to cope.

It's vital that we get a big dominant central defender that will take charge of our back line and give them and the goalkeeper some organisation.

Should we sign Kieffer Moore it will be a big help in defending set pieces but the addition of a commanding centre back is even more important.

I appreciate the confidence kingfisher - that's assuming there is a living pulse of course, otherwise my doctoring skills are somewhere between Seuss and Shipman.

In most normal seasons you would start looking now at who is available - i.e. typically, out of contract - and there would have been enough noises coming out of Loftus Road to give you a realistic expectation of finances available. But this season is so up in the air that I haven't even bothered to think about who might be realistically available.

There seem to be a lot more players out of contract and/or released than normal, which seems a positive thing in terms of options for player recruitment, especially for a club with a (very) limited budget. Also, the impact of impending points deductions on the likes of Wigan, Sheff Wed and Derby which could see them relegated will affect whether they, and other clubs affected by this, release more/less players to add to the mix.
But it's likely that the club will have even less funds available, given the continued focus on savings and the impact of massively reduced revenues since lockdown (e.g. no paying fans at matches, etc.). Also the extended transfer window will have a huge affect on when (i.e. how much later than normal) players might be deemed surplus to requirements, which EPL players get loan listed, etc.

I'm sure we would all like us to do our transfer business early; but given the above circumstances, and our track record last season on being cautious and biding our time to get players (you'll remember Warburton talking last season about refusing to panic and being confident that players they were looking at becoming available in the last week before the transfer window shut), I doubt anything will happen for several weeks, by which time the landscape of player availability and finances would have shifted a fair bit.


Edit: although I do know Richard Keogh is available