QPR v Fulham 9JAN21 0 - 2 AET FA Cup 3rd Rnd

It was disappointing to lose today but I think Warburton choosing to play a 3-5-2 system worked and for 70 minutes we were the better team.

Dieng, did every thing he needed to do and neither goal was his fault.
Cameron, Dickie and Barbet were very good as the back 3 with Barbet just edging Dickie as my man of the match

Kane and BOS played in the wing back roles. Whilst Kane got a couple of decent crosses over the majority of his passes and crosses were either cut out or over hit. Any team watching BOS would have been pleasantly surprised at his defensive effort today and he has added another string to his bow.

Ball and Carroll were today's defensive midfielders and begrudgingly I have to say that Ball did an excellent job. I'm never going to be his greatest fan but today he was one of our better performers. Carroll is easily knocked off the ball but he does hang on to possession well and he rarely gives the ball away.

Chair had another decent game and like Carroll is a player who we miss when they get taken off because the team lack the creativity and passing ability they give us.

Dykes and Bonne as the front two will never work because neither of them are goalscorers. I struggle to see what Bonne currently offers to the team and he is really lacking any confidence. Dykes does a lot of running around but he has no idea how to control the ball. Dykes came to the club with Warburton telling us how he roughed up the Rangers and Celtic central defenders. I'm not sure what to make of the Scottish defenders if that is true because in the Championship and today he has been out muscled. Although when it's remembered that Wallace and Hamallianen got good reviews as Scottish defenders it's no wonder he looked good playing against that level of player.

Going forward I hope that Charlie can convert some of the chances that Dykes and Bonne have missed and if Warburton sticks with 3-5-2 then I reckon he will go with Dykes and Austin up front.

If the two golden chances had been taken then I do not think Fulham would easily have recovered. It certainly would not have gone to extra time. I did predict a draw too northwesthoop! 

stoatey you are right to mention that 3-5-2 looks better for us, plus (I know begrudgingly) praising Ball for his efforts, and I too am baffled as to why Warburton keeps subbing both Chair and Carroll at the same time. Taking off together your link-man for the defence and your link-man for the attack just does not seem sensible to me as we have no other players who match their abilities. In defence of Dykes (taking aside any missed goals) he was either told to drop deeper or forced to do so to support our midfield. We all know heading is not this team's forte, but taking out of the box the strongest header of incoming crosses just does not make sense to me.

OK, we all know their squad is worth squillions and Parker was forced eventually to play major squad players, but we just proved that our middling (at best) Championship side can be beaten by a struggling PL side. No cup upset there. But it does mean a chance to chalk up a win in a game was lost, and Warburton has to be worried he will not survive if we lose again on Tuesday....

And here is our updated FA Cup record since 1990.

Our first third round defeat in 3 years, but we have lost 21 times in the round we entered in the last 31 seasons

Still no quarter final since 1995.



In terms of current form:

We have failed to score in 13 out of 33 matches since football resumed in June.

If we needed any proof why we needed Charlie Austin we have only scored 5 goals and failed to score in 5 of the last 10 competitive matches (a run of 10 matches without a win in all competitions)

QPR have failed to score in four consecutive home games in all competitions for the first time since August 1978.

It was a record breaking 50th defeat in the 3rd round for us yesterday.