Peterborough v QPR 23OCT21 2 - 1 FT 21pts/5th

This is what I am trying to focus on, the fact that we are still around the top 6 and still have some key men to come back from injury and also we have quite a few players out of form. If they can hit a purple patch again we should still be able to challenge the top 6.

The defence though is still a major concern.


As for Adomah 95% of his crosses yesterday ended up in Row Z or not beating the first man. Can't fault his commitment but for some reason his final ball (which is usually top quality) was nowhere, despite having so many opportunities to get it right. After his first 10 went out of play I kept thinking 'he's going to do a good one in a minute' but it just never happened for him yesterday. McCallum was equally guilty killing many attack with a poor cross.

I'm not sure we can even award a Man of The Match yesterday. All well below par. Amos was good for 10 minutes when he came on but then got over-ran. Just an all round disappointment.

We know that the crossing from Albert and McCallum has been a lot better and hopefully yesterday was just one of those days. McCallum may well have been hampered by his hamstring and Adomah is normally the best crosser of a ball in the team

The biggest concern as you rightly point out is the defence. Both sets of wing backs will need to be replaced next summer. In the short term however, the left wing back issue might be plugged by the return of Wallace which will allow McCallum to rest and give us some competition from maybe January.  Our right wing backs are not Championship quality and its vital we bring in an experienced loan signing in January.

What has been obvious for several seasons is the slowness of our central central defenders. Against big strikers Dickie and co. look top class, you only have to see how they dealt with Deeney and  Hogan by denying them a decent shot or header on goal. However, they get really exposed when the ball is played through or over them because they are all slow and any forward with a bit of pace causes us problems. The wing backs dont help because they reguarly get caught upfield and then just amble back. 

At times we are getting cut open too easily and I never feel convinced that Warburton knows the reason why or has a plan to combat the issues. Warburton sets up his team and then seems unable to react depending on whether the opposition play a high press or play on the break. Yesterday we played right into Peterborough's hands by replacing McCallum with Willock. We had 2 defenders on the bench and Warburton brings on a forward with just a few minutes to go.

Then after the game Warburton said " we didn’t do enough to win the game, it’s as simple as that. But if that’s the case, be frustrated and come away with a point,” “We need to manage the game and we didn’t do that. To lose our shape at the end was not acceptable by us. "

Surely he was the main culprit with his decision to bring on a forward for a defender.