Pre Season Friendlies

Good to see Richards looking lively. The token "feels like a new signing".

1-1 and inevitably it comes from poor defending down Paal's side.

Gubbins also poor as he should read the ball being cut back and intercept but he's flat footed.

Nice finish but poor defending all round.

The game had no flow after the subs all came on.

It really did highlight how poor the players coming on are. They simply aren't good enough.

Kelman and Pedder looked just about the best of the subs, Armstrong still tries too hard, the rest admittedly didn't have long but you could just feel the drop in quality.

Yep, paper thin. Pedder looked decent, but his dead-ball delivery wasn't great. 2 yrs ago this weekend we beat Manchester United 4-2! 🙄

The positive was that we played some decent stuff in our build up play but we saw all the same issues that caused us headaches last season and the season before.

(i) A woeful defence
(ii) Lack of a clinical finisher
(iii) Lack of a leader

It's difficult to criticise players like Kakay, Gubbins and Dozzell because they do try but they're just not good enough for Championship football and nor are many of our fringe players.  Of the 13 players named as subs today there were probably only 2 who are better than League 2 level.

With the new season only 2 weeks away we need some major signings and we need them very soon. If Ainsworth honestly believes that this lot are good enough then he will deservedly be gone by October.  We have had some poor players over the past few seasons but this has to be the weakest squad we've ever had.

Very difficult to judge players based upon this match alone, especially those who knew they were going to play only the first half (like Dykes) and chased around more than they would. Gubbins does have a lot to learn, as does Drewe, Pedder and Duke-McKenna. Really not sure about the others from the Development squad. Wimbledon relied upon long balls, which did not help, but their quick breaks should be a warning to the midfield especially to close players down better and quicker. Again, Sinclair failed to deliver a real threat.

Whilst we cannot judge the players too closely on just this performance, we can probably get more of an understanding of how Ainsworth wants them to play this season. It involves faster movement of the ball (preferably one touch, moving forward) and seems to have Dykes intercepting long balls up-field, before passing them onto Chair or Willock in their more forward roles. Meanwhile, the defence continues its 'no-nonsense' approach to threats on the wing - clear your lines even if that means a throw-in for the opposition. Whether this will work or not, it is too early to say...

2,000+ QPR fans attended what is a nice stadium. At the end of the game though, few players came close enough to reward them for standing there to applaud them - Field, Adomah and Drewe are all I can remember. The rest did a sweep closer inside the pitch, and some never came over at all.

I see another wycombe ex player is trialing in our starting line up dominic gape 

FROM A WYCOMBE FAN 
However, injuries have hit the central midfielder, as he has played just 48 times since September 2020.