Stoke v QPR 14Feb24 0 - 0 0mins 22nd/29pts

In recent matches Stoke have suffered from injury and disciplinary issues that we hopefully can take advantage of when we play them.

The main issue that their manager, Stephen Shumacher has had difficulty addressing is with teams exploiting their issues down the left hand side where they've had to play players out of position.

Personally I think this is ideal game to start Paul Smyth.

In respect of Willock he could soon lose his place even on the bench. Once Andersen is match fit and now that Field is available Marti will soon have some major decisions on not just who starts but the subs as well.

In respect of the Stoke game, IF our tactical team have been watching their recent games they would have told Marti that he should expect Stoke to try and  dominate possession by making loads of midfield passes. They have played this way in all their games under Schumacher. It's vital we keep things tight but  our tactic should be, sit back, let them have the ball and then counter with a simple ball through to Smyth, Armstrong or Chair.

Well done James and Dave on another enjoyable podcast. Isn't it nice that Marti's problem is that we now have too many decent players to choose from.

I thought that Hayden was our MotM yesterday ( just shaded it from JCS) and unless Marti decides to rest Colback I'd agree that the best Field can expect is a place on the bench against Stoke.

I'm not sure even Marti can believe just how well the 4 new players have done (Hodge and Frey scoring, Anderson with an assist and Hayden with a MotM performance). We probably need to see more minutes from Andersen but the options he could offer us in those attacking positions might lead to him being the best signing of them all.

The one player that might really suffer from these new additions is Dykes who I'm not sure where he now fits into the team. It seems that Armstrong and Frey will be competing for the main striker role whilst Hodge, Anderson, Chair, Willock and Smyth will be the main men competing for the other 3 roles to support whichever of the strikers gets chosen.

It will be interesting to hear what others think about Dykes because his poor form has not only seen him lose his QPR place but it could see him lose his place in the Scotland squad for the Euros.

Dykes scored in 2 in a row early in January and you always hope he's going to kick on but he just doesn't. Within a few games he's back to a barren spell.

I also think he was guilty of trying too hard when he came on against Norwich. At least 3 times he ran forward and almost lost control or gave it away and looked like he was going to trip himself up as he tried to run forward with the ball.

I'd like to see Armstrong and Frey together at some point, I think they would be a really exciting combination and would give defenders a horrid time as between them they have a bit of everything.

Anybody else going to this one? Maybe see some of you there!

Great show as ever guys. I totally agree that we may not get another chance like this one to pull ourselves out. We must make it count this time. Whenever we've been thrown a lifeline, it's ended up around our neck, that can't happen on Wednesday night.
With a couple of "winable" games after this one, we could take a really big step towards safety.

Great review gents, thank you.

This game is sooo very QPR to lose!!