Millwall will probably be disappointed with just a point today, they seemed to want it more. We looked off the pace again, and were fortunate to get anything. Andersen was poor, and Dembele struggled to make an impact. Frey was excellent again. We haven't clicked yet.
Isn’t that a job of a good manager getting the best out of the players at his disposal Marti isn’t at the moment
I think he is a good manager right now, certainly the right fit for us anyway. He's bedding in a lot of new players, and has made us hard to beat whilst doing that. It will come good I'm sure.
Millwall will probably be disappointed with just a point today, they seemed to want it more. We looked off the pace again, and were fortunate to get anything. Andersen was poor, and Dembele struggled to make an impact. Frey was excellent again. We haven't clicked yet.
We were poor today, and the omission from your list was Madsen. He is either trying too hard or not finding space. He is no replacement/substitute for Colback. When he came on Varane was better in that role. The way we played today, a better side would have punished us!
Isn’t that a job of a good manager getting the best out of the players at his disposal Marti isn’t at the moment
I think he is a good manager right now, certainly the right fit for us anyway. He's bedding in a lot of new players, and has made us hard to beat whilst doing that. It will come good I'm sure.
Just watched the game and we looked very poor. As expected Millwall were a big physical team and included the giant Jake Cooper and the nasty George Saville. The Millwall player who impressed all match for me was Esse and he caused us problems when ever he got on the ball.
It was good to see JCS fit enough to play which allowed us to field our best defence. The issue yet again was our midfield with Madsen and Andersen both looking out of their depth and finding the pace of the Championship too much. I thought both of them had good possession at times, but neither seemed capable of playing a decisive pass and when Millwall had the ball they seemed static and frightened to tackle.
Frey got another goal from a lovely pass by Dembele but apart from that he never got any real decent service although he'd have been my QPR MotM for his constant hard work.
We were lucky against Shefield Wednesday last Saturday and we were just as lucky to get a point today. The team still seem to be struggling to get to grips with the way Marti wants to play and it's becoming frustrating to watch.
Just watched the game and we looked very poor. As expected Millwall were a big physical team and included the giant Jake Cooper and the nasty George Saville. The Millwall player who impressed all match for me was Esse and he caused us problems when ever he got on the ball.
It was good to see JCS fit enough to play which allowed us to field our best defence. The issue yet again was our midfield with Madsen and Andersen both looking out of their depth and finding the pace of the Championship too much. I thought both of them had good possession at times, but neither seemed capable of playing a decisive pass and when Millwall had the ball they seemed static and frightened to tackle.
Frey got another goal from a lovely pass by Dembele but apart from that he never got any real decent service although he'd have been my QPR MotM for his constant hard work.
We were lucky against Shefield Wednesday last Saturday and we were just as lucky to get a point today. The team still seem to be struggling to get to grips with the way Marti wants to play and it's becoming frustrating to watch.
Really good analysis stoatey ! There is no point in working hard to get the ball out from the back only to lose it in midfield. There is nobody offering the same option as Colback to take it safely through the middle and offer an alternative to the wings. I really hoped Madsen would offer that option, but it is Varane we should be turning to instead. Up front, I do feel we are not using Andersen well, we need to decide where suits him best - behind Frey or just off the wing. Then we should stick with it! Andersen's height and dogged tackling does add an element to our attack (as now does the tackling of Frey), but it needs to be used well. Personally, I have been delighted how Dembele has performed on the wing, but still see him as a 'false 10' interacting with Saito/Chair/Smyth. I am not sure whether seeing spells where we dominated play with our ball-passing shows promise or shows we are unable to maintain this standard - very frustrating! Cifuentes said afterwards:
"I'm not happy about the way we played, we could have played much better. We spoke in the week, in the few days we had, about how important the build-up play would be. Millwall usually play in a very narrow 4-4-2, very compact. We talked about building long sequences, something we have missed a bit this season. Sometimes you need to be more patient in football. Today we were a little bit confused about this."
Last Edit: Sept 21, 2024 20:44:04 GMT by kingfisher
Following on from my post above, here are the scores on the London World door:
GK - Paul Nardi, 7 Had to be alive early and got down very well to save from Esse. Looked flustered at other moments, including for the goal, and seemed to struggle for ideas when distributing at times. Faced a flurry of activity in front of his goal in injury time and batted away when called upon.
LB - Kenneth Paal, 6 Largely kept the dangerous Romain Esse quiet but the winger did grow into the game. Millwall looked more dangerous on the other flank.
CB - Jake Clarke-Salter, 7 A physical and calm presence from the off. QPR are a better side with him in it, there’s no doubt about that - although there were moments of miscommunication with Cook today. Won a much needed free kick to get back some time as the Lions gathered momentum in injury time.
CB - Steve Cook, 7 In the thick of the battle as always but was done a little for the Millwall goal. A busy afternoon for the centre-back, who poked out a vital toe to end one of the dangerous late Millwall moves.
RB - Jimmy Dunne, 5 Had a tough day today against an in-form Watmore, dangerously poking the ball into the winger’s path with just 11 minutes on the clock. Did settle after that.
CM - Sam Field, 6 Industrious as ever in the centre of the park even if QPR didn’t manage to control the game in front of a home crowd.
CM - Nicolas Madsen, 6 Some neat work when combining with Andersen and showed plenty of strength when carrying the ball. Faded in the second half before his substitution and was far too pedestrian ahead of the Millwall goal.
CM - Lucas Andersen, 4 It’s frustrating to see a player capable of so much make so many bad choices. The playmaker often started promising R’s moves but was also guilty of some poor deliveries. Easily dispossessed by the hungry Watmore before the break and had those in Loftus Road tearing their hair out when blasting over instead of pulling back and wasting a really dangerous break in the second half. An irksome afternoon for the Dane.
LW - Koki Saito, 7 Some nice moments but QPR were more of a threat on the other side. A brilliant jinking run in the final third to tee up Andersen in the first half a sign of what Saito can offer the side.
RW - Kader Dembele, 8 Full of running and was very much QPR’s best out option on the break. It was his dynamism and vision that set up Frey for the goal.
ST - Michael Frey, 9 Likened to Lord Voldermort early doors by the Millwall supporters thanks to his appearance. More than happy to play the villain, making a nuisance of himself and involved in some good hold up play. His run and finish for the goal were excellent - this is the type of performance QPR need every week from the striker.
SUB - Paul Smyth, 6 Had a quick impact and moved with freedom across the front line but unable to help QPR find a winner.
SUB - Jonathan Varane, 8 An important cameo from Jonathan Varane. Only a short time on the pitch but some big interventions with a tactical foul and huge leap to nod away a corner. Full of energy but a little messy at times as he helped see out the game.
SUB - Zan Celar, N/A
Agree with all those except Madsen's as off the ball he was not looking for space and found himself too close to the ball-player to be useful. Just hope he grows into the play like Frey has managed to do.
Agree with northwesthoop regarding the ratings, nobody should be above an 7. Even Nardi, who though he kept us in the game, created too many problems by not being interested in coming to collect crosses. Also agree with the consensus around Andersen and Madsen, the latter being one of the most ineffective footballers I’ve seen in a long time. The guy just wanders around, seldom touches the ball, and doesn’t show any intensity at any point.
Disagree with stoatey about Millwall being a physical team. Not any more. Cooper the only big physical player in the team. Saville and Honeyman are nippy, aggravating footballers but they are footballers first. But they’ve got more slicker, faster footballers in the team than people recognise, as we saw with the goal when they carved us apart with clever passing. Watmore, Esse, de Norre and Bryan are all good footballers. Langstaff was good without ever troubling Nardi. They’re becoming a footballing team and they only get physical and hit it long on a set play when Cooper is advanced. Even the last few minutes they weren’t direct, they continued trying to play.
Millwall were easily the better team. Langstaff had a chance first half that he put into the side netting after cleverly keeping himself onside. Nardi also made a save down to his right from someone in that half. Second half they caused more trouble in attack than we ever did. And we are glossing over the fact that they should have had one of the most obvious penalties you will ever see when it bounced up and struck Smyth (I think it was him) on the hand.
I know nobody likes Millwall, but they were the better team by a long way. And they played a lot better football than I think too many will give credit for. Worrying signs for us. Chair is a big miss but as big a miss is Colback, who without him, our midfield crumbles into nothingness. Field applies himself well, but when he is the only one and has nobody behind him except the back four then he’s in trouble. There’s an argument to play Paal in there as he at least passes the ball forward and makes angles. But it’s striking just how slow the midfield are to make angles for Cook and JCS to pass to, how reluctant they are to show for it from the full backs. And equally how scared our defenders are to pass the ball at pace in to the centre of the pitch. Until that is addressed then we will continue to languish.
On a more positive note, we’ve found a genuinely good centre forward.
Last Edit: Sept 21, 2024 21:57:59 GMT by jrperry1882
So disjointed. I really don't understand the Paal moving into midfield every time we have the ball.
We don't know where to play Madsen.
Andersen was awful, Smyth hopeless when he came on. Lloyd barely got involved. Basically very little worked for us.
Frey, Saiti and Nardi about the only positives for us.
As jimjams said at least we aren't losing these games and we know Chair will take us up a level.
I totally agree with all your comments especially the Paal observation although I believe this comes from the Pep Guardiola play book.
The difference of course is that City are packed with quality and skill so playing out from the back and then overloading the midfield on the press is much easier for them. It's rare for the City players to give the ball away and if they do then they have very fast defenders like Walker who can get back into position. In our case we give the ball away too often and are then under pressure because Paal isn't the fastest