MILLWALL V QPR 1-0 FT

Bad results for us today
Sunderland and Bolton winning
Only 5 points off bottom 3 now
Could be only 2 points off if we lose to Cardiff

If I was Holloway I'd start to get your P45 ready

Lose to Cardiff then you might be right
It just isn't happening with Ollie
Its only that less than convincing win against brum away has saved his bacon in the short term
Our defender scored both goals not striker in that game and it was hardly convincing

Frustrating as hell. Unlike last season it feels like there is a reasonable team in there somewhere which only makes it more frustrating.
I don't think Holloway will be sacked. He's not perfect but I just don't think it will help. And he clearly hasn't lost the dressing room - the team are really working for him.
We can't blame him for the lack of quality strikers but we can blame him for not using any of our many wingers to get crosses into Smith and Sylla. I understand the formation we start with each game but surely if you're chasing the game it makes sense to get some width and crosses in.

Having now watched the full 90 I can see what Ollie was hoping. Osayi-Samuel's pace linked to Sylla's ball-control was meant to upset their defence and it sort of worked. I do think that Washington would have been a better partner for Osayi-Samuel, but I wonder if Ollie feels his confidence is shattered?

I think the bigger question though was how Scowen would be replaced because of his suspension. We saw Luongo dropped back to his deeper position of last season but he was never as 'rat-like' as Scowen is; and Cousins was never as threatening out wide as Luongo is. For me this was the time for Ryan Manning to be reintroduced after playing in his last appearance so well, so long ago. Manning could have played as the DCM and fed the other four in midfield. certainly our 5 in midfield caused problems for Millwall's 4-4-2 line-up, and we did use the width at times to good advantage. What let us down was (surprise surprise) our finishing in the last third, particularly away from the wings. In a similar position, Millwall used simple, one-touch passes to link play in the final third and because of that always looked dangerous when attacking.

Did things improve when Smith came on to replace Wszolek (instead of Sylla)? Not really. Instead of using Wszolek down the right wing we reverted to Route One once again, and this was reinforced when Osayi-Samuel was taken off as the alternative winger and replaced with a bemused Oteh. Too late a frustrated Sylla was replaced by Wheeler for a 10 minute excursion from the bench; whilst Hall, Cousins and Freeman looked in need of a breather.

Should we have won? No, but a draw should have been right on the night. Trouble is we had nobody playing that night who was capable of either scoring with a long-range shot or a goalmouth scramble. Millwall's goal was good. QPR should have done a whole lot better...