HULL V QPR 4-0 FT

Nobody can say that The Chief was not affected by what happened to Scowen or happy with losing so badly. Nedum wears his heart on his sleeve and hates the team losing!

Team selection wrong? Well it was the team that did so well against Norwich minus Matt Smith (because he was injured), so it should have been up for the task. OK Lynch was injured early on but Robbo should have been an easy slot-in. Instead we were overrun in midfield and sucker-punched with 3 breakaway goals and the fourth goal was a direct result of Robinson failing to intercept a pass across the goal area, allowing an easy tap in. The attacking line-up had Eze replacing Smith as the striker, and he was often ineffective but did improve as the game progressed. 

Now we have to forget this nightmare and focus upon Tuesday night, getting the tactics right and have the midfield running at higher energy levels as they hunt the ball in pairs.

Finally home from a long day, where shattered is not the word

However on the plus side the team should be firing on all cylinders on Tuesday night as they had plenty of rest today where they didn’t bother turning up!!

Still more personal positives than negatives for me to take out of the day, my first taste of City driving, a free shirt and another ground closer to the 92. The result is something I’ve tried to block out! Though at least getting battered meant I got out quicker and therefore didn’t get held up in traffic

OK, I have now had the benefit of a night's sleep to reconsider the game. Given that this was virtually the same side that won so convincingly a few days before - what went wrong? Here are a few thoughts...

• @singlespeed mentioned the impact of losing Matt Smith and, as he was my joint MotM, I have to agree him not playing did not help. Of a bigger consequence though was the replacement. Rather than at least start with a defined striker, Ollie opted for Eze. To me the lad looked often like a rabbit in the headlights, and his passing was dire at times. I would have hoped that he would have been replaced if Lynch had not had to come off.
• Until Lynch went off we were just about holding our own. whether losing him upset the team or that was just coincidence I cannot say. What I am sure about is that Robinson should have done better in intercepting the pass across the goal area for their 4th goal. OK that does not excuse the three previous goals, all soft, but that fourth one hurt! Can only guess he was a little rusty.
• The midfield was crowded, probably very deliberately by both managers in order to stem build-ups from their (especially important for QPR when minus Matt Smith to play back balls to others). I believe they got there tactics right in this area and we did not. Ollie opted to play Manning and Wszolek on their opposing wings, whilst Freeman had authority to roam forward. Both Manning & Wszolek struggled in their defending, and they should have been quickly moved to their natural wing. As it was, Furlong was struggling to cope on the right, and Bidwell was less often able to rush forward effectively as he was also under the cosh. Having 'opposing wingers' seems to me to be only effective when making goal-line crosses back towards the goal area. Going forward I though Freeman and Eze were often fighting for the ball in the same area and Eze was not running on into space. Perhaps they are too similar in the way they play...
• Finally, we met a team that were as tuned in and eager as a unit to win as we were a week ago. That should have resulted in a close game and probably a draw. Instead, as ranger-boy stated - we did not turn up...