What can you say... Despite an injury time shot from Sylla that brought a hurried save, QPR lost their opener 1-0; and the commentator was saying that QPR had nobody capable of making enough difference up front to alter the scoresheet. Same then as last season and only 5 more transfer days for UK deals.....
The lack of signings is going to strangle us We simply don't have enough up front of any quality Why didn't we get that lad from West Ham hugill Chris Martin one of McClarens old boys I'm not going to judge the team or Big Mac until a few games in I just hope the board ain't being over cautious as it could be a very risky game plan We have no option to strengthen in January so why has nobody come in apart from leistner It's only one game in and we only lost 1-0 to a bogey team away from home At least our defence seem to play ok by the sound of it
This is where the FFP fine will show and that's this season McClaren has got a bloody hard job,he's left with the youngsters that Ollie had but we've lost players like onuoha and Robinson and a decent keeper smithies What is he supposed to do,Big Mac isn't a magician I'm quick to shoot down a manager but it will be hard to slate him if he hasn't any new players to use We could get arsene wenger in and he wouldn't get anymore out of what we have left from last season I'm praying we can stay in this league but can we survive the fallout from the FFP fine
I really don't think the result is the worst thing that could have happened, after watching highlights and reading reports they may have had more possession but nearly all their shots were from range, their goal was a bit lucky, we had a couple of really good chances.
Preston are tipped to be amongst the top teams this year, onwards and upwards people
Got back from PNE about an hour ago. Overall, underwhelming (though it is, to be fair, early days).
In terms of match ratings, pretty much a flat 5 out of 10 all the way across the team; with perhaps the exception of a 6 for the BFG.
I thought the defense did pretty well to cope with the pressure they were always going to be under.
PNE constantly got away with murder in terms of use of the hands/arms, pushing R's players off the ball, shirt tugging, you name it; Mr Rae certainly has them well-drilled in the art of being street-wise to the limit. Perhaps we are a bit naive in not being able to deal with the bullying better or reciprocate - though you'd like to think it wouldn't happen in the first place.
The biggest worry was the acute lack of attacking chances from open play. With PNE having the lion's share of possession we tended to win the ball back deep, then punt it long to Smith - the problem being, despite Smith's best attempts against 2 defenders, that there was no one (e.g. Eze??!!) within 30 yards of Smith when he did win the header; so PNE would collect it anyway, attack, and the cycle repeated itself. The only time we ever threatened (one Smith header aside he probably should have scored) was from set pieces, necessarily because we had players forward for the free-kick/corner delivery.
Only in the last 5 mins, plus a hefty whack of injury time, did we have a go; only for Sylla to be denied from 3 yards out by a worldy of a save by Rudd.
p.s. did anyone else who was there notice that when most of the players plus Schteve came over at the end to applaud the away support, as per, and as they then returned to the dressing room, Luongo came over on his own, after the others, to wave/applaud? A farewell?
Last Edit: Aug 4, 2018 22:43:43 GMT by Rosco Bosco
I sensed Luongo was very flat today, both in his performance and body language at the end. We may just be reading too much into it though. I do get a feeling from his recent interview that he is very down about how the World Cup went for him, maybe it is a hangover from that. Who knows.
Smith was isolated as you say Rosco Bosco. I don't think 4-3-3 suits him. He needs somebody a lot closer to him. If that is the formation we are going to use the wide men need to come inside a lot closer when we are looking for him to flick it on. At times he was flicking it on to himself almost (when he did win a header, I felt he was marshalled expertly bar the odd occasion).
I was chatting to Lunongo after the Union Berlin friendly last week down by the Jack Tizard School car park and he said that he was really disappointed with how the World Cup went, but he also said that he wants to push on this season with us and do all he can to get noticed for future Australia games
We continually speculate about LUONGO as if he was a great player. And we continually make excuses for him. Either he was off for from international travel. Now he's upset over the world cup. If it was a farewell I won't be overly worried.
Thanks for the report Rosco Bosco - much appreciated! I thought you would be interested to know that the Sunday Express gave him 8/10 and made him Man of the Match! Your comments about the attack reflect what was said by the commentator on BBC R5 - not good enough. I would also add that PNE being more physical and more dirty than others is not news - PNE have always played that way. It is up to the visiting side to overcome these obstacles and get goals whilst protecting itself in defence against attempts to score on the break. QPR seemed to have failed on all counts but (and it is a big 'but') we were playing away from home and defending well, which bodes well for the future. Our problems lie in the same place - converting attacking midfield play into goal opportunities. In that respect Eze was probably the wrong choice to start (Smyth would have been more resilient) and perhaps Wzsolek for Osayi-Samuel for the same reason. Anyway, we have a week to prepare and then beat the Blades & curse!
