| Antti's Three Knee Jerks: Reading 0 QPR 1 11:56 - Oct 3 with 5365 views | Antti_Heinola |
I only made it home from work for the second half of Sky's one-camera, no replays job, so it's only half the number of knee jerks. That's fair isn't it?
1. LEISTNER: Frequently referred to as 'a German second division defender' in a deliberately disparaging way. I'm not quite sure why this is. Had we signed a centre half from our league, no one would be saying 'we tried to replace Onuoha with a player from the Championship.' The inference seems to be that the 2. Bundesliga is some kind of footballing backwater; when in fact, from what I've seen it's at the very least comparable to our league. He was, rightly, ripped a new one by a lot of fans after the WBA debacle, but overall I've been impressed.
Reading are, of course, a different kettle of fish to Swansea (and by different, I mean stewed, overcooked and boiled to the point where there's no taste left, just mushy bones and slimy skin), so I have no doubts that even if Leistner had played on Saturday we would still have lost, but at the same time, we do look better with him in the side. I like his strength, his calmness, and while a little slow, he's a smart defender who manages to adapt to that. We've signed a lot worse for a lot more money.
And I found it interesting when he scored. Some have suggested, and it wasn't beyond the realms of possibility, that some players might have been unhappy about him being parachuted in as captain, but the reaction from the players (apart from Luongo, actually) to his goal was a clear sign of his popularity. It happens every now and again when you can see players are particularly pleased for a teammate getting a goal, and it happened last night. A calm finish too, after, surely, a handball on the line?
I'm not going overboard here, I still think our defence has big problems, but the fact is in Leistner's last 5 games, we've conceded just two goals.
2. WELLS: Worked really hard again, technically very good, a lovely ball he played to Eze first half before he had a shot saved. But he needs a goal. We may have spent a lot of money bringing in two loans, but in terms of goals, it hasn't hugely helped, despite the fact they're better than what we had. We've scored just eight goals in 11 games. Towards the end of last season, Ollie had us scoring fairly freely, particularly at home, and partly because contributions were coming from elsewhere, not just the strikers. It's now turning into a huge issue. This isn't a dig at Wells, who's probably, on average, been our best player since he arrived, but someone - and preferably more than one person - needs to step up to the plate. Last night we actually should have scored three goals. Cousins' header first half was a bad miss, and Wells own strike, while you can see what he was aiming for, was a bit too weak. Hemed then missed a very presentable chance late on. This has to get better. It's OK saying how wobbly our defence looks, but every defence in the world will struggle if the rest of the team doesn't put away relatively decent chances on a fairly regular basis. Even Reading have scored 6 more than us, no one's scored less and West Brom have more than three times as many. With no more transfers coming in, SM needs to solve this, and fast.
3. REFEREE: It takes a brave man to book not one, but two players for diving in the box. He appeared to be right on both occasions, despite the moans from the crowd, but in fact, Meite was lucky to stay on, because he dived again (I think it was him - no replays, remember) late on and probably should have been sent off. Can't ever remember seeing a player sent off for diving twice, but it might have happened. Overall, it was nice to have a ref who seemed to favour us a bit if anything.
Quick question, though: if it was handball on the line just before Leistner scored, should that player have been at least booked anyway for at least temporarily denying a goal? |  |
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| Antti's Three Knee Jerks: Reading 0 QPR 1 on 12:15 - Oct 3 with 3519 views | ingeminate |
Wells is like an anti-Sylla, looks the part, great touch, movement, can pass the ball, a proper footballer.
Just struggling to hit the back of the net. |  |
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| Antti's Three Knee Jerks: Reading 0 QPR 1 on 12:20 - Oct 3 with 3494 views | BrianMcCarthy |
Agree with all three knee-jerks, Antti.
Can't remember who the third Reading diver was but it wasn't Meite, I'm fairly sure. |  |
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| Antti's Three Knee Jerks: Reading 0 QPR 1 on 12:20 - Oct 3 with 3494 views | Guppy22 |
Totally agree re BFG, bar one game he's been really good for us. He's got a massive heart, may not be the quickest but he's not afraid to throw his body in the way of a shot. Also strong in the tackle and doesn't get bullied. Great signing for no money |  | | |
| Antti's Three Knee Jerks: Reading 0 QPR 1 on 12:30 - Oct 3 with 3445 views | francisbowles |
| Antti's Three Knee Jerks: Reading 0 QPR 1 on 12:20 - Oct 3 by BrianMcCarthy |
Agree with all three knee-jerks, Antti.
Can't remember who the third Reading diver was but it wasn't Meite, I'm fairly sure. |
Yiadom, I think that's his name😠| | | |
| Antti's Three Knee Jerks: Reading 0 QPR 1 on 13:03 - Oct 3 with 3343 views | BrianMcCarthy |
| Antti's Three Knee Jerks: Reading 0 QPR 1 on 12:30 - Oct 3 by francisbowles |
Yiadom, I think that's his name😠|
Yiadominic Iorfa, to give him his full name. | |
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| Antti's Three Knee Jerks: Reading 0 QPR 1 on 13:08 - Oct 3 with 3315 views | R_from_afar |
Great points. I like Leistner, not least because he keeps it simple and plays it safe. If he's in any doubt, he takes the safe option, and I love that. If the ball needs to be hammered into touch, so be it.
I totally agree re. point 2, this is something I have flagged up as an issue for some time, including last season. It goes way back, in fact. Unless something momentous happens, we are not going to create dozens of chances in a game, so we have to be clinical. In the Norwich game, for example, we did have quite a few shots but too many were blazed over. The whole team - except Toni LOL - needs to practise its finishing, both headed and shots.
RFA |  |
| "Things had started becoming increasingly desperate at Loftus Road but QPR have been handed a massive lifeline and the place has absolutely erupted. it's carnage. It's bedlam. It's 1-1." |
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| Antti's Three Knee Jerks: Reading 0 QPR 1 on 13:10 - Oct 3 with 3301 views | DavieQPR |
We seem to play a lot deeper after we have scored a goal rather than push on for a second. This doesn't help the Wells or Hemed who land up stranded on the half way line. |  | | |
| Antti's Three Knee Jerks: Reading 0 QPR 1 on 13:14 - Oct 3 with 3279 views | ngbqpr |
| Antti's Three Knee Jerks: Reading 0 QPR 1 on 12:20 - Oct 3 by Guppy22 |
Totally agree re BFG, bar one game he's been really good for us. He's got a massive heart, may not be the quickest but he's not afraid to throw his body in the way of a shot. Also strong in the tackle and doesn't get bullied. Great signing for no money |
Most successful teams, however much they can afford to rotate, try to find, then stick to, a regular centre back partnership.
SMc has commented a few times on how much work Lynch & BFG are doing on the training ground to get an understanding.
He's realised Hall being regularly available is not something we can bank on in any way, shape or form; and Baptiste is very much back up.
So much as I am as pi$$ed off as most about the way either his "coach the youngsters" brief has been changed, or he's ignoring it...in this case, I think you could argue he's looked at what is the best available solution to a big problem (weakness at cb, no money in Jan to address it)...and is working hard at COACHING that pair together...and as pointed out above, the stats in the games these two have played together since WBA are half decent.
Also I think I'm right in saying he bombed out Lynch at Forest - so fair play to both player & manager for giving it another crack. |  |
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| Antti's Three Knee Jerks: Reading 0 QPR 1 on 13:35 - Oct 3 with 3220 views | Antti_Heinola |
| Antti's Three Knee Jerks: Reading 0 QPR 1 on 13:14 - Oct 3 by ngbqpr |
Most successful teams, however much they can afford to rotate, try to find, then stick to, a regular centre back partnership.
SMc has commented a few times on how much work Lynch & BFG are doing on the training ground to get an understanding.
He's realised Hall being regularly available is not something we can bank on in any way, shape or form; and Baptiste is very much back up.
So much as I am as pi$$ed off as most about the way either his "coach the youngsters" brief has been changed, or he's ignoring it...in this case, I think you could argue he's looked at what is the best available solution to a big problem (weakness at cb, no money in Jan to address it)...and is working hard at COACHING that pair together...and as pointed out above, the stats in the games these two have played together since WBA are half decent.
Also I think I'm right in saying he bombed out Lynch at Forest - so fair play to both player & manager for giving it another crack. |
to be fair, if Furs wasn't injured we'd have 3 from the U23s (or younger) as first team regulars, which isn't bad. I think my feeling is I just want to see BOS and little Smyth (and Manning, but can't) given more time on the pitch. BOS again felt like he could've done well coming on last night. | |
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| Antti's Three Knee Jerks: Reading 0 QPR 1 on 13:39 - Oct 3 with 3194 views | ozranger |
I too noted the absence of Luongo in the celebration frames. I wonder if there may be something in that.
On your question, the answer is, in this case, no. No, in that if there had been handball prior to the BFG taking his shot then the ref, given he saw it, would have immediately blown for a pen and sent the player off. However, had a hand been used to attempt to stop the ball from going in the goal but that attempt was unsuccessful as the ball came off the hand and into the goal, the rules of not too long ago would have meant the player was to be cautioned. There was a situation also not too long ago whereby if a player had attempted to foul an opponent as the last man (whereby if he was successful he would have been sent off), and the opponent got away and took a shot - i.e., advantage - then the offender could only be cautioned. So, that may be what you are thinking of, but on the goal line with handball it is treated quite different. I'll let the referee experts here explain better. |  | | |
| Antti's Three Knee Jerks: Reading 0 QPR 1 on 13:58 - Oct 3 with 3116 views | QPR_John |
| Antti's Three Knee Jerks: Reading 0 QPR 1 on 13:39 - Oct 3 by ozranger |
I too noted the absence of Luongo in the celebration frames. I wonder if there may be something in that.
On your question, the answer is, in this case, no. No, in that if there had been handball prior to the BFG taking his shot then the ref, given he saw it, would have immediately blown for a pen and sent the player off. However, had a hand been used to attempt to stop the ball from going in the goal but that attempt was unsuccessful as the ball came off the hand and into the goal, the rules of not too long ago would have meant the player was to be cautioned. There was a situation also not too long ago whereby if a player had attempted to foul an opponent as the last man (whereby if he was successful he would have been sent off), and the opponent got away and took a shot - i.e., advantage - then the offender could only be cautioned. So, that may be what you are thinking of, but on the goal line with handball it is treated quite different. I'll let the referee experts here explain better. |
"No, in that if there had been handball prior to the BFG taking his shot then the ref, given he saw it, would have immediately blown for a pen and sent the player off. "
Surely given the circumstances with the ball bouncing around in the six yard box the referee would have, and it might well the case he did, waited for a second or two before stopping the game. Waiting to see if a team has an advantage surely outweighs the opportunity of giving a red card | | | |
| Antti's Three Knee Jerks: Reading 0 QPR 1 on 14:01 - Oct 3 with 3105 views | QPR_John |
On point 3 I drove to the game with a Reading supporter and after the game he admitted all three were obvious dives. | | | |
| Antti's Three Knee Jerks: Reading 0 QPR 1 on 14:18 - Oct 3 with 3052 views | PinnerPaul |
Haven't seen any of the match (out assistant refereeing last night) - but when you say handball prior to the goal was it
a) An unsuccessful attempt with the hand to stop the ball going in the net? If so, yes that should be a caution
b) Same applies if a handball in the build up - if it was an attempt to stop a goal or break up a promising attack. Ref can play advantage in handball cases and still go back and caution if the offence deserves it - like in the case of foul play.
Never seen a player sent off for 2 cases of simulation - although have seen players receive a 2nd yellow for it and sent off that way. | | | |
| Antti's Three Knee Jerks: Reading 0 QPR 1 on 14:20 - Oct 3 with 3034 views | PinnerPaul |
| Antti's Three Knee Jerks: Reading 0 QPR 1 on 13:58 - Oct 3 by QPR_John |
"No, in that if there had been handball prior to the BFG taking his shot then the ref, given he saw it, would have immediately blown for a pen and sent the player off. "
Surely given the circumstances with the ball bouncing around in the six yard box the referee would have, and it might well the case he did, waited for a second or two before stopping the game. Waiting to see if a team has an advantage surely outweighs the opportunity of giving a red card |
Quite right John | | | |
| Antti's Three Knee Jerks: Reading 0 QPR 1 on 14:51 - Oct 3 with 2942 views | Antti_Heinola |
| Antti's Three Knee Jerks: Reading 0 QPR 1 on 14:20 - Oct 3 by PinnerPaul |
Quite right John |
yeah i think what John said is correct. To me it looks like possibly Luongo shot, it was blocked on the line by a hand, we appealed, it rebounded into the melee, then within 2 secs Leistner scored. Feels to me ref was absolutely right to wait, but had Leistner have missed, or the shot been cleared, he could've then awarded the pen. But Pinner, if it was handball, with the earlier shot, should he have been booked? The ref stands still for ages after the goal looking at something, so maybe he was considering it?
Doesn't really matter, just interested! | |
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| Antti's Three Knee Jerks: Reading 0 QPR 1 on 14:59 - Oct 3 with 2901 views | Mick_S |
| Antti's Three Knee Jerks: Reading 0 QPR 1 on 14:01 - Oct 3 by QPR_John |
On point 3 I drove to the game with a Reading supporter and after the game he admitted all three were obvious dives. |
All 3 were blatant and very weak attempts - even the Reading referee booing was half hearted. |  |
| Did I ever mention that I was in Minder? |
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| Antti's Three Knee Jerks: Reading 0 QPR 1 on 16:07 - Oct 3 with 2746 views | kensalriser |
Saw the game from around the time of the goal and my thoughts are that we really still have a lot of the same problems we've had for some time: ponderous build-up play, lack of ability to control the midfield, ineffective strikers, poor passing and movement off the ball.
The amount of space and time on the ball we gave Reading during the last 20 minutes or so was just begging them to equalise and had they been even slightly better they would have done.
Glad to have the points naturally, but if we want to escape more beatings from better teams we need to sharpen up. |  |
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| Antti's Three Knee Jerks: Reading 0 QPR 1 on 16:16 - Oct 3 with 2719 views | traininvain |
| Antti's Three Knee Jerks: Reading 0 QPR 1 on 16:07 - Oct 3 by kensalriser |
Saw the game from around the time of the goal and my thoughts are that we really still have a lot of the same problems we've had for some time: ponderous build-up play, lack of ability to control the midfield, ineffective strikers, poor passing and movement off the ball.
The amount of space and time on the ball we gave Reading during the last 20 minutes or so was just begging them to equalise and had they been even slightly better they would have done.
Glad to have the points naturally, but if we want to escape more beatings from better teams we need to sharpen up. |
We were by far the better team up until we scored and probably should've been a couple of goals to the good.
Naturally, Reading pushed hard for an equaliser after we scored but this was not representative of what had gone on beforehand. |  | | |
| Antti's Three Knee Jerks: Reading 0 QPR 1 on 16:18 - Oct 3 with 2706 views | BrianMcCarthy |
| Antti's Three Knee Jerks: Reading 0 QPR 1 on 16:16 - Oct 3 by traininvain |
We were by far the better team up until we scored and probably should've been a couple of goals to the good.
Naturally, Reading pushed hard for an equaliser after we scored but this was not representative of what had gone on beforehand. |
Kensal,
I'd back up traininvain's comments on this.
I get your point about controlling the midfield, though. It's a real worry that we can't seem to do this when we go ahead. | |
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| Antti's Three Knee Jerks: Reading 0 QPR 1 on 16:22 - Oct 3 with 2684 views | sdm1508 |
I think that Hamed's hold up play will bring others in but Wells pace is a good thing to have. Maybe have Wells coming in from the left and Hamed up top. Might allow Eze to be more of a threat getting forward if you have Hamed holding the ball up and laying it off. We need pace out wide so Wells could offer this and not being the focal point might take some pressure off. Freeman on the right I guess and Eze is the 10. At the moment though don't think Freeman is an automatic starter. Too many step overs and losing the ball when the first time simple pass is on. | | | |
| Antti's Three Knee Jerks: Reading 0 QPR 1 on 16:32 - Oct 3 with 2660 views | Toast_R |
What a conundrum. What would you take, a penalty and a red card or just the goal?
Get the feeling we'd have got bugger all had Leistner not scored. [Post edited 3 Oct 2018 16:33]
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| Antti's Three Knee Jerks: Reading 0 QPR 1 on 16:41 - Oct 3 with 2639 views | Match82 |
| Antti's Three Knee Jerks: Reading 0 QPR 1 on 12:20 - Oct 3 by BrianMcCarthy |
Agree with all three knee-jerks, Antti.
Can't remember who the third Reading diver was but it wasn't Meite, I'm fairly sure. |
Yiadom maybe? Agree it wasn't Meite. Good jerks though. |  | | |
| Antti's Three Knee Jerks: Reading 0 QPR 1 on 16:56 - Oct 3 with 2603 views | kensalriser |
| Antti's Three Knee Jerks: Reading 0 QPR 1 on 16:16 - Oct 3 by traininvain |
We were by far the better team up until we scored and probably should've been a couple of goals to the good.
Naturally, Reading pushed hard for an equaliser after we scored but this was not representative of what had gone on beforehand. |
I can't disagree as it I didn't see it, but what I did see were very familar problems.
If we were the better team we should have continued what we were doing instead of sitting deep and inviting them on, especially as we don't really have the pace for scoring on the counter. | |
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| Antti's Three Knee Jerks: Reading 0 QPR 1 on 17:47 - Oct 3 with 2491 views | Antti_Heinola |
| Antti's Three Knee Jerks: Reading 0 QPR 1 on 16:56 - Oct 3 by kensalriser |
I can't disagree as it I didn't see it, but what I did see were very familar problems.
If we were the better team we should have continued what we were doing instead of sitting deep and inviting them on, especially as we don't really have the pace for scoring on the counter. |
Easy to say, but when you've lost three on the spin and find it difficult to keep clean sheets, it's difficult not to do that, even if the manager is telling you not to! Also, we really should have scored on the counter, but Hemed put it over! | |
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| Antti's Three Knee Jerks: Reading 0 QPR 1 on 18:28 - Oct 3 with 2424 views | VancouverHoop |
I only caught the last fifteen minutes or so. My first reaction was that we'd never protect a one goal lead the way we were playing. But slowly we forced the play out of our own end – conclusively due to Scowen and Pav coming on – that was something I don't think I've seen too often in the past few years, generally we've ended up with most of the team treading on our keeper's toes. We aren't scoring much, but when we do we're doing a better job of killing off the game. | | | |
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