| Dunne rescues QPR from more Boxing Day blues – Report on 20:48 - Dec 27 with 2737 views | Rsole |
Ama-doo-doo-doo, ama-doo Mben-gue
Ama-doo-doo-doo, yellow card, cover Dem-bele
Ama -doo-doo-doo, tempt the ref, stop Mavi-didi
Shoot to the left, to the right, jump up and down, slide on knee
Sing and dance every week, to Mad-Ben’s melody |  |
| Those possessed by devils, try and keep them under control a bit, can't you ?
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| Dunne rescues QPR from more Boxing Day blues – Report on 20:48 - Dec 27 with 2733 views | BrianMcCarthy |
Thanks Clive.
Missed this one, so great to get such a detailed report. |  |
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| Dunne rescues QPR from more Boxing Day blues – Report on 21:09 - Dec 27 with 2615 views | bosh67 |
Well done for managing to create an excellent review. My one would have gone... And in the end we got a point, on Boxing Day... So, that was nice, I guess... |  |
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| Dunne rescues QPR from more Boxing Day blues – Report on 21:39 - Dec 27 with 2463 views | Philothesuperhoop |
Thanks for the report Clive, excellent as always. Plus this time it’s like some kind of therapy as I left that place so angry because of the first half no-show. I still feel it was a massive opportunity missed. It was so, so frustrating to stand and watch.
However having read your report I feel like I’ve been asked to ‘chill’ slightly?! Which I will do.
But it was absolutely shocking in that first half and I almost think you’ve gone easy on them. Let's be clear, these are 'professional' footballers (i.e. they do this for a living), and they just didn't show up for work.
It was like managing staff and a semi decent employee phones in sick. They know they're not sick, you know they're not sick, but it is just somehow accepted. They come back the following day and everyone just moves on. This is what happened here.
Portsmouth are poor, and in the relegation zone. Their home form is what kept them up last year. We know that - everyone knows that. Everyone knows it’s a difficult place to go. And yet we pick the team we do. And then don't compete for anything at all in the first 45 minutes. We make Andre Dozzel look like Zinedine Zidane! Dozzell is everything that is bad about modern football. He has had a privileged upbringing, never working a day in his life, playing tippy tappy football on perfect academy pitches, swanning from one decent contract to another, thinking life is like FIFA. If Issac Hayden had gone straight through him and growled in the first five minutes he wouldn't have shown for the ball ever again and would have been subbed. Instead we gave him the run of the pitch. He can pass the ball - what he can't do is compete in midfield in men's football...but we let him.
I agreed Jimmy Dunne led by example and can hold his head up, but Steve Cook, heaven help us. This is a man that we collectively (because it is partly our hard-earned cash paying his wages) who we are giving £30,000 per week. Yes, thirty grand a week. He looked fat and slow and had clearly had a lovely Christmas Day. Twitter is banging on about how he made a couple of great last ditch blocks (which he did, he is a quality player), but why was that? It was because he couldn't pass the ball ten yards. His touch was awful, his passing was shocking, his long range cross field balls would have looked good at Twickenham.
As a team we were third to everything. That's not a typing error - Portsmouth were second to everything in the first half, and if they didn't control the ball with that contact they were then third to it too.
We decided to kick goal kicks long for a bit. Good decision. Wait to get our team where we want them because it's our dead ball so we have the luxury of knowing where it's planned to go. Kick it....and then NOBODY jumps to compete for the ball. Not one of the outfield ten players. None. There you go Portsmouth, have a free header. Once could be a miscommunication. But we then did exactly the same thing again two minutes later. That isn’t just playing badly, that is shocking.
Our Child King felt confident enough to put out his message to the minions after the magnificent Leicester game, I wonder how that would have been received if he'd put that out last night?
Clearly discussions were had at half time and we came out and competed….and we won the second half one nil. If we'd played this game like we did against Leicester we'd have won 0-4.
And yet somehow us mere paying travelling supporters are supposed to just accept that this was just a 'bad day at the office'. Well it wasn't. It was phoned in sick when you're perfectly well but just happen to be at home watching a rerun of the darts |  | | |
| Dunne rescues QPR from more Boxing Day blues – Report on 00:10 - Dec 28 with 1945 views | Myke |
| Dunne rescues QPR from more Boxing Day blues – Report on 21:39 - Dec 27 by Philothesuperhoop |
Thanks for the report Clive, excellent as always. Plus this time it’s like some kind of therapy as I left that place so angry because of the first half no-show. I still feel it was a massive opportunity missed. It was so, so frustrating to stand and watch.
However having read your report I feel like I’ve been asked to ‘chill’ slightly?! Which I will do.
But it was absolutely shocking in that first half and I almost think you’ve gone easy on them. Let's be clear, these are 'professional' footballers (i.e. they do this for a living), and they just didn't show up for work.
It was like managing staff and a semi decent employee phones in sick. They know they're not sick, you know they're not sick, but it is just somehow accepted. They come back the following day and everyone just moves on. This is what happened here.
Portsmouth are poor, and in the relegation zone. Their home form is what kept them up last year. We know that - everyone knows that. Everyone knows it’s a difficult place to go. And yet we pick the team we do. And then don't compete for anything at all in the first 45 minutes. We make Andre Dozzel look like Zinedine Zidane! Dozzell is everything that is bad about modern football. He has had a privileged upbringing, never working a day in his life, playing tippy tappy football on perfect academy pitches, swanning from one decent contract to another, thinking life is like FIFA. If Issac Hayden had gone straight through him and growled in the first five minutes he wouldn't have shown for the ball ever again and would have been subbed. Instead we gave him the run of the pitch. He can pass the ball - what he can't do is compete in midfield in men's football...but we let him.
I agreed Jimmy Dunne led by example and can hold his head up, but Steve Cook, heaven help us. This is a man that we collectively (because it is partly our hard-earned cash paying his wages) who we are giving £30,000 per week. Yes, thirty grand a week. He looked fat and slow and had clearly had a lovely Christmas Day. Twitter is banging on about how he made a couple of great last ditch blocks (which he did, he is a quality player), but why was that? It was because he couldn't pass the ball ten yards. His touch was awful, his passing was shocking, his long range cross field balls would have looked good at Twickenham.
As a team we were third to everything. That's not a typing error - Portsmouth were second to everything in the first half, and if they didn't control the ball with that contact they were then third to it too.
We decided to kick goal kicks long for a bit. Good decision. Wait to get our team where we want them because it's our dead ball so we have the luxury of knowing where it's planned to go. Kick it....and then NOBODY jumps to compete for the ball. Not one of the outfield ten players. None. There you go Portsmouth, have a free header. Once could be a miscommunication. But we then did exactly the same thing again two minutes later. That isn’t just playing badly, that is shocking.
Our Child King felt confident enough to put out his message to the minions after the magnificent Leicester game, I wonder how that would have been received if he'd put that out last night?
Clearly discussions were had at half time and we came out and competed….and we won the second half one nil. If we'd played this game like we did against Leicester we'd have won 0-4.
And yet somehow us mere paying travelling supporters are supposed to just accept that this was just a 'bad day at the office'. Well it wasn't. It was phoned in sick when you're perfectly well but just happen to be at home watching a rerun of the darts |
Every word of this I agree with - except a bit harsh on Cook. Not our worst player v Portsmouth by some distance. |  | | |
| Dunne rescues QPR from more Boxing Day blues – Report on 00:32 - Dec 28 with 1897 views | Hunterhoop |
| Dunne rescues QPR from more Boxing Day blues – Report on 21:39 - Dec 27 by Philothesuperhoop |
Thanks for the report Clive, excellent as always. Plus this time it’s like some kind of therapy as I left that place so angry because of the first half no-show. I still feel it was a massive opportunity missed. It was so, so frustrating to stand and watch.
However having read your report I feel like I’ve been asked to ‘chill’ slightly?! Which I will do.
But it was absolutely shocking in that first half and I almost think you’ve gone easy on them. Let's be clear, these are 'professional' footballers (i.e. they do this for a living), and they just didn't show up for work.
It was like managing staff and a semi decent employee phones in sick. They know they're not sick, you know they're not sick, but it is just somehow accepted. They come back the following day and everyone just moves on. This is what happened here.
Portsmouth are poor, and in the relegation zone. Their home form is what kept them up last year. We know that - everyone knows that. Everyone knows it’s a difficult place to go. And yet we pick the team we do. And then don't compete for anything at all in the first 45 minutes. We make Andre Dozzel look like Zinedine Zidane! Dozzell is everything that is bad about modern football. He has had a privileged upbringing, never working a day in his life, playing tippy tappy football on perfect academy pitches, swanning from one decent contract to another, thinking life is like FIFA. If Issac Hayden had gone straight through him and growled in the first five minutes he wouldn't have shown for the ball ever again and would have been subbed. Instead we gave him the run of the pitch. He can pass the ball - what he can't do is compete in midfield in men's football...but we let him.
I agreed Jimmy Dunne led by example and can hold his head up, but Steve Cook, heaven help us. This is a man that we collectively (because it is partly our hard-earned cash paying his wages) who we are giving £30,000 per week. Yes, thirty grand a week. He looked fat and slow and had clearly had a lovely Christmas Day. Twitter is banging on about how he made a couple of great last ditch blocks (which he did, he is a quality player), but why was that? It was because he couldn't pass the ball ten yards. His touch was awful, his passing was shocking, his long range cross field balls would have looked good at Twickenham.
As a team we were third to everything. That's not a typing error - Portsmouth were second to everything in the first half, and if they didn't control the ball with that contact they were then third to it too.
We decided to kick goal kicks long for a bit. Good decision. Wait to get our team where we want them because it's our dead ball so we have the luxury of knowing where it's planned to go. Kick it....and then NOBODY jumps to compete for the ball. Not one of the outfield ten players. None. There you go Portsmouth, have a free header. Once could be a miscommunication. But we then did exactly the same thing again two minutes later. That isn’t just playing badly, that is shocking.
Our Child King felt confident enough to put out his message to the minions after the magnificent Leicester game, I wonder how that would have been received if he'd put that out last night?
Clearly discussions were had at half time and we came out and competed….and we won the second half one nil. If we'd played this game like we did against Leicester we'd have won 0-4.
And yet somehow us mere paying travelling supporters are supposed to just accept that this was just a 'bad day at the office'. Well it wasn't. It was phoned in sick when you're perfectly well but just happen to be at home watching a rerun of the darts |
I posted weeks ago that the performance and result against Portsmouth on Boxing Day would be indicative of whether the culture has really changed at the club…
We need to raise standards. This is a good squad - best we had had in years - and this league is not strong. We have shown we can play to a high level but not that we can play consistently at or near that level. That is a standards issue. It should be expected we play at or near that level week in, week out, not that such a level is a nice thing to do occasionally and that’s enough because doing that and grinding out some draws at a much lower level will have us finish around 16th like usual.
Norwich is the next big test for me. Show up, smash them, move on, like a serious side with standards and expectations. If we struggle in that fixture, it’ll be very disappointing. West Brom away is a difficult fixture. We should expect to compete and win, but if West Brom play well, we might not. Our best should be too good for Norwich’s best. Out 90% should be. Raise expectations. |  | | |
| Dunne rescues QPR from more Boxing Day blues – Report on 01:44 - Dec 28 with 1802 views | CLAREMAN1995 |
Excellent honest report on a pathetic first half and much improved second thankfully .
Imagine if we had survived until half time scoreless we could have scraped an ugly win.
Man Utd had Fergie time when they scored multiple goals after the full time whistle should have blown .QPR have the opposite giving away goals time after time seconds before the half time whistle its just baffling how we keep doing that .
Still 4 points out of 6 so far and we all would take the same next week |  | | |
| Dunne rescues QPR from more Boxing Day blues – Report on 01:52 - Dec 28 with 1760 views | stainrods_elbow |
| Dunne rescues QPR from more Boxing Day blues – Report on 21:39 - Dec 27 by Philothesuperhoop |
Thanks for the report Clive, excellent as always. Plus this time it’s like some kind of therapy as I left that place so angry because of the first half no-show. I still feel it was a massive opportunity missed. It was so, so frustrating to stand and watch.
However having read your report I feel like I’ve been asked to ‘chill’ slightly?! Which I will do.
But it was absolutely shocking in that first half and I almost think you’ve gone easy on them. Let's be clear, these are 'professional' footballers (i.e. they do this for a living), and they just didn't show up for work.
It was like managing staff and a semi decent employee phones in sick. They know they're not sick, you know they're not sick, but it is just somehow accepted. They come back the following day and everyone just moves on. This is what happened here.
Portsmouth are poor, and in the relegation zone. Their home form is what kept them up last year. We know that - everyone knows that. Everyone knows it’s a difficult place to go. And yet we pick the team we do. And then don't compete for anything at all in the first 45 minutes. We make Andre Dozzel look like Zinedine Zidane! Dozzell is everything that is bad about modern football. He has had a privileged upbringing, never working a day in his life, playing tippy tappy football on perfect academy pitches, swanning from one decent contract to another, thinking life is like FIFA. If Issac Hayden had gone straight through him and growled in the first five minutes he wouldn't have shown for the ball ever again and would have been subbed. Instead we gave him the run of the pitch. He can pass the ball - what he can't do is compete in midfield in men's football...but we let him.
I agreed Jimmy Dunne led by example and can hold his head up, but Steve Cook, heaven help us. This is a man that we collectively (because it is partly our hard-earned cash paying his wages) who we are giving £30,000 per week. Yes, thirty grand a week. He looked fat and slow and had clearly had a lovely Christmas Day. Twitter is banging on about how he made a couple of great last ditch blocks (which he did, he is a quality player), but why was that? It was because he couldn't pass the ball ten yards. His touch was awful, his passing was shocking, his long range cross field balls would have looked good at Twickenham.
As a team we were third to everything. That's not a typing error - Portsmouth were second to everything in the first half, and if they didn't control the ball with that contact they were then third to it too.
We decided to kick goal kicks long for a bit. Good decision. Wait to get our team where we want them because it's our dead ball so we have the luxury of knowing where it's planned to go. Kick it....and then NOBODY jumps to compete for the ball. Not one of the outfield ten players. None. There you go Portsmouth, have a free header. Once could be a miscommunication. But we then did exactly the same thing again two minutes later. That isn’t just playing badly, that is shocking.
Our Child King felt confident enough to put out his message to the minions after the magnificent Leicester game, I wonder how that would have been received if he'd put that out last night?
Clearly discussions were had at half time and we came out and competed….and we won the second half one nil. If we'd played this game like we did against Leicester we'd have won 0-4.
And yet somehow us mere paying travelling supporters are supposed to just accept that this was just a 'bad day at the office'. Well it wasn't. It was phoned in sick when you're perfectly well but just happen to be at home watching a rerun of the darts |
Excellent post.
I wish you were in charge - though of course if I'd written this (and I agree with it virtually word for word), the usual suspects would be laying into me with their usual brain-dead bile. But your first bit reads as self-contradictory about Portsmouth being in the relegation zone and yet it being a hard place to go (as asserted by our manager and captain pre-/post-match). As I pointed out on another thread, they'd lost half their games at home this season before we rolled up. It's NOT a particularly hard place to go, but we went there and could and should have been two or three down at half-time, which would have meant, imo, we wouldn't have rescued the game.
On that basis, I'd argue, it isn't and wasn't a 'good point', just because we showed in the 2nd half what we're capable of but can't be arsed to do for a whole game (as we've shown more than once now on the road). Any interviewer with balls would have asked JS why this keeps happening, and why the fans don't have a moral case for being refunded 50% of their expenses when it does. In my opinion, like it or not, JS is a cynical patsy for trying to claim the 1-1 was a good result because we only played for one half. He'd have garnered a modicum of respect if he'd devoted some of his post-match interview to explaining why his team again and again and again, especially away, only play for half a game. We won the 2nd half 1-0 at a poor Champ team - forgive me if I don't f*cking turn cartwheels!
Said interviewer doesn't, of course, because the club has built-in half-arsed (half-halved) standards. Unless that institutional slop changes, we'll be bobbing around 16th till kingdom come, strikers or no strikers.
NY message to (some) fellow fans: Wake the f*ck up! [Post edited 28 Dec 2:43]
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| Dunne rescues QPR from more Boxing Day blues – Report on 02:03 - Dec 28 with 1750 views | stainrods_elbow |
| Dunne rescues QPR from more Boxing Day blues – Report on 00:32 - Dec 28 by Hunterhoop |
I posted weeks ago that the performance and result against Portsmouth on Boxing Day would be indicative of whether the culture has really changed at the club…
We need to raise standards. This is a good squad - best we had had in years - and this league is not strong. We have shown we can play to a high level but not that we can play consistently at or near that level. That is a standards issue. It should be expected we play at or near that level week in, week out, not that such a level is a nice thing to do occasionally and that’s enough because doing that and grinding out some draws at a much lower level will have us finish around 16th like usual.
Norwich is the next big test for me. Show up, smash them, move on, like a serious side with standards and expectations. If we struggle in that fixture, it’ll be very disappointing. West Brom away is a difficult fixture. We should expect to compete and win, but if West Brom play well, we might not. Our best should be too good for Norwich’s best. Out 90% should be. Raise expectations. |
For me, we'll get between 1-3 points from those two games on current showings. Probably lose to WBA and beat Norwich, and the manager will be calling it a good week again.
Make your own mind up if we do/he does! [Post edited 28 Dec 2:06]
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| Dunne rescues QPR from more Boxing Day blues – Report on 02:53 - Dec 28 with 1695 views | stainrods_elbow |
| Dunne rescues QPR from more Boxing Day blues – Report on 01:44 - Dec 28 by CLAREMAN1995 |
Excellent honest report on a pathetic first half and much improved second thankfully .
Imagine if we had survived until half time scoreless we could have scraped an ugly win.
Man Utd had Fergie time when they scored multiple goals after the full time whistle should have blown .QPR have the opposite giving away goals time after time seconds before the half time whistle its just baffling how we keep doing that .
Still 4 points out of 6 so far and we all would take the same next week |
Try and dial back on you 'we would all' rhetoric, mate - we're all individuals! Against a team that had previously lost half its home matches and went to pieces when we decided to attack them a bit after the half-time oranges, I don't take a draw with them. We could and should have beaten them, and with the right mentality and set-up, we would have done.
I also want 9 points from the next three games, two of which, lest we forget, are at home against the bottom two teams. We also owe both a tonking. WBA, for their part, are lower-half mediocrities, who Bristol City recently rolled over on their own patch, and somehow without that goal machine Armstrong making an appearance.
Do I think we'll get them? I think we'll get 4, and that'll be spun as decent. [Post edited 28 Dec 2:56]
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| Dunne rescues QPR from more Boxing Day blues – Report on 07:45 - Dec 28 with 1488 views | Wilkinswatercarrier |
Some (usual suspects) over reacting to this result/performance. Remember where we were last season compared to this and keep some perspective. We'd have lost this game last season, no doubt about it, but we didn't.
We saved a point due to a half time reaction. Wouldn't have done that 12 months ago.
Point at WBA and it'll be a good couple of days. | |
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| Dunne rescues QPR from more Boxing Day blues – Report on 09:14 - Dec 28 with 1307 views | thehat |
Thank you Clive - Great summary and a very valuable point away from home.
To be honest I would of been happy with a point before the game and am even more happy with the point after the performance.
I do think we need to tweak the starting eleven and our shape when playing away. We have the best squad we have had in years and some minor adjustments I think would really help the players.
Anyway overall I am absolutely delighted where we are at the halfway point. No reason why we can't have a good back nine and then who knows.......Maybe she will be wearing a blue and white ribbon in the merry month of May.
Oh and the John Sitton quotes brought a cheeky smile this morning. | | | |
| Dunne rescues QPR from more Boxing Day blues – Report on 09:19 - Dec 28 with 1294 views | Hunterhoop |
| Dunne rescues QPR from more Boxing Day blues – Report on 07:45 - Dec 28 by Wilkinswatercarrier |
Some (usual suspects) over reacting to this result/performance. Remember where we were last season compared to this and keep some perspective. We'd have lost this game last season, no doubt about it, but we didn't.
We saved a point due to a half time reaction. Wouldn't have done that 12 months ago.
Point at WBA and it'll be a good couple of days. |
You’re right, we wouldn’t have got a draw in the same position last year. But we had a much worse side and squad last season. We didn’t have any decent forwards and now we have two very good ones. Burrell has scored 9 so far. Our highest in a whole season by a forward in the last decade is 12, I believe. Keep your expectations, if you want. I think it’s partly what is holding the club back (and has been for a few years now. Warburton spoke of it. | | | |
| Dunne rescues QPR from more Boxing Day blues – Report on 09:37 - Dec 28 with 1223 views | Paddyhoops |
When Jason Dozell is dominating proceedings you know you’re not playing well .
Decent point in the end . Probably won’t please some people but never mind. | | | |
| Dunne rescues QPR from more Boxing Day blues – Report on 10:39 - Dec 28 with 1059 views | Stocktake |
I find the narrative that the club has a standards problem just because we are inconsistent a bit silly. Yes, it's an open league but still very competitive. We have decent strikers but our other forward players and midfield are either small or not very combative. Against teams of giants who have no problem resorting to the dark arts we get regularly dominated. No great mystery surely. | | | |
| Dunne rescues QPR from more Boxing Day blues – Report on 10:39 - Dec 28 with 1056 views | Lblock |
| Dunne rescues QPR from more Boxing Day blues – Report on 21:39 - Dec 27 by Philothesuperhoop |
Thanks for the report Clive, excellent as always. Plus this time it’s like some kind of therapy as I left that place so angry because of the first half no-show. I still feel it was a massive opportunity missed. It was so, so frustrating to stand and watch.
However having read your report I feel like I’ve been asked to ‘chill’ slightly?! Which I will do.
But it was absolutely shocking in that first half and I almost think you’ve gone easy on them. Let's be clear, these are 'professional' footballers (i.e. they do this for a living), and they just didn't show up for work.
It was like managing staff and a semi decent employee phones in sick. They know they're not sick, you know they're not sick, but it is just somehow accepted. They come back the following day and everyone just moves on. This is what happened here.
Portsmouth are poor, and in the relegation zone. Their home form is what kept them up last year. We know that - everyone knows that. Everyone knows it’s a difficult place to go. And yet we pick the team we do. And then don't compete for anything at all in the first 45 minutes. We make Andre Dozzel look like Zinedine Zidane! Dozzell is everything that is bad about modern football. He has had a privileged upbringing, never working a day in his life, playing tippy tappy football on perfect academy pitches, swanning from one decent contract to another, thinking life is like FIFA. If Issac Hayden had gone straight through him and growled in the first five minutes he wouldn't have shown for the ball ever again and would have been subbed. Instead we gave him the run of the pitch. He can pass the ball - what he can't do is compete in midfield in men's football...but we let him.
I agreed Jimmy Dunne led by example and can hold his head up, but Steve Cook, heaven help us. This is a man that we collectively (because it is partly our hard-earned cash paying his wages) who we are giving £30,000 per week. Yes, thirty grand a week. He looked fat and slow and had clearly had a lovely Christmas Day. Twitter is banging on about how he made a couple of great last ditch blocks (which he did, he is a quality player), but why was that? It was because he couldn't pass the ball ten yards. His touch was awful, his passing was shocking, his long range cross field balls would have looked good at Twickenham.
As a team we were third to everything. That's not a typing error - Portsmouth were second to everything in the first half, and if they didn't control the ball with that contact they were then third to it too.
We decided to kick goal kicks long for a bit. Good decision. Wait to get our team where we want them because it's our dead ball so we have the luxury of knowing where it's planned to go. Kick it....and then NOBODY jumps to compete for the ball. Not one of the outfield ten players. None. There you go Portsmouth, have a free header. Once could be a miscommunication. But we then did exactly the same thing again two minutes later. That isn’t just playing badly, that is shocking.
Our Child King felt confident enough to put out his message to the minions after the magnificent Leicester game, I wonder how that would have been received if he'd put that out last night?
Clearly discussions were had at half time and we came out and competed….and we won the second half one nil. If we'd played this game like we did against Leicester we'd have won 0-4.
And yet somehow us mere paying travelling supporters are supposed to just accept that this was just a 'bad day at the office'. Well it wasn't. It was phoned in sick when you're perfectly well but just happen to be at home watching a rerun of the darts |
Quality stuff.
I said in the match report that to follow up the Leicester game with that first half and then switch it (slightly) back on for the second tells me many of our players are cheats.
They are cheating us out of effort and the minimum anyone should expect from anyone who pulls on that jersey is 100%
The apathy of our fans pissed me off for years……. Until I succumbed to it myself.
Travelling the country is hard enough, being rewarded with phoned in performances should be met with pitchforks and burning spears. If we as fans accept this “typical QPR” then more fool us.
Always notable for me the attitude of our last truly successful Manager (but of course he did have a decent budget to work with) and how he got maximum buy in from players |  |
| Cherish and enjoy life.... this ain't no dress rehearsal |
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| Dunne rescues QPR from more Boxing Day blues – Report on 10:44 - Dec 28 with 1045 views | Stocktake |
| Dunne rescues QPR from more Boxing Day blues – Report on 10:39 - Dec 28 by Lblock |
Quality stuff.
I said in the match report that to follow up the Leicester game with that first half and then switch it (slightly) back on for the second tells me many of our players are cheats.
They are cheating us out of effort and the minimum anyone should expect from anyone who pulls on that jersey is 100%
The apathy of our fans pissed me off for years……. Until I succumbed to it myself.
Travelling the country is hard enough, being rewarded with phoned in performances should be met with pitchforks and burning spears. If we as fans accept this “typical QPR” then more fool us.
Always notable for me the attitude of our last truly successful Manager (but of course he did have a decent budget to work with) and how he got maximum buy in from players |
True, but his team was also bigger, stronger and nastier which many seem to forget | | | |
| Dunne rescues QPR from more Boxing Day blues – Report on 11:35 - Dec 28 with 884 views | Hunterhoop |
| Dunne rescues QPR from more Boxing Day blues – Report on 10:39 - Dec 28 by Stocktake |
I find the narrative that the club has a standards problem just because we are inconsistent a bit silly. Yes, it's an open league but still very competitive. We have decent strikers but our other forward players and midfield are either small or not very combative. Against teams of giants who have no problem resorting to the dark arts we get regularly dominated. No great mystery surely. |
Birmingham’s boss referred to us as a very physical side. I don’t think it’s a valid excuse, nor should we be trying to excuse poor showings. Why do so? If you accept inconsistency you are accepting the lows as well as the highs, which, imo, is a standards issue. This isn’t a Stephan thing. Or a Nourry thing. It’s a club wide, cultural issue we have had for years. My point (raised on other threads) was really whether anything had changed, or have we just (finally!) found ourselves with two good forwards in a weak league (6th looks on for a low total again), hence the improvement from 16th to 10th) but otherwise has much really changed? No youth player making the step up this season (as usual, tbf), forfeited the League Cup as usual, didn’t win on Boxing Day, struggling against bottom 3 sides (we drop our level to theirs)…another bottom 3 side and the FA Cup 3rd round to come.
To be clear, I rate this squad. I like our head coach a lot. I’m merely pointing out big signposts that would indicate if things really have changed. Here’s hoping we meet the test of the next two. | | | |
| Dunne rescues QPR from more Boxing Day blues – Report on 12:05 - Dec 28 with 792 views | nix |
| Dunne rescues QPR from more Boxing Day blues – Report on 11:35 - Dec 28 by Hunterhoop |
Birmingham’s boss referred to us as a very physical side. I don’t think it’s a valid excuse, nor should we be trying to excuse poor showings. Why do so? If you accept inconsistency you are accepting the lows as well as the highs, which, imo, is a standards issue. This isn’t a Stephan thing. Or a Nourry thing. It’s a club wide, cultural issue we have had for years. My point (raised on other threads) was really whether anything had changed, or have we just (finally!) found ourselves with two good forwards in a weak league (6th looks on for a low total again), hence the improvement from 16th to 10th) but otherwise has much really changed? No youth player making the step up this season (as usual, tbf), forfeited the League Cup as usual, didn’t win on Boxing Day, struggling against bottom 3 sides (we drop our level to theirs)…another bottom 3 side and the FA Cup 3rd round to come.
To be clear, I rate this squad. I like our head coach a lot. I’m merely pointing out big signposts that would indicate if things really have changed. Here’s hoping we meet the test of the next two. |
If you mean whinging every time we lose, or indeed draw away from home, and then disappearing when we actually win a few matches then yes I’m happy not to fulfil your profile of a real fan with the right kind of expectations. I don’t think it is unreasonable to want incremental change. It was those that demanded instant success that led us to near financial ruin. I understand people’s frustrations and I feel them myself when amazing performances are followed by duff ones. But I don’t think it’s anything to do with the fans not expecting enough. No one expects more than the Chelsea fans, go on their messageboard and read it, but it doesn’t make them top of the league despite millions spent.
As for Warburton, I loved having him as our manager but he did spend a lot of money (I’m sure he put pressure on the board at least to spend cash even if he didn’t sign off on the contracts) and presided over a terrible collapse when we were in a decent position in the league.
I much prefer Stephan’s public position of not complaining about his squad, the Board or the fans but just working to improve individual players. He makes mistakes but seems to me constantly trying to learn from them and improve us as a squad. |  | | |
| Dunne rescues QPR from more Boxing Day blues – Report on 12:18 - Dec 28 with 760 views | Stocktake |
| Dunne rescues QPR from more Boxing Day blues – Report on 11:35 - Dec 28 by Hunterhoop |
Birmingham’s boss referred to us as a very physical side. I don’t think it’s a valid excuse, nor should we be trying to excuse poor showings. Why do so? If you accept inconsistency you are accepting the lows as well as the highs, which, imo, is a standards issue. This isn’t a Stephan thing. Or a Nourry thing. It’s a club wide, cultural issue we have had for years. My point (raised on other threads) was really whether anything had changed, or have we just (finally!) found ourselves with two good forwards in a weak league (6th looks on for a low total again), hence the improvement from 16th to 10th) but otherwise has much really changed? No youth player making the step up this season (as usual, tbf), forfeited the League Cup as usual, didn’t win on Boxing Day, struggling against bottom 3 sides (we drop our level to theirs)…another bottom 3 side and the FA Cup 3rd round to come.
To be clear, I rate this squad. I like our head coach a lot. I’m merely pointing out big signposts that would indicate if things really have changed. Here’s hoping we meet the test of the next two. |
Fair points, especially re performance in the cups. That's been going on for more than 30 years so baffling to know what the issue is there as different owners and management in that time. | | | |
| Dunne rescues QPR from more Boxing Day blues – Report on 12:35 - Dec 28 with 715 views | Hunterhoop |
| Dunne rescues QPR from more Boxing Day blues – Report on 12:05 - Dec 28 by nix |
If you mean whinging every time we lose, or indeed draw away from home, and then disappearing when we actually win a few matches then yes I’m happy not to fulfil your profile of a real fan with the right kind of expectations. I don’t think it is unreasonable to want incremental change. It was those that demanded instant success that led us to near financial ruin. I understand people’s frustrations and I feel them myself when amazing performances are followed by duff ones. But I don’t think it’s anything to do with the fans not expecting enough. No one expects more than the Chelsea fans, go on their messageboard and read it, but it doesn’t make them top of the league despite millions spent.
As for Warburton, I loved having him as our manager but he did spend a lot of money (I’m sure he put pressure on the board at least to spend cash even if he didn’t sign off on the contracts) and presided over a terrible collapse when we were in a decent position in the league.
I much prefer Stephan’s public position of not complaining about his squad, the Board or the fans but just working to improve individual players. He makes mistakes but seems to me constantly trying to learn from them and improve us as a squad. |
Hold on, nix. I’m here when we win, draw or lose, and I don’t actually post too much regardless. Have some spells, for family reasons, where I can’t post. And after home games, I’m usually in the pub so not on here. I’ve been pretty consistent in regularity of posting for some 25 years on here. You don’t have to agree with me, but don’t make stuff up.
As I said, I don’t think it’s a recent thing.
As you well know, I defended Les and Hoos on here extensively a decade ago. They had a huge cultural and financial mess to clear up after the Redknapp and Hughes years, enabled by Fernandes. And they did a lot of good things on the cultural side. Personally, given the scale of cost cutting on the playing side, I think they did a good job to keep us in the league. But after 4-5 years, they started to lose their way. There was no vision or inspiration. We had stabilised the ship but accepted mediocrity. In the years since, Critchely referenced how we’re seen as soft in this league by other clubs. Ainsworth came on and talked about us as if we were the league minnows, which didn’t help. Cifuentes, with a crap squad two years’ running brought back a bit of pride, but we still didn’t show up in cups or win on Boxing Day, and ours wins were usually with <40% possession. He played Kolli and Lloyd a fair bit, because he had to. But those indicators I mentioned before are all still valid.
The progress this year is down to Stephan making an excellent, bold call of going 442, and Nourry and Belk providing him with 2 proper forwards this season. It’s great there is progress, but there is more to be done to show a material cultural change and step forward. I really hope Stephan can demonstrate that. I think he gets it. And the real challenge of a Player Trading model is the selling of the good players and replacing with better players. We haven’t seen that yet. Here’s hoping we can execute that well… | | | |
| Dunne rescues QPR from more Boxing Day blues – Report on 12:37 - Dec 28 with 708 views | Hunterhoop |
| Dunne rescues QPR from more Boxing Day blues – Report on 12:18 - Dec 28 by Stocktake |
Fair points, especially re performance in the cups. That's been going on for more than 30 years so baffling to know what the issue is there as different owners and management in that time. |
That’s what I mean. It’s a deep rooted cultural thing. And the only consistent thing over decades really is the fanbase. Worst FA Cup 3rd round record in the country. And something akin to the worst Boxing Day record in the country, certainly away. It’s weird. I think us as fans must have some sort of role in this. It’s inexplicable otherwise. | | | |
| Dunne rescues QPR from more Boxing Day blues – Report on 13:15 - Dec 28 with 577 views | nix |
| Dunne rescues QPR from more Boxing Day blues – Report on 12:35 - Dec 28 by Hunterhoop |
Hold on, nix. I’m here when we win, draw or lose, and I don’t actually post too much regardless. Have some spells, for family reasons, where I can’t post. And after home games, I’m usually in the pub so not on here. I’ve been pretty consistent in regularity of posting for some 25 years on here. You don’t have to agree with me, but don’t make stuff up.
As I said, I don’t think it’s a recent thing.
As you well know, I defended Les and Hoos on here extensively a decade ago. They had a huge cultural and financial mess to clear up after the Redknapp and Hughes years, enabled by Fernandes. And they did a lot of good things on the cultural side. Personally, given the scale of cost cutting on the playing side, I think they did a good job to keep us in the league. But after 4-5 years, they started to lose their way. There was no vision or inspiration. We had stabilised the ship but accepted mediocrity. In the years since, Critchely referenced how we’re seen as soft in this league by other clubs. Ainsworth came on and talked about us as if we were the league minnows, which didn’t help. Cifuentes, with a crap squad two years’ running brought back a bit of pride, but we still didn’t show up in cups or win on Boxing Day, and ours wins were usually with <40% possession. He played Kolli and Lloyd a fair bit, because he had to. But those indicators I mentioned before are all still valid.
The progress this year is down to Stephan making an excellent, bold call of going 442, and Nourry and Belk providing him with 2 proper forwards this season. It’s great there is progress, but there is more to be done to show a material cultural change and step forward. I really hope Stephan can demonstrate that. I think he gets it. And the real challenge of a Player Trading model is the selling of the good players and replacing with better players. We haven’t seen that yet. Here’s hoping we can execute that well… |
It seems to me that we hear far more complaints and criticism from you than positivity, at least over the last year or so although I used to think you were a very balanced poster. That’s my perception in spite of the odd bit of praise here and there.
I don’t think what I am doing is accepting mediocrity. I think we needed a reset and rebuild. It’s unfortunate that we’ve heard all that before and we’ve become cynical about that but it doesn’t change the reality. We are not in a position yet to demand success, consistency, a totally balanced, youthful yet experienced squad. There are going to be gaps. Just look at the squad we had two seasons ago. It wasn’t feasible to turn that around with no money without the odd gap and without having to make a few punts and develop players.
The progress this year is a mixture of things. I think we have appointed a good manager who has built on the work of another good manager. We have improved the squad overall, not just the two forwards although their goals have been vital. Mbengue for instance has provided essential pace which we’ve lacked for years, Norrington-Davies although not ours is a big upgrade on Paal. Our bench is much improved. Playing a more direct style is a definite improvement.
But it’s not about the fans not expecting enough. The clubs with fans that expect a lot don’t necessarily lead to improved performances on the pitch - look at Leicester or Chelsea. It’s about meticulous planning, great recruitment, excellent player development and support, a long term strategy, a decent amount of luck, a growth mindset, a positive culture. Complaining about standards doesn’t improve them. Where we can affect the outcome is in the stands, giving credit where it’s due, encouraging the players and making a lot of positive noise. And yes the occasional moan if we think they really aren’t putting the effort in. | | | |
| Dunne rescues QPR from more Boxing Day blues – Report on 13:21 - Dec 28 with 558 views | Hunterhoop |
| Dunne rescues QPR from more Boxing Day blues – Report on 13:15 - Dec 28 by nix |
It seems to me that we hear far more complaints and criticism from you than positivity, at least over the last year or so although I used to think you were a very balanced poster. That’s my perception in spite of the odd bit of praise here and there.
I don’t think what I am doing is accepting mediocrity. I think we needed a reset and rebuild. It’s unfortunate that we’ve heard all that before and we’ve become cynical about that but it doesn’t change the reality. We are not in a position yet to demand success, consistency, a totally balanced, youthful yet experienced squad. There are going to be gaps. Just look at the squad we had two seasons ago. It wasn’t feasible to turn that around with no money without the odd gap and without having to make a few punts and develop players.
The progress this year is a mixture of things. I think we have appointed a good manager who has built on the work of another good manager. We have improved the squad overall, not just the two forwards although their goals have been vital. Mbengue for instance has provided essential pace which we’ve lacked for years, Norrington-Davies although not ours is a big upgrade on Paal. Our bench is much improved. Playing a more direct style is a definite improvement.
But it’s not about the fans not expecting enough. The clubs with fans that expect a lot don’t necessarily lead to improved performances on the pitch - look at Leicester or Chelsea. It’s about meticulous planning, great recruitment, excellent player development and support, a long term strategy, a decent amount of luck, a growth mindset, a positive culture. Complaining about standards doesn’t improve them. Where we can affect the outcome is in the stands, giving credit where it’s due, encouraging the players and making a lot of positive noise. And yes the occasional moan if we think they really aren’t putting the effort in. |
All of that is valid. And I think Portsmouth was that last sentence. The head coach admitted as much about the first half. Hence why I’m saying it should be accepted as “well done for getting a point.” We should aspire to better than that. That is an expectations thing. There is a difference, as you well know, between having standards and being entitled. I’m not suggesting the latter at all. The clubs you mention have fanbases who behave as entitled. | | | |
| Dunne rescues QPR from more Boxing Day blues – Report on 14:50 - Dec 28 with 377 views | TK1 |
| Dunne rescues QPR from more Boxing Day blues – Report on 12:35 - Dec 28 by Hunterhoop |
Hold on, nix. I’m here when we win, draw or lose, and I don’t actually post too much regardless. Have some spells, for family reasons, where I can’t post. And after home games, I’m usually in the pub so not on here. I’ve been pretty consistent in regularity of posting for some 25 years on here. You don’t have to agree with me, but don’t make stuff up.
As I said, I don’t think it’s a recent thing.
As you well know, I defended Les and Hoos on here extensively a decade ago. They had a huge cultural and financial mess to clear up after the Redknapp and Hughes years, enabled by Fernandes. And they did a lot of good things on the cultural side. Personally, given the scale of cost cutting on the playing side, I think they did a good job to keep us in the league. But after 4-5 years, they started to lose their way. There was no vision or inspiration. We had stabilised the ship but accepted mediocrity. In the years since, Critchely referenced how we’re seen as soft in this league by other clubs. Ainsworth came on and talked about us as if we were the league minnows, which didn’t help. Cifuentes, with a crap squad two years’ running brought back a bit of pride, but we still didn’t show up in cups or win on Boxing Day, and ours wins were usually with <40% possession. He played Kolli and Lloyd a fair bit, because he had to. But those indicators I mentioned before are all still valid.
The progress this year is down to Stephan making an excellent, bold call of going 442, and Nourry and Belk providing him with 2 proper forwards this season. It’s great there is progress, but there is more to be done to show a material cultural change and step forward. I really hope Stephan can demonstrate that. I think he gets it. And the real challenge of a Player Trading model is the selling of the good players and replacing with better players. We haven’t seen that yet. Here’s hoping we can execute that well… |
Re 'player trading': we have seen the selling of good (ish) players - ie Armstrong and Kelman - and had them replaced with better, Kone and Burrell (let's put Celar down to experience). Two in two years is not bad. Kelman and Armstrong were not universally approved sales at the time but cannot be questioned now. A few more now can be sold for modest improved fees, and the club are on a good run of signings. It's gonna take a little time but it's definitely in place.
I am finding this discourse a little off, a bit too grumpy. It feels a bit like after Sheffield United, which I felt was a great point but everyone was down on. We're on a good run of form, one defeat in five (at second placed Boro), including three barnstorming home wins...had a ropey first half but got a point at Pompey. I don't see this as soft. I think it's the opposite. And I see coming back against Hull, Birmingham (and Pompey) as definite culture change from the first coupe of Stephan months.
I should caveat all this by saying I had zero expectation of being one point off the play-offs after Boxing Day, think the squad/manger are slightly over-achieving, so maybe my standards are lower than some. Feel 12th to 8th is where this team belongs. We will get hammered by some more teams, I think. I'm just going to enjoy the weeks we win or even draw away. | | | |
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