| Dunne rescues QPR from more Boxing Day blues – Report on 14:54 - Dec 28 with 716 views | Northernr |
| Dunne rescues QPR from more Boxing Day blues – Report on 14:50 - Dec 28 by TK1 |
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. |
Yeh I'm a bit of a misery guts at the best of times, and I didn't like the Sheff Utd game (though have come to see that result a little differently), but I actually came away from Boxing Day impressed that we turned it around in the second half rather than sliding away to a defeat to nil which we did there last season. Bit surprised at how down everybody is on it. |  | |  |
| Dunne rescues QPR from more Boxing Day blues – Report on 15:11 - Dec 28 with 665 views | TK1 |
And just as a footnote for the play-off mentality monsters here...
In the season QPR were promoted via the play-offs, we drew eleven games including away at such tough-places-to-go citadels as Huddersfield, Wigan and Reading. We lost at Doncaster, in amongst our 12 defeats. The culture of that team was in the bin, but still got over the line. You can be sht for months at a time in this league and still pull it off. |  | | |
| Dunne rescues QPR from more Boxing Day blues – Report on 15:30 - Dec 28 with 615 views | CLAREMAN1995 |
| Dunne rescues QPR from more Boxing Day blues – Report on 14:54 - Dec 28 by Northernr |
Yeh I'm a bit of a misery guts at the best of times, and I didn't like the Sheff Utd game (though have come to see that result a little differently), but I actually came away from Boxing Day impressed that we turned it around in the second half rather than sliding away to a defeat to nil which we did there last season. Bit surprised at how down everybody is on it. |
Would love to know if that turnaround and point saved was down to JS ripping them new assholes at half time or the players getting together and saying this is not good enough .
Either way it worked because there is very little doubt that would be a loss last year.
New Manager same slow starts last 2 years ( Marti is still guilty of this at LC and they are not recovering results) but we appear to have the ability/players to come back and save points which is progress IMO
This thread is facinating btw loving the comments shows a lot of passion in QPR fan base |  | | |
| Dunne rescues QPR from more Boxing Day blues – Report on 15:57 - Dec 28 with 559 views | nix |
| Dunne rescues QPR from more Boxing Day blues – Report on 13:21 - Dec 28 by Hunterhoop |
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. |
If you think that Portsmouth away was that then I think you’re going to be disappointed a lot. It’s a high bar if you think we’re never going to have off days. For me that wasn’t a dismal performance. Nowhere near Leicester levels but they didn’t look to me like they couldn’t be arsed.
Anyway I’ll leave it there. |  | | |
| Dunne rescues QPR from more Boxing Day blues – Report on 16:05 - Dec 28 with 551 views | Wilkinswatercarrier |
| Dunne rescues QPR from more Boxing Day blues – Report on 09:19 - Dec 28 by Hunterhoop |
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. |
It doesn't matter what fans expectations are, only the players can do it.
To turn that around at half time is really impressive and a great indication of the character within the team.
Any point gained away from home is a good point. | |
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| Dunne rescues QPR from more Boxing Day blues – Report on 16:53 - Dec 28 with 480 views | BrizR |
Some perspective - last season Leeds and Burnley set record points totals in this division winning 29 and 28 games respectively, or 63% and 60% win rates. Sheffield United set the record for points without automatic promotion and still lost nearly a quarter of their games. Even the very best teams in a season when they absolutely dominated the divison didn't win all the time.
More relevant for us, Bristol City made the playoffs with just 17 wins, or a shade under a 39% win rate - they drew 17 and lost 12. Coventry lost 17 last year and won 20 to place 5th. We've played half our games now and are on 35pts - if we replicated our exact form over again we'd finish on 70, more than either of them got last season.
2024/25 was historically poor from 4th downwards, so that likely wouldn't be enough this time around, but we'd still be very close. I think most of us would have taken 70pts and a 7th or 8th place finish before the season started. Of course we should be trying to do better, but to get where we want to be we're talking about a couple of losses turned into draws or a single draw turned into a win - let's say we won 11, drew 6, and lost 6 in the back half of this season, we'd finish on 74pts.
The problem for this team for years and years now has been that every setback has started a death spiral - 1 win in 17, no wins in 14, 5 home wins in a calendar year etc. etc. What we're starting to see instead is that we don't just collapse at the first misfortune; we lose games and come back and win next week, we concede late goals and go up the other end and equalise or take the lead back, we play like sh*t in the first half and come back out and go again and battle back into it. It's easy to talk about it being unacceptable to have a "bad day at the office" or having "standards" but to be honest it's ignoring reality. Very few football teams - very few competitors in any kind of elite sport - are perfect for every minute of every game. Players who deliver at that level aren't down here in the Championship slogging it out, they're playing in the PL for more money than our whole squad put together. What you have to be in this league is good enough for more games than not, and win and draw slightly more often than you lose, and that's exactly where we are at the halfway mark. | | | |
| Dunne rescues QPR from more Boxing Day blues – Report on 17:01 - Dec 28 with 468 views | Philothesuperhoop |
| Dunne rescues QPR from more Boxing Day blues – Report on 14:54 - Dec 28 by Northernr |
Yeh I'm a bit of a misery guts at the best of times, and I didn't like the Sheff Utd game (though have come to see that result a little differently), but I actually came away from Boxing Day impressed that we turned it around in the second half rather than sliding away to a defeat to nil which we did there last season. Bit surprised at how down everybody is on it. |
Clive it’s not the result I’m down about as I actually agree that getting something from a losing position was better than we may have achieved previously. With the better squad this season and some seriously impressive displays and results, it was the utter lack of effort, organisation, and professionalism that I couldn’t stomach.
I don’t mind if we play and draw or even lose…we’re all so used to it, if we’ve applied ourselves. But in the first half we didn’t. We don’t get the option to pay half the ticket price, or make half the journey. If we train ourselves to accept that utter non-appearance in the first half without getting angry we’ll end up thinking it’s acceptable. |  | | |
| Dunne rescues QPR from more Boxing Day blues – Report on 17:07 - Dec 28 with 460 views | Northernr |
| Dunne rescues QPR from more Boxing Day blues – Report on 17:01 - Dec 28 by Philothesuperhoop |
Clive it’s not the result I’m down about as I actually agree that getting something from a losing position was better than we may have achieved previously. With the better squad this season and some seriously impressive displays and results, it was the utter lack of effort, organisation, and professionalism that I couldn’t stomach.
I don’t mind if we play and draw or even lose…we’re all so used to it, if we’ve applied ourselves. But in the first half we didn’t. We don’t get the option to pay half the ticket price, or make half the journey. If we train ourselves to accept that utter non-appearance in the first half without getting angry we’ll end up thinking it’s acceptable. |
Totally get it mate. | | | |
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| Dunne rescues QPR from more Boxing Day blues – Report on 17:44 - Dec 28 with 359 views | Burnleyhoop |
| Dunne rescues QPR from more Boxing Day blues – Report on 15:30 - Dec 28 by CLAREMAN1995 |
Would love to know if that turnaround and point saved was down to JS ripping them new assholes at half time or the players getting together and saying this is not good enough .
Either way it worked because there is very little doubt that would be a loss last year.
New Manager same slow starts last 2 years ( Marti is still guilty of this at LC and they are not recovering results) but we appear to have the ability/players to come back and save points which is progress IMO
This thread is facinating btw loving the comments shows a lot of passion in QPR fan base |
I have no doubt they got the hair dryer treatment at half time, but find it odd that our captain was the only one up for it in that first half, but failed to berate any of his fellow team mates, despite them clearly showing no spirit or endeavour.
Personally, as the captain, I would have been chewing a few ears during that first half and not be satisfied waiting until half time for the manager to do it. | | | |
| Dunne rescues QPR from more Boxing Day blues – Report on 18:00 - Dec 28 with 325 views | Paddyhoops |
| Dunne rescues QPR from more Boxing Day blues – Report on 16:53 - Dec 28 by BrizR |
Some perspective - last season Leeds and Burnley set record points totals in this division winning 29 and 28 games respectively, or 63% and 60% win rates. Sheffield United set the record for points without automatic promotion and still lost nearly a quarter of their games. Even the very best teams in a season when they absolutely dominated the divison didn't win all the time.
More relevant for us, Bristol City made the playoffs with just 17 wins, or a shade under a 39% win rate - they drew 17 and lost 12. Coventry lost 17 last year and won 20 to place 5th. We've played half our games now and are on 35pts - if we replicated our exact form over again we'd finish on 70, more than either of them got last season.
2024/25 was historically poor from 4th downwards, so that likely wouldn't be enough this time around, but we'd still be very close. I think most of us would have taken 70pts and a 7th or 8th place finish before the season started. Of course we should be trying to do better, but to get where we want to be we're talking about a couple of losses turned into draws or a single draw turned into a win - let's say we won 11, drew 6, and lost 6 in the back half of this season, we'd finish on 74pts.
The problem for this team for years and years now has been that every setback has started a death spiral - 1 win in 17, no wins in 14, 5 home wins in a calendar year etc. etc. What we're starting to see instead is that we don't just collapse at the first misfortune; we lose games and come back and win next week, we concede late goals and go up the other end and equalise or take the lead back, we play like sh*t in the first half and come back out and go again and battle back into it. It's easy to talk about it being unacceptable to have a "bad day at the office" or having "standards" but to be honest it's ignoring reality. Very few football teams - very few competitors in any kind of elite sport - are perfect for every minute of every game. Players who deliver at that level aren't down here in the Championship slogging it out, they're playing in the PL for more money than our whole squad put together. What you have to be in this league is good enough for more games than not, and win and draw slightly more often than you lose, and that's exactly where we are at the halfway mark. |
Love this. Been a lower loft standing bloke for some years now. I’ve had to stand /sit through some awful crap over the years . Especially the last few seasons.
A couple of seasons ago we had the joy of seeing just 5 goals at our end of the ground. That’s abysmal by any standards . Watching Dykes and co was utterly depressing.
Now fast forward to this season . Four wins in a row and Burrell and Kone terrorising defences.
Leicester getting a hammering and That last minute winner by Morgan against money bags Birmingham which seen myself, a 60 year old standing on the safe standing barriers singing Hi ho silver lining at Ten past ten on a school night when I really should have heading back to home to grab my six hours sleep . Hot fun indeed . It’s been a blast.
We’re going to have horror shows like we had first half on Boxing Day . It’s a lower championship budget we have . We’re punching at the moment.
It beats looking over our shoulder like we have been for quite a few years.
Looking up instead of down . | | | |
| Dunne rescues QPR from more Boxing Day blues – Report on 19:38 - Dec 28 with 215 views | ParkRoyalR |
| Dunne rescues QPR from more Boxing Day blues – Report on 17:01 - Dec 28 by Philothesuperhoop |
Clive it’s not the result I’m down about as I actually agree that getting something from a losing position was better than we may have achieved previously. With the better squad this season and some seriously impressive displays and results, it was the utter lack of effort, organisation, and professionalism that I couldn’t stomach.
I don’t mind if we play and draw or even lose…we’re all so used to it, if we’ve applied ourselves. But in the first half we didn’t. We don’t get the option to pay half the ticket price, or make half the journey. If we train ourselves to accept that utter non-appearance in the first half without getting angry we’ll end up thinking it’s acceptable. |
I watched the two Midfielders very closely in the first half and they seemed to be in two minds as to whether to stick to the more defensive minded game plan or push up and press more aggressively,
A few times I saw Madsen give out instructions & they pressed Dozzell more aggressively to some effect, we seemed content mostly to sit deeper & play on the break,
So I think without the ball they followed the gameplan & bar Kone's mistake they would have gone in at HT at nil nil,
Where they didn't follow the gameplan was what to do when in possession with the ball, particularly playing out fro⁷m the back, where with Madsen & Varane not showing we resorted to long balls down the flanks to Burrell, giving Saito & Dembele no service,
Stephens saw this & fixed it at Half Time, if he can encourage Madsen in particular to do what he did in the 3rd quarter for the full 90, this team can push on, but they cant just wait unti HT for the Managers instructions, they need to see this for themselves and adapt their tactics during games, as good players and teams do. | | | |
| Dunne rescues QPR from more Boxing Day blues – Report on 19:43 - Dec 28 with 184 views | Myke |
| Dunne rescues QPR from more Boxing Day blues – Report on 17:01 - Dec 28 by Philothesuperhoop |
Clive it’s not the result I’m down about as I actually agree that getting something from a losing position was better than we may have achieved previously. With the better squad this season and some seriously impressive displays and results, it was the utter lack of effort, organisation, and professionalism that I couldn’t stomach.
I don’t mind if we play and draw or even lose…we’re all so used to it, if we’ve applied ourselves. But in the first half we didn’t. We don’t get the option to pay half the ticket price, or make half the journey. If we train ourselves to accept that utter non-appearance in the first half without getting angry we’ll end up thinking it’s acceptable. |
This exactly. You can run any of the old adages and they all have an element of truth: ‘It’s the Championship innit - anyone can beat anyone’, an away point is always a good point’ ‘if you can’t win, make sure you don’t get beat’ ‘sign of a good team, plays badly and still doesn’t lose’ etc etc ad nauseam. But to do so is significantly missing the point. Portsmouth is not about the result, but the PERFORMANCE. The performance wasn’t poor, it was abysmal. I don’t buy into the theory that we were ‘transformed’ in the second half either. We were marginally better ( we could scarcely have been worse) for the first twenty minutes or so, but by the end we were hanging on.
This coming in the immediate aftermath of pour best performance of the season, made it even harder to stomach.
We have been having this debate all season, this lack of consistency and what causes it. I am firmly of the opinion that it is attitudinal and have noted on many occasions that you know by the players body language in the first five minutes if they are up for it or not. This is not a JS problem, it has been going on for years,. Different managers, different players, same half-assed attitude when they are not in the mood. Warnock is the last manager to have cracked it at this level. If JS manages to do the same, he deserves to be revered in the same way. | | | |
| Dunne rescues QPR from more Boxing Day blues – Report on 20:03 - Dec 28 with 146 views | Burnleyhoop |
| Dunne rescues QPR from more Boxing Day blues – Report on 18:00 - Dec 28 by Paddyhoops |
Love this. Been a lower loft standing bloke for some years now. I’ve had to stand /sit through some awful crap over the years . Especially the last few seasons.
A couple of seasons ago we had the joy of seeing just 5 goals at our end of the ground. That’s abysmal by any standards . Watching Dykes and co was utterly depressing.
Now fast forward to this season . Four wins in a row and Burrell and Kone terrorising defences.
Leicester getting a hammering and That last minute winner by Morgan against money bags Birmingham which seen myself, a 60 year old standing on the safe standing barriers singing Hi ho silver lining at Ten past ten on a school night when I really should have heading back to home to grab my six hours sleep . Hot fun indeed . It’s been a blast.
We’re going to have horror shows like we had first half on Boxing Day . It’s a lower championship budget we have . We’re punching at the moment.
It beats looking over our shoulder like we have been for quite a few years.
Looking up instead of down . |
I get what you’re saying Paddy and this season has been infinitely better than many before it.
However, what does budget availability have to do with phoning it in against Pompey in that first half?
Mentality is the issue, regardless of whether you’re a million pound signing or a 100 million pound signing. Effort and application should come as standard. You pay for levels of ability.
JS has stated that the first half was unacceptable. He was correct. His job is now to rid this club and squad of the single biggest impediment to our progress. Apathy.
Most supporters can accept losing games with grace, providing the team has shown intent and effort to try and win the game. We just rolled over in that first half and let Dozzell, of all people, take the piss and dominate midfield. He must have thought all his Christmases had come at once and I bet the Pompey supporters thought “is this the team that gave Leicester a shellacking last week”?
Same players, different attitude (with one notable exception). Until a rollicking at half time woke them from their stupor. | | | |
| Dunne rescues QPR from more Boxing Day blues – Report on 20:48 - Dec 28 with 93 views | stevec |
| Dunne rescues QPR from more Boxing Day blues – Report on 19:38 - Dec 28 by ParkRoyalR |
I watched the two Midfielders very closely in the first half and they seemed to be in two minds as to whether to stick to the more defensive minded game plan or push up and press more aggressively,
A few times I saw Madsen give out instructions & they pressed Dozzell more aggressively to some effect, we seemed content mostly to sit deeper & play on the break,
So I think without the ball they followed the gameplan & bar Kone's mistake they would have gone in at HT at nil nil,
Where they didn't follow the gameplan was what to do when in possession with the ball, particularly playing out fro⁷m the back, where with Madsen & Varane not showing we resorted to long balls down the flanks to Burrell, giving Saito & Dembele no service,
Stephens saw this & fixed it at Half Time, if he can encourage Madsen in particular to do what he did in the 3rd quarter for the full 90, this team can push on, but they cant just wait unti HT for the Managers instructions, they need to see this for themselves and adapt their tactics during games, as good players and teams do. |
Think you hit the nail on the head.
We really struggle with controlling games. When we come up against sides who are either better than us or presume to be, it tends to suit us. When we play those at the bottom end and consequently expected to hold the bulk of possession we get in a right state and don’t really know how to set about it.
Oxford, both sheffields, Pompey, Norwich has seen the worst of us and it looks as if we lack purpose in those games.
We need to break that bizarre statistic where we only win out of possession. |  | | |
| Dunne rescues QPR from more Boxing Day blues – Report on 21:00 - Dec 28 with 75 views | Northernr |
| Dunne rescues QPR from more Boxing Day blues – Report on 20:48 - Dec 28 by stevec |
Think you hit the nail on the head.
We really struggle with controlling games. When we come up against sides who are either better than us or presume to be, it tends to suit us. When we play those at the bottom end and consequently expected to hold the bulk of possession we get in a right state and don’t really know how to set about it.
Oxford, both sheffields, Pompey, Norwich has seen the worst of us and it looks as if we lack purpose in those games.
We need to break that bizarre statistic where we only win out of possession. |
Yeh last 14 wins now all with less possession. It's a really interesting test coming up with Norwich and particularly Sheff Wed at home. | | | |
| Dunne rescues QPR from more Boxing Day blues – Report on 21:44 - Dec 28 with 15 views | Wilkinswatercarrier |
| Dunne rescues QPR from more Boxing Day blues – Report on 20:48 - Dec 28 by stevec |
Think you hit the nail on the head.
We really struggle with controlling games. When we come up against sides who are either better than us or presume to be, it tends to suit us. When we play those at the bottom end and consequently expected to hold the bulk of possession we get in a right state and don’t really know how to set about it.
Oxford, both sheffields, Pompey, Norwich has seen the worst of us and it looks as if we lack purpose in those games.
We need to break that bizarre statistic where we only win out of possession. |
Problem is to have a possession based game then you need both CM players to be comfortable on the ball. We only have one, Madsen, while Varane, Field and Hayden are not.
It is really easy for the opposition to double up on Madsen and press him knowing Varane etc will do nothing dangerous with the ball.
That's why we struggle without JCS stepping up and Chair with his ability to makes things happen in field.
Fully expect Norwich and Wednesday to allow us to have the ball, drop in deep and deny space behind. | |
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