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I love my club 18:26 - Apr 28 with 3467 views

Proper send offs x 3! for Ned and Jamie who was in tears at the end.

Plus Watch Ollie's interview on offy - very emotional as well.

Exciting that we have the youngsters coming through, with 1 or 3! decent signings, I'm sure we can improve again on this season.

Urrrrrrsssssss!

I love my club on 19:41 - Apr 28 with 3225 views

Harbour

Yes agree with all that Paul very nice send off for Ned and Jamie saw him wipe his eyes and his missus too so glad Ned also got a great send off. That and the fantastic performance by the young guns. Very proud of our club on and off the pitch.

I love my club on 16:11 - Apr 29 with 2543 views

PinnerPaul

I love my club on 19:41 - Apr 28 by Harbour
Yes agree with all that Paul very nice send off for Ned and Jamie saw him wipe his eyes and his missus too so glad Ned also got a great send off. That and the fantastic performance by the young guns. Very proud of our club on and off the pitch.

Its a bit sad how quiet this board is after a day like that.

Given how many points we are off bottom 3 makes some of the apocalyptic threads of recent months seem a bit silly now.

Every time we lose we have 6 or 7 threads 'analysing' it, usually resulting in the conclusion that its all IH's fault.

Such a shame that more can't be bothered to come on here and enjoy a win.

I love my club on 16:15 - Apr 29 with 2530 views

BushRanger82

Perfect way to end the season at Loftus Rd.
So glad the club managed to keep the usual morons from invading the pitch, and we were able to say farewell to Onuoha and Mackie.

I love my club on 16:41 - Apr 29 with 2483 views

Northernr

Yeh lovely day and a very promising performance considering we had nothing to play for and they needed a result.

I'm 'Ollie in' anyway but I do think people could do to cut him a little bit of slack. Not only because he's done what's been asked of him - reduce playing budget, blood youngsters, don't get relegated doing it - but also he's had a horrible couple of weeks losing first Ray who he clearly thought a lot of and then his mum as well straight after. Looked absolutely emotionally spent in the aftermatch interview to the point where I wondered whether he might take a step back. Whether you rate him or not or want him to stay or not he's QPR through and through and is having a very tough time at the moment.

I love my club on 16:51 - Apr 29 with 2456 views

PunteR

Gutted i missed this game. Would loved to have sang Mackie wonderland a final time.
We're a fantastic football club and Ollie has definitely played his part in getting the feel good back. Obviously theres low points in the season but thats football and thats QPR. Makes us appreciate the good times more i think.
I havent seen Ollies interview yet but i have wondered how much more he's got left to give as he's so emotional about our club. Im officially in the Ollie in camp.

Occasional providers of half decent House music.

I love my club on 17:49 - Apr 29 with 2375 views

nix

I love my club on 16:41 - Apr 29 by Northernr

I agree Clive. Given the constraints he was under and the injuries we’ve had this season, comfortably mid table having beaten several of the top six sides isn’t sacking form.

He can still smile in the gloom, luckily. I was sitting by the opposition dug out. At one point just after they scored, then we equalised and it was all a bit frenetic, they went up our end and nearly scored again. I must have pulling a ‘bloody hell thaf was close’ face and caught Ollie’s eye. He put palms up, mouthed phew and gave me a massive grin!

Anyway, from the evidence of the two managers yesterday you’d definitely prefer Ollie. He was passionate, proactive and had obviously got a plan for the match. For instance, they’d clearly been working on using more width and he was screaming at the players to do this any time they started going narrow.

In comparison, Monk was passive and didn’t seem to have a plan B. Rather pointed out by a wag in the crowd, who shouted out, ‘tactical genius Monk, that’s right just bring on the big fella!

I love my club on 19:31 - Apr 29 with 2199 views

Neil_SI

The result and performance was a great way to end the season and it was nice to see us being able to warmly send off the likes of Jamie Mackie and Nedum Onuoha properly too.

Overall and on reflection, we’ve done reasonably well this season considering the circumstances and can be pleased with the outcome in the end. There’s always an element of risk associated when you have to operate under cost cutting measures and it’s hard for most to do very well in these circumstances, no matter who the person in charge is.

There have been many positives this season. I’m sure the club were hoping for more out of the striking options we had, because we’ve been a little blunt at times as an attacking force but still found enough goals across the squad to make up the difference and reach safety well in advance.

In previous seasons we definitely had a problem with a lack of goals coming from midfield, but Luongo has stepped up recently and plenty of others have chipped in too. Then we have the youngsters, and seeing so many of them score their first goals has been really fantastic.

I’ve been surprised and pleased at how many of these younger players have managed to step up and make an impact despite their inexperience. We are lucky it has gone so well for so many of them, but it is still early doors and they have to prove themselves consistently over a hard campaign to really make the grade. Losing the likes of Mackie and Onuoha, who are experienced club men who know what it takes to navigate at this level will certainly have some impact and needs thought going forward.

But, another real success for us was how well we overcame the defensive crisis in the early part of the season. We had a lot of defenders out and have had to shift so many around and away from their natural positions, and we’ve done well to come through that without much fuss. Yes, we can obviously do better defensively, but overall, we’ve done more than enough to satisfy the remit under the circumstances the club and squad have found themselves in. For example, I’ll be the first to admit that I raised my eyebrows considerably when we signed Alex Baptiste. He was a stop-gap signing of course, but he actually guided us through that period superbly and his experience played a big part.

The younger players have definitely put a marker down to question whether we really need to add so many players to the squad, because they can probably be relied on more than we first realised, and if that means we can use the budget to add what is really necessary then maybe we’ll be able to build momentum on what we’ve done this season.

Holloway has done okay and while he probably has tinkered when he hasn’t needed to at times, I’m not sure it’s made a massive difference as to whether the extra points we might have won in terms of where we ended up in the table. And once we were mathematically ‘safe’, to be frank, it really doesn’t matter what they do from that point, albeit I can understand while it irks some. In the end the systems and formations very much were designed to keep Scowen, Luongo and Freeman in the side and I do think that was crucial for us throughout the campaign while other players developed around them. I think changing that combination would have made life harder for us to compete, even if it meant a more natural balance. Now that some players have kicked on from this season, that thinking may be able to change for next.

The question for next season for me is whether we can somehow find a striker that can fit into what we do. It’s hard because they’re going to be in demand and expensive, so probably out of budget, but we do need someone with pace who likes to run in behind and can finish, but who can also press the back line intelligently when we don’t have the ball.

Paul Smyth is probably the only one with the legs to do this currently. Smith, Sylla and Eze don’t really have this in their locker and if we want to play Eze more, then we need players to run in behind off the shoulder, or midfielders who are capable of bursting beyond at the right time.

Sylla doesn’t really offer a lot with his back to goal game, but I think it can be worked on and improved. He is alive in the six yard box and we know he can score goals, but I don’t think we got the ball into wide areas fo exploit his strengths enough, and therefore we’re not playing to his strengths. Matt Smith is a bit easier to hit because of his height, but again, he’s not got the pace to get in behind (and that doubles with Eze as he doesn’t seem that kind of player) and Washington has struggled to make the cut at this level so far.

For me, Washington’s confidence has been low, but I think his biggest issue is that he’s never really looked fit enough for this level of football, and if you’re not sharp it impacts your timing and your touch. I think he needs to learn a lot tactically as well, so he can explode off the shoulder to use the pace he has, and his only real chance is if we’re able to counter attack and he has space to run into and get onto the ball... but we’ve not really played like that this season, so again, another one where we’re not really playing to his strengths. And you’d want Washington in a two, rather than a one. He certainly shouldn’t be asked to play a lone striker role.

Anyway, I sound like I am griping when I’m not. I’ve enjoyed the season overall and despite our flaws, the players have tried hard even when things haven’t gone their way and that’s all you can ask for. The football, while at times a little basic, has actually been a lot better to watch for me than anything under Mark Hughes, Harry Redknapp or Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink served up for us, and they arguably had a lot better quality to work with on paper.

I think if we can find solutions to some of those issues, we’ll be able to improve tactically and that may make a difference in improving our overall away form, and if we can maintain decent home form that may add the points necessary to finish higher than we will this time around.

I love my club on 14:48 - Apr 30 with 1769 views

francisbowles

Including Furlong in the league cup, 19 players scored for the first team this season.

When did that last happen?

Surprisingly Ned wasn't one of them.

I love my club on 15:35 - Apr 30 with 1731 views

BrianMcCarthy

Good thread, this.

Saturday was incredibly enjoyable, put a huge smile on my face.

On Sunday morning, one of the GAA players I coach asked me how QPR got on. Still beaming, I went into a five-minute elegy about the standard of football, the young players, the effort, the players leaving...when I finished I swear I could hear angels singing.

He just looked at me, and sarcastically droned "so ye won, ya?"

The little bollix!

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