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Clearly the exertions of Wednesday's match against the Baggies had a bearing on today's flat performance. However, once again we were the victims of poor officiating. There is a clear offside in the build up to Boro's first goal. Boro's second goal resulted from a breakaway after Willock is fouled. The ref considers giving the free kick, then appears to play the advantage. Willock passes to Anderson who gets tackled, arguably fouled. No advantage gained, so surely the play should be restarted with a free kick to us?!
I do think that Willock might surprise everyone and sign a new contract. Marti clearly rates him and has been pivotal in his obvious reinvigoration. I've noticed that Willock has started liking literally every QPR related social media post, imitating a certain Nakhi Wells! He's also a London boy, and may well miss the bright lights if he moves to another part of the country (Seny Dieng have a word!). If Eze gets sold, there will be more money in the pot to give him the contract he covers. Also, if Chair goes down, there will be all the more reason for us to keep him. Clutching at straws, perhaps, but I love watching him play, and having met him, he seems a decent lad.
I'm pretty sure that Gerry Francis' back problems stemmed from a freak accident at home. After parking his car on the driveway, he got out to close the gates behind him. His car rolled back (presumably he didn't put the handbrake on) and he ended up trapped between the car and the gates.
The defensive side of the game has never been a strength of Willock's game, and probably never will be. Analysis of the remaining 15 matches indicates 11 high stakes games where there are obvious and realistic targets for both teams - promotion/play offs/ survival. Many of these games are likely to be closely fought, tense affairs, where everyone (including Willock) will need to put a shift in. However, strong hearts and minds, grit and determination are unlikely to be sufficient. Inevitably, there will be moments in games where a flash of brilliance is required, or at least someone stepping up to the plate to play that killer pass or take that half-chance. For what's it worth, Willock is joint second in goal contributions this season, despite hardly having played under Ainsworth. Crucially, I feel his judgement of when to pass/shoot is superior to Chair's.
A very entertaining report, as ever, Clive. However, there are a few points I would like to make regarding balance. I think you're being a bit harsh on Chris Willock. Yes, he doesn't help himself at times, with his questionable attitude and approach on the pitch. Perhaps he doesn't want to be at the club, maybe his body is shot, as you claim. I would say that aside from Chair, he is the most likely of our players to create chances/score goals, and this is why Marti starts him over Smyth. Colback's well executed goal resulted from an excellent cross from Willock, delivered first time, right in the danger area. Contrast this approach with Chair, late in the game, with the team on a fast break. He opts to cut inside on his right foot and try to curl a worldie into the top corner, with both Anderson and Frey waiting in the box. I was furious at the time, another example of Chair not playing the percentages, potentially costing us two points, and not mentioned in your report.
Following the 2014 play-off final, me and my fellow long-suffering QPR mate, Dave, decided to celebrate that rarest of sporting events, a QPR Wembley final victory, with a night out down the Bush. Walking down the Uxbridge Road we ran into Gary O'Neil, who of course 'took one for the team' in the Final. Had he not being wearing his QPR blazer, I am sure we would have walked straight passed him, such an unassuming persona he projected that evening. He was happy to chat, showed no bitterness at the decision to send him off, and posed for a photo. In return we gave him the lowdown on the best place on the street to get chips. He was the complete antithesis of the modern day footballer that evening! Fast forward to last Monday, and no doubt like many others who caught Sky's Monday night football, I was hugely impressed by O'Neil's breakdown of the tactics employed by Wolves in their recent win over City:
O'Neil is clearly a deep thinking coach, with genuine tactical nous, totally unlike GA. He appears devoid of any ego, unlike Michael Beale, and clearly is a resilient character, having put the disappointing and unjust end to his managerial stint at Bournemouth behind him.
Was ever considered for the head coach role at Rangers after the departure of Warbs? Just imagine where we might be now!
BT Sport's coverage is just so bad! A stream of inane ramblings from awful pundits! Then, to top it off, an extended interview with that bellend, Kurt Zouma!
Very revealing interview. Clearly, Warbs is still angry that his contract was not renewed, and last season's shenanigans only add weight to his arguement. I had a feeling that we would regret letting him go - was last season a karmic response to poor treatment of a good man and a good coach, genuinely committed to the club?
I noticed that change in tactics as well - a reversion to the style adopted by the team earlier in the season under Beale. Might be partly to do with Dykes and then Martin going off and so not having a 'big man' to hit with long balls. Or could it be that they've had enough of Ainsworthball already?!!
My thoughts exactly! He knows most of the players well and has proved he can get the best out of them. Come the summer, Warbs moves upstairs and a new manager takes the helm.
Thanks for sharing Bazza! What I found really enlightening were Matt's comments on how young players today have it far more easy than in the past and as a result don't build up the mental resilience needed to deal with setbacks. In the past senior pros would pull up anyone not pulling their weight, but now that doesn't happen. Sound familiar?!!
In order to provide some light relief from all the gloom and doom laden posts on this forum, I thought I'd recommend a book that I've been reading that many of you, particularly those of you that grew up in the 70's and 80's like I did , will absolutely love!
"Get Shirty" is the book follow up to the excellent documentary from 2016 chronicling the rise and fall of Admiral Sportswear. Very much a labour of love by author Andy Wells, the book represents a genuine source of social history, harking back to an age when much of this country's manufacturing output was created locally. It seems hard to believe that a small textiles firm from Wigston in Leicester, previously known for manufacturing underwear, could effectively create the replica kit market through a series of bold and innovative marketing strategies. Of course, Rangers had a brief flirtation with Admiral, who were kit suppliers for part of 1974-75 season. The book mentions that some of the Rangers players threatened to go on strike if the cash advance provided by Admiral was not distributed amongst the players (as at Leeds and other clubs). Whilst reading this book a wave of nostalgia has swept over me - Admiral kits were always my favourite growing up, because of their innovative and intricate designs.
As this latest sorry chapter in our beloved club's history drags on, I can't help feeling this is self-inflicted by the club and was so avoidable. With the financial constraints we have to work with, the only viable approach we can adopt is to aim for gradual season-on-season progress. This demands careful planning, sticking to said plan, patience and commitment, having key personnel with the right character in place. Sorry to go over old ground, but Mark Warburton's tenure was a successful one by any metric. Yes, the team's form fell off a cliff during the second half of last season, but there were obvious and definite mitigating circumstances, and as far as not making enough use of players coming through the ranks, well the honest truth is that they're not good enough. Crucially, Warbs was keen to stick it out but the board decided to bin him. Six months on and are we in a better overall postition? Sure, the squad is stronger in certain areas, but crucially we have fewer options up front, seemingly more sick notes, whilst retaining a weak underbelly and a lack of a winning mentality. Then we have a first team coach who is ready to bail after the first significant drop in form, someone who is only to keen to believe in his own hype and who clearly feels we are beneath him. I had a feeling that we would regret not sticking with Warbs.... Sir Les quite rightly bangs on about getting people in with the right character, so why is it we keep getting seduced by shysters like Mick Beale?!
Just listened to the post-match interview with Mick Beale, who has confirmed that Willock, Paal and Amos are all unavailable for Saturday's game at Sunderland! When it rains....!
Granted, McLaren's spell as manager was a complete car crash, but he has been successful at other clubs and been widely recognised as a good coach of young players (Man Utd for example).
The fact that successive managers have decided to adopt a similar approach to using (or better not using) Academy players suggests that they're not impressed with the quality of these players, and that Ramsey and others are not doing a particularly good job or the club are simply not recruiting enough young players that have what it takes to play football at this level.
The point I am making is that neither McLaren nor Warburton seemed keen to use some of the players coming through the Academy, a decision which itself is a comment on the work carried out by Ramsey and his coaches.
Thanks Clive for your finely balanced appraisal of Warb's tenure at the club. It's interesting, perhaps telling, that both McLaren and Warbs (both coaches with a well deserved reputation for being able to work well with young players) should choose to opt for older, expensive, more experienced players when the club had a sniff of success. Austin's comments on the success rate of the Academy in a recent podcast suggest that it was not only the first team coaches that were none too impressed with the work of Ramsey et al. I will miss Warbs as much for his 'old school' approach (decent, respectful, honest, play the game the right way, never take the fans for granted etc) as for the, at times, sublime attacking football and the hope and positivity he gave us all. I'm finding it hard to get enthused about next season!
Great report, Clive, as ever! If Warbs' decision to field just five subs was indeed a petty gesture aimed at the board and academy coaches, it does seem very out of character and perhaps indicates how badly certain relationships have deteriorated behind the scenes. Still feel the board has made the wrong call, but only time will tell.Time to switch my attentions to cricket! Have a great summer everyone!
As has mentioned before by another poster regarding the lack of U23's on the bench yesterday, is it not a valid reason that the better players are on loan elsewhere till the end of the season and so are not available anyway?
This from a WLS interview with Sinclair Armstrong: Despite not getting the chance to make his debut under exiting Rangers boss Mark Warburton, Armstrong insists he will be sorry to see him leave the club after Saturday's match at Swansea.
"The gaffer was really good to me around the first team," he said.
"He is always giving me little bits of advice about my movement and it is sad to see him go as he's done a really good job for the club over the last three years."
Whilst I do feel that Warbs could/should have made more use of Duke McKenna and Bettache, perhaps he has been more of a positive influence on the development of the U23's than some people give him credit for....
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