Back from the QPR game

[Maguire]

Kebe was having a shocker.

oh he was the only one?...I thought so!!!

Well who else did you want Long to come on for? Armstrong? Rosenior?

He asked why Kebe. Sort yourself out.

[Soul Man]

Must be worth giving Cisse and Karacen the nod on Tuesday night, they are both pretty solid but offer something different, with Cisse more of a holding player and Jem with bags of energy to push things forward.

[West Stand Man]

I want to see karacan and Cisse in their (?) on Tuesday.

In their what? There is a word or phrase missing. Let me guess.

I want to see Karacan and Cisse in their playing kit on Tuesday.
I want to see Karacan and Cisse in their socks on Tuesday.

Or maybe you want to them in their something else?

[West Stand Man]

i thought our central midfield was really anonymous just like on tuesday. we have to change it for next tuesday or we'll be forced to play long again, unless hunt and kebe get back on their games. gunnarsson just doesn't look up to it at the moment, and i know all you lot like jem a lot, but i haven't really seen him do anything of note in the games i've been to this season. he runs around, but doesn't often really pressure the opposition, and i can't remember a decisive pass he's made. obviously, he's got time to improve, but i think harper and cisse should get the starts at burnley.

So far as the last 2 games go I would agree with you on Karacan. I am staggered that anyone has given him good marks for yesterday's performance. Most of the team was off form yesterday but he was among the most anonymous. Just because you like him shouldn't top you from being honest and recognising that he was off the pace of the game and more so that just about anyone else in the team. I can see a bit of a change on Tuesday, with the Harper/Cisse pairing looking a reasonable possibility.

[boycey]

I want to see karacan and Cisse in their (?) on Tuesday.

In their what? There is a word or phrase missing. Let me guess.

I want to see Karacan and Cisse in their playing kit on Tuesday.
I want to see Karacan and Cisse in their socks on Tuesday.

Or maybe you want to them in their something else?

get a life

[West Stand Man]

I want to see karacan and Cisse in their (?) on Tuesday.

In their what? There is a word or phrase missing. Let me guess.

I want to see Karacan and Cisse in their playing kit on Tuesday.
I want to see Karacan and Cisse in their socks on Tuesday.

Or maybe you want to them in their something else?

get a life

Got one, what next?

[skipper]

We play a lot through our wide men.

QPR putting 5 in midfield conjested things and we could'nt play. A tactic used by Coppell (and Pardew iirc) many times in the past.

Without Matejovsky in the middle to play through, we were aways going to struggle creativly.

We never play well live on SKY either, so that was factor as well.

I really hope Burnley and Bristol play with 4 in midfield, that way we can play some proper football.

If we used Bryn and Mate, one a defensive and one a creative midfielder, we should be ok.

Cop's really should of changed things about in midfield, but Mate was not match fit, maybe he should of started with Harps, but all told a point's a point and thats all that matters.

Roll on Tuesday

[rg6royal]

We need some like Rowland yesterday who came into the defence and picked up the ball and sprayed it out to the wide men.

[Scarface]

A point is a point, but I really think had Coppell gone with a more attacking bench we could of won that. We're at home, 100% record and yet we have 2 defensive midfielders and a fullback on the bench. Jimmy Kebe yet again showed he shouldn't even be a professional footballer, but we didn't have the option to change him until very late on. How bad must Mooney be ?

[rg6royal]

A point is a point, but I really think had Coppell gone with a more attacking bench we could of won that. We're at home, 100% record and yet we have 2 defensive midfielders and a fullback on the bench. Jimmy Kebe yet again showed he shouldn't even be a professional footballer, but we didn't have the option to change him until very late on. How bad must Mooney be ?

Just LOL @ you

[bcubed]

A point is a point, but I really think had Coppell gone with a more attacking bench we could of won that. We're at home, 100% record and yet we have 2 defensive midfielders and a fullback on the bench. Jimmy Kebe yet again showed he shouldn't even be a professional footballer, but we didn't have the option to change him until very late on. How bad must Mooney be ?

Just LOL @ you

+1 and

[bcubed]

Two seasons later and we still have not replaced Sidwell ............ until we do, the teams that rush and harrass us out of midfield (like QPR and Doncaster) will cause us to revert to the hoofball that caused us to drop out of the Premeirship.

Word.

good concise description of what I witnessed
Anyone who wants to beat us just needs to hassle the midfield and in fact the whole team. Not only were the midfield overrun but the defence looked totally out of sorts mainly due to the pressure applied.

Bikey added to this by believing that he is actually a super hero

[RG30]

First set of points we've dropped at home this season, it's now approaching the end of October. We can't be too dissapointed given that statistic. We were nowhere near at our best, our approach play in the final 3rd wasn't up to the standard we expected, and I thought QPR defended excellently. Couple of dodgy moments, unlucky not to get the penalty but you can't always win, a good opportunity Tuesday night to get back up and running. For Burnley, I would certainly get Harps back in at the expense of Karacan. Aside from that, same team for Tuesday.

[LoyalRoyalFan]

1. QPR defended well - however, they always kept 4 back and their full backs did not push forward. Very disciplined performance from them.

2. They passed the ball nicely but as has been said elsewhere - no cutting edge.

3. Has Coppell heard of Plan B? Plan A just did not work and there was no invention or creativeness out there. Once that option failed to work what else was there? Too one dimensional.

4. If we had played like that thorughout last season we would have been challenging Derby for bottom spot.

QPR passed the ball on the ground and got somewhere. We always play long ball and today we didn't get anywhere.

[Sun Tzu]

We always play long ball and today we didn't get anywhere
--------

I can't believe you actually think we 'always' play 'long ball' !!

We hit it long sometimes but then we'd be stupid not to.

You can be like Swansea an dplay nice little triangles all day and never get within sniffing distance of the goal or you can mix it up with wide play, channel balls and moves through the middle - which we do reasonably well.

[LoyalRoyalFan]

We always play long ball and today we didn't get anywhere
--------

I can't believe you actually think we 'always' play 'long ball' !!

We hit it long sometimes but then we'd be stupid not to.

You can be like Swansea an dplay nice little triangles all day and never get within sniffing distance of the goal or you can mix it up with wide play, channel balls and moves through the middle - which we do reasonably well.

Its that same ball that takes Doyle out of position down the right wing. It leaves N.Hunt in the centre all on his own because there is no midfield push. Yes sometimes the long ball system can be put to good use,but it wasn't yesterday. And for most of the last minutes of yesterday's game we failed to put enough balls in the box.

[Sun Tzu]

But we don't play long ball all the time ?

[LoyalRoyalFan]

But we don't play long ball all the time ?

Most of the time. Its mostly Armstrong to Doyle,missing out the whole of the midfield.

[AthleticoSpizz]

Same starting eleven on Tuesday please Steve.

Did you see the game? Do you even know what game were talking about? If you do, then you may need to control the nonsense that comes out of your gob.

Good thing your not our manager, if you were we'd already be mathematically relegated.

Gunnarson played an absolute shocker, he doesnt deserve to play next tuesday.

Steve Hunt played an absolute shocker (trying to run the ball through brick walls, crossing to the front post on virtually every corner he took, getting outpaced by any QPR defender that he raced against)

Jimmy Kebe had an absolute shocker (tackling himself at least more than once, again out of assumed positions on one-twos)

Our entire front line looked lethargic (in comparison to recent weeks) and were certainly outpaced anytime that they had the ball.

Rosie looked out of sorts too

So how many more of our dynamic (and recently awesome) team do you propose dropping on the basis of that one game?


Yes SLAMMED, I was there (playing "mein host" an ex-England player whose opinion of the game will count for more than mine will ever will...even if it did help bias my view of it ), and No I wasn't impressed with Boris either, but it is (as they say) a team game.

One game that (which incidently we didn't lose).

Good to see HNA is still alive and well

[Hoop Blah]

I think Saturday showed up where we can miss Harper at times. He hasn't been his best this season, and Gunnarsson has played pretty well at times, but neither Gunnarsson or Karacan do quite the same job of dictating and switching play that Harper can.

With the two we had in the middle there was nobody to go and get the ball off of the centre backs and get us passing the ball, bringing the wide men and full backs into the game in good positions, and moving the oppositions midfield and defence out of position.

That's why we've seen a bit more of a return to the tactic of getting the ball into the channells for the front two to work the back four on their own more in the last two home games. We don't have anyone capable of really directing things from the middle of the park and demanding that we pass it, that just means the full backs get the ball deeper and then lob it into the channells.

Cisse is not the answer, he is too ponderous and slow. Matejovsky should play further forward than that where he can hurt the opposition more, so for me that means bringing Harper back into the side at the expense of Gunnarsson who looked shattered on Saturday.