| Antti's 6 Knee Jerks - QPR 1 Birmingham 1 22:53 - Sep 25 with 1908 views | Antti_Heinola |
Much improved, but not quite the win we probably deserved. How many more years will we be paying off the debt of Sammy Di Carmine's strike in the autumn snow, eh?
1. WSZOLEK: Once I saw the team on Twitter, I mentally noted down the four big kickings the manager would receive from the JFHaters (Hassle-Haters? Jimmy-Jackers? Sorry, I'm not brilliant at coming up with pithy names for people/groups) would receive, probably regardless of result, but certainly if we lost: 1. No Sandro!
2. No Lynch!
3. No 4-4-2!
4. Cousins at right mid!
I was disappointed not to see Lynch start (see below), but the rest I thought were fine. I don't totally go along with the received wisdom that players can only play in one position. The idea that someone who has played football their entire life might be, for example, a liability on one wing but great on the other, or is all at sea in midfield once he's asked to play 10 yards further up the pitch than normal seems a little senseless to me. Not only that, but, rightly or wrongly, most football managers tend to try and get their best 11 players on the pitch (within reason, of course) and if that means a couple play in slightly unfamiliar roles, then they'd rather that than have an inferior player in the side instead. I can see both points of view on it, and obviously it's a case by case thing.
So, I don't really have a huge issue with Ned at right back. He's not my ideal player there, but he is the best we have (as things stand). Perch showed last season how a right footed player can be just as effective, if not more so, on the opposite side. And it's kind of strange that while players playing on the opposite wing to their foot preference will often be given leeway by fans, a centre half playing on the opposite side to his foot preference is rarely offered the same sympathy.
But, I digress. Jordan Cousins just turned 22 in March this year. While centre mid certainly seems his best position (I thought he was very good v Sunderland), at his age Sol Campbell was playing as a striker for Spurs. James Milner was probably still up front then too. At a more comparable level, Martin Rowlands played for years as a flying winger before becoming a midfield general. What I'm saying is, Cousins has much to learn and at this stage I don't have a real issue with him playing right midfield. He has good energy, he's combative, he can pass a ball and on the opening day v Leeds operated very effectively there. Some of the comments about him seem bizarre when you stop and think how young he is. Maybe it's because he carries himself like a much more seasoned professional that he actually is - by way of comparison, Doughty is a year and a half older. Let's try and get behind him a bit wherever he plays, and I suspect he is happy to play anywhere. On Saturday, he started well and actually should have scored when he latched on to Sylla's flick on - that sort of run from our wide players has been rare this season, so it was a good sign that he was getting himself into that position, even if he did fluff the chance.
Still, I agree with many on here, and thought the same at the time, that the early introduction of Wszolek was no terrible thing (apart from the frustrating hamstring injury for Cousins, obviously). From the first minute, Birmingham were happy to sit off us and we found much more space than we did in our last two home games. As a natural right winger, I hoped Wszolek would exploit the space in the way Cousins had already started to.
And he did. He made his debut in just about the worst circumstances possible v Newcastle, and his display was perhaps understandably... not great. But he was much better v Sunderland and then improved even further on Saturday. Here was a case of what Clive has been talking about - an old-fashioned winger playing on his preferred side concentrating on beating his full back and getting a cross in. I don't quite have the same anathema to inverse wingers he does, but here was an example of how dangerous a proper winger can be. He really had the beating of his full back and created probably four presentable chances, two of which were gilt-edged.
He has a trick, he has a decent if not lightning turn of pace, he's square-shouldered and strong and I was particularly impressed with his delivery. The two passes to Chery were not easy, but both were wonderfully timed and perfectly accurate. While we certainly didn't get enough crosses on to Sylla's head (by a long chalk) the decent ones we did manage came from Wszolek's boot. If he keeps improving at this rate, this could be a very good signing. But it's early days. Patience required.
2. BORYSIUK: And at last we can start to see why JFH might have been willing to make the unpopular decision of letting Ale Faurlin go. Finally, a midfielder with vision and an eye for a very decent pass. He looks likely to be our playmaker if he an stay fit (and avoid the yellows) - although, like Ale, he's not exactly the quickest player you'll ever see. Still, this was really encouraging for a full home debut and I thought he and Luongo had a good relationship in the middle of the park. Borysiuk tended to sit, allowing Luongo to be the more all-action midfielder, snapping at heels and trying to break forward and support Chery.
If I was pleased with him before the break, afterwards he just seemed to get better and better. Whether he grew in confidence or just enjoyed the space as Birmingham sat back, I don't know, but as the game wore on I felt more comfortable that when the ball came to his feet if he could spot a pass, he'd play it. A couple of hard, straight, low balls into Chery and Polter in particular were exactly the kind of thing we've been missing this season. And he topped it off with a fine strike that the keeper saved well. Decent full debut. Hopefully more to come.
3. CHERY: For the 4-2-3-1 to work properly, the work load needs to be taken off Chery a little. On Saturday Wszolek did just that, but Chery didn't have the best of games. I heard one fan say he'd let the side down after the game, presumably for his two misses, but that does ignore the fact that he did set up the equaliser with a corner that was every bit as dangerous the three or four he'd already pinged into the box. While there's a bit of an obsession with our inability to score in open play (down to finishing more than chance creation on Saturday), the fact was we looked dangerous from set pieces because of some great delivery from Chery and Bidwell.
But, and it's inevitable, what we'll remember from this game is Chery's misses. Twice Wszolek did brilliantly to get to the byeline. Twice Chery pulled away from his defender. Twice Wszolek looked up and found his man. And twice Chery was denied. First time he beat the keeper (with a very similar strike to the one Austin scored with on Sunday for Southampton) but was denied by a covering defender, once he was denied by the keeper after taking a touch and looking certain to score. It's a cliche, but if there's one player on our team you'd want those chances to fall to and it's him. Sadly, it wasn't to be.
I do however disagree with the idea that we got better when we switched to a 4-4-2 (if indeed it was such a formation - Polter played quite deep). Our best football came after half time but before the Polter sub in my opinion, and should've seen us take the lead. Polter and Sylla certainly caused trouble, but I felt we looked more incisive before the switch. Still, it's undoubtedly a decent option for games when we're looking to equalise or grab a winner.
4. SYLLA: His first 90 minutes, and it appears like we may have snagged a decent one here - he's certainly the extra target man that we needed so we weren't completely reliant on Polter. As with the Sunderland game, I thought he did really well with his back to goal, shielding the ball, using his body and in particular his chest to great effect. I think he'll enjoy Championship football and if we can sling some half decent crosses in to him he'll get some goals. Neither he or Polti will ever be Austin, but between them, if we use them cleverly, they could get 16+ goals a season. Not a bad return.
The downside was his relationship with the ref, who spent one period constantly giving handball against him (I assume it was handball). One in particular was ridiculous, as he missed the high ball and the header by the defender hit the back of his arm. How that could possibly be classed as deliberate was baffling and if the ref did believe three handballs to be deliberate, where was the yellow card? While QPR had a far better second half, the ref had a much worse one.
5. HALL: Coming back to perception again here. Caulker is a big name and because he's a big name with a big transfer fee attached huge things are expected. One poster this week criticised him for not being an England regular. But I've never really seen the evidence Caulker should ever be on the England fringes, let alone a regular. Where's that come from? Well, it comes from one short period playing well in Spurs' first team - a very good first team - before he was moved on to Cardiff, where he was relegated and then us, where he was relegated again. Now, I'm not denying that he's had problems, nor am I denying that we've overpaid him massively, but I do think he suffers in some fans' eyes because of a perceived reputation of being a 'top, top' centre back. He is a good player, but people expect him to be on a par with... well, a centre back people think is actually good. I'm not sure who that is anymore. Like managers these days, no centre back on earth seems quite good enough for some.
The inverse is true with Hall. Unheralded, on low wages, never made that breakthrough at a Prem club, never been on the fringes of the England team. In fact, he was immediately dismissed by many when he was signed by Les and Ramsey. And so, people were patient. And patience was rewarded with a fine centre back. But in my view, his form dipped badly in the second half of last season, and hasn't much improved this. Caulker, however, is the one many would like to see dropped.
JFH is not one of them. Just one player played 90 minutes in the week and started on Saturday: Caulker. He was also captain v Sunderland. When people ask why Wszolek didn't start - well, he played 90 on Wednesday. Rightly or wrongly, JFH is trying to keep his squad as fresh as possible. That may be wrong when we're yet to find the winning formula, but, when we're playing 7 in 21 days, that's his plan. I suspect he knew Saturday's team before the game on Wednesday and nothing that happened on Wednesday, save injuries, would've changed it.
Which is a shame, because for me Hall should be taken out the team for a while. Lynch's experience and strength feels like what we need right now, and I think JFH needs to pick his two CBs and stick with them. Hall was badly at fault for the first goal, he isn't quite strong or aggressive enough and he doesn't win enough in the air - and when he does, the headers away are often not great clearances. I like him, I think he' decent, but for me he's number three out of the three options we have. He did do well in physical tussles after the break (the ref giving him nothing even when his shirt was almost ripped from his back), but he and Caulker together don't quite have the presence needed.
6. LUONGO: He tired before the end, but it was another decent performance from Mass. He wins a surprising amount of the ball, he's creative and calm. Although he did play in the Preston debacle, I felt we really missed him in the games since. He's not quick, but he has some pace and he reads the game very well, often knitting the play together too. He does need to add another dimension - the killer pass, the odd goal - but that (hopefully) should come soon.
He gets accused of being lightweight and yes he did get knocked off the ball conspicuously at one late stage - but moments before he'd muscled two Birmingham players out the way to get it in the first place. Again, he can help that 4-2-3-1 work because he does have the ability to get up and near Chery. A big season for him, but from when JFH first arrived and seemed not to quite have him in his first team plans he seems to me now to be one of our most important players. If only he didn't have to keep flying to bloody Australia ever few weeks.
What was frustrating for me in both halves was the propensity of both him and Borysiuk to sit so deep. Often Onuoha or Caulker or Hall would step up with the ball and instead of making an angle beyond the centre circle, they both dropped to fill the gap left by the defender. It was clearly under instruction, but it was overkill. They don't both need to do it. One of them needs to gamble, to get in front of the ball, and give us more numbers in the opposition half. If we are going to play this formation, this is how it works. |  |
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| Antti's 6 Knee Jerks - QPR 1 Birmingham 1 on 23:04 - Sep 25 with 1887 views | FredManRave |
TPFJH - The Peoples Front of Jimmy Haters. |  |
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| Antti's 6 Knee Jerks - QPR 1 Birmingham 1 on 00:01 - Sep 26 with 1804 views | PunteR |
We really are a work in progress. There is lots to be positive about ,and i think Jimmy needs the time to get it sorted. [Post edited 26 Sep 2016 0:13]
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| Occasional providers of half decent House music. |
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| Antti's 6 Knee Jerks - QPR 1 Birmingham 1 on 02:22 - Sep 26 with 1733 views | Boston |
Hasselbaink hasslers.
Hasselbaink hecklers
What's his politics.... would be great if I could work a 'Pinko Floyd'. |  |
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| Antti's 6 Knee Jerks - QPR 1 Birmingham 1 on 09:51 - Sep 26 with 1558 views | Dorse |
Jimmy Isn't Swaying Me, or 'JISM' for short. |  |
| 'What do we want? We don't know! When do we want it? Now!' |
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| Antti's 6 Knee Jerks - QPR 1 Birmingham 1 on 11:34 - Sep 26 with 1462 views | adhoc_qpr |
All good reasoned points.
I'm not very inspired by Hasselbaink at all but i hope he might slowly but surely stumble his way towards getting the best out of this squad.
He's dropped Henry finally, now if he can stop playing Ned at right back, stop playing Cousins on the wing - he will be getting somewhere.
So play players in their best positions, be a bit more positive and try to work to our strengths more - then we can be an effective championship team that can finish safely mid-table. | | | |
| Antti's 6 Knee Jerks - QPR 1 Birmingham 1 on 12:07 - Sep 26 with 1404 views | Dando |
Really hoping JFH learns from this game.
With Pavel playing on the right, we must have created more chances than I have seen since the Wolves game. As good as Cousins in, there is no way we would have created anywhere near as many chances on the right hand side with him playing out on the right imo
It really helps the team when the fans get off their seats and create the atmosphere that was made on Saturday. The better football and higher tempo really helped give the fans something to get excited about. I really hope we don't revert back to the slow style that we played in the previous games and the first 25 minutes of this one. As soon as we started playing a few balls through the middle and more quickly, we looked 10 times better and looked a genuine threat.
Don't necessarily agree we must start with 4-4-2 but think again that it proved that Chery is decent enough on the left if we need to change the style. The front 2 looked liked they could cause havoc for defences | | | |
| Antti's 6 Knee Jerks - QPR 1 Birmingham 1 on 12:36 - Sep 26 with 1366 views | R_from_afar |
Thanks, Antti, some great points in there, particularly this one, a point I have also made on here.
"I don't totally go along with the received wisdom that players can only play in one position. The idea that someone who has played football their entire life might be, for example, a liability on one wing but great on the other, or is all at sea in midfield once he's asked to play 10 yards further up the pitch than normal seems a little senseless to me... obviously it's a case by case thing".
I was at the game and thought it was amusing that we were so toothless in the first half that most fans were too shocked to cheer when we scored. I was rubbing my eyes and looking for a lino's flag; how could we have got one back?
The second half was so much better and we looked dangerous going forward and quite solid defensively. I'm not a fan of Loungo but he must have done OK - apart from his three mad moments around the 87th minute - because I can't remember him drawing my ire. Wszolek was excellent, I think Borysiuk was solid and Sylla looks like he has goals in him. Bidwell has an excellent attitude and gives it his all but I worry that Onuoha is a bit slow to be at right back. I didn't think either Chery or Shodipo contributed enough.
A good performance but, really, we need to win games which we dominate to that extent.
RFA |  |
| "Things had started becoming increasingly desperate at Loftus Road but QPR have been handed a massive lifeline and the place has absolutely erupted. it's carnage. It's bedlam. It's 1-1." |
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| Antti's 6 Knee Jerks - QPR 1 Birmingham 1 on 12:53 - Sep 26 with 1338 views | Antti_Heinola |
| Antti's 6 Knee Jerks - QPR 1 Birmingham 1 on 12:36 - Sep 26 by R_from_afar |
Thanks, Antti, some great points in there, particularly this one, a point I have also made on here.
"I don't totally go along with the received wisdom that players can only play in one position. The idea that someone who has played football their entire life might be, for example, a liability on one wing but great on the other, or is all at sea in midfield once he's asked to play 10 yards further up the pitch than normal seems a little senseless to me... obviously it's a case by case thing".
I was at the game and thought it was amusing that we were so toothless in the first half that most fans were too shocked to cheer when we scored. I was rubbing my eyes and looking for a lino's flag; how could we have got one back?
The second half was so much better and we looked dangerous going forward and quite solid defensively. I'm not a fan of Loungo but he must have done OK - apart from his three mad moments around the 87th minute - because I can't remember him drawing my ire. Wszolek was excellent, I think Borysiuk was solid and Sylla looks like he has goals in him. Bidwell has an excellent attitude and gives it his all but I worry that Onuoha is a bit slow to be at right back. I didn't think either Chery or Shodipo contributed enough.
A good performance but, really, we need to win games which we dominate to that extent.
RFA |
Cheers mate. But there are many, many things you can accuse of Ned of - being too slow ain't one of them. Probably our fastest player and certainly top 10 fastest defenders in the league. Do you just mean he's slow with passes / decision making? Do kind of agree with that.
Shodipo we really must be patient with. He's what we've all been demanding - a young player getting his chance. JFH has even been criticised for not playing him more. But this is why. As a young, inexperienced player he will have games like Saturday and we have to live with that for what will hopefully be good, long term gain. | |
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| Antti's 6 Knee Jerks - QPR 1 Birmingham 1 on 13:41 - Sep 26 with 1257 views | R_from_afar |
| Antti's 6 Knee Jerks - QPR 1 Birmingham 1 on 12:53 - Sep 26 by Antti_Heinola |
Cheers mate. But there are many, many things you can accuse of Ned of - being too slow ain't one of them. Probably our fastest player and certainly top 10 fastest defenders in the league. Do you just mean he's slow with passes / decision making? Do kind of agree with that.
Shodipo we really must be patient with. He's what we've all been demanding - a young player getting his chance. JFH has even been criticised for not playing him more. But this is why. As a young, inexperienced player he will have games like Saturday and we have to live with that for what will hopefully be good, long term gain. |
"Do you just mean he's slow with passes / decision making?" Exactly that. I have no issue with his speed across the ground, it's just that a few times on Saturday, he dwelt on the ball a little too long.
I broadly agree with you re. Shodipo. Let's hope he comes good!
RFA | |
| "Things had started becoming increasingly desperate at Loftus Road but QPR have been handed a massive lifeline and the place has absolutely erupted. it's carnage. It's bedlam. It's 1-1." |
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| Antti's 6 Knee Jerks - QPR 1 Birmingham 1 on 13:44 - Sep 26 with 1251 views | TacticalR |
I feel a bit more undecided about some of the players than you seem to be.
The Poles looked good but I need to see more of them.
Hall had his hands full with the Birmingham forward, who had his hands full of Hall's shirt.
Caulker seems out of it at times, and for the Birmingham goal rushed out of his position to the edge of the box to try to stop the cross.
We definitely missed Luongo when he was away in Australia (lucky for him that he missed the Newcastle ordeal). |  |
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| Antti's 6 Knee Jerks - QPR 1 Birmingham 1 on 13:57 - Sep 26 with 1227 views | Antti_Heinola |
| Antti's 6 Knee Jerks - QPR 1 Birmingham 1 on 13:44 - Sep 26 by TacticalR |
I feel a bit more undecided about some of the players than you seem to be.
The Poles looked good but I need to see more of them.
Hall had his hands full with the Birmingham forward, who had his hands full of Hall's shirt.
Caulker seems out of it at times, and for the Birmingham goal rushed out of his position to the edge of the box to try to stop the cross.
We definitely missed Luongo when he was away in Australia (lucky for him that he missed the Newcastle ordeal). |
nope, still undecided too mate - just impressions on that game! long way to go. | |
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| Antti's 6 Knee Jerks - QPR 1 Birmingham 1 on 14:53 - Sep 26 with 1153 views | Fearless |
Nice points as always.
Luoungo - I'm really unsure about to be honest. It's all about opinions obviously, but I feel he goes missing for long periods. The header he missed at the near post seems to have gone unnoticed too.
Still - always happy to be proved wrong.
Wszlowek looked excellent, comfortable on both feet - but had a running style reminiscent of Robbie James (or was that only me who thought so)
Polter - I'm a fan, he's no Charlie, but he tries to
Get shots away from open play - ok, they didn't come off Saturday, but some of the loft were getting on his case.
Anyway, much better display than Blackburn, Preston and Hudders |  | | |
| Antti's 6 Knee Jerks - QPR 1 Birmingham 1 on 15:37 - Sep 26 with 1105 views | francisbowles |
Great summary Antti, I am in the same camp as you, thought we were slightly the better side first half and deserved at least to be level at the break. Didn't hear any real boos either so can't have been too bad in the view of the crowd. I am happy for JFH to work through this difficult phase as he tries to knit his new players together. They have all been injured, to varying degrees, or arrived late in the window so understandably it is taking longer than you would ideally want and other injuries etc e.g. Poulter, Luongo and Ngbakoto have added to the disruption.
What was encouraging, was the way Borysiuk got more into the game and we improved and kept going to the end.
A building block as we go into two tricky away games. | | | |
| Antti's 6 Knee Jerks - QPR 1 Birmingham 1 on 16:16 - Sep 26 with 1042 views | Antti_Heinola |
| Antti's 6 Knee Jerks - QPR 1 Birmingham 1 on 14:53 - Sep 26 by Fearless |
Nice points as always.
Luoungo - I'm really unsure about to be honest. It's all about opinions obviously, but I feel he goes missing for long periods. The header he missed at the near post seems to have gone unnoticed too.
Still - always happy to be proved wrong.
Wszlowek looked excellent, comfortable on both feet - but had a running style reminiscent of Robbie James (or was that only me who thought so)
Polter - I'm a fan, he's no Charlie, but he tries to
Get shots away from open play - ok, they didn't come off Saturday, but some of the loft were getting on his case.
Anyway, much better display than Blackburn, Preston and Hudders |
Yeah, should've mentioned the missed header - good point. Although a friend in line told me it was a further distance from his body than it looked - but he still should've done better undoubtedly! | |
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| Antti's 6 Knee Jerks - QPR 1 Birmingham 1 on 18:09 - Sep 26 with 971 views | WadR |
As always, great stuff Antti.
Wholeheartedly agree that the use of Cousins wide right is justified. I actually thought we started the game ok, culminating in that Cousins chance and after he came off, Birmingham had their best period of the game and Wszolek looked off the pace for the first 15 minutes (understandably, and he improved massively).
There's also the fact we have so few options at the moment. With Gladwin, Mackie injured, Yeni unavailable and Wszolek fairly new to the side. Cousins has the legs to play wide and after a poor few games where fans have bemoaned an openness, I think using Cousins for added solidity is totally justified. He's also a good talker for someone so young and new to the squad.
Have to disagree with any criticism of Luongo that he goes missing. He has the most tackles per game in the league! And while his passing is average at best, I always feel safe with Mass in possession, and that he will make the right decision. He visibly tired in the last 10 and played some loose passes, but thought he was excellent for the previous 80.
Thought Hall was very poor in the first half, and at fault for the goal but I was impressed with how he responded after half time when he certainly had the better of the battle with Jutkewiesz. I too would've opted for Lynch, and perhaps it wouldn't be awful for Hall to have a spell on the bench. Chris O'Grady and Chris Martin are certainly 2 more strikers that'll be up for a physical battle. [Post edited 26 Sep 2016 18:12]
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| Antti's 6 Knee Jerks - QPR 1 Birmingham 1 on 19:36 - Sep 26 with 875 views | westberksr |
good review Antti
personally I have an issue with starting with an entire wing of players out of position. Ned & Cousins is just wrong, as was Ned & Perch (much more wrong). to have a complete flank of players who are not natural to the position is just asking for trouble.
Whilst Cousins was doing his bit and came close with a good run, i want to see him do that from a central position and have the winger making the delivery.
I just get frustrated with football at any level when you feel the need to pick the best 11, rather than the best in each position. This can also change from game to game with formaton changes but Washington/Perch/Cousins on the wing is always one change too many.
Ideally we wouldn't play Ned at RB either but if you have to one then i suppose that's the lesser of the evils given the amount of time he has actually played there. |  | | |
| Antti's 6 Knee Jerks - QPR 1 Birmingham 1 on 19:36 - Sep 26 with 873 views | CFW |
As I am unable to attend very many live games I just want to say a big thank you Antti for the match reports - I look forward to reading them as they are unbiased and uncomplicated.
A lot has been said even this early in the season about our manager, our players, our team set up, our training methods, our fitness or lack of fitness levels etc etc.
I totally get that everyone has an opinion and the right to express it on this forum especially those who spend their hard earned money supporting our team both home and away - they all have my total respect.
Apart from perhaps five games so far this season clearly our performances both on and off the pitch have fallen well short of what we were hoping for and or expecting especially after such a promising start.
I am NOT making excuses for JFH as he clearly still has a lot to learn as a manager but we really need to give him time to gain experience at this level. Playing for big sides and winning things as a player is totally different to managing a team with very limited resources and playing in a very tough league.
We have already seen how tough this league is with no one team yet really putting in consistent performances week after week - look at Newcastle done us big time and have not won in the league since.
What I would say is that very often teams develop and things happen which changes the team set up and that turns out for the best. Look at a couple of seasons ago when we found out that lumping the ball up to Zomora worked well for us was not ou=r first choice of playing plan.
Again not making excuses for JFH but it is only now that we have players fit and ready to play. Think we do need to sort out the centre back pairing and find the right blend for the midfield. If we can win a few matches on the bounce we can get back into the playoffs - so don't write us off just yet!!
Thanks again Antti. | | | |
| Antti's 6 Knee Jerks - QPR 1 Birmingham 1 on 17:00 - Sep 27 with 625 views | PinnerPaul |
My usual completely unimportant point about he laws.
In the raft of new laws and "guidance" referees have been told NOT to caution for deliberate handball unless it breaks up a promising attack (Obviously should still dismiss if it prevents a goal)
In fact that was always the law but some referees had been handing out yellow cards for deliberate handball without any justification - hence the "new" advice.
End of pointless law clarification! | | | |
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