The good, the bad and the restless — knee jerks Sunday, 25th Oct 2015 23:50 by Antti Heinola Antti Heinola returns with his regular six talking points from Saturday’s game at Loftus Road, as QPR beat a poor MK Dons side 3-0. Ramsey GoodThere have been plenty of things to criticise Chris Ramsey over this season and last (even if there were more mitigating circumstances last season), but with all the speculation and a section of fans in open revolt against the boss, it's easy to ignore, or miss, the things he's doing well. Yesterday, MK Dons were awful. Easily the worst team we've seen this season (except for us at Fulham). They were neat and tidy and all that, but they looked as vulnerable at the back as they appeared weak up front. QPR could, should, and eventually did take them to the cleaners in a game that, apart from one 15 minute spell, was only going to have one winner. But while MKD were bad (Dave Mc said after the Fulham defeat that we were tailor-made for Fulham - well, MKD were tailor-made for us) we must acknowledge that Ramsey and the team had more than a little role in that. This game reminded me of the 3-0 win we had v Swansea under Hughes when Rodgers was still there. That night, QPR pressed high, even on the edge of Swansea's box, and destroyed their passing game to win comfortably. It was similar yesterday. As Kevin Gallen had told us in the QPR podcast, MKD like to play from the back. The team was ready for that. JET, Luongo, Chery and even the two sitting midfielders all pushed up every time their keeper was in possession. It disrupted their game brilliantly. Time and again, MKD were forced to play long balls to the helpless Church - meat and drink to Hall and Hill. With our whole team far more compact than for the majority of this season, we stopped MKD from playing. It wasn't pretty for much of the first half, but it worked. In the last two games it's been obvious that Ramsey has been more pragmatic, and opted for more solidity. The result: two clean sheets. Ramsey BadThis will run in a bit to knee jerk 3, so I'll try and keep this brief. I was gobsmacked at the first substitution. As far as I could tell, Massimo Luongo had probably been our best player. He chased MKD down, he always showed for the ball, and he's invaluable at knitting play together - joining the defending midfielders to the more attacking players on the wings and in front of him. It didn't even occur to me that he might be substituted. I don't think it occurred to the team either, because they looked as shell-shocked as the fans. The sensible substitution here was to remove Henry (more of whom in a moment), and play Luongo in his more natural, deeper position - if ever there was a game to test that, it was this one, against a side that offered virtually no attacking threat. I had no problem with getting Fer on. MKD were weak all over the pitch and his power on the ground and in their air was bound to cause them harm, but this was simply the wrong man to come off. Still, in the end we won comfortably, so we can't be too critical, but you could also argue that without a moment of individual brilliance from JET, which allowed us to relax and then skewer MKD on the break, things could have gone very wrong. That goal had little to do with the substitution. I have to admire Ramsey: he must've known removing Luongo would get that sort of reaction, but he did it anyway. That shows, at the very least, balls. The FansUrgh. I never thought 'the fans' would be in my knee jerks this often. I'll be as blunt as another post I saw on the message board yesterday: some fans yesterday were an utter disgrace and a total embarrassment. The reaction to the first sub was inevitable, and while I think that was over the top, it was as much a result of a string of odd substitutions resulting in a kind of collective anger than just a reaction to one decision. It's what happened afterwards that I thought was out of order. There had been a few boos at half time which was bad enough. It was 0-0, MKD had managed precisely no shots and made precisely no chances - or even looked like making a chance, while we had a shot cleared off the line, Chery should have scored from a good chance and had two other goal-bound efforts deflected away - we weren't brilliant, but we were far better than them and completely controlled the entire half. And still people booed. But the booing from after the substitution until we scored was unbelievable. I feel sorry for Les and Chris - they're hoping fans might be patient for a year or two, maybe three. Some can't even be patient for 45 minutes. Now, I'm not a fan of Henry. I thought he was a poor signing, I think he's an extremely average player, I think we have a number of better players than him at the club in his position and I'd rather he wasn't on the pitch. But what happened yesterday hit the lows of the night Gavin Mahon was disgracefully booed. It may even have been worse. Calling for him to be sent off was flabbergasting - I'm sure it was (mostly) in jest - but what was it supposed to serve? Booing his touches was awful. It's not Henry's fault he's being picked. And one thing you cannot level at him is that he doesn't try or care. In fact, one or two players aside who are not even in the squad at the moment, I don't think you could seriously level that charge at anyone this season. And Henry was not half-bad yesterday, especially in the first half. He did his job well. But the fans that got on his back didn't help him or the team - just the opposite. That was one of the most toxic atmospheres I've experienced at LR. God knows what would have happened if MKD had won - I suspect Ramsey would have been fired. And this is for a team and manager who do actually care and who are trying hard to make things work. It's a team miles away from some of the dross we were served in the Premier League, yet the expectations and demands seem so much greater. I can understand and appreciate fans not wanting Henry in the side, and I understand some fans wanting Ramsey out. But I do not understand the kind of treatment Henry in particular, and the team as a whole, received on Saturday. We have to be better than this. We have to support this team. We have to make LR a place to be feared, because at the moment it must be lovely to play here for the opposition because too many fans are ready to turn at the tiniest mistake. It's ugly, it's unenjoyable - and, sorry, it's childish. When Henry was subbed for Ale I cringed at the way the fans humiliated him. I know some of it was aimed at Ramsey, but it will still have affected him. It was pathetic. JETOnto happier stuff. This guy is a classic QPR player. With all the criticism directed at LF and CR, I haven't seen much praise directed at them for taking a risk on this free transfer from what was effectively a League One club. And huge credit to JET too - he saw his chance and he's grabbing it. He works hard, he holds up the ball, he has wonderful skill, he wins it in the air, he's a great finisher. He may well be our next cult hero if he keeps this up, because that goal yesterday was magical. Like his winner v Bolton, he pretty much made it all by himself, with superb timing, a lovely touch and an incredibly cool finish. Single-handedly, he altered the course of the game and completely changed the atmosphere in the ground. If he keeps this up, Ramsey has a very tough choice to make when Austin comes back. There's also a slightly wider point, here. That was JET's fifth of the season. We now also have Austin on seven, Chery on four, Phillips on four and five other players have also scored goals this season. That spread of scorers, several with a healthy early total, has not been seen since we won the league. Ramsey knew we couldn't continually rely on Austin to get all our goals, and he's taken good steps to rectify that.
ToszerI saw and heard Toszer getting a fair bit of abuse too. Not sure why. I think he's got a bit better in each game he's played in and yesterday was by far and away his best performance since he signed. He looked fitter, quicker, he snapped into tackles, but most importantly, his passing was markedly improved. This was more like the sort of player I thought we had signed. He constantly played the right ball, constantly looked to move the game forward, showed great vision and also a great range of passing. But if JET's best moment was his goal and Chery's was his sublime chip that went just wide, Toszer's was his absolutely superb first time pass to set Phillips through for the second goal. Beautifully placed and timed, exactly the right ball, and with pace too. Hope to see more of this.
PhillipsQuick word on him, and it's a similar one to a note I made the other week. It's not going well. Had Ramsey hooked him rather than Luongo, I don't think he could have had too many complaints. And yet, even when his crossing is not great, even when he's off form, even when he doesn't seem to make the right decisions at the right times, he's still dangerous and liable to create something or score himself. I was impressed yesterday that after a mostly below par game, he still had the strength of character and belief to go for goal when the chance came - and he took it perfectly. Two in three games for him: like Austin, Chery, JET and Fer, he's a genuine potential matchwinner. Pictures — Action Images Photo: Action Images Please report offensive, libellous or inappropriate posts by using the links provided.
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