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Reply | Injuries
at 16:54 23 Oct 2026
Guess we'll have to agree to disagree.
I'm not sure there's even much point in the debate. They ain't on the pitch so we'll never know if they're fit. Again, third year in a row. |
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Reply | Injuries
at 16:38 23 Oct 2026
They were absolutely out on their feet for the last 25 mins vs West Ham. Completely knackered. Like a team playing with a 1-0 lead in extra time at a World Cup. But it was a bloody league game. We essentially had 9 players for the last 10 mins. It was like a scene out of Platoon by the end.
I'm certainly not accusing them of not working hard, they've been fantastic. I'm defending them not criticising them.
Even this season - I said myself, there could be lots of reasons we're having to rotate the squad more than EVERY SINGLE TEAM IN THE DIVISION. One of them is almost certainly recruitment. I don't really care why. After three years of it... THREE YEARS... It needs to stop. |
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Reply | Injuries
at 16:22 23 Oct 2026
What about last season? And the one before? You’ve only excused this one. |
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Reply | Injuries
at 15:50 23 Oct 2026
I think there can be a tendency to overthink / analyse this sort of stuff. Bit rich coming from me I know.
But if you look at this type of data AND the fact we've made more changes to the starting XI than anyone else in the division through 11 games AND then trust what your eyes see for the last 20 mins at West Ham AND what you saw in the third game in seven days last weekend AND what we've seen generally in the last 30 mins all season... the answer is blindingly obvious; we're nowhere near as fit nor robust as most of the teams we've played this year.
Third year on the spin. [Post edited 23 Oct 15:50]
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Reply | Injuries
at 09:39 23 Oct 2026
Just going back to the subject of injuries...
I know a few people find this sort of thing triggering as data and stats can tell any old story. But as I'm absolutely sick and tired of what I perceive to be the same old bloody problem for the last three years, I've been keeping a close eye on minutes played data across the championship on fbref.com
I see people in every single debate saying it's not a unique problem to QPR as the Championship or football generally has suddenly turned into the Hunger Games and any club should count themselves lucky to finish a match with more than about 6 players still alive. Well... The way to check that is compare us to the rest of the clubs in the competition.
Here are some visuals showing the % of minutes played by our most used eleven players relative the average across the entire division from 2020 to present. Yes, I know that doesn't definitively account for injuries alone due to suspensions, pre-existing injuries and transfer windows etc. etc... But in my mind it's about the clearest way you can easily view how often we're putting the players we want to have on the pitch, on the pitch.
I'm afraid it's not pretty reading. I've taken the liberty of also plotting when Ben Williams arrived at QPR. In the three years prior to his arrival we were only worse than average in one season and only by 6%. We were above average in his first season, but the next three have been a disaster at 11%, 15% and 11% worse than average (so far). Given we're likely to see another period of flux in terms of player selections over the next couple of months, I'd expect this season's numbers to get a whole lot worse over the next 4-5 games.
The reason the absolutes spike this season in the top chart are due to the smaller sample size. I can't give a like for like number as I can't find the data after 11 games in previous seasons. The bottom table shows only the % variance to league average though so is more like for like.
I might not be telling you anything you don't already know here but think it's worth pointing out that by this measure QPR have been affected more than the league average, whether that's up or down.
For me there's a clear trend that points toward a problem. I've no idea whether that's training regimes, pitches, diet, weather, Heathrow emissions, a voodoo curse or recruitment... But whatever it is - given we have a heck of a lot of performance and data staff at the club - my expectation would be that the root cause is found and addressed. And that should probably happen inside of three years.
It also fits the narrative we seem to consistently hear from inside the club.
I think we're all being let down by this to be frank. Both the fans and the players. It absolutely needs to stop. |
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Reply | Kone
at 11:30 19 Oct 2026
Birmingham have used their most used 11 players for 86% of all available minutes so far this season which is the most in the league. We've used ours for 72% which is 18th. Those 11 players have already played 1,562 minutes more than ours between them.
Their 9th most used player - Carlos Vicente - has played more minutes than our 4th most used player, Harvey Vale.
Maybe that's all down to luck. Maybe it'll catch up with them over Christmas. Maybe their bench is crap and we have a more balanced squad... Or maybe they're fit as fk and robust and we're not. |
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Reply | Unbeaten away, struggling at home
at 16:08 13 Oct 2026
Yeah amazing how often this comes up. Although your West Ham measurements there are in metres not yards. The like for like comparison there 115 x 74 vs 112 x 72.
Our pitch is quite tight relative to some others but I'm not convinced enough to make much difference. Anfield is 110 x 75 so very similar to ours but a little squarer. Cardiff's is exactly the same. Charlton is a yard wider and the exact same length.
Edit - W7 already pointed this out - apols! [Post edited 13 Oct 16:09]
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Reply | Man City - GUILTY
at 12:11 12 Oct 2026
I have never known such a mess in my life. What an odd event yesterday's match was. Fans, players and coaching staff feeling the backlash of something that began when Nico O'Reilly (for example) was 4 years old.
It's just such a completely bizarre situation. What have they even cheated? Financial rules which were clearly put in place to stop clubs like them, Newcastle, Villa and God forbid - clubs even lower than those three with the temerity to try to challenge the top table. Most fans don't even agree that the rules that they've broken should exist.
If anything it actually proves the point many have made about FFP / PSR and any such future iteration; they're only there to preserve the status quo.
Of course whether you believe in the rules or not, there's no defending cheating as turning a blind eye obliterates any such chance of fair competition and leaves the competition with absolutely no repute or consequence, which is exactly how that game of football yesterday evening felt; irrelevant.
Like so many others have asked over the last 15 / 20 years, why oh why can't the financial rules around football spending simply dictate that all committed future outgoing funds just lie in escrow? Would that make billionaires less likely to want to spend so frivolously? Maybe but isn't / shouldn't that be the aim of any competition rules based around finances? They should only ever exist to protect a community asset.
I've no idea what happens now. It's basically f****d. I just can't see any resolution. I guess this actually happened years and years ago but the Premier League is not a legitimate competition anymore. It's no better than an Infantino or Blatter vehicle. The really amazing thing is they managed to do it to themselves. [Post edited 12 Oct 12:14]
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Reply | DS Squad playing up at Bolton at 1pm
at 16:53 21 Sep 2026
The playful nudge that the Bolton lad's studs gave to Kone's shin was nothing compared to the brutal assault Cirkin committed on Saturday. Tarantino must be eyeing up Cirkin for his next hit - Inglorious Left Backs. That sort of violence simply doesn't belong on a football pitch and we should all be ashamed of him. Definite red and year long suspension at least. He's lucky nobody reported him to the authorities. In fact I still might. |
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Reply | Random irritations..
at 15:26 18 Sep 2026
Poorly perforated bog roll.
Edit - As a new entry, not as a response to Kensal. Clicked wrong reply button! [Post edited 18 Sep 15:27]
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Reply | Fans forum tonight anyone going ?
at 13:32 18 Sep 2026
He didn't take over from Beale. He took over from Critchley. Why would you compare him to Beale in ascertaining whether he made us worse? |
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Reply | Fans forum tonight anyone going ?
at 12:07 18 Sep 2026
Ainsworth averaged 0.85 points that season. Critchley 0.67. Harsh to say Ainsworth made us worse. Well wrong more than harsh actually.
If Critchley's points per game maintained instead of appointing Ainsworth we'd have finished with 48 points, still 4 clear of relegation.
Beale only took one point from his last 5 games too which is often forgotten.
Everyone was crap basically. |
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Reply | QPR and injuries
at 15:14 14 Sep 2026
I'm not complaining or passing negative judgment. I'm just trying to add some objectivity to a thread largely full of gut feel.
I'm not claiming a settled starting XI is a key metric either - just pointing out how settled ours is relative to the rest of the league. In response to your question about Brum and Cardiff though I'd ask if rotating the squad to an extreme is conducive to results, why are 5 of the bottom 6 in the league table making up 5 of the bottom 7 in the squad rotation table?
My opinion - for whatever that's worth - Is that we have a FAR more talented squad this season than we've had for a long time. Credit where it's due for that. I'm also of the opinion that there have been a couple of worrying signs (so far) that we're incredibly physically fragile... which is the entire point of posting.
Hopefully the likes of the guys that James rightly mentioned are gaining fitness day by day and they can be on the pitch as much as possible without risking injury. If they do and a few others avoid niggling injuries we were plagued by last year, this season could be pretty special. I'd be elated to use these numbers as proof our availability is better than average over a larger sample size as soon as we have it. |
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Reply | The Dennis Cirkin song
at 13:09 14 Sep 2026
Similarly, there's one too many syllables in the 2nd and 4th lines. I can't even work out how they're fitting it in. |
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Reply | QPR and injuries
at 12:57 14 Sep 2026
Well I can't be arsed to look into all that so this is all you're getting I'm afraid!  |
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Reply | QPR and injuries
at 12:53 14 Sep 2026
Oh I see what you mean. Sorry mate, I thought you meant I was picking and choosing as to who should be construed as best XI.
Yeah of course they'll impact it but you're assuming no other teams signed players late in the window with minimal pre-seasons. I'm also not claiming this is entirely due to injuries. Recruiting oft-injured and / or unfit players will impact the numbers, especially this early in the season. The net result doesn't change though; we're not as fit as other teams at this stage of the season. [Post edited 14 Sep 12:59]
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