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Reply | Saito - What Has Happened?
at 17:40 4 Apr 2026
I get the impression his lack of English is a big part of the problem, when everything is going swimmingly less of an issue but when its not going well and you are struggling it must be a very lonely place. Maybe we just need to buy another Japanese player |
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Reply | Highlights today QPR 2 Watford 1
at 20:51 3 Apr 2026
It took a big deflection, you can't really tell from that angle but next to no chance of saving it |
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Reply | Watford Reflection
at 17:50 3 Apr 2026
Free kick was deflected I don’t think he had much chance of saving that, would have been a worldy! |
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Reply | Bennie and the Nets QPR Vs Watford Match Thread
at 17:49 3 Apr 2026
Played really well, made them look poor. First half Kolli best player on the pitch and for the first time him and Kone looked like a partnership. Hope he’s not injured was stretching his calf at the end of the first half.
Varanes best game of the season, Morgan doing well in Midfield but shattered in the last 5 which did not help. Team as a whole excellent, Smyth following his best performance for the club v pompey with an even better one today.
Only minor disappointments, conceding a deflected free kick which was never in million years a free kick. Saito very poor again after replacing Smyth. And the Ref putting in the worst ref performance of the season so far by quite some distance. It looks like we have a new one lads! |
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Reply | Ilias Chair - Got a feeling we wont see him again amytime soon !!
at 08:42 27 Mar 2026
Love Ilias, he's a championship Modric. his faults are why he has never made it to the prem, but most championship clubs would want him and rate him. I think he works exceptionally hard off the ball. Even when over the last two seasons when he has had the injury involvements his goal involvements against time on the pitch is exemplary. Yes he has a tendency to overplay and sometimes slow the game down when you dont want him to, but he is also an out ball, someone who can hold the ball, and help the team regain control of the game.
I think he has still got another 10 years in him, I think like Modric he will move centrally as he loses pace but will compensate with his speed of thought and footballing brain.
Re the Cook situation , I think it's well known that Cook came in on a big big wage and I would say has probably been worth every penny. But I get why the club would have wanted him either to move on or to renegotiate, they have a strategy of investing in Centre Backs and they need both pathways, plus they could probably get 2 or 3 highly rated prospects for the money he is on.
If he does go though we do need to bring in another premiership / championship experienced leader. |
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Reply | Ben Williams on Open All Hours Podcast Tonight.
at 12:38 22 Mar 2026
I listened to it on the way to the watch yesterday so a few points from me. I am not a sports scientist.
Firstly when he described his role it seems to me it's almost 75% a Chief Operations Officer role. Anyone who has managed at a senior level in a medium or largish org will tell you, you are only as good as the people below you and whilst you can set direction and strategy and maybe get granular on a few things you are always reliant on the expertise of your team and your suppliers. It is also perfectly normal to manage team and experts in areas you are not, so I have no issue that he is overseeing pitches for example, or the bogs in the training ground.
Every organisation in every field puts an emphasis on "data driven decision making" and every organisation mainly driven by senior management who have to report to investors will cherry pick the best data points to paint their org / team in the best light. Tbh you can make the data say whatever you want However if you are going to actually make a difference, internally you focus on the poorest data points to work on issues etc.
Now he is a representative of an org, not the most senior one either and no one is going to wash their dirty laundry in public, no one is going to do one of these interviews and paint themselves or the club in a poor light or throw poor Bob under the bus because he royally cocked up in some area or another and again anyone that has worked in any org of any size will know that people royally cock up all the time across most areas.
Key things I picked up overall though was
a) A recognition (all be it framed in the most positive sense) that there have been some cock ups along the way.
b) I never knew that a lot of Prem grounds had this "carpet" approach to pitches and that they were relaid a few times a year. And I genuinely get the issue about storage of lights at the ground. Interesting to learn about the grass disease at the loft end
c) I wonder if they have the balance wrong in terms of where they have recruited their fitness people fro and not having enough football experience. Yes they will gain it on the job and that might be a part of where we are today.
d) I wonder if we over egg the science and data bit because the complexity of individuals and all the factors involved
Overall I thought it was a good interview Saffa and Jazz put forward some really good questions and it is to be encouraged. |
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Reply | Kolli
at 19:52 21 Mar 2026
I'm of the view that he is too good for league 1 not sure what it would achieve so the only option I think would be another championship club which won't go down well or abroad. I'd keep him myself I think he is number 3 of the strikers and I dont think we can flog Kone so hard again next year. |
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Reply | MotM
at 19:49 21 Mar 2026
Smyth without a doubt, easily his best game for the club and won the game 1st half |
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Reply | Sittin' on a dock in R' way... Pompey drifting by QPR vs Portsmouth Match Threa
at 18:47 21 Mar 2026
"Football bloody hell" - Dont think we even played that well except for Smyth who put in his best game for the club with actual end product. Delighted for Kolli, Smyth and Kone.
At half time I half expected them to come into and frankly they missed some sitters as well.
And for all those performance people we hire no one thought to think that that a bright low spring sun might cause an issue and even when it did still no one brought out a cap for poor Walsh. |
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Reply | Hoos on first team strategy
at 22:04 17 Mar 2026
Might be missing something but is not the point of the interview that the Trust is in a financial hole and they need new income or they are going to have to cut programs or is that covered in another thread? Not really sure what the benefit is on him weighing in the first team and the "model" we know what it is. |
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Reply | Same Time Next Year
at 13:02 12 Mar 2026
I dont believe player improvement and lack of fitness are unconnected. If you are out of breath, after 20 minutes (Saito) cramping up in March (Edwards) etc tiredness leads to poor decisions, poor decisions lead to falls in confidence.
Last night the commentator from the start , QPR are at least a yard of the pace.
Fitness of the body and fitness of the mind and speed of thought are connected. |
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Reply | Gaffer on tonight's defeat
at 07:59 12 Mar 2026
Can be read a number of ways, the problem as I see it is without Madsen and without functioning wide players / pace, we dont really know how to play through midfield. We know Saito's English is not good. Gos only knows what Varane was supposed to be doing yesterday. Morgan gave the ball away a bit when he came on but he actually did help us start to create the midfield. I'm not sure Field would have made a difference tbh. Mbengue being 1 yellow from a 3 game ban means he is playing within himself and was lucky last night to get away with it. The full back situation is a major issue.
Stephen talked about keeping it simple, but keeping it simple is surely having the right players in the right positions and the mistake is playing players out of position that are not good enough to do it. However if you were to think of the squad in its current state as a poker hand, it's a dire one. If we can. keep Poku fit it maybe we have a king or an ace in the hand at last which is something to work with. |
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Reply | This Season Almost A Replica of The McLaren Season
at 22:06 11 Mar 2026
Ultimately the problem (and yes I know there is one or two exceptions every year) is that the playing field is so unlevel. Our last four games Southampton, Sheff Utd, Middlesbrough, Birmingham, teams with either vastly bigger budgets 3 of the 4 current form teams in the division. Why do we collapse or start awfully most seasons, because we either have a good team that starts and injuries and lack of depth knock us over or we have a crap start because we have no decent players have bought last minute because we can't compete for players and then make some decent loan signings in January to help us stay up.
The reality is the two successes we have had in this league have been
a) when we had a combo of a once in a generation player who could win games on his own with a wiley manager who put a decent team and structure around him
b) when we had the biggest playing budget in the league and got promoted despite the manager
For everything else we are just a Preston. and we need an extraordinary series of events, luck, exceptional management to even get close to top 6 |
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Reply | I've never felt more like starting the Blues Match Thread..
at 21:50 11 Mar 2026
What have we learnt today,
Play players in their correct positions and the team semi functions in this formation even with the injuries
Saito and Varane need to be benched and probably shipped end of season, as soon as they were taken off we at least looked like we had 10 outfield players instead of eight
Left back situation has come back to haunt us we have only one viable LB
Mbengue's card collection has come back to haunt us we have only one viable RB
Whilst Morgan is a long long way of Madsen he does at least get about and try and progress the ball forward. and it looked like we had some form of midfield rather than the 5 across the back 3 upfront and a couple of NPC ghosts first half
Kolli on the pitch is better than not having him on it.
If Poku's elastic bands hold we might have a player there
Edwards with Cramp, Cook with a calf strain the cyclist strikes again
and Stephen has managed to produce a half of football worse than Ainsworth away at Watford and that is really going some. [Post edited 11 Mar 21:52]
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Reply | I've never felt more like starting the Blues Match Thread..
at 20:34 11 Mar 2026
I've genuinely given Stephen the benefit of the doubt but that was as bad as any Ainsworth game, a total utter embarrassment of a performance, clearly lost the dressing room, Varane and Saito stealing a living. Clark Salter playing like he has smoke a big reefer before the game. And oh my god call yourself a captain Jimmy Dunne an absolute embarrassment of a performance and leadership. If he does not haul half of them off at half time I think he is done |
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Reply | Steve cook
at 22:19 8 Mar 2026
Got to be contract related, though IMHO dont think it would have made much difference today, only 1 goal Dunne's poor / misheader from the corner could be laid at the centre backs. Mbengue should have done better with the 1st and 3rd. Problem for me was with the ball |
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Reply | All A Hard Watch & Struggle
at 22:12 8 Mar 2026
I thought Edwards was our best midfielder by some distance today when he moved in there and probably our best player overall. Mbengue's head had gone and 3 game ban upcoming so right to hook him. If Varane gets a 1 in Clive's report I would be surprised, at fault for two goals and every half decent move broke down when he received the ball.
Saito bent over puffing in the 25 minute after a run. Kone barely able to jog after 40 minutes, though better after half time. The fitness is atrocious and all the goals self inflicted |
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Reply | Middlesbrough Reflection
at 20:34 8 Mar 2026
We lost today because of individual mistakes plain and simple, bar the goal first half they did not create too much, The way we pressed their back 3 / 4 and cut off lines was effective and they broke in a few times behind the fallback or from their excellent movement and fast triangle passing in the centre mid space. We were coping. Varane asleep in the middle their guy scuffs his shot, its going wide bounces back off Norrington Davies they score via their own players arm.
On the ball again we did ok in fits and spells, but everything broke down time and time again most often via Varane who had an absolute shocker of a game.
Second half again we were doing ok with some decent threat but making the wrong decision in the final third. Played ourselves into trouble leading to a corner that Dunne fluffs with a terrible clearance header they get a bit of luck off the bar Kone probably has to do better. Third comes from another Varane error Walash makes a save then we dont defend properly Mbengue needs to be quicker out to the ball. Less said about the pen the better gotta feel sorry for the lad. I get why we had to taken Mbengue off (before he gets booked) and ND (can't play 3 games in a week.
I thought the team tried hard but were let down by some very poor performances from individuals.
Varane possibly the worst game of his QPR career cost us two of the goals
Saito really poor again. Blowing out of his arse after 25 minutes.
Mbengue fantastic going forward but played his part in two of their goals
I'm not mad, I'm just sad. Home and away Borough the best team we have played, the most inventive tactically, the best technically.
Its been a horrible run of games which we've had to play without key key players, whilst being totally undercooked fitness wise, and some players who we would hope would step up showing some of the worst form of their QPR careers.
If there are any positives to be had from today they were Vale and Morgan and Ronnie Edwards showing for 15 minutes that he is the best defensive midfielder we have, and I think needs to start their given we have both Cook (assuming its contract) and JCS available |
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