| This season......your thoughts. 22:09 - Mar 24 with 7645 views | qpr_1968 |
under achieved, as expected, completely frustrated....which one?
thought we could have done a BIT better.
saito, nardi and dunne for me. |  |
| |  |
| This season......your thoughts. on 14:09 - Mar 27 with 1912 views | TheChef |
| This season......your thoughts. on 14:04 - Mar 27 by Wegerles_Stairs |
I am a fan of Marti but agree he's far from perfect. Games like Portsmouth away I'm standing there wondering what our plan is, why it seems so ill-suited to the situation (i.e. a very physical side pummeling us) and why he isn't changing it soon enough (it was clear at half-time the way the match was going). Of course, Portsmouth are a tough side to get anything from at Fratton Park, but it's those kind of challenges that he needs to solve if we're ever going to move towards the top end of the table. Being well beaten by a promoted team with a midfield containing two of our released players from last season doesn't suggest progress... [Post edited 27 Mar 14:06]
|
Exactly - and while he has been great for us and done a good job in difficult circumstances, I don't think he's the man to take us forward in this division. |  |
| |
| This season......your thoughts. on 14:13 - Mar 27 with 1891 views | Rangersw12 |
A pretty boring season and one that will be easily forgotten.
Worried for the future with Nourry playing football manager again in the summer and us to be left with another poorly assembled squad.
If as expected Marti walks in the summer then we will be nailed on for relegation imo . | | | |
| This season......your thoughts. on 14:30 - Mar 27 with 1853 views | derbyhoop |
| This season......your thoughts. on 17:57 - Mar 25 by Wilkinswatercarrier |
But have been played into the ground as we have no depth in squad.
So, it kind of makes my point. |
Excluding Morgan, Kolli and Lloyd but including the loanees, we have a 23 man squad. When, in your opinion, would we have enough of a squad?
Of course injuries have been a major factor this season.
This a list of those who've missed major chunks:-
Cook
Morrison
JCS
Fox
Dembele
Chair
Andersen
Field
Colback
Frey
Celar
Kolli
Lloyd |  |
| "Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the Earth all one's lifetime." (Mark Twain)
Find me on twitter @derbyhoop and now on Bluesky |
| |
| This season......your thoughts. on 14:34 - Mar 27 with 1852 views | Northernr |
| This season......your thoughts. on 14:04 - Mar 27 by Wegerles_Stairs |
I am a fan of Marti but agree he's far from perfect. Games like Portsmouth away I'm standing there wondering what our plan is, why it seems so ill-suited to the situation (i.e. a very physical side pummeling us) and why he isn't changing it soon enough (it was clear at half-time the way the match was going). Of course, Portsmouth are a tough side to get anything from at Fratton Park, but it's those kind of challenges that he needs to solve if we're ever going to move towards the top end of the table. Being well beaten by a promoted team with a midfield containing two of our released players from last season doesn't suggest progress... [Post edited 27 Mar 14:06]
|
Well like you I stood there at Portsmouth fairly exasperated. Particularly with the second goal which is
a) not how you play at Portsmouth or how you beat them
b) not the way to approach it when you've just conceded the first goal
c) hadn't worked once all day
d) barely works at all for us anyway because we haven't got the players to do it.
And I also agree he isn't perfect. As we always say, if he was, he wouldn't be here. There's always going to be things wrong with anybody who comes to QPR - be it too old, too young, too injury prone, past failures etc etc.
But...
There was a bloke near us at Fratton Park just screaming "change it Cifuentes ffs" over and over. (Perhaps it was you  ). And, like I say, I agree, that play out from the back stuff does my head in anyway and wasn't working there so stop doing that. But whenever they did go more direct that day it got beasted back at us because Frey (a tryer, but an incredibly limited player that we've recruited as our main centre forward) was having a dreadful game. Play through midfield? Where Varane, somebody else we've recruited, clearly didn't want to know, and as it transpires Field played the second half on a broken ankle. Make subs? From a bench of Cashby, Colback, recently returned Dembele, Fox, Lloyd, Morgan, Morrison, Walsh and a kid from Spurs... With what, exactly? You and whose army?
I've said it a few times recently, I think Cifuentes has done incredibly well to get this squad and this team as far from the bottom three as it is. It's got a good shot stopper in goal who wouldn't come off his line if a fire alarm went off. It's decent at centre half, although the best one of those is permanently absent, the next best is right at the end of his career and clearly running on fumes, and one of them is having to play right back because... It's poor in both full back positions. It's dreadful at doing anything in midfield other than a deep, narrow, midblock. Its strikers are complete pony and we've got a collection of midget tens who all want to play the same position. It has zero strength in depth and little bench impact. It's slow as rust. It relies on Jimmy Dunne for its entire aerial presence, at both ends of the pitch, from right back. It's beset by injuries while our head of performance chills in Dubai collecting salaries from three or four different organisations.
My strong concern is this time next year we'll be talking about what a great job, it turns out, Cifuentes was doing to keep this show on the road. Obviously I hope not, if he does leave I hope we get somebody better and we go flying on up the table. But I think he did an unreal job last season and is probably a couple of shots at least under par for this. |  | | |
| This season......your thoughts. on 14:38 - Mar 27 with 1839 views | Northernr |
| This season......your thoughts. on 14:09 - Mar 27 by TheChef |
Exactly - and while he has been great for us and done a good job in difficult circumstances, I don't think he's the man to take us forward in this division. |
I know I've made this point before, and I'm always better the devil you know (not Ainsworth) but Charlton said Curbishley wasn't the man to take them forward in the Premier League as well.
If Cifuentes were to leave do you have faith that this Nourry-led operation will be able to appoint a better manager than him, and recruit a better team for him to operate with? | | | |
| This season......your thoughts. on 15:07 - Mar 27 with 1761 views | BrianMcCarthy |
| This season......your thoughts. on 13:56 - Mar 27 by golborne |
Predictably, the injuries have continued. Predictably the small and unbalanced squad has failed to cope. Predictably, some of the drive and belief has ebbed from the squad.
I think this is a little unfair. Bar Paal earlier in the season (notably against Boro), we've had cover for every position when the dreadful injuries kicked in. We have 4 defensive midfielders for 2 positions, 8 players to play in the 3 behind the striker. Cover at CH. Light on strikers, but we only play with 1 and have 3. We had a couple of players who didn't adapt to the league as hoped, but it's a tough league for those who have played in it for years, let alone a novice. Madson has really struggled as it's gone on, but he isn't a poor player. Next year we'll see if he's gonna kick on, or go back to a leagure that suits him better.
Bar Benny, who we haven't seen enough to judge, I think our squad is pretty well balanced for our budget, and I'm happy when most of our players have to step in. Obviously you want your best players on the pitch, but our purple patch started when we were rock bottom with injuries. The settled (picking itself) team found their feet and rhythm, post chopping and changing for weeks on end. You can't underestimate the force that is a settled side |
Good, long post Golborne.
I dunno, maybe I you're right and I'm being a little unfair. It's just how I see it, after all, and that's from a distance. I've actually sat on that post for some time to make sure that it wasn't knee-jerk.
Clive's post just now lists my concerns with the squad very well, and he does it position-by-position. Of course we have numbers, every football club has numbers, but our effective squad is very small, and the lack of effective cover is stark, and while the effort is usually there some of our players are nowhere near the level required.
Or, at least, that's how it seems to me. |  |
| |
| This season......your thoughts. on 15:11 - Mar 27 with 1748 views | daveB |
| This season......your thoughts. on 14:09 - Mar 27 by TheChef |
Exactly - and while he has been great for us and done a good job in difficult circumstances, I don't think he's the man to take us forward in this division. |
What is taking us forward in this division?
Getting this squad to finish mid table, which is still well within our reach, would be a massive leap forward from last year
I think if have to change manager and our entire back four this summer we are asking for trouble next season in a division which should be stronger as the teams coming up have a fair chunk of money behind them so won't be down the bottom of the table |  | | |
| This season......your thoughts. on 15:45 - Mar 27 with 1663 views | TheChef |
| This season......your thoughts. on 14:38 - Mar 27 by Northernr |
I know I've made this point before, and I'm always better the devil you know (not Ainsworth) but Charlton said Curbishley wasn't the man to take them forward in the Premier League as well.
If Cifuentes were to leave do you have faith that this Nourry-led operation will be able to appoint a better manager than him, and recruit a better team for him to operate with? |
Haha well indeed - and when I say "take us forward" then of course I ask myself what exactly that means (as someone who is quite happy with the goat rodeo of the Championship and not really bothered about promotion to the Prem, even though that's what we should aspire to, etc.)
I suppose it's incremental improvements on each season, and maybe we still can finish better than last season. We shall see...
Of course let alone the manager it all depends on the personnel. I admire Cifuentes wanting to play a more attacking expansive game (and that is him, rather than Nourry, I think? Or both of them?) but with the players we have it's just not possible in the Championship. When he's opted to be more pragmatic, have an extra piano pusher rather than a piano player, made ourselves hard to beat, then inevitably we've won more often (and it's not been bad football either). And to be fair also this season he's not had much luck with injuries.
But as soon as he's ditched the pragmatic approach then results have tanked, just when we were well placed to push on and maybe secure a top half finish. So I find that frustrating - would a Chris Hughton equivalent do better with the squad available? I don't know.
So he's been great for the club, he's done an amazing job all things considered, I'm sure I'll miss him whenever he does go. And I agree I dread to think who his successor would be and whether they can actually do better. Probably another trendy Euro coach, but I think there is a lot to be said for choosing a manager who already has Championship experience. | |
| |
Login to get fewer ads
| This season......your thoughts. on 16:16 - Mar 27 with 1616 views | ngbqpr |
My three hopes were:
1. Some stability - judged primarily by whether Cifuentes was still in situ at the end of the season.
Conclusion: achieved.
2. Get more points than last season.
Pending conclusion: think we'll fall just short.
3. Be entertained (along the lines of that first Warburton season - we were inconsistent, very 'midtable', but often good to watch).
Conclusion: in the flesh I've seen about half the games. Been entertained more often than not, but I accept I've been lucky to miss some of the real duffers. Again, probably fallen just a bit short of hopes / expectations.
Next season? Of those out of contract / on loan, I'd like to see Dunne, Saito and (for one year) Cook back. Newbies? Not holding my breath. Time for JCS, Chair and Field (and Dunne if he stays) to become the wise heads / culture guardians (or whatever Gaz called it) - oh, and stay fit. |  |
| |
| This season......your thoughts. on 18:04 - Mar 27 with 1533 views | lassel |
Par for the course.
Predicted 16th before the season and we are on course for that.
Cifuentes will go this summer and Nourry has a big job on to replace him and also overhaul the squad once again assuming that Cook, Colback, Frey, Andersen, Celar, Paal at a minimum move on. | | | |
| This season......your thoughts. on 18:45 - Mar 27 with 1500 views | BklynRanger |
| This season......your thoughts. on 15:45 - Mar 27 by TheChef |
Haha well indeed - and when I say "take us forward" then of course I ask myself what exactly that means (as someone who is quite happy with the goat rodeo of the Championship and not really bothered about promotion to the Prem, even though that's what we should aspire to, etc.)
I suppose it's incremental improvements on each season, and maybe we still can finish better than last season. We shall see...
Of course let alone the manager it all depends on the personnel. I admire Cifuentes wanting to play a more attacking expansive game (and that is him, rather than Nourry, I think? Or both of them?) but with the players we have it's just not possible in the Championship. When he's opted to be more pragmatic, have an extra piano pusher rather than a piano player, made ourselves hard to beat, then inevitably we've won more often (and it's not been bad football either). And to be fair also this season he's not had much luck with injuries.
But as soon as he's ditched the pragmatic approach then results have tanked, just when we were well placed to push on and maybe secure a top half finish. So I find that frustrating - would a Chris Hughton equivalent do better with the squad available? I don't know.
So he's been great for the club, he's done an amazing job all things considered, I'm sure I'll miss him whenever he does go. And I agree I dread to think who his successor would be and whether they can actually do better. Probably another trendy Euro coach, but I think there is a lot to be said for choosing a manager who already has Championship experience. |
Agree with just about all of that. I think part of the problem is whatever incremental improvements we're able to make to the squad won't be enough - Marti will either have shown enough to get another offer, or he'll move on as he has done with past clubs.
And this expansive vs passive approach has formed part of the shit sandwich that has been this season. The end of that terrible losing run seemed to coincide with 1) us pissing about less at the back, trying to draw players into our web of trickery only to once again get bummed in the gob, and 2) being forced to play Morgan for a prolonged run as part of a midfield three. But then he goes back to this idea of 'investing' and believing that we've got enough about us to attack our way out any defensive frailties, and the losses start to slowly rack up again because the picture Marti has in his head cannot be replicated on the pitch by this squad.
And that's all in addition to other factors of course, like injuries across the squad, normal ebbs and flows in luck etc etc. You're always going to lose games, but we've gone on streaks that have a deeper set of problems behind them.
I'm starting to ramble so I'll stop but yeah, for me - awful, then great, now pretty uninspired - that's the 3 phases I'll remember from this season, but it's not quite over yet I suppose - still room for a bit more pain/joy. |  | | |
| This season......your thoughts. on 07:51 - Mar 28 with 1303 views | Wegerles_Stairs |
| This season......your thoughts. on 14:34 - Mar 27 by Northernr |
Well like you I stood there at Portsmouth fairly exasperated. Particularly with the second goal which is
a) not how you play at Portsmouth or how you beat them
b) not the way to approach it when you've just conceded the first goal
c) hadn't worked once all day
d) barely works at all for us anyway because we haven't got the players to do it.
And I also agree he isn't perfect. As we always say, if he was, he wouldn't be here. There's always going to be things wrong with anybody who comes to QPR - be it too old, too young, too injury prone, past failures etc etc.
But...
There was a bloke near us at Fratton Park just screaming "change it Cifuentes ffs" over and over. (Perhaps it was you ). And, like I say, I agree, that play out from the back stuff does my head in anyway and wasn't working there so stop doing that. But whenever they did go more direct that day it got beasted back at us because Frey (a tryer, but an incredibly limited player that we've recruited as our main centre forward) was having a dreadful game. Play through midfield? Where Varane, somebody else we've recruited, clearly didn't want to know, and as it transpires Field played the second half on a broken ankle. Make subs? From a bench of Cashby, Colback, recently returned Dembele, Fox, Lloyd, Morgan, Morrison, Walsh and a kid from Spurs... With what, exactly? You and whose army?
I've said it a few times recently, I think Cifuentes has done incredibly well to get this squad and this team as far from the bottom three as it is. It's got a good shot stopper in goal who wouldn't come off his line if a fire alarm went off. It's decent at centre half, although the best one of those is permanently absent, the next best is right at the end of his career and clearly running on fumes, and one of them is having to play right back because... It's poor in both full back positions. It's dreadful at doing anything in midfield other than a deep, narrow, midblock. Its strikers are complete pony and we've got a collection of midget tens who all want to play the same position. It has zero strength in depth and little bench impact. It's slow as rust. It relies on Jimmy Dunne for its entire aerial presence, at both ends of the pitch, from right back. It's beset by injuries while our head of performance chills in Dubai collecting salaries from three or four different organisations.
My strong concern is this time next year we'll be talking about what a great job, it turns out, Cifuentes was doing to keep this show on the road. Obviously I hope not, if he does leave I hope we get somebody better and we go flying on up the table. But I think he did an unreal job last season and is probably a couple of shots at least under par for this. |
When you put it like that...  | | | |
| This season......your thoughts. on 10:08 - Mar 28 with 1230 views | KensalT |
| This season......your thoughts. on 14:38 - Mar 27 by Northernr |
I know I've made this point before, and I'm always better the devil you know (not Ainsworth) but Charlton said Curbishley wasn't the man to take them forward in the Premier League as well.
If Cifuentes were to leave do you have faith that this Nourry-led operation will be able to appoint a better manager than him, and recruit a better team for him to operate with? |
People forget that Curbishley didn't do a great deal after leaving Charlton. Perhaps he and they were the right fit for each other but had taken each other as far as they could. Perhaps like Ainsworth and Wycombe!
Nourry's background was in recruitment and Hoos has credited him with bringing in Marti (even though Marti was on the radar when we were trying to replace Warburton).
My theory is that Nourry might be good at filling a key post such as a new manager, but he had never before attempted to rebuild a whole squad which is what he took on last season.
Give him a key post to fill and maybe he will do a good job. But give him a squad sheet with eight or nine empty spots and it becomes a much bigger problem.
I'm hopeful he will have some sort of succession plan for if/when Marti leaves. I'm less convinced about his ability to build a squad of players. | | | |
| This season......your thoughts. on 20:50 - Mar 28 with 1061 views | stainrods_elbow |
| This season......your thoughts. on 14:34 - Mar 27 by Northernr |
Well like you I stood there at Portsmouth fairly exasperated. Particularly with the second goal which is
a) not how you play at Portsmouth or how you beat them
b) not the way to approach it when you've just conceded the first goal
c) hadn't worked once all day
d) barely works at all for us anyway because we haven't got the players to do it.
And I also agree he isn't perfect. As we always say, if he was, he wouldn't be here. There's always going to be things wrong with anybody who comes to QPR - be it too old, too young, too injury prone, past failures etc etc.
But...
There was a bloke near us at Fratton Park just screaming "change it Cifuentes ffs" over and over. (Perhaps it was you ). And, like I say, I agree, that play out from the back stuff does my head in anyway and wasn't working there so stop doing that. But whenever they did go more direct that day it got beasted back at us because Frey (a tryer, but an incredibly limited player that we've recruited as our main centre forward) was having a dreadful game. Play through midfield? Where Varane, somebody else we've recruited, clearly didn't want to know, and as it transpires Field played the second half on a broken ankle. Make subs? From a bench of Cashby, Colback, recently returned Dembele, Fox, Lloyd, Morgan, Morrison, Walsh and a kid from Spurs... With what, exactly? You and whose army?
I've said it a few times recently, I think Cifuentes has done incredibly well to get this squad and this team as far from the bottom three as it is. It's got a good shot stopper in goal who wouldn't come off his line if a fire alarm went off. It's decent at centre half, although the best one of those is permanently absent, the next best is right at the end of his career and clearly running on fumes, and one of them is having to play right back because... It's poor in both full back positions. It's dreadful at doing anything in midfield other than a deep, narrow, midblock. Its strikers are complete pony and we've got a collection of midget tens who all want to play the same position. It has zero strength in depth and little bench impact. It's slow as rust. It relies on Jimmy Dunne for its entire aerial presence, at both ends of the pitch, from right back. It's beset by injuries while our head of performance chills in Dubai collecting salaries from three or four different organisations.
My strong concern is this time next year we'll be talking about what a great job, it turns out, Cifuentes was doing to keep this show on the road. Obviously I hope not, if he does leave I hope we get somebody better and we go flying on up the table. But I think he did an unreal job last season and is probably a couple of shots at least under par for this. |
Cifuentes had done a fair-to-middling job at best, in my opinion, with plenty of dips. |  |
| |
| This season......your thoughts. on 20:56 - Mar 28 with 1054 views | stainrods_elbow |
| This season......your thoughts. on 14:38 - Mar 27 by Northernr |
I know I've made this point before, and I'm always better the devil you know (not Ainsworth) but Charlton said Curbishley wasn't the man to take them forward in the Premier League as well.
If Cifuentes were to leave do you have faith that this Nourry-led operation will be able to appoint a better manager than him, and recruit a better team for him to operate with? |
It isn't a 'Nourry-led operation'! | |
| |
| This season......your thoughts. on 12:30 - Mar 29 with 945 views | Bluce_Ree |
Look, supporting QPR is mostly shit. We're not going to win this league with these players and we're not going to be in the Play-Offs.
We're 15th. 6 points off the Play-Offs and 7 points above the bottom three.
That's as good as you can rightfully expect. It's not great but our gobs are bum-free. That's the QPR experience and we're living it. |  |
| Stefan Moore, Stefan Moore running down the wing. Stefan Moore, Stefan Moore running down the wing. He runs like a cheetah, his crosses couldn't be sweeter. Stefan Moore. Stefan Moore. Stefan Moore. |
| |
| This season......your thoughts. on 20:34 - Mar 29 with 786 views | stainrods_elbow |
| This season......your thoughts. on 12:30 - Mar 29 by Bluce_Ree |
Look, supporting QPR is mostly shit. We're not going to win this league with these players and we're not going to be in the Play-Offs.
We're 15th. 6 points off the Play-Offs and 7 points above the bottom three.
That's as good as you can rightfully expect. It's not great but our gobs are bum-free. That's the QPR experience and we're living it. |
Would that one or two bums were gob-free! | |
| |
| This season......your thoughts. on 20:36 - Mar 29 with 799 views | connell10 |
Same shit different season . |  |
| AND WHEN I DREAM , I DREAM ABOUT YOU AND WHEN I SCREAM I SCREAM ABOUT YOU!!!!! | | Poll: | best number 10 ever? |
| |
| This season......your thoughts. on 21:41 - Mar 29 with 750 views | komradkirk |
I expected us to start the season on a high after a good end to the last one but we started like we did under Ainsworth.
Then we had a good spell where we looked a top six side.
Now we have reverted to what we are.
A lower Championship team with a lack of bottle when its put to us.
Is this group of players really any better than the last handful of seasons?
I don't think it is.
Major disappointment is my opinion. |  | | |
| This season......your thoughts. on 21:57 - Mar 29 with 719 views | Rangersw12 |
| This season......your thoughts. on 20:56 - Mar 28 by stainrods_elbow |
It isn't a 'Nourry-led operation'! |
Who do you think is calling the shots then ? | | | |
| This season......your thoughts. on 19:13 - Mar 30 with 546 views | nix |
| This season......your thoughts. on 21:41 - Mar 29 by komradkirk |
I expected us to start the season on a high after a good end to the last one but we started like we did under Ainsworth.
Then we had a good spell where we looked a top six side.
Now we have reverted to what we are.
A lower Championship team with a lack of bottle when its put to us.
Is this group of players really any better than the last handful of seasons?
I don't think it is.
Major disappointment is my opinion. |
I think it's fair to say we had a very poor start and made a mistake trying to integrate too many players without Championship experience. However I think the current results are way more understandable.
I think most teams would struggle not being able to start even their fourth choice forward; their third choice CD, their main playmaker; their most experienced DM (I don't think Colback has the legs for it and is better higher up the pitch), one of their most creative and hardworking players on suspension.
Point being we can't judge our team as most of them aren't playing. |  | | |
| This season......your thoughts. on 19:43 - Mar 30 with 470 views | stainrods_elbow |
| This season......your thoughts. on 21:57 - Mar 29 by Rangersw12 |
Who do you think is calling the shots then ? |
No one - for the nth time! As Nourry and Marti have made abundantly clear - even if the anti-Nourry agenda-pushers here refuse to listen or accept it and just keep peddling the same nonsense that it's some kind of one-man dictatorship - recruitment, playing style/ethos, and the general 'club culture' are a collective conversation between Nourry, MC and the coaching team, and the board/owners. | |
| |
| This season......your thoughts. on 20:44 - Mar 30 with 385 views | Rangersw12 |
| This season......your thoughts. on 19:43 - Mar 30 by stainrods_elbow |
No one - for the nth time! As Nourry and Marti have made abundantly clear - even if the anti-Nourry agenda-pushers here refuse to listen or accept it and just keep peddling the same nonsense that it's some kind of one-man dictatorship - recruitment, playing style/ethos, and the general 'club culture' are a collective conversation between Nourry, MC and the coaching team, and the board/owners. |
Nourry has said himself that he's setting the playing style/ethos | | | |
| This season......your thoughts. on 21:25 - Mar 30 with 321 views | PunteR |
I dont really know how i think about the club atm.
Its just the same every season, despite what manager and players we have. Even the change of the DoF / CEO doesnt seem to make much difference.
I was willing to go along with Nourry and support his decisions but he obviously put some noses out of joint early doors, so faced an even bigger already existing uphill battle.
Theres something wrong with the club behind the scenes, and its the absent owners. We're rudderless. They continue to plough money in to keep us alive but they keep employing people not experienced for their specific roles.
So again, fans are calling out the manager, Players out of contracts, players injured with no cover, players phoning it in. It just seems a mess.
Clearly Cifuentes isnt happy atm , but its been the same with every manager, always giving the impression they're trying to herd cats.
Recruitment, attitude and general standards within the club are always called into question.
Disappointing season, and feels like another missed opportunity with a decent manager.
Still a few more games to go, and maybe we can string some decent results together and have something to build on for next season, but then again, maybe we wont. Like every other season. |  |
| Occasional providers of half decent House music. |
| |
| |
By continuing to use the site, you agree to our use of cookies and to abide by our Terms and Conditions.
