| Catastrophe, ou formidable? Stéphan steps into Loftus Road hot seat - Column on 09:37 - Jun 26 with 1858 views | BazzaInTheLoft |
| Catastrophe, ou formidable? Stéphan steps into Loftus Road hot seat - Column on 08:43 - Jun 26 by JamesB1979 |
Think the other 2 would create more. |
I mean, it's all caveated by injuries and scrapes with the Belgian judiciary but apparently not according to last season:
KOLLI
0.5 goals per game
0.3 assists per game
DEMBELE
0.2 goals per game
0.3 assists per game
CHAIR
0.1 goals per game
0.3 assists per game
Ideally you'd find a way to get all three on the pitch with Kelman. |  | |  |
| Catastrophe, ou formidable? Stéphan steps into Loftus Road hot seat - Column on 09:55 - Jun 26 with 1777 views | Hunterhoop |
| Catastrophe, ou formidable? Stéphan steps into Loftus Road hot seat - Column on 09:37 - Jun 26 by BazzaInTheLoft |
I mean, it's all caveated by injuries and scrapes with the Belgian judiciary but apparently not according to last season:
KOLLI
0.5 goals per game
0.3 assists per game
DEMBELE
0.2 goals per game
0.3 assists per game
CHAIR
0.1 goals per game
0.3 assists per game
Ideally you'd find a way to get all three on the pitch with Kelman. |
Personally, I wouldn’t, Baz. I’d actively try to avoid that. If you have those 3 and Kelman on the pitch you have 4 players who offer little off the ball, and aren’t big and physical for the battle of the Championship and set pieces. There was a reason Smyth played so many minutes last season and it’s because he does far more and better defensive work than those 3.
If fit and available, with what we have, Frey starts. I am genuinely warming to the idea of playing 2 up top in a 442 shape to try it out, and would have Kelman along side him, which I think would help Kelman get settled into the league. It would also suit Celar if he was to play there.
If you play 2 up top, you’re looking at a winger on either side. Potentially you could get Chair and Dembele in then (although not much protection for the full back, but not sure where Kolli fits. He could play off Frey, but not on the shoulder, more a Sherringham style deep lying forward.
In a 433 or 343, clearly that would suite Dembele and Chair (and Kolli) and you could play Kelman as the 9. But that’s 3 pretty small blokes up top in the Championship, which rarely works. And you can’t have all 3 staying up top and not getting back in shape and behind the ball to help out. |  | | |
| Catastrophe, ou formidable? Stéphan steps into Loftus Road hot seat - Column on 09:57 - Jun 26 with 1770 views | BazzaInTheLoft |
| Catastrophe, ou formidable? Stéphan steps into Loftus Road hot seat - Column on 09:55 - Jun 26 by Hunterhoop |
Personally, I wouldn’t, Baz. I’d actively try to avoid that. If you have those 3 and Kelman on the pitch you have 4 players who offer little off the ball, and aren’t big and physical for the battle of the Championship and set pieces. There was a reason Smyth played so many minutes last season and it’s because he does far more and better defensive work than those 3.
If fit and available, with what we have, Frey starts. I am genuinely warming to the idea of playing 2 up top in a 442 shape to try it out, and would have Kelman along side him, which I think would help Kelman get settled into the league. It would also suit Celar if he was to play there.
If you play 2 up top, you’re looking at a winger on either side. Potentially you could get Chair and Dembele in then (although not much protection for the full back, but not sure where Kolli fits. He could play off Frey, but not on the shoulder, more a Sherringham style deep lying forward.
In a 433 or 343, clearly that would suite Dembele and Chair (and Kolli) and you could play Kelman as the 9. But that’s 3 pretty small blokes up top in the Championship, which rarely works. And you can’t have all 3 staying up top and not getting back in shape and behind the ball to help out. |
Fck it mate, we’ll win 6-5 every game. | | | |
| Catastrophe, ou formidable? Stéphan steps into Loftus Road hot seat - Column on 10:03 - Jun 26 with 1757 views | Hunterhoop |
| Catastrophe, ou formidable? Stéphan steps into Loftus Road hot seat - Column on 09:57 - Jun 26 by BazzaInTheLoft |
Fck it mate, we’ll win 6-5 every game. |
We can but pray.
Either that or we’ll watch our puny side get steamrollered by some roided up oppo, swatting our players aside with ease as they stampede towards our box.
I don’t want to win the justice league this year or play good football and lose. I want to see Rangers win. I want to see Loftus Road become a fortress again. I want other teams to be intimidated coming to our ground. I want Michi Frey beating a drum outside the entrance, topless, eyeballing every away player as they enter the ground. Or maybe doing some techno dancing like that bearded Techno Viking bloke. | | | |
| Catastrophe, ou formidable? Stéphan steps into Loftus Road hot seat - Column on 10:21 - Jun 26 with 1698 views | BazzaInTheLoft |
| Catastrophe, ou formidable? Stéphan steps into Loftus Road hot seat - Column on 10:03 - Jun 26 by Hunterhoop |
We can but pray.
Either that or we’ll watch our puny side get steamrollered by some roided up oppo, swatting our players aside with ease as they stampede towards our box.
I don’t want to win the justice league this year or play good football and lose. I want to see Rangers win. I want to see Loftus Road become a fortress again. I want other teams to be intimidated coming to our ground. I want Michi Frey beating a drum outside the entrance, topless, eyeballing every away player as they enter the ground. Or maybe doing some techno dancing like that bearded Techno Viking bloke. |
'Or maybe doing some techno dancing like that bearded Techno Viking bloke'
For those that don't know Hunter means this guy:
 | | | |
| Catastrophe, ou formidable? Stéphan steps into Loftus Road hot seat - Column on 10:27 - Jun 26 with 1684 views | kensalriser |
| Catastrophe, ou formidable? Stéphan steps into Loftus Road hot seat - Column on 01:53 - Jun 26 by stainrods_elbow |
It's obviously by far the biggest part of the story in terms of any club's expenditure (in 2023-24, Champ clubs spent on average 93% of their turnover on wages), so you need to get your facts straight), plus the original post correlated wages to league position specifically, so I was addressing that myth in order to nail it. |
You’re the one presenting the facts and it can only be obvious if you have all the relevant facts. Total playing budget is the critical metric regardless of what the original post referenced. You can’t just ignore transfer (and agent) and signing on fees like they don’t exist. What percentage of turnover are they? |  |
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| Catastrophe, ou formidable? Stéphan steps into Loftus Road hot seat - Column on 10:27 - Jun 26 with 1682 views | SW_Ranger |
Kolli and Lloyd have to behind Kelman as a choice next season. The guy is fit and confident after last season and he doesn’t exactly have a high bar to achieve better than our forwards from last season. He has a new manager to impress and no baggage to hold him back in the new regime.
You have to fancy seeing him with Michi just to see how it will work.
We need a new Kelman thread 😉 |  | | |
| Catastrophe, ou formidable? Stéphan steps into Loftus Road hot seat - Column on 11:15 - Jun 26 with 1588 views | KensalT |
| Catastrophe, ou formidable? Stéphan steps into Loftus Road hot seat - Column on 09:37 - Jun 26 by BazzaInTheLoft |
I mean, it's all caveated by injuries and scrapes with the Belgian judiciary but apparently not according to last season:
KOLLI
0.5 goals per game
0.3 assists per game
DEMBELE
0.2 goals per game
0.3 assists per game
CHAIR
0.1 goals per game
0.3 assists per game
Ideally you'd find a way to get all three on the pitch with Kelman. |
The problem with cherry picking your stats is you can make them look like anything you want them to be.
If you judge those three players on minutes played then between them they completed 41 appearances of 90 minutes, which isn't great.
On the other hand they between them managed 9 goals and 12 assists, which is a fair return for 41 games. Especially with our goal shy strikers.
https://fbref.com/en/squads/a757999c/Queens-Park-Rangers-Stats
The bigger problem with Kolli and Dembele is getting them to put in the necessary effort for the defensive side of the game.
And if you want a really silly stat, Lyndon Dykes played 6 minutes for us last season but managed to score in that time giving him an average of 15 goals per game.
Goal machine  | | | |
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| Catastrophe, ou formidable? Stéphan steps into Loftus Road hot seat - Column on 11:23 - Jun 26 with 1569 views | KensalT |
| Catastrophe, ou formidable? Stéphan steps into Loftus Road hot seat - Column on 09:55 - Jun 26 by Hunterhoop |
Personally, I wouldn’t, Baz. I’d actively try to avoid that. If you have those 3 and Kelman on the pitch you have 4 players who offer little off the ball, and aren’t big and physical for the battle of the Championship and set pieces. There was a reason Smyth played so many minutes last season and it’s because he does far more and better defensive work than those 3.
If fit and available, with what we have, Frey starts. I am genuinely warming to the idea of playing 2 up top in a 442 shape to try it out, and would have Kelman along side him, which I think would help Kelman get settled into the league. It would also suit Celar if he was to play there.
If you play 2 up top, you’re looking at a winger on either side. Potentially you could get Chair and Dembele in then (although not much protection for the full back, but not sure where Kolli fits. He could play off Frey, but not on the shoulder, more a Sherringham style deep lying forward.
In a 433 or 343, clearly that would suite Dembele and Chair (and Kolli) and you could play Kelman as the 9. But that’s 3 pretty small blokes up top in the Championship, which rarely works. And you can’t have all 3 staying up top and not getting back in shape and behind the ball to help out. |
If we do play two up top we will really need another big strong front man to share the workload with Frey.
I know Kelman is supposed to have bulked up but he's not tall and he's not quick. I can't see him playing the target man role against Championship defences. [Post edited 26 Jun 11:24]
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| Catastrophe, ou formidable? Stéphan steps into Loftus Road hot seat - Column on 11:24 - Jun 26 with 1563 views | Wilkinswatercarrier |
| Catastrophe, ou formidable? Stéphan steps into Loftus Road hot seat - Column on 07:51 - Jun 26 by BazzaInTheLoft |
Don’t fancy him in behind Kelman this season? |
He is definitely a 10, but no I wouldn't put him ahead of Chair, maybe Dembele.
What I see when he plays is someone very much playing for himself, like Dembele. Doesn't do the hard stuff off the ball, although in fairness we saw glimpses of it last game of the season. He also gives the ball away way way to often.
I just don't see a player who is a starter. | |
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| Catastrophe, ou formidable? Stéphan steps into Loftus Road hot seat - Column on 11:28 - Jun 26 with 1558 views | Hunterhoop |
| Catastrophe, ou formidable? Stéphan steps into Loftus Road hot seat - Column on 11:23 - Jun 26 by KensalT |
If we do play two up top we will really need another big strong front man to share the workload with Frey.
I know Kelman is supposed to have bulked up but he's not tall and he's not quick. I can't see him playing the target man role against Championship defences. [Post edited 26 Jun 11:24]
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I agree. I think it’s a key signing. Would actually target a young target man from the lower leagues here.
I think our 4 strikers should be: Frey, AN Other, Kelman and Celar. You have two styles there and a back up for each.
Kolli isn’t a centre forward. Neither is Dembele. They can play wide.
But if we play a front 3 with those to or Chair, or Smyth, or Poku as wide forwards, who plays as 9 down the middle. Kelman might not succeed in the Champ in that role. Celar struggled in his 17 games last season. Kolli struggled when asked to be that target man. That leaves you with Frey…so again, even if we play 433, I’m left thinking we need a back up for Frey in the style of a target man.
It’s not good have 4 or 5 forwards if only one of them can reliably play the role you need them to play. That’s why I’d explore 442 as it suits all our forwards. | | | |
| Catastrophe, ou formidable? Stéphan steps into Loftus Road hot seat - Column on 11:32 - Jun 26 with 1541 views | dmm |
I'd like to see two up front but doubt we have a midfield that could cope with a midfield four. Maybe a five man midfield but do we have players who can play as wing backs? And where would our army of mini 10s play?
We have a squad that's suited to 4231 and it will take several transfer windows to change it if that's what Stephan is allowed to do. |  | | |
| Catastrophe, ou formidable? Stéphan steps into Loftus Road hot seat - Column on 11:39 - Jun 26 with 1520 views | Hunterhoop |
| Catastrophe, ou formidable? Stéphan steps into Loftus Road hot seat - Column on 11:32 - Jun 26 by dmm |
I'd like to see two up front but doubt we have a midfield that could cope with a midfield four. Maybe a five man midfield but do we have players who can play as wing backs? And where would our army of mini 10s play?
We have a squad that's suited to 4231 and it will take several transfer windows to change it if that's what Stephan is allowed to do. |
The squad, mainly the midfield and array of 10s, are suited to 4141, 4231, and 433.
Our forwards are suited by 442, and arguably the defence is to. The issue with 442 is could Varane and Field cope, especially being likely to be outnumbered most weeks? And would our wingers give enough protection to our full backs? | | | |
| Catastrophe, ou formidable? Stéphan steps into Loftus Road hot seat - Column on 11:42 - Jun 26 with 1515 views | gigiisourgod |
| Catastrophe, ou formidable? Stéphan steps into Loftus Road hot seat - Column on 09:12 - Jun 26 by 1JD |
Strange perspective from Dave Mc on Kolli. How anyone at 20 years old is at their peak market value is beyond me. Unless of course you simply don’t rate them at all, which is essentially Dave’s perspective.
Watched Kolli from early on in the youths -he’s always been the stand out talent and on a different level to all others. Premier league potential and I don’t say that lightly. We simply don’t produce this type of talent through our academy.
So I’m with Chair - who is on record saying he’s got huge potential and is best natural talent to come through the club since Eze, with several similarities. For someone who trains with him everyday and understands what passes through the club over the years, that’s high praise indeed. He just needs to stay fit. |
Yeah I completely agree and really don’t see the harm in having 2 (arguably 3 if you want to include Dembele) capable no.10s that can start and make things happen or come on and have a real influence, might be part of the key to unlocking some progress on these 3 games week, where for a while it has appeared we have over-flogged players to death and then paid for it later in the season.
A very nice problem to have IMO and with the summer activity so far, it doesn’t strike me that we are desperate for cash either. | | | |
| Catastrophe, ou formidable? Stéphan steps into Loftus Road hot seat - Column on 11:46 - Jun 26 with 1468 views | stainrods_elbow |
| Catastrophe, ou formidable? Stéphan steps into Loftus Road hot seat - Column on 10:27 - Jun 26 by kensalriser |
You’re the one presenting the facts and it can only be obvious if you have all the relevant facts. Total playing budget is the critical metric regardless of what the original post referenced. You can’t just ignore transfer (and agent) and signing on fees like they don’t exist. What percentage of turnover are they? |
Sorry I didn't write the thesis you obviously want. I addressed the original post correlating wage bills and league positions, refuted it, backed it up, and rest my case. Sorry if you still have issues. |  |
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| Catastrophe, ou formidable? Stéphan steps into Loftus Road hot seat - Column on 11:56 - Jun 26 with 1461 views | Northernr |
| Catastrophe, ou formidable? Stéphan steps into Loftus Road hot seat - Column on 11:46 - Jun 26 by stainrods_elbow |
Sorry I didn't write the thesis you obviously want. I addressed the original post correlating wage bills and league positions, refuted it, backed it up, and rest my case. Sorry if you still have issues. |
So what you’re saying is two thirds of the league placed exactly where they should per their wage bill?  |  | | |
| Catastrophe, ou formidable? Stéphan steps into Loftus Road hot seat - Column on 12:15 - Jun 26 with 1399 views | slmrstid |
How can a website claim to have club wage bills for the 2024-25 season when literally not a single one of them will have released financial results for the year, and given their year ends are generally between March and June won't be until the back end of this year and early months of next?
Websites like that are an absolute crock of sh*t.
In addition, Kieran Maguire of Price of Football has got years and years and years of data showing that the vast majority of the time (and there will always be outliers) its wages spent = league position, rather than transfer fees.
But presumably he is wrong and Stainrod's Capology is correct, plus ca change.
Worth my regular reminder that Neil Warnock's low cost team of 2010-11 heroes did in fact have the 2nd highest wage bill in the league, Sheffield United being the big outliers that year in having a high wage bill and in fact getting relegated. [Post edited 26 Jun 15:35]
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| Catastrophe, ou formidable? Stéphan steps into Loftus Road hot seat - Column on 14:19 - Jun 26 with 1216 views | derbyhoop |
If we don't get too many injuries then Stéphan will have a proper selection problem in the top half.
I'll assume the DCMs will be Varane & Field.
But ahead of them you have Smyth, Dembele, Madsen, Morgan, Chair, Vale and Kolli, who I regard more of an ACM than an out and out striker. You can also add Bennie, Pearman and Sutton and, maybe Poku. If you try to play 2 strikers, you're really trying to fit a quart into a pint pot.
Plus, it's important to get the balance right. Can we go with the 7 dwarves. Who defends from midfield? Dembele doesn't. Chair does his fair share. Kolli sometimes. Madsen, provided you're not expecting a load of tackling. |  |
| "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 |
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| Catastrophe, ou formidable? Stéphan steps into Loftus Road hot seat - Column on 14:53 - Jun 26 with 1134 views | DavieQPR |
No. The issue with 4-4-2 is that it would mean changing the whole club philosophy right through the ranks. Not going to happen. |  | | |
| Catastrophe, ou formidable? Stéphan steps into Loftus Road hot seat - Column on 15:39 - Jun 26 with 1027 views | BazzaInTheLoft |
| Catastrophe, ou formidable? Stéphan steps into Loftus Road hot seat - Column on 11:15 - Jun 26 by KensalT |
The problem with cherry picking your stats is you can make them look like anything you want them to be.
If you judge those three players on minutes played then between them they completed 41 appearances of 90 minutes, which isn't great.
On the other hand they between them managed 9 goals and 12 assists, which is a fair return for 41 games. Especially with our goal shy strikers.
https://fbref.com/en/squads/a757999c/Queens-Park-Rangers-Stats
The bigger problem with Kolli and Dembele is getting them to put in the necessary effort for the defensive side of the game.
And if you want a really silly stat, Lyndon Dykes played 6 minutes for us last season but managed to score in that time giving him an average of 15 goals per game.
Goal machine |
It's not been a problem for me, it's made my point exactly. | | | |
| Catastrophe, ou formidable? Stéphan steps into Loftus Road hot seat - Column on 16:51 - Jun 26 with 903 views | Esox_Lucius |
| Catastrophe, ou formidable? Stéphan steps into Loftus Road hot seat - Column on 11:28 - Jun 26 by Hunterhoop |
I agree. I think it’s a key signing. Would actually target a young target man from the lower leagues here.
I think our 4 strikers should be: Frey, AN Other, Kelman and Celar. You have two styles there and a back up for each.
Kolli isn’t a centre forward. Neither is Dembele. They can play wide.
But if we play a front 3 with those to or Chair, or Smyth, or Poku as wide forwards, who plays as 9 down the middle. Kelman might not succeed in the Champ in that role. Celar struggled in his 17 games last season. Kolli struggled when asked to be that target man. That leaves you with Frey…so again, even if we play 433, I’m left thinking we need a back up for Frey in the style of a target man.
It’s not good have 4 or 5 forwards if only one of them can reliably play the role you need them to play. That’s why I’d explore 442 as it suits all our forwards. |
With all this emphasis on getting coaching staff who can push the DS players through, we may even see AN Other replaced by Cian Dillon. There's a hell of a lot of teens performing well on the world stage so it's not unreasonable to imagine one in a championship team. |  |
| The grass is always greener. |
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| Catastrophe, ou formidable? Stéphan steps into Loftus Road hot seat - Column on 16:59 - Jun 26 with 888 views | kensalriser |
I hope it’ll be someone because if the current striker personnel are it for the season, unless Kelman keeps up his L1 form we’re going to be deep in the merde tout suite. | |
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| Catastrophe, ou formidable? Stéphan steps into Loftus Road hot seat - Column on 17:11 - Jun 26 with 871 views | Hunterhoop |
| Catastrophe, ou formidable? Stéphan steps into Loftus Road hot seat - Column on 16:51 - Jun 26 by Esox_Lucius |
With all this emphasis on getting coaching staff who can push the DS players through, we may even see AN Other replaced by Cian Dillon. There's a hell of a lot of teens performing well on the world stage so it's not unreasonable to imagine one in a championship team. |
He fits the bill as a hold up merchant, Esox. And I liked his attitude in the youth cup final. But, equally, he looked quite a long way off to me…think he needs a loan to the Conference or L2 this year. | | | |
| Catastrophe, ou formidable? Stéphan steps into Loftus Road hot seat - Column on 17:51 - Jun 26 with 824 views | Hooping_Mad |
Shrugged shoulders 10 times in first interview. Just sayin.......
Hope he's good. | |
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| Catastrophe, ou formidable? Stéphan steps into Loftus Road hot seat - Column on 17:56 - Jun 26 with 813 views | DeanoMD |
Can't wait to see him on the touchline in his tight white jeans.... | | | |
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