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I think whatever level of football you have played at you know if you control and dominate the middle then you’ll win most of your games. It’s been a real issue for the last decade I would say. The last proper midfielders we had where we dominated games was probably under Faurlin and Derry.
I just cannot understand how the recruitment team would have sat down in the summer and believed Field, Varane, Morgan and Madsen was going to provide you the quality and skill set for a 46 game slog of a season.
Field - he’s a good pro, but very one dimensional. Certainly does his best. Varane - he’s a good player, but often injured. Morgan - very raw. As we saw on Saturday he still has a lot to learn. Madsen - the guy will never be a centre midfielder in a million years. Doesn’t have the stamina, physicality or awareness to play in the middle. Can do a job further up the pitch, but we need to cut our losses and say goodbye.
So the moment we get any injuries / suspensions we are so vulnerable in this area of the pitch. One big area I have noticed in the first 4 games of the season is how unfit we look and how lightweight we are. We are bumped off the ball constantly. We are so slow to to the first and second balls. We don’t have anyone in the middle who can control the game with their passing and vision. We don’t have any midfielders who break the lines to get forward. It’s actually rather depressing as a fan as it’s so blindingly obvious. Just don’t understand how Nourry and his recruitment team did not rectify this in the summer for Stephan. You need a balance in the middle, but we are leaving ourselves so open every week in this area of the pitch.
I’ve said it before, but we need a real spine in this side to make us competitive this season. At the moment there isn’t one. The keeper has played barely any professional football before and he’s 24. We’re not settled with a centre back pairing at the moment. Cook looks like age has caught up with him. Morrison seems to be all the place. The midfield is very weak and then the striker situation is changing every game. So there you go, no spine to a side who are struggling confidence wise and sadly from what I have seen so far are just not good enough for the Championship. We are obviously giving our players long contracts which on the flip side can work against us as if they’re not good enough we will struggle to get rid of them. This is clearly the issue with Madsen and dare I say quite a few others. Sad times. Let’s hope we can address the left back, centre back and midfield issue in the last few days of the window.
They have all come from the lower leagues or from abroad with ‘potential’ and not ready for our first team. I’m all for young players but you need a balance. You need players who know this league and what it takes. We are getting eaten alive. Stats might tell you something but it doesn’t tell you why we need some players who know this league. All 4 games so far we have been completely outmuscled. Some of our players are simply not ready for first team football or not good enough. We looks terrible unfit. We persist with the short play at goal kicks which isn’t working as our players are not confident on the ball. God knows what Steve Bould is doing, but we need to go back to basics. Warnock had it nailed. He had the perfect balance of young players, grafters and match winners. We have simply thrown a load of youngsters on the pitch and are just hoping Nourry’s project is going to work.
Kealey Adamson (RB) – from Macarthur, signed on 27 June 2025 (undisclosed fee).  • Kwame Poku (RW) – from Peterborough United, signed on 29 June 2025.   • Timothy Akindileni (CB) – from Aberdeen (Bosman), becoming official 1 July 2025.  • Kaleb Dyke (CM) – from Leicester City, Bosman; official 1 July 2025.  • Jaylan Pearman (AM) – from Perth Glory; joins dev squad; official 1 July 2025.   • Charlie Warren (GK) – from Tottenham Hotspur; joins dev squad; official 1 July 2025.  • Alex Wilkie (CB) – from Eastleigh; joins dev squad; official 1 July 2025.  • Amadou Mbengue (CB) – from Reading; free transfer; official 1 July 2025.   • Tylon Smith (CB) – from Stellenbosch, signed 23 July 2025 (undisclosed).   • Rumarn Burrell (CF) – from Burton Albion, signed 26 July 2025 (undisclosed).  • Richard Kone (CF) – from Wycombe Wanderers, signed 13 August 2025 (undisclosed). 
We had our ups and downs with him. But importantly we moved forward with him as our coach. There was no reason to sack him. He stood up to the board who wanted a ‘yes’ man in charge. They’ve now got their man in Stephan who’s about as inspiring as a wet weekend in Blackpool in February. He’s another Critchley. I’m sure he’s a nice bloke. I’m sure he’s got pedigree but there are some people who are simply not the right fit for Queen’s Park Rangers. I know it’s been 4 games, but you can tell the bloke is just not going to connect with the fans. He’s somehow hoodwinked the board in his interview for the job. It makes you worry how bad the other candidates were. But we have gone from a solid side under Marti to an utter shambles under this bloke. Last week was bad, but today was on another level. I’ve seen us lose a lot of times, but today we were gutless and all the players lacked the bottle to play for Queen’s Park Rangers. Some of them are simply not good enough. Stephan is simply a yes man to Nourry. The consistency to keep playing Walsh because of the contract situation only confirms it. Nardi is not great but my word he’s a lot better than the bag of nerves in Walsh. If Stephan doesn’t grow a pair he’ll be gone by the Autumn and it might show the board that Nourry is not the man for the ‘project’. Absolutely gutted by today and what we had to witness. That performance was an utter disgrace to our club.
We keep hearing the word ‘project’. What exactly is the project? Is is simply to play Nourry’s players that his computer has identified. Younger the better? And this is irrespective of how the actual team performs? If this is the case, then the fans will lose patience very quickly. Football is a results business. No one has explained the definition of Nourry’s project. Really struggling to warm to the guy. It’s like he’s using the club for his version of Football Manager. Stephan is clearly being told by above what to do and who should play.
I’ve never known a year where we are heading nearly to mid June and the club have announced one pre season game for the summer. The players I imagine are going to be back in 2 weeks and we don’t know who the manager is, who we are playing for pre season, the new coach whoever it is will literally be coming in starting completely afresh with no time to look at the squad and prepare for pre season. Surely the new manager will want his own players for his style of football? Why is the recruitment process of a new manager taking so long?
He wasn’t part of the injury update the other day. I doubt Celar will be seen until next season. Kolli is always injured. Lloyd is unable to play 90 mins and sadly just not good enough at this level. So when will Frey be back? We need some presence up top.
So our last home game was against John Eustace’s Blackburn and our next home game may well be against John Eustace’s Derby County. And he was our ex-assistant manager. Sounds like all sorts going on at Blackburn.
Must be the worst on record. They are all pretty much powder puff. Alarm bells in the summer when none of them have played at this level. Literally don’t knew where we go from here. These ‘data’ players have been nothing short of abysmal. We literally have no proper centre mids. Squad is just awash with luxury players. So many of our players hide in games. It’s unacceptable.
I really hope his injury isn’t too bad and he makes the Euro squad for Scotland. But those pictures didn’t look good. I don’t rate the guy and for me he’s one of the biggest reasons why we have struggled so much in the last 2 years. He just doesn’t have the natural instinct of a striker. Anyway as he’s been injured on international duty will the SFA cover his wages whilst he’s out or because he’s in the initial squad for the Euros is it covered by UEFA and their insurance scheme?
Looking at our record at home this season which has been abysmal we seem to concede first nearly every time. Looking at bottom half of the Championship we have conceded first against:
We start games at home so slowly. It’s like pedestrian like. The game only game I can think of where played on the front foot was against Stoke and we scored early on. Other than that we are so slow passing it sideways. Our top scorer is Chair on 5 goals. Next is our left back with 4 goals. Armstrong simply cannot start games. He cannot lead a line. He is an impact sub. The likes of Willock and Chair I think their best days are sadly behind them. Dykes is not good enough at this level. And from what I have seen of Frey he is not the answer either. I hope we stay up but my word next season we are going to need 4 or 5 quality players in the attacking area of the pitch. Our home form has to improve. We as fans are doing our bit.
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