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Reply | Keeper conundrum?
at 15:01 9 Oct 2025
If it's not been a problem consistently in League One, I'm inclined to think it's not a problem in the Championship. That said fans tend to rate their keepers based on making great saves and in league one and two, they're generally less required to play out or do as many of the extras. Lumley was a loan phenomenon for a few seasons too. |
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Reply | Keeper conundrum?
at 14:43 9 Oct 2025
He theoretically solves both main issues with Nardi and Walsh respectively, in his (always excellent) ability to come and claim the ball, and being very good with his feet.
The reality though is that on top of the reasons that we sold him still existing, he's regressed to the point where he's surplus to requirements at Boro and we'd be bringing someone in over the top of 2 keepers we presumably rate very highly, in Walsh and Cooper.
I'm not against us bringing in someone though, as nobody seems strong enough to grasp that 1 shirt convincingly, and I think we need loans for everyone but Nardi. |
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Reply | Credit where it's due?
at 21:04 8 Oct 2025
Last seasons individual success stories don't really overcome the overall recruitment, imo. I'd also suggest that if the club felt the same we wouldn't have changed tack as much this year...
Perhaps it was a case of needs must with finances, but as someone above mentioned, I think it was naive to assume so many imports would work based on their data profiles in this league and we were ultimately lucky / well managed to get away with it. |
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Reply | Kolli up front in a two
at 20:55 8 Oct 2025
But he's also being left out of squads completely at times, only making the bench in 1 of the last 3 games after specifically being highlighted by the manager.
Assuming he didn't have a knock, do we not think there's a reason for that? Not even on the bench in a game where Frey is getting an hour?
I'm not saying there's a character issue, but I wonder what he's missing with this manager and coaching staff that puts him on the periphery. |
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Reply | Kolli up front in a two
at 14:09 8 Oct 2025
I think Kolli has potential, especially if he can overcome his regular fitness/injury issues. Ultimately I don't think we know how good he can be until he gets regular minutes and clocks more games. I think he's only just got up to 10 starts and 20 odd sub appearances? I'd wager he's probably not had more than 3-5 total 90mins across all of those...
I do have concerns with the noise that seems to swirl around him, and I think there's clearly something a little odd about the last 4 games. After Wrexham JS made a specific point about how well he'd trained and how disappointed he was not to be able to get him on the pitch, then he wasn't even in the squad for Sheff W or Oxford...
My feeling is that he has a part to play and would make an ideal option for 3rd/4th choice striker or depth across the forward line generally, all of which would be greatly improved by just getting his head down, keeping the media chat about him (and his Dad/reps) down to a minimum, and continuing to work on the off ball stuff that you need if you want to be a genuine starter.
It feels a little like the ball is in his court here, but the conern is - along with Morgan - that if we ever get our arse in gear with availability across the squad, they're going to be too far down the pecking order to even get a place on the bench. In that situation can you be humble enough to dip into the dev squad? Keep working? Stay a positive member of the squad? I have my doubts with RK... |
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Reply | Credit where it's due?
at 17:00 6 Oct 2025
Much too early to start declaring victories. Ultimately the longer term considerations of player development / sales, FFP compliance and ongoing operational and logistical improvements are where the likes of Nourry should be judged.
If we're generous we can call last season a learning year, especially if - like me - you view the overall recruitment, communication strategy and coach/manager handling to have been a disappointment, but the finanical results due next year and after that will give us a better understanding of how well the recruitment went.
What I am more than happy to give full credit for is the perceived lessons learned in recruitment from last year to target a different profile of player. Also the ability to get deals done at what - based on what we know anyway - represent potentially exceptional value. We were very decisive with outgoings for the likes of Armstrong, Dykes, Kelman, etc, and we moved on older players that no longer represented enough short term ability vs long term gain - Colback, Fox, Andersen all on the outs. The decision to bring down the average age is also the right one, if you look at the squad now we have multiple players that are Championship standard already, but also have high ceilings and plenty of time to realise their potential. Even though they're coming up from League One, I'd view Poku and Kone as real coups for QPR too - and the less heralded pickups of players like Morrison & Burrell especially are the real success stories from this data-led approach.
Added to that, I think the youth strategy has been very good. Partly because I think the plan to sign late-teen prospects either undervalued or discarded from higher academies is the better route than trying to thread the needle of bringing a kid all the way through from 8 years old to first team, but also our ability to identify those kind of players and get them to join us in a competitive market. Getting younger profiles that are not far off the first team is a great way to supplement and add depth in the right way - hopefully that continues.
The communication strategy has also improved. Medical updates, albeit controlled and not always timely (or accurate) are welcome and is at least a compromise from last season, and they've loosened the grip on interviews and access to staff. I personally think we're still not where we should be comms-wise, and the overall pursuit to constantly control the narrative and fan perception is grating, but there's been steps in the right direction.
As for this season specifically - it's still too early. Whilst the bruises on my legs from Bristol away end seats are still fresh and I'm buzzing with recent results - I wouldn't underestimate the role that 7-1 beatdown played in our aggressive change in play style and performance. I personally think it's the manager that made the call to divert and focus less on the 'game model', and we're seeing the benefit of that in our results. Obviously that can't be achieved without appointing him in the first place, or giving him a squad strong enough to deal with the loss of players as good as Chair & Poku, but still I think it's more credit to JS for what we've seen post Cov.
Whether that ultimately goes against him when form dips or it's time to discuss extensions, time will tell, but it's clear that was the turning point for him and you'd hope if this good run continues and players improve, that will be enough to get full backing by the board.
TL;DR - too early for judgement, but liking the improvements we've seen from the board in recruitment and comms this summer, and from JS in the last few weeks! |
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Reply | Film 2025
at 00:48 4 Oct 2025
I watched One Battle After Another at the cinema today and you should watch it. Almost definitely an oscar contender and likely winner for the score and best supporting actor with Sean Penn (at least).
The less you know the better, but it's hard to explain anyway. Just enjoy the ride. |
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Reply | Film 2025
at 22:27 26 Sep 2025
Simmo1984!
I try cataloguing all films I watch and made a plan to watch 100 films this year, the list has kept me on track and I've discovered some great watches this year through following people. |
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Reply | Madsen
at 18:16 24 Sep 2025
I'd love to see the definition of Direct Speed. Also what the difference is between direct counter attacks and vertical transitions...
Even without the definitions, it will be interesting to see how we adapt or settle eventually. We're a clear outlier on that graph and it's caught teams cold playing in such a different way. You'd expect teams to adapt eventually, in which case I'd be really interested to see what JS does. Hard to think where to go that won't be seen as negative from 2 up top fast and direct! |
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Reply | Who misses out - best team v best plan
at 18:04 24 Sep 2025
I guess it doesn't matter for a while... Obviously someone was telling porkies about the severity of Poku's injury initially, and the recovery time for both.
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Reply | The unicorn stays a bit longer
at 00:56 23 Sep 2025
I really like Frey, as fun as he is big, but I'm not sure a repeatedly unfit and unavailable 31yo striker who can't do 90mins and has minimal re-sell value warrants a deal beyond the year option we've already taken... |
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Thread | Who misses out - best team v best plan
at 00:49 23 Sep 2025
As we've said, when the likes of Chair, Poku and JCS are back - what will be the plan with squad selection? More specifically how will the board feel if, as you might expect given the players recent performances in a new way of playing, JS decides to consistently leave out some of the clubs favoured 'projects'?
I found it interesting that JS made a point this week to mention why he felt he had to leave out Esq, and the same last week about Kolli not getting on the pitch against Wrexham. If you look at the current squad, you might suggest that Esq, Kolli, and maybe even starboy Morgan are the most in danger of losing their bench spots if we ever manage to get a majority available.
Of course it's a long old season and we'll likely lose others to injuries, suspensions, curses or whatever, but it does make me wonder how a board adamant to give their young pups game time come what may - and posting videos of guards of honour for graduates like Morgan - would feel about a manager not picking them at all.
That Cov result feels a little to me like a turning point for JS rather than the board, and we've seen how it can be for those deviating or not willing to follow the plan...
Anyway just some evening musings. Carry on 🙂 |
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Reply | RND
at 00:24 23 Sep 2025
Exactly this. He's fundamentally not very good, but he does the basics of defending well enough to deal with the majority of the Championship wingers.
I felt much better going into Saturday with him at LB over the Larkeche/Esq options, and I'm sure there will be effort made to keep the latter involved as we go |
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Reply | Bircham isn’t happy
at 20:20 22 Sep 2025
Seems an unnecessary thing to nitpick about publicly in a run of positive, attacking football and good results.
If it was the opposition doing it I might think it's a bit muggy, but if it's working for the team and the fans are into it, who gives a shĂt?
Of all the issues we've had it's weird that this is the time and topic to pipe up about! |
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Reply | How did Madsen play yesterday?
at 15:05 20 Sep 2025
Madsen was great today, his best all around game for sure. This system suits him but he's also doing all the championship midfield stuff we hadn't seen. Love it, keep it up! |
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Reply | Film 2025
at 00:24 20 Sep 2025
I didn't see if it won but pleased if it did - feels like a proper under the radar film.
On those same lines, the guy that played the dickhead policeman (not Roy from the office) was in another underrated film I watched this week - Shot Caller. It's the guy from Game of Thrones and John Bernthal, among others. A really good prison related drama I heard almost nothing about before. Solid performances and the story goes back and forth and is really well told. It's free to watch with Amazon Prime |
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Reply | How did Madsen play yesterday?
at 00:09 20 Sep 2025
He can keep doing it, for more than 5 games. Seen loads of social media stuff like this in response to this graphic, like it was my imagination watching him try to hide in his own shirt for the last 12 months.
Before we all start this revisionist wánkathon, let's not forget he's only 4 games away from a disgraceful performance at Watford, which we've seen a lot more of than the recent showings. I'm also not especially surprised that he's looking better just as we've started to bypass midfield more and put 4 decent attackers ahead of him - people that actually make proper runs and want the ball...
If he's turned the corner and we've found a way to get the best out of him that's superb, because he was a sizeable investment and he seems a very decent lad all things considered, but it'll take more than this as a sample size before I'll hear the I told you so's |
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