QPR v Aston Villa Post-Match Thread

[Clampy]

Yes that Sanchez. He dropped a massive rick, but he looked very good, far more impressive than Westwood.

It's a bizarre world that we live in when Ron Vlaar "wants lynching" for his "mistake" but Sanchez looked "very good" despite his.

Not so much a bizarre world, as just maybe people's opinions. Besides, I thnk that was Sanchez's second full game in a new league. He was great apart from a couple of misplaced passes.

True, but I think you're probably understating it by referring to a couple of misplaced passes - he basically gave them the second goal and looked absolutely terrified after that.

Good till that point, but that was a pretty spectacular fuck up.

Yes it was, it was unfortunate and a shame really because he did looked decent other than that.

[pauliewalnuts]

Just caught up with the last few pages. I admire all the detailed analysis but let's face it, after over two years of record breaking ineptitude we need to sack the manager.

Agreed.

I just think we need to face up to the fact that he's had a decent run at it, but it just isn't working out.

[supertom]

I think what scares me is that, last night, we surrendered feebly to an awful team, and showed pretty much all our weaknesses, yet although it was pretty awful, we are actually capable of playing much worse than that.

Frightening.

I don't think we surrendered, we dominated the ball throughout, we just looked utterly clueless.

The players need to take responsibility, because the way we're set up just does not work. If I had been Gabby last night after the subs had been made which made us even more narrow, I would have took responsibility and thought "fuck this". I would have not sat withdrawn and central as instructed, I would have pulled as wide as possible and stretched QPR and got some width to it.

The manager keeps proving he is incapable of setting us up with a plan or a pattern to attack a side. Full bakcs taking early crosses, muddling slow ball through the middle does not work. Even our counter attacking is poor, as we invariable fail to utilise the space in behind.

I remember last season against Everton. A game which was as easy for them as it was last week. We were typically clueless, and not even the way Everton played that day gave Lambert any inclination of how to try and improve us offensively. Basically what Everton did all day was completely open up the pitch. They played countless balls from one side of the pitch to the other to spread the play, often given the opposing winger or fullback acres of space to get at us. Baines had an absolute field day that game (as he did last week too).

We almost never ever spread the play like that. We constantly box ourselves in to whichever area we're in and all our width normally comes from fullbacks. Ironically last season we had a period playing with Bacuna as our fullback, who wasn't allowed nearly enough freedom going forward as he probably should have been. And nor did being so defensive minded as a side help him because obviously, he was a dogs dinner at defending. If you have attacking fullbacks who can't defend you have to set yourself up as an attacking side and you need a good holding player who can cover the gaps your fully's leave behind. We didn't do that with Luna and Bacuna and they often left acres of space as inevitably we didn't keep the ball long enough to get it to them in attacking areas.
This season we've given two defensive fullbacks more freedom to get forward and put all our creative hopes in them, but they don't have the delivery to go with it.
One thing that hasn't changed is how isolated we let our fullbacks get at times. As if we expect Cissokho to roast someone Bale style every time.

[chrisw1]

but dont worry Lamberk will train that out of him.

Lamberk?  Really?  Are you 8 years old?

[PeterWithesShin]

If Lambert really did instruct Gabby to play centrally behind Benteke, in an already congested midfield, then he wants sacking for that alone. Because it's fucking moronic.

Gabby should have been running at their CB as pace is a weakness for them, i'm struggling to remember us doing it once. Lambert & Keane also decided that to turn things around we needed to bring on even less pace.

[Clampy]

If Lambert really did instruct Gabby to play centrally behind Benteke, in an already congested midfield, then he wants sacking for that alone. Because it's fucking moronic.

Gabby should have been running at their CB as pace is a weakness for them, i'm struggling to remember us doing it once. Lambert & Keane also decided that to turn things around we needed to bring on even less pace.

Agreed. Dunne only really had a not fully fit Benteke to worry about because apart from when we went two down, no-one else got in the box.

[supertom]

Yes that Sanchez. He dropped a massive rick, but he looked very good, far more impressive than Westwood.

It's a bizarre world that we live in when Ron Vlaar "wants lynching" for his "mistake" but Sanchez looked "very good" despite his.

Not so much a bizarre world, as just maybe people's opinions. Besides, I thnk that was Sanchez's second full game in a new league. He was great apart from a couple of misplaced passes.

True, but I think you're probably understating it by referring to a couple of misplaced passes - he basically gave them the second goal and looked absolutely terrified after that.

Good till that point, but that was a pretty spectacular fuck up.

Yes it was, it was unfortunate and a shame really because he did looked decent other than that.

A good 5-10 minutes before the second you could see his legs were all but gone. As a manager if you see your midfield anchor out of steam and giving away 2-3 clearly very fatigued passes, then you've got to take action. The warning signs were there and he was very leaden footed from the hour mark. Richardson could have come in to sit for the last 30 minutes.

Sanchez will adapt to the pace though. But for the next month or two Lamberts got to ensure he's got an option ready and waiting to go on the bench, as it'll take a while for Carlos to be up to speed for 90 minutes. We do need to give him a run though. The sooner we build him up to Premiership fitness the better.

[RussellC]

If Lambert really did instruct Gabby to play centrally behind Benteke, in an already congested midfield, then he wants sacking for that alone. Because it's fucking moronic.

Gabby should have been running at their CB as pace is a weakness for them, i'm struggling to remember us doing it once. Lambert & Keane also decided that to turn things around we needed to bring on even less pace.

The substitutions were the most frustrating thing for me. We were crying out for some width and pace and with both N'Zogbia and Bacuna on the bench he decided to bring on Bent and Cole. I actually joked after about 60 minutes that would be his reaction if we conceded a 2nd, but couldn't actually believe it when he did.

[Clampy]

One thing I expected from last night was for Cleverley to get into the box more than he did. With two midfielders behind him, he could have afforded to.

[supertom]

If Lambert really did instruct Gabby to play centrally behind Benteke, in an already congested midfield, then he wants sacking for that alone. Because it's fucking moronic.

Gabby should have been running at their CB as pace is a weakness for them, i'm struggling to remember us doing it once. Lambert & Keane also decided that to turn things around we needed to bring on even less pace.

The substitutions were the most frustrating thing for me. We were crying out for some width and pace and with both N'Zogbia and Bacuna on the bench he decided to bring on Bent and Cole. I actually joked after about 60 minutes that would be his reaction if we conceded a 2nd, but couldn't actually believe it when he did.

It was hardly surprising how congested we were in the middle that Cole and Benteke collided with each other in what was probably one of our best opportunities. Two players going for a free header 6 yard out. Unfortunately Joe Cole was surprisingly quick and just about got to it first.
That said, given Bentekes ring rust, I'm not sure he'd have buried the chance.

He took Westwood off as opposed to a clearly exhausted Sanchez as well.

[nigel]

How did Lowton get on?

[supertom]

One thing I expected from last night was for Cleverley to get into the box more than he did. With two midfielders behind him, he could have afforded to.

He would have had to make it through a wall of Gabby, Weimann and Benteke, all stood within 10 yards of each other.

But certainly, as Lambert has billed TC as a player capable of breaking in the box and scoring, we should be seeing that. Our midfield, as they have been since Lambert took over, seem largely afraid of the penalty area and very rarely venture into it.

[Walmley_Villa]

How did Lowton get on?

Gave the ball away a few times, failed to deliver any crosses and abused the away fans apparently. Standard performance then.

[supertom]

How did Lowton get on?

Shambolic would be the polite way of saying it. Typical in defence, and disappointingly poor in attack. I don't think we'll see too much more of him at the club once Hutton is back and fit.

[Ads]

Hutton and Senderos would have made a massive difference last night.

That is the strangest sentence I have typed in a while.