Mackday Meldrew - Queens Park Rangers



samaistonsrightfoot said:
Hjelde is one of the worst players I’ve seen for us to and he’s got some competition. Jesus. How much did we pay for him?
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Enough to pay for Kieffer Moore's wages for a bit of a push up the table.

Hjelde is absolute toss. His kick into touch today where he played himself into trouble was embarrassing.
 
We look like an absolutely nothing team, Massive work neededd in closed season, and we were so close last time.

absolutely abysmal mangagement, speakman should be getting pelters.
 
HABA87 said:
Enough to pay for Kieffer Moore's wages for a bit of a push up the table.

Hjelde is absolute toss. His kick into touch today where he played himself into trouble was embarrassing.
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There’s levels to our signings so it will have been a multiple person decision to sign him.

He’s tragic. That bit of play second half when instead of playing the ball he started shifting it to either foot for ages before being closed down then just hoofed it but couldn’t get it off the deck so it went 15 yards straight to them was f***ing embarrassing. At least it stayed in play for a change I suppose.

Christ.
 
Less than a year ago we were playing some if the best football I've seen.

The 2nd half of this season has been nothing short of a disaster. Momentum has been well and truly stopped.

The summer window is our most important for a long time. Get it wrong, and if performances match those of recent weeks, we're back in the 3rd tier.

Today was a group that looked nervous. It is also a group that contains players that simply aren't good enough, no matter who is the head coach. That is down to the recruitment team and Speakman. Whoever thought Hemir and Burstow were the answer should be relieved of their position. They will not make it at this level. I don't even think they'd make it in League 1. As for our January recruits, Styles and Hjelde. Deary me. Hjelde panicking and booting the ball out summed his day up.
 
Have to say @AC Mack you have your marks about right. Ba lost possession with his first 5 bits of the ball🤷‍♂️
With Ba & Hemir on we started with 9 men, got up to 11, then went back to 10 when bloody Burstow entered the fray🤮
 
That was a rank performance, devoid of confidence and attacking ideas.

Ba was absolutely disgusting, and never looked confident of taking on and beating an opposing player, and he looked absolutely half arsed throughout, until deservedly subbed.

You gave him a mark of 2, but I struggle to think what he did, to merit such a high mark ?
 
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Ba isn't an out-and-out winger, I just don't see it. Clearly a talent - a good athlete who's technically good and quite skilful, but he seems to lack the instinct of a good attacking footballer.

There was a point towards the end of the first half where he got the ball on the halfway line and had about 20 yards of space in front of him - any good attacker would be looking to drive into that space at speed to try and create something. Instead, he slowly moved forwards into the space and I think eventually passed sideways.

The only way I can see it working is with him tucking in on the same side as an attack minded fullback willing to get on the overlap regularly. Since Pembele is the only senior player available who can't get on the pitch, I don't think we'll be trying it any time soon. Personally, I think Ba will end up playing more centrally as his career progresses.

I didn't really understand why we didn't have Rigg in the middle when he came on, and why we didn't at least try and get Aouchiche further out wide and one-on-one with Jimmy Dunne towards the end. For me, they both have to play. Without a goalscorer, we desperately need to play with more tempo.
 
Exactly as i seen the game.

heldje and styles are just time bombs waiting to go off and gift opposition free shots on goal.

I was sat fairly close to styles area 2nd half and imo he knows he isnt good enough ajd just tries to get by as best he can. Reminds me of donald love.

Heldje thinks he's decent.... even more worrying
 
samaistonsrightfoot said:
Hjelde is one of the worst players I’ve seen for us and he’s got some competition. Jesus. How much did we pay for him?
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I like the crowd screaming at him to open his body to play a forward pass....Danny Collins in commentary was exasperated with him. He looks like a football zombie...braindead. Hemir took loads of stick deservedly so....so what the hell is Dodds doing? "well done boys, bad luck." He has to go and a revamp of the club is urgently required.
 
FulwellViaLeeds said:
Ba isn't an out-and-out winger, I just don't see it. Clearly a talent - a good athlete who's technically good and quite skilful, but he seems to lack the instinct of a good attacking footballer.

There was a point towards the end of the first half where he got the ball on the halfway line and had about 20 yards of space in front of him - any good attacker would be looking to drive into that space at speed to try and create something. Instead, he slowly moved forwards into the space and I think eventually passed sideways.

The only way I can see it working is with him tucking in on the same side as an attack minded fullback willing to get on the overlap regularly. Since Pembele is the only senior player available who can't get on the pitch, I don't think we'll be trying it any time soon. Personally, I think Ba will end up playing more centrally as his career progresses.

I didn't really understand why we didn't have Rigg in the middle when he came on, and why we didn't at least try and get Aouchiche further out wide and one-on-one with Jimmy Dunne towards the end. For me, they both have to play. Without a goalscorer, we desperately need to play with more tempo.
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Ba has had his best games on the right wing for me though it could just be coincidence. He likes to cut inside despite being right footed, so playing on the right probably gives the defender more to think about.
 
AC Mack said:
Ba has had his best games on the right wing for me though it could just be coincidence. He likes to cut inside despite being right footed, so playing on the right probably gives the defender more to think about.
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He’s very two footed so is a threat on the cut in

He hasn’t played much centrally for us, so it’s no surprise his best performances have been out wide.

I’d like to see him centrally at some point as I think his ability with both feet would open up lots of turning and passing options

He’s raw but I like him. Works hard
AC Mack said:
That has to be one of the worst games I've ever sat through. I know we've got injuries but deary me, abysmal.

I didn't think there was too much wrong with our shape as such. We progressed fairly naturally from a back three with the ball to a back four without, which made sense considering the personnel. Mundle and Styles played as wingers in possession, with Styles dropping to full back without the ball and Hume shifting back out wide. We then had a box midfield with Neil, Bellingham, Aouchiche and Ba.

The problem, as usual, was how passive we were with the ball, never looking to take the initiative and get is moving forward quickly, with the exception of Aouchiche and Mundle at times first half. It was a plodding performance. There was one moment in particular when Ba had the ball with a clear counter attacking opportunity - it was begging for us to move quickly, however Ba, Hemir and a couple of others never got beyond a jog, and the attack just fizzled out.

Our passing was shite, decision making awful, and the whole team just look bereft of confidence and creativity, with the possible exception of Neil.

Second half was no better. We shifted things straight away with Bellingham playing higher alongside Aouchiche, and we attacked in more of a 3-1-6, with Neil on his own in defensive midfield. But we didn't really give this chance, as Dodds hooked both Ba and Hemir. I can't blame him as they both dire, but we didn't give the new shape any chance to see if it was working. He might as well have made the changes at half time.

Despite keeping a clean sheet I thought we were nervy and indecisive at the back throughout, particularly in possession where nobody had the confidence to get us up the field. Far too many chuckle brothers 'to me, to you' followed by a panic and hoof upfield.

The saving grace for today is it ends our losing streak, and we're a game closer to the end of the season. But overall we're weak as piss at the moment and going nowhere fast.

Patterson - made about four saves, two of which were very good in either half. A bit shaky with his distribution. 7

Hume - gets plaudits as he's one of the few who looks like he wants to be in a battle, and puts himself about. 6

Ballard - some sloppy moments in possession but generally okay. 6

Hjelde - a bomb scare in possession. He dallies, turns back inside, goes back on the outside, all whilst his options are running out. Then just hoofs it anywhere. Or to be more exact, straight to the opposition. Their big lad that came on caused our centre backs all sorts of problems. But you know, clean sheet so every cloud. 4

Styles - I thought he was meant to be good on the ball? Looked almost as bad as Hjelde at times and like a fish out of water. Made a few off the ball runs I suppose. 4

Neil - kept things ticking over well, and got us up the pitch with some lovely vision and passing at times. 7

Bellingham - same old story, why go forward when you can go back? All afternoon it happened. Just spin, man. 5

Mundle - looked okay first half on the right. He managed to get on the outside of the full back and put a couple of balls in from the byline. Pretty anonymous after the break when he moved to the left. We can't be having a goal threat now, can we? 6

Aouchiche - lively first half in particular and was positive on the ball. Didn't get everything right and is as soft as the others but worth persevering with from the start at the moment. 6

Ba - awful. Never looked like a footballer all afternoon. 2

Hemir - see above. At least Ba has shown flashes. This lad doesn't look like a professional footballer, and his attitude doesn't seem much better. Complete waster. 2

Subs - it's hard to tell with Rigg being over the end of the pitch to me, but he put himself about a bit despite being out of position. Ekwah showed a bit of urgency at times.

QPR - as poor as we were in terms of quality (ie very little) but you could probably put their performance down as gritty, and they could have scored two or three, unlike us. Armstrong caused us plenty of problems by repeating the same run about four times.

Hope that doesn't come across overly harsh.
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I really enjoy your Meldrews
 
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AC Mack said:
That has to be one of the worst games I've ever sat through. I know we've got injuries but deary me, abysmal.

I didn't think there was too much wrong with our shape as such. We progressed fairly naturally from a back three with the ball to a back four without, which made sense considering the personnel. Mundle and Styles played as wingers in possession, with Styles dropping to full back without the ball and Hume shifting back out wide. We then had a box midfield with Neil, Bellingham, Aouchiche and Ba.

The problem, as usual, was how passive we were with the ball, never looking to take the initiative and get is moving forward quickly, with the exception of Aouchiche and Mundle at times first half. It was a plodding performance. There was one moment in particular when Ba had the ball with a clear counter attacking opportunity - it was begging for us to move quickly, however Ba, Hemir and a couple of others never got beyond a jog, and the attack just fizzled out.

Our passing was shite, decision making awful, and the whole team just look bereft of confidence and creativity, with the possible exception of Neil.

Second half was no better. We shifted things straight away with Bellingham playing higher alongside Aouchiche, and we attacked in more of a 3-1-6, with Neil on his own in defensive midfield. But we didn't really give this chance, as Dodds hooked both Ba and Hemir. I can't blame him as they both dire, but we didn't give the new shape any chance to see if it was working. He might as well have made the changes at half time.

Despite keeping a clean sheet I thought we were nervy and indecisive at the back throughout, particularly in possession where nobody had the confidence to get us up the field. Far too many chuckle brothers 'to me, to you' followed by a panic and hoof upfield.

The saving grace for today is it ends our losing streak, and we're a game closer to the end of the season. But overall we're weak as piss at the moment and going nowhere fast.

Patterson - made about four saves, two of which were very good in either half. A bit shaky with his distribution. 7

Hume - gets plaudits as he's one of the few who looks like he wants to be in a battle, and puts himself about. 6

Ballard - some sloppy moments in possession but generally okay. 6

Hjelde - a bomb scare in possession. He dallies, turns back inside, goes back on the outside, all whilst his options are running out. Then just hoofs it anywhere. Or to be more exact, straight to the opposition. Their big lad that came on caused our centre backs all sorts of problems. But you know, clean sheet so every cloud. 4

Styles - I thought he was meant to be good on the ball? Looked almost as bad as Hjelde at times and like a fish out of water. Made a few off the ball runs I suppose. 4

Neil - kept things ticking over well, and got us up the pitch with some lovely vision and passing at times. 7

Bellingham - same old story, why go forward when you can go back? All afternoon it happened. Just spin, man. 5

Mundle - looked okay first half on the right. He managed to get on the outside of the full back and put a couple of balls in from the byline. Pretty anonymous after the break when he moved to the left. We can't be having a goal threat now, can we? 6

Aouchiche - lively first half in particular and was positive on the ball. Didn't get everything right and is as soft as the others but worth persevering with from the start at the moment. 6

Ba - awful. Never looked like a footballer all afternoon. 2

Hemir - see above. At least Ba has shown flashes. This lad doesn't look like a professional footballer, and his attitude doesn't seem much better. Complete waster. 2

Subs - it's hard to tell with Rigg being over the end of the pitch to me, but he put himself about a bit despite being out of position. Ekwah showed a bit of urgency at times.

QPR - as poor as we were in terms of quality (ie very little) but you could probably put their performance down as gritty, and they could have scored two or three, unlike us. Armstrong caused us plenty of problems by repeating the same run about four times.

Hope that doesn't come across overly harsh.
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only one player deserves a 5 that's Neil, Patterson 4 everyone else 3 except Ba Hemir and Berstow 1, we were absolutely awful yesterday, if Bellingham has it written into his contract that he has to play if fit then break the contract and get rid of him as he only knows how to pass it sideways and backwards for the most part he is absolute dog shit, Hemir and Berstow have no heart, i can take being beaten if the players are grafting their balls off but this lot just don't seem to give a flying Feck, i would rather play the under 19,s at least they would put some effort in.
 
zebedee said:
Patto saved the day for sure.
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I’m not sure he knew too much about the two obvious saves which QPR should have done better with tbh, also I think he miss-judged the shot that hit the crossbar, I think he left it thinking it was going over. I’m still not convinced by him but he’s the best we have I suppose.
samaistonsrightfoot said:
There’s levels to our signings so it will have been a multiple person decision to sign him.
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can you just explain what you mean here please?
 
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Styles was pretty poor, however he did absolutely launch himself horizontally at full speed at two first half corners iirc. Not seen anyone do that for years.

Rigg was good when he got on the ball, him and Hume finding space out on the far right hand side of the pitch. Rigg also tried to get on the end of things in the 6 yard box a couple of times. I know he didn't cover himself in glory at Southampton but he is one of the few that's capable of attacking the opposition. Prefer him to be getting more minutes, don't see why him and Aouchiche can't play together, just drop Jobe further back.
 

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