StriderHiryu

What a banger for your first goal for the club!

People say we were poor, but I don't really think that was true. We definitely gave a sloppy goal away and had some pedestrian passing at the back, but we were always in control of the game and had some good fluency in the final third. Definitely far away from our best, but we still totally dominated that game. For this sort of game shows the mark of Champions! It's almost like we had plot armour in that someone was always going to turn up to win it, and this time round it was Super Harry Winks. Pretenders would drop points in this type of game, but we still did what we had to and got all 3 points. We can't beat everyone and will drop points. Maybe even as soon as the next game! But this type of game shows we can dig out results when needed, and the last time we got promoted we had plenty of days like this.

HARRY WINKS! HARRY WINKS! HARRY WINKS!

He's a disappointment for someone that wears the number 10 shirt, that's for sure.

Movement and fluidity in the final third has been pretty good. Today we are struggling to build it out from the back properly. Really annoying to concede that goal, it was just sloppy play all round. They can't deal with Fatawu at all, we should attack a lot more often down that side IMO. Personally I thought it might be another game where we don't score in the first half so not alarmed yet. We will have tired them out in that first 45.

Mavididi has been awful, and that goal was pretty fortuitous to say the least. But sometimes that's what every player needs - something to go their way to get their confidence back. Compare Mavididi to Fatawu who has been electric. Fatawu is the supposedly young and naive one!

He said after the Sunderland game that "we will lose more than we win." Maresca seems like a humble guy. He probably can't believe how well the team has been doing. Even Man City drop points, like they recently did to Wolves and Arsenal. Yes it's true they also had seasons where they won 17 games in a row, but during his time there, though they were great, even they slipped up on occasion. So he's preparing himself for it, and he does have a point in that often times the slip up is at an unexpected place. Football is a low-scoring, high variability game, which makes these things inevitable. I've predicted a 4-0 win to us, so I really hope he is wrong!

He told the team off for not celebrating the win against Sunderland with the fans

That’s going to happen in this division. It will happen in the Premier League too! So if games descend into that sort of affair, it’s something we need to solve.

Thanks for that. I'm going to post all of the quotes, because they are quite telling. For me it shows he's not a manager that pretends to see things that aren't there. A very refreshing change! “A very difficult game. It’s the game we expected because we know they are a very aggressive team." “Almost all of the games they have been man-to-man off the ball, so we expected it. On the ball, they have weapons like Bellingham, Ekwah, Clarke, Roberts. The goalkeeper is unbelievable. “It’s been a very tough game. But it’s the game I’m most happy about in terms of the way we handled a different kind of game. The first 20 minutes we struggled to find the right measure of how to press, and then after 20 minutes we pressed very well. We were very aggressive." “On the ball, first half, we were quite good, second half we played too many long balls. Also, there is another team there to make a difficult game."

Yeah a lot more players looked more tired than usual. With Leeds the following game, this one seems the most likely to heavily rotate for.

QPR had just one shot all match against West Brom last night, and it was off target Admittedly they had a man sent off on 58 minutes, but still, seems like they are in dire form.

Agree with you. My concern is this is fast becoming the blueprint to playing against us, and Daniel Farke at Leeds will be seeing this game and looking to replicate it. I've no issue with us going long, but in this game it meant we lost control and the game became more 50/50. If teams play man-to-man, one way to beat it is with bounce passes and playing it round the corner, which we know how to do. But we didn't do it enough yesterday! Our striker does drop deep too, often to make a 3rd midfielder, so the 8's can move into the space the striker leaves. But teams are starting to get wise to our movements and patterns.

Leicester City 1 - 0 Sunderland Sunderland came to play. 4231 looking to hit us on the transition as expected. They had the most impressive high press seen at the King Power by an away team this season and they were successful in large period of the match at doing this. Even when they went behind, they stuck to their principles of playing this style. The biggest difference between Sunderland and other teams that have tried to press high is that when they won the ball back, they were able to play between our lines. Slick passing and one two's, looking to find the opposite side winger if free, etc. But they also dared play out from the back too. A few times this led to their own problems, Vestergaard winning the ball back high up in their half as a clear example, but it meant that overall the game was quite even, as reflected in the possession stats. From our point of view a few notable things stuck out: Ricardo inverted from the other side with JJ playing RCB. This was pretty obviously done to marshal Jack Clarke who has been one of the best players in the division this season. At times he played quite high up the pitch, the idea being that by attacking Sunderland we could pin Clarke back so that he wasn't an issue. Casadei was put into central midfield and we played longer more often than I've seen our team do in any match this season. The header he won to setup Nacho may well have been part of the tactical plan. The most notable thing for me in this game was that Hermansen played the ball long so often. To be honest I'm not entirely sure why, but here are some thoughts: Winks and Ricardo were being followed by Sunderland players and given that their press was working early on, he didn't want to risk it. It was a deliberate game plan to try and draw Sunderland forwards and try to exploit them with the ball in behind. Defensively they were a bit naive so it's possible this was the idea. It was an attempt to move our entire block further up the pitch so we could get our high press working. Not always the case when building from the back. This was definitely a good result and overall the stats show we did edge the game. But I think this was at best an indifferent performance. For me what was lacking was our usual composure in building with Winks and Ricardo and playing around the corner. When we did it, we opened up the game and made chances, but we were hesitant to do it. After an impressive first half, I felt like Sunderland tired between minutes 45-60 where we had 3 big chances to tie up the game with Casadei and Iheanacho. This was our best spell of the game, and here it felt like their press stopped working and we got hold of the game. However, Mowbray made 3 subs at around 60 minutes and this restored their press and made life difficult for us again. Then Hermansen kept smashing the ball long from goal kicks which just turned the ball over and over again! Enzo said he was happy with the game, so perhaps he wanted to see if we could dig in and protect a lead? I think we went long way too often and it allowed them back into the game and meant we lost control. We spent more time in this one in our 433 shape than the 3241, which is massive credit to Sunderland, who were hugely impressive. Some of our players look tired in this game, and games every 3 days will do that to you. So that I think that was a factor, and will mean rotation is needed. I expect a lot of changes for QPR given the following game is high-flying Leeds.

Leicester City 1 - 0 Sunderland Sunderland came to play. 4231 looking to hit us on the transition as expected. They had the most impressive high press seen at the King Power by an away team this season and they were successful in large period of the match at doing this. Even when they went behind, they stuck to their principles of playing this style. The biggest difference between Sunderland and other teams that have tried to press high is that when they won the ball back, they were able to play between our lines. Slick passing and one two's, looking to find the opposite side winger if free, etc. But they also dared play out from the back too. A few times this led to their own problems, Vestergaard winning the ball back high up in their half as a clear example, but it meant that overall the game was quite even, as reflected in the possession stats. From our point of view a few notable things stuck out: Ricardo inverted from the other side with JJ playing RCB. This was pretty obviously done to marshal Jack Clarke who has been one of the best players in the division this season. At times he played quite high up the pitch, the idea being that by attacking Sunderland we could pin Clarke back so that he wasn't an issue. Casadei was put into central midfield and we played longer more often than I've seen our team do in any match this season. The header he won to setup Nacho may well have been part of the tactical plan. The most notable thing for me in this game was that Hermansen played the ball long so often. To be honest I'm not entirely sure why, but here are some thoughts: Winks and Ricardo were being followed by Sunderland players and given that their press was working early on, he didn't want to risk it. It was a deliberate game plan to try and draw Sunderland forwards and try to exploit them with the ball in behind. Defensively they were a bit naive so it's possible this was the idea. It was an attempt to move our entire block further up the pitch so we could get our high press working. Not always the case when building from the back. This was definitely a good result and overall the stats show we did edge the game. But I think this was at best an indifferent performance. For me what was lacking was our usual composure in building with Winks and Ricardo and playing around the corner. When we did it, we opened up the game and made chances, but we were hesitant to do it. After an impressive first half, I felt like Sunderland tired between minutes 45-60 where we had 3 big chances to tie up the game with Casadei and Iheanacho. This was our best spell of the game, and here it felt like their press stopped working and we got hold of the game. However, Mowbray made 3 subs at around 60 minutes and this restored their press and made life difficult for us again. Then Hermansen kept smashing the ball long from goal kicks which just turned the ball over and over again! Enzo said he was happy with the game, so perhaps he wanted to see if we could dig in and protect a lead? I think we went long way too often and it allowed them back into the game and meant we lost control. We spent more time in this one in our 433 shape than the 3241, which is massive credit to Sunderland, who were hugely impressive. Some of our players look tired in this game, and games every 3 days will do that to you. So that I think that was a factor, and will mean rotation is needed. I expect a lot of changes for QPR given the following game is high-flying Leeds.

It probably makes more sense to sack him after this game though, as otherwise you’re handing your new manager a defeat for their first game. I suppose they could put a caretaker in charge but with Michael Beale available, I feel like he’s inevitably headed back there even if he left them in a terrible way when he went to Rangers.

Enzo realised that the key to unlocking Casasdei was to get him a haircut. Genius.

Big respect to Sunderland and Tony Mowbray. For all the Mackems that visit our board... respect! You should feel proud of your team. Really good play from your boys.

That's the thing with their style of play, they will leave gaps in behind (as we do), so if you turn the ball over there are opportunities to be had. The frenetic pace of the game is very Premier League. They have a young team, and you can see their naivety, e.g. the corner marking, no one picking up Casadei or Nacho for one of our chances, etc. But this is probably the first time that over the entire half you would struggle to say we had control of the game. Hull might have led against us, but we were in control. This time round we are ahead, but they are dictating large parts of the game. It can be fixed, but if we don't fix it, then trouble awaits.

We were 2nd best in that half! Massive respect to Sunderland, to play that way with such a young team shows guts. Their press will take it out of them, I don't think they can play this way for the full 90 minutes, but likewise this is taking it out of us. Enzo needs to get into them, passes are too sloppy and we are rushing the ball too much. Mads has made some great saves but I think he is going long way too often, which is turning the ball over too quickly. Our best moments come when we get it down and play, or when we win the ball high in their half. We need to impose OUR game here, it's been the opposite so far. Regardless, this has been a great game! This might be the Championship, but this is a Premier League style match.

They are outplaying us at the moment. This is the most similar a game we've had to a Premier League one so far this season. When they win the ball back, they look to play through us (IE the transition) super quickly and effectively. This is what Premier League teams do every week too. More impressively though, they are keeping the ball really well too, we look like the away team here! We've got to get our composure back. They are pressing us high and rushing a mistake from our double pivot. A lot of teams have tried that, but the difference here is that they have the players and pace (and style of play) to take advantage of the situation when it arises. We have to be braver on the ball and play out of that press. That's when the spaces appear in behind them which they are leaving.

That position Jannik won the ball back from was actually ridiculous

Great job we scored because Sunderland so far have been super impressive! That said last few minutes we were starting to get a foot hold.

Sunderland's midfield two are Jobe Bellingham (17) and Pierre Ekwah (21), so I think this is the best test yet for Casadei, who is 20 years old. Both of the Sunderland two have been pretty decent when I've seen them, so the comparison between them and Casadei will be pretty accurate and relevant in terms of where he's at development wise.