Thracian Posted 24 September 2005 Share Posted 24 September 2005 Someone gotta ask some questions cos this lot was utterly shambolic. First of all the ref. The authorities should get a recording of this to show how a fussy referee can destroy the continuity of a game to the point where the players end up taking the mickey. It wasn't necessarily hisdecisions but his appalling ponderousness and fussiness that marked him down as the worst ref I think I've ever seen. I'd also love someone to explain how the added time works because we had four minutes at the end of the first half and five at the end of the second when I reckoned there should have been a total of 15 minutes. Anyway, the refereee rated 0/10 as you'd expect from a guy who so lost respect and so lost control that he booked more people than a traffic warden and played his whistle with the gusto of a bandsman. The result, aided and abetted by one serious fracas, two sendings off and one apparently serious injury, was the stop-go game to beat all stop-go games and it didn't help Leicester. But let's be straight on one thing. Maybury should have been and was sent off. One or two QPR players might have gone with him but he was the principle fool and he let the side down badly. Not that City were playing well - they were appalling on the eye. Hence the questions which I would love Levein to explain because so many things he does baffle me. a) Why not, with all those players available, play the same defence which served so well against Sheffield Wednesday? b) Why take a decent centre back like Nils and put him at left back (where he was creatively awful and defensively no more than alright) in place of a natural left-back like Sheehan with all his additional attacking attributes. Where is the sense in it?. c) Why, if you elect not to play Sheehan (left side creative player) and you play Hume (midfield support striker and creator) as a front man do you leave out Williams. It meant we had nothing genuinely creative coming out of midfield. d) Why with QPR having two huge centre-backs punt so many passes and corners and free-kicks into the air. As it happened most of the free-kicks went to the goallie but we wouldn't have got em anyway. e) For once, corners were played in lower and with pace and in doing that why have no-one coming short and no-one attacking the front post? f) Why, when QPR's only path to goal is through their huge but slowish central strikers give away free kicks on the flanks. g) Why with the team at least showing some attacking initiative in the second half take off the best player in Iain Hume instead of playing three up front with Hume playing behind the front two and assisting the labouring midfield. Levein needs to find a settled team and a settled system and play it for a while...so all the players in the squad can slip into it easily. He also needs a new right winger. I said it months ago and today only added to my opinion. He's a fancy dan who tries to run around people (several times at once) rather than putting early balls in (except one) or running by them and creating havoc. The old coaching shortcomings were apparent too - corners ineffective, free-kicks just curled into the goallie's hands, hoof ball (where was the much proclaimed full press passing game?)_ It's ironic how much stick Sheehan took for a few misplaced passes due to nervousness. I'm, not sure Nils made a single accurate attacking pass throughout the match and when Tiatto was introduced later - and took over the attacking free-kicks - he was not in the same league as Sheehan with his delivery - and every ball was exactly the same. All the above adds up nievity. There were only three good points that I could see: a) Hammond's first goal. How he deserved it and he is a far greater threat that ever Sylla was cos the later displayed, once again, that he has absolutely no idea how to shoot. b) Hume never stopped trying to cause problems and should never have been taken off. Probably the best City player. c) The collective effort of 10-man City was commendable. No-one let their head drop and you hardly noticed there was a numerical difference in most of the time it stayed like that (QPR had a man sent off near the end). It was a pity the tactics and individual perfomances didn't match the effort. I really cannot see this team being good enough for a play-off place (because even with their limitations they are underperforming almost certainly because they are not being sufficiently well directed or coached). The focus for now should be staying clear of the relegation zone and that needs stability not lots of tinkering. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hazza Posted 24 September 2005 Share Posted 24 September 2005 I'd like to add something to the first list aswell: h) Don't play two defensive midfielders in the centre when we're at home, generally against anyone in this league but QPR were terrible themselves. If Williams was fit to play then start him, if not then move Hughes inside and put Wilcox/Hamill out wide. Not to mention the set pieces, shoddy at both ends as usual. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimmy Posted 24 September 2005 Share Posted 24 September 2005 he only needed to make 2 or 3 changes to the team which played on tuesday night 1) hughes for kisnorbo 2) hume for 1 of the strikers 3) possibly bring back douglas instead he makes wholesale changes and we lose the plot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ricey Posted 24 September 2005 Share Posted 24 September 2005 Totally agree Thracian especially about Sylla. He was a joke today, he's scared to cross the ball I'm certain of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
filbertway Posted 24 September 2005 Share Posted 24 September 2005 I wasnt sure which of the millions of threads to post this in What will peoples reactions be if we lose to brighton? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ricey Posted 24 September 2005 Share Posted 24 September 2005 Another thing about the ref, I think Ian Holloway summed it up when he said: " "When their man was sent off, it seemed to wake up the crowd and give them someone to get their teeth into and fortunately for us that was the referee." If we had got behind the team and not got on the refs back it would of been a lot more helpful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
breadandcheese Posted 24 September 2005 Share Posted 24 September 2005 I can understand the team selection today and applauded it before kick-off. QPR are a very big physical team. Playing Williams in the centre with Gudjonsson (a small player) would have seen us outbullied in the centre of the park. I don't like seeing Nils at left back, but again understand it. The worry was obviously that Sheehan (who is inexperienced at this level) would have been too small to cope with the physical presence of QPR's attack. At the end of the day, the zonal marking at corners has cost us, as has Maybury's stupid rush of blood from (bearing in mind he takes the captain's armband when Dublin and Tiatto aren't fit). It wasn't necessarily the team selection that cost us. Having said that, I am strongly coming to the conclusion that we should make changes to the team line-up, including going back to 3-5-2 (based on the players we have at our disposal). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wellman Posted 24 September 2005 Share Posted 24 September 2005 I wasnt sure which of the millions of threads to post this in What will peoples reactions be if we lose to brighton? Not thinking about it because I'll get the piss ripped out of me for ages <_< Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bert Posted 24 September 2005 Share Posted 24 September 2005 Not thinking about it because I'll get the piss ripped out of me for ages <_< you get the piss ripped out of you anyway!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wellman Posted 24 September 2005 Share Posted 24 September 2005 you get the piss ripped out of you anyway!! By northern idiots Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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