| Richard Kone 21:24 - Mar 8 with 6467 views | 1JD |
Getting a free ride this season.
Hold up play is sometimes good, but mostly sh1t.
Slow as a slug. Half arsed jumps for headers.
A rather measly 7 goals in 34 games (1 goal every 4.8 games). Charlie Kelman 5 goals in 26 (1 goal in 5.2 games).
No better than Dykes. Who himself was piss poor, but still scored 12 in his first season. |  | | |  |
| Richard Kone on 20:28 - Mar 12 with 1441 views | JordanFoster |
| Richard Kone on 13:56 - Mar 12 by 1JD |
He’s scored 7 goals this season despite being a virtual ever present. His hold up game is poor.
He will be lucky to hit 10 goals. Even Lyndon Dykes hit 12 goals in his first season at this level.
Whilst there is potential no doubt, he’s also vastly over rated by many QPR fans, probably due to his initial purple patch in front of goal, where everyone went hot and heavy. |
Out of everything to turn the gun on, Richard Kone would have been pretty low down the list.
Everyone is going to look poor if you canon a ball 2 ft above their head for an hour and a half. So away from that, what's his first time finishing like? What's his left foot finishing like? What's his anticipation or movement like?
The reason you can only say "he can't hold the ball up", is because the system is completely flawed and that's all you can judge him on. You should ask why can't our striker get fed a decent chance across two games.
If you have Burrell, teams have to drop to be wary of his pace from goal kicks, if you have a Chair or Madsen, you can start to play through the thirds so they sit off, if you get a Dembele or Poku round him you can have runners in behind. We have none of those.
So you see teams squeeze us up as much as possible and go man for man knowing we can't get out. It doesn't matter if he's Haaland, he's not winning every long ball in the air, it's just not physically possible. We're certainly not doing anything with now our best centre half in midfield cos he can play out from the back.
Add to that what other posters have mentioned on his journey, the fact he engages with nearly every club post on social media, sharing random thank yous of fans or club news to his story. He's 22, not on penalties and probably won't be too far off Dykes first season total. Kone is what a Rangers player should be. | | | |
| Richard Kone on 20:31 - Mar 12 with 1407 views | 1JD |
| Richard Kone on 20:28 - Mar 12 by JordanFoster |
Out of everything to turn the gun on, Richard Kone would have been pretty low down the list.
Everyone is going to look poor if you canon a ball 2 ft above their head for an hour and a half. So away from that, what's his first time finishing like? What's his left foot finishing like? What's his anticipation or movement like?
The reason you can only say "he can't hold the ball up", is because the system is completely flawed and that's all you can judge him on. You should ask why can't our striker get fed a decent chance across two games.
If you have Burrell, teams have to drop to be wary of his pace from goal kicks, if you have a Chair or Madsen, you can start to play through the thirds so they sit off, if you get a Dembele or Poku round him you can have runners in behind. We have none of those.
So you see teams squeeze us up as much as possible and go man for man knowing we can't get out. It doesn't matter if he's Haaland, he's not winning every long ball in the air, it's just not physically possible. We're certainly not doing anything with now our best centre half in midfield cos he can play out from the back.
Add to that what other posters have mentioned on his journey, the fact he engages with nearly every club post on social media, sharing random thank yous of fans or club news to his story. He's 22, not on penalties and probably won't be too far off Dykes first season total. Kone is what a Rangers player should be. |
I’ve been hearing about this for years that we don’t create anything for our strikers and so it’s not their fault.
It’s far from the truth. Good strikers create their own opportunities. And that’s the difference.
I get it, he runs around a lot, so he is loved like Paul Smyth.
But if he doesn’t improve his touch, technique and hold up - he’ll never make it at this level. | | | |
| Richard Kone on 20:49 - Mar 12 with 1330 views | TK1 |
| Richard Kone on 20:20 - Mar 12 by 1JD |
Lyndon Dykes - player I did not rate to be clear - was 24 when he signed for QPR. He was allegedly a hold up striker, as much as allegedly Richard Kone is.
It is well within reason to compare Richard Kone at 22 with Lyndon Dykes first season at 24.
For all this talk that Kone is a great finisher and striker, the data (goals) is not backing it up.
Worth repeating that Dykes got 12 goals in his first season at this level. Kone currently has 7, and may not even get double figures.
Next season is a huge one for Kone, as he will have to improve, the good news is age is on his side. And hopefully it’s in the Championship. |
Dykes turned 25 on October 7, four games into the season. Kone is 23 this July. Come on man. They're at different stages. Kone is 22 this season, Dykes was 25.
Dykes got 12 goals in his first season playing for a QPR that finished 9th, with Willock, Chair, Johanson and for four months BOS providing assists. He started the season poorly, neither he nor Bonne could score, so we signed Austen to help them out. That team would beat the QPR we're fielding in 2026 every time. We'll never know for sure, but I reckon Kone scores 15-20 in it.
Look, time will tell. We'll know more when he's 25, I guess. But now he's the only striker we have, who's been available every week, and is now playing with absolutely no service from out wide or through the middle in a dogsht team with zero confidence or know-how. I don't see the value in slagging him off. | | | |
| Richard Kone on 20:54 - Mar 12 with 1297 views | 1JD |
| Richard Kone on 20:49 - Mar 12 by TK1 |
Dykes turned 25 on October 7, four games into the season. Kone is 23 this July. Come on man. They're at different stages. Kone is 22 this season, Dykes was 25.
Dykes got 12 goals in his first season playing for a QPR that finished 9th, with Willock, Chair, Johanson and for four months BOS providing assists. He started the season poorly, neither he nor Bonne could score, so we signed Austen to help them out. That team would beat the QPR we're fielding in 2026 every time. We'll never know for sure, but I reckon Kone scores 15-20 in it.
Look, time will tell. We'll know more when he's 25, I guess. But now he's the only striker we have, who's been available every week, and is now playing with absolutely no service from out wide or through the middle in a dogsht team with zero confidence or know-how. I don't see the value in slagging him off. |
It’s not really slagging him off. It’s bringing up a valid point that many fans at games are talking about and is evident in front of eyes.
His hold up game is erratic and poor, yet sometimes quite good.
His lack of goals is not masking that, would be different if he was banging them in. He’s not. He’s return is average at best.
But look, I’ve certainly not written him off. I fully agree age is on his side and he has potential. But he will need to improve his hold and lay game significantly, because that is the type of striker we need, and frankly have needed one for years.
He’s a not a channel runner, he’s too flow for that, he’s a number 9, and he has to do more than “score goals”, which is not really doing. Would be different if he was banging them in, as then the other weaknesses in his game would be not so visible.
But all in all, I’m still hoping next season he will step up and improve on his overall game, and get more goals. Let’s see, time will tell. [Post edited 12 Mar 20:58]
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| Richard Kone on 20:55 - Mar 12 with 1296 views | Burnleyhoop |
| Richard Kone on 22:15 - Mar 8 by bosh67 |
The lad has been playing on the edge of his knee falling apart for weeks now. Not sure what people want of him? He has no support and no service. |
I would like to see him control a ball occasionally. Touch of a trampoline.
If he was 18 he could be considered young, but he’s 23 on his next birthday. Hardly a kid anymore.
What do you think Guerdiola would get out of him exactly?
He works hard, but achieves very little. Needs to operate much closer to the opposition box to get anything remotely useful out of him. Not helped by our non existent midfield and man/child wingers.
Personally I would bench him until the return of Burrell, Chair and Poku. Offers nothing without the right type of support. Not really suited to chasing (and failing to catch) defenders for 90 minutes. | | | |
| Richard Kone on 20:58 - Mar 12 with 1280 views | Burnleyhoop |
| Richard Kone on 05:51 - Mar 9 by Paddyhoops |
As was said before . We’ve had this conversation. We had 30% possession today and what we did have we ended up giving back to the opposition.
He’s the least of our problems at the moment. |
Which is what Kone does every time he gets it. He’s the absolute antithesis of a hold up striker. | | | |
| Richard Kone on 21:47 - Mar 12 with 1116 views | FDC |
Not in any way writing him off - first season, looks absolutely knackered etc - but it does amaze me when I think back to how hyped most of us where at the start of the season. I definitely remember posting about how good his touch and control were for a big guy ... Was it all nonsense or has his form really dropped off that far ? |  | | |
| Richard Kone on 08:38 - Mar 13 with 864 views | JordanFoster |
Well we will see on your prediction about never making it at this level, but I guarantee if you did a fire sale nearly every Championship club would take a look at Kone. Not sure that can be said about many others in our squad... | | | |
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| Richard Kone on 08:57 - Mar 13 with 817 views | Northernr |
I still think he's done fine.
He's being run into the ground at the moment, played with knee strapping, on his own up front. He's playing poorly I wouldn't argue that, but first half the other night Birmingham 19 crosses QPR 2. What's he meant to do with that? |  | | |
| Richard Kone on 08:59 - Mar 13 with 812 views | JamesB1979 |
| Richard Kone on 08:57 - Mar 13 by Northernr |
I still think he's done fine.
He's being run into the ground at the moment, played with knee strapping, on his own up front. He's playing poorly I wouldn't argue that, but first half the other night Birmingham 19 crosses QPR 2. What's he meant to do with that? |
He also does more than his fair share of helping out on the defensive side. I think he’s one of the few leaders we have. | | | |
| Richard Kone on 09:44 - Mar 13 with 753 views | Watford_Ranger |
| Richard Kone on 08:59 - Mar 13 by JamesB1979 |
He also does more than his fair share of helping out on the defensive side. I think he’s one of the few leaders we have. |
The leaders we do have aren’t doing a lot of leading. Still traumatised by those three minutes against Wrexham with Cook, Dunne, Field and Hayden on the pitch. | | | |
| Richard Kone on 11:02 - Mar 13 with 670 views | gazza1 |
He is a lucky man to be getting so much game time.
His technical ability is well below that of a professional fotballer. He fails to control good paced balls fired into his feet and therefore back to ball comes towards our goal. Control of te ball is a general issue!!!
He is very limited with his heading ability.
His short passing is very average indeed.
He takes the wrong option frequently.
His misses have been unbelieveable and there are penty of examples out there.
Is he better than one of the worst CF's I have seen recently, namely Dykes, probably just got the edge because of his workrate & attitude towards the game.
He is pretty slow around the park, no pace.
His goals/game ratio is not good at all.
Anyone who has a differing opinion doesnt understand what a CF should be doing.
Saying all the above I like his attitude and application, he is the best we have got who is available. I would pick him above the even more limited Kolli all day!! | | | |
| Richard Kone on 11:04 - Mar 13 with 666 views | gazza1 |
| Richard Kone on 08:57 - Mar 13 by Northernr |
I still think he's done fine.
He's being run into the ground at the moment, played with knee strapping, on his own up front. He's playing poorly I wouldn't argue that, but first half the other night Birmingham 19 crosses QPR 2. What's he meant to do with that? |
Norf, come on, you are far better than that!!! | | | |
| Richard Kone on 11:17 - Mar 13 with 640 views | Northernr |
| Richard Kone on 11:04 - Mar 13 by gazza1 |
Norf, come on, you are far better than that!!! |
He's not playing well Gaz I agree. | | | |
| Richard Kone on 11:49 - Mar 13 with 597 views | KensalT |
| Richard Kone on 08:59 - Mar 13 by JamesB1979 |
He also does more than his fair share of helping out on the defensive side. I think he’s one of the few leaders we have. |
In the most recent WLS podcast DM also identified Kone as one of the players in the group who shows leadership qualities.
He is a young striker playing his first season at this level and should be judged on those criteria. Overall I think he has done OK and a lot of the flak he gets is unfair.
He wasn't gong to walk into this team at his age and immediately be a 20 goal striker. I think some of those criticising him are judging him against that expectation.
Heidar Helguson struggled for us in his first season and he was a seasoned international striker with years of experience playing in England behind him. Give the young lad a chance. | | | |
| Richard Kone on 12:35 - Mar 13 with 548 views | 1JD |
| Richard Kone on 08:57 - Mar 13 by Northernr |
I still think he's done fine.
He's being run into the ground at the moment, played with knee strapping, on his own up front. He's playing poorly I wouldn't argue that, but first half the other night Birmingham 19 crosses QPR 2. What's he meant to do with that? |
I used to play 90 minutes on a Saturday and 90 minutes on a Sunday, plus 3 times midweek in 6 a side. I could run forever.
This idea that Kone is knackered and being run into the ground is nonsense, sorry.
I suspect he might give the impression of looking knackered because he is heavy-arsed and heavy-legged. But the data shows he runs and works extremely hard - one of his qualities.
At the end of the day, he’s 22 years old, and a professional footballer. This is not amateur hour.
He’s played 30-odd games this season, no additional cup games, it’s nothing. | | | |
| Richard Kone on 15:15 - Mar 13 with 459 views | BazzaInTheLoft |
| Richard Kone on 12:35 - Mar 13 by 1JD |
I used to play 90 minutes on a Saturday and 90 minutes on a Sunday, plus 3 times midweek in 6 a side. I could run forever.
This idea that Kone is knackered and being run into the ground is nonsense, sorry.
I suspect he might give the impression of looking knackered because he is heavy-arsed and heavy-legged. But the data shows he runs and works extremely hard - one of his qualities.
At the end of the day, he’s 22 years old, and a professional footballer. This is not amateur hour.
He’s played 30-odd games this season, no additional cup games, it’s nothing. |
I'm confused.
You say on the one hand that if you can play 5 matches a week so can Kone, but you also say 'this is not amateur hour'. |  | | |
| Richard Kone on 15:48 - Mar 13 with 379 views | gazza1 |
| Richard Kone on 15:15 - Mar 13 by BazzaInTheLoft |
I'm confused.
You say on the one hand that if you can play 5 matches a week so can Kone, but you also say 'this is not amateur hour'. |
1JD is basically saying that if an amater can do all what he did or does then a 22 year old pro should be able to cope with play 3 games every other week or two games in 7 or 8 days or 30 games in 7/8 months......which, incidentally, I concur with. | | | |
| Richard Kone on 15:50 - Mar 13 with 371 views | BazzaInTheLoft |
| Richard Kone on 15:48 - Mar 13 by gazza1 |
1JD is basically saying that if an amater can do all what he did or does then a 22 year old pro should be able to cope with play 3 games every other week or two games in 7 or 8 days or 30 games in 7/8 months......which, incidentally, I concur with. |
For someone so educated, you've missed a big dollop of sarcasm gazza. | | | |
| Richard Kone on 15:53 - Mar 13 with 364 views | Padulas_Shampoo |
| Richard Kone on 15:50 - Mar 13 by BazzaInTheLoft |
For someone so educated, you've missed a big dollop of sarcasm gazza. |
Maybe the sarcasm doctorate has got lost in the post. |  | | |
| Richard Kone on 16:01 - Mar 13 with 344 views | gazza1 |
Sarcasm eh!!! [Post edited 13 Mar 16:02]
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| Richard Kone on 16:03 - Mar 13 with 338 views | gazza1 |
| Richard Kone on 15:53 - Mar 13 by Padulas_Shampoo |
Maybe the sarcasm doctorate has got lost in the post. |
I'm way above that 'silly man'  | | | |
| Richard Kone on 16:07 - Mar 13 with 325 views | kensalriser |
Spurious argument anyway. Amateurs are performing against other amateurs. |  |
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| Richard Kone on 16:55 - Mar 13 with 272 views | PunteR |
In what way is Kone getting a free ride? Do you mean the fans are not booing him at games or that he hasn't been dropped?
I don't think we're in a position to drop him are we ?! Who have we got to fill that role.?
Im glad he's not getting pelters at the games, as that wont help either.
But agree , he's struggling atm and his form has dropped unfortunately. He's a young guy, first season at this level and lots to improve on. |  |
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| Richard Kone on 19:26 - Mar 13 with 164 views | JordanFoster |
Kone was basically doing that when he first came to this country. But he was actually really good, that eventually he couldn't do that. Then he started to get paid expenses, then serious semi pro level before turning professional, being a seven figure player and making his international debut.
Funny how the world works. | | | |
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