 | Forum
Reply | Dunne rescues QPR from more Boxing Day blues – Report
at 15:57 28 Dec 2025
If you think that Portsmouth away was that then I think you’re going to be disappointed a lot. It’s a high bar if you think we’re never going to have off days. For me that wasn’t a dismal performance. Nowhere near Leicester levels but they didn’t look to me like they couldn’t be arsed.
Anyway I’ll leave it there. |
| Forum
Reply | Dunne rescues QPR from more Boxing Day blues – Report
at 13:15 28 Dec 2025
It seems to me that we hear far more complaints and criticism from you than positivity, at least over the last year or so although I used to think you were a very balanced poster. That’s my perception in spite of the odd bit of praise here and there.
I don’t think what I am doing is accepting mediocrity. I think we needed a reset and rebuild. It’s unfortunate that we’ve heard all that before and we’ve become cynical about that but it doesn’t change the reality. We are not in a position yet to demand success, consistency, a totally balanced, youthful yet experienced squad. There are going to be gaps. Just look at the squad we had two seasons ago. It wasn’t feasible to turn that around with no money without the odd gap and without having to make a few punts and develop players.
The progress this year is a mixture of things. I think we have appointed a good manager who has built on the work of another good manager. We have improved the squad overall, not just the two forwards although their goals have been vital. Mbengue for instance has provided essential pace which we’ve lacked for years, Norrington-Davies although not ours is a big upgrade on Paal. Our bench is much improved. Playing a more direct style is a definite improvement.
But it’s not about the fans not expecting enough. The clubs with fans that expect a lot don’t necessarily lead to improved performances on the pitch - look at Leicester or Chelsea. It’s about meticulous planning, great recruitment, excellent player development and support, a long term strategy, a decent amount of luck, a growth mindset, a positive culture. Complaining about standards doesn’t improve them. Where we can affect the outcome is in the stands, giving credit where it’s due, encouraging the players and making a lot of positive noise. And yes the occasional moan if we think they really aren’t putting the effort in. |
| Forum
Reply | Dunne rescues QPR from more Boxing Day blues – Report
at 12:05 28 Dec 2025
If you mean whinging every time we lose, or indeed draw away from home, and then disappearing when we actually win a few matches then yes I’m happy not to fulfil your profile of a real fan with the right kind of expectations. I don’t think it is unreasonable to want incremental change. It was those that demanded instant success that led us to near financial ruin. I understand people’s frustrations and I feel them myself when amazing performances are followed by duff ones. But I don’t think it’s anything to do with the fans not expecting enough. No one expects more than the Chelsea fans, go on their messageboard and read it, but it doesn’t make them top of the league despite millions spent.
As for Warburton, I loved having him as our manager but he did spend a lot of money (I’m sure he put pressure on the board at least to spend cash even if he didn’t sign off on the contracts) and presided over a terrible collapse when we were in a decent position in the league.
I much prefer Stephan’s public position of not complaining about his squad, the Board or the fans but just working to improve individual players. He makes mistakes but seems to me constantly trying to learn from them and improve us as a squad. |
| Forum
Reply | Pompey match thread
at 10:57 28 Dec 2025
Yeah I know.
And vaccinations are all designed to kill us.
The Democrats swindle all elections.
The EU produced more bureaucracy than incessant customs forms.
Oh, and the CIA carried out 9/11.
Silly me.
Of course some crazy theories end up being true. But some people just love a conspiracy way more than is healthy. |
| Forum
Reply | How confident are you that we could go up?
at 09:18 28 Dec 2025
What a good post!
Yes dream of more but happy with a really decent amount of progress in terms of points, overall squad and playing style this season. Yes there are still some gaps but definitely something to build on. |
| Forum
Reply | West Ham tickets
at 08:46 28 Dec 2025
Surely most of us have him on ignore by now?
It’s bliss. Maybe you could get a standby on rotation of people who just have to moderate his posts for your blood pressure Clive.
Personally I’d put him and Lassel in a breakout room to fight it out about who despised the club more. But that’s just me.
 |
| Forum
Reply | You can’t always get what you want
at 08:36 28 Dec 2025
Amazing where entitlement leads you. Che fans more raging over narrowly losing to the team in third than West Ham fans are to being five points from safety. So angry they need some beta blockers. I know we all want to win matches but they are presumably only ever happy if they’re in the top three of the PL.
If their players put a bit more effort into playing rather than fouling the opposition and being in the ref’s face they might have done a bit better. [Post edited 28 Dec 9:19]
|
| Forum
Reply | Pompey match thread
at 07:58 28 Dec 2025
On no not with the conspiracy theories now Lassel’s thrown in a bit of poison. Look at JCS and Poku. We’ve been extremely cautious about bringing them back a) because it’s bit us in the bum before, remember Willock, and b) because we can, having enough players on the sidelines to cover for us. I don’t know why because he’s only very young still but he’s uber-prone to breaking down with various muscle issues. I can’t remember him playing more than 8-9 games without having some kind of issue.
Surely it’s more likely that we’re bringing him back slowly than that we’re deliberately holding him back. I’m sure it does happen but in this case he’s been injured. If we did want to sell him wouldn’t we want him showcasing his ability on the pitch? And if he really was disaffected I’m not sure he’d be in that horrible Portsmouth stand even if they were making him go to the game.
Of course it could be machinations and he might be offski. But him not playing now is not convincing evidence of it.
Meanwhile another option is to bring Morgan in as a replacement for Burrell playing behind Kone. Obviously not a like for like replacement but he could bring us up the pitch, he’s always showing for the ball and got a decent amount of energy for the press. Smyth and Poku could provide some pace down the wings. I would’ve tried that for the Portsmouth match. I know we’re not allowed to say it but we were unlikely to get more than a point down there. Would have preferred not to flog Burrell to death for that one match as I think we’d be better off saving him for WBA, which I think suits him better anyway, and Norwich at home. |
| Forum
Reply | Chair
at 07:31 27 Dec 2025
We had a thread about the inconsistency before, I think it was the Harvey Vale thread. I know players are going to have good and bad days but Saito, Dembele and Vale seem to veer from the heights and depths more than usual. It’s a shame because they’re so important to our attacking efforts the way we play. Because we only really have a two-man midfield we can’t really attack so much through the centre so we’re relying on them to be our creative outlet. |
| Forum
Reply | Chair
at 14:11 24 Dec 2025
I agree the Hoops and Dreams point was great. As for Nardi it’s a problem as he’s got the second worse stats in the Championship for collecting crosses. He’s also 24/29 in save %. I know stats aren’t everything but I think they’re a bit more informative re: goalkeepers. |
| Forum
Reply | Chair
at 12:23 24 Dec 2025
Not sure anyone should be an automatic choice. Nearest to this maybe Madsen but largely because he’s not got anyone really competing with him who can play a similar role (Hayden and Field are different kind of players.
I’d like to see him playing often enough to keep match fitness but also to allow for some rotation. Absolutely recognise what he’s done for the club. But that doesn’t mean he should automatically play. Allowing for rest in a demanding role is not a bad thing.
Also I think there’s a horses for courses argument. Some teams we may need to play with more pace, others with more guile, where Chair really comes into his own. We’re absolutely lucky to have this dilemma. |
| Forum
Reply | Where Superhoops Walk podcast
at 17:32 23 Dec 2025
Yes I watch these guys too. Not massive on analytics but good on our players, history of the club etc. Enjoyable listen from genuine fans and a neutral presenter. |
| Forum
Reply | Could we go up.
at 11:40 22 Dec 2025
No. Although in or around the play offs is possible and I think would be a decent amount of progress from the last two seasons largely fending off relegation for much of them. |
| Forum
Reply | A miserable return for Marti as white hot QPR incinerate Leicester – Report
at 07:09 22 Dec 2025
This.
Magnifique!
Re: JCS, think it’s sensible they’re managing his minutes after so many injuries; see also Poku. I’m guessing there’s evidence that building up gradually leads to fewer future injuries (fingers crossed).
As for going for more goals, I kind of get it given the busy Christmas period. As for the ref, a bit generous as I think he wasn’t really protecting our players (particularly Mbengue) from being kicked up in the air. I’m guessing they thought with all the bookings they could get Mbengue sent off for retaliation but he’s not really hot headed like that just more mad as the proverbial.
Happy Christmas everyone. |
| Forum
Reply | Field at left back
at 14:13 26 Oct 2025
Or maybe he didn't. Maybe not everything that clip clops is a zebra, sometimes it's a horse. |
| Forum
Reply | Carlton Morrison
at 07:37 26 Oct 2025
That was totally because they worked out early on that they could play that ref and had no respect for him. He created that himself by falling for all their tricks.
I’d have loved it if he’d given him a second yellow mind you! |
| Forum
Reply | Rest of the Championship thread 25/26
at 07:34 26 Oct 2025
Possibly but part of your job as a manager is keeping the players with you. If he’s not winning them over then he’s not doing his job. Also they’re saying he’s promised to prioritise youth players but then not playing any of them. I can see why they’re frustrated.
Would you entrust him with building a new team when he isn’t doing much at all with the current one? |
| Forum
Reply | Rest of the Championship thread 25/26
at 06:43 26 Oct 2025
But they’re right they’ve been underperforming. They were poor against Hull which is the game I saw recently. Reportedly the players aren’t playing for him - particularly the more high value players like Winks. From accounts he’s playing quite a negative passing game around the penalty boxes which sounds quite familiar.
You’d just expect them to be doing better than 10th with the most highly paid squad in the league. They’ve also got a probable points deduction coming so it’s making it increasingly more difficult to make automatic promotion and you can see why they’d expect to be at least challenging for that with the squad he’s got at his disposal. |
| Forum
Reply | Field at left back
at 06:32 26 Oct 2025
Kolli and Bennie from memory haven’t been great against very physical, low block kind of teams; they just get pushed around. I’m not sure if Esquerdinha isn’t available for some reason as he hasn’t featured at all after some promising performances. Morgan might have been a good replacement yesterday(not at LB obviously) as we definitely needed someone with some energy who would show for the ball.
I think Stephan is still learning about the Championship and he makes some mistakes that we know are mistakes because we know the players better and how some matches like this are likely to go. I think it’s going too far to say it reflects badly on our youth policy. We’re still a very young team and I can see why he wants some balance between youth and experience. TBH I don’t think it was generally our older players that had poor performances, apart from the Nardi error. |
| Forum
Reply | Ramming up the M1 - Match Thread
at 06:19 26 Oct 2025
I agree Vale was poor again. I understand he’s learning to play in a much more physical, pressurised kind of match than he’s used to but it’s also something Stephan needs to adapt to: what are his horses for courses. Also I was completely mystified by the Dembele sub. The game was crying out for Smyth’s ratting, annoying in-your-face kind of play rather than Dembele’s flashes of genius but too lax with the ball and lesser than physical presence. Alternatively bring Morgan on: what he brings is intensity and energy which we could desperately have done with given how limp our overall display was.
I think Kone maybe needs a break. He looks absolutely knackered. He gets an absolute battering day in day out. Madsen also looked tired but a week’s break should help that plus Chair coming on to provide some creativity.
Burrell also needs to adapt to the Championship. You have better defenders and less time on the ball so you need to make the most of good opportunities. He had two golden chances: one when he was in acres of space on the right hand side near the half way line and he just hesitated for a couple of seconds before taking off with the ball which are the fine margins that allow their defenders to get back in time. The other was on the left just outside the penalty area in the first half when someone did a run, space opened up and he inexplicably turned back and passed behind him. Not slagging him off as I think he was one of our best players yesterday but noting some things he could improve on that are perfectly understandable given his lack of experience at this level.
I think Eustace outthought us yesterday. He managed to neutralise our strengths. It was also a demonstration of how to play inexperienced referees. How often did they win dubious free kicks while under pressure by screaming every time we did any kind of tackle. One in particular near us in our left hand corner by the penalty area where the huge blond fella went down screaming while under pressure, won a very soft free kick and turned to us and gave a massive grin. They were pushing us and holding on to our shirts but they did it much more subtly and really he was going to let a lot go in front of a massive home crowd.
It was also a demonstration of how you can’t be too ‘nice’ in football whether you like it or not because other teams will just use it against you. There are such fine margins between teams in terms of quality so it doesn’t take much to gain a competitive advantage. Playing the ref is one of those ways teams do it, we can’t be the only team that doesn’t. |
| | nix
|
Site Scores| Prediction League: | 33 | | TOTAL: | 33 |
|
By continuing to use the site, you agree to our use of cookies and to abide by our Terms and Conditions.