Boro are generally 2-1 with most bookies to win the league...

[surrey_hoop]

Of course they aren't better than us. If Sandro and Fer don't go out on loan (I assume that's still a possibility given that the loan window hasn't closed?) we could have the best CM partnership in the history of the league. Add Philips, Chery and Austin into the equation, as well as a highly touted CB to compliment Chief, and we have to be looking at winning the division from here.

[bakes8]

Course they are not better than us. We're now a better side than we were in the Premier League. We're going up and I had some at 14's.

[klonk]

Why do you think they have a better chance than us? Doesn't "long hard league" apply to other clubs as well? I'm backing our club to be in the mix at the end.

i didn't actually specify who i thought had a better chance than us, like dsqpr says, no one has a clue at this stage including the bookies, "long hard league" applies to all, which is why i'd snap someone's hand off for offering a finish in a play-off spot. main reasons are:

- there remain big big questions about our defence... we've conceded 8 goals in 5 games playing against teams who (apart from wolves) don't immediately come across as contenders for promotion/playoffs (maybe charlton/cardiff could be seen as longshot contenders). remains to be seen if this can be put right, but needs a lot more than one clean sheet against huddersfield to convince me.
- (i'm not a "ramsey out" obsessive, and think he should be given generous amounts of time but...) home form remains shakey under ramsey, i don't think the continued pressure from parts of the support helps this and the way people go into meltdown whenever we drop points is ridiculous. need home form to become consistent source of points - win most home games and pick up this and that on the road and we can make the play offs
- we're over-reliant on a couple of players... witness the joy that charlie and mattie didn't leave, then think of the despair if either or both of them pick up longish injuries. i think we do have options to cover for phillips, but injuries to austin, green or any of the first choice back four will hit us hard
- finally, i've supported qpr a long time and i know that if things can go wrong, they almost definitely will. i don't understand why anyone thinks we'll walk this league, apart from 1982-83 and 2010-11, we've never walked any leagues (and the waiter's paperwork skills nearly managed to flick up 2010-11). i'm just realistic, we'll probably drop some points during the next 2 home games, but i won't be coming on here demanding ramsey's head on a plate if we do.

"We love you everyone else we do, we love you everyone else we do, oh everyone else we love you."

no.

fwiw, boro have a decent manager who knows this division quite well by now and a better defence than us on paper (meanest defence in last year's championship by some way). it's probably their "now or never" season.

burnley have the potential to do a repeat of 2 seasons ago if they get a bit of luck, wolves look relatively strong, leeds are a longshot team if the egos of the chairman and manager can avoid demolishing each other (still unbeaten despite having played what looks like decent opposition in each match).

us being 4th favourite at this stage is a generous view (ie short odds) imo, i stick with that.

[brightonr]

Boro were at the top for a lot of last season and bottled it towards the end. Not least, during their game against Norwich.

If all clubs play to their potential, we will be champions.

I did say IF !!

[stainrodisalegend]

i didn't actually specify who i thought had a better chance than us, like dsqpr says, no one has a clue at this stage including the bookies, "long hard league" applies to all, which is why i'd snap someone's hand off for offering a finish in a play-off spot. main reasons are:

- there remain big big questions about our defence... we've conceded 8 goals in 5 games playing against teams who (apart from wolves) don't immediately come across as contenders for promotion/playoffs (maybe charlton/cardiff could be seen as longshot contenders). remains to be seen if this can be put right, but needs a lot more than one clean sheet against huddersfield to convince me.
- (i'm not a "ramsey out" obsessive, and think he should be given generous amounts of time but...) home form remains shakey under ramsey, i don't think the continued pressure from parts of the support helps this and the way people go into meltdown whenever we drop points is ridiculous. need home form to become consistent source of points - win most home games and pick up this and that on the road and we can make the play offs
- we're over-reliant on a couple of players... witness the joy that charlie and mattie didn't leave, then think of the despair if either or both of them pick up longish injuries. i think we do have options to cover for phillips, but injuries to austin, green or any of the first choice back four will hit us hard
- finally, i've supported qpr a long time and i know that if things can go wrong, they almost definitely will. i don't understand why anyone thinks we'll walk this league, apart from 1982-83 and 2010-11, we've never walked any leagues (and the waiter's paperwork skills nearly managed to flick up 2010-11). i'm just realistic, we'll probably drop some points during the next 2 home games, but i won't be coming on here demanding ramsey's head on a plate if we do.



no.

fwiw, boro have a decent manager who knows this division quite well by now and a better defence than us on paper (meanest defence in last year's championship by some way). it's probably their "now or never" season.

burnley have the potential to do a repeat of 2 seasons ago if they get a bit of luck, wolves look relatively strong, leeds are a longshot team if the egos of the chairman and manager can avoid demolishing each other (still unbeaten despite having played what looks like decent opposition in each match).

us being 4th favourite at this stage is a generous view (ie short odds) imo, i stick with that.

I certainly get your point about if there is a chance of something going wrong, it normally does for QPR. But beyond generalised caution/ pessimism would you honestly swap our squad for any other in this division? I'm not talking about individual players or Boro's defence v ours but the first 18/25 players who are likely to have a decent number of games.

[klonk]

I certainly get your point about if there is a chance of something going wrong, it normally does for QPR. But beyond generalised caution/ pessimism would you honestly swap our squad for any other in this division? I'm not talking about individual players or Boro's defence v ours but the first 18/25 players who are likely to have a decent number of games.

no, although i have real concerns about the defence. but, i would have said this time last year that we had a squad which should have comfortably avoided relegation, 2 years ago... good enough for automatics, 3 years ago... too good to go down, 4 years ago... ok that year i'd have said we were in serious trouble. the point is... qpr never fail to disappoint me.

[Sleeping Giants]

Of course they aren't better than us. If Sandro and Fer don't go out on loan (I assume that's still a possibility given that the loan window hasn't closed?).

I might be making this up but I thought the loan window is only open for some leagues (e.g. not for Premiership teams)...anyone know on this?

[klonk]

we're 4th favourites (behind boro, hull and brighton) at the mo'... i'd say that, if anything, that's quite short odds (despite the good window, i'd still snap anyone's hand off if they offered a guaranteed 4th place finish). give it a couple of weeks and those odds will drift out to 20-ish.

this is a long, hard league, i still think a lot of teams with longer odds than us (leeds, wolves etc) have better chances of automatic promotion than we do.

ahem... 28/1 available at sportingbet.

[acricketer]

The players are certainly playing without feeling any pressure.

[Ramsey is god]

ahem... 28/1 available at sportingbet.

And yet people were lumping on at 12/1 thinking they got great value. Rose Tinted glasses anyone?