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After spending the best part of two hours freezing my #### off at Elland Road today watching us play around 25 minutes of good football and not converting a number of pretty good chances, I have realised that we have some problems:
1) Hulse was once again woeful. His finish - or lack thereof - in the first half was absolutely woeful from 3 yards out. It was maddening. He wasn't great in the air, and he didn't seem to move well enough with Mackie. When are we going to give him his match fitness in the reserves and let Helguson regain his place (I shock I know coming from me, who happily slaughtered Heidar throughout last season). The Helguson-Mackie combination has been fantastic this season (Watford apart) and we are starting to desperately need some goals.
2) When Faurlin's in the side - or crap - then we struggle. Faurlin wasn't in the side against Leeds (apparently he had flu), and it showed. Derry tried a lot, but when Taarabt's not tackling back as much as he should (although we did notice the odd challenge going in) and Walker's not a natural midfielder (frankly, I would have preferred him the place of Bradley Orr, who badly let us down for the second goal (the BBC highlight only tells half the story of the goal, which was started by a failure of either Tommy Smith or Orr to track back and was pretty awful all game long), then we're well and truly screwed. I'm trying to understand this, but why couldn't we start Rowlands, who's meant to be fit- and add some solidity in the midfield?
3) As Steve Claridge made the comment: "Defensively, QPR are awful." It's true. Gorkss and Connolly didn't seem to know what planet each other were on the first half and Fitz Hall was better, but still not up to much. We are slow at the wing backs (there MUST be someone better to replace Clint Hill, who's become a liability) and we will struggle against pacier sides. Against Watford AND Leeds we struggled against pace, and it showed. We were badly exposed today, and Snodgrass - Leeds' best player - seemed to go forward and not get tackled at will. Kenny may have been poor for the second goal, but he then pulled off a couple of good saves. Otherwise the score could have been dreadful.
4) Give Taarabt some extra crossing lessons - because he can't pull it off consistently! Otherwise, let Smith take the corners and free-kicks!! Having said that, Adel was the only person out there making a bit of effort today. For himself? Perhaps. But at least he made a bit of effort.
My ideal line-up would be:
Kenny
Walker
Gorkss
Connolly
xx (add good left-back here that's NOT Clint Hill)
Taarabt
Faurlin
Derry
Smith
Mackie
Helguson
Subs: Agyemang, Hulse, Hill, Hall
1) Hulse was once again woeful. His finish - or lack thereof - in the first half was absolutely woeful from 3 yards out. It was maddening. He wasn't great in the air, and he didn't seem to move well enough with Mackie. When are we going to give him his match fitness in the reserves and let Helguson regain his place (I shock I know coming from me, who happily slaughtered Heidar throughout last season). The Helguson-Mackie combination has been fantastic this season (Watford apart) and we are starting to desperately need some goals.
2) When Faurlin's in the side - or crap - then we struggle. Faurlin wasn't in the side against Leeds (apparently he had flu), and it showed. Derry tried a lot, but when Taarabt's not tackling back as much as he should (although we did notice the odd challenge going in) and Walker's not a natural midfielder (frankly, I would have preferred him the place of Bradley Orr, who badly let us down for the second goal (the BBC highlight only tells half the story of the goal, which was started by a failure of either Tommy Smith or Orr to track back and was pretty awful all game long), then we're well and truly screwed. I'm trying to understand this, but why couldn't we start Rowlands, who's meant to be fit- and add some solidity in the midfield?
3) As Steve Claridge made the comment: "Defensively, QPR are awful." It's true. Gorkss and Connolly didn't seem to know what planet each other were on the first half and Fitz Hall was better, but still not up to much. We are slow at the wing backs (there MUST be someone better to replace Clint Hill, who's become a liability) and we will struggle against pacier sides. Against Watford AND Leeds we struggled against pace, and it showed. We were badly exposed today, and Snodgrass - Leeds' best player - seemed to go forward and not get tackled at will. Kenny may have been poor for the second goal, but he then pulled off a couple of good saves. Otherwise the score could have been dreadful.
4) Give Taarabt some extra crossing lessons - because he can't pull it off consistently! Otherwise, let Smith take the corners and free-kicks!! Having said that, Adel was the only person out there making a bit of effort today. For himself? Perhaps. But at least he made a bit of effort.
My ideal line-up would be:
Kenny
Walker
Gorkss
Connolly
xx (add good left-back here that's NOT Clint Hill)
Taarabt
Faurlin
Derry
Smith
Mackie
Helguson
Subs: Agyemang, Hulse, Hill, Hall
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