Papering over the cracks

[numbeast]

Winning ugly is something we've struggled to do, but it's probably a better result than outclassing an opponent. I'm not going to get overly optimistic because of tonight's result just as I didn't get pessimistic after Saturdays result I'm cautiously hopeful.

 

[cheshire_red]

Rangers fans thought we were very poor, I couldn't repeat what they thought about their own team.

[cityexile]

1 hour ago, Ivorguy said:

Tonight means nothing unless we build on it and begin to look passably a Championship side with clear targets.

Failure to build upon it means to many of us that LJ must make way for another man to see if he can do better than him

As I have consistently said we'll have a better idea after 10 games.  Three more victories would give us 14 points out of a possible 30, and in my book that wouldn't be a bad job and if the first 4 results are replicated over next 6 games i.e. Say one win, two draws and two defeats it would leave us with 10 points and that would be borderline ok, but less than 10 points and alarm bells should start ringing

This, I suspect, at best will be a roller coaster of a season 

Got to be honest, often regard your comments as to much on the negative side, but think this is very fair.

Agree with the ten games, and if we come out with say 3-4-3 and 13 points, given the rebuilding and injuries that would be ok. Odds are we will lose on Saturday, so today ensures we will be on at least a point a game after 5 hopefully better. 

It seems stupid to have been calling for LJs Head after 3 games, but really it’s about our form in 2018 overall.

Our win tonight refminded me a little of Preston’s win at our place last year. They were in awful form, loads of injuries, and in a bad game dug out an important win, then pushed on. Let’s see what happens.

 

[Fuber]

There can be debate as to whether the result against QPR will paper over the cracks.

But you can only beat whats in front of you. What we need now is to convert confidence gained into confidence on the pitch and and as a squad.

If we don't, well - let's see what happens against Swansea - another team re-finding their feet in this division.

Even if we lose and we give a decent performance I'll be content. We're overdue a good game of football.

However if we're as poor against Blackburn, who are high on morale, as we were tentative in the first half against QPR. Then fail to win against Sheffield Utd?

7 games with one win against an utterly broken and cobbled QPR side?

We can always speculate. But let's see what state we're in after Sheff Utd.

As for the 10 games gelling statement. We've signed 7 players. Summer last year we signed 7 players. By the time of the Sheff game last season we were smashing Derby 4-1 And Beating Stoke during the FA Cup run. We need to stick or twist. What's more imperative is when the line is drawn and the penny drops.

[joenaldo]

QPR being so poor probably dragged us down a tad

[Major Isewater]

5 hours ago, Fuber said:

There can be debate as to whether the result against QPR will paper over the cracks.

But you can only beat whats in front of you. What we need now is to convert confidence gained into confidence on the pitch and and as a squad.

If we don't, well - let's see what happens against Swansea - another team re-finding their feet in this division.

Even if we lose and we give a decent performance I'll be content. We're overdue a good game of football.

However if we're as poor against Blackburn, who are high on morale, as we were tentative in the first half against QPR. Then fail to win against Sheffield Utd?

7 games with one win against an utterly broken and cobbled QPR side?

We can always speculate. But let's see what state we're in after Sheff Utd.

As for the 10 games gelling statement. We've signed 7 players. Summer last year we signed 7 players. By the time of the Sheff game last season we were smashing Derby 4-1 And Beating Stoke during the FA Cup run. We need to stick or twist. What's more imperative is when the line is drawn and the penny drops.

We have signed seven players but the spine of the team has changed .

Joe and Bobby knew each other's game backwards after years of playing together.

Everyone knew where Bobby was going to be up front , Flinty was always available and a target in the opposition penalty area and Joe ready on the left for the out ball.That has all changed.

Last night was a solid performance and I don't care that we hit it long  , for once we caused problems to the opposition , created chances , were brave , scored three goals , kept a clean sheet, got stuck in. 

I much prefer that to the sterile predictable stuff played up until now.

Well done to the team. They all battled for the shirt last night . Keep it up.

[Monkeh]

I thought we looked poor and lacked cutting edge in the first 15 minutes,

once we settled in to the game apart from a 2 keeper cock up (Frankie would of had a thread about that) we looked comfortable and rarely in trouble,

the team started to click and going forward we looked good especially with 2 players who can cross the ball in Watkins (who went missing at times in the first half) and elliasion who miss a side was a real threat

win Saturday (going to be hard) then it’s a decent start 

[Guest]

6 hours ago, hodge said:

I just hope if we lose Saturday the knives don't come out again, Swansea have been good so far this season and going there will be tough, getting anything will be a good outcome. 

Watched the Swans last night on the box while switching to the City game on sky thoughts; QPR were terrible (how did the keeper not save Taylors shot and where were the defenders) good performances from a few City players already mentioned elsewhere.

Swansea are a big team with big guys up front and in defence and fresh from the prem, we will be doing very well to come back with anything.

Despite having no faith in LJ or the "plan" it was a welcome 3pts last night as I do want to see us at the top rather than the bottom.

[INCRED]

We have played a lot better and lost, take the win against whoever and try and get some momentum 

I recall early last season where some on here were saying we were lucky to scrape 1-0 wins. Last night we had a bit of luck but we deserved to win and that’s what this division is like.

[Guest]

According to the beeb that's our first win away since 8th Dec v Sheff Utd and in 16 attempts, wow is that right? seems long

[Maesknoll Red]

I was working late yesterday evening and only caught R5’s review of the game as I was driving home about 22:00, they weren’t at all impressed with the City performance, as well as being pretty scathing about QPR.  They pretty much wrote off McClaren.  They did comment on the great run we had last year, which was an improvement on the year before, but they did cover the subsequent poor run and attributed that to the lack of depth in the squad.  They had praise for SL, but they did say that with any success, that will make it hard to hold onto our best players and they thought we have downgraded the squad with our replacements this season.  They didn’t hold out much hope of us challenging for anything this season, it was all a fairly accurate and decent review of our position.

I’m not going to comment on the game not having seen it, just hope it gives us a bit of confidence and a kick start, I do think we will be spending most of the season in the bottom half though,  although I’ll be happy to have my thoughts proved wrong.

[BigTone]

9 hours ago, hoxton casual said:

Worst 3 nil victory I have ever seen. A few moments of quality from Weimann and Taylor but otherwise truly shocking. Last Sat we passed the ball, but did not threaten, tonight everyone (apart from Pack) just hoofed it. You would have thought that 2-0 up, we should have started to play football but no -Uuter panic. At least people were played in their best positions tonight, even if the some of the wrong people were on the pitch. 

So we win 3-0 away from home and we are still shit ? 

[Lorenzos Only Goal]

9 hours ago, hoxton casual said:

bother with what?

I wish someone would paper of your crack and your seriously negative friends.

[Super]

It was all about winning last night and we did improve second half but still low on quality, Will certainly need to improve on Saturday to have a chance of picking up anything.

[Charlie BCFC]

9 hours ago, hoxton casual said:

Worst 3 nil victory I have ever seen. A few moments of quality from Weimann and Taylor but otherwise truly shocking. Last Sat we passed the ball, but did not threaten, tonight everyone (apart from Pack) just hoofed it. You would have thought that 2-0 up, we should have started to play football but no -Uuter panic. At least people were played in their best positions tonight, even if the some of the wrong people were on the pitch. 

Just enjoy the three points. It’s the first one in 2018 no point in moaning about it.

[hoxton casual]

8 hours ago, steviestevieneville said:

To be fair. I was having a right go first half, very poor . We just seemed to bypass the midfield with aimless punts that just kept coming back. As previously said, if it was aimed down the channels to turn their defence and play from there then fine under the circumstances but it was pretty poor fair. A wins a win though and we’ll take it. 

He meant mclaren 

i most certainly did.  QPR are awful.

A win is a win and I am delighted, but the football was dire. The "get it down the channels ploy" to Watkins was so extreme me and my mate thought we were playing rugby, and we were kicking for touch!  He didnt win much. 10 out of 10 for battling, a very low score for the footballl.

[hoxton casual]

10 minutes ago, BigTone said:

So we win 3-0 away from home and we are still shit ? 

I am afraid that is how I saw it, BT.

[hoxton casual]

7 hours ago, Fuber said:

There can be debate as to whether the result against QPR will paper over the cracks.

But you can only beat whats in front of you. What we need now is to convert confidence gained into confidence on the pitch and and as a squad.

If we don't, well - let's see what happens against Swansea - another team re-finding their feet in this division.

Even if we lose and we give a decent performance I'll be content. We're overdue a good game of football.

However if we're as poor against Blackburn, who are high on morale, as we were tentative in the first half against QPR. Then fail to win against Sheffield Utd?

7 games with one win against an utterly broken and cobbled QPR side?

We can always speculate. But let's see what state we're in after Sheff Utd.

As for the 10 games gelling statement. We've signed 7 players. Summer last year we signed 7 players. By the time of the Sheff game last season we were smashing Derby 4-1 And Beating Stoke during the FA Cup run. We need to stick or twist. What's more imperative is when the line is drawn and the penny drops.

Fair point Fuber. I actually thought our performance against Mboro was half decent, and I know we can play football. Desperate to get Diedhou back as a target man last night would have made the direct approach far more effective. I would really like to see Silva and Odowda in a side playing the kind of football we are capable of.

[RedM]

1 hour ago, Bri Stool City said:

According to the beeb that's our first win away since 8th Dec v Sheff Utd and in 16 attempts, wow is that right? seems long

Yes it is, witnessed a good deal of those too. Sadly away at Sheffield Utd was one of the few matches I didn’t get to, but we got a few away results before that. During our no away win streak we did get a few draws I think and plenty of defeats so it’s nice to wipe the slate clean again.

[Robbored]

4 minutes ago, hoxton casual said:

i most certainly did.  QPR are awful.

A win is a win and I am delighted, but the football was dire. The "get it down the channels ploy" to Watkins was so extreme me and my mate thought we were playing rugby, and we were kicking for touch!  He didnt win much. 10 out of 10 for battling, a very low score for the footballl.

Watching the stream on the red button I was at first finding the long balls very odd. Not a style LJ usually adopts but it eventually dawned on me that it was a deliberate  tactic. You must have missed that HC.

Obviously LJ must had watched QPR collapse at the Baggies and realised that were suceptable to balls over the top and into the channels. Good, smart management that which paid off with three points.

[DirtySanchez]

end

[spudski]

You plan your game around the opposition, their weaknesses, the players you have fit or in form, your confidence, need for a win at all costs measure...etc,etc,etc.

Every game is different...and how you set up changes from game to game...so many anomalies to take into consideration.

Yesterday was a plan...LJ himself has alluded to it post match.

Good management imo.

A win will give confidence as well...we needed it.

As for 'papering over the cracks'... that type of football is what put Cardiff up last season. Imagine watching that week in week out... I guess some would take that to get up to the Prem.

 

[Fordy62]

The result was very good, but I think some are using the scoreline to judge the performance. I’m not going to get carried away here.

The first half was the worst I’ve ever seen. Admittedly the second was better. However QPR will go down with a whimper.

But there were some very good plus points;

Weimann looks a class player. 

If Lloyd Kelly performs week in week out like the last couple of games then he’ll be headed for a Premier League team batting for Europe for more than Bobby went for. 

Eliasson’s delivery gave me a semi. 

[firstdivision]

10 hours ago, hoxton casual said:

Worst 3 nil victory I have ever seen. A few moments of quality from Weimann and Taylor but otherwise truly shocking. Last Sat we passed the ball, but did not threaten, tonight everyone (apart from Pack) just hoofed it. You would have thought that 2-0 up, we should have started to play football but no -Uuter panic. At least people were played in their best positions tonight, even if the some of the wrong people were on the pitch. 

You are correct, of course, in one way. It was a desperate game, a sort of rugby football match. 

But, as others have pointed out, it was intentional. 

LJ changed his tactics and they worked. A pragmatic, unglamorous appproach to the position the team was in after Saturday. 

Sometimes it has to be done. Let’s hope he can find a more eye-catching balance in future. 

[Monkeh]

Just now, Fordy62 said:

The result was very good, but I think some are using the scoreline to judge the performance. I’m not going to get carried away here.

The first half was the worst I’ve ever seen. Admittedly the second was better. However QPR will go down with a whimper.

But there were some very good plus points;

Weimann looks a class player. 

If Lloyd Kelly performs week in week out like the last couple of games then he’ll be headed for a Premier League team batting for Europe for more than Bobby went for. 

Eliasson’s delivery gave me a semi. 

not even close, no where near the top 10 worst halfs of football in the last 5 or 6 years

When we got relegated, the first half's against Wolves (0-4) and leicester (0-3)? how about being 3-0 down against Sheffield united last season,

First 15 minutes were poor, after that we never looked like losing, it wasn't pretty but the game plan was obvious long into the channels to get in behind a back 4 that had no confidence 

[BS4 on Tour...]

1 hour ago, Flint says No said:

Just enjoy the three points. It’s the first one in 2018 no point in moaning about it.

I’m enjoying it! But it’s not our first victory in 2018....

[Monkeh]

1 minute ago, BS4 on Tour... said:

I’m enjoying it! But it’s not our first victory in 2018....

first away win and 5th win in total

[BigTone]

1 hour ago, hoxton casual said:

I am afraid that is how I saw it, BT.

Everyones entitled to an opinipon and I respect that

[hoxton casual]

5 hours ago, Robbored said:

Watching the stream on the red button I was at first finding the long balls very odd. Not a style LJ usually adopts but it eventually dawned on me that it was a deliberate  tactic. You must have missed that HC.

Obviously LJ must had watched QPR collapse at the Baggies and realised that were suceptable to balls over the top and into the channels. Good, smart management that which paid off with three points.

Robbored, It did take me a while to cotton on but I am not sure how effective it was. Also with subsequent comments on battling by LJ and MT, it has put the tactics into context. Even saying that, it was a awful game apart from the goals. Just watched the highlights and reconfirmed my initial thoughts.

[hoxton casual]

15 hours ago, Marina's Rolls Royce said:

You must be so 'prowed' of this post.

Given the injury problems, the fact that we had to sell our best players, our dismal record against QPR, I'd have been delighted if we'd won 0-1 with the ball going in off Pisano's backside by mistake.

1 win 1 loss 2 draws- pretty much an average return for what is currently an average team and I'm delighted.

 

No regrets starting a genuine discussion on a noticeboard. Is that ok with you?