[Archived] QPR [Away]; 7th December.

[Amo]

Full credit to Bowyer. He was looking for a response after that midweek horror-show and he got one. That's exactly the kind of performance we need to see more often on the road. Whether this side has the consistency to replicate it on a regular basis remains to be seen. With Lowe & Williamson paired in midfield and Cairney relegated to the wing, the writing looked on the wall for another away day mauling, but fair play because it sounds like we stifled the league leaders and were unlucky not to take all three points. I just hope Bowyer doesn't stick with two holding midfielders at home. It's far too negative for this league. It looks like Cairney's brief return to CM was an enforced change due to Williamson's injury, but that's where he belongs when the onus is on Rovers to dominate the game.

[Leonard Venkhater]

Say with our fans just to left of goal. None of our fans were happy when King came on. All could see Cairney a player who kept the ball and could do things with it. King can't pass, shoot or defend. This was clear. Fans mystified by Campbell coming on. Till their and our subs we bossed it. Still a point a fair result and a great result against prob best side in league away. Eastwood, Henley Taylor, Marshall impressed.

On the radio Garner thought Cairney had visibly tired. He didn't track back once to cover Henley. He thought it was a good decision to take him off? He wasn't at all impressed by Campbell's work rate...

[tomphil]

DJ Campbell only ever seems to bit fit when we are playing one of his former clubs. A lot of fans on forums of those clubs seem to speak well of him because he banged a few goals in for them, he often gets a round of applause from former fans. He never puts a performance in against them it also seems.

[arbitro]

On the radio Garner thought Cairney had visibly tired. He didn't track back once to cover Henley. He thought it was a good decision to take him off? He wasn't at all impressed by Campbell's work rate...

I thought he had a knock at the time and when he came to clap the fans at the end he was moving gingerly. I have to disagree with Simon Garner though. I thought he gave Henley lot's of help, particularly in the first half.

[martonrover]

DJ Campbell only ever seems to bit fit when we are playing one of his former clubs. A lot of fans on forums of those clubs seem to speak well of him because he banged a few goals in for them, he often gets a round of applause from former fans. He never puts a performance in against them it also seems.

Looked quite lively when he came on, as was the case against Leeds.

Needs a run in the team before a fair assessment can be made.

[neophox]

Look at Derby. A new manager and the same team and they are climbing the table with pace, We should had won there at the star of the season. I Think we need consistency if we want to go up.

No team is outstanding in This League, its all about consistency...

[Riverside67]

Yes interesting that about Derby as the same thought struck me

Some intelligent forward play when in possession. Looked very composed all round.

They had a player like King with bags of pace up front but looked a for more intelligent footballer than the one we have who runs up blind alleys not able to release a quality ball.

Looks like Mclaren can fire them up. Players looked to be round pegs in round holes so everyone knew their job and position. GB has had a lot injuries but he does not yet seem to me to know his best 11 or formation.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

King gets impressively to the by line almost at will and then he looks up ...... after that it all goes tits up. He starts to think, slows the play whilst the defenders get organised and worst of all telegraphs his intentions. The simple time honoured instruction should be given .... "get to the by line, keep your head down and just pull it back toward the penalty spot". I can virtually guarantee that it'll work wonders and if there is no one there it isn't his fault.

Sound advice for any young winger or fullback there. Along the ground towards the penalty spot, or if in the air, midway between penalty spot and six yard line. One more thing, put some pace on the ball.

[neophox]

Get Best out.... get Baldock and Emanuel-Thomas in from Bristol City in january.

[LDRover]

Emanuel-Thomas would do well for us definitely. I've heard Bristol want upwards of a million for him though.

[thenodrog]

Emanuel-Thomas would do well for us definitely. I've heard Bristol want upwards of a million for him though.

We could buy him 3x over if best was run over by a bus.

[Mike Graham]

Get Best out.... get Baldock and Emanuel-Thomas in from Bristol City in january.

Never mind Baldock, Baldrick would be better than than that sack of spuds Leon Best.

[West Yorks Rover]

Does anybody know why Gestede wasn't in the squad?

I heard he dropped a case of ' high energy drinks ' on his foot (own brand ).

[West Yorks Rover]

Have you seen it Simon? 10.28

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b03lpd64/The_Football_League_Show_2013_2014_07_12_2013/

Decent attempt given that he was stretching, he got it on target and was only thwarted by the gk and then a player heading it off the line, it was a much much worse effort from our current hero Taylor who was presented with a completely free header just a few yards out and completely missed the target though. Credit to both for at least getting in a scoring position though.

Arry was very fair in his summing up too.

Yes that was a strange header by Taylor, saw it on tv, it looked as though it caught him by surprise, certainly did'nt connect

with the correct part of his head.

Harry was fair, think he will have been happy with a point in the end, especially as Leicester lost.

[LDRover]

We could buy him 3x over if best was run over by a bus.

I know a bus driver and I'm sure she'd help out. It is a very deserving cause.

[FGS5635]

Just watched the highlights again and that taylor header gets worse the more you watch it

[rovermagic]

I thought general consensus was that ir was a fairly abysmal effort from him Gordon. I'm not going to knock him for that, I doubt he'll ever be a consistent scorer from midfield but I'd be reasonably happy if he didn't just mark space but learnt how to press the ball and close opponents down.

Normally this is right about Lowe. Surely v Ipswich. But not v WPR. He and Taylor and Marshsll and even Cairns were closing down far up the pitch. Only in last 20 min after the subs did we sit back deep.

[Blue blood]

Agree with the poster who said Taylor moving inside has transformed him. Reminds me of Reid under Hughes - he went from a lumbering wide midfielder to a midfield powerhouse. Definitely provides us with the power and pace we need in this division, which are lacking in our other fit centre mids (Lowe has energy/pace and Williamson has power). Until Evans is back I'd be tempted to go along with what others have said of replacing either Williamson or Lowe with Taylor in the centre for home games where we need a bit more creativity and offensive capability.

A point vs a strong QPR team is a very welcome point. We really do seem to up our game for better teams. The real challenge will be being so "up for it" and hard working, when the standard of the opposition drops. Figured we would get a tubbing of QPR and possibly get a point of an out of sorts Ipswich, so points wise we're where I figured we'd be. We now have to back this up by winning our more winnable games.

Not surprised at all about Henley - he's a good player and needs to be in the team whenever fit. Very surprised about Eastwood, but credit to the lad, and even some semblance of normality in goal - i.e. not dropping clangers even if not that great a keeper - would benefit the team and the defense's confidence no end.

I can see what Bowyer was trying to do with the subs. King's pace as an impact sub, against a tired team in a hard fought game should really have caused more problems than it did. Likewise with Campbell - however doing both made us horribly lightweight. I'd have just done it with one, especially since it didn't seem to be working so doing two subs of this ilk was a mistake. But overall on today's performance Bowyer looks more promising than frustrating - spot on team, and a good hard earned point. Let's have a similar performance vs. Millwall

[Guest Wen Y Hu]

Parsonblue's match report is now published to the front page here.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Agree with the poster who said Taylor moving inside has transformed him. Reminds me of Reid under Hughes - he went from a lumbering wide midfielder to a midfield powerhouse. Definitely provides us with the power and pace we need in this division, which are lacking in our other fit centre mids (Lowe has energy/pace and Williamson has power). Until Evans is back I'd be tempted to go along with what others have said of replacing either Williamson or Lowe with Taylor in the centre for home games where we need a bit more creativity and offensive capability.

A point vs a strong QPR team is a very welcome point. We really do seem to up our game for better teams. The real challenge will be being so "up for it" and hard working, when the standard of the opposition drops. Figured we would get a tubbing of QPR and possibly get a point of an out of sorts Ipswich, so points wise we're where I figured we'd be. We now have to back this up by winning our more winnable games.

Not surprised at all about Henley - he's a good player and needs to be in the team whenever fit. Very surprised about Eastwood, but credit to the lad, and even some semblance of normality in goal - i.e. not dropping clangers even if not that great a keeper - would benefit the team and the defense's confidence no end.

I can see what Bowyer was trying to do with the subs. King's pace as an impact sub, against a tired team in a hard fought game should really have caused more problems than it did. Likewise with Campbell - however doing both made us horribly lightweight. I'd have just done it with one, especially since it didn't seem to be working so doing two subs of this ilk was a mistake. But overall on today's performance Bowyer looks more promising than frustrating - spot on team, and a good hard earned point. Let's have a similar performance vs. Millwall

Err, " Reid a midfield powerhouse " ? Sorry but I missed that game at Wigan, I did see the goal though.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Parsonblue's match report is now published to the front page here.

Thanks for that Parson, great to read your report of a positive performance for once.