Tyrone Shoelaces

James Wilson of the “ Observer “ is usually interesting on football tactics but he’s got carried away with “ Tactical Periodisation “ today. Don’t ask, it’s as complicated as Chinese Arithmetic.

As with most left footers his right foot is just a swinger. Did he have time to get it onto his left ?

If we were mid table we wouldn’t be thinking of playing Dack in the first team for a while yet.

Johnson’s a big unit but towards the end of the game his legs had gone. Witness - his short passing game became sloppy. As far as sprinting goes I could beat him over 10 yards with two dodgy knees. Is it lack of real match fitness or has he just gone ? We would have subbed him I think but with Nyambe getting injured it left us short of options. I agree he brings a solidity to our back line and Travis can get further forward but there’s still a gap between the midfield and the front three most of the time. One or two of our guys were running on empty at the end but they’d put in 100% effort.

He must be a real nuisance to play against, he’s always buzzing around defenders. His lack of height makes us play the ball on the ground more.

We were foolish letting Carter go on loan knowing we were going to play with three centre halves and that Ayala was made of icing sugar.

Their guy was lucky not getting a second card, if he hadn’t already got a card he would definitely have been carded then.

That was Luca Toni.

Could have been a straight red on another day.

They could/would have replaced him, we couldn’t/didn’t.

Ronnie Clayton was the same.

Like us, they had players missing today.

I thought in the periods when QPR got their passing game going they looked pretty slick in midfield.

None of them are natural finishers unfortunately.

I was only thinking that. If we had a front three of Speedie, Newall and Garner we could play with a back 8 comfortably.

I couldn’t believe the one on one that Khadra missed. Garner, Speedie, Rhodes - just a toe under the ball and it’s over the keeper’s legs and into the back of the net. The second chance he missed - that’s what happens when you have a right footer coming in off the left hand side. It all got very narrow. Then he goes and threads the eye of a needle to score with the free kick. That’s when he couldn’t even land a corner. Head height between the edge of the six yard box and the penalty spot. How hard is it ! Having said that have we got anybody who can land a corner ? I was pleased with the result and the performance was good but our decision making in the last third is terrible. Gallagher is always on his heels, he never anticipates anything. For long periods of the game there was a gap between our back 8 and the front 3. Oh for a Dunny or a Berkovic who can actually carry the ball from our half to their last third. Kaminski did what he had to do. The three centre halves looked sound. Nyambe and Pickering were quiet I thought. Johnson, I’m not a fan of but he’s a good “ wardrobe “. Travis was the usual Travis. Hedges looked off the pace to me. Giles cocked up a great chance. Zeefuik looked lively. Dolan was excellent and a nuisance throughout the game. With a bit of luck we can get something at Fulham.

Those kids are the future. They’ll want to be back after today.

That’s poor. 8 at the back again.

Some good names on it Chaddy but they seem settled where they are.

I look at some of those, and I think why would they come to Rovers ?

And.

Not a classic.

The other side of that coin is we no longer create many clear cut chances. Especially given we are impotent from set pieces.

The defence is solid because most of the team are playing as defenders one way or another.

Do you still think we’ll be challenging for the play offs ?