From the QPR forum

I remember well the FA Cup replays against Sheffield United in 1989/90. We tried to play football and should have won the first match at Bumhole Lane but they played awful hoofball with no players with any real ability on the ball. Awful to watch.

 

Think we're a bit 'Marmite' tho', a few posters thought we play anti-football.

 

Brilliant, nearly wet myself.....

 

Thing is though; the anti-football comments are driven from frustration. Fans who hate to see us stop their team from playing. It’s not really anti-football, or even close.

And the press is only unimpressive if you’ve already decided it’s not what you want to watch. I think it’s a thing of beauty, the precision, organisation and sheer energy is mesmerising.

 

Brilliant.

I've had a few friends who support different clubs asking me what's going on with us this season. Next time I'll just send them that.

 

In fairness to me, that was describing - on commentary last night - one brief passage of play. But it's true. We have no desire whatsoever to play any kind of passing, possession-based football in our own half. Because we play a high line, a high press. So we want the ball in the opponent's third as much as possible. But once in there, we are as good as most sides with our football, our passing and our ability to score and create from various positions.



It also needs remembering, that on occasion we have played possession-based stuff, against certain opposition. But the majority of sides in this division play quite direct and physical. It was often our achilles heel last season, losing to bigger, nastier sides. We've even added a bit of gamesmanship and sh**housery to what we do. We are playing a brand of football that suits our players. Not only that, it's the hardest working, well-drilled Reds team I've ever seen. In 32 years of watching the club. It epitomises everything this town stands for. And to top it off, it's winning football. Right now.

I'm enjoying it. We're hardly blessed with times like this in our time following this club we all love. I'm sick of harking back to 25 years ago, or the Clarke/Hunter era, or 1912. It's about time we had something else to crow about.

We're four points off Hecky's 2016/17 season. We've a gaffer with 16 league wins from 26 league games in charge. With a squad full of players that cost us less than Sheff Wednesday paid for Jordan Rhodes. Them at the foot of the table. That big club. Heading for League One. Again. We've seen so many players leave us over the last few years citing better money and bigger clubs, more ambition, and we are currently making a mug of such opinions. With Victor Adeboyejo up front. And Romal Palmer in midfield. A 'so-called' second-choice MK Dons fullback on the wing. A centre mid on the left flank. A kid from Oklahoma who does funny dancing videos on the internet is up top. What's not to love?

Were we lucky last season? With COVID, behind-closed-doors, Wigan Athletic, etc etc. Probably. So what. We took advantage of a situation. We still had to graft for it. And isn't it right that a club who runs off their own steam thrives rather than a club living beyond its means? Absolutely. We've had sh** luck in the past anyway. Like finishing 6th the one season that only second, third, fourth and fifth got a playoff spot. Or the time we missed out on the last day. Or many moons ago when after the war and football restarted we weren't elected to the top flight, Arsenal were. Who'd finished below us.

Knackers to that nonsense. I'm just going to enjoy being safe, hope we keep winning and see what happens. It's been an horrendous 12 months for me on a personal level at times, and for lots of friends and family, for a variety of reasons, but the football club has shone like the brightest of stars throughout and we should all be proud of it.

No previous BFC team in 134 years of us kicking a ball about ever managed six straight league wins at this level in one season. This one has managed it.

And if that's never happened before, then surely, that means it's a special team/season, no?


*The above is my opinion, nothing more, as a supporter.

 

One of the best things I've ever read.

 

Very complimentary, but I think captures our style of play very well. I particularly liked this bit:

“There’s also been some sniffiness about Barnsley in general. Accusations of hoofball, high and mighty claims about not being able to watch their style of play every week, the old purist classic about not wanting to win at all if this is what it takes to succeed at this level. Not for me Clive, needless to say. Direct, sure, and it’s all a matter of taste and preference. But for me when I think about the worst kind of dog football, played by a Tony Pulis or Aidy Boothroyd, I think of a team of cloggers, in a very rigid and set shape, spending long afternoons punting balls into channels to turn full backs around and win throws. The only team doing that here was us, out of necessity having been harangued and hassled out of a passing rhythm. Barnsley were completely fluid, perpetual motion, going where the ball went en masse. They didn’t mess around when the ball was at the back, it went forward quickly, turning the QPR defence around then pinning it in. But when in the final third, the football they played was excellent. Not just Mowatt, but Callum Styles, Conor Chaplin, Daryl Dike, Romal Palmer, Morris when he came on… these are good footballers, certainly better than anything QPR had in their colours last night. They were no more a one-dimensional long ball team than Neil Warnock’s 2010/11 QPR side, which could mix it when required with the likes of Derry and Hill, and didn’t do a lot of messing about at the back with Gorkss and Connolly, but when in the right areas had skilled technicians. I found them quite exhilarating to be honest, and certainly a good deal better to watch and more fun than the current modern trend towards pisballing about in your own penalty area from your own goal kick, racking up 70% possession all of it entirely in neutral areas, and sneering at anybody who doesn’t do the same as if they’re some sort of luddite. I couldn’t watch that any more than I could watch Pulisball, and this was miles away from either.”

 

Nice read that

"You think you’ve seen high line, high press? Where we’re going we don’t need roads."

" I thought they were absolutely ******* fantastic. I was exhausted watching them. Exhausted and jealous."

"...being found by Mowatt with a through ball. One goal, two assists, a clear man of the match, a thousand country miles better than anything QPR had out there… but I don’t know what I’m talking about."

 

I've not read your comment yet but just watched the vid which is excellent as usual. You should know by now I'm a big fan of what you guys do and by way of feedback.......that vid is the first thing I've looked at today and irs made me smile and had warmed the cockles of my heart.
Superb work.

 

I like this. Someone who actually did a bit of research into our whole season.

 

ps....loved the nod to Mr. chansiri!

 

Nowt like dropping to the level of a team that’s won 6 on the bounce!

If anyone was claiming we play fantastic football you could expect the counter argument, but we’re all happy to admit we’re not Man City, but we’re playing winning football.

I think most of his fellow fans were more impressed with our effort and effectiveness than anything else.

 

One of the best match reports I've ever read. Excellent.

 

I'm fully converted to the aesthetics of how we play, not (just) because of results, but because I think it is truly admirable and pleasing to watch. We play fast often one touch in the opponents 3rd of the pitch and endeavour to get the ball there as quickly as we can. Now that we have three players who can all act as a focal point (imho; Adeboyejo, Morris and Dike) it no longer resembles a hopeful punt up the park. When the quick passing comes off it's (a) very effective and (b) good on the eye.

 

Just to clarify, "agricultural".....I do recognise you were referring to one passage of play and I was not being critical. Far from it. I also totally understand the tactics and agree that when we get into the opposition half we change the way play with the very talented and creative players we have.

Point of my post here is to say that I agree with what you've written above, from the history of our club right up to the present day, the town and what it means to us all etc ...and I think it's a great post. Quite a stirring and impassioned piece actually. May be one to read out to the lads pre-match?

BTW - I don't think we were lucky last season. We didn't cheat. Wigan did. They got what they deserved for cheating. We stayed up on merit.

I've been watching for 60 years now (my first game the turnstile guy lifted me over the turnstile and my Dad took a wooden beer crate for me to stand on so I could see the game; watching from the old Spion Kop)....and I agree with you that this group are the fittest, best drilled, most cohesive and well organised BFC team I've ever seen. I also think Val is a an excellent tactician and leader. I also believe that our Club's objectives are very sound and in particular, the recruitment strategy is bang on. So - in summary I agree with you 100%.

My only issue is a personal one and one for me to get over. I'm just a bit confused; in a weird way. I've actually never seen a Reds team play like this and it's a bit of a shock to the system. I'm absolutely loving it for all the reasons you've said. It's just weird. Wonderfully weird because no-one knows how to cope with us and, as some on here have said, we're like a juggernaut. It's literally fantastic. It's mind blowing. It just takes some getting use to. Val has changed the way I think about football and I sit and watch us in awe, bludgeoning teams who for years have bludgeoned us. He's taking us all on a journey. It's not a typical footballing roller coaster. It's, for the opposition in particular, terrifyingly persistent and, currently, all conquering. We're like the biggest battering ram in Battering Ram City. I guess I'm appreciating the vertical football tactic in a way that I never envisioned. That's the confusing bit.

Anyway, you raise two rhetorical questions but I'll answer them:

And if that's never happened before, then surely, that means it's a special team/season, no? Absolutely it is.
What's not to love? ......There's everything to love.

One final point; you say that "the football club has shone like the brightest of stars throughout and we should all be proud of it." Well lad, I am proud of our club and I think many thousands of others from this town, or who have connections with this town, or are Reds across the world are also proud of our club.

You're all doing an incredible job and for that we thank you. I'm an emotional man, and I'm going now because 'm having a little cry.

 

Someone on the QPR forum thinks we're the best team in the league! I appreciate that but even I wouldn't go that far!

 

Enjoyed that

 

If you can harp on about the Arsenal injustice of 1918, you have got to allow me to bang on about 1912. It was one of my favourite away games

I agree with the rest, this team / season has been a beacon for me in difficult times, as it has others. I feel an affinity with each and every one of them.