To think when I was a kid, I was in awe of Qpr when they had wonderful players like Stanley Bowles and Gerry Francis etc.
They disgusted me today with the way they timewasted, which is bad enough in itself. Was there a single player of theirs who didn’t go down injured?
Couple that with the way they kicked Grealish off the park in the away game and I don’t think I’ve wanted to beat such a dirty, cheating team as much, in a very long time.
To think they are led by an ex England manager too.
There’s being professional and there’s cheating, to mind.
And Qpr under McClaren are a disgrace.
Mind you, we didn’t exactly help ourselves, did we?
While we dominated the first half, it was far too leisurely for my liking.
We looked ponderous and slow.
We didn’t press enough and lacked energy.
It’s not like you can say it was tiredness either, in my opinion, because as soon as we went 2-1 down, we managed to up the tempo and maintain it.
It might seem harsh, but I think we can say “new manager syndrome” and the honeymoon period are over now for Dean Smith.
Yes, it’s been a punishing schedule. But it’s been the same for all of the clubs and we’ve come out of the Christmas run very poorly for a team aiming at promotion.
Even the overly optimistic me now concedes that the top two is beyond us and we have to look at the play-offs.
I’m not at all happy about that.
Yes, perhaps I’m being unfair.
But footy is a results driven game, simple.
And we’re not beating teams we should be.
I know.
Smith needs time to get his own players in. That’s fair enough.
But he needs to push us on now and restore my confidence, as it’s shot. Again.
Maybe after more reflection, I’ll change my mind.
Thoroughly pissed off, I’m afraid 🙁
Gutted, this type of play and attitude not going to get us up. Today we had players go missing again, and its started to show how much we miss a midfield creative player like Grealish.I’m not convinced we will even be in with a shout at the end,.
my lasting memory of this game will be short lived, rangers totally deserve a good kicking for totally ruining the game of football, with anti football tactics of which i havent seen in a long time, the way they killed the game. i thought they had their whole lives depending on the outcome.
villa are too open when they lose the ball deep in opposition half,we are too easy to counter. also you cant see any difference in our play from if we are winning,drawing or losing we just have one speed flat out. we have to play smarter, rangers had a plan and they played to it. we are missing grealish but until we stop being too easy to play against we wont be successful
I don’t like to use the term one man team but ever since Grealish went off against Albion our form has slipped dramatically. It was the same last season when he missed most of the first half of the season. We almost resembled a Bruce style team today with hoof like passing. The big worry is Abraham scoring 2 more could increase chances of a return to Chelsea.
What worries me Holte, is how we’re massively reliant on Tammy’s goals.
I’m sure that’s 9 in five now.
And yes, we massively miss Grealish. And that’s worrying too.
I really thought we’d be ok without him.
Bid accepted for Kortney Hause of Wolves (who?). Looks good on Youtube haha. Left foot, decent pace, good build and happy with the ball at his feet. Don’t know what to think about this one. Anyone familiar with him?
I suspect that if we were all offered the current position, still in touch with the play-offs and a new manager with money to spend in the transfer window, towards the end of Bruce’s reign we’d have all jumped at it.
Smith’s probably done as much as he could with an unbalanced squad but it’s what happens next that will make or break this season. I’m still optimistic, we’re scoring goals and making chances, we just need to tighten up at the back. if we can do that and put together a run then anything is possible.
As others have said, Grealish is a massive miss for us. That may change by the end of January and then we may have realistic alternatives to him. Will be great to get him back playing.
i never heard of him. would be interested if somebody has and can tell us about him
I know it’s youtube and you can make almost anyone look good, but worth watching the vid of him on there. He hasn’t played for Wolves much in the last couple of seasons though so I guess we shouldn’t expect too much.
it makes sense hes a CB and LB but most importantly left footed. chester and elphick both like to play on the rightside of the CB pairing. so as long as hes decent enough he will offer more balance and options as he can cover left back too
Youtube, eh?
I’m sure if we’d had video in my day I probably could have looked good in a couple of minutes, with the odd nice pass I played, lol
We know Smith can pick unknowns, but this one’s a bit left wing and I’d expect him to be just back up at left sided CB and LB.
When/if Axel comes back, we’ll already have a problem with who starts at CB.
Makes me wonder if we will have much to spend, after all.
they had cave etchings in my days, we got fooled before with you-tube i cant remember the player but he looked like a top player until we got him to villa and he was pant
Bosko Balaban.
How could you forget?
Someone made serious money there and it was well bent, imo.
Helenius looked class on Youtube.
I’m glad that it wasn’t just me that thought the antics of QPR were a thorough disgrace but also thought the referee was weak (again!).
Overall, we disappointed today and agree with all the comments already made. However, on a positive note, I thought Bree and Elphick played pretty well; Elphick in particular looked calm and composed on the ball and we didn’t give up even though we struggled at times.
We now haven’t won at home since beating Blues – echoes of last season after winning against Wolves?
If we are to get into top six (and I agree with Badger over automatic promotion) then we have to play consistently a lot better – not just the odd game – and stop conceding an average of 2 goals every home game!
Yes, the ref was a bit weak, Hitch and he should have booked someone earlier for timewasting.
But fair play, he was probably saying that he was just going to add it on at the end, which he no doubt did.
It was more than 11 minutes and teams doing well would have taken advantage of that.
We didn’t.
The pressure’s on for Dean Smith now and he has to produce something soon, imo.
We’re now down to 15th form-wise, in the last 6.
That simply isn’t good enough.
Smith has said he knows nothing about the Kortney Hause bollocks.
That’s the Stun for you: utter shite and should be judged the equivalent of the Star
That’s one interpretation Badger but Smith actually said – ‘I have no idea whether we’ve made a bid for him – bids are up to Suso and Christian – I don’t talk about players unless we sign them’
The other interpretation is that he is one of the players discussed (and agreed?) as a target so we’ll have to wait and see but on one thing I agree – he’s not exactly going to excite the fans as a signing!
I’m far more concerned over losing Abraham.
I have struggled with this for sometime. I now accept we are average. In my mind I always believe we should turnover any team in the Championship.but here we are, season 3 in this division.
Today made it 2 points from the last 3 home games. We won’t be making the top two.
Dean Smith has a restructuring job to do. As I mentioned the other day the only players I see as ones to build a team around are:
Chester
McGinn
Grealish (will be sold in the summer if we are not promoted)
I hope Kalinic works out and I am a fan of Keinin Davies.
I am looking forward to this transfer window to see who Smith signs. It could well be another season in the championship.
Hit the nail on the head Sid. Not good enough, I’m afraid. I’d take scraping top 6 now.
Beating Villa for a lot of championship sides means a lot which makes every game a battle. If we don’t do the basics right and don’t match the opposition for effort then our better players disappear. Apart from Abraham I thought too many players were 5 out of 10 today. QPR were allowed by the referee to constantly slow the game down. He might have added plenty of added time but the game was never allowed to flow. We can criticise them for dirty tactics but they nearly won. The referees are really poor in this league, but we have to overcome this. Smith has an opportunity to bring in a few players although it might be more of an achievement to hang onto Abraham.
Thought we had negotiated a run of tricky games very well especially with our injuries, but then we have let ourselves down in the last 2 games. We should have been taking 6 points from PNE and QPR.
The harsh truth is without Grealish, we just dont have the same fluidity going forward. None of our other midfielders have been able to step into that role. Abraham has been totally isolated, luckily he keeps managing to get goals. On top of that having to watch Hutton play left back is just painful, we have to sign a quality LB in the window.
Its gonna be really interesting to see who picks up and gets rid of this month. Hopefully Brucey also comes back and takes some of his old favourites.
It’s the very thing I’ve said in the last 3 posts, I’ve seen the difference with him not being there, some was saying we will be ok, now it’s 6 points plus without him, Christ lets wake up now and solve that problem, I know like Big Fat Ron has said and I’m saying it we won’t make top 6 if nothing’s done now.
Lots of news claiming Wolves have had £18M bid for Abraham accepted by Chelsea. Hmm.
Yes, I fear we are about to lose him! Is that another nail in the coffin of promotion this season?
And whilst I’m feeling depressed, in return we get a no hoper from Wolves reserves – great!
We are becoming a joke.
Think that’s a bit harsh Hitch. No doubt the owners are still tiptoeing through FFP a bit. Abraham’s goals return and status at Chelsea (not good enough for them) meant this was always on the cards. Abraham has talent, and seems too good for the Championship, but in the Prem he will get fewer chances and need to finish better to be successful. We should wish him well if he goes though, as we would be deep in the mire without his goals.
What we do if he leaves is a bit tricky. Kodjia may come up with the goods, or perhaps Hogan can return to previous form under Smith. Don’t get too depressed as the fact that we will strengthen defensively may be some compensation for the loss of Abraham (assuming he does go).
Fair comment DS – just a bit fed up with all the negative news we seem to be hearing lately on top of a very disappointing run of form; add a post New Year hangover and ……
Hitch, read Shy news, we have him till end of season, yes 18 has been accepted from Wolves.
This mystery gets deeper and deeper.
The striker also came on as substitute for Chelsea during the Community Shield clash with Manchester City
The striker came off the bench for Chelsea in their Community Shield defeat by Manchester City back in August.
And he has since gone on to make a big impact at Villa Park, scoring 16 goals in 20 appearances for the Championship club.
But the FA decided the Wembley curtain raiser did not count as a first team or competitive match a decade ago.
Abraham’s appearance is therefore counted only as a “pre-season friendly”, allowing him to complete his move to ambitious Wolves.
Bill, I can only find that ‘reports of £18m having been accepted (from Wolves) are understood to be premature’
Is it being suggested Wolves will buy him but leave him at Villa for the remainder of the season – confused I am!
Same here Hitch. It’s strange way of doing business, what if he breaks leg? Mind boddling.
And – apparently Tuanzebe has needed an operation on his foot and will be out until March – I might have to revise my commitment to a no drinking day!
Bill, I’m now reading reports in the London Evening Standard of a Chelsea statement ‘that no bids have been received for Abraham who will NOT be sold during the January transfer window’
Maybe the best thing to do is disbelieve everything you read in the press until an official statement is made by a football club even then it probably isn’t true!
I think you are right Hitch. Maybe I should stop trawling the internet for Villa news and get a life!
Only believe he is moving if HARRY issues a statement saying he will NOT be buying him.
I think we can get carried away with all the media speculation. Safe bet is to ignore it all unless it is confirmed by official site. Hopefully Smith will bring in a few permanent signings and weed out reliance on loan players so we are more stable for next season.
Interestingly according to the Evening Standard –
Article 5.3 of Fifa’s regulations on the status and transfer of players says: “Players may be registered with a maximum of three clubs during one season. During this period, the player is only eligible to play official matches for two clubs.”
As Tammy has already played in an U23 match and the Community Shield for Chelsea this means he can’t play for a third club this season.
Hope it’s true.
https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/chelsea/why-chelsea-striker-tammy-abraham-could-see-wolves-transfer-blocked-by-fifa-a4028986.html
Abraham has scored a lot of goals but also missed a few costly sitters (WBA). The good thing is that for the first time in ages we are creating a lot of chances many of which a good striker should take.
We have gone off the boil a bit lately because we are missing the Grealish link up play. That needs to be addressed along with the defence.
I have confidence that Smith will build a team we can be proud of in time.
If it takes another season or 2 to get promoted so be it.
Compared to the last 10 years or so I am enjoying my trips to villa park.
thats the loan market. chelsea and Abraham both used villa and we benefited from having him here scoring goals,soon as a decent offer came in Chelsea would always recall and sell. we have to start using exploiting the loan to send our youngsters out and improving and increasing their stocks.
its a shame he will leave, but tammy and kodjia are very similar, they struggled together as they both make very similar runs, both are greedy never see the better option. i think Hogan can benefit from this, he really can do a job if given the chance and kodjia can also lead the line just as good as tammy has done.
I see Collymore is critisizing our club again.
I think he has forgotten just how costly and SHIT he was for us. Waste of space.
Agreed.
While it’s healthy to criticise things you think are wrong, he does seem to be making a habit of it lately.