QPR 1:2 Chievo Verona
I’ll post some thoughts later as I’m busy and out tonight, but in the meantime I’ve uploaded some photos from the game… enjoy!
Photos
QPR 1:3 Chievo Verona
UPDATE: Match thoughts now included…
Pre-season is an unusual time but it’s also preparation for the real thing. I agree that it’s important to try out new systems and personnel, but I’m wary that with just a week to the season starts, trying something completely new with the supposed starting eleven is somewhat risky.
Playing against top quality opposition like Chievo is a good thing but if we were to adopt the same 4-5-1 system against Barnsley, then the boys really should have been using this far earlier. It’s also a danger to do this when you’ve had so few pre-season matches like we have.
That’s not to say we’re not capable, but the players who would really make that system work (it can be 4-3-3 too) were not out on the pitch. It would have worked much better if Lee Cook, Akos Buzaky, Rowan Vine and Martin Rowlands were out there, no doubt about it.
Sometimes it’s also just as good to end your pre-season campaign with a confidence boosting win over lower class opposition. Then the players can work with relative freedom and confidence in the system they know they will be using and hopefully one or two can earn some extra confidence with a couple of goals, which something we’ve lacked over the summer.
We learned from the match against Chievo that the players are not used to playing in the system Iain Dowie went for. This was highlighted by the amount of times Peter Ramage was discussing tactics with the coaching staff during the first-half as the game was going on. Damien Delaney did this a little bit in the second half too.
We also seemed to run out of ideas after a while and Chievo’s comfort with the system also knocked us out of our stride from time to time and allowed them to play at their pace.
But there were positives.
I really liked what I saw of Kaspars Gorkss. He’s competent in most areas of the game but the real telling difference is how comfortable he appears to be on the ball. He looks a good signing and I’m excited by the prospect of him partnering Fitz Hall in the centre of our defence. Fitz looks in good shape too and fully fit, which is a big plus for me. I think he has everything to be a smashing defender at Championship level.
Angelo Balanta impressed me with a mature display and something tells me he is ready for the first-team. I think if we use him selectively he’s going to be a real asset and weapon for us and hopefully he will get some minutes on the pitch before the return of other key players from injuries and suspensions.
Peter Ramage played better than he did in the match I saw him against Stevenage. He was sharper and had a job on his hands marking the tricky Antimo Iunco who I thought had an excellent game. I’m not convinced he or Matthew Connolly are natural right-back’s though and probably are better served playing central. But we’re full there so he’ll have go get on with it.
As for the rest, there’s only one real noteworthy point to make. I saw Damien Delaney scream aggressively at Emmanuel Ledesma at one point because he didn’t pass him the ball. The Argentine was not pleased with the Irishman’s lack of tact and neither was I. It was a little bit unnecessary and I hope Delaney doesn’t continue to resort to that approach in the future. The players need to do their bit to help these guys settle in so they can flourish properly.
As for Iain Dowie, in the second half he was urging the team to up their tempo and to our credit, we tried to. But, I never really believed that this would be the starting eleven for Saturday or the system we would use. With the arrival of Lee Cook who was paraded before kick-off, you would expect him or some of the other new guys to feature as they will certainly bring more balance to our shape and style as well as allowing us to up that tempo.
We’ve lacked creativity this pre-season, which was always going to be likely given the players we have out injured and missing but the lads have clearly been worked hard by Dowie’s regime. We may struggle to get our season going but I can only see it getting better as time passes.
Can’t wait for Saturday now… good luck lads!
