QPR 1:1 Blackpool
I noted on one particular occasion no fewer than four players strolling back at walking pace after we lost the ball. They were all in the Blackpool half and if I was in charge, that behaviour would have infuriated me. It’s downright lazy and it doesn’t matter if you are tired or not on form, you have to do the basics properly.
I thought Lee Cook didn’t have a good game from a defensive perspective. He drifted forward on occasion but never tracked back and a couple of times I was watching him looking at the players lurking and drifting free in dangerous positions and wondered why he wasn’t doing anything about it! Perhaps he was told to stick high up the park though to remain as a threat, but it was because he was so far away that we conceded a goal to a superb strike. Cook was behind the play and had he been closer he may not have got a tackle of challenge in, but he could have affected and altered the outcome had he been in a better position.
Having said that though, what a strike. As soon as Gary Taylor-Fletcher connected I couldn’t help but shout out “Oh great hit, it’s in!” before watching it sail into the top corner. It was such a deceiving strike because the way the ball moved and the pace it travelled still made it look like Radek Cerny might be able to stop it, but it was travelling away from him and upwards all the time and at a trajectory that was perfect!
I really liked Blackpool. They popped the ball about well, had good movement and got stuck in where they needed to. They were impressive in the air too, winning many of the aerial battles on display out there.
Daniel Parejo is just a kid, as is Emmanuel Ledesma, but we’re seemingly looking to these guys to pull all the strings and take the game by the scruff of the neck, but that’s what the experienced players are there to do and that’s when you need your leaders on the park to do their business. We seem to be lacking that in our side, even though it was a fairly experienced line-up.
We have to give the younger players the time to develop and they will make mistakes, so asking Parejo to control and boss the game from the back didn’t seem to be the right way to approach things. He is good enough to dictate play and has the skill and ability to do so, but when the others around him are not used to that sort of style, then you have to wonder what the point is and whether they’ve worked on this properly on the training pitch?
I noticed as well that whenever we had the ball, especially Parejo, Gavin Mahon was dropping into a centre-back position. This often made us a back of four or five, depending on where Peter Ramage was lingering. This didn’t help Parejo as it gave him fewer options for a forward pass and just seemed counter productive and led to him giving away possession cheaply. It’s not easy for these guys to come in and play three times in a week, with a style of football that’s very different to what they’re used to.
Another thing that has gone missing from our play is the counter attacking football that made us so dangerous in some of our previous games or under Luigi De Canio. The players we have means we are capable of breaking really fast, but even Cerny isn’t throwing the ball out as much to his full backs of late and we appear to be forcing the play a little which is a sign that the players are not quite sure of their roles or how to deal with certain passages of play as they materialise on the pitch.
We did do some things better than against Derby on Saturday though. I was pleased to see Martin Rowlands, Lee Cook and Emmanuel Ledesma all pushing further forward and supporting Dexter Blackstock. Cook and Ledesma came inside far more and picked up some better attacking positions and Rowlands was joining the attack a fair amount, but it wasn’t really enough on the night. I’d have preferred Parejo to be behind Blackstock over Rowlands myself, as having Rowly on the ball more deeper gives us greater balance than at the spearhead of a packed midfield.
I was pleased with a point in the end. We had more of the play in the second-half and we kept on going and in the end got a reward for our perseverance. We played better in the second period too, even if it wasn’t that much better than the first but we had better shape and energy once we brought on Mikele Leigertwood and Patrick Agyemang.
Akos Buzsaky’s strike from the free-kick was fabulous and you have to give credit to Dex for continously putting himself in there. Sure, he missed a few, but in the end he stuck one away and that meant we got something from the game. I thought the goal that was disallowed was a foul, even though most fans around me had no idea why it wasn’t given or didn’t feel anything was wrong.
Overall it was an abject display that seemed to be somewhat lacking in passion, desire and form. But these things happen in football and you go through these little lulls throughout every season. We’ve just got to try and snap out of it quickly ad find a spark from somewhere and there are more than enough players at the club who are capable of jump-starting us again.
I said a little while ago that we didn’t seem to have a real plan when going forward with the ball and this performance brought those memories flooding back. It seems like the idea is to try and get our creative players on the ball and then let them decide what to do with it, except, we rarely got the ball to Emmanuel Ledesma and some of the others, especially in the areas and positions that they can do serious damage, which is after switches of play and possession and on the counter. The style we’ve adopted in the last few matches has not really allowed us to do any of those.
When those players are not on form or being tightly marked, it’s giving the rest of them a headache because they’re opting to pump it long and go very direct, which when you’ve got one bloke up top scrapping for service against four defenders, well, it’s not rocket science to realise it’s tough for that guy to win the ball, hold up play or get a quality flick on. We need an alternative plan if we don’t change this system we’re using and although I want us to win and be up there from the off, I am fascinated watching it unfold and evolve.
