QPR put on a really professional display at Loftus Road and swept aside a decent Carlisle outfit to progress through to the Third Round of the Carling Cup. It just sounds weird saying that, doesn’t it?

Iain Dowie has promised that he would take this competition seriously and so far it’s paying off for us handsomely. I thought we were outstanding against Swindon Town in the last round and although our play didn’t reach the heights of that game, we came pretty close and put in a really solid performance that at times was just too classy for our opponents to deal with.

Still, there was no place in the side for Lee Camp and I was disappointed and worried about that. He had to settle for the bench as Radek Cerny took goal with Damien Delaney and Peter Ramage occupying the full-back spots. Matthew Connolly partnered Damien Stewart in defence and we had a five-man midfield consisting of Lee Cook and Emmanuel Ledesma on either wing, Gavin Mahon and Martin Rowlands in the middle with Daniel Parejo supporting Samuel Di Carmine in attack.

Carlisle lined up with Ben Williams in goal, David Raven, Evan Horwood at right and left-back and Danny Livesey and Peter Murphy in the centre of defence. On the left they played with Simon Hackney and on right, Cleveland Taylor. Marc Bridge-Wilkinson partnered Paul Thirlwhirl in the middle and Michael Bridges and Gary Madine started up front.

The visitors started brightly and forced the first shot at goal inside the opening minute. We pressed the ball well but they had the possession and Simon Hackney sent his shot wide over the bar after a good passing move.

A minute later, Daniel Parejo went into a crunching 50-50 tackle with Paul Thirlwell. I was surprised he got stuck in like that and he did hurt himself and was hobbling around for a minute or two, but he didn’t complain and got on with his game, taking the ball down beautifully from Matthew Connolly shortly after and slotting a ball into the right channel for Samuel Di Carmine to collect.

In the fourth minute we fashioned our first half chance when Parejo collected the ball and found Peter Ramage with a slick pass. Ramage crossed for Gavin Mahon who made a run into the box and met it with a crisp volley but Peter Murphy flung himself in the way and deflected the ball out for a corner. Parejo’s corner was headed away at the near post though by David Raven.

Emmanuel Ledesma hadn’t really been involved up until this point, but he got on the ball in the seventh minute and moved forward a couple of yards before unleashing a 25 yard strike at goal. Ben Williams was equal to it and made a very good save; putting the ball out for a corner in the process.

Up until now we had done reasonably well going forward, but Damien Delaney had given away possession cheaply twice when we were on the attack. One of these led to Carlisle winning a corner which Paul Thirlwell slung into the box but Martin Rowlands did well to clear with his head.

A couple of minutes later Parejo produced a superb turn from a Delaney throw midway up the pitch and he played the ball to Rowlands who exchanged a one-two with Ledesma but his shot was blocked and went out for another corner. Parejo’s delivery was excellent, but Delaney produced an air shot and completely missed the ball which allowed Carlisle to clear.

In the seventeenth minute Gavin Mahon won a header from a kick up the pitch and found Cook who turned smartly and ran with the ball. He played a neat one-two with Di Carmine and laid in Parejo who nut-megged his man and found Ramage on the right. Cook had ran all the way from left to right and Ramage played the ball to him and he cut back on his left foot and whipped in a cross-shot but it went into the hands of Williams. It was nearly there and good football but with no end product.

Three minutes later Carlisle managed to keep possession of the ball for what seemed a long time and eventually worked their way through on goal and almost fashioned out a one-on-one opportunity for Hackney but it was adjudged to have been offside. I didn’t think it was and neither did Carlisle, so it was a lucky moment for us.

It was a good period for Carlisle this, and in the 22nd minute they won a free kick outside the box after a foul by Delaney. Marc Bridge-Wilkinson disguised his pass and sent the ball out to the left to Hackney who crossed to the far post. We just about cleared the ball but suddenly it broke to Parejo who was just outside the box. He dashed forward a few yards and looked right, but in the corner of his eye, on the left, Di Carmine was breaking and he sent a great 60 yard ball into his path. The Italian controlled well but his second touch was poor and he lost the ball. They were on the attack again moments later when Hackney got a shot in on goal from 20 yards after we lost the ball, but Cerny saved.

We were on the attack next though. Connolly played a nice ball into Parejo who cleverly flicked the ball into the path of Ledesma and he found Ramage on the right who made a forward run. Ramage cross the ball in but David Raven headed away. Lee Cook collected the ball shortly after and fired in a shot from 25 yards, but it went just over. Delaney then squandered possession again moments later after good work from us and Bridge-Wilkinson played a good through ball through the centre of our defence but Martin Rowlands tracked back really well and mopped up the danger.

We forced another corner in the 27th minute when Parejo, Rowlands and Cook all linked well which saw the latter’s shot deflected out for a corner. Parejo delivered to the near post again but this time Madine cleared. The Spaniard’s corners all seemed to go to the same area and every time a Carlisle player seemed to win it. I was wondering when they would switch it to the other side and let Ledesma have a go, as he hadn’t had the chance to send one in yet.

Ledesma actually had a great chance to score on the half hour when Stewart sent a random long ball straight down the middle and Carlisle let it bounce over them and Ledesma ghosted straight in and fired a volley at goal. Williams made a great save and forced the corner. Ledesma finally took it and delivered a dangerous ball in but it was punched away by Williams under pressure and suddenly landed at the feet of Thirlwell who broke with aplomb. His surging run looked real dangerous but up popped Rowlands out of nowhere with an outstanding sliding tackle to dispossess him.

Rowlands was playing really well and I was very impressed by his defensive work. He was also visibly marshalling the players and playing a real captain’s role on the pitch. He told Ledesma to stay on his feet after the Argentine dived theatrically twice in the space of 30 seconds after minimal contact.

We were probing well but not quite getting the clear opportunity we wanted to break the deadlock. In the 32nd minute, Cook spun well on the ball in a crowd of Carlisle players and played a reverse pass to Mahon who made an intelligent forward run. He slotted in Delaney on the overlap as he raced into the box and fired a shot in at goal, but Williams saved well again and forced yet another corner. Ledesma fired in another beautiful delivery and there was a bit of a scramble with Stewart and Connolly almost getting in on the act, but Carlisle managed to clear their lines.

But after more good work, we were back to some negatives. A couple of minutes later Delaney was guilty of letting Taylor cross the ball in but Ramage was on hand to clear. Delaney looked to make amends with a bursting run as we broke, but again, he lost control of the ball and possession. His sloppiness by now was really irritating me and I was at a loss for words at how many times he gave away possession when it seemed harder not to.

The only other noteworthy moment before the half came to a close was in the 42nd minute when a harmless punt by Carlisle looked easy enough for Stewart to deal with, but he lost out again to Madine in the air. Connolly was on hand to sweep in and clear the ball and he had a go at Stewart for not dealing with it better.

I was relatively pleased by what I saw in the first-half. Some people would have been worried about our lack of penetration in the final third, but Carlisle had played well. They knocked the ball around nicely in spurts, but Connolly’s outstanding display at the back made it difficult for them to find a way through. In contrast, when we had the ball, we played with a pedestrian pace at times and the slow tempo (from both teams) meant that we always had a lot to do once we reached the final third. It was hard to finish off the moves and we were guilty of running out of ideas a little bit when faced with so many Carlisle players in defence. I wasn’t concerned though as it seemed like if we moved the ball just a tad bit quicker we’d eventually break them down. We looked the fitter team too.

We came flying out of the traps in the second period. Carlisle hit the ball forward but Connolly was on hand to win his header which fell to Ledesma who won his challenge. He found Di Carmine just on the right in the box, but he scuffed his shot across goal and wide.

Ledesma was on the ball again just seconds later when Peter Murphy played a terrible square pass right into his path. Ledesma burst through from around the half way line and ran and ran at the defence before entering the box. He should of released the ball but ended up holding on too long and forced a corner. No bother though, he whipped it in and Stewart rose at the near post with a thumping header across to the left hand side and in for 1-0.

The goal was just what we needed and you just sensed that the lads had rolled up their sleeves and decided it was time they showed Carlisle what they were really capable of and I thought it knocked the stuffing out of the visitors too.

Ledesma had clearly started the half on fire. A couple of minutes later he controlled a long ball from a Cerny free kick quite superbly just outside the box. He found Di Carmine again who made a run across goal and the Italian shot at the near post but Williams saved with relative ease.

Minutes later it was two nil. We kept hold of the ball well and had good passing possession until Mahon found Ledesma just inside the box on the right and from there it was game over. Ledesma took a touch, created space and cut inside on his left foot before firing low to Williams near post. His strike was pure, beating him and going in off the post. A great finish. He was almost in again just a minute later after another good passing move that almost had him in on goal after he crept up on the left side, but it was well cut out.

For the next five minutes we took out foot slightly off the gas as Carlisle tried to find an answer to our fast start. Marc Bridge-Wilkinson had a shot saved by Cerny and on the hour Delaney made a bizarre error under no pressure with a crazy pass straight to Thirlwell who was just outside the box. It was surreal because the Irishman had about four options but looped the ball straight to the opposition across goal. Thirlwell though failed to punish him and his shot was rather poor.

But Carlisle’s attempted revival was short lived. After Connolly won the ball with a superb tackle it fell to Rowlands who played a one-two with Mahon and released Ledesma. He played a one-two with Parejo whose fabulous return pass carried just enough weight for Ledesma to latch onto and dispatch into the back of the net for 3-0. It was a lovely clinical goal and the type of free flowing attacking play that would have made most teams proud.

Straight afterwards though Delaney had another horror moment. He was easily turned by Taylor and hacked him down with a dirty and poorly timed tackle. He was booked for it but oddly immediately signalled to the bench that he wanted to come off. He looked frustrated with himself, even before that, and we thought at the time that he was so hacked off with his own performance that he wanted off… we heard elsewhere that he had been carrying a knock or wasn’t well, so maybe that explained his sub par showing?

A triple substitution ensued with Angelo Balanta coming on for Samuel Di Carmine, Adam Bolder for Gavin Mahon and Kaspars Gorkss for Damien Delaney. Gorkss went into the centre of defence and Connolly moved out to left-back, which was a shame given his commanding display in the centre.

That seemed to unsettle us for just a little bit and Carlisle took one last stab at getting themselves back into the game. Substitute Jeff Smith forced a great save in the 72nd minute from Radek Cerny. He spun inside the box just outside the six-yard area and fired in low to Cerny’s right. The Czech got down and turned it around the post and showed that when he needed to really be called upon, he was there. Top save.

From here the game appeared dead and buried. We kept patient and keep playing our football while Carlisle seemed to just punt the ball down the pitch and continuously give it away. By now Stewart had got in many more headers and his goal seemed to breed confidence in him and although he wasn’t too bad in the first-half, he was a lot better in the second.

With 10 minutes to go, we were still looking for more goals. Lee Cook had made a few bursting runs from deep and was suddenly popping up all over the place. He looked hungry for a goal and after a good passing move he fired narrowly wide. Carlisle replied a couple of minutes later with a free-kick that Smith took and forced Cerny into making a decent save at his near post after a foul by Gorkss.

In the 85th we wrapped the game up. That man Ledesma again. Cook broke away from deep and made a fine dribbling run before playing in Ledesma who drifted in field. He played a one-two with Balanta who delightfully back-heeled into his path and Ledesma raced onto it and dinked the ball over Williams. A fine finish and it capped a terrific second-half showing from Rangers. The Argentine was clearly enjoying the game and it was obvious how much each goal meant to him by the way he celebrated them. He almost got a fourth in stoppage time when he got the ball and banged in a shot over the bar with the crowd egging him on.

It’s hard to know how to sum up this performance, but we had most of the play and made good use of the ball. There were good performances all over the pitch. Martin Rowlands was excellent in midfield and Matthew Connolly was my pick of the bunch, but when that little Argentine goes and sets up one and score three, well, it’s hard to look past him isn’t it? He scored three quite wonderful goals and is just far, far, far too good for this level of football.

Carlisle played well in the first-half and their wide men put in good performances as did young Gary Madine up front, but they just couldn’t cope with us once we stepped up a gear and it’s frightening to think that we still have to fit in Rowan Vine and Akos Buzsaky into this side. It will get better yet, I’m sure and this is a stepping stone to more consistency, confidence and understanding in this team. There was a lot to be positive about after this one.

Radek Cerny – He didn’t have a great deal to do throughout the match but was there when called upon. He had a couple of long range shots to deal with that could have been tricky and he pulled off one really top save in the second when we were 2-0 up.

Peter Ramage – It was a no frills type of performance from Peter. He seemed weaker in the air than in previous games and didn’t win as many balls as you would expect him too. His touch was a little bit off as well and for some reason it seemed to take him longer to get the ball under control than in other matches. I suspect he was slightly fatigued from the weekend’s game.

Damien Delaney - Delaney’s performances are starting to concern me a little bit. I hope he just needs to get into his groove but he’s giving possession away easily and letting people get past him or not stopping crosses. He’s a long way from the excellent form he finished last season in. Seemed to get frustrated with himself at times and I take that as positive sign.

Matthew Connolly - I thought he was outstanding at the back, winning virtually all of his challenges in the air or in the deck and his distribution was generally good too. He likes to play those inside passes to the midfielders, and those types of balls are at great angles for us to do something useful for it. It was a shame he got moved to left-back but even then he adjusted quite well. I like him more at centre-back though.

Damien Stewart - He was okay in the first-half but still missed one or two headers that he shouldn’t have. After he scored with a great header in the second, confidence seemed to ooze through him and he was much stronger and commanding for the second-half. He can be pleased with his evening’s work and the way he improved as the match wore on.

Lee Cook - He’s still a bit lukewarm and in the first-half seemed to run out of ideas a little bit. He kept dribbling with the ball in dangerous areas and then slow down and almost come to a halt. The good thing though is he kept plugging away and his performance improved and got better as the match went on. He made some outstanding runs from deep and came inside to the middle a lot too. I think he’s looked good when he’s come inside in other matches as well. Let’s get him on the ball in there more when we need to. Looked hungry to get a goal by the end as well.

Emmanuel Ledesma – You can just tell that he loves it here and loves playing football. He scored three quite marvellous goals and was perhaps unlucky not to add to that tally either. He linked well with many players but mainly with Parejo. Far too good for Carlisle.

Martin Rowlands - He was really impressive defensively and made some excellent covering runs and interceptions, as did Gavin Mahon. They looked comfortable playing alongside one another and have struck up a good understanding of who does what and when. It was a real captain’s performance and he was constantly talking to the players around him. Sure he missed one or two passes now and then but I was really thrilled with his overall display.

Gavin Mahon - He put in a good performance and was nice and sensible, but made some good surging runs forward too. He looks like he is in decent shape and form and his experience is a great asset for this side. He impressed me with those forward runs and you wonder whether the opposition expect it. He’s not just a big lump, which is what some people mistake him for.

Daniel Parejo - The Spaniard showed sublime class at times. His masterful manipulation of the ball was a cut above, as was some of the choice and range of his passing. I particularly liked that when we were well in the lead and clearly going to win that he didn’t showboat. He continued to keep it simple and play the right type of balls and that’s the sign of a top player. The pass for Ledesma’s second was really out of this world. Why? Because any other player on the pitch would have gone for goal themselves from the position he got in, but he showed such awareness and patience and then fabulous decision making and precision with a gorgeously weighted pass which Ledesma finished beautifully.

Samuel Di Carmine - Not quite ready to be honest and I feel a bit sorry for him because he’s still adapting to the style of the game over here. He struggled to win headers from goal kicks and often his timing to meet the ball was slightly off meaning he either missed it or couldn’t direct them properly. He is however good at winning shorter balls in the air and playing delicate passes with his head as well as his feet. I think he lacks a bit of pace though and sometimes his agility is ever so slightly lethargic. The positive for him is he does have a brain and knows when to set the ball for those one-two’s.

Angelo Balanta - It took him a little while to get into the swing of things because we never got him the ball where he actually wanted it initially. As time progressed though he began to find his feet and showed some good moments of close control. The assist for Ledesma’s hat-trick was excellent and it was another good cameo performance.

Adam Bolder - He was nice and busy as well as vocal. I was pleased he got a run out and although he didn’t do a great deal, it was nice to see that the midfield performance was still at a good level after Mahon went off.

Kaspars Gorkss - He wasn’t really tested in any fashion on the night. Started a little clumsily but nothing to shout home about and actually as the game went on he won his fair share of headers and got on the ball more a little bit .

Referee - Keith Hill (Hertfordshire) 7/10 - Barely noticed him and he let the game flow as much as possible. Good showing and the majority of the decisions were sound and sensible.

Like the idiot that I am, I somehow managed to buy the wrong ticket from the machine and instead of selecting the £58 saver return, without noticing I chose the £57.80 single saver which was conveniently positioned next to it on the menu. By the time I realised, I had already boarded, so despite my best attempts at begging for leniency with station staff at either end the whole journey ended up costing me the small fortune of £115.60.

The match then rained on more misery. The line-up was exciting but we weren’t at the races from the off. Within two minutes Greg Halford launched a throw into our box which we didn’t defend and Billy Sharp emerged free on the far side to direct his header easily into the net and we were a goal down before anybody had broken sweat.

Not long later Mikele Leigertwood lost possession in midfield and a simple through ball saw Sharp in on goal again and he dispatched easily for 2-0 with only 12 minutes on the clock. Leigertwood was a bit unfortunate with losing the ball, but it just summed up our display.

It was like the players had led in their boots too. The amount of times they under hit passes or did not put enough weight on the ball was bizarre. Lee Cook, Mikele Leigertwood and Daniel Parejo were the main culprits, but it happened to one or two others too.

The lack of marking on Sharp was in fact quite criminal. The amount of times he just ran through unmarked, with little effort, was a worrying sight and he should have punished us on more occasions as he could have really had four or five goals to his name by the end.

Nobody in the defence or on the pitch showed any sort of leadership or willingness to take responsibility. Instead, they simply allowed Billy Sharp and Darius Henderson to work on our full-backs or in the space in-between them and their respective centre-half and for most of the game we just didn’t deal with it. We didn’t look like we knew how to either and nobody picked up anybody in the end, resulting in the Blades forwards having the freedom to do what they liked.

There are certain do’s and don’ts in matches of this kind, or any kind really. The most important one of those was to get on the ball and settle down, but it was probably at least 15-20 minutes before we finally strung some passes together and kept the ball for a small period.

After going 1-0 down, it was obvious we needed to do that really quickly, but the players just didn’t seem to click on and kept wasting possession, either hacking it down the pitch or trying too difficult a pass when we hadn’t had that luxury of a few touches and settling our shape down.

Despite conceding another really soft goal early in the second half, we did actually improve and have some possession of the ball. But it came far too late and when we did have possession, we tried to literally walk our way through a resilient Blades defence.

Parejo was the main culprit, playing really intricate and delicate one-two’s in and around the penalty area but it was always too crowded. He must have tried this four or five times, and it looked like something might nearly be on every time but it always fizzled out at the same point.

When that happens, the players need to realise or change their tact. We did eventually hit the post from a Ledesma strike, but it was more in vein than us taking the play to Sheffield United and putting pressure on them.

It was very hard to find any positives from the first-half in what was a bitterly disappointing display and although Parejo nut-megged four players at various points with some sublime skill, it wasn’t the time or place for it.

The positives we can take away were few. But the players improved and kept going. Lee Cook looked better in the second half after a poor first 45. He came inside and got on the ball well and I liked that because it gave us a different dynamism on the ball.

Samuel Di Carmine held up the ball fairly well when he came on, although he didn’t do much else and doesn’t look like he has a great deal of pace. I felt a bit sorry for both Dexter Blackstock and Angelo Balanta in the first-half, because they had very little service although the pair of them could have helped us defend better from the front too.

It was an excellent learning experience for Balanta, so although he came across as anonymous for some he will have picked up a lot from the 45 minutes he had. Emmanuel Ledesma also got on the ball a bit more in the second period after not seeing much of it in the first. Still, despite that, his deliveries from corners were generally excellent.

It’s clear there’s a lot of work to be done and we need to eliminate the feeling that the players are still learning one another’s names. It was clear that the lack of playing time together and understanding of each person’s responsibilities played a big part in why we lost this game.

The build up to Swindon’s second goal came from an unforced error when we had the ball in the middle area on the left hand side of the pitch. Damien Delaney tried to be too clever for his own good and squandered possession and within a few passes, the home team had the ball out wide on the left to Anthony McNamee who crossed for Billy Paynter to score with a really well taken header. It was in fact a really good goal.

Exploring this in further detail you could say that Delaney should never have lost the ball in the first place, but in football mistakes happen and they always will. The important thing is knowing when and how to reduce the probability of risk once something goes wrong.

As play materialised and McNamee had the ball out wide, we were actually in pretty decent shape. Let’s take a look though at what went wrong and what we could have done better to reduce the probability of this move resulting in a goal.

From the illustration above we can see how Paynter scored. McNamee crossed the ball into the box and Simon Cox made a near post run drawing Damien Stewart across with him. This created space in behind for Paynter who made a similar run and got his header in on goal.

Our defending players in this move are all in great defensive positions, so once the cross came in you have to credit Swindon for scoring because positionally we were sound. Dexter Blackstock, Angelo Balanta and Emmanuel Ledesma were no-where to be seen having been high up the pitch when we lost the ball. In this case, Leigertwood had to assist Connolly because Ledesma was actually on the right hand side of the pitch and involved in a tackle just before Delaney lost out.

Matthew Connolly and Mikele Leigertwood are correctly doubling up on McNamee out on the wing, so this part of our play is good and shows that we do know how to do this. But do we?

You see, some fans have complained that we don’t double up, me included, yet this shows that we are doing it. Doubling up though is an art in itself. There is a right way and a wrong way to do it and we almost got it right here, but inevitably as the play unfolded we actually got it wrong and this was the main reason why Swindon scored.

Connolly and Leigertwood between them made the mistake of allowing McNamee to cross between them and that meant their doubling up act became no better than Connolly being out there on his own and allowing his man to cross. The problem here is that with the ball being fired in-between the pair of them it could potentially unsight others as well as not denying the angle and type of cross they are trying to protect in the first place. The Swindon forwards had the advantage of being able to attack the ball as it came in which is harder to defend against.

McNamee was also allowed to cross with his left foot. Had they managed to shepherd him back onto his right foot, the angle of the ball would have changed and even if he managed to deliver into the same area the probability of us successfully dealing with it would have increased. But why?

The reason why is that shift from left foot to right foot takes time. It’s not a great deal of time, but it’s enough to allow our defenders behind to re-adjust and reset their positions. If the ball was inswinging from that area of the pitch, it’s also easier to defend.

Damien Stewart, Kaspars Gorkss and Damien Delaney would have been able to attack the ball and see it all the way and at the same time, it would also be easier for Lee Camp to come out and claim it if that was on. Delaney would also have been an additional source of cover for the angles and would provide better protection (two on one) for any ball that came more towards the back post.

Going one better than that, if the defender had enough quality and composure about him, he could even clear in the path of one of our players more easily and therefore increasing the probability of us winning any second ball or gaining possesion.

It’s these little details that we need to work on. On this occasion I would give more credit to the Swindon team for an excellent goal, but we’re generally making worse elementary mistakes than this one in wide positions and we’ve got to do better if we want to be serious and realise our dreams.

I arrived in Swindon at 5pm and had a couple of hours to kill before kick-off. As the train approached the city the bright blue skies I left behind at Paddington were gradually turning to dark grey – just for a change in Swindon. It was obvious the heavens would open for business at some point and rain would start chucking it down. At that point as I peered out the window and pondered this thought - I realised how stupid I was to have travelled all that way wearing just a t-shirt. Some people never learn.

I stopped off in the Town Centre for a quick bite to eat and a drink and it indeed starting to pour with rain. I was still a good ten minutes walk from the County Ground and I looked on grimly in my t-shirt. The rain was so heavy I decided to go and buy a brolly for £6 from Debenham’s. By the time I’d purchased that and made my way back out onto the street the sun had come out, the rain had stopped and I knew it would be a good night from that point on.

We started the match with Lee Camp in goal, Matthew Connolly at right-back, Damien Delaney as Captain at left-back and Kaspars Gorkss paired with Damien Stewart in the centre of defence. In midfield we had Emmanuel Ledesma on the right, Lee Cook on the left and Mikele Leigertwood and Daniel Parejo in the centre of midfield. Up front it was Angelo Balanta and Dexter Blackstock.

If it didn’t seem like we had an attacking plan against Barnsley on Saturday but it was obvious what the score was here. The players were clearly instructed to get the ball to Emmanuel Ledesma as soon as possible and hence a glorious performance ensued. In the second minute Ledesma picked up the ball on the left and cut inside before slotting a smart through ball for Dexter Blackstock to chase. The idea was right but the Argentine played it with too much weight and Peter Brezovan collected.

Over the next few minutes it was interesting to note that Lee Camp collected the ball on two occasions and immediately tried to look for a player the quick throw but seemed hesitant as it wasn’t really on. He looked frustrated with the men in front of him as a result as it forced him to kick up field.

In the fifth minute, one of these kicks landed at the feet of Daniel Parejo, who had barely touched the ball until now. The Spaniard though didn’t need much opportunity to show his class by playing a lovely disguised pass to Lee Cook when everybody else thought he was going to play it the other way. Cook was probably surprised too because he took a poor touch when it was easier to control and as a result, his cross went to no-one but this was a positive start. Brezovan then cleared the ball up field and Damien Stewart won a header and the ball ended up with Matthew Connolly on the right of defence. Connolly fed the ball into the feet of Angelo Balanta, who had his back to goal and he cleverly turned his man before finding Ledesma whose cross was well blocked.

Connolly found himself high up the pitch just moments later and after another fine run from Balanta, he played a clever one-two with him and his cross was cut out by a Swindon defender for a corner. Ledesma whipped that in superbly to the back post where Kaspars Gorkss headed dangerously across the goal, but Swindon managed to clear their lines.

Moments after, Dexter Blackstock got in on the action, making a fine run and holding up the ball before cleverly slotting in Ledesma who burst onto the scene but saw his shot deflected and over for another corner. Ledesma whipped in another beautiful ball which Swindon cleared, but only as far as Lee Cook on the left and he crossed it back in to Blackstock who almost scored with a great volley but put it just wide. There were only about eight minutes on the clock by this point but it was all Rangers.

Brezovan took his goal kick quickly though and the ball found its way out to the left. Suddenly Ledesma was too far up the pitch and Connolly was left in a one v one situation with Anthony McNamee and he delivered a peach of a cross to the back post which Jon-Paul McGovern headed just wide. It was a warning that Swindon were ready to pounce on any opportunity we granted them.

Interestingly it was in about the eleventh minute that Lee Camp managed to distribute the ball with his first throw. It went straight to Damien Delaney who proceeded to just launch the ball up the pitch and we lost possession. I wonder where we’ve seen that one before.

After a quarter of an hour we gave away a needless free-kick which Swindon played a clever disguised pass out to the wing. The cross was fired in and the effort on goal took a deflection which went flashing just past the post. Had it been on target, Camp looked beaten. From the resulting corner, the ball was only half cleared to the edge of the penalty area to Billy Paynter who struck a beautiful dipping volley at goal which Camp saved superbly.

Up until now, all the action had been down the right with our Argentine, but Lee Cook finally got involved with a really clever spin deep into our midfield. He took out two players with the move and played in Delaney on the overlap or cut the ball back to Mikele Leigertwood who made a good supporting run. Leigertwood’s cross however was cut out for yet another corner, this time though, on the left side. Parejo curled in a dangerous ball but Swindon bravely cleared again.

QPR were quite simply running the show and the support play at times was a joy to witness. Parejo combined with Ledesma in the centre and Connolly made a great overlap into the box for the Argentine to play a delightful reverse pass into his path. His cross however was just cut out for another corner, but the deflection itself almost went in. It was amazing we still hadn’t opened the scoring. Ledesma was at it again in the 22nd minute, showing wonderful control from a booming kick to the wing from Lee Camp. His touch was almost instant and he found Blackstock just outside the box. Blackstock had two men on him, but an unexpected turn took him away from both defenders and in on goal, but his shot was tame and Brezovan saved. He should have scored but it was a delightful move to watch.

In the 25th minute Ledesma was the threat again, picking up a throw from Matthew Connolly and then turning his marker inside out before crossing to Blackstock who headed over. By now we were all over Swindon and they had very little chance to reply. Stewart however kept giving away free-kicks when he didn’t need to from Brezovan’s goal kicks. Until now it was the only real blight in our performance.

Ledesma shot at goal with a free kick after a foul on Balanta but that was saved and the clearance came back out to him that resulted in some fine passing involving him, Parejo, Cook and Delaney as we spread the ball from one side to the next. Eventually it found its way to Leigertwood who was just outside the box and he flashed his shot inches past the post.

Shortly after that, Parejo found the ball in the midfield, controlling the ball with a masterful touch with two players on his back. He wasn’t finished there though, a splendid turn and dribble showed he could also accelerate away from these men and suddenly he was surging towards goal. He laid in Ledesma on the left who cut inside and fired a shot at the far post which looked destined for the net but somehow went just wide!

Blackstock then had a bit of fortune as he chased a Camp kick into the wing and accidentally handled the ball as he challenged with the keeper. It wasn’t given and suddenly he was racing towards an empty net with the Swindon defence scrambling to make it back and with Balanta and Cook in support. Blackstock though somehow delivered an awful cross over all of the players and it went out to safety. For it to still be 0-0 after 30 minutes was really incredible.

We continued to apply the pressure though and weren’t fazed by not having scored. Balanta found the ball in the box again and swivelled on it before seeing his shot blocked and out for another corner. It was on Parejo’s side again and he curled the ball into the near post which Delaney met and struck at goal. It hit a Swindon body and landed at Balanta’s feet for him to poke home at point blank range. Finally it was 1-0 and no more than we deserved.

Then, and in typical Rangers style, we conceded almost instantly. We gave away another needless free-kick down Swindon’s left and McNamee crossed to the far post which was headed back across goal and landed at the feet of Simon Cox who turned well on the ball and drilled his strike in the bottom right hand corner.

It didn’t bother us too much though because we went right back on the attack and Ledesma should have put us in front in the 35th minute. Balanta got hold of the ball with his back to goal from a Cook pass and turned neatly before sprinting forward with the ball. He slotted in Ledesma who beat Yinka Casal and sent another strike that had “goal” all over it flashing just wide.

Brezovan took the resulting goal-kick too quickly and suddenly Swindon lost the ball and it landed at the feet of Ledesma who was through on goal and one-on-one with the keeper. Brezovan to his credit stayed big and brave and somehow smothered Ledesma’s shot, who really should have scored. Balanta then burst away down the right on our next attack and beat his man before firing the ball across the face of the goal. Blackstock sprinted forward in support and flung himself at the ball but it just evaded him and he, rather than the ball, ended up in the back of the net. Any contact would have resulted in a goal as Brezovan was no where to be seen.

Then, after 38 minutes of scintillating play by the Hoops, we finally had a passage of indifferent play. Stewart managed to slice a clearance out for a throw when under little pressure before Ledesma went close with a back-post header from a Cookie cross. Shortly after that Delaney tried to do too much with a needless flick pass and lost the ball and possession around the halfway line. Lilian Nalis sprayed his pass out to the left wing where McNamee was only too happy to oblige and send in a fabulous cross which was converted by Paynter with a wonderful header. We were 2-1 down and neither we nor Swindon could believe it.

In the 43rd minute we had another chance to make amends. Balanta was unnecessarily fouled and from about 30-35 yards, Parejo smashed in a superb drive from the free-kick off the foot of the post with Brezovan well beaten. We nearly equalised two minutes later when a great tackle by Connolly high up the pitch saw Ledesma gain possession. For the first time in the match he decided to cross with his right foot, surprising Swindon and Balanta controlled and turned before seeing his shot deflected just wide.

The only other notable point was Stewart completely screwing up a header under no pressure at all after he took a poor touch that sent the ball into the air. Luckily Gorkss was on hand to clear any danger and with that, the referee blew for what was an absolutely pulsating first half of football.

Despite going in at half-time 2-1 down, there was a positive vibe in the stands that the team could turn it around in the second half and even if we lost, which would have been a travesty given what we had just witnessed, you would still have come away satisfied. Within 60 seconds of the restart though we were level and a sweeping move ending with a one-two between Cook and Balanta saw the Cookie Monster deliver a trademark cross right into the path of Blackstock who thumped his header home for 2-2 and it was game on again.

A couple of minutes later we nearly took the lead. Balanta got possession of the ball with a lovely take and ran at goal before finding Blackstock whose effort went missed and stayed in the field of play. The ball was crossed in and Parejo nodded the ball into the path of Leigertwood who hooked his shot just wide.

Nothing much further happened until we actually took the lead in the 55th minute. Ledesma showed great tenacity to close down Casal and put him under pressure, forcing a corner in our favour. It was crossed into the box and eventually fell to the feet of Delaney about 12 yards out and he fired through a bunch of players and through Brezovan’s legs for 3-2.

Swindon though had a chance to equalise when Nalis shot through a crowd of players in the 62nd minute and put the ball in the back of the net, but his goal was ruled out correctly for offside. A minute after that, Ledesma gave away a silly free-kick on the left wing and McGovern’s delivery was almost converted by Paynter who headed narrowly over.

In the 69th minute Balanta had me purring again after linking with another great one-two with Ledesma. Balanta controlled a difficult ball so intelligently with his chest and turned superbly before playing Ledesma back in who saw his shot saved. Ledesma though was starting to irritate the Swindon fans, what with his foul earlier but also with some of his other antics. He went over easily once or twice throughout the match and also was moving the ball forward at free-kicks whenever the referee turned his back. This time Ledesma fouled another player and as they argued, proceeded to grab hold of his face and neck while the referee wasn’t looking. He continued this and irritated the Swindon players and eventually the referee called him over. He’d already been booked by now for kicking the ball away earlier so the referee sensibly called over captain Delaney to have a word.

In the 73rd minute Stewart was at it again; giving the ball away under no pressure with a stray pass. Parejo was on hand to win it back and get him out of jail and then a minute later, Samuel Di Carmine was introduced for Dexter Blackstock.

The silly fouls continued and this time Lee Cook gave one away in a wide-right position for Swindon. McNamee’s delivery was hooked over from a dangerous area and once again we were lucky to get away with it. In the 80th minute Stewart missed another easy header from a relatively hopeful ball and Swindon almost snuck in but the chance fizzled out for a corner after great covering by Connolly. Cook had to punch away McGovern’s dangerous corner amongst a crowd of players.

It wasn’t like we were hanging on at all, but we were our own worst enemy at times by creating our own problems. Iain Dowie decided it was time for a change and withdrew Ledesma in place of Matteo Alberti in the 82nd minute. The Argentine went off to a standing ovation from both sets of supporters for what was simply an outstanding individual performance. Fair play to the Swindon fans for that one because at times they did boo him too but recognised his brilliance and contribution to this game. Swindon though still fancied their chances and a minute after Ledesma went off they were on the attack down the right. Hasney Aljofree made a great overlapping run down their right and put in a superb cross that Leigertwood did remarkably well under pressure to put out for a corner with his chest.

McGovern’s cross was met by Nalis and his header went over after good pressure from Stewart, which, sadly was his first real positive contribution to the game but better late than never. Two minutes later though he gave away another needless free kick just outside the penalty area which had me yelling in anger. McGovern flashed a shot just wide of the post and it so easily could have crept in. I was delighted they took him off moments later because I thought he’d played well.

We then went back on the attack with just a couple of minutes to spare. Di Carmine provided his most notable contribution with a delicate touch and then pass to Balanta who raced at the Swindon defence before firing a fairly tame shot over and in the last minute, we should have wrapped the game up when Parejo won the ball and broke on the counter but after finding Balanta, the Colombian played poor ball to Di Carmine and the chance came to nothing.

The fourth official held up the board with five minutes of injury time to the groans of our crowd, but luckily we held on firm despite a scary moment in the 94th minute when Leigertwood came close to heading into his own net from a long punt down the pitch.

This performance will live long in the memory. It was a great effort by both teams, but particularly ours as we played some sensational football and two men stood out as head and shoulders above the rest on the night. Take a bow Emmanuel Ledesma and Angelo Balanta for two stunning displays and if we wondered what our foreign imports would be like on a cold, wet and miserable Tuesday night against some supposedly lower class opposition - well here’s your answer - they were all great. It could have been a one off or it could have been because we were playing Swindon. It sounds like they didn’t play well though, but they did and made good use of the ball when they had the opportunity and scored two very well taken goals.

If we can maintain this form and show similar performances against Championship class opponents then we will really frighten the pants off some teams this season. With the knowledge that we’ve got some proven quality still to return I can’t but help be excited by the possibilities these players can offer. Dowie will have been thrilled with them tonight and rightly so - but the guys who came in and did a job have given him some real selection headaches ahead of our trip to Bramall Lane on Saturday.

Lee Camp: He started ever so slightly nervously and seemed to want to show he could throw the ball out even when nothing was on. He didn’t really do anything wrong on the night, making one fabulous save from Billy Paynter and not really being able to do anything about Swindon’s goals. It was a decent performance and his kicking on the night was fine.

Matthew Connolly: I personally don’t think Peter Ramage or Matthew are natural right-backs, but Matthew showed how it should be played with his performance tonight. He was superb defensively and don’t get fooled by McNamee’s performance. McNamee played well but he only did well whenever we lost possession and were stretched, with Ledesma sometimes high up the pitch and offering no protection. Connolly also linked wonderfully at times with Ledesma and made some cracking overlapping runs. If Ledesma ends up staying on the right-win then I’m really excited by this combination down that side.

Damien Delaney: It wasn’t a particularly great performance and I don’t quite think he’s hit the ground running yet this season. I’m not particularly concerned but he was sloppy in possession at times and prone to lumping it down the pitch if he doesn’t feel anything is on. Still, he got a good goal and at times he supported Cook with good overlapping runs without really any end product to show for.

Kaspars Gorkss: It was a steady no frills performance. He was a thorn on our attacking set plays where he won many back post headers and if we keep delivering like we did tonight, he will surely pop up with some goals.

Damion Stewart: Unfortunately Stewpeas had a pretty bad game and it was the only real blip on an otherwise superb showing from Rangers. It’s hard to know where to start and I do feel a bit sorry for him, but his timing was all wrong and he made so many unnecessary fouls in dangerous areas that he didn’t need to. But the real word here is “unforced errors” and he’s making too many of them. Too often he struggled to clear the ball under little or no pressure and quite often it was his own touch or technique to blame. It’s still early days of course and only his first game of the season, so there are likely to be cobwebs but he really needs to get on his game and find form quickly. It’s not often player’s can make me swear out loud or make me cross, but he made me shout some vile stuff to myself at least three or four times.

Emmanuel Ledesma: I thought long and hard about what I wanted to write here because I don’t want to heap too much pressure on this boy. But I can’t help it, can I? He put in a performance that ranks among some of the very best I’ve seen from a player in a Rangers shirt. It was that good. Some may say it was only Swindon, but you can only compete against what’s in front of you and he was absolutely sensational in everything he did on the night. We’ve unearthed a real gem of a player here, there’s no doubt about it and if we’ve got any business sense then we ought to buy him now and forget about delaying it until the end of the season. It was an exciting individual display which still had bags of potential about it, and sure he won’t reach these heights in every game but if finds 50% of this performance against Sheffield United he’ll still have them in bags of trouble.

Lee Cook: It was the perfect game for Cookie. He was still rough around the edges at times but it was a great match for him to practice some of his key skills. He took on some players tonight which he didn’t do much of at Burnley but I gather this will have helped fine tune his performances in the future more. He was in and out of the game, but that’s mainly because Ledesma had most of the ball.

Mikele Leigertwood: He had an efficient game in the middle and played well. He kept it simple which allowed our creative players to get on the ball and do the business. No nonsense and got on with the dirty work when required. He still managed to get forward once or twice and at the right times too so he can be really pleased with his night’s work.

Daniel Parejo: He drifted in and out of the games at times but just has a maturity and touch about him that does show there is some serious class there. He played a couple of passes that nobody on the pitch saw but unlocked some great situations. He’s calm and composed which I like and he knows when to be fancy and when not to be. He also has a knack of being in the right place at the right time which is the sign of a good player. Like Ledesma he proved he can deliver from crosses and free-kicks and I don’t remember the last time we had so many fantastic options in that department. We will score a lot of goals from dead play scenarios and this will be vital to our success this season.

Angelo Balanta: On this form we do not have any other strikers better and the way he played was way beyond his years. His ability to hold up the ball and play with his back to goal was superb, but equally he showed a fantastic first-touch and understanding of when to set the ball and lay it off, or when to turn and go at defenders. It was almost masterful in the way he did it and he also has knack of still being in control even when the ball is bobbling, bouncing off shins or in awkward 50-50 situations. It’s the sign of a very good player in the making and if he continues to progress as rapidly as this, we’ve got a superb asset on our hands because this was the type of performance that makes attacking play tick.

Dexter Blackstock: He worked quite hard up front and although at times he was a bit sketchy he was generally doing good work and got his goal. He might have got a few more had he been a bit more composed in front of goal, but there are signs of the Blackstock who scored a bunch of goals to keep up us the season before last and I’m pleased about that.

Subs:
Samuel Di Carmine: Didn’t have too much time to impress and once or twice chose the wrong option but also once or twice showed some nice touches too.

Matteo Alberti: Barely had a chance to get involved.

Referee – Richard Beeby 7 I thought he had a good game and went relatively unnoticed. He officiated sensibly and there were no wild or crazy decisions. Anything he generally did that irritated either sets of fans looked like the right decision to me.

QPR Ladies lost for the first time this pre-season after conceding three sloppy goals in a match they dominated.

Despite creating numerous clear cut chances and having a goal ruled out for offside, the Rs just couldn’t find the goal they craved to kick them on.

There was much to reflect on after the game, but the positives were an improved second-half performance which the team will be pleased with ahead of their trip to Belgium and Holland in a fortnight’s time.

Team: Emily (GK), Ceryl Guard, Maurine, Simone Dwyer (Capt), Susannah Abott, Hannah Curnow, Tanyah, Suze Wylie, Malin Engman, Chez Albert and Camilla Ray

Subs: Vicki Blackburn, Mel Bidewell, Donya Wilson and Kelly

I had a tingle down my spine as I watched Rangers players of the past scoring spectacular goals on the new big screen. It’s certainly a welcome addition to the pre-match ritual and it gave me a good feeling ahead of the game. The stadium certainly looks a lot fresher and professional which made me feel rather proud. It’s a step in the right direction and I hope the Club do not rest on their laurels and continue to offer improvements for all fans.

I will be experimenting a lot with my blog this season and today’s game is the first stab at that. I am going to try and steer away from the match reporting style that crept into my writing last season and concentrate more on specifics.

This season I am going to try and offer some tactical analysis on the stuff I see happening on the pitch and how I think we could improve on certain aspects of our play. It’s all subjective of course, so this doesn’t mean that I’m right in any way, but it’s always nice to explore possibilities in detail - the first one of those will arrive at the end of this entry.

Anyway - let’s get onto talking about the match. I thought Barnsley played wonderfully well in the first 20 minutes and their performance was a real pleasure to watch. They were fast, slick and crisp on the counter attack and should have made us pay on more than one occasion.

Iain Hume’s opening goal from a delightful through ball by Brian Howard was nothing more than they deserved. Hume’s strike was an excellent finish too and it had me clapping in admiration. The Tykes looked really sharp and were fast out of the blocks. I couldn’t but help wonder if our tough pre-season and having just 5 friendlies had anything to do with it?

Kaspars Gorkss was poor in the opening 20 minutes and didn’t look the player I saw against Chievo. It seemed like a case of nerves though and I’m not worried about it. He got better as the match went on and I think the way Barnsley played in that period would have caused most teams problems.

Gavin Mahon and Mikele Leigertwood were being overrun in the midfield and their positioning at times was giving the defence problems. It looked like we were a bit rickety at the back, but if you’re allowing midfielders the time on the ball to pass through a defence that’s square on, then the attacking team are always in with a chance of causing some bother.

Defensively I wasn’t pleased with the amount of crosses we were allowing Barnsley to deliver from wide areas. This is something that has plagued our side for a long time, but we’re not getting close enough to the wide men or allowing them to cross from dangerous areas or into dangerous zones.

The real concern I have however and is something I spotted in pre-season, is how little we’ve worked on our attacking and creative play. It does not look like we have a plan when we go forward with the ball and that’s a worry.

What looks like is happening is we’re getting the creative players on the ball and simply leaving it up to them to decide what the next best step is. We certainly have players who are capable of inspiring the team in that way, but it’s a little bit too much down to chance and form for my liking.

It’s still early days of course and it will take a few matches for the players to warm up and gel. I’m not overly worried but it’s important the players continue to improve as a team and work hard on the training pitch on specific patterns and passages of play. It’s these details that will be the difference in our success and failure.

I was very pleased with Emmanuel Ledesma’s performance. He didn’t start too well because he was somewhat anonymous in the first 15-20 minutes. We didn’t seem to pass him the ball at all and he didn’t tuck in enough or track back at certain points which caused problems for us. Barnsley certainly made some clever overlaps or used the man on that side well in some of their counter attacks.

What was impressive for me however is how Ledesma got better as the game wore on. I’ve seen him play on the left, right and in the middle and I can’t tell which is his best position for a variety of reasons. That’s the mark of a good player and he’s got an excellent delivery with that left foot. It takes a good player to stop Lee Cook taking the majority of the set-pieces too.

We still have problems with the spine of the side though. Gavin Mahon and Mikele Leigertwood don’t really seem to work that well in the middle. It’s not that they’re playing poorly it’s just not balanced correctly and their positioning at times is a bit suspect as they drift into the same mindset.

Patrick Agyemang and Dexter Blackstock are also not really clicking up top either, but they weren’t helped by our style of play today and the way the midfield were operating. I think the lack of attacking plan is also contributing to the lack of cohesion up front. Pat looked off the pace a bit and seemed to be feeling sorry for himself at times.

I was pleased with the small amount I saw from Matteo Alberti. He only had three or four opportunities to really get on the ball but his decision making seemed sound. He broke well into the box on the wing after linking with Daniel Parejo and he intelligently burst into the box with the ball when most players would have crossed there and then.

Overall it’s very pleasing that we do not have to wait until October before registering our first win and it’s important to take points even when you’re not on top of your game or firing on all cylinders. I can only see things getting better for us as we gel and have others return from injury and that’s a very encouraging thought.

Tactical Analysis

Consider this passage of play that I saw happen often throughout the match:

Cerny would throw the ball to Delaney and at this point Delaney would often play the ball into a zonal area for Blackstock to chase as indicated by the yellow line. The challenge was often 60-40 in favour of a Barnsley defender but even when we did win this ball, we often lost it straight after due to the shape.

There are many ways you could improve this problem, including not playing this type of ball, but let’s look at how we could improve the probability of this breaking down.

The main problem was a lack of movement from the midfield. Mahon and Leigertwood were far too static and Legs could have come closer to Delaney to offer him the short pass. They rarely did this and because they didn’t come short, it meant they didn’t drag any Barnsley midfield players away from the area the ball was being delivered into which would have helped with our retention of the ball.

If Leigertwood did come short, it would have allowed Mahon to make a late forward run depending on how the play materialised by using Patrick Agyemang as a decoy.

Patrick didn’t really move much either but he could have done more by running roughly into the space vacated by Blackstock. By doing that he would have dragged his marker with him and thus, allowing Mahon a direct run in on goal. Ledesma could also be free and make a run forward too.

Cook could make any number of runs to wide, just inside or offering a short option to Delaney too. The whole point however is these runs would force Barnsley to shift their entire defence across and therefore creating space centrally or to the right and should allow for some excellent short passing or crossing opportunities to the support men coming in.

Today we didn’t really do that and maybe one or two offered support in dribs and drabs. Mahon and Leigertwood were the most guilty though because they neither went short or made forward supporting runs, so they were stuck in that in-between bit which made them ineffective and also caused problems for when we lost the ball because of where they were standing. With a bit of work though we can sort that out, definitely.

The course was headed up by London FA’s Head Coach John Drabwell who has been coaching for over 30 years. I learned a lot over the day and took part in some other candidates mock and final assessments for Level 2 and Level 3.

I was also delighted to be invited back as a “guest” to get involved in and attend or watch other sessions at any time. This would obviously help aid my knowledge further and help prepare me for when I do start my Level 2 course.

It was really interesting to be able to watch the practical assessments and be able to quiz the assessor at the same time. It gave me a great insight into how they were judging the coaches and what to look out for when delivering sessions. It gave me the confidence to believe that I’m ready for Level 2 when it comes around and I’m itching to get going.

John was also kind enough to give me some advice on what potential paths I could take going forward and that’s something I’ll be thinking about in some detail over the coming weeks and months.

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!

There were questions in my mind about our strength in depth, but the big worry for me was more to do with the balance. Was the balance of the squad right? Before Lee Cook arrived I would have said probably no.

Up until now I felt we were hard to judge. The squad was more than capable of challenging at the top end of the table, particualrly if we had a fit and in form Rowan Vine and Akos Buzsaky. Equally however, you could easily see it going wrong and us struggling in the middle of the table, or at worse, slightly lower.

The issue was really to do with the trend we’ve had over the years of playing players out of position. We have too many square pegs in round holes and the capture of Lee Cook solves so many of those issues because here we have a man who is an all out left-winger and one who loves playing there!

Let’s not forget that Hogan Ephraim is naturally a striker as is Vine. Cook’s arrival will also benefit different types of playing style. Dexter Blackstock will definitely score more goals as a result of Cook’s deliveries and the way Samuel Di Carmine plays, this should be good news for him too! One would expect Vine to just play up front now as well, which I personally think is great. He’s a much better striker (and indeed winger) when he plays up front and is allowed to roam.

Hogan could possibly now fill in on the right side too, where we’ve looked quite thin with just Gareth Ainsworth seemingly being available (with Martin Rowlands seemingly cementing his place in the centre of midfield, which has always been his preferred position). Suddenly we’re not relying on our kids anymore… I still think it’s slightly too early for Romone Rose and Matteo Alberti…

There are some who are unsure about Lee Cook’s fitness but I’m unconcerned. He featured several times for Charlton at the back end of last season and now he’s had a full pre-season under his belt. I expect him to be fine and while he may need a little fine tuning in terms of form, I’m not worried about anything else. In terms of his ability, he’s always been someone who is good on the ball and therefore, the problem isn’t necessarily if he can run or not, it’s whether we can find him in the right positions and I’m convinced that we will.

This season will be an interesting one for my blog. As you’ve probably noticed, I recently created a Ladies section and have been doing some match reports from their pre-season games.

A few weeks ago I joined the coaching staff in a voluntary capacity for the QPR Ladies Department and have taken on the role as Assistant Manager of the newly formed Ladies Reserve team for the coming season.

I’m working underneath an experienced team which includes Martino Chevennes, Tony Milstaed, Anthony Smith and Adrian West, which is very exciting for me and something I will benefit from as I gear towards my Level 2 Certificate in Football Coaching.

I hope this will help further my knowledge and understanding of the game and allow me to dissect matches in greater detail. I will also continue providing accounts of my experience with the Ladies team along the way as I think that will be interesting too.