Often Partisan

GAMEDAY – QPR Away

Blues travel to London today to take on Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink’s QPR looking to add to their recent excellent of results. They face a struggling Hoops side under pressure to produce results after four games without a win.

QPR

QPR lie in 16th place, five points and eleven places behind Blues. They come into the game on the back of four games in all competitions without a win and having conceded eleven goals in September.

James Perch, Jack Robinson, Jamie Mackie and Ben Gladwin are all out injured. Eyes are on Sandro, whose goal in midweek makes him a contender for selection.

Championship Stats from Kick Off

Championship Stats from Kick Off

Blues

Blues will still be without Tomasz Kuszczak so Adam Legzdins will continue in goal while Robert Tesche is also unlikely to play. Lukas Jutkiewicz could deputise for Clayton Donaldson with the striker struggling with injury – Jack Storer was pulled from yesterday’s development squad game as a precaution. Rhoys Wiggins may also travel.

Ref

Paul Tierney takes charge of this one, having shown 16 yellow cards in his five games so far this season. His last Blues game was the 2-1 away win at Leeds in August when he booked six players including Michael Morrison, Jonathan Grounds, David Davis, Stephen Gleeson and Maikel Kieftenbeld.

Suspension Watch

One Red Card: Jack Storer (three match ban served)

Four bookings: David Davis
Three bookings: Jonathan Grounds
Two bookings: Clayton Donaldson and Stephen Gleeson
One booking: Michael Morrison, Maikel Kieftenbeld, Jonathan Spector and Jack Storer

The cutoff date for a player receiving a ban for five bookings is November 30, 2016
The cutoff date for a player receiving a ban for ten bookings is March 11, 2017

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53 Responses to “GAMEDAY – QPR Away”

  • Dave Mann says:

    Yes Dan, interesting team selection today , on my way now with the family and friends ..hope it’s better than febuary 27th when we lost and were treated like dirt .. This time it will be different ime sure.. Have a nice day everyone and let’s hope it’s a perfect day . KRO

  • StaffsBlue says:

    Never a better time to play QPR. Leaking goals, confidence low, Blues on a high scoring goals and not conceding many. All points to a home win then. :))

    Joking aside, I think we could win this by two clear goals.

  • Jaffa says:

    Have a good day to all you Blue Noses going today.Don’t let them Cockneys get you down.

  • Dave Mann says:

    They won’t mate … Trust me !!! KRO

  • StaffsBlue says:

    Only change from the last game, is Jutkiewicz in, Donaldson out injured. Storer and Wiggins on the bench.

  • Mitchell says:

    Looking forward to Dave’s post match report. Suggest that those not familiar to these short concise reports to take heed. Always honest reflections and never viewed with any bias.

  • Dave Mann says:

    Cheers Mitchell , and yes I will give my honest opinions of the game .. Stuck in a pub with QPR fans .. Never mind, I think there getting the message . 0-4 my prediction , silly yes but hey .KRO

  • Auld Bertie says:

    Fabbrini out ‘injured’ again. Really?

  • Surely we need to get more information to the players on who to mark on corners and free kicks ect…2nd half

  • Should have lost the game second half , very good point but let them take over shooting rights ..still up there though …come on …

  • Dave Mann says:

    Draw was a fair result , better team first half them second half so no issues no argument draw and a good point that keeps us up there and fighting to the end .. again the police were ‘quiet ‘ and the stewards ‘ nice ‘ .. Makes a change . KRO

  • Dave Mann says:

    That was sarcastic by the way .. Loftus road is stuck in the 80s .. Crap stadium .!

  • Richard Granfield says:

    Gary continues to play safe by picking 3 defensive midfielders and then says we couldn’t get our attacking game together!
    I hope with 2 home games to come before the International break he will be more offensive with his midfield choices.

  • Graham says:

    Perhaps if yes he iS fit next week,if not expect to see Reece given at least half a game

  • It’s no good moaning about their goal but worry about the fact they had 5 shots on target to our two . If it had been the other way around we might have won ..although we need to average more than that ..we need when we are drawing to realise what is most important in the long run to risk losing one point or carry on moving forward to keep shooting to try and gain three points …

  • BhamCityJulian says:

    I expect we’ll be more expansive as the season progresses. A win every other game with a sprinkling of draws in between will keep us in the promotion pack and provide leverage for a couple of signings in January. Too many defeats now will be debilitating

  • Dave Mann says:

    To get a point at Loftus road after not playing that well particularly in the second half was pleasing and jukey getting two in two is also a good confidence booster … First half played ok without creating to much but they dominated second half and a draw was good in context with other results …, Two home games to come and on current form a minimum of four points is needed if not six which will not only keep us in the top six but pushing top three .. Signs are good my friends when you pick up an away point playing pretty average , that’s what they say anyway ! KRO

  • Dave Mann says:

    I personally would play Donaldson purely on team work and if fit we all know that Rowett will play him and use jukey as a impact sub .. Let’s not forget he’s got four in five games penalties thrown in ofcourse but the signs are good .. Why not play both ? .. He won’t we know that but the options look good and to be honest while trying to keep a reality check on this and new owners on October 17th and the January window to come ime feeling rather optemistic if ime being honest Mitchell , as I said picking up points when not playing that well is always a good sign so roll on Preston and Blackburn and let’s get some bloody fans and atmosphere down St. Andrews because this time next week we could be really flying . KRO

  • GR for me is still not picking a universal side to take on all teams …we seem to attack for a couple of games then when we lose a player we go more defensive , then when the other side gets more confident we tend to have 11 players between the sticks . CoME ON , this squad of ours we signed on the cheap because of one reason , they lack that little bit of character and panic with their passes shots and confidence , but they have the talent to get us promoted …The last thing they need is the manager showing weakness in his selection ..Last season we were short on goals ..this season we are going well . With the Don out we needed to make up the goal ratio by putting a striker in his place plus more of a goal threat in midfield to get us over the line …when i saw the team selection i new that at sometime in the match we would lose our attacking bottle and end the match without a win , for when we go back into our shells we tend to stay there , we need to pick a tram with naturaly minded attacking sense to avoid turning into hedgehogs every time a threat occurs ..one shot at goal in the second half ain’t good enough . The whole need to believe including GR we are good enough ..and come january with a couple more quality players we will really up for it with a complete squad . ..Stand up and be counted and kiss the badge …KRO

  • KC says:

    I hope GR gets the players mind set right for the next 2 home games Too often we have gone in to these type of games with a negative approach. We have every reason to be positive and without going gung-ho we have the players to be more offensive. 6 points there for the taking. What the hell is happening with Fab ?

  • Dave Mann says:

    No place for him in the starting eleven KC and for me I would agree with Rowett with the system he plays .. It’s Stewart , Adams and Maghoma behind Donaldson or jukey .. No place for Fabbrini as I said . KRO… My opinion ofcourse .

    • Shirley Blue says:

      Yes I would agree with that especially for home games. With everybody fit I would have Tesche and Keiftenbeld would be the two holding midfield players. Maybe bring in Davies for the tougher looking games. However as long as we stay in the top 6 then the manager is getting it right. Only one defeat in 9 league games is great going. Fabbrini hasn’t looked anything like the player he was a couple of seasons ago and isn’t worth a starting place at the moment.

      • StaffsBlue says:

        I agree with both of you. Kief and Tesche as the two holding, with Stewart, Adams and Maghoma as the three behind Donaldson.

        As for Fabbrini, I was never convinced he was right for the rough and tumble of the Championship… I’m even less convinced now. He’s a skillful player, no doubt, but he’s never going to get the time on the ball that he needs to be effective.

        • KC says:

          I also agree with the selection points made which in itself should make us a little more attack minded. My comment on Fab was not about selecting him but more about frustration that he has not produced the goods after showing so much promise.

  • Mattblue says:

    In my opinion, I think expectations were too high for Fab last season. When he made his debut against Shef Wed, fans were chanting his name like he was the next messiah; unfortunately, when he came on, he was void of ideas and kept falling over. He cost us that game and has seemed low on confidence since.

  • Bluey says:

    Another decent point to add to our solid start. If GR can use the money wisely in January we could be dark horses for a play-off place. Until then we need to keep picking up points where we can to stay in the mix.Frankly i couldn`t give a flying whotsit how we play.

    • StaffsBlue says:

      Agreed. If we can stay in the top 8 or 10 until January, a couple of quality signings could light the blue touch paper for a genuine tilt at promotion.

      • Shirley Blue says:

        It’s a strange looking division at the moment. Clubs that were expected to do well are struggling – Derby, Cardiff, Sheffield Wednesday and dare I say it Villa are struggling to get going. I can’t see Huddersfield or Barnsley sustaining their early form. I still think Norwich and Newcastle will run away with it but I am more hopeful than I was at the start of the season. What we don’t need is injures and yes more strengthening in January and we have an outside chance of the playoffs.

        • StaffsBlue says:

          With the manager they have, I can’t see Newcastle failing to get promotion. Norwich, I’m not so sure about. villa, with a different manager might still come good.. but with DiMatteo in charge, I very much doubt it.

  • Dave Mann says:

    Thing is staffs we were saying it this time last year after the start we had , stay around top six and strenthen in January .. Yes it’s slightly different know with the squad we have and the completion of the takeover imminent but ime hopefull it will be different this time like you and I and all Bluenoses think but let’s just keep a lid on it and keep it in context because we could easily fall away like last season even if we think we are signing better players come January , just a thought . KRO

    • Bluey says:

      I think we`re looking better than last season and we will have more money to spend this time round (hopefully). Yes we could fall away again and maybe the play-offs are a step too far but i`m more optimistic than last year when it was obvious we were overachieving.

      • StaffsBlue says:

        Absolutely we’re better than last season. As for the January window, Rowett himself has said that he’s learned a lot of lessons from last winter’s cock-ups with players coming in. I think he’ll be a lot wiser this year.

  • Dave Mann says:

    Which is the point I think ime making Bluey :) KRO

    • Bluey says:

      If we do sign better players in January i can`t see us falling away like last season. This squad is already capable of a top 8 finish and with 2 or 3 decent additions the play-offs are possible. A lot will depend on TTA `s ambitions are and how much wedge GR is given. Up until then we need to grind out points and keep us there or thereabouts. Last year promotion was a distant dream,now it`s realistic although difficult.

  • Hillfield Blues says:

    I think we are a much better equipped squad than last year and have options in our style of play because of the players that we’ve signed in the summer.Adams has given us a new dimension up front and Juke has taken the load off Donaldson.On top of that Maghoma has been excellent so far this season and Davis on the right has unexpectedly worked well if we want to stifle stronger sides.The emergence of Brown and Storer is also very encouraging and things are coming together very nicely for GR.With some money to spend in January Blues are a completely different proposition to last season imo.

  • Dave Mann says:

    We hope so but we don’t know for sure that we are stronger untill later in the season but yes ime more confident that we can make the course but let’s take nothing for granted . KRO

  • Graham says:

    Play offs, we could yet make 2 and place

  • Dave Mann says:

    Graham please don’t go down my road and get carried away.. Otherwise you will get carried away , get it ?? Love your optemism though but certainly not warranted . :- KRO

  • Mitchell says:

    Acid test is the next two home games. Looks tasty on paper and we can’t wait for Tuesday. Past performances against weaker opposition last term proved our undoing-this time around I am not so sure-with a lovely selection choice for GR. One nil wins however ugly is the key with the winning/no defeat attitude,but this season I just get that no-slip up against the likes of Preston and Blackburn is nailed on. Key men for me will be Stewart and the hero in waiting Storer.Both raring to be unleashed with a fresh new look for us faithfuls to enjoy.

    • StaffsBlue says:

      The one vitally important difference this season, as compared to last, is that our bench looks far stronger this year. If we went a goal down last season, you looked at the bench and thought “we’re fooked.” This season, we have the likes of Brown, Cotterill, Fabbrini, Stewart, Jutkiewicz and Storer in the wings. Game changers, that’s the difference.

  • I think we still need to bring on subs earlier to get the benefit later in the season when tiredness sets in , mind you in saying that I don’t know why on earth we didn’t start with A more attacking midfield with QPR having a bad period , not to say that the team selected didn’t do a good job in the first half , but experience says that the new blood is needed in the team to keep the momentum going ..also the new blood was signed to create more goals . Stewart …Brown ..Fab …Adams …with Kief.. Gleeson …and Robbo to come on at the end .. He Who dares..

    • BhamCityJulian says:

      Look at the pressure that RDM is under because he hasn’t got enough points on the board. That is why we are safeguarding our point in the first halves. Come November we’ll become more adventurous from the kick off


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