That is a concerning line-up. Hopefully Rajovic starting on the bench is not an indication we're wrapping him in cotton wool with a view to selling him to Ipswich. He should be dropping Chak instead of Kone for TDB, unless it's a fitness issue.
Yes good point there particularly after Rajovic scored. I think you are right on the latter. Kone went off at HT and TDB impressed so giving him a chance .
Further to this, Val has said that Kone and Porteous have been ill during the week and only returned to training yesterday, so that's why they're on the bench. He seemed to dodge the question as to why Healey started instead of Rajovic.
Well that was rubbish. Healey as a lone striker just doesn’t work. Feel sorry for him, but it’s not his skill set to play that role.
Got the win today thanks to the contribution of 2 of our more experienced players. Excellent goals by Livermore and save by Hamer
Already got visions of Bachmann wheeling away shouting abuse at the defence and appealing to the ref lamely.
QPR probably unlucky. But if you don’t take your chances against a team with the quality and panache of the orns you pay the price
And breath! A terrific smash and grab! We made that hard for ourselves and I don’t think the triple subs helped us at all. Livermore emerging as a Player Of The Season. Fantastic save from Hamer near the end. One point off the play offs. After so so long without an away win, we’ve now won 5 of our last 8 on the road (and two draws as well) An incredible turn around. Just 3 defeats now in our last 17 league and cup games. On to Bristol now with revenge firmly in the air! (I hope lol) Happy Sunday one and all
**** me, that was hard going Jake Livermore , Watford hero in the making Hammer kept us in it QPR are going to feel a bit gutted Defence was dealing with it , but again no clean sheet , missed Kone and Kayembe , thought chak was ok. Too many players doing something fancy and then giving the ball away, Martins number 1 at that, healey didn’t seem to do much ,Asprilla wasn’t getting the ball enough.
One of the worst wins I've ever seen. Shoddy everywhere aside from Livermore's shooting. Looked like we'd been on the piss late last night and were a bit tipsy still.
Long overdue post, but I'm very happy to retract my early-season comment about Jake Livermore being emblematic of a team in irreversible decline. He's been terrific since the clocks went back and today was absolutely immense. The epitome of an experienced player who knows how to make the greatest impact with what he has left in the tank. His reluctance to take the limelight today also says a lot about his character.
Another terrible performance results in a win. Hope whatever deal with the devil Ismael has made doesn’t get called in soon. It’s going to be awful when the luck runs out.
Well done Livermore. Definitely need more players. Squad us always hampered by injuries. QPR are poor so wouldn't read too much into this. It's a game we should win but made heavy weather of. Chair and Armstrong would be welcome here.
Chakvetadze was just as much as culprit for fannying around and giving the ball away as anyone else. Plus he was completely anonymous for the first quarter hour.
I really wouldn’t get too het up about this game. Half the team wouldn’t be first choice picks if everyone was fit and we still won. How crap must QPR be to be beaten by a team with Morris chugging at full back, TDB yards off the pace in midfield and absolutely zero composure up top?
Albeit Rajovic should have made it 3 just before they scored, but it was alarming how much the game changed when Livermore went off, love the guy, but he's 34 and can't play every minute!
With dazzling Dan between the sticks that would have ended in a routine 3-0 defeat I would have thought. Assume ink is drying on Livermore's new 5 year deal...?
That was absolutely dire & were lucky to come out of that with 3 points. If we play the same way against Bristol City next week, along with the same starting XI, I can’t see us coming away with anything. Having said all of that, winning games when playing badly show the signs of a good team. Massive credit to Livermore for the 2 excellently taken goals, and my god, big shout out to Hamer for his saves throughout the game but especially the one in the final minute which I thought was a nailed on goal. Livermore & Hamer both deserved MOTM. The next two games will be a good indication for seeing if we truly are up for a play off push; Bristol City & Sheffield Wednesday are both tough away games where we’ll need to put in much better performances.
What a f3cking save by Ben Hamer at the end there! Also cracking goal-saving tackle from Andrews at 0-0. There seemed a few tired bodies out there and we're really missing both Lewis and Sema - we lose so much quality with them being out and Morris and Martins being in. Martins has really lost some of the attacking spark he displayed occasionally earlier in the season. Healey also wasn't great starting up front. With only Asprilla looking lively for us in attack and QPR defending very narrow with a not too shabby defensive record, it seemed as if we'd struggle to score with our lessened attacking quality. I was also worried Kayembe being out would lessen our goal threat from central midfield but instead Livermore stepped up to the plate. It's been a real positive theme of this season that we've managed to share the goals around, and players have helped out on that front when some others are misfiring. We lived a charmed life at times at the back and Armstrong was a real handful for them, but we had players putting our bodies on the line to grind out a result towards the end. Ismael's subs have often helped us get wins from losing positions, but there was a bit of an odd one there with taking off our most dangerous attacking player in Asprilla to keep on a tired and ineffective Healey, only to soon after sub Healey for a not very good Ince (who was on his heels for the shot they almost got a draw from). Thankfully that also didn't cost us. It wasn't a good performance overall today and our missing players are a problem, but it was a hurdle we've overcome and hopefully we'll start getting some of those out back soon. At least Bayo will return next game to take over from Healey.
