QPR vs Aston Villa match thread

I was gonna leave this to someone else after my last loss. But having having six wins under my belt means if anyone's gonna get a win, it's the Thriller, isn't it? .

Anyway, this could be a tough one tbh. QPR are very decent at home and have some good scalps over recent weeks having beaten Sheff Utd and Wolves there. The crowd will be noisy and they'll play their typical "up and at em" style so we'll need to be up for this. Injury news wise it's been a poor spell for us. Terry, of course, is out, and today we hear Kodjia and Hogan are both out too. So when one looks at this on paper, I would expect to see a similar team to the one who beat Preston with Samba coming in for Terry. I've seen people call for Jedinak to replace Terry and I must admit that absolutely baffles me. Firstly, the guy has just played for Australia in midweek so the likelihood of him having the energy to play at the weekend is remote I'd say. And secondly, THE MAN IS A MIDFIELDER!!..he's played one and a half games at centre-back for us and the game he started was against bottom basement Wigan of which they had several chances to score that day because of his poor positioning. So needless to say, I'm one hundred percent for Samba stepping in for Terry. I also think Elmo might miss out having been in Africa in the midweek aswell.

Team

..................Johnstone.................

....Hutton...Samba,,,Chester...Taylor....

...............Whelan..Hourihane.........
.....................Onomah..................
..............Snodgrass....Adomah..........
.......................Davis..........................

IF Bruce wants to be brave he could go with O'Hare or Grealish in that number ten role, but with us being away, I doubt he has the guts to do it. Anyway, I think that's a sold enough side and hopefully, we can get a result. Hope we can nick something here but we haven't been that great after the international break so lord knows what happens here.

Against Wolves and Sheffield United, I think they sat back out of fear, and it worked for them, not sure if they'll show us the same respect, their previous three home games before those two saw them drawing with both Millwall and Burton and losing to Fulham, so seem they're quite an up and down side. I'm sure I saw it mentioned the other day that they have a bit of an injury crisis at the back as well.

deadbuzzardalive wrote:Against Wolves and Sheffield United, I think they sat back out of fear, and it worked for them, not sure if they'll show us the same respect, their previous three home games before those two saw them drawing with both Millwall and Burton and losing to Fulham, so seem they're quite an up and down side. I'm sure I saw it mentioned the other day that they have a bit of an injury crisis at the back as well.

And didn't Millwall have ten men for a large percentage of that game? So they are up and down as you say. Personally, I think we're more than capable of winning this game and with most our rivals fixtures, bar Sheff Utd, looking a little tricky, then a win here could be huge. As always though, the first goal will be massive because we all know our record under Bruce where that's concernede.

I'd play Jedi for Whelan. Bolloxed or not Jedi would be a better prospect. I'd also start ohare instead of onomah but that's simply because I don't think we'll go up this season so why the fuck we keep doing spurs a favour when we should be blooding our own us beyond me. I think we need energy and mobility in the team and whilst onomah does that so does ohare.
Unless I've missed something and he's injured I can't see Bruce not picking Elmo so perhaps Hutton back to the bench?

I think the team named by @AstonThriller is a fair assessment although it does depend on Bruce's view of Elmo's trip.
Jedi has no chance at all of participating in this game, unless forced too through injuries.

I would like O'Hare to start but I am fed up of saying that, as I know it won't happen!

We are always bad after an international break as I think all the players go on holiday if they aren't away on international duty so therefore the best we can hope for is a draw to keep this fantastic run going of being unbeaten! (although I can see us losing this easily as well)!

Not sure what we're going to do if Davis gets injured today, a lot of pressure on him. No strikers, or central defenders on the bench.

Yeah I'm surprised Elphick isn't on the bench tbh. Hopefully, Davis stays in the game but if he did have to come off I suspect He'd push Adomah upfront and play O'Hare or Grealish off him if needed. All in all I can't complain about that team as as everyone can see above it's the one I predicted he would pick. The front six are the same one that were so impressive at Preston the other day so we just have to hope that they can put in a similar shift. People are moaning about Samba but what other option was there? As much as people wanted Jedinak to play there he's simply not a central defender so it would have been a huge risk to do that imo.

Samba playing also makes sense with QPR starting Smith today!!..hope he and Chester can be solid and give the team confidence. Seven players in this line-up has scored goals this season so we just have to hope that we can nick a few. I think set-pieces could be interesting with Samba, Davis, Chester etc up for the corners and freekicks.

So we're losing, Cardiff and Wolves are winning, we're outside the play-offs, this just isn't good enough. Xia's in town, he needs to do the right thing and get rid of Bruce for the love of McGrath .

Can't believe we're going to spend a third season in the championship, and it was all so avoidable.

The team immediately below us, Derby have two games in hand whilst Middlesbrough and Ipswich immediately above us have a game in hand as well. For me the automatic promotion has gone now, and that's down to the club not doing the right thing, if they don't get rid of Bruce at this stage, then we can wave goodbye to the play-offs as well.

Good penalty from Adomah.

I thought we were the better team for the first half. Their goal was a shambles but we've had them pinned back since then pretty much and it was only a matter of time til we equalised.

If Davis was a better finisher he'd on the same level as Benteke, hopefully he can improve that side of his game.

deadbuzzardalive wrote:If Davis was a better finisher he'd on the same level as Benteke, hopefully he can improve that side of his game.

He's got the fight and he shows the promise, just needs to keep adding to the experience and the goals will be rallying off both boots.

How refreshing it is to see players with hunger and drive to pick themselves back up too, don't think anyone dropped their heads after the goal and the combination of Adomah, Onomah, Davis, Snodgrass and Hourihane all eager to get on the scoresheet is more than welcome after seeing the disastrous effects of going behind with previous teams.

Well lets hope Bruce's half-time talk gees up the players to go out and get the win. If they continue as they finished the first half, then we should have a chance. Just don't sit back.

Any links, commentary or whatever?

We're winning now, another for Adomah...

I love Adomah, I really do!

And for what it's worth I think Samba is a very good defender and hope he gets up to speed ASAP.

Need to take one of these chances, otherwise we risk letting QPR back in the game.

Bruce is inviting pressure by replacing Onomah and Snodgrass, with De Laet and Jedinak.

Excellent win against one of the better home sides in the division, other pluses are that we showed we can do it without Kodjia and Terry, and that we can come back from behind. If our finishing was a bit better, it could have been a thrashing.

Just wish Wolves, Sheffield United and Cardiff would slip up, still we have to keep going on Tuesday against Sunderland.

If we just keep on doing the business the we will be in the right place if/when they slip up.

How did we actually play? Shite as usual with 95% hoofing?

First half was a mix of nice football, desperate football and utterly naive football. Dominant during the last 15 of the first half and deserved to be on level terms.

I fell asleep waiting for the half time break to finish, only to wake with 2 minutes of the added on 5 to go. Heard Jedinak's name mentioned, knew we were safe.