QPR - A Rangers Revolution

1 October 2015

September Games Summary


Game 1 – Norwich (a), Premier League game 4
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The game started brightly enough but it wasn’t until the 32nd​ minute that we took the lead. Onouha bundling the ball in after a goal mouth scramble. Leroy Fer sealed the 3 points on his return to Carrow Road slamming in a Matt Phillips cross. Solid win.


Game 2 – CFR Cluj, EURO Cup Group C game 1
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Austin got us off to a flyer turning in a Grealish cross in the 4th​ minute. Hoilett was brought down in the box just after the 20minute mark and Ulverstad made no mistake from the spot. After that we shut down the game effectively and there wasn’t much action to speak of.


Game 3 – Liverpool (a), Premier League game 5
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Against the run of play we took the load when Taarabt turned in a rebound after Mignolet couldn’t hold a Silva long shot. We were restricting Liverpool to long shots and Bennett had a good opportunity but could only find he side netting in the 70th​ minute. We managed to avoid any real trouble and pick up the 3 points at Anfield. Very happy. The only negative was losing Matt Phillips to a knee ligaments injury that will see him miss 6 or so weeks. Grealish will step up in his absence though.


Game 4 – Burnley (h), Capital One Cup 3rd​ round
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We should have won this game in regular time. We dominated and should have scored two or three before halftime but were wasteful. Burnley didn’t have any real chances of note until after Diakite was sent off for his second bookable offence in extra time and then when it came to penalties Artur Boruc stood up big. Hats off to the massive Pole.


Game 5 – West Ham (h), Premier League game 6
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We started well and only an amazing double save from Adrian stopped us from taking the lead on 10 minutes. We headed into half time all square even though we’d had the lion’s share of possession and chances. Griffiths broke the deadlock on 54 minutes with a 30 yd wonder strike that dipped and swerved and left Adrian sprawling. Great nut. The most pleasing aspect of this game was how well my defence marshalled Zarate, Sakho and Valencia, holding them to only 4 shots over the entire game. McCarthy now hasn’t conceded in over 350 minutes of football. Outstanding.


September table
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Look its only early days but this is still awesome. We’ve played City and Liverpool already too and they are 2nd​ and 3rd​ so you never know I guess. We’re just going to go for it and wherever we end up is where we end up.


October Fixtures
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Things get a lot more hectic here and we have a run on away games early in the month followed by some home comfort later in the month.


Player of the Month
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Not much to pick between the top three but this month the award goes to Jack Grealish but really Griffiths and Silve were almost equally as deserving. Although he didn’t score any goals this month he chimed in with some important assists in Matt Phillips absence.


Manager of the Month
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A very proud moment for me today as I collected my first ever Premier League Manager of the Month award. Really happy with how the team is playing particularly in defense as that is where I wanted to improve with the move to the 4-3-3.
 
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1 November 2015

October Summary


October Results

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Some disappointing results in there. Draws away at Hull and at home to Crystal Palace were probably our worst performances of the month. We crashed out of the Capital One Cup but we knew Liverpool would be a tough draw and so played a weakened side to give some key players a rest.


October Table
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We’ve passed the quarter mark and are still in the top 2 so no complaints whatsoever. Fingers crossed we can continue to establish ourselves in the part of the table.


November Fixtures
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We’d like some revenge against Bilbao when they come to Loftus Road and obviously it and the Man U game highlight our schedule for this month.


Player of the Month
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Jack Grealish – the young Irishman has gone from strength to strength in Phillips’ absence and was rightfully awarded the Premier League Young Player of the Month. Matt will find it very hard to get back in this team when he returns from injury…
 
1 December 2015

November Summary


November results
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Some decent results this month with the Man U result being the most pleasing. We were desperately unlucky against Southampton having a 15-6 shots advantage but we were wasteful.


November table
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If we win our game in hand we will still be in 2nd​ so again no complaint. Things are quite tight though from 1st​ through 5th​ so we need to stay on form.


December Fixtures
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8 games this month so the squad depth will most definitely be tested! We’ll know a lot more about this squad and where we will finish this season once this month is through.


Player of the Month
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Its starting to sound like a broken record but Jack Grealish – He’s started adding goals to his already good performances so the sky is the limit for this kid. He has been our best player this year at just 19.
 
1 January 2016

December Summary


December Results
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The only result I can have any issues with were the two draws against West Brom and Burnley but really we had a very good month with the wins over Tottenham and Everton The only result I can have any issues with were the two draws against West Brom and Burnley but really we had a very good month with the wins over Tottenham and Everton.


December Table
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I said last month we’d know a lot more about this side after December. Well before the last game of December we were sitting first. It might be time to take the training wheels off and see what this bike can do.


January Fixtures
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Wow this is a rough month. Trips to Chelsea and Man City sandwiching Arsenal at home poses a very difficult prospect.


Player of the Month
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Leigh Griffiths finally knocks Grealish off his perch. His 5 goals this month were invaluable.
 
1 January 2016

Half Yearly Strategy Session

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“Evening Gents, and yes I use that term loosely with you lot,” I said “Tonight shouldn’t be as big a session as the recent ones. The strategy is working and I’m relatively happy with the playing list as is. What I do want to discuss is something that came up when I was meeting with the Board today.” “Sounds intriguing Boss” Jaap said in his dry Dutch accent.

“It is. The Board took me aside and asked what I thought our legitimate chances were of winning the Premiership. I told them what I thought which is that we will go close with the current squad but I think we will inevitably fall just short. Do any of you feel differently?” I said. “Really we are probably lucky to be as high as we are if I’m being honest Gaf.” Replied Steve Coppell.

“I thought you were always supposed to be the optimist Coppello?” I jested “Look what we discussed was the room in the wage budget. The Board said given my strict control there to date we could bring the budget down to allow a bit more for some transfers.” Everyone’s eye’s lit up. “How much more?” Coppell asked. “I agreed to drop the wage budget by 400k a week to take the transfer budget up to 25 million.” I replied. “25 million? That’ll do nicely” Coppell chimed.

“Ok, so here’s the plan. Everyone is expendable.” I started “What I want to do is identify upgrades at a reasonable price. We’ve had good success with transfer listed players so I want to utilise that if possible. So when we walk out of here that’s what everyone is looking for whilst the window is still open. You see anything you think might interest me, let me know. We have been given an opportunity that I don’t want to waste. Lets get out there and do what we can to win this thing!”
 
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Just caught up with this, a great season last season and you have followed that up with an amazing first half to this season! the transfers have been brilliant especiallu, Griffiths but most importantly the two low brices on Silva and Grealish was great, you have a great chance of at least top 4 this season but lets hope you can push on, be interesting to see who you bring in through January as I am sure there will be a couple of great players who are unhappy that you could snap up!
 
SamPeters said:
Just caught up with this, a great season last season and you have followed that up with an amazing first half to this season! the transfers have been brilliant especiallu, Griffiths but most importantly the two low brices on Silva and Grealish was great, you have a great chance of at least top 4 this season but lets hope you can push on, be interesting to see who you bring in through January as I am sure there will be a couple of great players who are unhappy that you could snap up!
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Cheers mate - never expected to be quite this high so early in this story but figure I may as well go for it.
 
Wow! Outstanding effort to be sitting in second position heading into the January window! Is the board going to pony up some more cash to keep you there? Can we expect big moves in January?
 
Lippo255 said:
Wow! Outstanding effort to be sitting in second position heading into the January window! Is the board going to pony up some more cash to keep you there? Can we expect big moves in January?
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They aren't ponying up per se but I had so much room in my wage budget (was using about 850k of a 1.7m per week budget) that I decided to do an adjustment for this window to allow to bring in 2 or 3 quality additions. I figure I'm not destroying the premise of the story either as its not as if i requested any more and also its only because of my fiscal management that I've had the ability to do this.
 
1 February 2016

January update and Transfer roundup


January results
View attachment 285436Not the best month. The Arsenal and Man City results were daggers. In both we actually had more possession and shots its just that we still are struggling to match the best sides for quality. The win over Chelsea the obvious high point of the month.


January table
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The gap between us and City now stands at 10 points albeit with us having a game in hand. We’ve also disappointly allowed ourselves to be dragged back into the top 4 dogfight with 5th​ places Chelsea now only 5 point back. Need to get back on that horse…


February Fixtures
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The games against Schalke and the Liverpool match highlight February’s slate. Hopefully we can use this month to claw back some ground on City.


Player of the Month
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Joe Gomez – He was forced into a starting role over the past month and didn’t disgrace himself playing with composure that belied his young age. He has already essentially supplanted Onuoha as the other starting central defender beside Caulker.


Transfer Window roundup
INS
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On the incoming side we arranged a deal for Kolarov of City. He had been transfer listed and represents a significant upgrade over our current left back options. Bernardo Silva was effectively a Taarabt replacement (more on that in the out section). Yanga-Mbiwa was brought in to allow Onuoha to slide out to right back to compete with Nestor and the purchase that was made for both the present and future was Will Hughes. Between him, Lucas Silva and Sandro we have effectively sorted our central midfield triumvirate for the next half decade.

OUTS
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Regarding the outs what can I say about Taarabt that hasn’t already been said. He’s been sulking all year because I allegedly stopped him from joining a club in the Champions League (all I did was attempt to negotiate their pitiful offer) and then he complained about playing time after Grealish came on and took his starting spot instead of fighting to win it back. Over the diva-ish attitude so out you go. Coll Donaldson isn’t going to ever be considered club trained for Europe unfortunately so his days at QPR are numbered and Faurlin never got back to his old self after his horrific knee injury. He’s joined Godoy Cruz of the Argentinian Premier Division as he wanted to be closer to family as he approached retirement.
 
2 March 2016

February Summary


February Results
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Brutal, just brutal. We started terribly, then crashed out of the EURO Cup before finally getting some wins towards the end of the month. The West Ham and Crystal Palace games also stand out as games we completely and utterly dominated but failed to win. We’ve now got a lot of work ahead of us…


February table
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It makes for heavy reading. Whilst we are ‘only’ 6 points off City we are now on the outside looking in to the top 4. The goals have now shifted a bit and we need to focus on getting back into the Champions League spots and then seeing if we can have a crack at City.


March Fixtures
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Massive massive month if we are to push further up the table. The Manchester United and Chelsea games have almost become must wins.


Player of the Month
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Charlie Austin made his return from 6 weeks out with a back injury and he couldn’t have come back at a better time. He chimed in with some crucial goals and I shudder to think where we would be without his contributions this month.
 
Ouch that was a very tough month, hopefully you can recover
 
1 April 2016

March Summary


March Results
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Yeah that just about does it for us. We played admirably against United and Chelsea but came up short both games. We also conceded in injury time to only draw with Tottenham. Methinks we can start planning ahead for next season in the EURO Cup again.


March table
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We slipped further from the top 4 this month. The Champions League goal is looking more and more like a pipe dream. Also, it wasn’t that long ago we were having delusions about being in the title race…


April Fixtures
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We have to win every match just to be in with a shot at the Champions League spots and even then we would need a lot of help.


Player of the Month
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Matt Phillips has got himself in contention for the Premier League player of the year with a string of good performances as the year is drawing to a close.
 
1 May 2016

April Summary


April results
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The West Brom and Swansea games have probably put pay to our Champions League dreams. Even winning one of those would have made a huge difference.


April table
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So you’re telling me there’s a chance??? Well yes, theoretically at this stage. We’ll need City to completely capitulate but hey, stranger things have happened, right????.


May Fixtures
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Last game. Must win. Nuff said.


Player of the Month
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Jack Grealish. Premier League Young Player of the month again. It’s been a great season for the young Irishman.
 
12 May 2016

Performance Review

Tony sat across the desk from me. I’d been in here a lot lately though talking about the goings on of the past few months as we had started down a different path from January on. A path that was meant to have at least resulted in a maiden Champions League berth but eventually we have had to settle for another season in the EURO Cup. If finishing spot was the sole determinant of how good a season was then we had done better than last season but in reality, since Michael Oliver had blown time on the final game of the season against Wigan that we’d won four nil, this season had felt like a failure. We ended up missing out on Champions League qualification by a single point. One. ****. Point.

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“Been getting much sleep?” Tony casually asked as he sat with his side to me, looking up at his pictures on the wall and without waiting for reply continued, “Yeah me neither. Hey I was at home with the kids the other day and my eldest was watching a movie from the 90’s called ‘Empire Records’. Good little movie that one by the way if you ever get the chance. Anyway there is a guy in there who’s a bit of a loveable loser and as the story goes on he tries to win money to save his and his friends jobs. Of course he fails but it is a line he said after failing that stuck with me. He said ‘I do not regret the things I’ve done, only those which I did not do.’”

He turned to look me in the eye, “I signed off on the transfer budget increase and I signed off the purchases, let me tell you I do not regret for one second going for it when we had the chance so if you are at all concerned that you’ve let me and the Board down forget it. We understood this was a possibility when we decided to leave the plan be for a bit. You don’t get to be worth what I am worth without taking risks.” He paused to let those words hang in the air “and let me tell you we are going for it again next season. You’ve got 25 million in the transfer kitty and the 165k still free in the wage budget. There is nothing else I want to say, you are doing an amazing job. I am enjoying every up, and down, of this journey and long may it continue.”

I sat there, somewhat stunned but immediately uplifted by what Tony had just said, so what if we did just miss out the reality is we just matched it with some of the best clubs in the world over 38 games on a comparatively small budget with about half the talent. What did I really have to feel bad about? A smile spread across Tony’s face as he could see his words getting through to me, “Good, now I still want to see that money spent wisely ok? You got anything else you want to add? If not, then that’s the review done.” He stated emphatically.

“Er, no boss” I stammered, “I guess I’ve got some work to do!” and I rose out of the seat I felt as if a massive burden had been lifted from my shoulders. As I left the office I turned back to Tony and said “They don’t know what they’ve got coming for them”. Tony was grinning from ear to ear.

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Your save is unrealistic, liverpool top of the table ? Anyway good job getting that position
 
yiliang99 said:
Your save is unrealistic, liverpool top of the table ? Anyway good job getting that position
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Is this sarcasm? Last season in real life Liverpool was in first until the second last game of the season and finished second. If they win it for real next year (the season I have just finished in game) it may be considered a bit surprising but it is far from being outside the realm of possibility.
 
13 May 2016

End of season 15/16 strategy session

“How’d yesterday go?” Paul Furlong asked as we gathered around the table. “Good. Really good in fact. I’ve probably never said it directly to you guys but we have a good Chairman here. He wasn’t at all concerned that we didn’t make Champions League. I was expecting to cop it and be told that purse strings would be being tightened. He went the complete other way. We got 25 mill and the wage budget is being left as it so we’ve still got the 165k a week free in there.” I replied starting to draw on the whiteboard as those behind murmured in approval.

“Before you get too carried away there boss there’s something I want to say.” Coppell said and as I put down the marker and turned around he continued “look the guys and I got together a few days back and went through some stuff on our own. We think the 4-3-3 needs to be shelved as our main formation. Go back to the 4-2-3-1 but keep the 4-3-3 in the back pocket for when we need the extra defensive cover against the big sides.” I stood there for a bit, at first a little ****** they’d felt the need to have a meeting without me but then appreciative that they obviously valued these days enough to do some prep together.

As I ran through it in my head what Steve was saying made a tonne of sense. Our issues this year weren’t that we didn’t beat the big sides, really we’d held our own there, the problem was we’d had too many games where we dominated both possession and shots but not created enough good scoring opportunities to win. “Ok, that makes perfect sense to me. Also I think with some of the guys we’ve picked up like Will Hughes and Bernardo it will actually help us get our best 11 in their best positions.” I said.

“Ok” I said continuing “ and what about players what’s everyone’s thoughts there?” Steve continued “Right back and Striker. Nestor or Onuoha are good cover but we need a better stater there. Also up front Griffith and Charlie are both good but neither are good enough to be the main striker on a team gunning for the Premiership.” This was awesome. This was exactly what I wanted when I started these days- the team starting to take ownership of it.

“I agree completely. So I guess that’s the plan then get out and look for improvements at right back and striker and then when the boys get back get them training in the 4-2-3-1 full time again.” I added, beaming with pride. Gal spoke up “Er, actually we’ve been in talking with the scouts too.” I couldn’t believe how proud of was of the team. This is what I want from my team, guys who are standing up showing they are ready for the next step, in most cases that will be as a manager of another side but no matter I want my management team to succeed.

“The guys at right back who we’ve identified are Varela at Bolton, Clyne at Southampton, Trippier from Burnley and Jenkinson from Arsenal” Gal kept going “We think Clyne will be the most expensive and ask for the highest wages but the rest should be attainable. Trippier was on a pretty high wage though at Burnley so he might not want to take a wage cut to fit into our structure. In terms of strikers we’ve identified are Hernandez of United and Kokorin of Dinamo Moscow who are both coming off contract next month, Slimani at Feyenoord, Simone Zaza at Sassuolo and Danny Ings and Siado Berahino of recently relegated West Brom and Burnley respectively.” No-one’s coming real cheap out of that group though. “Awesome work guys. Really I’m impressed. Lets go get our guys!!” I finished.


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Hernandez and Jenkinson (pictured) may be joining forces at QPR next season​
 
not trying to be offensive to liverpool , just surprised.
 
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