London Irish
Well-known member
Galling tonight, was that the best pure football we played under McGhee? But Wolves played the classic counterattacking game, and always looked dangerous.
The result was not a travesty, although we were a bit unfortunate.
Playing 4-4-2 we dominated the first quarter of the game. But for all our fine building work from defence, and the smart play in midfield, we couldn't quite create the killer chances for our front 2.
I thought Virgo and Knight both worked their arses off, Leon answering his critics on that score, but neither quite had that bit extra to outwit a very good Wolves defence.
Virgo has one brilliant shot just into the second half, but 3-4 very average ones that threatened the corner flag rather than goal. Never mnd, he's been a hero in recent games and was due some bad luck.
Leon, frustrating this, tried his heart out but the quicker, cuter Championship defenders can match him for pace and are just that bit stronger than him physically. He will come good though if he works as hard as this and backs himself.
Kerry Mayo I thought gave a masterclass to the watching Dan Harding about how to link with our midfield with passes that create rather than put your own team under pressure. But alas, he did seem to lose Miller for the goal, although redeemed himself a little later by winning a header in the same danger area. That's I think the selection problem McGhee has at the moment, Harding the (usually) better defender, Mayo the better all-round footballer.
Currie was his usual excellent self and IMHO is currentlly a class above everyone else in the team, I would give him seven MOTM awards, there is simply no debate at the moment.
The left was very good for us tonight, but the right flank didn't work as well. A hesitant El Abd for once, and Hinsh looks a round peg in a square hole. Nicolas was his usual very neat and tidy self, keeping our play flowing without ever quite threatening a match-winning pass - shame he delayed a release of a ball with Leon one-on-one with the Wolves goalie. Dean Hammond mirrored Alexis's tidy contribution. The form of our central midfield pair is a massive bonus for McGhee.
It was a bold move by McGhee to go 4-3-3 with half an hour to go. But McPhee didn't quite do enough with his half hour to suggest that he is a better bet than Virgs.
Jarrett came on at the end and ran the tiring Wolves defence ragged for a few minutes. I'm sure the siren calls for his inclusion will increase regardless of how that might impact the defensive shape of the team.
I'm a bit gutted by this result because we deserved more. But sometimes you don't get it.
A lot of positives though for us to build on and for large parts of this game we outplayed a team that was in the Premiership last season. We've come a long way in 12 months.
I'm confident we can give an improving QPR a massive fight on Saturday.
The result was not a travesty, although we were a bit unfortunate.
Playing 4-4-2 we dominated the first quarter of the game. But for all our fine building work from defence, and the smart play in midfield, we couldn't quite create the killer chances for our front 2.
I thought Virgo and Knight both worked their arses off, Leon answering his critics on that score, but neither quite had that bit extra to outwit a very good Wolves defence.
Virgo has one brilliant shot just into the second half, but 3-4 very average ones that threatened the corner flag rather than goal. Never mnd, he's been a hero in recent games and was due some bad luck.
Leon, frustrating this, tried his heart out but the quicker, cuter Championship defenders can match him for pace and are just that bit stronger than him physically. He will come good though if he works as hard as this and backs himself.
Kerry Mayo I thought gave a masterclass to the watching Dan Harding about how to link with our midfield with passes that create rather than put your own team under pressure. But alas, he did seem to lose Miller for the goal, although redeemed himself a little later by winning a header in the same danger area. That's I think the selection problem McGhee has at the moment, Harding the (usually) better defender, Mayo the better all-round footballer.
Currie was his usual excellent self and IMHO is currentlly a class above everyone else in the team, I would give him seven MOTM awards, there is simply no debate at the moment.
The left was very good for us tonight, but the right flank didn't work as well. A hesitant El Abd for once, and Hinsh looks a round peg in a square hole. Nicolas was his usual very neat and tidy self, keeping our play flowing without ever quite threatening a match-winning pass - shame he delayed a release of a ball with Leon one-on-one with the Wolves goalie. Dean Hammond mirrored Alexis's tidy contribution. The form of our central midfield pair is a massive bonus for McGhee.
It was a bold move by McGhee to go 4-3-3 with half an hour to go. But McPhee didn't quite do enough with his half hour to suggest that he is a better bet than Virgs.
Jarrett came on at the end and ran the tiring Wolves defence ragged for a few minutes. I'm sure the siren calls for his inclusion will increase regardless of how that might impact the defensive shape of the team.
I'm a bit gutted by this result because we deserved more. But sometimes you don't get it.
A lot of positives though for us to build on and for large parts of this game we outplayed a team that was in the Premiership last season. We've come a long way in 12 months.
I'm confident we can give an improving QPR a massive fight on Saturday.
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