Match Day Thread QPR vs Stoke City

please log in to view this image

QPR vs Stoke City
The Championship
Tuesday 15th December 2020 - 17:30
The Kiyan Prince Foundation Stadium

please log in to view this image

​

Previous Meetings vs Stoke City;
Games won: 19
Games drawn: 9
Games lost: 11

Ones to remember;
24 Jan 1948 Queens Park Rangers v Stoke City W 3-0 FA Cup
17 Jan 1984 Queens Park Rangers v Stoke City W 6-0 League Division One
02 Mar 2008 Queens Park Rangers v Stoke City W 3-0 League Championship
19 Nov 2011 Stoke City v Queens Park Rangers W 2-3 Premier League

Ones to forget;
29 Dec 1973 Stoke City v Queens Park Rangers L 4-1 League Division One
27 Nov 2007 Stoke City v Queens Park Rangers L 3-1 League Championship
31 Jan 2015 Stoke City v Queens Park Rangers L 3-1 Premier League

Players who have played for both;
Mike Sheron;
1995–1997 Stoke City 69 (34)
1997–1999 Queens Park Rangers 63 (19)

Peter Crouch;
2000–2001 Queens Park Rangers 42 (10)
2011–2019 Stoke City 225 (46)

Clint Hill;
2003–2008 Stoke City 80 (3)
2010–2016 Queens Park Rangers 169 (5)

Jordan Cousins;
2016–2019 Queens Park Rangers 61 (1)
2019– Stoke City 28 (0)

Geoff Cameron;
2012–2019 Stoke City 168 (2)
2018–2019 → Queens Park Rangers (loan) 19 (1)
2019– Queens Park Rangers 40 (1)

Match Preview;
Stoke sit in 8th place after their 0-0 draw with Derby County today. Before today, they had lost one, after winning two in a row. Tyrese Campbell (7 goals), Stephen Fletcher (4 goals) and Nick Powell (4 goals) offer their main threat. Campbell and Powell have a shot accuracy rate of 50%, only matched in our squad by Dykes, who has 5 goals and 53% shot accuracy, and BOS, who has 59% shot accuracy but only 2 goals.

Anyway...stats are all well and good...but again today against Reading it just seems like we wanted to play all fancy football, and not just shoot when we had the chance to. All well and good, but our defense is not solid enough to hold on. It was a frustrating game to watch today, and it could easily have gone our way, but we've said that all too often this year, and as the saying goes, you make your own luck.

The frustration for me lies in the fact we can play good, direct, incisive football and create and take chances...we did it for a few games a few months ago...but we haven't played that way for a while now, and we have slowly slipped down the table. Given our league position and our close proximity to the bottom 3, another loss and the 'Warburton Out', camp will be in full song, but I keep on asking myself...where do we go from there? Another hunt for another manager who will inherit this team and lead to another overhaul. Start the cycle all over again? Or stick with our man...through thick and thin...and see where that takes us?

It's not an easy one...but I can't help but remember there were a number of United fans who were very skeptical about Ferguson for the first couple of years...but he was given the time to build what became the dominant side for a decade. I know some will disagree, and some are thoroughly fed up of Warburton and how we are playing at the moment...but is sacking the manager always the right solution?

Enjoy the lucky few who will be there...and as always...COME ON YOU SUPER HOOPSA!

 

Another one, already? Jesus, no time to absorb, regroup, and reset in this heap of crap league is there? That’s entertainment.

Stoke are a form team.

We will smash them, 1-0.

Cheers Dave.

 

I'll have a glass of whatever you are having.

 

Got tickets for this one too...

 

Need to win this one
if only for the bragging rights and a dozen beers off my stoke supporting mate
5.30 on a Tuesday
Suits me with the time difference but what a weird time for a game

 

I'll be there!

 

Excellent post Dave. I think Warburton has done much for us, and we should keep him. But maybe SIr Les should be pushing him to vary our approach when we need to, give Eustace ideas a go maybe. He showed before he could get a different game out of a different though better squad no doubt, and kept us up just.

 

Live on Sky, again!!!!

I despair!

Cheers Dave.

 

Mike Sheron, in the Vinnie Jones and Razor Ruddock era, was another that played for both the teams. Scoring for fun at Stoke, and then struggled for us. Where have I heard that before?

 

Good shout. He was the first player I remember us signing for anything like a decent fee (around £2.5m if I remember correctly.) We signed him just after I'd started high school and I remember bragging to a few mates that we were obviously going to do really well now, because we'd signed such an expensive player. Ah the ignorance of youth.

 

please log in to view this image

please log in to view this image

please log in to view this image

 

Thanks for the write up Dave. Obviously the Ferguson analogy is very wishful but I agree with the sentiment - we've tried twist and twist and it's not got us anywhere. Time to try 'stick' instead and see where that gets us, especially given MW still has credit in the bank from last year in my book, even if that is diminishing fast.

 

Mmm.

 

I know I know. A bit of a rock and a hard place scenario. I'll probably want the rock by next week.

 

Must admit to being a bit torn re MW. A win tonight buys him time but if we then go winless through the rest of the month we are properly in the ****.

Its deeply frustrating because at times we look really good but we rarely look like scoring. Can a change of manager really fix this?

What happened to that Ramkilde chappy? Injured or just ****?

 

It's tomorrow night.

It's a good question whether anyone else could get a better tune out of our little band, but MW never seems to want to try something different, like maybe, shock horror, playing to Dykes's strengths a bit more.
He just seems incapable of changing anything.

 

Another panic buy. We were trying to bounce back after relegation and signed Sheron and Spencer after a poor start to the season, it didn't work out for Sheron although Spencer did prove a decent buy. By the end of that season the plc was already on the road to bankrupting us...

 

I don't really remember them but I'm pretty sure Clive wrote Warburton changed us a bit following a couple of losses earlier this season and got us draws away.

I also think that with the likes of Les, Eustace, Ramsey, the Coach from Arse, and others in our present Football Direction/Management set up, changes of formation/ style/ can be strongly proposed to Warburton. If he is so stupid he never listens or follows advice (which I don,t believe) then Les could be instructing him too I would think. Warburton got us up to 13th last season after major surgery and has us playing decent football this season with the pretty thin Squad, Beth has described accurately somewhere recently. I'd rather we spent anything we have on a good Striker and a strong mobile midfielder than sacking/replacing Warburton.

 

I wonder how long you'll continue to support him?

Hopefully of course, we'll get some points and the heat will be off.

I'd much prefer not to replace him mid season if possible, but how long do we give him?

 

I've read his contract is up at the end of the season, and hope by then we will be mid-table in the Championshop, and he stays.

But to achieve that I reckon it will be necessary to strengthen the squad in January, with a goal scorer, and a strong quick midfielder at the least. Warburton needs more qualified players at this level to vary our formation and avoid relegation I think.

The idea that he wants to loan out Masterson for experience, and loan in another CB, sounds nuts to me. If we are to play 3 at the back at the least, and really as we are now, we need an additional CB to Masterson as cover imo. Masterson will get his experience with us I expect. Dickie and Barbet must be piling up the yellow cards, and in that position they are also very susceptible to injury.