Football does have this weird either/or thing a lot of the time. MON and GA get compared a lot too, often favorably to the former.
I was not around for MON, but every good manager has played their part. It seems as though MON built the entire foundation for the league, while GA put the roof on it. Two very different roles within the history, but both vitally important.
The old heads were never worried, knew it would take time and accepted that happily for the right succession plan. Dunno why anyone looks at the FB group, it’s impossible to write anything sensible just by drooling on the keyboard.
I don’t think it’s a case of if it’s improved. It’s a case of how much. Statistics would be interesting but, forget statistics, it’s there to see in plain sight (whatever that means).
I’ll not airbrush anything out, nor will I lose the run of myself (cf @eric_plant earlier).
What I will do is to suggest that the recent acceleration in the evolution of Matt Bloomfield’s master plan coincided with the introduction of several young guns in the starting lineups. Taylor, Phillips, and Pattenden (ably supported by the newly energised Brandon Hanlan) have been key to the significant increase in goalscoring opportunities and we now have two very lively and improving wingbacks, both barely into their twenties.
The downside is that three of those five individuals are on loan, leading to the prospect of a dip in performance levels as they return to their parent clubs with the concomitant need to introduce replacements who will have to go through the same bedding in process as their predecessors.
Perhaps the likes of Christie Ward and Jack Young will develop sufficiently over the season to replace loanees. Who knows. In the meantime, let’s enjoy more of the beautiful football that these talented youngsters are dishing up.
Post of the Early Morning @micra - I hope you slept well.
I hope you won't mind me deveoping your theme a little. I think something can be added to the description of the "beautiful football that these talented youngsters are dishing up" - not just beautiful football, but committed, effective, beautiful fooball - and those two adjectives are part of the Gareth Ainsworth / Richard Dobson / player Matt Bloomfield legacy that we all treasure. Adding to that too, I don;t think it is just the youngesters. On Saturday the way in which Gareth McCleary and Sam Vokes were warming up, and how they played when they were on the field showed how much they wanted to be a part of it.
@micra is spot on. We were a joy to watch on Saturday. Long may it continue.
Managed to have the briefest of chats with him on the sponsored walk, he was amused to hear that some of our fans had already started the "we wouldn't have lost that game/ played like that if Ainsworth was still here" , he acknowledged he got plenty of stick over his decade and we weren't great at all times but his cumulative achievements, mostly with little backing are something to be proud of. How long he stays at QPR shouldn't change that either.
Comparison over different eras and scenarios is always a little unfair, the influence you build up over a decade with choice of all staff and players, and those players and staff understanding exactly what the philosophy is before they sign up is huge. Blooms struggled to just plough on "as is" with the existing players and has taken a few weeks this season to set out his stall and get new signings embedded but seems like he's onto something and will no doubt be judged longer term.
I think some of his worst early stick was based on the idea he was a cheap or fan appeasing option, and that he didn't know what he was doing when it's just as easy to view that move as succession planning backed up by a successful spell elsewhere and a fee needing to be paid to the Essex apes.
I found this website League One Team Statistics | WhoScored.com, which ranks teams according to a combination of shots per goal, possession, passes completed, and aerial battles won.
By their calculations, we are currently 7th best in L1.
Thanks. We seemed to go in the space of only a couple of games from a team who looked fairly clueless to one that seems to know exactly what it wants to do. Not sure that this is a true reflection and it was quite as dramatic as that and curious to know if there is anything statistical that would back that up.
I must admit I thought the seeds of the resurgence were sown at Charlton (where we dominated most of the second half) but, to be fair, Bloom’s young bloods weren’t introduced until late in the game. At Fratton Park, we played well, scoring first and probably deserving the point which was denied by Portsmouth’s late winner following a foul on Max Stryjek.
Slightly belated thanks @railwaysteve for your kind words. Going to bed at 1.30 am is probably not wise but we both have the luxury of really long lie-ins. Sleep-ins really.
Slept well between the inevitable comfort breaks!!
Post of the day, no wait, post of the week - game over
*the analysis paralysis that is infecting the game is beyond tedious, especially on radio shows where statos try to out do each other with their nerdiness, so boring.
I would also add opposition comments post some matches this season of us being physical, agricultural and same old timewasting Wycombe, have not been borne out the same games I watched...even when we lost. I found the same thing in the last Ainsworth season...losing Anis was a blow but we were still playing decent stuff even if Blooms could not drag us into the playoffs.
If you are going to play front foot attacking attractive football, you are going to leave yourself a bit open, and getting that attacking/ defensive balance right must be the trickiest job for a coach/manager.
It's all become so predictable.... *insert manager name*ball is really taking off with his progressive passing and playing through the thirds which helps them defeat the (checks notes) low block. *insert team name*'s XG is such and such and blah blah blah.
Pretty much. There is a little known notification sliding-scale on the BBC website. I have it set at 46% for us. If it ever goes above that I then switch off the BBC notifications and set the little known @trevor notification on the Gasroom to find out how many we lost by.
Comments
Good points (and from@Wendoverman and @wwfcblue too).
Football does have this weird either/or thing a lot of the time. MON and GA get compared a lot too, often favorably to the former.
I was not around for MON, but every good manager has played their part. It seems as though MON built the entire foundation for the league, while GA put the roof on it. Two very different roles within the history, but both vitally important.
Agreed. Enjoy both for their separate game changing merits.
Not start saying well MON had a decent budget, Gaz played industrial football etc. Hate all that stuff.
The old heads were never worried, knew it would take time and accepted that happily for the right succession plan. Dunno why anyone looks at the FB group, it’s impossible to write anything sensible just by drooling on the keyboard.
Anyone know how our statistics on pass completion have evolved this season?
I seem to remember that we were always near the bottom of that statistic and it would be interesting to see if that’s improved recently
I don’t think it’s a case of if it’s improved. It’s a case of how much. Statistics would be interesting but, forget statistics, it’s there to see in plain sight (whatever that means).
I’ll not airbrush anything out, nor will I lose the run of myself (cf @eric_plant earlier).
What I will do is to suggest that the recent acceleration in the evolution of Matt Bloomfield’s master plan coincided with the introduction of several young guns in the starting lineups. Taylor, Phillips, and Pattenden (ably supported by the newly energised Brandon Hanlan) have been key to the significant increase in goalscoring opportunities and we now have two very lively and improving wingbacks, both barely into their twenties.
The downside is that three of those five individuals are on loan, leading to the prospect of a dip in performance levels as they return to their parent clubs with the concomitant need to introduce replacements who will have to go through the same bedding in process as their predecessors.
Perhaps the likes of Christie Ward and Jack Young will develop sufficiently over the season to replace loanees. Who knows. In the meantime, let’s enjoy more of the beautiful football that these talented youngsters are dishing up.
Post of the Early Morning @micra - I hope you slept well.
I hope you won't mind me deveoping your theme a little. I think something can be added to the description of the "beautiful football that these talented youngsters are dishing up" - not just beautiful football, but committed, effective, beautiful fooball - and those two adjectives are part of the Gareth Ainsworth / Richard Dobson / player Matt Bloomfield legacy that we all treasure. Adding to that too, I don;t think it is just the youngesters. On Saturday the way in which Gareth McCleary and Sam Vokes were warming up, and how they played when they were on the field showed how much they wanted to be a part of it.
@micra is spot on. We were a joy to watch on Saturday. Long may it continue.
The only thing I would complain about was his shit leather jacket. Nothing else.
Managed to have the briefest of chats with him on the sponsored walk, he was amused to hear that some of our fans had already started the "we wouldn't have lost that game/ played like that if Ainsworth was still here" , he acknowledged he got plenty of stick over his decade and we weren't great at all times but his cumulative achievements, mostly with little backing are something to be proud of. How long he stays at QPR shouldn't change that either.
Comparison over different eras and scenarios is always a little unfair, the influence you build up over a decade with choice of all staff and players, and those players and staff understanding exactly what the philosophy is before they sign up is huge. Blooms struggled to just plough on "as is" with the existing players and has taken a few weeks this season to set out his stall and get new signings embedded but seems like he's onto something and will no doubt be judged longer term.
I think some of his worst early stick was based on the idea he was a cheap or fan appeasing option, and that he didn't know what he was doing when it's just as easy to view that move as succession planning backed up by a successful spell elsewhere and a fee needing to be paid to the Essex apes.
I found this website League One Team Statistics | WhoScored.com, which ranks teams according to a combination of shots per goal, possession, passes completed, and aerial battles won.
By their calculations, we are currently 7th best in L1.
That's excellent. I was hoping someone would eventually come up with a way of ranking teams from the same league
I can find out
Thanks. We seemed to go in the space of only a couple of games from a team who looked fairly clueless to one that seems to know exactly what it wants to do. Not sure that this is a true reflection and it was quite as dramatic as that and curious to know if there is anything statistical that would back that up.
I must admit I thought the seeds of the resurgence were sown at Charlton (where we dominated most of the second half) but, to be fair, Bloom’s young bloods weren’t introduced until late in the game. At Fratton Park, we played well, scoring first and probably deserving the point which was denied by Portsmouth’s late winner following a foul on Max Stryjek.
Slightly belated thanks @railwaysteve for your kind words. Going to bed at 1.30 am is probably not wise but we both have the luxury of really long lie-ins. Sleep-ins really.
Slept well between the inevitable comfort breaks!!
Post of the day, no wait, post of the week - game over
*the analysis paralysis that is infecting the game is beyond tedious, especially on radio shows where statos try to out do each other with their nerdiness, so boring.
It's only a problem when people try to get too clever when they don't actually know how to use the data they're looking at.
WhoScored ratings should be taken with more than just a pinch of salt
I would also add opposition comments post some matches this season of us being physical, agricultural and same old timewasting Wycombe, have not been borne out the same games I watched...even when we lost. I found the same thing in the last Ainsworth season...losing Anis was a blow but we were still playing decent stuff even if Blooms could not drag us into the playoffs.
If you are going to play front foot attacking attractive football, you are going to leave yourself a bit open, and getting that attacking/ defensive balance right must be the trickiest job for a coach/manager.
It's all become so predictable.... *insert manager name*ball is really taking off with his progressive passing and playing through the thirds which helps them defeat the (checks notes) low block. *insert team name*'s XG is such and such and blah blah blah.
I'm surprised more on here haven't thrown a hissy fit at Blooms regularly referencing xG in his interviews.
I like the people who didn't even watch a game yet talk confidently about how it went from the stats.
We'll that's just stupid
I'd just assumed Blooms was referring to our ex manager.
Awaiting ‘customer’ research findings considering re-branding the MCS! range as xG.
To be fair I only bother to look at the possession figures to find out whether we won or lost.
I only check the goals for and goals against. I am old school. (I know Josh Scowen has run about twenty miles without looking at the stats...)
I only look at stadium capacity, personally. If a team like Sunderland or Derby have a big capacity, I bow in reverence.
23% possession meaning we’ve won?
Pretty much. There is a little known notification sliding-scale on the BBC website. I have it set at 46% for us. If it ever goes above that I then switch off the BBC notifications and set the little known @trevor notification on the Gasroom to find out how many we lost by.