Third of the season for Dunne this evening as QPR move up to third: https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/60397885 - he seems to be really thriving this season and with Omobamidele out injured, surely he should be given some game time in March
ah great, didn't realise they got a late winner. They had a guy really harshly sent off. He was hacked down and retaliated but not (too!) violently. Their momentum slowed a bit in the last few games. This was a big win. Good leap by Dunne for the goal too. Speaking of momentum, WBA are in freefall.
Could see Lenihan getting in ahead of him. Dunne plays centre of the back three and would have Duffy and Egan ahead of him. Think if new faces are to play it's gonna be either side of middle CB.
Would be great to see him in the squad though. June is gonna be a tough two weeks with four back to back games at the end of the season. Given our luck with injuries we'll need a bigger squad than usual.
Stretchered off after 23 minutes in QPR's pre-season friendly at Oxford Utd. Dunne's shoulder injury looks like keeping him out of QPR's opening Championship games. QPR conceded 5 goals following Dunne's departure.
https://www.westlondonsport.com/qpr/...-oxford-update
Recovery from a dislocated shoulder (31 July) has been faster than initially forecast. Gareth Ainsworth says Dunne currently looks likely to re-join the QPR squad for the visit of Coventry on 30 September.
https://www.westlondonsport.com/qpr/...return-for-qpr
Could be in the squad squad for QPR's home match against Coventry but currently looks more likely to play for Rangers’ development side against Millwall on Tuesday.
QPR defender Dunne set for return to action - West London Sport
Starts on the right of a back three for QPR, away to Huddersfield; Armstrong starts up front.
Only learned yesterday that Dunne has been playing right back for QPR for the last while and by all accounts has been excelling in the position. Most will have probably seen the absolute belter of an injury time winner he scored yesterday.
At centre back Dunne had no realistic prospect of breaking in with Ireland, but if he becomes a good right back longer term he could have every chance once the new manager hopefully sees sense and switches us back to a flat back four in the not too distant future. Coleman is almost finished, Doherty has never looked good enough in the position for Ireland, McNamara hasn't kick on, Ebosele will probably end up playing further forward for Ireland if he makes it and it's too early to know yet with Curtis. So there's an opening there.
That may be, but also worth noting that all four full backs in the man City v Arsenal game today are accomplished centre backs. It's definitely a trend at the moment, and one that suits the players we have. Knowing us we'll probably start playing that way in about five years time when the approach has been figured out and everyone has moved on to something else.
But for me there's definitely something in O'Shea at left back and Dunne or Collins at right back in a back four that's worth a look. Play them with fast wingers like Johnston, Ogbene or Ebosele in front of them and trust the more attacking players to create the chances instead of the full backs. I take the point about them not overloading midfield, but I think we need to just put three in there (e.g. Cullen, Smallbone and Knight or similar) and accept that breaking even in the middle is as good as it's going to get most days with the players we have available to us. Also, when you see people talking about using Collins as an extra midfielder, I think that's a far more likely possibility in terms of him doing it coming in from right back than stepping straight into a DM position in place of someone like Cullen.
Last edited by Eirambler; 31/03/2024 at 3:44 PM.
It is a fair point and most of the time when we play 5 at the back we are getting nothing going forward from our wingback, Coleman this past window provided nothing going forward . In that situation I would much prefer we went 4 at the back even if that was 4 centtehalves(not Jimmy Dunne though!). That would let us go with a holding 2 and Cullen and smallbone seem reasonable for that and a narrow 2 ahead of them in johnson and azaz and that allows you put a partner with ferguson luke obafemi which is where u think you get the most out of him. We overload the middle give up the width and play in the actual strike zones rather than having ogbene run aimlessly out towards the the sideline hoping for a foul
I see the logic in that. I'd probably lean towards keeping the width - when Kenny played 4-3-3 early on in his time in charge it often felt like the full backs and wingers were tripping over each other, but that would be unlikely to be an issue with centre backs in the full back positions. Use the pace of Ogbene and Johnston out wide to try and create chances. Like you say, if it's not working you could switch to a narrower almost 4-2-2-2 nearly without needing to make a substitution and test the opposition that way instead.
Basically I'm convinced we need to move away from the 3-4-3 stuff that became the hallmark of Kenny's time in charge and was retained by O'Shea last week. I understand why it was tried, but we should have moved on from it by now, it just doesn't suit the players we have.
I know it seems poyet won't be our manager now but poyet on his off the ball interview a few months ago when asked what he felt ireland did wrong against Greece said it seemed to him that we were playing a system to fit in players who were considered our better players rather than picking the system that suited the game and then picking the most appropriate players for that system and game.
I really liked that from poyet cause to me that is what management is, adapting to each game and situation to give you the best chance of winning that game with the players availble to you. None of this philosophy nonsense " this is how i believe the game should be played because I'm some kind of chosen visionary[even though I have never played or coached at the top level] so I'll always play the same way "
My reading of what he was saying was we were playing 3 centrehalves because we had more perceived better quality centrehalves than we had perceived quality players in other positions even though playing that 5 at the back totally allowed greece to dominate both games through the middle in the top two thirds.
That was always Kenny's biggest failing for me. He only knows one playing philosophy, and while he changed the formation, he never changed the philosophy, and it was one that we just don't have the players for. You can sometimes get away with that at club level, if you're given time to sign the players that fit your style of play but at international level, unless the players you have just happen to suit the preferred style, you're on a hiding to nothing. So the harder Kenny worked to try to implement his philosophy, the worse things got, and I don't think to this day he even now understands why that happened.
Man City v Arsenal - four centre backs playing full back, 0-0 draw. Probably not what a lot of people would dream of for the future, but arguably what we need to start getting against the higher seeds to regain the ground lost over the last four years.
I was at QPR v Plymouth on Saturday.
Liamo, did you go?
It took me a while to figure out if Dunne was right CB in a back 3 or just plain RB (so overall you’d have to take my observations with a pinch of salt!) because I turned up assuming he was CB (I should have paid more attention to foot.ie) but after Plymouth had a guy sent off for a terrible tackle on Dunne (30 mins) he played very much orthodox RB.
He saw plenty of the ball and my first impressions were positive.
He doesn’t run very elegantly. You’d never think he’s a John Stones in the making or a potential CB-turned-DM like some are suggesting for Nathan Collins. He reminds me more of the 1980s factory worker who arrived late into pro football type. He even has the 80s hair highlights.
But that’s not being uncharitable. You can be a good golfer without having a beautiful swing. And Dunne is quite good, that’s my ultimate assessment.
He was very involved, more so when it was 11v10. He’s very happy to receive the ball and never shy about asking for it. Decent first touch. His use of the ball is simple but effective. Either a short pass inside and go again, or take his man on on the outside which he did a few times and had the pace to get past his opponent. Won everything in the air and was a nuisance in the Plymouth box.
Plymouth’s best players were their wide players and Dunne handled Dutch winger Cissoko pretty well. I’d say Cissoko probably had the better of Dunne while it was 11v11 though.
You can tell he’s one of the team’s leaders. He really exudes positive energy and added a bit of tempo and urgency to things when QPR were meeting stubborn resistance.
I’d say he looks much more of a CB but can handle himself at RB and if he was to play international football surely it’d be as a CB. But if HH wants physicality, a strong character and a threat from set pieces he could be worth a look. I’d say he’s a better squad option than Duffy.
Last edited by Stuttgart88; 26/08/2024 at 1:17 PM.
Bookmarks