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QPR vs Swansea...
Really liking QPR to beat Swansea at home tomorrow. Swansea have lost two key players in Joe Allen and Sigurdsson, and looks like Scott Sinclair is also on his way out to Man City and may not be involved tomorrow. QPR meanwhile have made some great signings. IMO Junior Hoilett could be the coup of the season, a free transfer from Blackburn, he was one of the few positives in their team last season and I expected somebody like Spurs to snap him up rather than a lower level Prem team like QPR. Andy Johnson could also be a shrewd signing from Fulham, they now have a solid trio in Cisse, AJ, and Zamora to choose from up front (plus Jamie Mackie when he is back from injury). Another great signing is Park Ji Sung, experience and great work rate, he should be a solid addition in midfield where they are already pretty solid with Faurlin (great passer and composed), Shaun Wright Phillips (can be spectacular but inconsistent), and of course the mercurial Adel Taarabt. Taarabt has a great record against Swansea (he even said it's his favourite team to play against), he pretty much single-handedly destroyed Swansea back in 2010 when QPR beat them 4-0 in the Championship at Loftus Rd (scoring 2 and setting up the other 2) and also set up a goal and played well last season in QPR's 3-0 rout at home. Also, today they have announced signings of Bosingwa and M'bia, with Joey Barton going the other way in exchange for the latter. M'bia could be a great signing and much needed defensive midfield replacement for the ageing Shaun Derry.
The defensive side of QPR is my one big concern. They've signed Robert Green to replace Paddy Kenny but I dont really see this as an improvement as Green can be erratic at times, especially when under pressure. Then in front of him QPR have an array of average defenders who can be a liability at times. Anton Ferdinand can be great and also terrible, Onuoha is more than often a liability, Armand Traore is ok going forward but poor defensively, and Clint Hill is old and slow but at least very rugged and determined. I expect new signing Ryan Nelson will start at the back. I've always like Nelson, not quick or technical but tactically aware, good positioning, strong in the air and a solid leader. Hopefully he still has a good year left in him. Bosingwa will help but doubt he'll play tomorrow. And the aforementioned Shaun Derry was never a Prem level player and now is also old and even slower. He'll probably start tomorrow. I expect the starting line-up to be something like this:
Green (GK)
Hill (LB)
Onuoha (RB)
Ferdinand (CB)
Nelson (CB)
Derry (CDM)
Park Ji Sung (CM)
Taarabt (LAM)
Hoillet (RAM)
Cisse (CF)
Zamora (CF)
Then on the bench solid players like Faurlin, Andy Johnson, Ephraim, Wright-Phillips.
Swansea were nicknamed Swansalona last season due to their technical based and possession game. Joe Allen was an important part of this however and they will undoubtedly miss him. Sigurdsson was also key in scoring important goals for Swansea and scored 7 in 19 games so will miss that. They've signed two pretty decent Spaniards in Chico and Michu however I would guess that they are going to need some time to adapt to the Prem and their new surroundings, and dont expect Michu to score as many as Sigurdsson did which means they are reliant on Danny Graham and Scott Sinclair. However as already mentioned Sinclair may be leaving shortly to join Man City and it is 50/50 at moment if he plays or not. If he does play will he be in the right mind-set?
QPR have 4 wins out of 4 games at home to Swansea so have an excellent record going in to this. At the end of last season QPR won all 5 of their last home games and from Hughes' arrival in January won 9, drew 1, and lost 3 home games which is pretty good. Moreover, one of those losses was a 0-1 to Chelsea which is no shame, and two were losses against Fulham and Wolves were they had a player sent of in first half of each game, with Diakite sent off after 33mins against Fulham and Cisse sent off after 34 minutes against Wolves.
So only question for me is whether to play the PK line at -200 or money line at +110. I'm leaning to the former at moment as this is the first game of the season so players are still rusty and can take a while to getting in to the rhythm of things, especially when you have a lot of new signings like QPR do. Another important aspect is whether Scott Sinclair is involved in the game as he is a key player for Swansea, so I will wait until we know whether he will play before making my final decision on this. Both teams to score at -110 could also be a worthwhile play as both aren't great defensively and like to play reasonably attacking football.
Also on Luton PK tonight away at Hyde United in a double with Man City to beat Southampton on Sunday
swordsandtequila gave Vaughany 2 SBR Point(s) for this post.
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Originally Posted by Vaughany
. Been in Wales too long ��. Lol. Must take action 
xxx"
