Warburton defends Thomas and Dozzell after QPR draw
Mark Warburton defended George Thomas and Andre Dozzell after a double substitution helped QPR come back from two down to draw 2-2 with Barnsley and maintain their unbeaten start to the season.
The visitors totally dominated a first half in which Dominik Frieser and Cauley Woodrow scored to put them in control of the game.
Rangers were so poor that boss Warburton did not wait until half-time to make changes.
He withdrew Thomas and Dozzell 10 minutes before the interval and sent on Albert Adomah and Dom Ball.
Rangers improved, with Ilias Chair pulling a goal back with 14 minutes remaining and Charlie Austin’s injury-time equaliser rescuing a point.
“We were two down and just felt we had to change it quickly,” Warburton admitted.
“It’s no reflection on Andre or George – they’ve been excellent since the first day of pre-season.
“But we had to change it and they were the two who suffered. It could have been a number of people.
“We had to change it and in the second half I think you saw a far more composed performance.
“Around the pitch in the second half we were much better. We were good and created chances.
“We were on the front foot, took care of the ball and in the end could maybe have won the game.”
Thomas has struggled to establish himself as a first-team player since arriving at QPR last year, while Dozzell was making his first start since being signed from Ipswich this summer.
Warburton said: “Any player is going to be disappointed when you get subbed after half an hour. You’re going to feel lower than a snake’s belly.
“But you speak to them and you make it clear that it’s not about the individual. As a team we were poor and we had to change it.”
22/08/2021 @ 12:19 pm
Defending the indefensible (again) why not just be honest and say he got it wrong.
21/08/2021 @ 7:45 pm
I have never seen as many blatant fouls against any team without a Red card, I am supprised QPR survived and came away without a broken leg, arm, neck or whatever.
Barnsley in defence play derty, thank goodness we have a larger squad to patch up the team.
Well done to all the QPR players and the Manager for getting a draw.
Hopefully there are not more derty sides in the Championship.
Note to all teams, it’s called football, not ‘Foul-Ball’ or Ref where are you!!!
BP
21/08/2021 @ 7:20 pm
The manager should be explaining,Why,he got the initial lineup so wrong.Kakay at left back was a total disaster,and dozzell instead of Ball was a big mistake.