Houdini needs time, but does he have any?

Match Review: QPR 1-1 Aston Villa

And so another 'must win, will win' fixture passes. Gameweek 15 of the Premier League and QPR are still without that elusive first victory. This was another they probably ought to have gone on to win, but the chronic imbalance of the side built by Hughes still shows, badly!

Harry started his tenure positively with a clean sheet and away point at a ground where QPR have had little luck over the past few years. However, Sunderland were also extremely out of sorts and you sensed that that was the Rs' best chance yet of winning at the Stadium of Light for the first time. So, with a motivated team playing for their places under the new boss and with the promise of some fight and passion, R's fans headed to Loftus Road for the game against the Villans in far better spirit than they would have had Sparky still been in charge. This wasn't going to be an easy game though; Villa might not be setting the world alight right now but they will have taken plenty of heart from recent displays against Manchester United and Arsenal and they will have benefited from the morale boost that comes with a late winner (as they had had midweek against Reading). Add to this Paul 'look how far I've come' Lambert's good record as a manager against the Superhoops and the fact that the R's team still comprised the same faces and same ability, fans had every right to be very cautious with their optimism.

QPR were forced into one change and made one other to the side that earned the point up at Sunderland. Rob Green, who was frozen out and in many eyes treated badly by Hughes, especially given that Cesar hadn't covered himself in glory in recent games, was back. The 'England keeper' (his agent asked me to call him that) returned between the sticks at Loftus Road to loud cheers and applause and he clearly appreciated the support he was getting. Not quite so warm was the reception given to Shaun Wright-Phillips, himself making a first start in over a month. Whilst both players have failed to live up to their billing so far when pulling on the Hoops, it would be harsh to slate Greeno for one bad (albeit woefully bad) performance and you can understand the sympathy offered by R's fans. The same can't be said of little SWP, who has, aside from his debut performance at home to Newcastle last season, been nothing like the player we were promised. Still, Harry's the boss, he makes the decisions, so we'd best get behind the team...

Greeno is back

I'm sure that every opposition manager tells his side to get in the faces of QPR during the opening exchanges and come out of the traps all guns blazing. QPR just don't find any time to settle and even after a bright start here they showed signs of being vulnerable at the back. The game was only eight minutes old and the R's were one down again, and unfortunately for Greeno we were reminded why he lost his place in the lineup. The blame can't all be put at the gloves of Green though - the R's defence were the usual shambles we've come to expect. Villa were pinging the ball around on the edge of the QPR area which through a combination of a few passes and, admittedly, some ricochets that only go against you when you're at the bottom of the league, the ball landed at an unmarked Brett Holman around 25 yards from goal. Mbia stood off his man and Holman let fly with a shot which the 'England keeper' should probably have done better with. This reminded me of the first goal Swansea scored against him in his opening day nightmare, where he was only able to palm the ball into the net rather than tip it round the post. So here we were again, 1-0 down early on due to poor defending and the clean sheet from Wednesday night was all forgotten.

This shushed what had been a buoyant home crowd who quickly realised that Harry Redknapp can't in fact perform miracles overnight. But ten minutes later we dared to believe he could again: that well-known excellent crosser Samba Diakite swiped the ball with his right boot to deliver a perfect centre onto Jamie Mackie's nut. Mackie, under intense pressure, in turn produced an excellent twisting header which went straight in the top corner. This will have had Harry purring, for he dropped the disinterested Djibril Cisse in favour of playing a determined Jamie Mackie as a lone striker and he was rewarded for his decision with a goal from the fan's favourite.

The Brummies were almost in front again moments after the equaliser: they broke at speed down the right hand side and a cross was headed in by the livewire Christian Benteke, only to be accompanied by a correct offside decision from the linesman. It's fair to say that Benteke has been Villa's biggest threat this season given the continued absence of top marksman Darren Bent for reasons only known by Paul Lambert. His hold up play and technique for a big striker of just 22 is second to none and he is clearly to Aston Villa what Ricky Lambert is to Southampton - a focal point.

For the remainder of the half Villa continued to test the centre back pairing of Ryan Nelsen and Clint Hill, who incidentally have a combined age of 69 and both have the pace of someone that age. Who would have thought that this would be the best partnership we have at the back in a Premier League side in 2012? "That's why we're going down". Well it isn't the only reason... Another is that we don't create many chances and when we finally do we often have nobody in the right place or with the ability to finish them. Shaun Wright-Phillips actually managed to get himself in a striker's position in this game as he was clearly told to run through the middle and latch on to through balls. But unfortunately for the wee man, he couldn't finish a happy meal! In the space of perhaps five first half minutes, he had two golden chances which at this level you just have to be taking! The first came from a ball lofted forward by Esteban Granero, who created a similar chance finished by Adel Taarabt at The Hawthorns a few weeks back. But where Taarabt succeeded with excellent technique, skill and a finish to match, SWP failed miserably, instead firing straight at an on-rushing Brad Guzan when one on one. The second chance was created by Stephane Mbia, himself showing some nice touches playing in a central midfield position. Mbia's through ball released SWP who elected to hit the ball first time when he probably could have afforded to take a touch and control the ball first. The effort, in his defence, was a good one and he was unlucky as it hit the post and bounced away to safety. You could say I'm being harsh with all my criticism of the diminutive winger, but when you pay several million pounds for a Premier League footballer and then pay him several tens of thousands of pounds per week in wages, you are entitled to expect better. In fairness to him, this was the liveliest I've seen him in ages, but still nowhere near the standard required to get into any other Premier League lineup. Just what people like he and Bosingwa have done to deserve places in this lineup, or in fact the QPR squad, I will never know. Maybe they're amazing in training? I don't think so somehow.

As QPR were in the ascendancy a nasty looking collision took the wind out of their sails. Stephane Mbia had to be stretchered off after clashing with a Villa player when challenging for the ball. This had the effect of galvanising the away side, who had two decent chances of their own before the extended first half was brought to an end. Agbonlahor had a good effort saved by Green whilst Brett Holman found himself in a similar shooting position to the one he had for the goal, but this time ended up ballooning it high into the away end. At half time, I was left pondering the continued selection of players who seem to be in the QPR lineup because of their names and reputations from playing at former clubs (though I'm too courteous to mention any names, Shaun, Jose). If Esteban Granero continues to put in the amount of effort he has of late then he'll soon be in this category too. I've had enough of watching him turning in circles on the halfway line to keep the ball, his sideways passing and his static-ness off the ball.

Granero in fact paid the price for his poor first half showing here, as the ruthless Redknapp hooked him in favour of Ji-Sung Park, who was returning from injury to the delight of the Koreans in the home crowd who come each week religiously to see him not appear on the teamsheet. The R's dominated the second half and to their credit looked tighter at the back; I don't actually recall Rob Green having to make a save. But once again, for all their neat build up play, there was no end product, and hardly any chances created. QPR developed an annoying habit under Hughes of playing sideways football on the edge of the box, and this continued here as they struggled to find anyone other than Mackie to run around in the Villa penalty area. Mackie was clearly identified at half time as the only real threat by Lambert and Villa cut off the supply to him and marked him out of this second half. I can't help but think that any other managers watching on will now know to do the same. Ji-Sung Park had one good chance but took far too much time over it. Wright-Phillips summed his QPR career up by inexplicably falling over when under no pressure and when about to set himself for a shot at goal. Clint Hill came closest with a header onto the crossbar but this was a difficult chance and the guy has never scored a Premier League goal (well he has scored one, but it "didn't cross the line").

And that was about it for QPR chances. The R's brought on Junior Hoilett in an attempt to find a winner but he did absolutely nothing after coming on and I'd much rather have seen Djibril Cisse give Villa someone other than Mackie to mark. This Villa side looked beatable and offered very little - this is precisely the sort of team we should be getting three points against. Villa offered virtually nothing up front in the second half. QPR's strategy to deal with Benteke clearly worked and Gabriel Agbonlahor - once the rising star of England and the face of Nike - looked lethargic and as though he was carrying a lot of timber. Karim El Ahmadi was brought on late on by Villa and he had a pop at goal from outside the area which wasn't far away but didn't have Green worried.

So all in all this was an OK start from Redknapp who at least seems to have stopped the rot, but will come up against much sterner tests than this in his managerial reign. QPR dominated the second half in particular but never really looked like they'd score the winning goal, a story of much of the early season. If only Hughes had invested in strikers that could stay fit and not sell those who scored goals for us last season! Harry has  much to fix here, and I fear that even for him this is too much...

Standard handshakes

Man of the match: He may have faded in the second half, but Jamie Mackie is the only player that stood out for me here. His passion, perseverance  determination, modest reputation and modest wage packet are the reasons he is adored by QPR fans, but it is the first three of those qualities that get him so many goals and assists in a league so many feel he isn't good enough for. Redknapp commented after the game that we wouldn't be in this mess 'if we had eleven Jamie Mackie's'. I concur, Harry.  

Weekend Preview: 'Arry's at 'ome at Loftus Road

Since we last wrote one of these, there's been a lot of water go under the bridge in various towns and cities in the UK but plenty in the footballing world too, arguably the most to have flowed through Loftus Road.

'Arry is back in football, the rumours were true. You can't help but think Gary Lineker might have known something was going on when he asked Redknapp on Match of the Day a couple of weeks ago whether he fancied the QPR job. Sparky finally lost his job just prior to the away fixture at Old Trafford (he should really have gone immediately after the dismal display against Southampton, but we can only assume the delay was in agreeing a provisional deal for the 65-year old former West Ham, Portsmouth, Southampton and Spurs manager). Yet again Hughes' words came back to haunt him it seems - he claimed his future would not rest on the result against Southampton, just like he claimed QPR would never be in a position so close to the Premier League trap door again during his tenure at the club. He was so so wrong on both counts.

My personal take on the appointment of Harry is that he is the only man that was available that was right for the job. Much has been made of his ability to galvanise struggling teams and galvanising is precisely what Rangers need right now. Hughes might not have 'lost the dressing room' but he hardly strikes me as a motivator and a motivating, no-nonsense approach is what some of those lazy over paid lard-arses need right now. He showed straight away against Sunderland that he is quite happy to drop some of the Hughes favourites like Ferdinand and Granero and play players in different positions (e.g. Mbia in central midfield). Whilst some will say that Hughes wasn't given enough time to find his best eleven, my counter-argument is that he didn't experiment enough: he had his favourites and seemed so intent on playing only one up front and his many midfielders in positions they were not familiar with. A clean sheet is a good start, but there is undoubtedly a lot of work to do. Several of my colleagues and friends have told me that they *think* Harry is a good appointment but will reserve judgment for now because QPR's defence and attack are so woeful currently. Others have said that Harry will want to spend big in January, Fernandes will back him but we are on the road to bankruptcy. I'm not sure about that: I think people take Fernandes for a mug - he's not got to where he is as a businessman now only to go and blow it all on a football team. And then there are those that  are telling me 'for every Portsmouth and Spurs relegation escape there's the job he did at Southampton'. We'll have to see, but I'm cautiously optimistic. I have to admit that with the next three fixtures against Aston Villa (H), Wigan (A) and Fulham (H) and then Newcastle away (who haven't been at their best of late), December is crucial. Harry will have to get the most out of the team he has inherited, which have thus far massively under-performed. So you'll have to come back and ask me whether it's a good appointment on New Year's Eve.

West Brom v Stoke

Some people say that bogey teams don't exist in football any more. Just ask West Brom fans about bogey sides and they will all tell you that theirs is their Staffordshire rival the Potters. Stoke have won all of their Premier League away encounters at The Hawthorns and have not lost there in nine years. West Brom won at the Britannia last season to record their first win against Stoke in any competition for 11 games. And the omens aren't looking good for the Baggies for this one - they were outplayed by a classy Swansea side the other day whilst Stoke finished their match against Newcastle strongly and scored two excellent goals (well by their standards anyway!). Having said that, West Brom have looked a different proposition at home this year to what they were last year and I think they have enough in their side to bounce back with three points here.

Prediction: West Brom 2-1 Stoke

West Ham v Chelsea

The rozzers will be on high alert in East London this weekend for the traditionally hoolie-heavy fixture of West Ham v Chelsea. Rafa goes into this one looking for a first win as Chelsea boss and can expect an uncomfortable 90 minutes of taunts from the home fans as well as boos from his own but although I can see them going 1 down, I think he will answer some critics (in the media at least) by bringing Torres off the bench and him grabbing a goal. Chelsea have an excellent record against the Hammers and expect this to continue with a point here and a strong finish.

Prediction: West Ham 1-1 Chelsea

Man City v Everton

Another intriguing game in the top flight this weekend is at the Emptihad, where Man City welcome Everton, who have lacked their early season consistency of late. I still fancy them to give Citeh a good game here and can see them registering in the scoring, but ultimately I'm predicting a late winner for the Mancunians. Aguerrrrrrrrrrrrrrro!(?)

Prediction: Man City 2-1 Everton

MK Dons v Wimbledon

This weekend is FA Cup 2nd round weekend, which has thrown up the very interesting tie of MK Dons v Wimbledon. I just fear it has been a bit of a media circus for the away side, who I can't help but think will be overawed by the occasion and suffer a heavy defeat to the experienced seasoned pros of Franchise FC. Judging by their morals, I don't expect many of their die hard fans will be there to see it though, probably just as well!

Prediction: MK Dons 4-0 Wimbledon

Other cup ties this weekend include such all non-league classics as Luton (yes, non-league Luton!) v Dorchester, Harrogate Town v Hastings United and Barrow v Macclesfield whilst poor Bournemouth fans are lumbered with a second trek to Carlisle in one season (once is bad enough for them). Sheffield United v Port Vale should be a decent game with both sides doing well in their respective leagues.

There's a full programme in the Championship this weekend which commenced with Birmingham's 3-2 win over Middlesbrough at St Andrews last night on St Andrews Day. The two stand out games have to be the lunch time kick off between Huddersfield v Leeds and SE25 clash between Crystal Palace and Brighton.

The fire at the John Smith's Stadium has already been stoked by comments from the Leeds hierarchy criticising Simon Grayson's reign at the club, not that any local derby involving Leeds and Neil Warnock needs a fire stoking beforehand. This one's got to be a decent bet for a red card this weekend!

Meanwhile, those lucky enough to be at Selhurst Park this afternoon should see a very different footballing spectacle between two in-form sides. It's an odd rivalry that the two sides share (as Ian Holloway has also highlighted this week) but I liken it a little to that between QPR and Luton; just about close enough geographically and some classic and controversial battles down the years have left scarred relationships between the two sets of fans.

There is a further derby day this weekend and it involves Derby too, who head to the King Power Stadium for the forgotten East Midlands derby against Leicester. The Foxes showed they have ability among their ranks with their win over out of sorts Sheffield Wednesday which J and I both attended last weekend, but they were beaten by a second minute Luciano Becchio penalty at Elland Road midweek. They are very strong at home though (won seven, drawn one, lost one) and should return to winning ways this weekend  against a consistently inconsistent Derby side that have won two, lost two and drawn one of their last five games.

Preview of our teams

Manchester United are in Royal Berkshire this weekend as they take on Reading who looked to have turned the corner with their win over Everton but threw away the initiative at Wigan and let in a late goal at Villa Park on Tuesday night. I can't see United having any problem in replicating the Tottenham performance at the Madejski and believe that Reading will be vulnerable to the pace down the wings and technical ability of United's forwards. Sean Morrison and Kaspars Gorkss have done OK against the larger, less skillful attackers in the league this year but been found out by anyone with a bit of technique and pace.

As briefly mentioned above, QPR, the only winless and most hopeless side in the top four divisions, seek to finally record a first league win of the campaign at home to Aston Villa this weekend, who haven't had the best of seasons so far but have produced more encouraging signs of late and ground out a couple of results as they continue treading water. I think as long as QPR deal with Agbonlahor through use of anyone other than Bosingwa, and put players who know about marking from set pieces on and around Christian Benteke, then we really ought to be looking to this fixture to kick our season into gear. Easier said than done with the Hoops though...

Crewe are in 2nd round FA Cup action this weekend as they play host to Burton Albion of League Two. The Alex will be hoping to continue their good form of late which has had much to do with the form of loanee Lauri Dalla Valle. A money spinning tie could then arise from the third round draw on Sunday.

1.FC Union Berlin recorded a fine 2-1 win away at MSV Duisburg and will be hoping that a good run of form on the road eventually translates into some more consistent home form starting with the match at home to Bochum tomorrow. This is followed with next Friday's headline clash at home to unbeaten Kaiserslautern, so three points to carry into that would do most nicely!

So plenty of football to feast on this weekend. Enjoy! C&J

Still in the job!

Match Review: QPR 1-3 Southampton

Astonishingly, I'm sat here writing this match review and Mark Hughes is still Queens Park Rangers manager and still getting public backing from the 'ambitious' Hoops board!

I absolutely hate watching Match of the Day at the moment. Particularly the end credits. I've switched it off by that point. You see, when Gary says "before we go there's time to take a quick look at the league table", I'd rather not, so I grab the remote. This week I stopped listening when Lineker introduced the "bottom of the table clash" - I couldn't bare to watch that again. For what happened at Loftus Road on Saturday afternoon was embarrassing at the top level of English football. At this rate, Derby County's record low points total is under serious threat!

The afternoon began badly with news that yet again we were going with one up front, and Zamora's name wasn't even among the subs list - it now transpires he'll be out for three months, no big loss to be honest... Hughes really shot himself in the foot letting Helguson go and taking on just Andy Johnson as intended cover for the lazy duo of Zamora and Cisse - a crazy decision and one that has left us very very thin on the ground indeed up front.

And on the pitch itself the afternoon just got worse and worse. The game which was a must-win and will-win certainly didn't look like the walk in the park it was built up to be. Southampton looked far better, far more coherent and far more determined in the opening exchanges which is absolutely criminal for such a crucial clash for which we had a sell out home crowd. QPR were seeing hardly any of the ball and chasing the game right from the first minute. In the 8th minute, Saints began to show what their attack is capable of - an inviting ball was whipped in by QPR reject Jason Puncheon and missed everyone, including all of the static R's back line and Julio Cesar who reacted late. It hit the post and bounced away with Adam Lallana unmarked and inches away from diverting it goalbound. Another week without any defending coached at training then? Ferdinand and Bosingwa just looked at each other.

Southampton even had time to hit the woodwork again before eventually getting the goal their positive approach and QPR's dire defending merited. Poor marking allowed the Saints to do as they pleased in the QPR penalty area and, after a corner was only partially cleared, the ball was chipped back in, played to the side and then a cross put in with Cesar out of position for Rickie Lambert, unmarked and the most prominent aerial threat in the Reds' lineup, to head home from less than one yard out. Unmarked and one yard from goal? Utterly ridiculous. But such are QPR currently. At this point the support of the fans was well and truly waning - probably because we've seen this comedy defending every week since drawing with Chelsea this campaign and still nothing has been done about it. Southampton had scored 40% of their goals all season from headers this season - surely someone in Hughes' coaching staff will have picked that up and researched Rickie Lambert's game?!

The rest of the half was shocking from the home side. The passing was disjointed and positional play atrocious. Cesar insisted on booting the ball route one but Cisse couldn't be bothered to try to challenge for it or run after it. Ferdinand won hardly any headers and allowed Rickie Lambert to be the focal point of Southampton's play, which is what their gameplan relies upon. Granero looked lost out on the wing and clearly didn't want to be there, meaning it was thrust upon Bosingwa to be the creative source down the right hand side - a man without a single creative bone in his body and crossing ability worse than most goalkeepers. Bosingwa resorted to wayward hoofs, one even sliced so badly that it went out for a throw in, but didn't look in the slightest bit bothered by how awful his play is - he's earning a silly amount of money and has already won plenty of trophies, so why bother eh? Sod off back to Chelsea, will you?

Hughes at least recognised the last woeful tactical decision on that list his at half time and took off Alejandro Faurlin, who has been brought back into the lineup of late because he is a fans favourite and was beginning to show signs of discontent at being left out of a struggling side (as I've said before, central midfield is our strongest area).

But the change was too late as the inevitable 2nd was netted before half time. Rangers and not long ago Southampton reject Puncheon was being allowed the freedom of the ground he used to play so poorly on and after a neat bit of skill to shrug off a half-hearted QPR challenge from Clyne, he picked up the ball, ran a couple of yards to a point where he had a clear sight of goal and nobody tracking him, and slammed the ball home from 25 yards beyond the late dive of Cesar. At half time, the crowd booed the side off, called for Hughes' head and elected to sympathise with Ryan Nelsen, the one shining light in our defence this season, who must be wondering what he's done wrong in life to deserve to play in this team.

Faurlin's replacement at half time was Jamie Mackie, a member of the old guard and still much loved by QPR fans for his positive mental attitude and the fact that he runs at defenders with or without the ball. His presence on the field lifted the crowd and lifted the players who turned up the heat for five minutes and earned a goal back for their efforts - a fine ball in from Taarabt, who had been far too quiet up to this point, caught out the Saints defence and forced Paolo Gazzaniga into no mans land. There, he met Junior Hoilett, who outjumped his tame effort at commanding his area and headed into the empty net. Where did this tempo come from? The goal told us what we all knew - Southampton's attack might be Premier League standard, but they rely very heavily on it to carry them through games because their defence is shambolic. Game on and the impetus with the home side, or so we thought...

No.

Incredibly, QPR couldn't cause any further trouble to what is supposedly the league's leakiest defence and worst side on paper, and it was the away side who looked the more likely after the goal. Rickie Lambert was continuing to play knock-downs and run the show from the top for the Saints because the QPR defence allowed him to. He caused havoc every time a ball was played into his path and forced a series of corners and sustained period of pressure, which eventually told when Morgan Schneiderlin was allowed to run from the right hand side in towards goal in a straight time and produce a killer ball into the area where Cesar was standing. For some reason he just loves the near post position, but unfortunately so do defenders and this time the near post guard role was duplicated by the keeper and defender. A comedy of errors then followed, where the lack of communication between the two lead to Scooby Doo putting through his own net to sum up his abject display. Ferdinand just hasn't looked like the player he did in his early QPR days and looks lazier by the week. I'll be glad when Stephane Mbia returns at Old Trafford next week, but his short fuse doesn't exactly fill me with confidence either!

This was a totally unacceptable, gutless, spineless display to round of a series of failings from the team, who are just as much to blame as their manager, don't get me wrong. But Hughes just had to go after this one, yet he hasn't! The lack of testing the opposition's keeper was what angered me most in this latest installment. The full time whistle was met by a chorus of boos and all players bar Mackie and Nelsen were snubbed by the fans at the end. QPR are now six points from safety and only twelve games have passed. Disgusting, especially given the outlay this Summer on players we didn't even need on the face of it, certainly not in our starting lineup!

But I guess all this negativity needs some perspective doesn't it? It was only ten years ago this weekend just gone that the R's suffered the ultimate humiliation, the lowest point in their history - Vauxhall Motors. I still get flashbacks to that today and with defending like we have done in recent times I wouldn't mind betting they would do us again now! Oh, and seeing as we're talking anniversaries, this weekend just gone also marked a year since our last win away from home in the league. Now that's perspective, as we have a true means of comparison in terms of resources. But not a comparable playing squad: we didn't have many big names or foreign 'next big things' in our lineup that day, we had a team of seasoned football league camapaigners who are renowned triers, many of whom had earned their right in the promotion winning season or through hard graft in long careers to play in the Premier League. And, Joey Barton and SWP aside, most were on modest wages. I can only imagine what we could have done with a Helguson or Smith in our side on Saturday, even an in-form DJ Campbell who has rediscovered his love for football again having been left in the wilderness by the club he supports and wants to play for! Neil, we were wrong, please come back and save us from Sparky and his overpaid bunch of layabouts!!

Man of the match: Ryan Nelsen - he plays on his own, you know. Feel massively sorry for him, as he's clearly a top pro and deserves to play in a team with top pro's, but has to make do with this bunch of big time Charlie's.

Groundhog Day at Loftus Road

Match Review: QPR 1-1 Reading

Queens Park Rangers are still winless after this 'must-win' fixture ended in a draw. Time for Hughes to go now surely? I'm beginning to think so...

The message from Mark Hughes at the end of last season was simple and clear: "For as long as I'm here, the club will not be in this situation (a relegation dogfight) again". Very bold at the time but yet fairly convincing when you consider the outlay and calibre of players coming through the revolving door at QPR over the Summer. But football has a nasty habit of making your words come back to haunt you...

Going into this round of fixtures (the 9th game of the season) the Hoops found themselves rooted to the bottom of the league. We've been told not to panic and to start with I admit I bought into the noises coming out of the club and was prepared to be patient. "We haven't had the rub of the green with decisions", "We're dominating games, we've just been unlucky", "We've had a difficult fixture list and played all of the top teams bar Manchester United in those nine games", "We've made several changes to the playing squad and it will take time for the team to click and us to discover our best formation". But surely after this game, the 'must win and will win' game as labelled by the pundits, the game where Anton Ferdinand and Jamie Mackie told us they 'knew what they had to do'; the spin machine which puts the PR in QPR must be running out of lines...

The worst thing about this plight is that much of it seems to be so avoidable - individual defensive errors, lack of discipline and playing one up front at home - I thought we'd cured all those woes last year when we finished the campaign so strongly (well at home at least) and secured our Premier League status. All of the above has returned in recent weeks and it is very alarming. 

"We'll win this week kids, I promise"

Hughes seems to have signed players with lots of experience (which was definitely needed) but what we didn't need were 'has-beens' which push out the bread and butter players because of their reputation alone. On paper these players looked great signings, but as one pundit commented at the time: "this team would have been challenging for top honours five years ago, not sure about now". Players like Djibril Cisse and Ji-Sung Park started their QPR careers so well but have faded somewhat and look lifeless at times in a league where extreme energy levels are demanded no matter what the opposition. And then there are some players whose QPR careers just haven't started at all (Shaun Wright-Phillips). And then there are the 'hot heads'. Mark Hughes seems to have a knack of picking players with highly volatile temperaments, who can go from being calm and composed in one minute to just plain ridiculous the next - Cisse, Diakite, Mbia and probably even Taarabt can be considered amongst that number. Finally, there are those that are just lazy and don't look interested - Bobby Zamora is arguably the worst offender of those and astonishingly (though perhaps unsurprisingly) in the week following this game, he was quoted in an interview as saying that he 'doesn't enjoy' playing football any more and just 'does it because it's a job'. That's not the sort of player any club needs and it is gut-wrenching to think how much money he is earning.

Anyway, on to this game itself. Reading started brightly and clearly came sensing that they would go home with something if their attitude was right on the day. They've already turned over QPR's first team at Loftus Road in the COC this season with a 3-2 victory and the tactics used by McDermott were almost carbon copied here. They pressured QPR and allowed them little space, whilst also identifying crossing from the wings and getting in behind the back line as their best plan of attack. Unbelievably, Hughes didn't seem to re-brief his side after the disastrous performance, individual and tactical errors against the Royals in that cup match, and Rangers were undone yet again by the man they let go - Kaspars Gorkss. Having already been unmarked for a header early on, he again was given the freedom of the penalty area he once defended for  Rangers and this time even had so much time to show the home crowd something we didn't know he had in his locker - an excellent volley which flew past Cesar, who couldn't possibly have foreseen it. From what I have seen of Gorkss so far this season (not just against QPR), he has been quite impressive defensively in a struggling side and Reading use his aerial prowess to ruffle the feathers of many teams when attacking set pieces. I really regret that we let him go in favour of keeping Fitz Hall and signing Anton Ferdinand last season and just wonder how many of our goals he could have prevented this year if he had played rather than Scooby Doo or Madman Mbia. 

Hughes and his coaching staff also clearly didn't do any homework on Reading's only real danger man from open play - Jobi McAnuff. His tricky wing play has caused plenty of problems this year and he was the shining light in their recent match against Liverpool. I just can't understand how we allowed him so much space to operate in the first half. Part of the reason he had so much space though was the decision to persevere with Jose Bosingwa, who has not looked like a player that has won the Champions League twice at all since pulling on the Hoops jersey for the first time. I'm starting to wonder whether Chelsea have set us up with the guy. But with Nedum Onuoha equally inept, and Luke Young not named in the 25 man squad, what choice do we have?

Rangers did their usual 'response in kind' after the goal had gone in and were unlucky not to level through Esteban Granero's stunning free-kick which Alex McCarthy, a keeper in the form of his life at the moment, somehow tipped it onto the bar. You just sensed at that moment that the crowd knew it wouldn't be QPR's day.

So 0-1 it was at a thoroughly depressed Loftus Road at half time in cold and wet conditions. Hoilett was toilet and the recalled Jamie Mackie, brought into the side after looking lively and dangerous against Arsenal at the Emirates a week before, was completely anonymous (still, better him than SWP). The real concern is that Reading were not and are not even good. If we can't beat a team whose best player is top end Championship standard at best, and with Jimmy Kebe and Pavel Pogrebnyak (two of their other best players) on the bench, then what hope have we got for the rest of the season that lies ahead? We were even making Mikele Leigertwood look good!!! This was soul destroying. 

The second half was better from Rangers and as we've come to expect, they dominated possession, played nice football and created some chances which were wasted, with Taarabt the particularly guilty party. The Moroccan has definitely looked better under Hughes in the Premier League than he did under Warnock but continues to entertain and frustrate in equal measure. He just had to finish a one-on-one with McCarthy which he had in this half. But he didn't.

When the equaliser did arrive, it did so out of nothing. The ball ricocheted its way to Djibril Cisse, whose initial heavy touch looked to have taken the chance away from him, but he then adjusted himself very well to poke the ball beyond Alex McCarthy for 1-1. For a few moments, the crowd were back with the home side and there was belief. How nice it would have been to see Hughes make a positive attacking change to the formation or personnel with the wind in our sails and the crowd in full voice. No chance of that, and after this brief excitement the game returned to being evenly fought in midfield.

Eventually, with ten minutes to go, Bobby Zamora (who should have started but presumably wasn't in the mood) was introduced and he made a difference, up against the lofty Gorkss and Morrison centre half pairing who had had no trouble dealing with QPR aerially all afternoon up until this point. 'Bobby Zee' really should have buried one in the closing stages when a rare counter attack culminated in a rare fantastic delivery from Djibril Cisse, but he failed to connect properly with the ball and despite bundling it goal-bound there was not enough contact on it to take it pass the grateful McCarthy who was disappointingly even able to catch it.

The Biscuitmen attempted to snatch all three points late on with the introduction of Adam Le Fondre, but in the five or so minutes that he was on the pitch he only embarrassed himself with a terrible dive which saw him rightly booked by referee Michael Oliver.

In conclusion, this was Groundhog Day at Loftus Road: same shit, different week, apart from the small milestone of there being no QPR bookings(!) A draw was a fair result because neither side really did enough to win the game, in what was a low quality affair which threatened to entertain towards the end of the second half when both sides went for it. A draw, of course, is no use to either side though.

Since this report, another Groundhog Day (the away version) has occurred at Stoke, whereby yet again one defensive lapse (shocking marking by Rangers saw three men gather around Crouch and leave Adam all alone at the back post), a lack of attacking threat or poor decision making (Taarabt attempting a chip when placement into the bottom corner was all that was required) have proved our downfall. On the road the script tends to be that in spite of having some (albeit limited) chances we have lost by the odd goal. That doesn't bode well, especially as our next two away games are at Manchester United and Sunderland, traditionally unhappy hunting grounds for the R's.

"What the hell am I doing playing here every week?"

Southampton picked up a point against Swansea to send us back to the foot of the table (they lifted us off it with their inferior goal difference on Monday night) and they are the next side to visit Loftus Road. So next week really really is your last chance, Sparky. Win or bust.

Man of the match: I don't really think anyone really covered themselves in glory in Hoops in this game. Samba Diakite still looks a cut above the others though, and showed once more that if he can keep his discipline, he is a fine central midfielder. He continues to keep the much loved Alejandro Faurlin out of the team with his performances of late and will continue to do so whilst Hughes persists with the same formation. The question is: Can we find another way to use Faurlin? He's clearly one of our most talented players who is obviously hating being on the bench but the Granero-Diakite combination is the one positive so far. 4-1-3-2 anyone?

C