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...
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.
