QPR went down to the wire once again, dragging Bobby Zamora through the rapidly closing transfer window just before 11pm tonight. It concludes a purposeful January effort on the part of Mark Hughes. LFW assesses.
Facts: Bobby Zamora, 31, follows in a fine tradition of QPR players moving across Hammersmith Broadway from Craven Cottage. Rodney Marsh, Paul Parker and, errr, Dean Coney have all made the short trip from SW6 to W12 and Zamora will be hoping his move is remembered with the former two rather than the latter one. Zamora was one who got away for our former manager Ian Holloway during his time at Bristol Rovers who allowed him to join Brighton for £100,000 – 83 goals in 136 appearances later and he moved to Spurs for £1.5m. An unhappy spell there, just 18 appearances and one goal in eight months, saw him move to West Ham where he scored 40 goals in 152 appearances, winning promotion to the Premiership and reaching the FA Cup final. Fulham paid £4.8m for him in July 2008 and he was part of the side that made the Europa League Final under Roy Hodgson. He scored 37 goals in 135 Fulham appearances. He joins QPR for £4.5m on a two and a half year deal and will wear 52, the reverse of his 25 squad number at Fulham.
Quotes: “Bobby is a guy that makes things happen on the pitch, be it scoring goals or creating chances for others. He's a great foil for any team. We needed a player of his ilk at the football club and I couldn't be more delighted. He was the difference for us at Fulham last season. He came back from injury and he made such an impact in the second half of the campaign. He's got great power and pace and his technical ability is top class. He's got an excellent left foot." -Mark Hughes
“QPR are certainly a club that are looking to go forward. That's something that I'm looking forward to being a part of. I got on really well with the Manager at Fulham. We all grew to like Mark. I think that will be the case here. He's looking to take the club forward. I think this was the right time for me to have a fresh challenge. I had some great experiences at Fulham. Going to a European final is special. But this is a new challenge for myself and I'm thoroughly looking forward to it." -Bobby Zamora
Opinion: During some down time in New York last week I took myself off to see the sights and found my way to Madison Square Garden where (wouldn’t you just know it?) there was some live sporting action about to start. Ok, it was basketball which I view with the same sort of contempt as Rugby Union and Scottish “football” but after several days of reporting on television conferences in hotel ballrooms I felt I needed to get some actual sport into me just to preserve sanity before the mad overnight dash back to watch us lose to Chelsea on Saturday. And it was only $20 to get in, which you can’t complain about.
Basketball is a sport where everybody scores every time they go forward until, much like the transfer window, they suddenly start taking things seriously and introducing some tactics with about 15 seconds left to go. The Arsenal fans reading this will be glad to know that even though this is the case, people still left early to “beat the traffic.” When a sport that can happily finish 116-110 if the teams are in the mood for it is so popular it’s not hard to see why football (or soccer) has never really taken off in the States. Playing for 90 minutes and ending up 0-0 is hard for them to comprehend, so don’t expect Bobby Zamora to end up in the MLS any time soon – I fear the concept of a striker that doesn’t score goals would be all too much for the American public to bear.
This non-scoring striker who wins his place in the team through a better than average hold-up –and-lay game and decent assists tally has become fashionable in this country in recent years. Kevin Davies is the best example at Bolton but as teams have increasingly set their stall out not to lose games in the Premiership, rather than to go out and win them, the unselfish work of a less than prolific lone striker has become sought after by managers.
Bobby Zamora is certainly one of these – 37 goals in 135 Fulham appearances is slightly better than one every four games, and not exactly prolific. He has seven goals in 30 appearances this season, including two against Northern Irish side Crusaders in a preliminary round of the Europa League. Now you may think, having watched QPR score just 22 goals in 22 league games this season and look pretty toothless once again against Chelsea at the weekend, that a striker who doesn’t score many goals is the last thing we need. In my opinion you’d be wrong.
In Heidar Helguson we’ve actually got one of the league’s most prolific strikers this season – nine goals in 18 games, exactly one in two, a fabulous record given his age and the performance of the team around him. Goals from strikers haven’t necessarily been the main problem, although it’s certainly an issue with only Helguson scoring and his fellow forwards contributing almost nothing between them. The main problem, goalscoring wise, has been midfield players chipping in with five or six each as you would hope for. Our starting midfield four on Saturday (Barton, Buzsaky, Wright-Phillips and Mackie) have just six between them this season from 70 combined appearances. Expect that to change with Zamora up front.
You may also think that Zamora, regardless of his goal tally, isn’t actually that good. I’ve seen as many comments from QPR fans today non-plussed with this signing as I have from those who are positive about it. Zamora has been repeatedly mentioned in connection with us since we were promoted, and repeatedly written off as “crap” by a good portion of our online support. I think there’s an element of running before we can walk about all of this.
Some people see the Mittal family, Tony Fernandes and a London location and start thinking that Carlos Tevez should be walking down the Uxbridge Road to see the Queens Park Rangers at any moment. I’ve seen this January suggestions that players would always choose QPR over Newcastle United because of location and other factors. This ignores our precarious Premiership status after 15 years in the lower divisions, our stadium, our training facilities, and all common sense.
The trick is to progress. Given that this morning we were all set to start at Aston Villa tonight with Rob Hulse up front (and still might) it’s hard to argue that Bobby Zamora is not a progression on what we already have. He’s not the greatest player in the league, he’s technically lacking in some key areas, and at 31 years of age whatever money we’re committing to him is essentially dead.
But let’s consider Stoke City for a moment here. This summer they signed Peter Crouch – excellent player, consistent scorer of goals at the top level, England international, in his prime. QPR could probably have afforded the transfer fee and the wages but you don’t go from signing Shaun Derry and Clint Hill in the Championship to bringing in Peter Crouch in 12 months. Hell, Robinho apart, even Man City signed people like Roque Santa Cruz and our own Shaun Wright-Phillips before progressing onto the likes of Sergio Aguero and David Silva. When Stoke were first promoted they signed Dave Kitson and James Beattie. A season later they signed Tuncay. Then a season later Kenwynne Jones. And now they sign people like Peter Crouch.
At the moment we sign Bobby Zamora to keep us in the division. Once our name is written here in ink rather than feint lead then you start to look at better. But for now, Zamora is a fine signing.
Facts: French international (41 caps, nine goals) Cisse first shot to fame at Auxerre for whom he scored 70 times in 113 starts and 17 sub appearances between 1998 and 2004. The form persuaded Liverpool to pay a whopping £14m for his services in July 2004 but he was quickly floored by a horrific broken leg suffered in a match at Blackburn Rovers. Once he returned he scored 24 goals in 78 appearances including nine in ten European starts. He subsequently returned to France, initially on loan, to join Marseille for £6m where he averaged a goal every other game and quickly won a loan move back to England with Sunderland. He stayed for the 2008/09 season scoring 10 Premiership goals in 29 starts and six substitute appearances. Marseille sold him to Greek side Panathinaikos for £7m in 2009 and his goalscoring record in Greece was phenomenal – 43 goals in 54 starts and a sub appearance. Lazio paid £3m for him last summer and although his record of one goal from 48 shots is the worst in Serie A this season he has been playing wide left for most of his 13 starts and five sub appearances. The £4m QPR have spent on him, on a two and a half year contract, takes the career spend on him to £34m.
Quotes: “He's a huge threat to oppositions' defences. He's got great pace, power and movement and that's something we will hopefully benefit from. His goal record is there for everyone to see. He's scored goals wherever he's played. He was desperate to come here once we showed our interest in him and we can't wait to get the best out of him." – Mark Hughes.
"When I talked to the manager, he spoke highly of the club and where he wants to take it over the next few years. He wanted to sign me at Manchester City and now I am finally here with him at QPR. He wants to achieve big things here - that was all I needed to hear from him. I have unfinished business here in England. The English league is the best in the world. It is the league that suits me the most." – Djibril Cisse.
Opinion: Wow, full French internationals we’re signing now. I remember the days when we signed George Santos, who was sort of French.
The thing about that Santos deal I remember the most was the sudden influx of Ipswich fans onto our message board desperate to tell us what an absolutely dreadful player we’d taken off their hands and how happy they were about it. QPR fans, including LoftforWords official photographer (not a salaried position) Neil Dejyothin will tell you to this day that they were exactly right and Santos was bloody terrible.
But I thought it harsh at the time and still do. Santos had indeed been dreadful for Ipswich, but he won that move to Portman Road with some fantastic performances for Grimsby Town where I’d seen a lot of him and he’d won the fans’ Player of the Year award. At QPR I thought he was a good signing for a newly promoted team and, while certainly unpredictable and erratic, did an excellent job for Ian Holloway for the first season at least. So I’ve never been one to place that much stock in the extreme opinions of opposition fans about a player we sign from them.
However, I have to say that I’ve taken a good deal of satisfaction from reading the comments of supporters at Liverpool and Sunderland about Djibril Cisse today. Sunderland fans have been stating their jealousy of the Onouha and Cisse signings and saying they’d have them both back in a second, while I even saw one Tweet from Merseyside saying he’d rather have the Frenchman back than complete the rumoured signing of Jermaine Defoe from Spurs. Clearly he’s three slates short of a water tight roof but the sentiment is encouraging.
Indeed his tally of one goal from 48 shots is the worst in Serie A this season, admittedly from a deeper left wing position that Lazio have often used him in. If QPR are also signing Bobby Zamora, another striker who’s not exactly prolific, then it stands to reason they’re expecting the former Fulham man to be the link guy and Cisse to be the goal getter. And like Zamora, any money we’re committing to Cisse as a transfer fee, signing on fee or wage is essentially dead because he will have little sell on value to us on a two and a half year deal at 30 years of age. A concern.
But Cisse has scored goals wherever he’s been – 175 in 395 games is a goal every two and a bit games and is very encouraging. And that character and overly committed playing style will make him a real favourite with QPR fans. If we get him fit and firing I think this is a potential master stroke.
Facts: Diakite is a 23-year old Mali international currently playing for his country at the African Nations Cup, where he has made his international debut. He spent his youth career with Le Bourget and Torcy in France before joining Nancy with whom he has made just shy of 50 appearances. QPR have signed him on loan until the end of the season and will pay around £3m to sign him permanently in the summer if they remain in the Premiership.
Quotes: “Samba is a young player who has made an impression on French football. There's been a lot of interest in him from top clubs in France so we've done well to get him. He's a good age and has strength and power. He can carry the ball and score goals from midfield. He will give us more physical presence and athleticism in the middle of the park." – Mark Hughes
Opinion: Ok, hands up, I could write this one up on the back of a postage stamp with a thick pen. Diakite, like all the other Mark Hughes signings, is a big, physical, athletic player and comes into a central midfield area where the loss of Alejandro Faurlin has left us short – particularly with Akos Buzsaky continually troubled by his Achilles.
Even when Faurlin was playing QPR developed an unhappy knack this season of conceding goals from players running unchecked over vast differences through the heart of our team. Chelsea got one on Saturday, West Brom scored an equaliser after Chris Brunt had moved forwards 50 yards with possession, Michael Carrick had enough time to finish the chance himself after doing likewise for Man Utd. There has been no cynical brute force, no athleticism, no enforcer in there to stop this happening. Shaun Derry did it well in the Championship last season and started well this term but has come up short overall.
One can only hope that Diakite is that man, but this really is a total wait and see case, which means a loan deal with a view to a permanent move is an eminently sensible route to go down.
Facts: Onuoha made his Manchester City debut as an 18 year old in the League Cup against Arsenal after graduating from the club’s prolific youth academy. He signed professional terms shortly after this. He scored within five minutes of his debut for England’s Under 20 side against Russia and has 21 England Under 21 caps to his name, although he was born in Nigeria. He enjoyed a season long loan deal with Sunderland last term, making 31 Premiership starts and scoring one memorable goal at Chelsea. In all he has 148 senior appearances to his name with the Black Cats and Man City. QPR have signed him on a four and a half year contract for an undisclosed fee believed to be around the £3m mark and he will wear squad number 42.
Quotes: "Nedum is a player I know well. He did very well for me at Man City and played a number of games, probably more than under any other manager. He is very versatile. He can play centre-back or right-back, and has good pace. He is a very good addition to the squad. I think he is more than competent in both positions. As a centre-back, he is strong and quick, and he can attack the ball. In the full-back position, he can get forward and use his pace in wider areas, so he's a great player for us to have. He offers versatility, which I like." - Mark Hughes
“This was the right time for me to join a club like QPR. The manager obviously played a massive factor in my decision to come here. I've worked with him before and he always wants players around him who are open and honest. He wouldn't have come here if he didn't believe that there was a squad of players here that can achieve the goals he has. The ambition of the owners was really appealing. This is my club now and I'll give everything to help us succeed." -Nedum Onuoha
Opinion: I’ve mentioned twice now, with the Djibril Cisse and Bobby Zamora signings, the concept of ‘dead money’. QPR will commit a substantial amount of cash to both those players in the hope that they possess sufficient fire power to secure our place in the Premier League and will therefore recoup the cash from the television money and prize cash that top flight status brings.
It’s all rather Portsmouth and Leeds though for those of us who view the glass as half empty. Money you don’t have on players you can’t afford gambling on them bringing you future success to pay for themselves is a model that has, in the past, worked to spectacular affect for a short period of time and then brought several bigger clubs than ourselves to their knees in the medium term. It’s a necessary evil for QPR this January if they do want to stay in the top flight, I don’t think we’re capable of doing so with the strikers we had at the start of today, but it’s a concern all the same.
How absolutely bloody marvellous it is, therefore, to see Nedum Onuoha striding through the main reception at Loftus Road. There is nothing whatsoever to dislike about this kid. Aged 25 he has his best years ahead of him, potentially another decade in the top two divisions if he can steer clear of injury. He has a sack load of England Under 21 caps to his name, and almost 150 appearances for two top level clubs Man City and Sunderland neither of whom have a bad word to say about him. He’s versatile enough to play anywhere along the back four, and comfortable enough on the ball to pose a serious attacking threat as we saw with his memorable goal for the Mackems at Chelsea last season.
He’s advised by his mum, a doctor, rather than some greedy, money grabbing agent and as you would expect of a young man from a background like that he comes across as a grounded, intelligent, likeable guy. How refreshing was it to listen to a QPR Player interview with a player who can string a sentence together, who seems clued up and aware, who isn’t wearing a wide brimmed baseball cap and giant earphones, and who doesn’t treat ‘you know’ as a form of punctuation?
QPR were linked with Alex and Chris Samba this January and missed out on both. Signing a younger, more versatile, quality English defender for a transfer fee roughly a third of what I believe him t be worth on a four and a half year contract trumps both deals. This is potentially one of the greatest signings QPR have made in the modern era, I’m absolutely delighted with it.
Facts: Nigerian international Taye Taiwo came to the attention of European scouts in French Ligue 1 at Marseille where he developed a reputation as a powerful, attacking left back with a fearsome shot from dead ball situations. Marseille signed him from Nigerian side Lobi Stars in 2005 to replace French international Bixente Lizarazu when he left to join Bayern Munich. Big boots to fill but Taiwo became a cult hero at the Stade Velodrome developing a reputation for scoring spectacular, crucial goals including the winner in the 2011 French cup final against Montpellier after which he took hold of the stadium microphone and let rip an anti-homosexual rant directed at Marseille’s big rivals Paris SG. He escaped a ban, and last summer moved to Italy to join AC Milan. He joins QPR on loan until the end of the season with a view to a permanent deal and will wear squad number 36.
Quotes: “It's a new and exciting challenge for me and one I am very much looking forward to. I know only hard work, good performance, dedication, and passion will connect me with the fans but I'm prepared. I'm looking forward to what lies ahead and I'm prepared to give my all to the QPR cause." – Taye Taiwo
“I have known of him for a long time and admired him from afar. To get him now is a fantastic coup and a real statement of intent that we can attract the quality of player that he is. I am looking forward to working with him." – Mark Hughes
Opinion: I know only slightly more about Taiwo than I do about Diakite but let’s deal with what we can say for certain.
Taiwo was excellent last season for Marseille and subsequently earned a move to AC Milan. Now Milan and Italian football in general aren’t what they used to be but you don’t get a big summer move to the San Siro if you’re a dud and clearly from his performances in France last season he’s got plenty about him. He’ll also make our attacking free kicks more interesting than they are at the moment, with a shot capable of demolishing Victorian railway stations.
Like all of Mark Hughes’ signings this window Taiwo is a big, athletic, physical force and it’s clear that Hughes has quickly identified a lack of pace and presence about the QPR squad he has inherited. Lined up together his five signings this January look like the favourites for the Olympic 100m sprint. And like Cisse and Onouha, and who knows maybe Diakite as well, it seems as though Taiwo is sound character, the kind you want around your dressing room. There has been much talk of playing with a smile on his face.
He comes into a left back spot that is currently being held by Clint Hill in the absence of Armand Traore. It’s been my opinion, and the opinion of many others at Rangers, for sometime that Traore would actually be better served playing further forward as a left winger. When he played there at Stoke earlier this season he had his best game for Rangers and set up a fabulous Heidar Helguson goal with a terrific left footed cross from the byline. With Wright-Phillips currently playing there and insisting on cutting back onto his right foot at every possible opportunity I’m not sure we’ve reached the byline down that flank since and Traore moving there, having impressed there on loan at Portsmouth previously, would be a great improvement for me.
Add in a powerful overlapping left full back like Taiwo and suddenly our team looks more balanced, with two left footers down that side, more solid defensively and more threatening on the attack. Having watched Aston Villa stick almost exclusively to their left flank at Arsenal on Sunday, leaving the right side wide open, it would be wonderful if we could get the pair of them on the field on Wednesday night for the first time but I’d suggest it’s unlikely. All in all though, promising.
Facts: Obviously Macheda has already made two starts and three sub appearances for QPR since signing from Man Utd on a half season loan on the first day of the transfer window – he was Neil Warnock’s last signing as manager. Similarly he spent the second half of last season on loan with Serie A Sampdoria but he made only three starts, and 11 sub appearances, without scoring as they were relegated. Previously he scored five times in 33 appearances for Man Utd, including a spectacular last minute winner in a 3-2 home win against Aston Villa. Now 20 years old, United initially signed him as a junior player from Lazio.
Quotes: “I need to step up now and become a real player. I do not know about my future, my future is not important now, what is important is QPR. I'm not the one who is going to change things. I'm here to help the team but I am not God, I'm not going to change the team from one day to another. When I have the chance, I will try my best to help the team, that's it. I think we play in the best league in the world. I've come here to work very hard, and to fight for my place." – Federico Macheda
Opinion: Neil Warnock made some superb buys for QPR during his near-two year spell as manager, and so it’s a shame that he ended his reign by loaning Federico Macheda from Manchester United.
Those are the two key words to all of this; Manchester and United. Or rather, Alex and Ferguson. Alex Ferguson richly deserves his reputation as a fine football manager, judger of talent and coacher of players. You wouldn’t really want to get into a ‘show me your medals’ contest with the veteran Scottish boss and his record really does speak for itself. But players like William Prunier and Massimo Taibi serve as warning that Alex Ferguson doesn’t always get it right.
QPR have been stung by this Alex Ferguson syndrome before. If Fergie has seen something in him, he must be alright. If he got a contract at Manchester United, he must have something about him. Daniel Nardiello, John Curtis, Nick Culkin and now, in all likelihood, Federico Macheda. That Warnock seemed to be placing so much faith in this boy to fire us to safety sadly tells me that maybe the time was right for him to go.
Macheda has the extra attraction of having once scored a very famous goal for Manchester United, in the very last second of a 3-2 home win against Aston Villa live on Sky Sports. Everybody saw it and it looked as though a star was born. He has done nothing since, but that doesn’t matter. The fact is were Macheda a Bolton Wanderers player with one career goal to his name then nobody north of Macclesfield Town in the league tables would think twice about taking him on loan.
He wouldn’t be in the Bolton team either because he’s simply not good enough. He has a first touch that I’ll kindly describe as inconsistent and a work rate that can only be described as an embarrassment to his profession. Macheda doesn’t help himself. You can trot out all the bloody examples you like about Zinedine Zidane, Johan Cruyff, Stan Bowles and whoever but the fact is if you’re a smoker, you’re not as fit as you would be if you were a non-smoker. Macheda was walking around the halfway line blowing heavily on Saturday after an hour – understandable perhaps, had he not only played 15 minutes of that hour. I’m not advocating a Jamie Mackie level of extreme fitness and work rate here but some gentle jogging around when not in possession would not go a miss.
You can talk to me about the lack of service he is receiving, and you’d be right. You could also say that he replaced a very different player in Heidar Helguson against Chelsea and was never going to be able to come in and do the same job, and again you’d be right. You can tell me he needs more game time in his legs, and that he looked quite threatening when played in a deeper lying wide left position in the away game against MK Dons and I’d agree with you. And of course I’d like nothing more than for him to notch seven or eight goals between now and May and return to Manchester as this season’s Kyle Walker or Mark Kennedy loan hero.
But it’s not going to happen, because he’s not very good. The only two positives I see in this guy are his age, which means he doesn’t count on our 25 man squad quota, and the fact that we weren’t conned into signing him permanently. I’d drive him back to Manchester myself.
Links >>> Onuoha on QPR move >>> Taiwo free kick >>> Diakite goal >>> Cisse’s 22 Panathinaikos goals >>> Cisse Sunderland highlights >>> Macheda last minute Man Utd goal
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