QPR’s attempts to rip up their squad list and start all over again continues apace with the departure of Anton Ferdinand. Problem is, there’s the minor inconvenience of matches to play in the meantime.
Championship >>> Saturday August 10, 2013 >>> Kick Off 3pm >>> John Smith’s Stadium, Huddersfield
Summer deadline day 2013 is starting to shape up like a ‘last chopper out of Saigon’ situation down at Loftus Road as the scramble to escape gathers momentum.
Anton Ferdinand is the latest heading out after his contract was torn up by mutual agreement — he's now likely to return to Turkey where he spent the second half of last season on loan. That particular country's reputation as the refuse skip of European football grows with each passing transfer and Rangers have successfully offloaded two dreadful players there this summer.
It's hard to hold the same vitriol for Ferdinand as Jose Bosingwa though. He's always been a poor footballer, kept well above his level for a ridiculously long period of time by his surname, but unlike the vast majority of the new arrivals during QPR's time in the Premier League he was never found wanting for effort. Ferdinand wanted to play well for QPR, and tried his best to do so, but simply wasn't good enough.
Credit to Harry Redknapp and the board, they're successfully shifting the unshiftable — although given that it's mostly via loan deals and agreements to terminate deals it's sure to be costing them a pretty penny to do it. Good. It's all very well talking about learning lessons from last season but nothing will bring home just how wide of the mark Rangers were with their strategy over the past 18 months than handing out millions of pounds to players for them to not play for QPR anymore. What was it Tony Fernandes said earlier this summer about being in a position to trade?
Some problem children remain. Esteban Granero's agent is working jolly hard, having him linked with all manner of implausible moves to Premier League teams he presumably thinks weren't watching much of QPR, or his client, last season. Julio Cesar, despite it being a World Cup year, is in no rush to go off and find first team football for any less than the extortionate wage QPR were stupid enough to hand him a year ago. Stephane Mbia is knocking around somewhere with Samba Diakite — a frightening thought in more ways than one — and Armand Traore's amateur performance on the opening day against Sheff Wed followed by his fortnightly non-existent injury ruling him out of an away trip appears to have been the final act of his QPR career as well. Get that Turkish contacts book out again.
Joey Barton meanwhile seems to have decided he might like to stay. The QPR fans willing to forget almost everything he's done on and off the pitch for the last two years and chant his name like some sort of returning hero while he attempts to sweat his excess weight off in the opening games of the season will be delighted and tell you how brilliant he is. In actual fact his continued presence here is entirely down to the fact that almost nobody else wants him, and those that do aren't willing to pay what he's on at QPR. All that early summer talk from him of only caring about football and not money seems so long ago now.
Through all of this QPR have managed to win both of their opening games. That's creditable, and very important. There are a lot of people out there in the media keen to give the club a kicking, a lot of supporters of other clubs hoping that the big spending Rangers crash and burn, and maybe even a few supposed QPR fans secretly keen to give it the big "I told you so." Confidence and spirit takes time to build and will be fragile after the disaster that was 2012/13 so a winning start was vital. Defeat in either of the two games played so far would have had knives drawn.
But it's nothing to get carried away with. Sheffield Wednesday could easily have taken a point or more at Loftus Road last week and they're one of the division's poorer teams. Exeter were diabolical on Tuesday but still had two very decent penalty appeals and a spell in the second half where they threatened to fight their way back into a game that QPR should have buried before the half hour mark. August from here is tough on paper, starting with an away trip to a side keen to avoid last year's struggles and then three matches (two of them on the road) against sides likely to be chasing promotion this term. Having apparently given up on Traore, Redknapp is talking about moving his right back Danny Simpson to left back and selecting a midfield player in Gary O'Neil at right back. That highlights that this is still not a squad well equipped for the rigours of this division — an injury to Junior Hoilett, Andy Johnson or Nedum Onuoha would be catastrophic as things stand.
Three weeks of the transfer window remain and in all likelihood the team will be very different come September 3 from what it is now. In the meantime Rangers can only pick up as many points as possible and, although a trip up north to face Huddersfield and their very competent manager Mark Robins in their first home game will be tricky, Rangers shouldn't really be losing the game, even with their present team, if things are improving as fast as they'd like us all to believe.
Links >>> http://www.fansnetwork.co.uk/football/queensparkrangers/news/32468/huddersfield- Focus >>> http://www.fansnetwork.co.uk/football/queensparkrangers/news/32467/alan-mcdonald >>> Referee >>> Travel Guide >>> http://www.fansnetwork.co.uk/football/queensparkrangers/news/32478>Betting
Last time out — Paul Furlong celebrates the first of his two goals as QPR win 3-0 at Huddersfield in the 2002/03 season. The R’s went on to lose the Second Division play off final, while Huddersfield were relegated.
Team News: So with the ever-fragile Armand Traore ruled out once more, and unlikely to play for the club again it seems, it leaves Harry Redknapp facing a choice between picking South Korean Yun Suk-Young in the league for the first time or rejigging the set up altogether and moving Danny Simpson across with either Karl Henry or Gary O'Neil on debut filling in at right back. Nedum Onuoha is certain to be recalled at centre back, probably for Richard Dunne who looked more pub landlord than centre half on Tuesday night at Exeter. The other question mark is over the strike force where anybody with eyes in their head can see that Charlie Austin and Andy Johnson is the first choice partnership, but will Harry drop is beloved Bobby Zamora to make it happen?
Here's a piece of news sure to strike fear into the hearts of QPR fans everywhere: Jon Stead is being lined up for the first start of his second spell with the Terriers after completing 30 minutes in the League Cup win against Bradford during the week. More on Stead's goal scoring prowess against Rangers over the years shortly. Midfielders Keith Southern (calf) and Anton Robinson (knee), as well as defender Calum Woods (collarbone) are all out.
Elsewhere: The televised game in the Championship this weekend is at 4.30 on Sunday and it's Leicester v Leeds — one of three fixtures Brian McDermott's side have on television in the opening month of the season alone. Big club, Champions of Europe — etc.
That leaves the rest of us mere mortals to cope with a Saturday 3pm kick off of which the battle between promotion hopefuls Bolton and Reading in Lancashire is probably the pick.
Three fixtures really intrigue me in the Championship this weekend. First of all is a first home game ever at this level for everybody's relegation tips Yeovil against former Premier League side Birmingham . Now the Glovers started with a win at Millwall against the odds on day one and I fancy Birmingham to struggle badly this year after a massive talent drain during this summer's transfer window amid continuing financial difficulties. Don't bet against a home win there. Charlton v Middlesbrough also holds interest, if only because the latter's quest to get back in the Premier League looks as far away from success as ever with home defeats to Leicester and Accrington already under their belts this season. And what of crisis club Blackburn who deserved more than a draw at Derby last week but then lost at Carlisle in the League Cup who had just been thrashed at home by Orient in League One? They host another promotion hopeful Nottingham Forest in their first home match.
Blackpool v Barnsley looks like an early relegation six pointer to me — watching Pool on Monday at Preston it's hard to imagine how they'd function at all, never mind win and compete, without Tom Ince. Millwall, another team I think could go down, started with defeat to Yeovil and now go to Mick McCarthy's Ipswich who lost on the opening day but should be strong this year.
Rattling through the rest Brighton host Derby , Sheff Wed play Burnley and Bournemouth go to Watford . No game for Wigan this weekend owing to the Charity Shield for which I gather they've sold a pathetic 5,000 tickets.
Referee: Andy Haines from Tyne and Wear is in charge this weekend, something of a culture shock for him given that he's only previously been allowed to referee QPR in away games at Preston. Both his previous R's appointments came at Deepdale in 2009/10 and 2010/11 and both finished in draws. His last Huddersfield game was a 2-2 draw at Rochdale in League One. A full QPR case file is available http://www.fansnetwork.co.uk/football/queensparkrangers/news/32464/haines-in-cha
Huddersfield : If you're betting this weekend then a draw may not be a bad call in this one. Town tied ten of their 23 home matches last season, the most of any side in the division, and have drawn their last three opening home league games of the season. They haven't been beaten in their first home game of a season for ten years. And they have Jon Stead back on their side this season, which given his mediocre record over the past few years should really be scaring anybody at this level but for QPR it’s almost a guarantee of a goal against before we’ve even kicked off. Stead has six goals in his last six appearances against Rangers — five for Ipswich and one for Bristol City. Hull, Charlton, Wigan, Leeds, Brighton, Leicester and Watford all won on this ground last season. Huddersfield’s 73 goals conceded last season was by far the worst record of the non-relegated sides last term.
QPR: Rangers start to seasons on the road is almost as formidable as Huddersfield 's is at home. The R's haven't lost their first away game in the league for the last five years — even during last year's catastrophe they drew 1-1 at Norwich in the second week of the campaign. Tongue in cheek, but QPR are still onto equal that club record start of 19 games without defeat from the 2010/11 season that ultimately led to them winning this division. Long way to go yet of course. Last season Rangers won two, drew five and lost 12 of their away games in the Premier League.
Prediction: Last season’s Prediction League winner Mase tells us…
"Short one from me this week owing to work, but to me our start to the season has been a lot better than I expected. Players are giving the usual platitudes in their sound bites and the more modest opposition at this level seems to have allowed confidence to build in the squad. A match up north should soon test the resolve of our fissiparous squad but I don't think that will be threatened on Saturday. In short, I can see a good opportunity for a result here.
Mase’s Prediction - 2-1 win, first scorer Andy Johnson
LFW Prediction — 2-2 Johnson first QPR goal
Tweet @loftforwords
Pictures — Action Images