Frantic search for winning formula continues v Villa - Preview Saturday, 17th Dec 2016 12:00 by Clive Whittingham QPR, plummeting down the league on a run of four straight defeats, face Aston Villa at Loftus Road during breakfast on Sunday. Queens Park Rangers (6-5-10, 18th) v Aston Villa (6-10-5, 13th)Mercantile Credit Trophy >>> Sunday December 18, 2016 >>> 12 noon kick off :-| >>> Weather — Cloudy, cold, dry >>> Loftus Road, London, W12 Funny how it turns out isn’t it? A month ago QPR were ten points from the drop zone and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink was packing his bags, ostensibly because his football was boring. Gary Rowett was turning the job down, because why on earth would Gary Rowett leave Birmingham where his powers apparently know no bounds and another play off push is on the cards. Ian Holloway was hired instead, because it least it wouldn’t be dull and QPR might attack with some numbers and width. Rowett has been sacked and is freely available to hire with no compensation in probably the worst example of Championship foreign owner fuckwittery we’ve seen yet (long old list that one). And Holloway’s team, steadfastly playing without a winger at all, has scored one goal in four matches, losing all of them, to drop to just three points over the drop zone. A defeat to an improving Aston Villa on Sunday, and again at high-flying Brighton after Christmas and the idea of being midtable but a bit bored will feel like a pipe dream to the few QPR fans still attending the matches. By ‘funny’ I of course mean crying uncontrollably on the way home from work each day and asking random people on the Northern Line to come home and hold me because I don’t want to be alone tonight. And by ‘turns out’ I mean five matches, for that is all it’s been — although as QPR managers tend to only get between 30 and 40 games these days that’s actually quite a significant percentage bitten off already and Holloway’s credit is being spent fast with each passing weird and wonderful team selection. Ollie’s previous five year stint as manager here was punctuated by huge troughs in form which were turned around without changing the manager (imagine that). Those about turns were often sparked by an unexpected new arrival in the team. In 2001/02 it was the return of Kevin Gallen immediately after 4-0 FA Cup loss to Third Division Swansea. Gallen, QPR fan, modern day QPR legend, lifted the place immediately and was an absolute class apart at that level — Rangers immediately beat Swindon 4-0 and off they went again. In 2002/03 it was first of all the signing of Lee Cook on loan from Watford, another player far too good for the level we were playing at but nevertheless attracted to Loftus Road by a long time affinity with the club. But, equally importantly, Gino Padula finally got a run in the side. Ignored for the first half of the season, with Tommy Williams playing left back, the Argentinean got into the team around this time of year and was man of the match in a home win against Barnsley. The hair, the style, the cultured left foot, the passion — he became an overnight success, lifting the crowd, improving the team, balancing the defence, improving the set pieces and so on. The idea that this group of players is good enough, is capable of much better, if only they were selected in the right system and had a bit more confidence and belief about them — which, correct me if I’m wrong, was the whole reason and logic behind the Hasselbaink sacking — is starting to look a little fanciful. I’m happy to keep buying into it for a little while yet — simply because we haven’t seen this team with Shodipo one side, Ngbakoto or Wzsolek the other, Washington up front with either Polter or Sylla and an old-style get it wide and get it in there attack utilised. There must be a reason for that, I can’t for the life of me figure it out, but that’s why I sit shrowded in alcohol fumes in F Block and the professionals are down below me. I wonder (hope, desperately) if that new face in the team, form dramatically turns around moment might occur for Holloway a third time in the coming weeks. Sylla and Polter are both, apparently, nursing injuries, though the jungle drums were beating a very different story around the pubs of Shepherd’s Bush on Wednesday night with regards to both of them. Maybe salvation lies there. Sylla, begrudgingly recalled, up front alongside Washington, Mariah Carey belting out Hero, feeding on service from Shodipo/Wzsolek/Ngbakoto who are finally picked from the start in wide areas because we’ve tried everything else apart from this, that can spark us off once more. Or, you know, maybe we’re going to be in League One next season. At least we’ll have some new grounds to tick off. Links >>> Howe’s Rangers hold title chasing Villa — History/a> >>> Bruce addressing Villa issues — Interview >>> Eltringham gets first QPR match — Referee Highlights of our 2-0 victory over Villa last time we met at Loftus Road, but with Italian language commentary? Of course, coming right up. SundayTeam News: Lots of usual suspects here — Jamie Mackie is back in training and may make the bench, Jack Robinson has knacked his hamstring again, Jordan Cousins pulled up late in the Derby game and is unlikely to feature, Steven Caulker has an ongoing hip problem. Intrigue grows over Seb Polter, who is stuck to the bench, and Idrissa Sylla, who doesn’t even get that far at the moment, with Conor Washington ill-suited to ploughing the lone furrow up top. Nathan Baker (thrush) remains sidelined for Villa but they have no new fitness worries following the midweek defeat at Norwich. Elsewhere: A mixture of an office Christmas party that ended with a colleague cycling under a bus, a Sunday breakfast kick off for our hooped waifs and strays, a delayed midweek match to Wednesday and the Championship’s insistence on playing a game every fucking day of the week means today’s preview is brought to you from the bleary-eyed, hungover darkness of Saturday morning rather than the wild-eyed, doing stupid things with your mobile phone self destruction of Friday evening. That does mean that this latest 3,754th round of second tier action has already begun with Norwich losing at home to Borussia Huddersfield last night. Now, this section is usually here to take the piss, but being serious for a moment if you didn’t watch that 2-1 win for the Yorkshire side last night then either find some extended highlights or make sure you catch a game of theirs soon — wonderful to watch, brilliant going forward, completely dominant in the game. It was a real treat from a team operating on a fraction of the budget of most of the rest of the division. Alex Neil hangs by a thread as a result with the Carrot Crunchers now down in tenth. Oh to be only tenth eh? Ungrateful bastards. Still, over at Brum they’ve sacked Gary Rowett this week despite winning against Ipswich on Tuesday and climbing to seventh. In proper ‘game’s gone’ news, they replaced him immediately with Gianfranco Zola whose manner, style of play, lack of height, first touch and happy smile made him hard to dislike even when he was banging goals in for Big Racist John and the Boys down the road but more recently has formed an intensely dislikeable technique of following whichever rich foreign idiot has been allowed to buy one of this country’s historic football clubs now and sniffing round other manager’s jobs. Rowett, who has hauled Birmingham up from near relegation and financial oblivion and turned them into a play-off contender while halving his playing budget, and then halving it again, will walk into another job. Brum deserve everything they get in his absence, hopefully starting with a nice heavy home defeat to Promoted Brighton in the TV game this evening. That leaves nine matches in the fabled 15.00 slot which we’ll rattle through quickly having wittered on for too long already. The Mad Indian Chicken Farmers are at home to Reading (tickets like hot cakes for that one I imagine), Nigel Clough’s Burton Albion are at home to Champions Newcastle and the Seventh Annual Neil Warnock Farewell Tour hosts Barnsley. Tarquin and Rupert cut the velvet rope on the Craven Cottage Gin Bar (again, I know we take the piss in this bit, but it's absolutely true) at their home match with Derby Sheep. The Sheffield Owls and Relegated Rotherham are having a north-off at Hillsborough, The Wurzels are hosting Preston Knob End and Wigan Warriors (six goals at home all season) are drawing 0-0 with Ipswich Town (five goals away all season) as they both enthusiastically embrace the idea of a long, hard, ultimately fruitless battle against relegation. Nottingham Trees and Wolves will be marked by two minutes of stamping your feet on the ground and waving your hands in the air on the 57th minute as a mark of respect to Henri Lansbury’s great uncle Horace who has pneumonia. Referee: Despite being on the Football League list for eight years, Geoff Eltringham from County Durham has never refereed a QPR match. That changes on Sunday when he takes charge of the visit of Aston Villa. He has already had Steve Bruce’s side this season, when he went a little card crazy and was accused by visiting boss Uncle Neil Warnock of being conned by Jack Grealish. Stats and a few details here. FormQPR: Derby were the fifth team to win at Loftus Road already this season (Wolves, Preston, Brentford and Newcastle the others) and that result leaves the R’s nursing a run of four straight defeats. More troubling still is the lack of goals — Rangers have only scored once in those four games while conceding seven and only Wigan (six) have scored fewer than QPR’s ten goals at home this season. The Derby game was the fourth time in 11 home matches this season (3-3-5) that QPR have failed to score on their own patch, and in five of the other games they only managed one. Villa: Aston Villa have improved markedly since Steve Bruce took charge with five wins and two draws from their last nine games having won only one of the first 13 this season in all competitions — to be fair, eight of those 13 finished in draws. But the wins have almost exclusively come at home, with October’s 2-1 win at Reading their only maximum point haul on the road so far this season. In fact, it’s their only away win since August 2015 so this is not an opponent to fear greatly, despite their financial outlay. They’ve lost their last two away games without scoring (1-0 at Norwich and 2-0 at Leeds) and drew the two before that 1-1 at Birmingham and Brighton. Their total of six goals scored away from Villa Park this season is the worst in the league apart from Ipswich who’ve only managed five. Loftus Road is not a happy hunting ground for Villa either with no wins in seven visits (four defeats) dating right back to 1991. Prediction: In an odd way I quite fancy us for this. Better atmosphere, bigger crowd, game we’re not really expected to win, improvements evidenced against Derby on Wednesday who are a better side than Villa and we nearly beat, good record against this opponent, their poor away record etc. But then there’s the lack of goals, lack of confidence, lack of shape, lack of ability and all that stuff. The respective records of the two teams, plus the early kick off, point to a fairly obvious conclusion but I guess we’ll see. LFW’s Prediction: QPR 0-0 Villa. No scorer. Sandro substitution sweepstake — 65 minutes. The Twitter @loftforwords Pictures — Action Images Action Images Please report offensive, libellous or inappropriate posts by using the links provided.
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