Three wins on the spin in the league have boosted Ian Holloway's QPR, bt they face a tough task on Saturday as local neighbours Fulham arrive bang in form.
Mercantile Credit Trophy >>> Saturday January 21, 2017 >>> Kick Off 12.30 >>> Weather — Bright but freezing >>> Loftus Road, London, W12
One would hope that Ian Holloway’s assertion that Reading are "six months ahead of where I want to be” prior to last week’s meeting was just the classic managerial glad-handing, diffusion, trying not to make inflammatory headlines before a match. If QPR are going to look and play like that in six months’ time I’ll have to start (keep) bringing a good book.
Reading looked like the classic football hipster team to me. We know better than you, we’re more sophisticated than you, we’re more refined than you — watch as we actually play one of our own goal kicks backwards to a defender standing tight to the byline by the corner flag. Yes, you could reasonably argue that if Yann Kermorgant wasn’t such a basic Championship carthorse, that QPR could have lost at the Madejski Stadium last week — the French forward missed two late headed chances that would have turned the game — but honestly, would you want to watch that every week any more than you would John Beck/Sam Allardyce style lump ball?
Articles like this are part of the problem. You try writing a match preview for every QPR game across a 46 game (and two cup defeats) season and see how you get on. Try filling 24 hours of Sky Sports News on a Thursday. It’s a constant search for hooks and angles - an exercise in bleeding stones. It’s an ever-accelerating, ever more demanding beast that has changed football for the worse and shows no sign of abating. It’s part of the reason managers used to be able to survive losing runs stretching to a dozen games at a time but now anybody that loses three games (which in the Championship can often be a week at work) is immediately "under pressure” at a "crisis club”.
Jaap Stam, formerly of Man Utd, goes into Reading, adopts an intriguing style of play that confuses teams through the first half of the season, gets them up to third in the league and suddenly he’s the new Shankley/Ferguson/Warnock and anybody who dares to stick their hand up and say "this is quite dull really isn’t it?” is some sort of Peter Reid philistine who still believes you can get results from modern, monied, 20-something boys by throwing tea cups at them and calling them lazy cunts. Reading will drop away through the second half of the season as teams get wise to them (if this QPR team takes four points from you over two games you’re not much cop), but the insatiable chattering masses will have moved onto another angle by then.
The angle currently is that Holloway is turning QPR around, getting them going again, instilling his preferred style of play, getting results. And that’s based on one very scrappy, very fortunate win at Wolves which could have been a defeat on most other days, a late home win against the worst Ipswich side in a generation that just had two cracks at Lincoln City and struck out, and a terrific performance and result away at Reading last week. Lose on Saturday, as we may well might, and at Newcastle next week, as we almost certainly will, and the rhetoric will change from "three wins on the spin” to "eight defeats from 12”. It’s how it works. Or doesn’t work, as is actually the case.
Holloway has, again, this week spoken out against one of his players. Idrissa Sylla looked grumpy when he was taken off at Reading and Ollie didn’t like it, one because he was tiring and had stopped running about as much, and two because it’s not great for the man coming on in his place to see him kicking off about being withdrawn. Both are true, and Holloway doesn’t seem to be in the mood to hang about (possibly because he’s clocked how long QPR managers tend to get in the job), but you do have to take the players with you in modern football otherwise they’ll simply down tools and get you the sack. Maybe best to keep these things in house.
Win two of the next three and Holloway looks like the people’s champion, railing against spoilt rich footballers to greater the common QPR good. Lose two of the next three, and we’re all talking about lost dressing rooms and Gary Rowett again. In actual fact, neither of the two sets of results would be definitive either way. God I wish we could slow this ride and get off.
But at the risk of latching onto one game out of 46, searching for the angle that isn’t there, drawing conclusions that haven’t been reached and so on… that Reading game last week. While the Sky morons chuntered on about Reading’s 70% possession it was QPR who took their 30% of the ball and did something with it. Passing with a purpose, rather than passing for the sake of it, is a trend waiting to happen in an era where half the teams think they need to keep the ball 90% of the time even if they don’t go anywhere and the other half think they should surrender possession 90% of the time and sit deep and tight and narrow.
How about when you get the ball have a really talented wide man who can do some damage (Pawel Wszolek) playing off a point man (Sylla, Polter, Helguson) with players behind him who can follow in on the results? QPR were by far the best team last week, despite only having a third of the ball. It was not only the first time under Ian Holloway that we looked like we had a coherent plan of how to both defend and attack, it was the first team since Neil Warnock led us to promotion that we had that. Hughes, Redknapp, Ramsey, Hasselbaink… none of them had a complete plan of how QPR would stop conceding goals and start scoring them. Some of them focused on the latter, some of them the former, and some of them basically phoned it in while cashing their pay cheque. We’ve seen flashes of attacking brilliance (coming from two down to win at Wolves under Ramsey) and we’ve seen defensive pragmatism grind teams into defeat (Cardiff away under Hasselbaink) but Reading was a complete show. It looked like QPR knew what they were doing, which shouldn’t be revelatory but is.
Sadly, this weekend we play a team who are actually six months ahead of where we want to be. If the ‘passing with a purpose’ thing is to become a trend then Salvisa Jokanovic’s Fulham are well placed to lead the queue with two excellent wing backs — Ryan Fredericks is superb — and the Championship’s best all round central midfielder Tom Cairney key figures. QPR beat Reading easily, and shouldn’t aspire to be like them. I suspect they might learn a few lessons from Fulham tomorrow, and resolve to hand out a few of their own in similar style a year from now.
Links >>> Venables’ title win — History >>> Puzzle pieces — Interview >>> Having a Rosenior moment — Podcast >>> That pillock again — Referee
Highlights from the remarkable first meeting between these sides this season where Fulham missed a sackload of chances, including two penalties, only to lose the game three minutes from time to a diving header from Idrissa Sylla. Laugh Snort. (Warning — contains graphic examples of Lee Mason’s refereeing).
Team News: QPR might, perhaps, hold the front page, name an unchanged team this week. Steven Caulker (hip knack) and Jack Robinson (shop mobility) are permanent absentees but with Sandro’s elastic-bands-and-chewing-gum knee joints and Agatha-Christie-novel-passport off the books the physios’ work load is lightening. James Perch has stopped chundering but his place at right back is likely to remain with Darnell Furlong and too bloody right as well. Kazenga Lua Lua has stopped eating so much, and started running about a bit, but he’ll be departing his pain train from a substitute platform once more this week unless anybody wakes up tomorrow and doesn’t fancy it.
Everybody’s favourite high achieving fat guy Chris Martin is back in favour at Fulham after his failed attempts to engineer an early return to Steve McClaren’s hair island. His open goal miss in the corresponding fixture between the sides earlier this season extended his run of games against QPR without a goal to ten (like an anti-Jon Stead) but that somehow only makes you more nervous about what he might do in this early kick off — once he’s finished his sausage and egg McMuffin of course. State. Fulham also have Floyd Ayite and Neeskens Kebano away at the African Cup of Extraordinary Goalkeeping.
Elsewhere: Well putting Stuart Attwell in charge of Brighton v Sheffield Owls proved a shrewd move — three red cards and a missed penalty made for better television than anything Graham Norton has belched out on a Friday night previously. More of the same tomorrow previously as the evening kick off (good luck law enforcement officers) between Barnsley and the Champions of Europe is overseen by Mike Dean.
That leaves nine games for the 15.00 slot including Nottingham Trees at home to the bang out of form Wurzels. The idea that you can string an American consortium along well enough for them to pay your wage bill through November and December and then drop their takeover bid in January once you’ve roped in £2.5m for Henri Lansbury is behaviour even Gianni Paladini might tip a respectful hat to. Nobody is as trusting and optimistic as the Americans. Forest’s luck is summed up by them ending up owned by the only poor Kuwaiti businessman in the world. His solution to the whole thing — sack the manager — might be stretching things a little too far mind.
Mick Mack’s Paddy Sack hasn’t been wielded despite a midweek loss at Lincoln so he gets another go in a tough away game at Borussia Huddersfield. Relegated Rotherham’s trip to Champions Newcastle is a classic haves vs have nots nonsense. Wigan Warriors v Brentford holds all the attraction of a long sit in the waiting room at the STI clinic. Alex Neil’s last rights reading at the Carrot Crunchers threatens to stretch beyond the transfer window, although the old Jim Bowen "here’s what you could have won” routine with the Wolverhampton Wolves and Paul Lambert may shove him over the edge this weekend.
What else… Derby Sheep v Reading. Whatever floats your boat. Who am I to judge?
The Mad Indian Chicken Farmers host Brum, still without a win under Gianfranco Zola who says he is "starting to see the results of what we’re trying to implement” as opposed to the actual results Gary Rowett used to get from what he was trying to implement before his scandalous sacking. Leddersford are playing ninth-placed Preston Knob End (big Championship success story again this season, never spoken about).
And finally (no, no we must), the Seventh Annual Neil Warnock Farewell Tour welcomes Nigel Clough’s Burton Albion this weekend. Burton with only one away win to their name all season (at Relegated Rotherham). I wouldn’t worry lads, I’ve clocked your next trip. Twas ever thus.
Referee: How do you like your cards? Plentiful? Good. How do you like you man management? Patronising, demeaning, antagonising? Good. How do you like your football? Constantly stopped, suffocated, prolonged stoppages for chats with lots of hand gestures? Good. How do you like your decisions? Unclear, random, often seemingly drawn out of a hat? Good. How do you like your short man syndrome? Aggressive, blatant, ruinous? Round of applause for Keith Stroud then. Absolute jizzrocket this fella. Good luck everybody. More here, if you’re one of those dedicated masochists.
QPR: Taking the cup defeat to Blackburn out of the equation QPR have won three in a row in the Championship having lost their previous six. Trying to write a form guide for this lot is like knitting fog. Home results this season have ranged from a 3-0 win over third placed Leeds to a 6-0 loss to second placed Newcastle. Leeds, Ipswich, Bristol City and Norwich have lost here this season; Newcastle, Brentford, Preston, Derby, Villa and Wolves have all won. Only Wigan (eight) have scored fewer home goals than QPR this season (12).
Fulham: Fulham have won five times on the road this season (Ipswich, Brentford, Barnsley, Blacburn and Preston) but they haven’t won consecutive away games since December 2014 — they can break that record with a win here on a ground where they’ve won three of their last four visits.
Predictions: Fulham are playing well, and were very unlucky to lose to us first time around this season. It strikes me as a step to far for Rangers as we rebuild our shattered confidence and try to implement a new style and shape. Burton next week is the one you don’t want to crash and burn in, here it’s about continuing to do the right things and competing rather than falling in a hole as we’ve done so often before against this opponent.
LFW’s Prediction QPR 1-2 Fulham. Scorer — Idrissa Sylla
The Twitter/Instagram @loftforwords
Pictures — Action Images