For the second time in a week QPR were left to grasp at whatever positives they could find from an improved display but disappointing result against a beatable team.

When the ‘new manager bounce’ inspired by somebody as talented, positive and experienced in this situation as Harry Redknapp is only good enough to scrape two points up from matches against extremely limited Sunderland and Aston Villa teams I’m afraid it’s time to consider the unthinkable: it is a growing possibility that Queens Park Rangers actually aren’t going to win a league game at all this season.

The first problem Redknapp appears to have identified since taking over from Mark Hughes – who will surely go down as one of this club’s worst ever managers for the disaster he has created – is that Rangers are a bit of a soft touch. He has corrected that by bringing the uncompromising African duo of Stephane Mbia and Samba Diakite together in the heart of midfield and was unfortunate to lose both to injury in his first home game. Mbia’s neck complaint, less serious than it looked at the time apparently, caused a lengthy first half stoppage and punctured Rangers’ growing momentum. Diakite’s departure in the second half removed Redknapp’s final substitution from him which meant the R’s were left to play out a turgid final half an hour with what they had on the pitch already –which created and missed several excellent chances in the first hour and then ran out of ideas and steam.

But the change of manager hasn’t brought about any discernible improvement in the key problem of QPR’s season so far: big name players playing well within their true ability while the team is propped up by the unsung heroes. Diakite and Mbia, as on Tuesday at Sunderland, were employed in a three man central combination with Esteban Granero to provide him with protection and space to dictate the pattern of play but here the Spaniard was a peripheral figure, only occasionally having any positive influence on proceedings and justifiably removed at half time.

At the back Clint Hill and Ryan Nelsen battled gamely with Villa’s giant lone striker Christian Benteke, but to their left Armand Traore followed up his best game of the season at Sunderland on Tuesday with his worst here – three games in seven days, including the longest trek of the season on Tuesday night, looked to have taken its toll on Traore and the team in the second half but Rangers are in a position where excuses are even more futile than normal.

England international goalkeeper Robert Green, who should have been flush with confidence after a recall and reasonable cameo during the week, was once again beaten far too easily from three quarters of a mile out for the opening goal of the game, just as he had been on the opening day here against Swansea. Shaun Wright-Phillips missed when sent through one on one with the goalkeeper, but was unfortunate later to see a shot come back off the post.

Redknapp threw on first Shaun Derry for Mbia, then Ji-Sung Park for Granero, and finally Junior Hoilett for Diakite; all three were poor, Park especially so. Redknapp may consider that he has been a little hasty in casting aside Ale Faurlin and Kieron Dyer so soon into his reign. In the end the entire front end of the team was carried through the game on the shoulders of Jamie Mackie, whose herculean efforts were rightly recognised by the manager afterwards. The late Dave Sexton, remembered before kick off with a minute of applause, would have appreciated Mackie’s endeavour.

There was good reason to believe that had Mbia and Diakite remained on for the full 90, maintaining the physical presence in midfield while leaving Redknapp extra substitutions to alter things further forward when legs and minds tired, Rangers may have won. Diakite wasted no time at all in marauding forward, powering upfield in the first minute before releasing Jose Bosingwa who looked unusually sprightly and put a decent cross into the box but the ball eluded all three QPR attackers who’d made it forward. Thereafter QPR were very hesitant to commit any bodies to any attack in stark contrast to the approach you’d expect of Redknapp – lack of confidence and fear was palpable throughout the team. It’s little wonder the R’s haven’t had a penalty since January as they rarely get enough men in the box to panic the opposition.

But equally, I couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief that Villa settled for a point and left Darren Bent on the bench throughout. Once Mbia and Diakite had left the field Villa were able to take over, stringing 20 passes together with little opposition at one stage, and had Lambert added Bent to the mix in the final third of the game I suspect he’d have been rewarded with three points.

Initially the physical presence of lone striker Christian Benteke was enough to cause issues on its own. When he cut inside Nelsen after six minutes and launched a powerful shot that was blocked away the R’s defence never managed to successfully regroup and midfielder Brett Holman fired in the opening goal from more than 20 yards when Robert Green had appeared to get across to the ball with two hands. It was a lousy piece of goalkeeping.

Mbia headed a subsequent Taarabt corner wide but Rangers were visibly deflated both on and off the field by the early set back and it was already looking like a long afternoon. Taarabt was a probing presence all day, always showing up for possession in all areas of the pitch and then working hard to redeem situations when they didn’t go his way. Nobody can question his work rate at the moment.

But if we’re talking about work rate, than step forward Jamie Mackie. His problem was highlighted in the thirteenth minute when a low cross into his feet in the penalty area found him in possession with his back to goal and eight lime green Aston Villa shirts for company. His solution to this was to muck in and make the best of a bad situation – on that occasion he held the ball until somebody did get near him to offer support and then teed up Samba Diakite who lashed over. Five minutes later Diakite returned the favour with an accurate right footed cross that Mackie was able to head perfectly beyond goalkeeper Brad Guzan and into the corner of the Loft End net despite being the only QPR player in the box and having Chris Herd’s forearm wedged into the back of his neck. A fabulous headed equaliser from the beating heart of the QPR team.

Mackie appears to be revelling in the faith shown in him by Harry Redknapp, and is doing a damn fine job of proving Mark Hughes and the section of the QPR support who were all so desperate to see him replaced at every given opportunity with “a Premier League player” so, so wrong. Redknapp said afterwards if he had 11 Jamie Mackies the club wouldn’t be in this mess, and yet Hughes never missed an opportunity to leave him out while his critics have consistently overlooked the huge raft of positives and focused on the technical areas of his game that are sometimes lacking. Excuses about tiredness, lack of confidence and fear don’t seem to be affecting him – which rather shows up the majority of his team mates. If Mackie can work this hard and remain this positive despite everything that’s occurred this season then why can’t they? I’d like to think the reason only Clint Hill and Adel Taarabt bothered to go and celebrate Mackie’s goal with him is because the rest are embarrassed by their own work rate and output compared to his, but I suspect it’s merely the latest piece of evidence to add to the prosecution file in the case of just how broken QPR is at the moment.

Villa responded positively. Benteke had the ball in the net with a firm header within 60 seconds but was flagged offside and then Hill had to cover in behind Nelsen and execute a ball-and-all tackle to deny the giant Belgian a clear run on goal – Hill was another Hughes seemed desperate to replace when he should have been considering him as a potential captain. Young centre back Nathan Baker headed the subsequent corner off target as Rangers’ struggles with the basics of set piece defence continued.

But at the other end the visitors looked vulnerable to any sort of ball played in behind their defence. A high line that caught Mackie offside several times in the first half creaked at other points and Rangers were able to get Shaun Wright-Phillips into clear space in the final third twice in quick succession. The first occasion, just before the half hour, saw him race through onto a fine Granero pass one-on-one with Guzan who made an excellent save to deny him that elusive first league goal for QPR. Three minutes later he found himself played through again, into the right channel by Mbia this time, and seemingly more through frustration than anything else he put his laces through a fantastic volley that flashed past Guzan, struck the base of the American stopper’s post and flew away to safety.

Wright-Phillips started his QPR career by having a shot cleared off the line against Newcastle, one coming back into play off the post against Wolves, and a goal incorrectly disallowed for offside against West Brom. His attitude has left a lot to be desired since then, but his confidence is more of an issue and when Stephane Mbia hit the deck for a prolonged period of time after an innocuous clash with Gabby Agbonlahor immediately after this latest slice of bad luck the little winger had several minutes to stand and shake his head at what has become of his career.

Mbia looked in a bad way, removed on a spinal board after several minutes of treatment and taken to hospital - thankfully the prognosis seems positive. Shaun Derry took to the field in Mbia’s stead.

The injury couldn’t have come at a worse moment for Rangers who seemed to be building up a head of steam at the time. When play eventually restarted some six minutes later the atmosphere on and off the pitch was flat and Villa could easily have retaken the lead five minutes before the break. Bosingwa gave the ball away sloppily in the right back slot and then foolishly chased the lost cause across the pitch leaving half an acre of space in the left channel where Villa calmly played in Agbonlahor for a shot that Green saved nervously and required assistance from his centre backs to scramble away. In seven minutes of added time at the end of the half Agbonlahor nodded down a long ball for the hard working Barry Bannan to smash over the bar.

It was no surprise to see Esteban Granero hooked at half time. Sadly though Redknapp replaced him with Ji-Sung Park, and so began the new manager’s latest lesson on not trusting the players at QPR you’ve seen play well for big clubs before. Park was even worse than Granero had been, constantly giving the ball away and showing none of the lung-busting midfield work rate that he became famous for at Old Trafford.

Much of the early action in the second half revolved around Samba Diakite who first nodded the ball through for Wright-Phillips to run onto and draw a foul from Baker who became the first player booked by referee Howard Webb. Then the Malian committed a foul of his own and from the free kick Benteke smacked a bicycle kick over the bar, although he’d already been flagged offside by the terribly keen Darren Cann on the Ellerslie Road side of the ground who was wrong on that occasion and several others. In fact Cann may as well have planted a raised flag in the ground and gone off and done something else for the afternoon given that he seemed to think any attack whatsoever should be pulled up for offside. Perhaps he had a draw on his coupon.

While QPR have gone for another short term fix with Harry Redknapp, Villa are playing a longer game with Paul Lambert. The big names are being weeded out – Bent will surely be next after another afternoon spent as an unused substitute – and in their place Lambert is mixing youth team graduates with well scouted bargains from the lower leagues and abroad. This is commendable, and it’s a model QPR should be following, but it’s a development cycle that could take years to bear fruit and in the meantime could easily cost them their place in the Premier League. Even a team as bad as Queens Park Rangers carved through them three times in five second half minutes as first Wright-Phillips saw a shot deflected behind and then Guzan had to make a fine save to deny Nelsen when the corner dropped his way; then Diakite volleyed at the goalkeeper after Bosingwa’s cross was cleared out to him on the edge of the area; and finally Taarabt sliced the visiting defence in two with a superb pass that had Ji-Sung Park running clear on goal but Guzan thrust up a strong hand and denied him.

But Rangers ran out of ideas, or energy (or perhaps both) awfully quickly. When Guzan foolishly chased a bad back pass out to his own corner flag only to be hassled out of possession by the tireless Mackie the queue of players waiting for finish into the unguarded net wouldn’t have even troubled the staff at a village post office. Having made two substitutions already, and with a third about to be forced on him, Redknapp could do little to effect one of the worst 30 minutes of football ever played out in the Premier League.

I made five notes in the next 20 minutes of action and not one of them involved a piece of attacking play from either side: there was a booking for Matthew Lowton for a wild tackle on Mackie that Webb may have judged more harshly had the QPR man not immediately leapt to his feet and shaken the Villa man’s hand; an injury to Diakite that saw him replaced by Hoilett; and the introduction of Fabian Delph for Bannan and Karim El Ahmadi for Holman. I’ve got more entertainment out of filling in tax return forms than I did from the last half an hour of this match which at one stage slowed to a virtual standstill as Villa put together 20 passes on the halfway line with QPR now lacking the legs to win the ball back after the forced withdrawals of Mbia and Diakite and Villa lacking the inclination to do anything with the possession.

Rangers forced three corners in quick succession as the clock ticked past 80 minutes for no return whatsoever. When they did get one right their luck wasn’t in and Clint Hill headed against the angle of post and bar. Traore hit a tame shot at Guzan while sub El Ahmadi had Green scrambling frantically across his goal with a bouncing-bomb of a volley that he claimed had been deflected but Webb awarded as a goal kick.

Rather cruelly the World Cup final referee added four minutes to the end of proceedings during which Traore and Park contrived to concede possession deep in their own half only to be rescued by Bosingwa who covered in behind the centre backs well from right back and executed an important tackle on Benteke as he turned into the penalty area and prepared to play out a heartbreaking final act. For Rangers though, now seven points from safety with just 23 games left to play, the point it rescued was of little use. Now in a position where a succession of wins are required just to lift them back into the realms of a fighting chance, they appear completely devoid of any idea how they’re even going to muster one.

If Mark Hughes had picked this team, and it had played in this way, and achieved this result, the faithful would have been throwing season tickets onto the pitch and vowing never to return. Sadly, the way Hughes went about his business over the last 11 months means that the problems at Rangers now run far, far deeper than simply who is picking the team and mean that even any short term benefits from bringing in Harry Redknapp look like they’re going to be futile.

There were positives, as there were at Manchester United and Sunderland earlier in the week, and I’m not sure I was ever able to say that about three consecutive games under Mark Hughes. For all the low morale, problems within the camp and steadfast refusal to commit men to the attack Rangers created a goal and two other good chances in the first half, and forced two further fine saves from Guzan in the second while also striking the bar. Creating chances in open play despite everything is a sign that things might turn which was never there in the latter weeks of Hughes’ reign.

But Redknapp admits himself that he has no magic wand, and sadly the start Rangers have made to this season has been so catastrophic that this is exactly what they need. Let’s hope Harry is as good as his word on being here for a long term re-building project, because you only have to look at Villa to see just what a long road it is.

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QPR: Green 5, Bosingwa 6, Hill 7, Nelsen 7, Traore 5, Diakite 7 (Hoilett 67, 5), Mbia 7 (Derry 40, 5), Granero 5 (Park 46, 4), Taarabt 7, Wright-Phillips 6, Mackie 8

Subs not used: Murphy, Cisse, Ferdinand, Fabio

Goals: Mackie 18 (assisted Diakite)

Bookings: Derry 61 (foul)

Villa: Guzan 8, Lowton 6, Clark 6, Baker 6, Lichaj 6, Westwood 6, Bannan 6 (Delph 67, 6), Holman 7 (El Ahmadi 70, 6), Herd 6 (Williams 65, 6), Agbonlahor 7, Benteke 7

Subs not used: Given, Ireland, Bent, Weimann

Goals: Holman 8 (unassisted)

Bookings: Baker 47 (foul), Lowton 62 (foul)

QPR Star Man – Jamie Mackie 8 Lord only knows how bad things would be for QPR without this boy on their side. Worked his fingers to the bone all afternoon and was rewarded with a really fantastic headed equaliser that he richly deserved. Having spent the last 12 months trying to replace him it seems Rangers may actually be waking up to the fact that he’s one of the few things this squad of players has going for it. Sadly I suspect a good number of Premier League managers spotted this a long time before Rangers did and it will be people like this who stay behind in the top flight if Rangers move down a division, rather than the ones they actually need to be rid of.

Referee – Howard Webb (South Yorkshire) 8 Did his usual calm, authoritative, unfussy job with only a few minor errors that are hardly worth mentioning. His most indecisive moment came when Mbia was injured when he seemed unsure whether to stop the game or not, and had Villa been so inclined to take advantage of a situation where half the players on the pitch had stopped and the referee was deep in thought they were actually in an excellent attacking situation. Other than that, excellent as always.

Attendance: 17,387 (1,600 Villa approx) Much like the team in the final half hour of the game, there was a tired and laboured feel to the home support. Early optimism punctured by the Holman goal the usual parts of the ground tried valiantly to get things going throughout the game but by the end there was little to be enthusiastic about.

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GloryHunter added 00:11 - Dec 3 Spot-on report, Clive. Just as I saw it. Two wins and six points would change everything, of course. But like you, I can't see it happening.
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TacticalR added 00:31 - Dec 3 Thanks NorthernR. I am glad you haven't tried to dress this one up, just because we have a new manager. SWP. Very disappointed to see him turning up like a bad penny after his performance at Arsenal. Shied out of a tackle with Benteke right at the beginning of the move that led to the Aston Villa goal. For his first one-on-one with the keeper he made a good touch to bring the ball down in front of goal but he never, ever does anything intelligent with the ball. He can't tackle, he can't go past a man, and always blasts the ball when anywhere near the goal. Taarabt. Played well in patches, but made some catastrophic passes to the opposition in our half. Warnock's old rule of thumb was correct - never give the ball to Taarabt in our half. Played way too deep, once again seemed to be trying to play the central playmaker role, threading through passes to other players (and he did make a brilliant through pass in the second half to Park). He needs to be further forward where he can hurt the opposition. Park. Not terrible, but when he came on he didn't seem to be in control of his own body and ended up slipping and sliding all over the place. Blasted at the keeper with the whole goal to aim at after Taarabt's excellent through pass. Seemed better in the second half in a more defensive role alongside Derry. I am really not sure what position Park was supposed to be playing. At one point he was out on the left wing in front of Traoré (and got his chance to shoot on goal), and at another he was covering the right-back position. Traoré. Made a lot of risky passes to marked players around the QPR 18-yard area, and put us into trouble quite a few times, because he doesn't like to hack the ball out of defence. Going forward he had problems because Taarabt was not there on the left wing (and no other QPR player was there either), so often Traoré had to run the length of the pitch. This doesn't make sense, because in either a 4-4-2 or a 4-2-3-1 there should always be a player in front of him. There was a just a huge gap where there should have been a QPR player. Late in the match Hoilett was put there, but as we have seen before, he has no understanding with Traoré. I am not surprised Traoré was knackered, because time and again he had to cover the whole length of the pitch himself, and then try and cross. Granero. Gods knows what's happened to him. I couldn't work out what position he was playing, and his mind seemed to be elsewhere. And to think I had him down for captain a few weeks ago. Bosingwa. Had a couple of lapses in concentration, but was quite involved, got down the wings and made some reasonably good crosses into the box. Mackie. Even though he scored a great goal, and ran his heart out, I still prefer him cutting in from the right. Aston Villa put a lot of pressure on the ball in the first half (which led to their goal), and counter-attacked well. Agbonlahor and Benteke were better hold up players than our front players. In the second half Benteke ran out of steam and Villa were happy to play keep ball and wait for the rare opportunity to counter-attack.

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MelakaRanger added 00:40 - Dec 3 Yes Spot on. In his 10 months here Hughes managed to completely destroy the team spirit and it will take a lot longer than that to fix it. At least Harry is a realist and I think we should all accept that unless a miracle happens its relegation for sure Interesting how quite Tony F has been on Twitter lately too!
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Nov77 added 02:11 - Dec 3 Thought traore did ok, he was knackered at the end though, he put an extra shift in doing Hoilett's running for him. Credit to Harry for realising we needed steel in the centre midfield, Hughes tippy tappy experiment clearly didnt work, when Mbia and diakite went off villa were able to pass the ball around for fun, though strangely they had no desire to do it anywhere near our goal. Finally, we were awarded a penalty away to norwich in august, Cisse missed it but Zamora scored the rebound.

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RangerKIK added 03:40 - Dec 3 Another game, another disappointment. Simple as that. I was having a nostalgia moment Saturday morning, thinking back to the joy and excitement of the day the FA deemed that enough paperwork had been shredded to allow us to be champions of the Championship. After this thought the next one was how the bl**dy hell in one and a half seasons have we ended up in the situation we are in now!!?? In fact had you gone to a fortune teller the day after our triumph and she had told you that within a season and a half QPR would have a new owner, sacked the manager that got us into the Premier league, sacked his predecessor, spent a fortune on 'superstar' players and yet we would be sitting adrift at the bottom of the league without a win to our name after 15 games........well not only would you have fallen about laughing over the far fetched load of nonsense you had just heard but you would also have contemplated reporting Gypsy Lee to the local mental health authorities. Yet here we are. What must TF be thinking? I hope he is in for the long haul. The very long haul. You say in your report Clive that Harry Redknapp needs to start rebuilding, which should sound ridiculous after the money we have spent, yet it's true. We have royally screwed up a golden oppertunity. In fact in the history of 'rangers screwing up golden oppertunities', which let's face it we are very good at, this is the one that has bothered me the most. Great owner with passion and lots of money should have led to established prem status and potential European football. Yet back to the Championship here we come. I know this is not my normal 'we can do this with big balls and lionhearts' rhetoric. And I still have a romantic notion that we will grow a pair and claw our way out of this situation. But my head says that if the 'new manager syndrome' could only amount to two tired looking draws from this bunch of players........... and that coupled to the fact that I doubt TF will be prepared to spend in January (who could blame him) means it's probably going to be a really painful 6 months ahead. In fact I am not even sure if this lot will die with their boots on. Paisley patterned slippers and a mug of cocco for most of this lot as they ride away in the lifeboats to half decent European teams leaving Adel, Mackie, Nelson and Hill drowning in their wake leaving them thinking the same as us....'what the f**k just happened'.

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isawqpratwcity added 05:22 - Dec 3 Thanks for the report, Clive. I think it's looking fairly grim. Seven points adrift of 17th, with a much worse goal difference and a game adrift. There is a bit of a jam there, with 14th on 14 points, but only Villa don't have a game in hand on us, and tbf, our gd is dire. Basically, we are depending on HR doing the goods in improving the team dramatically (significantly better than any of our near competitors) and hoping that one or more of them go into terminal meltdown. Can we get one of them to employ Hughes? He's just been paid a thumping big wedge and would be busting a gut to get another Premier job. It's still doable. But I have to stifle my brain and hope heart, stomach and liver last the distance. It isn't going to be enough to just depend on the 'old reliables', HR needs to get the whole squad performing. COYRs!

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Kaos_Agent added 05:36 - Dec 3 "There were positives, as there were at Manchester United and Sunderland earlier in the week, and I’m not sure I was ever able to say that about three consecutive games under Mark Hughes. For all the low morale, problems within the camp and steadfast refusal to commit men to the attack Rangers created a goal and two other good chances in the first half, and forced two further fine saves from Guzan in the second while also striking the bar. Creating chances in open play despite everything is a sign that things might turn which was never there in the latter weeks of Hughes’ reign." Words of optimism Clive, despite the generally despairing tone of another fine summary. With some much overdue luck in the attacking zone over the next few games, we may yet prevail and get the gorilla off our backs for that elusive first win which will be so very important. Please get well Cesar. I wish I could say something wise about re-jigging the attack, but I can't, so will leave it up to Harry and his crew and hope that they are not as befuddled as the previous crew.

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xian added 07:41 - Dec 3 You are getting carried away Clive. There has now been a run of three improved performances, a win or two would change the whole situation. The basic structure of the team looks sound, it is relatively stable and there is much to build on. We have a run of winnable games, and we have actually played most of the really hell ones - Manchesters away, arsenal and tottenham away - and so there is barely a game we could not get a result from. But then I am a half cup full man...

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Northernr added 07:59 - Dec 3 Xian - Carried away? Have you looked at the league table? And what is Reading H, Stoke A, Southampton H, Sunderland A and Villa H is it's not a run of winnable games?
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R_in_Sweden added 08:10 - Dec 3 Thanks again for a good report. I put my hands up and admit to being somebody who has accused Mackie of not being able to cut it in the Premier League, I still don't think that he would in a top four team. But his efforts have been admirable and he took his only chance excellently on Saturday. Very interesting point that you make about only Hill and Taarabt joining Mackie in celebrating his goal. Says a lot about the great team spirit that misery guts (and his beloved agent) have created in W12. Faurlin must also be feeling pretty frustrated at the moment, we need him back in the side if only to to increase the number of our players happy to see us scoring. Still concerned about Green, he's very unpredictable. When Redknapp was introduced on Saturday he had a look on his face that said "I'm happy to be here, I'll do the best I can but please do not expect a miracle". Am suffering from a guilty conscience after having persuaded my sister-in-law and her lad to become members and make the trip over for a game earlier in the season. Needless to say they are now following every match closely. I feel as though I've willingly passed on an incurable disease and am now watching those I've infected go through the same death throes as myself. I am a glass half empty man and fully expect us to get relegated now. Although if I put my glass half full head on I can foresee massive celebrations in May when Harry pulls off the great escape.

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SomersetHoops added 09:36 - Dec 3 In time we might find out how bad the damage is that has been inflicted on our club by Hughes. Obviously they are still not together as a team and probably never will be until some of the under-performing prima-donnas are shipped out. I don't think Traore had that bad a game, but we did not use the left side as much as usual and I imagine he was told to concentrate on his defensive duties. Granero, apart from the odd good ball, was terrible. He seemed to be playing like a schoolkid getting rid of the ball anywhere (usually to the opposition) whenever he had the ball with a hint of a challenge. At least Harry saw that and responded by taking him off at half time. I thought Park was marginally better when he managed to stay on his feet, but Ale Faurlin would have been a much better option in that position. I agree that when we lost Diakite there was no link between midfielders and attackers and Shaun Derry recognises his limitations by continually passing the ball sideways rather than risking going forward and not being able to get back. This sugests lack of teamwork in that he could not rely on his team-mates covering for him if that happened, but you are right in that it left us without any penetration through the middle, which was what was missing. This was two points dropped and takes us closer to relegation, but we can't blame Harry, he's had less than a week to work with them. I don't think its reasonable to expect any 'new manager bounce' from such a disjointed, dispirited and clique ridden group of players that Hughes has left us with. Hughes can no longer say he has left every team in a better state than when he joined them - he has destroyed any team spirit at QPR and left us in a terrible state. I just hope Harry can pull those that are willing together and ship out those who aren't. We do need a miracle now, but at this time of year miracles are possible - lets not give up all hope yet.

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NW5Hoop added 09:39 - Dec 3 I don't dispute the team's playing betterm but I can't see us staying up. Haven't been able to since the Reading game. I fear Redknapp's just a very expensive way for us to go down.
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Neil_SI added 10:48 - Dec 3 I was pleased that Redknapp hauled Granero off, it shows he can recognise when a player isn't doing it on the day and that he's not afraid to make the change. That's a good starting point and gives hope he will find the eleven that clicks.
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highlandbill added 10:49 - Dec 3 I found the report a tad pesimistic. If Hughes had gone earlier I suspect things would look roseier, but even as it is, there is still a bit of hope. If we put a few wins together starting with Wigan, matters may look quite different by the New Year.I agree that the problem lies with our undoubtably talented players (most of them!) who,for whatever reason are constantly underperforming. Its Rednapps job to get more out of them & if he can do it we should see the evidence very soon. Alternatively ,if we continue to mis-fire as we did on Saturday then the rest of the season is a depressing prospect.

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MelakaRanger added 10:54 - Dec 3 "I fear Redknapp's just a very expensive way for us to go down. " That may be but hes the best man available to at least give us a chance of surviving! At least the board went for a 'top man' who has done it before But I fear that Hughes has done so much damage both from his management and his sales and purchases that it will take 12 months to get back to be as good (or as bad) as we were before Hughes arrived.

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Varwell added 11:01 - Dec 3 I agree with Clive that Mark Hughes will go down as our worst ever manager. However I also worry about the long term damage that he and Joorabchian will tun out to have inflicted. Also as the days go by the whole episode smells worse. The recent agents fees list show that QPR paid £6.8M in the period Oct 2011 to Sept 2012 yet Southampton who according to most reports spent £33M on players but only £646,000 to agents. I know that fees are still paid for out of contract players but the numbers look very suspicious. As a QPR supporter for 34 years and a Partick Thistle fan for ten years before that I should neither be surprised by anything that happens in football nor naive enough to raise my hopes to anything above Blackadder contemplating the next advance on the German front line so I cannot understand why; 1. I was so optimistic in August 2. How our very successful, business savvy owners (whose hearts are definitely in the right pace) didn't spot ( and this is where the choice of words gets difficult given the LFW web site warnings on libellous/vile/abusive etc words) those two ....ing, .....ing, ....s coming to rob us from a mile away.

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whittocksRs added 11:06 - Dec 3 Top stuff as always. Two points I'd add: Boswinga's defensive play was embarrassing at times. Even Villa's inexperienced team immediately identified him tucking inside too close to Nelsen and leaving acres of space on the right, which they exploited non-stop in the first half. The other effect of this was that Benteke targeted Nelsen, who was basically forced to do two jobs. Later in the game, 'Arry tried to combat this by having Derry babysit Jose. Truly shocking for a professional defensive footballer. The other thing follows on from Clive's insight of the fractured celebration after Mackie's goal. At full time, Hill, Nelsen and Traore were on their hands and knees like they'd just been relegated, while Taarabt looked to the sky in desperation. Besides Derry, who was shaking hands with the ref, the rest looked like they'd just bought a pint on milk on a lazy Sunday morning and couldn't care less.

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QPRFish added 11:37 - Dec 3 So our current predicament is all down to Mark Hughes eh? I think thats a cheap shot actually and a tad misleading. Who would be the answer to these questions...... Who sacked Neil Warnock and with it destroyed the team spirit and work ethic we had? Who appointed Mark Hughes? (Lets not forget the interveiwee interviewing the interviewer!) Who sanctioned the purchase of players during the hughes tenure? Who spent £6,818,688 on agents fees in the last calender year when we supposedly couldn't afford a decent centre half during the summer? (Only Man City and Liverpool spent more. Norwich, Swansea and Southampton spent £2,995,676 between them.) If the answer to all the above is Tony Fernandes and Co then thats who the ire should be aimed at. Mark Hughes will probably go down as one of the worst managers at this club granted, but the way it's been run over the last few years, if there was a club not prepared for life in the top flight, it's this one.

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themodfather added 12:03 - Dec 3 goals win games and with no out and out forward, we were going to struggle for the off. mackie did well and i wonder why swp started over hoilett?? our best 2 chances fell to an out of form , out of confidence player...he disappeared after the one off the post. we needed 3 pts.....as for green, well he got 2 hands to the ball and it still goes in??
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ngbqpr added 12:20 - Dec 3 Trying to come up with a team of honest triers from the current 25 and those who may get recalled in Jan...best I can manage: GKs interchangeable??? Young / Nelsen / Hill / Traore Diakite /Mbia / Faurlin Mackie / Taraabt Campbell Subs: Derry / Onouha / Dyer / Ephraim
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WestbourneR added 13:02 - Dec 3 Clive I love your reports but I think this is far far far too negative on the basis of the last two performances under Redknapp. To say the performance was akin to what was served up under Hughes is grossly unfair. There has been a massive improvement in work rate but more importantly, far more importantly, we are creating chances. The team has a system and a plan for creating. We should have won that game - SWP had two great chances, Park had a glorious chance. And their goal was a freak strike from outside the area not a pathetically soft set piece. Losing Mbia and then Diakite really knocking the stuffing out of us and Park + Derry are not going to provide the same inspiration. I actually think this 'home fortress' thing is going to have to wait because the nervousness of the crowd is getting to the players. Despite the resutls not showing it some of or most positive performances have been away from home - Stoke, Man Utd, Sunderland, Spurs. I believe we will get the win we desperately need away from home. We WILL beat Wigan.

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PinnerPaul added 13:18 - Dec 3 Cards on the table I think we WILL be relegated and can't understand why people aren't biting the bookies hands off, 4/6 seems very generous from where I'm sitting. BUT this report very harsh on a number of players who all performed better than stated IMHO. Derry,Trarore, Bosingwa,Green all harshly treated. However, to give Agbonlahor 7 and SWP 6??????!!!!! What did GA actually do in the game as opposed to SWP who actually came closest to scoring apart from the actual goals obviously and DID get in dangerous positions several times AND I write this as someone who has spent the whole season criticising SWP.

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Grifter added 17:37 - Dec 3 I usually agree with Clive's match reports, but think this one is way off the mark. No one's denying that we're in a poor position, and i'm sure everyone's disappointed we didn't win at the weekend, but we played far better than this write-up suggests. Everyone appreciates the stirling work that goes into making LFW what it is, but it would be unfortunate if that appreciation detracted from the objectivity with which the articles are discussed. There's certainly a hint of arse-licking about some of the comments above...

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Doughnut added 17:39 - Dec 3 Hughes WAS the worst manager we ever had! TF did his best for us and thought, as did many of us, that Warnock was loosing it and MH was a good prospect. The real damning bit of eveidence against Hughes ,in my opinion, was the Summer break and the miriad of signings. With all that time and money expended we end up in THIS state. That is 'case closed - guilty, as far as MH is concerned. Harry will do his best for us, which is all we can ask. For me, Jamie Mackie is one of the QPR legends, it's just a shame he's with us at such a low point in our fortunes, but I'm glad he is! And with Harry and one or two others we still have hope. Perhaps DJ can be brought back to add to the attack; he is only on loan to Ipswich, if I remember. Two or three wins before Christmas and we're back in it. But don't ask me where they're coming from.

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swissqpr added 17:48 - Dec 3 For me it was the first enjoyable match this season,we played well and positive.Even at the end we were knackered we hit the bar and had a last chance in injured time.The result was disapointed but with such a performance we will win matchs and will avoid relegation.The mystery are Park and Granero,they look for me how the wondering what the make at this club.Granero could be in the warm spain and play at Real,instead he is in cold London and plays against relegation and not all trophy winners are born for that.I hope he will find the commitment.

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