QPR’s 32nd attempt to secure a first ever win against Nottingham Forest at the City Ground blows into the East Midlands with gale force winds and driving rain this evening.

Nottingham Forest (11th) v Queens Park Rangers (14th)

Championship >>> Tuesday January 26, 2016 >>> Kick Off 19.45 >>> Weather — All of the wind, some of the rain >>> City Ground, Nottingham

Time running out, under the cosh, clinging on for a point rather — not really the time to be launching a dodgy bouncing back pass towards your goalkeeper really. Particularly if you’re Nedum Onuoha, particularly if you’re playing for QPR, particularly after what has happened several times before in the recent past.

As it turns out Alex Smithies kicks and distributes the ball somewhat better than Robert Green, and quite a few of QPR’s outfield players for that matter, and he simply angled his frame to get over the top of the ball and pinged it away down the field to safety on the half volley. The cheer that greeted it hints at the horrors we lived through before.

That, and several strong second half saves to preserve the point against Wolves, won the former Huddersfield keeper the club’s official Man of the Match award at the weekend, voted for by the fans. But it was a post on our message board from a Paddocks dweller that caught my eye, regarding the amount of screaming and shouting he was doing at the players in front of him, and how unusual it was compared to what had gone before.

Now that’s not — another — attempt to bash Rob Green, after all it says more about the tepid atmosphere at Loftus Road that we can hear what the goalkeeper is saying than anything else. But it does raise an oft-touted point about this current QPR team and its lack of supposed “leaders”.

Now I often dismiss “there’s no leaders in that team” as the sort of woolly, vague criticism fans trot out on phone ins and message boards when they’re actually not entirely sure what’s wrong with the team other than it looks a bit low on confidence. It’s up there with “this manager has taken us as far as he can” and “why don’t we start picking the youth team” as a last vestige of anger draining from the soul of a downbeaten football fan before they just stop caring completely.

But when even the manager, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, is saying publicly “it’s a quiet team” you start to think that perhaps there is an issue. Nedum Onuoha, the captain, is more of a lead by example type, with his lifestyle, behaviour and consistent performances, rather than a shouter and a bawler. Not that screaming and yelling necessarily denotes a leader, but Onuoha doesn’t seem the type to grab a game, a situation, or a team mate by the scruff of the neck and sort an issue out. Perhaps I’m wrong.

QPR’s activity in the transfer market over the past few years is such that many fans, in a weird about-face from the norm, actually hope we don’t buy any more players before we’ve either shipped some of the ones we’ve already got out, or worked on them to see if they can be improved and used. Calls to sign a new left back because Paul Konchesky is struggling, for example, rather ignore the presense of Yun Suk-Young, Jack Robinson, Clint Hill and Cole Kpekawa on the pay roll. Few other clubs at this level would carry five serviceable left backs on their roster and yet QPR want to add a sixth.

Letting them loose in the transfer window has rather been like releasing a child into Hamleys with your credit card. Not a particularly intelligent child either, one of those you gave up your career to raise and instantly regretted.

But if they were to venture out with the chequebook once more, if they were to sign just one more player, they could kill two birds with one stone. As well as an apparent ‘lack of leadership’ in the team, there’s a problem in the middle of midfield. Ale Faurlin is our best player there by a mile but has no knees at all, Sandro would be good there but has one bad knee, a passport that looks like a prop from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and an eye watering salary that needs shifting from the books. Leroy Fer doesn’t defend well even when he is arsed, which he doesn’t appear to be at the moment. Massimo Luongo looks good with the ball, and suspect defensively without it. Daniel Tozser has disappointed more than most.

This is why Karl Henry plays most weeks, despite his own lousy form and inability to do anything constructive with possession. He’s fit, he can defend and he can run about — miraculously that makes him a better bet than most of everything else we have available for that spot.

If somebody with the fitness and knees to run box to box, the defensive ability to park in front of the back four and protect it, and a bit of a mouth on him becomes available QPR should be walking over hot coals in bare feet to bring him in. That one addition would make such a difference to this team it would be seen immediately. Henri Lansbury, from tonight’s opponents Nottingham Forest, had been linked but, in true QPR style, he managed to snap his ankle in a match against us at the start of the month.

Rangers have never really replaced Shaun Derry, who was a far better player with the ball than he was ever given credit for outside W12, but also captained the team (even when he technically wasn’t the captain) and defended brilliantly from midfield. Neil Warnock hit on the combination of him and Faurlin by accident, having initially planned to play Akos Buzsaky there before injury scuppered that idea. Hopefully we’ll stumble across another leggy, gobby presence for that number four spot again soon.

Links >>> Affects of FFP — Opposition Profile >>> Best of a difficult situation — Interview >>> Ian Wright’s penalty miss — History >>> Two quick trips to Nottingham — Travel Guide

Tuesday

Team News: No new injuries or suspensions for Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink but Jamie Mackie, Conor Washington and Ale Faurlin are all surely pushing for starts from the subs bench following the weekend draw with Wolves.

Forest are without Henri Lansbury with the ankle injury he suffered in the FA Cup meeting between these sides while Britt Assombalonga and Matt Fryatt are long term absentees. David Vaughan (appointment at the Belgravia Centre) and Andy Reid (sale on at Rib Shack) are both also unavailable for this one.

Elsewhere: We mere football fans are frequently told by the likes of Steve Claridge and Robbie Savage, or the odd journalist with ideas above his station, that we don’t know the game, we don’t understand the game, we cannot possibly comprehend what goes into the game from a professional point of view and therefore our opinion is either worth less or outright incorrect.

There are few better examples of this than Richard Keogh. To the untrained eye, the Derby centre back can look like the village idiot who won his place in the team in a raffle and, having originally thought this all sounded like terrific fun, now widens his eyes in terror at what’s about to come his way. With absolutely zero footballing ability, spatial awareness, depth perception, sense of danger, brain power or ability to put his boots on the correct feet Keogh, you would think, would be caught out fairly frequently. In play-off finals by Bobby Zamora for example, or in games at Wolves where he and his goalkeeper contrive to loop one up in the air and down into the net with no home player in the picture, or at Burnley on Monday night where he managed to get his body entirely the wrong way round while marking Andre Gray and plant a firm header into the corner of his net while not looking at the ball, the net, or Gray and then followed that up by hanging a leg out in his own area for a penalty.

But you’d be wrong, you fool, because he plays for Derby every week, so he must have something about him that we mere mortals don’t see. Though whether Derby, fast turning into the new Cardiff where no meltdown is too improbable for them, can be seen as any kind of judge of character o ability at the moment is in some doubt. Burnley win 4-1.

One other game on Tuesday night has the kebab shops of South Ealing harvesting the grease traps for extra toppings as Steve Evans’ Champions of Europe visit Brentford.

Referee: Not sure Paul Tierney is really the sort of referee we want for a tough Tuesday night on the road, but here he comes all the same. Hopefully the local wildlife keeps itself in check. Full details of his previous struggles with footballers and squirrels available here.

Form

Forest: Dougie Freedman's side is in the midst of an unbeaten run now stretching to a dozen games, of which half have been drawn. They've won three of their last four, including the last two after a surprising 1-0 win at promotion-chasing Middlesbrough on Saturday. Five of the last ten games they've been involved in have finished 1-1. Forest have scored in all 12 of the games on that run, but have only managed more than one on four occasions in the sequence. Prior to all this they'd lost six and drawn three of the previous ten so it's been quite the turnaround. They haven't conceded a goal for two and a half games now. All of which has seen them climb above QPR, who they've never lost to at home, into eleventh before Tuesday's meeting. Middlesbrough, Cardiff and Hull are the only sides to record a win here in the league this season.

QPR: Rangers actually climbed a spot to fourteenth with their weekend draw against Wolves — the eleventh time they've finished level this season. Draws have been a particular theme at Loftus Road where eight of the 14 games played there in the league this season have been tied, but that has extended into the away matches sine Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink has arrived. He's drawn six of his ten matches in charge so far, winning only one and losing three. Seb Polter has four goals in his last five matches.

Prediction: Reigning Prediction League champion isawqpratwhitecity tells us…

"Einstein once said that the definition of insanity is 'supporting QPR: you'd have to be a complete bloody idiot'. Given that we've played Forest twice this season and lost both times it would be fair to inductively predict no improvement this time either, even if those teams were a Green-deprived ten men and a second-string cup side. Forest's form has been pretty solid while last Saturday's second half shows we've still got a lot of work to do. No joy here, folks."

Jim's Prediction: Nottm Forest 2-1 QPR. Scorer: Seb Polter

LFW's Prediction: Nottm Forest 0-1 QPR. Scorer: Junior Hoilett

The Twitter @loftforwords

Pictures — Action Images

Photo: Action Images

gigiisourgod added 13:08 - Jan 26 This is more ramblings than a match preview; but thoroughly enjoyable nonetheless.
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GaryB added 14:12 - Jan 26 three days now and no mention of Charlies dream debut for Southampton......we wished him well when he left but we ever think he'd start like that ? credit to the boy.....
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TacticalR added 19:26 - Jan 26 Thanks for your preview. Personally I do not think Onuoha, with his poor ball control and lack of positional sense, is much of an of example (on the field at least). I also think the lack of characters (or perhaps lack of nerve) is a real problem, and one reason why we find it such a problem to hold on to leads. I agree that Karl Henry is not selected by accident. Derry was a stabilising influence - it's a shame that he came to us so late in his career.

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LambournR added 14:00 - Jan 28 Prediction League champion isawqpratwhitecity says: "Einstein once said that the definition of insanity is 'supporting QPR: you'd have to be a complete bloody idiot'" Haven't laughed so much in ages. Reminds me of the days when I first started supporting QPR on the terraces in the 80s - the football wasn't great but you'd always have a good laugh.
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