Don't cry for me... - Preview Saturday, 30th Aug 2014 00:21 by Clive Whittingham Sunderland are the visitors to Loftus Road on Saturday at the end of another tumultuous week for Queens Park Rangers. Queens Park Rangers v SunderlandPremier League >>> Saturday August 30, 2014 >>> Loftus Road, London, W12 >>> Kick Off 15.00The disadvantage of writing for the club’s official matchday programme is you have to file your copy ten days in advance. In football, a week is a long time. At QPR, they pack more into 24 hours than most clubs manage in six months. If you pick up a copy before tomorrow’s match with Sunderland you’ll find me, post-Hull, in optimistic mood, and a lot of the content still rings true. QPR have signed well this summer — good quality players, at decent ages, for competitive prices in the current market. To Jordon Mutch and Steven Caulker — excellent purchases both — now add Reading goalkeeper Alex McCarthy. He’s 24 years old, he’s ambitious, he’s incredibly talented, he’s cheap, he’s on a four year contract, and rather than trot out the usual generic, bland, nonsense footballer answers to the obligatory first interview with the club’s official site today he spoke very articulately, intelligently and thoughtfully about why he has come to the club and what he hopes to achieve. The latest of several excellent additions to the QPR squad this summer, in marked contrast to their preparation for their last Premier League season which ended in complete disaster. Against Hull, despite the defeat, QPR looked like a promising work in progress. Undeniably the better side, with the better chances to score, they were undone by their profligacy — particularly a missed penalty — and lousy defending at a set piece. Not a big deal — the shape looked good, the style of play far better than anything produced last year, Hull are no mugs and QPR have fitness and players to add to their side. At work last week, in a departure from my usual pessimistic philosophy, I ventured a brave prediction that Rangers would not lose at Tottenham. With Mauricio Isla to come into the tea, and Eduardo Vargas confirmed the night before, I felt things looked good as we headed to White Hart Lane. One of the most positive aspects was the form of Ale Faurlin, who looked heavy legged and timid when he came back from his first ACL rupture but this time seemed lean, keen, hungry and back to his old self — bossing the midfield for an hour against Hull, flying into tackles and, crucially, winning headers. The injury to Faurlin, sustained at Burton Albion on Wednesday is, first and foremost, a personal tragedy to a player who is universally said to be the nicest person you’ll ever meet and has been rewarded for his good nature and wonderful talent by being shit upon every six months or so since the moment he stepped onto these shores. An FA hearing upon which the club’s first return to the Premier League in 15 years hung right to the final day of the 2010/11 season must have been personal torment for a player who’d done more than most to get the team into that position in the first place. Having survived that and played beautifully through the first half of his maiden Premier League season to the point where interest was being shown by what Sky Sports would no doubt call “the clubs that matter” he ruptured his knee ligaments for the first time leaping for a header in an FA Cup game at MK Dons. He did the same injury to the other knee 18 months later having spent time in Italy on loan trying to get fit again, just as he seemed to be regaining his old form. And now, having come back strong for a second time, the graft the surgeons performed on the second injury has failed him. QPR have players on vast contracts, who have absolutely zero interest in ever playing football ever again. They’re happy to train half-heartedly, not make the bench on a Saturday, pocket their outrageous wage, and contribute nothing. If Shaun Wright-Phillips had ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament two seasons ago, then again last season, and then again during a thoroughly embarrassing personal display at Burton on Wednesday it would not have made a single drop of difference to his life or career. He’s finished, he knows it, he picks up his money, he doesn’t give a toss, he goes home — that’s Shaun, he doesn’t need knees. Ale Faurlin not only wants to play football, but he desperately wants to play it for QPR. His attitude, like his ability, is far in excess of just about anything else at the club. He loves it here, everybody here loves him and all he wants to do is pull on our shirt and play. That’s Ale, with barely any knees left. Faurlin was the man of the match at Spurs last week despite only playing the final half hour, which gives some indication of just how awful QPR were at White Hart Lane. In the opening 30 seconds Armand Traore played a blind pass straight to Emmanuel Adebayor in the QPR penalty area and was lucky to escape without conceding a goal. That set the tone for an abject display which culminated in a 4-0 defeat which flattered the visitors. A pathetic display, with a whole load of hallmarks we’ve come to be very wary of at Loftus Road since 2012/13: lack of effort, lack of work rate, laziness, sloppiness, nobody giving much of a toss. But, not the end of the world. Tottenham are an expensively assembled, talented team. They hand out thrashings to teams regularly, and last season took a few themselves while still qualifying for Europe. One 4-0 defeat doth not make anything really, particularly in August. The subsequent loss to League Two Burton in the League Cup is, sadly, also not a particularly big deal in this day and age. Premier League teams crash out in such circumstances all the time, frightened that winning a couple of cup games will distract them from the real quiz of suckling at Richard Scudamore’s saggy, sexist, bigoted teet. But what’s gone on since, headlined by the Faurlin tragedy, has turned the mood from one of widespread optimism, to one of genuine concern. Harry Redknapp used his increasingly farcical pre-match press conference this morning to confirm that the club has accepted an offer from Crystal Palace for Armand Traore and it’s now up to the player whether he goes or not. I’m certainly no lover of Armand Traore, a wildly inconsistent player with the footballing brain of a house brick, but something doesn’t sit right with this. Firstly, who else is going to pay left wing back in Harry Redknapp’s much talked about 3-5-2 set up? Given the manager’s total aversion to using Yun Suk-Young, why are we so happy to wave Armand Traore off to Palace? Why did he sign a new contract in the summer only to leave now? Why has Harry been saying he’s ideally suited to the new system, only to sell him two days before the deadline? On the other side of the defence, Danny Simpson also seems set to join Leicester. If QPR are to persist with the wing back system, it’s hard to see where Simpson fits. If they subsequently abandon it, and they’ll waste no time in doing that if results continue in this current vein, they’re about to leave themselves without a right back at all. Again, just like last time, Rangers quick to dump the players who got them into the Premier League in the first place in favour of new blood. Ironic isn’t the word, but I did raise a resigned smile when I saw he was going to Leicester — who’ve signed as many players in four years as QPR have in the last 18 months. They recognise a steady, reliable pro and long term investment when they see one up there. And there’s talk of interest in Nedum Onuoha, who should be playing for the first team ahead of Richard Dunne, never mind leaving. If he does, QPR are criminally short of defenders with a squad to be named on Tuesday. Redknapp said this morning that it’s no surprise to see QPR starting slowly having come back from the summer break with a squad of only 13 players after all of last season’s loans had returned. Why, then, the sudden rush to start offloading players just as the squad was starting to look something like? Redknapp talks of those small numbers, and of the poor quality of the club’s pre-season campaign, as if it was foisted upon them, like an unlucky cup draw, or a difficult set of fixtures after Thursday nights away in Europe — as if it was out of our control. Who, if not Harry Redknapp, is in charge of putting the pre-season together exactly? Philip Beard and Tony Fernandes can fit their footballing knowledge on the back of a postage stamp using a thick pen — are we supposed to believe they booked all the friendlies off their own backs? Redknapp also said that he didn’t think Loic Remy would leave the club late in the window because he’s too honourable and decent to do that to Rangers. Now, it seems, he’s going to Chelsea 48 hours before the window closes. In four games QPR have gone from starting with Charlie Austin and Loic Remy up front against Hull, to potentially fielding Bobby Zamora and his bad hip, and Adel Taarabt and his stone and a half of excess baggage from the start against Sunderland. Redknapp says he doesn’t even know where Eduardo Vargas is. It all seems to be shaping up, yet a-bloody-gain, for a deadline day rush of four signings, and you can already bet that Lassana Diara, Niko Kranjcar and Peter Crouch will figure in amongst that. All the hard work of the summer adding promising, young talent at good prices undone on a final day trolley dash of ageing, big money, past it pros. And once that’s done, Harry seems to think he’s going to be signing a new two-year contract. This a man who says that had Derby scored in the final minute at Wembley in May, rather than Bobby Zamora, he’d have retired to the golf course by now. Presumably, given those comments, he’d be off like a shot if Rangers were to be relegated again. So why not wait and see? If we go down, he heads off on his way. If we stay up, he’s rewarded for a job well done with a new deal. Why give him two years now? Are we supposed to believe there’s a clutch of other clubs out there waiting to snatch him from our grasp because they know his contract is nearly up? It seems ludicrous to me. I had some very positive comments about the report I wrote on the Burton debacle, with a couple describing it as this website at its best. In my view, it’s actually me and this website at its worst. Nobody wants to see QPR lose at Burton, least of all me, a third generation QPR supporter. We want to see our team win, our club succeed. I don’t want to sit here at half eleven on a Friday night tapping away trying to make sense of what, in a week, has gone from a promising situation to a baffling mess. I don’t want to get indoors at two in the morning after a night on the M1 and get up again at eight to write a match report on what we saw on Wednesday. I want QPR, and Harry Redknapp, and Tony Fernandes, to do well and succeed. I want to believe them when they say they learnt their lessons last time. But then you have a day like today, and a week like this. I find it absolutely soul destroying. What on earth is going on? Harry Redknapp says you’ll see a different QPR after this international break. He also says Rangers will stay in the Premier League this year. I desperately hope he’s right. Links >>> Opposition Profile >>> History >>> Opposition Interview >>> Referee >>> Arry’s pre-match ‘pressah >>> Betting SaturdayTeam News: So Ale Faurlin is out for the season all over again. Discussions about where his career goes from here can wait, for now it’s a tragedy for the man and the club and that’s as much as needs to be said. Charlie Austin has missed the last two games with a hamstring injury and the club’s medical staff were assessing him at training today to see if he can play against Sunderland. Eduardo Vargas is yet to receive his work permit to make a QPR debut. Sunderland have a fully fit squad to choose from. Elsewhere: Little Burnley should prepare for the biggest patronising seen since Tim Lovejoy was last forced to be quiet and listen to the opinion of a woman before replying, with Louis Van Gaal in town on Saturday lunchtime. Van Gaal remains, it seems, an all-seeing, all-knowing God whose every move is faultless, and whose every faultless move is news. Defeats to Swansea and MK Dons are mere distractions from the real football business of press conferences and transfers. Nobody cares about the actual games themselves any more. A couple of obvious “games that matter” (copyright Sky Sports) take Chelsea to Everton for a 1-0 win that bores everybody to tears and Liverpool down to Spurs for a goal glut. Arsenal at Leicester on Sunday afternoon could potentially be interesting but Aston Villa v Hull earlier in the day looks like the funeral of a work colleague you’re forced to attend but never really liked in the first place. That leaves five games at 15.00 on Saturday including our own, and Stoke’s thrashing at Manchester City. Neil Warnock starts his second stint at Crystal Palace with a trip to Newcastle, and without checking I’m sure he’s told somebody somewhere that the long old poke up to the North East is “just what we needed really, if I’m honest.” Alan Irvine’s long, slow, grizzly path to the inevitable sack takes West Brom to Swansea, and while Big Fat Sam’s Big Fat Brand of Entertaining Football wasn’t good enough to get anything from League One Sheffield United during the week, he may be able to squeeze out a goalless draw from this weekend’s home match with Southampton. Referee: Robert Madley is the man in the middle at Loftus Road this Saturday, his first QPR appointment since a 2-0 defeat at Brighton towards the end of last season. Robert, who’s brother Andrew is also on the league list, has been fast tracked into the Premier League, making five appearances last year in just his fourth season on the list. He was somewhat card happy last term, and made an eccentric start to this season in a recent draw between Brentford and Birmingham in the second tier. For more details on that, and his stats and QPR case history, please click here. FormQPR: QPR have started the season with three defeats in all competitions, conceding six and scoring none in the process. Last season at Loftus Road, Rangers won 15, drew six and lost just two against Reading and Leicester. QPR have now won just four of their last 41 Premier League fixtures and haven’t won a top flight game in 11 attempts going back to a 3-1 win against Sunderland in March 2013. @QPR_Stats tells us that defeat here would be the first time that Rangers have lost their first three league games in a season in more than 100 years going back to their time in the Southern League. Sunderland: The Mackems are unbeaten at the start of the new season with two draw sin the league — 2-2 at West Brom and 1-1 at home to Man Utd — and a comfortable 3-0 League Cup win at Birmingham. They’ve scored six and conceded three so far, but Connor Wickham is without a goal in five top flight outings. Sunderland had seven players sent off last season — more than any other side in the top flight. Betting: Professional odds compiler Owen Goulding tells us… “Another desperately disappointing performance in a cup competition led to an early exit at the hands of a well-run Burton Albion side. Gary Rowett is doing a great job at the tiny club in Staffordshire and has his side punching well above their weight in all competitions. “The same cannot be said of QPR. The chant of 'Premier League, you're having a laugh' from the Burton faithful on Wednesday was swiftly retorted by the QPR faithful with 'Premier League we’re having a laugh' - a chant that seemed very apt considering the appalling performance by the men in hoops. It had been going wrong for a long time prior to the goal, yet Redknapp and his staff just stood by and did nothing: no changes, no tactical adjustments, nothing. And this was the same at Tottenham, and the same scenario many, many times last season when things weren't going well. Maybe Harry is angling for more signings - or maybe he just isn't that good tactically. “It was a reserve side on Wednesday but it still should have been more than capable of defeating a team three divisions below. The spirit doesn't look good in the camp at present. It will be a much stronger line up on Saturday that takes on a resurgent Mackems, but the midfield is of huge concern. Faurlin is out with what appears a career threatening injury and we wish him all the best for a speedy recovery; Leroy Fer looks like he's been schooled at the Bob Malcolm/Marco Boogers soccer academy; Junior Hoilett and Matt Phillips look shadows of the players they were for previous clubs; and then of course there is Jordan 'Mutch Ado about Nothing' to make up the numbers. “Sunderland on the other hand have the tackling machine Lee Cattermole, the guile of Adam Johnson, and the box to box ability of Jack Rodwell to compete. I'm taking my QPR hat off here. “I've seen enough in the first three games to suggest things still aren't right in the camp. The game will be won or lost in midfield on Saturday and barring an amazing change in form, Sunderland have it all ends up. Quite why they are 23/10 outsiders for this one based on current form is beyond me. The only reasoning being the players QPR are likely to bring back into the team: Charlie Austin, Loic Remy, Rio Ferdinand and Steven Caulker. However, I think Harry will inexplicably stick with Richard Dunne and Leroy Fer, and it could well be the case that Remy will not play due to a possible last minute transfer. With Austin also a doubt, we could be left with no out and out forwards again. “But it’s the midfield that worries me most. It looks men against boys as team news stands. And for that reason, I have to suggest a bet on Sunderland at 23/10. I've been wrong a lot this season - I just hope I'm wrong again.” Recommended bet: Sunderland to Beat QPR - 23/10 - Skybet Prediction: Reigning Prediction League champion WestonSuperR tells us… “If I base my prediction on our only home game of the season so far then there is reason to be fairly positive - 19 attempts on goal and a decent performance would normally leave me in a good frame of mind and expecting win on Saturday. Combine this opening day showing with our strong home form from last season and there is even more reason to expect three points. “Unfortunately since then I have had to sit through a truly dreadful performance v Spurs (could have, possibly should have been six or seven rather than just the four) and a display against Burton that lacked effort, movement any sort of team cohesion and some of the worst individual performances I can remember - please don’t let Wright-Phillips ever play for our club again. Burton apparently rested their two best players and were comfortably the better team. “What also worries me is that Sunderland looked good against Man Utd (although who doesn’t these days?) and I rate their manager. I am certain Gus Poyet will smell blood and make it quite clear to his team that we are under severe pressure already and I expect them to be fully up for this game right from the off. “I am tempted to try and add a positive note to say expect at least a goal but 270mins so far without a goal, so why should we be certain of that? I’m not sure the Burton goalkeeper was particularly troubled by us on Wednesday night. “Let’s hope I am wrong but I see this as another difficult afternoon.” John’s Prediction: QPR 0-1 Sunderland. No goalscorer. LFW’s Prediction: QPR 0-2 Sunderland. No goalscorer. The Twitter @loftforwords Pictures — Action Images Photo: Action Images Please report offensive, libellous or inappropriate posts by using the links provided.
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