Jordan Foster on the underrating, overrating, misuse and otherwise of QPR’s Chilean attacker Ediardo Vargas.

I like Eduardo Vargas as a player. I like his tenacity, his work-rate and he clearly has ability. It's easy to say he should be playing up front when you look at his record for Chile — 18 goals in 39 games - especially when the pantomime villain Bobby Zamora is playing in front of him. But the record at club level reads almost the opposite…

At Grêmio in Brazil he played 37 times and got nine goals and one assist. At Napoli in Serie A, he managed three goals and one assist in 28 appearances. At Valencia there were five goals and one assist in 25 appearances. With QPR this year he has played 19 times, scored twice (a second against Liverpool harshly taken away from him) and assisted two others.

Harry Redknapp and now Chris Ramsey have both decided not to give him a go up front for a sustained period and I think that's largely due to the other payers in the squad.

From the opinion of people I have spoken to who I trust in football, for all Charlie Austin's positives his game isn't the 'lone striker' role.

The stats from earlier this year back it up too. His game is all about getting in the penalty area and finishing things off. He plays off instinct - although I think his game outside the box is improving. To get Austin the space and time he needs, he's been partnered with Zamora. I believe Zamora has been overlooked for his role in certain games recently. For instance in the win away at Sunderland, Zamora occupies both centre halves and makes the run to the front post opening up space for Leroy Fer to come in behind for the first goal. For the goal against Spurs, he pins the defender before laying the ball to Sandro.

So, in my opinion - before anyone tells me what a load of rubbish it is, I think you would need to play Zamora up with Vargas if you wanted to play the Chilean as a forward in the current formation.

A position I think he could thrive in would be on the right side of a three in a 4-2-3-1 running and catching out sleeping centre backs. He could thrive there with his work rate and engine, his talent on the ball should speak for itself but playing him as a winger and expecting him to get down the touchline and whip a ball in is a little pie in the sky. Especially in a 4-4-2 where you start a lot deeper when in possession teams will likely have men back against you to defend. He takes one too many touches as it is, having him further up the field lets him hurt teams quicker.

However, while I’ve seen 4-2-3-1 being mooted as the obvious answer to problems I really don't think it is. Playing this formation and it being so fluid with the pivots in midfield and the two wide players or inside forwards - your full-backs have to be proficient in defending. Whilst Mauricio Isla and Yun Suk-Young are extremely popular and have a plethora of assets that they bring to the team, I think you'd be exposing them in the 4-2-3-1 and it would basically mean them going alone against a winger one on one on most occasions with no real protection. I think it would be fair to say both are better going forward than they are defending. The last time I remember playing 4-2-3-1 over a sustained period was the promotion year under Warnock and although Walker came in, Orr and Hill were both very comfortable defenders.

You'd also have to look at the midfielders at the minute and again whilst I am a big fan of Joey Barton and Sandro, do they have the attributes technically and physically to play in the two holding roles? It's a lot of ground to cover and you need legs in there.

And finally, when looking at Vargas’ impressive record for Chile, it’s worth remembering that international football, especially in South America, is a million miles away in styles to the Premier League.

The Twitter @JordanJFoster

Pictures — Action Images

Photo: Action Images

Recoilboss added 07:53 - Mar 27 The eternal persistence of the use of Zamora is a huge part of why R’s have failed so spectacularly up front and are certainties for relegation. Whatever formation gets employed (and it’s all far too late now anyway), it should not include a man so unsuited to modern football, so clearly washed up & crocked it’s beyond laughable. And this short-sightedness from both Redknapp & Ramsey, along with the recent omission altogether of the one pacy striker we potentially have in Vargas, has hurt us immensely. Vargas’ impressive record for Chile being a million miles away in style - therein lies the problem. None of our coaches has recognised how to use this asset, along with other assets we have had at our disposal this season.

3

stneotsbloke added 08:45 - Mar 27 Recoilboss has got it spot on. Starting the season with BZ and CA smacks of very poor pre-season planning, and FR was being ether terminally naive of stupid (probably both ....) to think that Loic Remy would be with us this season. I've never been a fan of BZ but let's be totally fair, the guy has given everything and, particularly early season, put in some tremendous performances alongside Charlie. Bobby is clearly past it but he deserves great credit for playing through the pain barrier and never giving up. To me, he should have been on the bench to come on if/when we were chasing a game with 20 minutes to go when he could use the little bit of fuel in his tank to best effect. Let's face it Bobby wouldn't get in a Championship team these days and here we are using him as a main striker in the Premier League. It shows a scandalous lack of planning by HR and indeed all of the management team. Every R's supporter feels doubly aggrieved this year as it's clear we've learnt nothing from the previous two years in the Prem - we feel cheated . Relegation and the inevitable clear out time awaits and let's hope that whoever is in the chair next season doesn't go down the same ridiculous route as Hughes and Harry. Next season will be tough, just look at the rapid downfall of Fulham and Wigan !!. It's been a truly depressing season but I'm already looking forward to next season. Are all football fans as eternally optimistic as us lot.

2

Discodroids added 11:30 - Mar 27 i seem to remeber greyriars playing well for about a game and half against liverpool and villa. this dose not qualify him for a solid gold statue outside the south africa road shithouse. time to do a prog rock god act booby and open up a salmon farm with captain beefheart in the scottish highlands. please , simply fk off.
0

whittocksRs added 13:46 - Mar 27 Hmmm.. don't agree with a lot of the sentiment here. Vargas should've been given a run up front with Austin at some point this season.
0

Burnleyhoop added 19:08 - Mar 27 What's Clive's definition of insanity? Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. Is it not time to roll the dice? Vargas and Isla did well down the right hand side earlier in the season, although Matty Philips has finally turned up. The inclusion of Adel may also give us a spark that can make the difference. Bollocks to playing what has clearly failed, we need some pace and unpredictability.

0

PunteR added 22:19 - Mar 29 Austin and Vargas have to play together. Too drop Vargas to play Zamora is ridiculous. I know it might suit Austin's game more with Zamora but we are sitting 2nd bottom of the league,Austin's goals alone are just not enough. We need goals from other areas of the pitch. Players like Vargas,Taarabt even Barton and Sandro need to be getting on the score sheet. Lumping the ball up to Zamora is obviously just not good enough in this league. Vargas reminds me of Aguaro but I'm sure he could play up top with Austin behind.

0

simmo added 09:58 - Mar 30 What is the point in this?
0

PunteR added 23:39 - Mar 30 The point being ,playing Vargas might actually happen,we might win some games,we stay up and I look like a football genius(in my own mind) for even just suggesting him on a QPR message board. It also passes the time.
0

simmo added 10:30 - Mar 31 I meant the article. It's a message board post with a title and a picture.
1

Blogs 31 bloggers

Exeter City Polls