Mark Hughes lamented his side’s inability to string two good performances together consecutively after the defeat at West Brom on Saturday. Rangers are now fighting not to be overtaken by Reading who won promotion from the Championship tonight.
Hughes told the club’s official website: “It's an opportunity missed. We didn't really put enough pressure on West Brom in the first half and were a little bit off the pace, to be perfectly honest. We allowed them a little bit too much time and space, which enabled them to get their heads up and pick out passes around our box. We were a little bit slow to get out to the lad that scored the goal, even though it was a great strike from him. Everybody understands the importance of not conceding first when you are the away side, which makes it extremely difficult to get back into the game.
"I thought we were better in the second half. We had more possession in their half and created chances, but we didn't really make the best of them. There were a number of opportunities where we needed a little more guile and presence. We might then have been able to pick the right pass and convert a chance. All-in-all, it's a frustrating day. We were great on Wednesday but we didn't hit that level today unfortunately."
In form defender Clint Hill says the club needs to find a way to transfer its home form to away games, and continue to upset the big boys in the league if they're to survive. Hill told the club's official website: "We can't seem to set the same standards as we do at Loftus Road . That's something that we need to fix. We've got some big games coming up. It's going to be tough. Everybody's got hard games. People say that some teams have got easier fixture lists than others, but there are no easy games in this league. Every team will find that out in the run-in. Hopefully we can raise our game against the big teams that we've got left to play, as we have done in recent weeks. It gives us hope that we have beat teams like that. We've got four decent teams still play and hopefully we can get some results."
Hill also told West London Sport he was looking forward to Djibril Cisse's return to the team this weekend. Hill said: " “We’ve got Cisse back in contention and that’s going to almost be like having a new signing for the last four games. Hopefully with the chances we do create, someone like him could make the difference. It will be nice to have him back in the squad. He’s gutted about missing these games and will be itching to get back and prove people wrong who have been having a go at him. He’s proved what he can do at this level. If you give him a chance he can put them away. His record shows he will take them.”
Cisse himself says (again) that he's keen to make amends after missing four games through suspension for a stupid red card at Sunderland . Cisse has scored three goals and picked up two red cards in five appearances for Rangers so far and has been suspended for seven of the 12 games played since he joined the club.
He told London24: "I feel bad that I have let people down for being sent off twice. The first time I was angry because I was tackled badly. I have been hurt before in my career through tackles like that. We have got a really tough run-in to the end of the season, but I would actually prefer this. There are big, massive games. We want to win so much. I will be back for Tottenham and we then go to Manchester City , which will be hard, but you cant rule us out of winning that one."
Cisse also recently stated his intention to stay at Loftus Road next season regardless of what division QPR are in, saying he dislikes it when players immediately seek to leave a relegated club. How realistic that is remains to be seen and it's almost certain that our two African loan stars Taye Taiwo and Samba Diakite would move on if the R's are relegated.
Taiwo was quoted on the AFP newswires earlier this week saying he'd like to stay in the Premiership next season: "In England maybe you have to wait for six months to adapt to the Premier League. The Premier League is like basketball. You keep moving forward and back and that is why it is the top league in the world. I am very happy to be here with the team and players. They have really welcomed me. I am here to work very hard, to make us get good things. It will be lovely if we can stay up. All Africans watch the Premier League and in Nigeria you see fans of Arsenal, Manchester United, Man City and Chelsea ."
The 'no shit Sherlock' award of the week goes to Heidar Helguson who told the official website he felt the team would need to improve its performances to secure Premiership survival. Helguson, who returned from a three month injury lay off in the defeat at West Brom , said: " "I don't think we were good enough overall, to be honest. We didn't look as on the ball as we did on Wednesday. "That's something that we're going to have to address on Saturday, especially against a team like Spurs. But we're on a good run at home at the moment. We'll be going into that game full of confidence. Recently we seem to be doing better against the big teams at home. Hopefully that can continue. We need to pick up points wherever we are. It's irrelevant where we get the points from - as long as we get them.
"Hopefully I can get a couple more goals. It might take a little bit of time to get back to full-match sharpness, but I have been training for three or four weeks. I'm pretty happy with where I am at the moment."
Off the field it seems that Man City's head of scouting Mike Rigg is to take up a technical director's post at Loftus Road according to WestLondon Sport. Rigg worked with Mark Hughes at Eastlands and Blackburn Rovers previously.
And finally Anton Ferdinand was questioned under caution by police earlier this week following a nightclub brawl between his friends and Doncaster striker El Hadji Diouf. Ferdinand, like just about everybody else in football, has history with Diouf dating back to their time at Sunderland when they were involved in a dressing room argument.
Ferdinand recently told Sunderland blog The Roker Report: "It was frustration between both of us. Both of us had the will to win games and that wasn't happening at the time. He told me something I didn't like, I said stuff he didn't like, and it just went on from there. I'm a winner at the end of the day, I want to win every game I play in. If my teammates around me aren't on the same page then I want to know why. That's the way I am. He wasn't doing something I wanted him to do so I wanted to know why he didn't want to do it."
Hold the bloody front page, Patrick Agyemang has scored a goal. In his thirteenth appearance of the season for a third different club, and his ninth in the colours of League One Stevenage, the cumbersome oaf notched the second in a 6-0 win at Yeovil at the weekend. The home team had Michael Woods dismissed shortly beforehand with the score at 1-0. With Rowan Vine breaking his 13 month scoring duck for Gillingham against Dagenham and Redbridge last week (before returning to form in a 0-0 draw with Oxford this weekend) LFW wonders whether we are now approaching a point where we have indeed seen everything.
Elsewhere in League One no sign of Lee Cook in the Charlton matchday squad as they sealed promotion with a 1-0 away win at Carlisle . Max Ehmer played a full 90 minutes for Preston as they won 1-0 at home to Huddersfield .
A division higher Peter Ramage played a full 90 minutes for Birmingham who came from two goals down to draw at home with Bristol City who sent Hogan Ephraim on for the closing 12 minutes of the game.
A late goal from Mikele Leigertwood sealed a 1-0 home win for Reading against Nottingham Forest this evening which confirmed their return to the Premiership. The Royals also count Kaspars Gorkss and on loan Matt Connolly aong their number and have recovered from a slow start to the season to win 17 of their last 19 matches and pip Southampton and West Ham to the automatic promotion post.
I wonder how many more times Martin Allen can walk away from Barnet and still walk straight back into the Underhill hot seat? Mad Dog returned to the Bees for the third time this week, replacing Lawrie Sanchez who had overseen a run of one win from 16 matches that has left Barnet facing relegation to the Conference. This time last season Allen, who was appointed eight games from the end of the season, walked out with three to play to join Notts County causing uproar among the club's supporters and shareholders. However they have turned to him for a third time this week in the hope of preserving league status.
Allen told BBC London: " "I can understand the supporters were upset last year. It was a very, very difficult decision to leave. For the people who've criticised me, Barnet is the love of their life. For managers, it's a job. There is a big difference. It's life. If better offers come along, generally people take them. The public have a general conception if you're a football manager then you're absolutely minted - I'm not."
Kyle Walker has made the final five shortlist for the PFA Young Player of the Year award. The right back spent three successful months on loan with QPR last season in the Championship and has been revelation on the right side of the Spurs team this season. Sergio Aguero from Man City , Daniel Sturridge at Chelsea, Arsenal's Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Walker 's Tottenham team mate Gareth Bale are the other nominees.
Best wishes from the whole LoftforWords team to our former manager Trevor Francis who was admitted to hospital at the weekend after suffering a heart attack.
Mario Balotelli says he has no intention of leaving Manchester City this summer despite manager Roberto Mancini stating his intention to sell the striker following his latest sending off at Arsenal. Balotelli said: "I still have to improve, especially as a footballer. Above all my behaviour on the pitch, but also tactically. I have the fortune to be working with Mancini, one of the best managers in the world, if not the best."
Bolton midfielder Fabrice Muamba hs been discharged from the London Chest Hospital as he continues to recover from the heart attack he suffered in last month's FA Cup tie at Spurs. Muamba's heart stopped beating for 78 minutes after he collapsed on the pitch during the first half. The match was abandoned and Spurs won the replayed game 3-1.
Swansea say they want to keep loan stars Steven Caulker and Gylfi Sigurdsson at the club next season but the decision lies in the hands of their respective parent clubs Spurs and Hoffenheim. Chairman Huw Jenkins said he believed Spurs may be willing to loan Caulker out again next season but a change of manager at Hoffenheim may scupper hopes of a permanent deal for Sigurdsson who has seven goals in 14 Swansea appearances so far.
The controversy over Ashley Young's diving continues t rumble on after the fleet footed winger conned another spot kick, his eighth of the season, in a win against Aston Villa at the weekend. Man Utd manager Alex Ferguson admitted afterwards: "I think he played for the penalty. He has definitely taken a fall, it was a dramatic fall and he overdid it, but it's a penalty definitely."
Liverpool and Chelsea winning through to the FA Cup final means that Newcastle will more than likely compete in Europe next season with the Europa League qualification now stretching down to sixth. Liverpool have already secured their place by winning the League Cup.
Engineering works will effect the following tube and train lines around London this Saturday as QPR welcome Tottenham to Loftus Road.
District Line services will be replaced by buses between Richmond and Turnham Green all weekend.
Replacement bus services are also operating on the Overground line from Richmond to Willesden Junction. IN addition there is no Overground service between Watford and Queen's Park.
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