The first return fixture of the season sees Norwich, beaten 3-0 at Loftus Road just a couple of weeks ago, face a QPR side reeling after their latest Boxing Day collapse.

Norwich (7-8-8 WLDLLW 12th) v QPR (5-7-8 DWWDWL 17th)

Sky’s Super Saturday Brunch Spectacular >>> Sunday December 29, 2024 >>> Kick Off 12.30 >>> Weather – Bright Osayi-Samuel >>> Carrow Road, Norwich, Norfolk

Do you remember PlayDays? You don’t? Well, we’re doing it anyway.

PlayDays aired on CBBC when we were kids and was, ostensibly and officially, something we liked. Something we did for fun. Something we did for entertainment. However, the concept meant the quality and consistency of PlayDays varied a lot because each day was an entirely new show. You’d sit yourself down, the bus would set off, the music would play, the voiceover would ask “but where will it stop?” and the tension would escalate. Sometimes… It’s The Why Bird Stop. Which was a pretty good one, although that parrot asked a lot of questions. Other times it was Dave Benson Phillips hanging round in a kids playground, which was less good.

Why are we torturing this poor drop intro like this? What did it ever do to us? Well, these -previews don’t write themselves, and the Championship’s not-at-all insane festive fixture list means we’re currently on a diet of two match previews a day. Also, big reveal, we’re going to draw a comparison with our beloved Queens Park Rangers. Something we do for fun. Something we do for entertainment. However, the concept means the quality and consistency… Every Saturday and occasional Tuesday we get on the bus (well, not the bus, I’m not getting on one of those obviously), we set off, the music plays, the voice inside our head says “but where will it stop?” and the tension escalates. Sometimes… QPR 3 Norwich 0. Which was a pretty good one. Other times it’s… The Morgan Fox Stop *thunder* *lightning*.

I know we all think our football club is somehow special and unique. That it does things no other club has ever done. Mostly that’s bollocks. There is absolutely nothing unusual about QPR’s form and results so far this season. The middle of the Championship, from about eighth down to about 21st, is the same dozen or so monkeys chucking the same shit at each other. Above that is dominated by the parachute payment clubs, and below it is where Wayne Rooney eats/farts, but in the middle it’s just teams going on little unbeaten runs or a few weeks without a win on a loop.

That said, is there any team quite as prone as QPR to chucking in a first half like we saw at Swansea on Boxing Day quite as often as we seem to do it? Swansea are similar to us, having a similar season, with similar resources and playing group. They haven’t lost a game by more than a single goal all season, but similarly all their wins had been by that margin as well bar one (prior to this week). What is it about Rangers’ propensity to fall into a hole as spectacularly as they do?

As said in Jamie’s match report from South Wales we perhaps shouldn’t have been so surprised, despite the unbeaten run of seven. The recent first half performances at Bristol City and Oxford were equally as shambolic, and only avoided similar blow outs in those games because City couldn’t finish their dinner and Oxford were similarly woeful. You keep tossing out sludge like that and eventually somebody is going to take advantage. Rangers have also built their good recent run of results on a very deep, narrow set up across the back four. The form of Paul Nardi, Steve Cook and Liam Morrison has enabled Rangers to lean on their centre backs and goalkeeper for prolonged periods of time. Cook and Morrison in particular have got their team out of a lot of holes, covering up poor performances and deficiencies. The stats are stark – QPR have lost nine of the ten games Cook hasn’t been involved in since he signed, Morrison meanwhile is unbeaten in nine starts for the club. Losing them both to a now worryingly increasing pile of muscular/fatigue injuries was always likely to be problematic.

Problematic became disastrous because of the set up we went with instead, and how it functioned. Or didn’t, as was actually the case. I can forgive the desire to leave Jimmy Dunne at right back given how well he’s played there, how ropey he was at centre back earlier in the season (albeit left side) and how Harrison Ashby has been playing, but the defence undoubtedly has a more balanced look to it with him at right centre back and Clarke-Salter at left, rather than what we went with. Less understandable is Cifuentes’ ongoing faith in Morgan Fox. The yawning chasm between him and Kenneth Paal, similarly dreadful and hooked at half time, was an open invitation to Swansea all afternoon. Fox turning like a farmhouse, desperately flapping his arm around pleading with the linesman for a lifeline escape. A brutal watch.

What we do now will be interesting/terrifying because I guess ideally you’d want Clarke-Salter to start again and Fox to be nowhere near, but the ever-fragile former Chelsea man was only supposed to do 30 minutes on Boxing Day and did 90. Are you going to play him again, and in turn risk exacerbating an injury situation which has been killing the team all season? Moving Dunne inside and picking Ashby seems straightforward, but Paal was woeful at Swansea as well and is apparently ill anyway so Ashby may be required again on the left, where he’s been poor himself. We’re getting to the Hevertton Santos bit of the barrel again aren’t we? And that’s just the defence.

An injury to Steve Cook was always going to cause us an enormous problem. He’s the captain, he’s the best defender, he carries the team on his broad shoulders at times. If you could pick a QPR player to be injured he’d be bottom of my list. Morrison won’t be so problematic, despite his record, if Clarke-Salter can get fit and stay there for a couple of months. It’s undoubtedly all come at a really bad time, just as it felt like Rangers were getting things together and moving on up the league.

It's also turned tomorrow’s trip to Norwich into a daunting one. The locals’, the ones with internet at least, seem to hold QPR somehow responsible for their collective headloss at Loftus Road which saw Kenny McLean and Angus Gunn both charged by the FA after the fact. QPR had nothing to do with either incident, but logic and reason hasn’t buttered parsnips on Twitter for a long time. “Out for revenge” etc etc, on a ground where our recent record is appalling, and now with an injury crisis at centre back, which just a week ago was the strongest part of our team… the smoke all looks to be heading one way on this one. You wouldn’t be that surprised to see an exact reverse of the scoreline from the first game. A three nil defeat to a team you beat three nil a fortnight ago? It would be very Championship, sure. But also very QPR indeed.

Links >>> Free scoring Canaries – Oppo Profile >>> Super Ray’s Christmas classic – History >>> Barrott in charge – Referee >>> Norwich Official Website >>> The Pink ‘Un — Local Press and Forum >>> Eastern Daily Press — Local Press >>> My Football Writer - Norwich City >>> Along Come Norwich - Blog

Below the fold

Team News: Just when it felt like QPR were getting somewhere on the fitness and injury front, as well as the league table, the whole thing blows up with key centre back pairing Steve Cook (plantar fasciitis) and Liam Morrison sidelined for what Marti Cifuentes described as “a number of weeks”. That pressed Jake Clarke-Salter into 90 minutes of Boxing Day action when he was only due to play 30 after only making one start since October 22. After Morgan Fox’s aberration in Wales you’d ideally want him nowhere near this game but is JCS going to be able to start again so soon on the left side of the defence? And, if he is, Kenneth Paal, who was just as bad as Fox at Swansea, was subbed at half time apparently suffering with illness so Fox may be needed there. I guess best case scenario is Ashby-Dunne-JCS-Paal.

In better news, Ilias Chair and Michi Frey both looked reasonably fresh from the bench so will surely be pushing for starts here – for Chair that would be a first since Boro on November 5, while Frey hasn’t started since Portsmouth on October 19. Still no sign of Jack Colback though, not even on the bench weeks after he supposedly returned to training.

Elsewhere: The Championship will test the Stoke Managerial Sacking Klaxon every Tuesday morning at 11am. All other Stoke Managerial Sacking Klaxons are genuine.

Having decided to keep Stephen Schumacher on because of a scraped 1-0 win against QPR, and then given him the summer transfer budget to play with, when they were going to sack him, you’ll recall the Potters then binned him off in September just as it felt like they might be starting to make some headway with four wins from the first six games. They’ve won three in 20 games since so Narcis Pelach, on a run of eight without a win and five defeats in six, has now also been binned. I reckon they might have another in them before May as well, paving the way for a glorious final half dozen games in which four wins will be needed to stay up and Tony Pulis will be zipping up that tracksuit once more. Sunderland at home for this farce tomorrow.

The defeat that tipped Pelach over the edge was a fog-bound 2-0 against Red Bull Leeds (did they think he was going to win that? Would it have all been alright again if he had?) and that sent the Whites back to the top of the Championship. An evening kick off at Derby now awaits. They’re followed by Burnley, who won 2-0 at Sheffield Red Stripe, and now head to 3-3 draw enthusiasts Middlesbrough. Chris Wilder’s side have a chance to recover against managerless West Brom in one of three lunchtime games – Preston Knob End v Sheffield Blue Stripe is the other thriller our Sky overlords have picked for the masses to enjoy with their leftovers.

At the bottom the battle of Frank Lampard’s Coventry and Wayne Rooney’s Plymouth was won by the fat one who still has all his own hair. Argyle’s away record is now won none, drawn two, lost ten, scored three, conceded 33. Any hope Wazza might hang on long enough for us to get down there in a fortnight will likely be extinguished if they continue that in Sunday’s goat rodeo at Oxford. The U’s climbed out of the bottom three at the weekend with a first win under Gary Rowett, 3-2 at home to Cardiff having been 3-0 up. Chris Willock subbed at half time, one can only imagine what that performance looked like. The Welsh side, now second bottom, are at Udinese B. Third bottom, and still losing despite a managerial change, Hull head to Blackburn.

The other two teams below us yet to be mentioned are Portsmouth, fourth bottom and away to Bristol City, and Luton, who take a run of eight consecutive away defeats with them to Swanselona.

Millwall, on the cusp of appointing Alex Neil as their new manager, go to Cov.

Referee: Sam Barrott, a former Halifax Town duo who was forced out of the game by knee surgery, was fast tracked to the Premier League within three years of being promoted into the EFL. Of his 14 matches this year, 12 of them have been in the top flight with two in the League Cup. This is his first Championship action of the season. Details.

Form

Norwich: The defeat at Loftus Road, following two wins, set Norwich off on a losing streak of one point from four games. The Canaries were the league’s top scorers when they visited W12, and sat ninth in the table, but have slipped back to 12th and been overtaken in the goalscoring stakes by Leeds and Boro who have 43 and 41 respectively to Norwich’s 39. Borja Sainz remains the division’s top scorer though, with 15 goals a full five clear of Josh Maja at West Brom. Sainz has already scored two hat tricks this year, away at Derby and at home to Plymouth, while QPR have only managed to score more than twice in a game once – against Norwich in the first meeting.

The 2-1 victory against Millwall here on Boxing Day was a third home win in four matches here during which Norwich have scored 13 times. Overall they’re 5-4-2 at Carrow Road, with Burnley and Bristol City the two victorious visitors here so far. A total of 28 goals scored in 11 home games is an intimidating total, bettered only by Leeds (29). It includes six against Plymouth, four against Watford, Hull and Luton, and three against Boro. All these goals have only translated into twelfth in the Championship table for new manager Johannes Hoff Thorup. Naturally that means as well as scoring a lot of goals, Norwich are leaking them at quite a rate. Easily the worst defence in the top half of the table, and you have to look as low as Luton in 18th for a team that has conceded as many as their 35 goals. Hull, in the bottom three, have conceded three fewer than the Canaries.

QPR: The defeat at Swansea extended QPR’s hopeless run on Boxing Day and brought to an end an unbeaten run of seven games that had carried the R’s from five points adrift at the bottom to five points north of the drop zone. Having conceded just three goals across those seven games, never more than one in a game and four clean sheets, the R’s contrived to ship three in little more than half an hour against the Swans. It should perhaps have been clear what was coming when we saw the team sheet. Rangers have lost nine of the ten games in which Steve Cook hasn’t been involved at all since he signed for the club. Liam Morrison is unbeaten in nine starts since he joined in the summer. That centre back pairing has been a key facet of the recent improvements, with Rangers going from no clean sheets in the first 14 games to six in the last 11.

There have been 132 meetings between these sides with 41 QPR wins, 39 draws and 52 Norwich successes. Rangers won the first meeting 3-0, the only time they’ve scored more than two goals in a game this season, but had three swings at Norwich in league and cup last season without success. That included a 1-0 loss here in Marti Cifuentes’ third game in charge. Norwich were unbeaten in nine matches against us prior to the first meeting earlier this month, going back across the last four seasons. A 2-2 draw at Loftus Road last February was the only time in those nine games Rangers have scored more than once. Rangers haven’t won at Carrow Road in nine attempts, since Martin Rowlands scored a thrice-taken free kick here in 2008. Across those nine games QPR have managed three draws and six defeats, including two separate 4-0 losses. They haven’t scored in five of the last six visits here.

Last season QPR started with two wins and ten points from their first 17 games. This season they won one and took 11 points from the first 16. A year ago that run was broken with a run of seven matches leading into Christmas (three wins, three draws and a loss at Norwich). This season Rangers have put together another run of seven unbeaten (four wins, three draws). A year ago they then slipped back into the mire with six defeats and two draws from eight games over Christmas and into January which included an FA Cup exit. The worst performance among them was in a 2-0 Boxing Day loss at Millwall.

Prediction: QPR Hibs led the Prediction League for a month, dipped down to second for a week, and is now top again. That week was the one we hand the hoodies out from Art of Football’s QPR collection here, so congratulations to Marky67 who briefly jumped into top spot at just the right time thanks to Jimmy Dunne’s winner – five months of competition settled 60 seconds from time. Last year’s joint winners WestonsuperR and SimplyNico say...

Nico’s Prediction: “Swansea was a pretty poor end to our recent run of good form, with Liam Morrison’s blow-up, following Steve Cook’s the game before, ending the solid central defensive unit that had been the foundation of that run. We are now into having to rely on some form of combination from Jimmy Dunne, Sam Field, Morgan Fox and perennial sick note, JCS, for our central defence. Help! That does not inspire confidence, and there is a good chance that the points gap to the relegation zone could disappear rapidly. Next up are Norwich, who will have the bit between their teeth given the score, ban and fine they were on the wrong side of only three weeks ago at HQ. Sadly, I see a reversion to the pre-winning run form and a total reversal of the score from that game.”

Weston’s Call “We haven’t actually been playing as well as our results suggest during this recent uptick in form and I go as far as to suggest our first halves in three of the last four matches have been nothing short of dreadful. Start ridiculously slowly again vs Norwich and we are in trouble. The loss of Morrison and Cook is huge and with Norwich being out for revenge after their recent loss to us I fear for us at Carrow Road.”

Nico’s Prediction: Norwich 3-0 QPR. No scorer.

WestonSuperR’s Prediction: Norwich 2-0 QPR. No scorer.

LFW’s Prediction: Norwich 3-0 QPR. No scorer.

If you enjoy LoftforWords, please consider supporting the site through a subscription to our Patreon or tip us via our PayPal account loftforwords@yahoo.co.uk.

Pictures - Reuters Connect

Myke added 19:22 - Dec 28 Cheers Clive, It should be obvious to Marti, that without Cook and Morrison, that if we cede 70+% possession, then a reversal of the result at HQ will be the best case scenario. It should also be clear that if we get stuck into them as we did at home, then they may not be able to cope with that and we might get something out of it. It is essential that we play on the front foot from the get go. If we lose that way, then so be it, at least we gave it a go. But no more week submission like Swansea please.

4

extratimeR added 20:33 - Dec 28 Cheers Clive! At least we have got a decent Ref!
0

062259 added 22:13 - Dec 28 Revenge
0

snanker added 23:32 - Dec 28 Thanks Clive, this one could get ugly ? Paal, Dunne, JCS, Ashby........mmmmm
0

stainrods_elbow added 09:50 - Dec 29 Quite right to point out that Swansea are no world beaters, not least to counter the manager's disingenuousness in claiming they're one of the best in the league at what they do. I hope things won't turn ugly now, but fear the worst today.
0

TacticalR added 12:32 - Dec 29 Thanks for your preview. Yes, monkeys. I suppose the questions are: which Norwich will QPR be facing? and which QPR will Norwich be facing? In particular can we keep Sainz quiet like we did last time? As you pointed out, Cook has covered up a multitude of problems, which were horribly exposed at Swansea.
0

Blogs 31 bloggers

Huddersfield Town Polls