QPR lose unbeaten home record to promotion rivals — report Monday, 23rd Dec 2013 13:38 by Clive Whittingham QPR slipped off the top of the Championship, and lost their unbeaten home record, with a 1-0 defeat to title rivals Leicester on Saturday lunchtime. Leicester City are developing a reputation as awkward party guests at Loftus Road. In October 2009 QPR’s famous old home was rammed to capacity, with every vacuous airheaded Z-list celebrity you’ve ever heard of joining Flavio Briatore in the director’s box, to welcome Jim Magilton’s free-flowing side back from a run of three four-goal wins in three games. Flames licked into the Friday night sky as QPR emerged onto the field for what was billed as a televised procession but Nigel Pearson’s side won 2-1 and deserved a more handsome margin. Magilton never recovered — just six games and only one win later he’d allegedly head-butted Akos Buzsaky in the away dressing room at Watford and been sacked. Fast forward to December 2013 and the Foxes were back in W12 facing a similar set of circumstances. QPR were top of the league at the start of play, with eight wins, two draws and no defeats from ten home games so far during which they’d conceded just twice. The Foxes, with Pearson making a decent fist of a second spell in charge, sat third but hadn’t won in four games and had lost three of those. Sky were in town to potentially see Rangers roar six point clear at the top of the Championship table. For good portions of the game both teams seemed happy to follow that script. Niko Kranjcar was recalled to the QPR starting 11 after a match-winning cameo from the bench through the wind and the chill and the rain at Blackpool a week ago and the Croatian international was in mesmeric form early on. Leicester had good cause to believe that referee Paul Tierney should have awarded them a third minute free kick but when the official ignored their pleas Kranjcar squared the ball for Little Tom Carroll, playing deep in midfield alongside Joey Barton, and he should have found the target from the edge of the area. Within three minutes a move had progressed down the QPR right but Gary O’Neil needed to strike his a side footed shot from 18 yards out with more conviction and ferocity to beat a keeper of Kasper Schmeichel’s quality. Kranjcar put a good deal more behind his eighth minute swerver from range but the Danish stopper in the Leicester goal watched the ball all the way and made a smart, safety-first save with both hands. Kranjcar would later curl wide of the far post at the end of a wonderful move that started with a short pass out from QPR keeper Rob Green then Clint Hill, who passed a late fitness test to partner Richard Dunne at the heart of the Rangers defence, headed powerfully for goal from a corner only to see his effort cleared from the line and then nearly forced an own goal from De Laet from another Assou-Ekotto set piece. When Austin went through on Schmeichel only for the keeper to save at his feet, O’Neil was able to seize on the rebound and lob it towards the empty net but Moore cleared from the line. When Matt Phillips then struck a third effort in quick succession but was denied by Schmeichel at full stretch, you started to feel it might not be QPR’s day. Kranjcar dragged wide after silkily creating space for himself in the area to exacerbate those fears. That feeling grew in tandem with the frustration of the home fans and players. The capacity home crowd cheered and started singing Luis Suarez songs when the Loftus Road squirrel returned for the first time this season for its annual walkabout on the hallowed turf. Such interventions from the cheeky rodent are becoming common place but while the sight of it bounding up and down the field was a source of great amusement to brighten a day of torrential rain and high winds in W12 the response of the referee to the problem affected the rest of the match profoundly. Tierney stopped the play so the squirrel could be removed, but seemed to have little idea as to how that would happen. An amiable sought of chaos ensued for five minutes while the uninvited guest roamed around the field with none of the officials, nor any of the ground staff, really sure what could be done to get the game started again. Leicester striker David Nugent picked a fine choice from Monty Python’s Ministry of Silly Walks to scare it off into the Ellerslie Road stand, but it inevitably returned immediately. The television cameras were on Tierney, the players were appealing to the official to restart the game, and he completely froze for a full five minutes before the players finally formed a wall to usher it off into the corner and away to safety.
From that point on the referee — a surprise choice, given his relative inexperience, for a match of this calibre in the first place — seemed to lose all control of the game, and confidence in his ability to win it back. Five minutes of standing in the centre of the field at the mercy of the whim of a squirrel, while two teams full of strong characters surrounded him and asked him how on earth he envisaged the situation ending, completely killed him as an authority in the game and he wilted during the remaining 75 minutes. First Lloyd Dyer, one time QPR loanee, tumbled to earth under contact from Niko Kranjcar hardly serious enough to send somebody so physically stacked to earth in such a fashion. Robert Green punched the resulting free kick clear. Mr Tierney’s timid grasp on proceedings slipped further and further with each passing minute thereafter. In the twenty eighth minute commanding Leicester centre back Wes Morgan came through the back of Charlie Austin to win a ball and no free kick was awarded. Less than 60 seconds later Clint Hill came through the back of Jamie Vardy to win a ball and was penalised. Shortly after that Benoit Assout-Ekotto was penalised for a foul on Dyer which, again, seemed ludicrously harsh. This provoked a prolonged discussion between the referee, QPR captain Clint Hill and Joey Barton who had, since the squirrel incident, clearly decided — correctly — that the referee was an inexperienced official suffering a crisis of confidence who could be bullied and picked on. When Barton sees incompetence or perceives injustice he just cannot help but open his mouth and for the next hour he invested great amounts of time in trying to talk himself into a red card — eventually succeeding five minutes from time. The poor decisions just kept coming, and coming, and coming. Just after the hour Matt Phillips hit the deck in the penalty area as Moore swept a leg across his path attempting to steal the ball away but missing entirely. A penalty? It would certainly have been soft, but no softer than the two free kicks Tierney had awarded Dyer in the first half. That unwritten rule that challenges inside the area are judged differently to those outside reared its head again when Junior Hoilett, on at half time for the wholly ineffective O’Neil, collapsed under meagre contact from Richie De Laet in the area and when another substitute, Yossi Benayoun, was blocked off by a high arm in stoppage time. Again, not penalties, but no different to a dozen other free kicks Tierney had happily blown for elsewhere on the field. Leicester had cause for grievance as well. Dyer was certainly hacked to the floor on the edge of the area when in full flight and charging for goal immediately after the Phillips penalty decision — grip rapidly slipping, Tierney didn’t even award a free kick. Leicester substitute Gary Taylor Fletcher — more dad for dads and lads match than professional football these days — scythed down Niko Kranjcar with a tackle from behind as he attempted to carry the ball away from a deep position and not only was no free kick awarded but Tierney was happy for David Nugent to continue with the ball and sting Green’s palms with a low shot. Then Barton clearly fouled Matthew James on the edge of the QPR penalty box and when the referee, yet again, failed to blow the Leicester man launched into an ugly challenge on Danny Simpson that could have potentially brought a red card but only received a booking. The decisions were coming thick and fast by this point and were, almost without exception, wrong on every occasion. Assou-Ekotto could have few complaints about his yellow card when he hauled down Vardy after being skinned for pace by the impressive Leicester striker, but Joey Barton had good reason to feel aggrieved about his red card seven minutes from time. For a start, QPR should have been preparing to waste another of their own free kicks deep in the Leicester half with Austin clearly fouled by Moore but Tierney saw Yossi Benayoun against five Leicester defenders and a goalkeeper as some sort of perverse advantage and played on. Barton, who’d foolishly been in the referee’s ear for the entire game, was incredulous at this and quickly conceded a free kick for manhandling Taylor-Fletcher’s colossal girth for which he was finally booked. Barton then mouthed off, and appeared to kick the ball into the Leicester man’s gut — how could he miss? — which saw Tierney pulling out a second yellow and red that he would certainly not have shown had it been any other player on the pitch. You could understand Barton’s frustration with the handling of the game, and the red card itself was harsh and the result of lousy refereeing, but in truth the QPR man had been gagging for a card all game. He behaved poorly, yet again, and let his team down, yet again. Three red cards in his brief and inglorious QPR career so far and all of them have come through not being able to hold his temper when he believes he’s been wronged. Barton really should have grown up by now, and why on earth he deserved a round of applause on the way off is completely beyond me. Thanks Joey. You lost your temper again, and now we’re chasing the game with ten men. Clap. Clap. Clap.
Still, Tierney had mentally evacuated to such an extent by this stage that you’d have sympathised with any player from either side had they ripped his arm out of its socket and beaten him to death with the soggy end of it. Five minutes from time a ball into the School End prompted both referee and assistant to signal for a QPR goal kick only to, after an inordinate delay and public inquiry chaired by Taylor-Fletcher, to change their minds and award a corner. Schmeichel, De Laet and Morgan were all warned by Tierney for time wasting during the second half — then at the end of the game he added a lousy three minutes which was hardly a strong deterrent. At times it resembled the baseball game in the Naked Gun movies where Frank Drebin sneaks onto the field as umpire to body search the players. High farce. But you play the conditions, officials and opponents in front of you and for all QPR’s domination of possession, and shots on goal, Leicester always looked more comfortable, confident and accomplished in themselves. Nigel Pearson is not a complicated man, and he does not complicate his football teams. In Moore and Morgan Leicester had two big, imposing, comfortable centre halves from whom Charlie Austin was able to extract little. The midfield was flanked by Dyer and Knockaert who were quick and dangerous and direct, with a basic remit of getting wide and getting crosses in which they followed to the letter. Up front David Nugent and Jamie Vardy were lively, constantly aware and very irritating. Backed by the division’s best goalkeeper it’s a solid unit, well drilled in its job, and very effective indeed. Five minutes from half time one of Schmeichel’s unfeasibly long punts down the field was flicked on by Nugent and Vardy was far too quick on the turn for Dunne, and far too clinical with the cross-goal finish for Green. Vardy was the visiting team’s outstanding player and deserved that goal. It was staggering to see him replaced so early on by a pudding like Taylor-Fletcher, but it was the basic, direct football, executed efficiently, that won this game for Leicester rather than any one individual. Far too often QPR tried to over-complicate things: always another pass rather than a shot or a cross; always a safe option sideways or backwards rather than a more risky option forward; wingers always coming in field and trying to instigate intricate passing rather than bombing down the outside and crossing the ball. Junior Hoilett and Matt Phillips held a competition for who could frustrate the most during the second half while Leicester got the ball, got it wide, got it in the box, and got home in time for Match of the Day with three points in the bag. Fifteen minutes from time Barton handed possession to Knockaert on the edge of the area and he immediately unloaded a shot that deflected past Green and onto the cross bar. Had QPR been in the same situation they’d probably have gone back to Carroll, wide to Simpson, into Barton, back to Green, wide to Assou-Ekotto, into Carroll, then Hill, then Dunne, then Carroll again, then Austin, and wide to Phillips, and across to Hoilett, and back to Carroll, and through to Kranjcar before finally, finally, finally, mercifully, at long last, taking on a shot from exactly the same position they’d been in two minutes beforehand. Five minutes after half time, trailing one nil and with Richard Dunne, Clint Hill and Charlie Austin in the area waiting for a cross, Barton, Hoilett and Carroll attempted to execute some elaborate short corner routine which failed almost immediately. Worthy as this all is, you don’t win points or prizes for possession lads — it’s what you do with it that counts.
You couldn’t really sum it up any better than Matt Phillips managed to on the stroke of half time when Kranjcar fed Austin and he turned the ball round the corner for the former Blackpool man to race in on goal but instead of getting a shot away early he attempted to widen the angle and chip Schmiechel only to miscontrol the ball and then loft it hopelessly over the bar. Right, fine, yes, you’re all good players, and this is all very lovely, but can we stop making this so difficult and complicated? It’s clearly as frustrating for lone striker Charlie Austin as it is for the rest of us. He showed what he could do with decent service from a wide area at Blackpool a week ago but on the stroke of half time here Assou-Ekotto passed up an opportunity to put over a decent ball for him to attack in favour of more intricate, frivolous arsing about. When the ball did eventually come in Leicester had massed ranks and Austin’s chance had gone. The striker was angry, and let his full back know, which promoted an embarrassing confrontation between the two that Niko Kranjcar had to intervene in.
The home team had chances — of course they did, they were the better side on the balance of play — but when Austin headed down into the six yard box in the seventy third minute the ensuing scramble was dealt with sufficiently. In stoppage time Austin missed his kick after seizing on a long ball in the Leicester area and there were several other speculative efforts off target from him besides. It’s not about weight of possession or the amount of shots — it’s about the quality of the chances you create and whether you take them or not. Leicester missed one or two of their own - Nugent worked Dyer in straight after half time after a poor kick from Green and he should have scored to make it 2-0 — but they took the one that mattered in fine style and left with all three points. Like so many QPR games so far this season, this was one that could have gone either way. Rangers were a couple of poor finishes, a couple of 50/50 refereeing decisions or a couple of ball bounces away from drawing or winning. But not for the first time, they seemed to be focusing on intricate, irrelevant possession in neutral parts of the pitch and were ultimately beaten by a well-drilled outfit who got the ball, and committed numbers, into dangerous areas.
That is almost as annoying as a referee being completely undermined by a five minute cameo from a squirrel. Frustrating day. Links >>> http://www.fansnetwork.co.uk/football/queensparkrangers/news/33619/queens-park-r Gallery >>> http://www.fansnetwork.co.uk/football/queensparkrangers/news/33618/queens-park-r Player Ratings >>> http://www.fansnetwork.co.uk/football/queensparkrangers/news/33617/queens-park-r Your Say >>> http://www.fansnetwork.co.uk/football/queensparkrangers/forum/97229/match-thread Board Match Thread QPR: Green 6; Simpson 6, Dunne 6, Hill 6, Assou-Ekotto 6; Barton 6, Carroll 6 (Benayoun 69, 6); O’Neil 5 (Hoilett 46, 5), Kranjcar 7, Phillips 5; Austin 6 Subs not used: Murphy, Henry, Jenas, Onuoha, Traore Sent off: Barton 83 (two yellows) Bookings: O’Neil 24 (foul), Assou-Ekotto 66 (foul), Barton 83 (repetitive fouling), 83 (dissent) Leicester: Schmeichel 7; De Laet 6 (Wasilewski 82, -) Morgan 7, Moore 7, Konchesky 6; Dyer 6, Drinkwater 6, James 6, Knockaert 6; Nugent 7 (Schlupp 78, 6), Vardy 8 (Taylor-Fletcher 68, 5) Subs not used: Hammond, King, Miquel, Logan Goal: Vardy 41 (assisted Schmeichel/Nugent) Bookings: James 65 (foul) QPR Star Man — Niko Kranjcar 7 About the best of a fairly average bunch, passing with purpose and posing a threat on goal when given the opportunity. A shame that first Phillips and then Hoilett seemed so determined to cut infield all the time, narrowing the pitch and crowding te space where Kranjcar can be really effective. Referee — Paul Tierney (Lancashire) 3 Not, on this evidence, anywhere near good enough, confident enough or competent enough to be handling matches of this importance, this high up the league ladder, with that amount of big characters on both teams. Looked out of his depth. Attendance — 17,713 (1,700 Leicester approx) Atmosphere not helped by an early kick off and dreadful weather, but marginally better than it has been of late. The Luis Suarez songs for the squirrel raised a smile. Tweet @loftforwords Pictures — Action Images Photo: Action Images Please report offensive, libellous or inappropriate posts by using the links provided.
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