In the first of our annual four-part report card on the QPR squad for the previous season, the spotlight falls on goalkeepers Rob Green and Alex McCarthy.
For me Robert Green is best summed up by his career record of four promotions and four relegations with Norwich, West Ham and QPR. He is, as we saw in 2013/14, an excellent Championship goalkeeper. But he is also, as we’ve seen again in 2014/15, not quite there at Premier League level.
At the halfway stage he probably was the best player QPR had last season. He kept some games respectable and made others competitive with his ability to produce improbable saves just when all hope seems lost. He’s not built like a modern goalkeeper — he has the shoulders, stature and presence of a Neighbourhood watch chairman in rural Cambridgeshire while all the best goalkeepers in the world presently stand tall, muscular and dominant — which makes him slightly unorthodox at times. But QPR have been playing with unorthodox goalkeepers for decades - the continental stylings of Jan Stejskal, five foot five Lee Camp, Ademola Bankole punching Danny Maddix in the side of the head, Paddy Kenny and his parties, hell we even had Tony Roberts for ten years despite the fact he wasn’t very good at playing in goal — so that’s not necessarily a problem. At Sunderland away, the first away win of the season at the thirteenth attempt, Green was at his best, diving this way and that to improvise saves to keep QPR in front. That’s when he’s at his best, when it’s all gone to shit and he just has to stand there under the cross bar and make a series of reactionary saves.
When he’s not at his best is when there is a ball to be kicked or thrown, because his distribution was Sunday league standard long before the Chelsea nadir in April, or when there’s some thinking to be done and decisions to be made. Green looks like the sort of man who returns to his house three times after leaving to check he definitely turned the hobs off, even though he had Weetabix for breakfast. He will, at times, stay on his line when he should spring from it, seemingly terrified by the consequences of it going wrong, and then at others come charging out into a crowded space he has no business being in and wreaking havoc — crucial winning goals in key games at home to Spurs and away at Hull were scored into unguarded nets after he’d bolted from his line with a head full of blood.
He’s sure to star next season if he stays, because it’s his level in truth.
Stats
36 starts and no sub appearances, 62 goals conceded, no goals and no assists
Discipline - 1 yellow (dissent)
Three LFW man of match awards (Man Utd H, Swansea A, Newcastle A)
LFW Ratings out of Ten: 6, 4, 7, 6, 5, 7, 7, 6, 4, 5, 7, 6, 8, 6, 4, 7, 6, 7, 6, 6, 7, 5, 8, 8, 7, 7, 7, 8, 8, 5, 6, 6, 5, 8, 6, 7 = 6.333
McCarthy, like Steven Caulker who we’ll come onto later, is one of those rare examples of a talented, injury free, affordable, young, English footballer who I always thought I’d love QPR to sign and then they did. Usually these players go off to other, well run, football clubs while we hold central London press conferences to unveil Ji Sung Park or stock the club shop with Rio Ferdinand’s baseball caps. McCarthy, brilliant against QPR at the Madejski Stadium in 2013/14, was in my opinion potentially Harry Redknapp’s best QPR signing behind Charlie Austin — and even Austin wasn’t much of a gamble given his record.
I thought he played well - despite conceding three, two of them defensive shambles — on his debut against Liverpool and I’m certain he would have kept his place for the following match against Aston Villa had he not been injured. Green regained his place and played exceptionally well through the autumn meaning McCarthy only played twice more. Those two performances, against Sheffield United in the Cup and Leicester in the league, saw him concede eight times and while you can talk about the lack of any semblance of anything at all in front of him on both occasions, there were a couple of goals that were simple, rudimentary goalkeeping errors. You can also talk about him being rusty, suffering through a lack of action, needing to get his eye in and so on and that’s valid mitigation, but still the first goal at Leicester and the second one in the cup tie were Ludek Miklosko-standard balls ups.
Now, with Green apparently staying, there’s talk of McCarthy leaving, which makes you wonder a bit why he bothered, and why QPR did. It feels like a waste. It’ll also be a waste if he makes the same mistake again and goes to Crystal Palace, where he’ll once again find himself parked behind a settled, long serving, talented number one in Julian Speroni.
The boy needs to play. Personally, I think he should be playing here this season.
Stats:
Three starts, one sub appearance, 11 goals conceded, 0 goals scored, 0 assists, 0 yellows and 0 reds
No Man of the Match Awards
LFW Ratings: 7, 6, 4, 7 = 6.00
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Pictures — Action Images