The continued brilliance of Austin, the continued failings of QPR — knee jerks
Sunday, 8th Mar 2015 21:09 by Antti Heinola

Two 2-1 losses in a week in almost identical circumstances to teams who both were just, in the end, too good. Antti Heinola offers us his six talking points from Saturday.

Seen this one before

The chips aren't just down, they've been buried in a shallow grave. I fancied us to maybe sneak one win from these two vital home games, but sadly it wasn't the case. It was astonishing how similar the Arsenal and Spurs games were. Both times we weathered a wealth of early possession from the opposition to make some good chances of our own, but failed to capitalise on them. Then the other team stepped up and took us apart for a bit and the game seemed lost. Then we scored a nice goal from the edge of the box to give us late hope, but we never really threatened again afterwards. I felt we needed two, ideally three points from these two games to give us some kind of base to build from. As it is, Ramsey has lost four out of five and our home form, so vaunted by Redknapp (always conveniently ignoring how kind those home fixtures had been, in stark contrast to his silly claims about our tough away games), has collapsed. No victory at Loftus Road this year - in fact none since the West Brom game on December 20, which was almost completely down to one player. We still have a chance, of course, but it's going to take something pretty monumental to save us now.

Team selection and subs

I've seen plenty of over the top criticism for Ramsey on the message boards and it's as baffling as the way he was lauded after just a couple of games. The truth, as usual, lies somewhere in between. Yes, he's made mistakes, but yes, he's made improvements. Either way, it's as impossible to judge now what kind of manager he might be as it was after the Sunderland game. He's a bit handcuffed at the moment thanks to numerous injuries and Redknapp's merry band of players who can't play for 90 minutes or can't stay fit for more than a month at a time, but still, there were some odd decisions yesterday.

Chief among them has to be Phillips on the left. He's come into the side and immediately become our most creative player, claiming four assists, which I suspect probably beats everyone else in the squad already. He's been playing to his strengths - pace and skill down the outside and whipping in dangerous crosses to Austin and Zamora. Yesterday, he was on the left, meaning he continually needed to cut back before crossing. Surely Mauricio Isla is versatile enough to play on the left? And with Onuoha at right back, it's not like we looked weak on the right in terms of defending. I can only think Ramsey was worried about Eriksen drifting in and out on the left, and wanted Isla there to look after him. Elsewhere, he had very few options. Taarabt still has a groin issue, but to lose Vargas and Zarate to illness or injury? I've seen a few explanations, but it seems very odd. In the end, we had no one at all on the bench who realistically might have turned the game.

But the strangest decision of them all was bringing on Shaun Wright-Phillips in injury time, an act that almost certainly wasted our own time and for a player who has failed to make a contribution of note for over two years - how was he ever going to do anything in 60 seconds? Bizarre.

Steven Caulker

I've noticed he's frequently not in many people's preferred starting elevens these days, and he's certainly an interesting case. Up until Christmas I thought with Austin he was our most consistent performer - he's a player I certainly believed we should have signed years ago for a lot less money. But since Christmas he's had some bad games, been dropped and ignored by Redknapp, and can't seem to find any reliability. I actually thought yesterday was one of his better games. He was fierce in the tackle, quick to cover the slow and rather poor Ferdinand and clearly determined. But, as with recent weeks, he made a dreadful mistake when he was caught in possession near his own box. This is now becoming something that occurs once a game and he needs to cut it out. Centre backs get better with age and I still see him as a future captain of the club - hopefully sooner rather than later - but he needs to step it up. In his defence, a back four that changes week to week probably doesn't help.

Charlie Austin

Another all-action, almost desperate performance from Charlie. At times forced to go back into midfield to get the ball and try and set himself up for a chance, at others finding space and chances amongst a ropey Spurs defence and he was very unlucky not to score. His incredible attitude can be summed up in the second half where he dropped back to cover Yun at left back, and although Walker's superior pace caught him out, he still got back to block a certain goal. He's everything you want in a player and for me looked a better player than Kane, despite the fact that Kane scored two and Austin ended with none. While I don't think he's international standard, he has surely done enough to be in the next England squad with Kane and ahead of the likes of Lambert and Berahino.

As against Arsenal, though, he looked increasingly frustrated by the lack of service he was getting from a midfield that really wasn't built to support the strikers. Worse still, he seemed to have injured that foot again. If he misses even the next two games, the penultimate nail has just been bashed into our relegation coffin - he's that vital.

Yun

Again, we didn't play poorly, but overall we just weren't good enough. The twin absence of Barton and Fer leaves us hugely short of quality in the midfield and that's where Spurs and Arsenal both dominated. But there have been bright spots in both games and Yun has certainly been one. He's not a brilliant player, but plenty good enough for us and every week he makes a mockery of Redknapp's refusal to give him a go last season while wasting money on the Assou-Ekotto loan. What particularly impresses me is his calmness in possession. I remember people didn't want him starting in the play-off final because of a perceived lack of experience, yet this season we've seen him look so comfortable on the ball even when under great pressure - partly because of excellent technique and a sound first touch. Another good game yesterday against difficult opposition and he should be a fixture in the side next season regardless of which league we're in.

The Referee

I'm tired of all the nonsense about refs to be honest. I think games where the ref has actually, genuinely, caused a team to lose a game are extremely few. Yes, you can point to penalties that should have been given, but almost always teams have also missed presentable chances or made their own mistakes at the back too. Refs can't get it right all the time - just as players don't. That's how football is and how it should always be - it's part of the game. It's lazy to blame refs, and smacks of unwillingness to take responsibility for your team's own failings.

But. There is a but. Pawson yesterday did his best to ruin the game. Even if you take away the two penalty shouts and his failure to book Mason despite him seeming to admit he dived, he was extremely poor. All Spurs players had to do was hit the deck to win a foul, and these free kicks were often given even when an advantage could have been played. He failed to book Walker for punching the ball, which is a standard yellow. He denied two penalties which would have been given at least 80% of the time. And then, to compound it all, he bought a pathetic, risible dive from Dier near the end of the game when he was under pressure from Zamora. I don't think anyone can argue that Spurs didn't deserve to win - they were the better side - but this was a poor show from the ref and we deserve much better.
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BazzaInTheLoft added 20:43 - Mar 9 Great point about blaming the refs. No one has ever been fighting a relegation battle from August to March because of the refs.
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