As expected, Alejandro Faurlin’s start to life in the Premiership has drawn interest from more illustrious suitors at home and abroad.
Faurlin has been in consistently excellent form since achieving promotion with Rangers last season, twice winning Man of the Match awards in live Sky games this season. Now his agent claims clubs at the upper end of the Premiership and Serie A are showing an interest in the Argentinean ahead of the January transfer window.
Faurlin’s agent Lucas Cominelli told the Ealing Gazette:“I’m not encouraging calls because Ali is very happy at QPR. But when the phone rings and there are two Premiership teams and one from Serie A expressing their admiration, it’s a testimony to the way Ali has started in the top flight.”
The other form man of the moment Heidar Helguson is tipped for a one-year contract extension by the Daily Mail.
One man certain to leave Loftus Road in January is loan winger Jason Puncheon who ha struggled to make an impact since joining from Southampton in August. He may spend the second half of the season in the Championship on loan at Millwall where hee previously enjoyed a successful temporary spell.
Millwall boss Kenny Jackett told the News Shopper: “We haven’t had any contact about Jason. There are quite a lot of situations we are watching. Are we watching the situation with Jason Puncheon? I would be lying to you if I said we weren’t, but we haven’t had any contact on that one. Would the door be open? Yes. He is someone we have monitored since he left the club.”
In other news this midweek, the QPR Youth Team knocked out Huddersfield Town in the FA Youth Cup on Wednesday night at Loftus Road. Goals from Bruno Andrade, who has first team experience, and Frankie Sutherland, who is a Republic of Ireland youth international, sealed a 2-1 win for the juniors in the country’s premier competition for youth teams. The result was especially sweet for the R’s, coming against a club with an academy set up that Tony Fernandes is hoping to implement at QPR as soon as possible.
Looking ahead to this weekend’s trip to Liverpool, defender Matt Connolly says he is ready to resume first team duties after a tough period with injuries over the past two months. The former Arsenal man told the club’s official website:
“I have been back to full training for the past couple of weeks, and the plan now is to continue with that and get my fitness levels back up. I need some more Reserve minutes as well, and then hopefully it won't be too long before I am back in the squad. I need to get some match fitness, so hopefully I can get a 90-minute run-out for the Reserves next week, we'll just have to wait and see. Having played a few games earlier in the season, I can't wait to be back involved again. My aim is to get as fit as possible and then wait for my chance."
To get back in the team he’ll have to displace current first choice centre back Anton Ferdinand, whose own form has been slightly up and down of late. He told the club’s official website: "At Anfield Liverpool are a force. With their fans and the Kop behind them, they're a threat. Anfield is an old-school stadium, and is similar in that way to Loftus Road, although obviously it's a lot bigger. The supporters are very close to the pitch as well and they have a set of fans that really get behind their team, and have a lot of passion. But playing at stadiums like Anfield is the beauty of being in the Premier League. All the lads are looking forward to it."
Liverpool centre half Daniel Agger says his team is determined to bounce back after their defeat at Fulham on Monday with a win against QPR. He told Sky Sports: “Everybody who plays football at this level doesn't like to lose, so everybody was really upset and also about the way we lost - we had a lot of chances and I think we deserved better, but that's football.
"Luckily in football, there is always a game next week and a chance to bounce back - and that's something we have to do. We need the points. It's always difficult to talk about positions and which position you can end up. I really hope we can be in the top four because Champions League football is the main thing. Everybody who has experienced it knows it is the biggest tournament and wants to be in it. That's definitely the target."
Steve Palmer has returned to Watford, where he previously made more than 250 appearances before moving to QPR in 2001, to head up the recruitment element of their youth set up. Palmer has worked on the youth coaching staffs at MK Dons and Spurs since retiring from the game and will now work under Head of Football Business Ross Wilson and Head of Academy Nick Cox at Vicarage Road to manage the recruitment of young players by the Hornets.
Crystal Palace’s sapping schedule took its toll on them on Tuesday night as they lost 2-1 to in form Barnsley in the Championship – the first goal coming after seven seconds from Ricardo Vaz Te, a Barnsley club record. Peter Ramage completed a full 90 minutes.
Meanwhile Barnet’s fine recent form continued as they knocked League One side Brentford out of the JP Trophy at Underhill. Gary Borrowdale completed a full 90 minutes but wasn’t one of the five successful Barnet penalty takers in the shoot out that resulted from a goalless outcome. Barnet now go onto the area final.
No action for Lee Cook this midweek, but the left winger has not ruled out making his current move to Leyton Orient a permanent one in the January transfer window. Cook, who has started two 1-0 defeats in league and cup for the O’s so far, told Sky Sports: “It was important for me because it has gone a bit stale down at QPR for me personally and it feels like the right time for me to get out and play some games elsewhere.
"January is just around the corner and it is important for me to get some games under my belt because my record isn't great over the past year or so. It is a bit early to talk about a permanent move to be honest and I'm just going to see how the next month or so goes really because football can change in an instant. It might be a case of trying to sort something out with QPR, so that I'm available on a free transfer in January, but we will have to wait and see when that comes round.
"It is going to be an important time for a fair few players at the club because they are in a similar position to me, but this month is all about playing some football, getting my name back out there and showing people what I can do again."
Finally Mo Shariff has returned from his one month loan deal at St Albans and immediately returned to his former club Staines Town on a similar deal.
- Man Utd’s hysterical exit from the Champions League at the hands of mighty managerless Basle will cost the club £20m according to football finance experts. There is, as yet, no indication as to whether Alex Ferguson will return and complete a press conference he stormed out of last week after a journalist asked him if they were struggling in Europe.
- Man City were also eliminated despite beating Bayern Munich at home because Napoli won at Villarreal. Manager Roberto Mancini said: “We are disappointed, that is normal. We wanted to go into the second stage and now we can do nothing. It is my opinion next year, that if we play Champions League, we will do better. But the Premier League is the priority. We also have the Europa League, FA Cup, Carling Cup. I think that if we are lucky with not a lot of injuries in the future we have a team that can play in all competitions.”
- Newcastle manager Alan Pardew says referee Mike Dean’s decision not to send off Chelsea defender David Luiz in the forth minute of their 3-0 home defeat on Saturday contributed to a number of injuries to key players. Pardew, who lost Steven Taylor and Danny Guthrie during the game, said Dean’s decision lead to his team: “"putting in more effort than we've done in any other game this season". That's cost us injuries to Guthrie and Taylor.”
- Jermaine Jenas’ career at Aston Villa could be over before it has really begun. On a season long loan from Spurs Jenas didn’t make his debut for Alex McLeish’s side until November 5 because of niggling injuries and then ruptured his Achilles against Man Utd at the weekend and has been ruled out for six months. McLeish said: “This is tragic for Jermaine and we are all deeply disappointed for him. To lose a player of his talent and experience is bad enough, but never to have seen him play enough in the Villa shirt for our fans to appreciate the player he is, that's terrible bad luck."
- Chelsea striker Nicholas Anelka could be playing his football in the Chinese Super League in January after receiving a lucrative three year contract offer from Shanghai Shenhua who are about to appoint former Fulham boss Jean Tigana as manager. Anelka submitted a transfer request at Stamford Bridge last week citing lack of first team opportunities.
The following tube and train lines are closed in London this Saturday – for the information of QPR fans heading to and from Euston for our fixture at Liverpool.
- District Line closes at 20.30 on Saturday between Putney Bridge and Wimbledon.
- The Docklands Light Railway is closed completely all weekend.
- Farringdon Station is closed on Saturday to Circle, Hammersmith and City and Metropolitan Line services.
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