For the second midweek running QPR were involved in a dire 0-0 draw on the road, this time at Coventry City

As the team gets used to each other, the selections become more consistent and De Canio has more time on the training ground with the lads the philosophy is starting to come through loud and clear. At home we do everything we can to win, away we do everything possible not to lose.

Just when I thought Barnsley away was the worst football match I’d ever seen in my life along came a worse one – but again Rangers return to London with a point and a clean sheet. The application from the forward players was questionable, the lack of ambition from the team as a whole was palpable, but results speak for themselves and with the defence looking stronger with each passing game this two point a game average is backing up De Canio’s ‘Italian way’.

It doesn’t sit altogether comfortably with me, because Coventry were every bit as bad as Barnsley were last Tuesday but still dominated us in the first half, and I feel we should be coming to win these games. But if it’s ‘not losing’ that’s more important to De Canio then this never looked like being anything other than mission accomplished once the R’s found a way to deal with Kevin Thornton in the second half.

Rangers, not surprisingly, kept faith with the team that annihilated Stoke on Sunday lunch time, although the formation was somewhat different. That meant Camp in goal behind Mancienne, Hall, Connolly and Delaney. In front of them Martin Rowlands and Mikele Leigertwood seemed to be detailed as holding midfield players to protect the defence behind Vine, Ephraim and Buzsaky who rotated around both flanks and the supporting striker role all evening to little effect. Up front Patrick Agyemang was left to wait for support from deep. So a 4-2-3-1 rather than a conventional 4-4-2. Chris Barker returned to the substitutes bench after his recent hernia problems.

Coventry didn’t have such a productive weekend, losing 2-1 at relegation rivals Scunthorpe United, and therefore Chris Coleman made three changes to his line up. Elliott Ward came into the centre of defence instead of Marcus Hall, Stephen Hughes and Michael Doyle returned to the midfield ahead of Michael Hughes and Julian Gray.

All the talk in the build up to the game had come from Coleman about how much trouble Coventry were in and how he would have to sacrifice his footballing principles and get some ugly wins on the board to keep them up – pleased to know Coleman’s “footballing principles” lasted as long as three matches anyway. Still in fairness they played some nice football in the first half and were by far the better side in the opening 45 minutes, all be it in front of a pathetic crowd inside the vast, bland, boring and soulless Ricoh Arena.

The first chance of the game fell to the hosts. After a corner which Rangers struggled to clear in the sixth minute Thornton threaded a ball back into the area for Best who beat the offside trap and cut the ball back into the area at a fearsome pace from the byline. Centre half Elliott Ward was still loitering in the goal mouth after the earlier set piece and when the ball arrived at his feet it seemed easier to score but he contrived to lift a shot on the turn high, wide and handsome over Lee Camp’s bar.

Three minutes later and even more presentable chance fell the way of Michael Mifsud who fired into the side netting from an acute angle after out foxing Damien Delaney wide on the Coventry right. Moments later Delaney was done again, and Camp was forced to rush from his line and save at Mifsud’s feet. Delaney moaned and pointed that Camp should have come and collected the through ball but the keeper would have needed a motorcycle to reach it before Mifsud and it was Delaney’s error in the first place.

Mifsud played up front for the Sky Blues when they won at Loftus Road but was clearly detailed to stay wide right here – he had a wonderful time against Delaney who really struggled to get to grips with him all night. With that mismatch continuing throughout the evening QPR were fortunate not to see it lead to a goal for Coventry because Mifsud clearly had our left back’s number and the home side looked threatening whenever he had the ball. In fairness to Delaney Mifsud is one of the division’s very best players and he’ll give better players than Damien a tough time. As the game wore on two QPR players picked up bookings for chopping him down after he’d tricked them – a rare shining light of talent and skill on a night of dire football.

After a sluggish start is was interesting to see De Canio make a tactical switch as early as the 12th minute. Vine, Ephraim and Buzsaky rotated so the Hungarian was partnering Agyemang in attack, and this rotation seemed to continue all match with the three of them taking it in turns to play wide both sides and through the middle. If it was designed to confuse Coventry it didn’t work – the service to the front men was appalling all night from QPR and when a ball was played up to them the work rate was so deplorable that Coventry were often able to return it to the QPR half un-opposed. Vine and Agyemang in particular certainly need to have a look at the tape of this one and ask if they could have done more themselves – had they played anything like they had done against Stoke on Sunday I’m sure the Coventry defence would have had a much tougher time of things.

It took 18 minutes for QPR to actually get the ball down and keep it for more than five passes but just when you thought they were going to come into the game a little Coventry won a free kick from Damien Delaney and after a brief goal mouth scramble Best had a golden chance to open the scoring when Leigertwood’s wild clearance dropped at his feet eight yards out from goal – his finish into the ground sent the ball bouncing up and over the crossbar and smacked of a striker lacking confidence. His approach play was good all night, but he never once looked like hitting the back of the net even on the half hour when he raced through on goal after what looked like a foul sent Matt Connolly crashing to the floor on the edge of the centre circle. With Premiership referee Mike Dean waving play on Best strode into the area but his low shot was brilliantly saved at point blank range by Lee Camp who then led the protests to the referee with Martin Rowlands.

The final chance of the first half unsurprisingly fell to Coventry and once again Rangers were indebted to Lee Camp for dangling a rope ladder into the ever deepening hole we were digging for ourselves. A long ball to the back post caught Mancienne out of position and after taking the ball down on his chest former Brentford man Jay Tabb was in. Faced with a narrow angle on the goal but with time to pick his spot Tabb composed himself and shot low for the bottom corner – Camp sprawled instinctively in front of the drive and blocked it away to safety. Another fine save, another let off.

Coventry’s steady stream of chances and constant flow of possession in our half was being orchestrated by Kevin Thornton, a stocky blond haired lad who played just off Best up front, loitering between the QPR defence and midfield without ever really being marked or tracked by anybody. Every time the Sky Blues came forward they looked for him, and invariably he had time and space in which to turn and hurt us. Thankfully after half time we saw much less of him as the defence pushed up higher and Rowlands and Leigertwood dropped deeper to squeeze the space he’d been revelling in during the first period. Coventry were mediocre in the first half but always looked a threat when attacking – in the second half they regressed to being just plain awful. Sadly QPR were already at that level and rarely looked like improving from it.

Rangers managed their first serious shot on the goal six minutes after half time. After upping the tempo ever so slightly at the start of the second period and actually keeping the ball in the Coventry half for two or three minutes the R’s pressed for the opener. Akos Buzsaky let fly with a dipping shot from 25 yards that had Marshall scrambling back but eventually landed on the roof of the net. This was as close as Rangers had come so far and as it turned out was as good as they were going to muster all evening. Another shot from Buzsaky, from further out this time, hit Dann’s backside and skimmed off the turf straight to Marshall in what was our only shot on target in the entire match a short time later.

The rare sight of QPR on the attack was quickly erased from the memory as Connolly became the first player into referee Mike Dean’s notebook. Mifsud got the better of Delaney again and as Connolly came across the Maltese mosquito did him for pace. The former Arsenal man was forced to upend his opponent in a scything and blatantly deliberate trip that Dean had no hesitation in producing a card for.

Just after the hour mark Delaney, Ephraim and Vine got in a mix up down the left flank for the umpteenth time in the game and that allowed Mifsud to tear away into the space vacated by the former Hull City full back. His cross to the near post was just too far ahead of Best but instead of letting it fly across goal to any potential late arrival at the back post Best stuck his hand up in the air and fisted the ball towards goal. He missed the target, and picked up a thoroughly deserved booking for his trouble – is it any wonder people say footballers are dim?

Like I say though this wasn’t the first time that Delaney, Ephraim and Vine had failed to click down the left side. Of course nobody clicked anywhere on the pitch all night for QPR but I’ve singled those three and that flank out because on Sunday that’s where we were at our best and caused Stoke the most trouble. How we managed to go from one extreme to the other in such a short space of time is beyond me. How can Delaney, Vine and Ephraim look like the best three left sided players in the league on Sunday and the worst three on Wednesday?

The frustration of it was all too much for Buzsaky who, after miscontrolling the ball once again on half way, chased after Mifsud and launched into a crude lunging tackle on him right on the touchline. This incident took place in front of the only well populated area of the ground and all three Coventry fans jumped up and demanded action from Mike Dean. The referee showed Buzsaky a yellow card after taking some time out to calm the situation down – what a difference from D’Urso on Sunday who raced across red card in hand without hesitation and caused a problem for himself.

A couple of minutes later a cross from the left by Delaney was bizarrely headed straight at his own goal by Scott Dann. Marshall saved comfortably but if it had been either side of him it could have posed a real problem for the former Norwich and Millwall keeper. This was the only way QPR were ever going to score from a cross because on the rare occasions the ball was worked into a wide area where a cross was possible the man receiving the ball often looked up to see Agyemang, or sometimes nobody at all, in the penalty area with four or five Coventry men. The lack of ambition on QPR’s part had to be seen to be believed at times.

With time slowly and painfully ticking down De Canio replaced the ineffective, and at times disinterested, Agyemang with Dexter Blackstock. He did at least show a willingness to work hard, chasing down a back pass to Marshall in the first example of any hard work being done by an attacker in red and black all night. Blackstock was almost rewarded for his endeavour when a lovely ball to the back post from Vine got him in behind Dann but after bringing the ball down on his chest he was crowded out by Dann and Marshall. From the corner and subsequent long throw Rangers stuck four or five men in the penalty area and Leigertwood curled a shot over from 15 yards out wide of the goal but the deadlock never looked likely to be broken and the final whistle sounded after three minutes of added time that was just as dull and uneventful as the 90 that had gone before it – only a half hearted shout for a back pass against Fitz Hall cut through the silence as the ground started to empty.

This match was everything the Stoke game on Sunday wasn’t. Against the Potters we passed the ball superbly, keeping possession for long periods, probing the opposition, wearing them down and creating chances. Tonight we passed the ball once, for two minutes, midway through the first half. That was it. Other than that we gave it away remorselessly. Against Stoke we pressed them high up the pitch, forced errors and worked hard for each other. Tonight there was an ugly lethargy about QPR with the four more attacking players in the side in particular showing very little desire to put in any kind of a shift of work unless the ball was played directly to them. In ascending order of culpableness Ephraim, Buzsaky, Vine and Agyemang contributed very little with the ball and absolutely nothing when we didn’t have it. The amount of unchallenged clearances from the Coventry defenders, the lack of work rate and the lack of effort was wholly unacceptable.

On Sunday of course Martin Rowlands and Mikele Leigertwood starred in midfield. Tonight they both sat much deeper and while they no doubt did a reasonable job covering the defence, particularly in the second half in keeping Thornton quiet, this really wasn’t a good display from either of them and they too were guilty of squandering possession to often. Again, chalk and cheese from Sunday.

Against Stoke we looked like we wanted to win, tonight we looked like we fancied a draw but weren’t too fussed whether we got it or not. The results are looking pretty good; 21 points from our last 36, no goals conceded in the last three games, drawing away and winning at home – all of these things are promising. However the manner of the two away draws are a concern because if we’d played half as well as we did against Stoke against either Barnsley or Coventry we’d have won at a canter. The lack of ambition against two of the poorest sides I’ve seen in years is a concern. The Sky Blues, looking petrified in front of a tiny and silent home crowd, were there for the taking and we never once looked like doing it.

We’ll end on a positive, first time for everything I suppose – the defence. Now they’re fit, and playing together, they’re starting to look a really good unit. Delaney struggled and often failed to cope with Mifsud but Hall and Connolly were rarely troubled at centre half, Mancienne was classy at right back and Camp was the star man in goal. Three games without conceding a goal - a product of their hard work, some decent coaching and most importantly game time together on the pitch. Long may the five of them stay together because I feel they’ll only improve further as time goes on.

Here’s hoping we show a little more confidence in our own ability, and ambition as we travel north again on Saturday to face another God awful side – Sheffield Wednesday at Hillsborough.

Coventry: Marshall N/A, Osbourne 6, Ward 6, Dann 6, Fox 6, Mifsud 8, Tabb 6 (Gray 75, 5), Stephen Hughes 5, Doyle 5, Thornton 8, Best 6
Subs Not Used: Konstantopoulos, Hall, Andrews, Simpson
Booked: Best (handball)

QPR: Camp 8, Mancienne 7, Hall 7, Connolly 7, Delaney 5, Buzsaky 5, Leigertwood 5, Rowlands 6 (Ainsworth 90, -), Ephraim 5, Agyemang 4 (Blackstock 85, -), Vine 5
Subs Not Used: Pickens, Barker, Stewart
Booked: Connolly (foul), Buzsaky (foul)

QPR Star Man – Lee Camp 8 - Won QPR a point with a fine first half display. Great saves and command of the box behind a lethargic looking side. Felt he could have used his full backs more when distributing the ball but with neither full back showing for him half the time and the attackers showing no interest at all in his clearances there’s only so much he could do. Another point in the ‘Camp won’ column tonight.

Referee: Mike Dean (Wirral) 6 - Seemed to miss a lot of fouls on QPR players, particularly the one on Connolly that allowed Best through on goal in the first half, but overall not too bad. No complaints over any of the bookings.

Attendance: 15,225 (1000 QPR approx) Christ I thought the atmosphere at Barnsley was bad – this was absolutely laughable. The tannoy announcer did the ever embarrassing ‘round the ground’ thing before the kick off where he shouts the name of the stand and everybody in that stand is meant to cheer – there was nobody there! He was doing it to empty stands and being greeted with a deafening silence. Not one home fan made any noise of any kind all night apart from this strange loud farting noise that blasted out every now and again. God almighty I was embarrassed for them and I don’t care about Coventry City. The Ricoh Arena continues to get emptier and quieter with each visit – it’s a hideous monstrosity with nobody inside it and they don’t even own it themselves, they pay rent to play their home games in this hell hole. The stadium and the club that uses it should be help up as a shining example of how not to run a football club. Decent travelling support from QPR, good gang of singers at the back.

Photo: Action Images

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