An awkward, niggly cup tie away from home against the form team in League Two is probably not the ideal scenario for QPR and manager Harry Redknapp following Sunday’s abject display at Tottenham.
As ever at this stage of the League Cup, it’s often the team selection that offers more intrigue than the games themselves.
QPR have one priority this season: staying in the Premier League. The signings made and strength of the team suggest they should be able to manage that with something to spare, but the pathetic capitulation at Tottenham on Sunday has the club’s supporters fearing a repeat of their abject 2012/13 season of just four victories and last place.
The received wisdom it that cup competitions are detrimental to the chances of teams wishing to maintain their position in the Premier League, and so weakened teams must be fielded and early exits secured. I don’t expect a team of children and hangers on to trot out in whatever vile monstrosity we’ve fished out of the Nike kit bag for this first ever competitive match with Burton Albion, but it’ll certainly be a mixed bag.
QPR are trying to sell Shaun Wright-Phillips, but he lingers like a shit stain on a cream carpet. He was used extensively in pre-season, presumably to get him fit and make him more attractive to any fools passing by with a cheque book rather than because Harry Redknapp intends to use him in the top flight this season. I’d expect him to feature here as that, probably forlorn, quest continues. There’s interest too in Matt Phillips, who has struggled for fitness since arriving at QPR and — admittedly in a dire team display, playing out of position, with hardly any minutes under his belt at all — didn’t exactly cover himself in glory at Tottenham on Sunday. His first half miss could have altered the course of the game had it been converted.
Then there are players who Redknapp has ignored so far, but may now be considering after two defeats from two matches and no goals scored. Nedum Onuoha should be front and centre of mind given Richard Dunne’s predictable struggles in a back three system and could maybe do with an hour here ahead of what surely must be his first start of the season against Sunderland on Saturday. Junior Hoilett played all of the pre-season, and impressed, scoring three goals, so he must surely be under consideration for Saturday, and, again, may benefit from some minutes here.
And there are youngsters who Rangers would no doubt like to get out on loan this week. Michael Petrasso impressed in League One last season at Oldham and Coventry and could heat up the interest from a handful of Championship clubs with a big outing here. Likewise Max Ehmer and Michael Harriman. Being products of QPR’s youth set up they will, of course, never come under consideration for the first team however they play here, but a decent showing could get them a temporary move elsewhere — the best any young player at our club can hope for these days.
But Harry Redknapp, and Queens Park Rangers, must be careful here. There are compelling arguments for taking this game incredibly seriously, and picking the strongest possible 11 available.
First and foremost because the aim of football, and sport in general, is to win. This season QPR are entered into three competitions and have zero chance of winning one of them. The cups represent Rangers’ only chance of winning silverware for the next 50 years and, for the first time in a long time, they actually seem to have the makings of a team this season that stands half a chance of doing so, particularly in the League Cup. Swansea, Birmingham, Bradford, Wigan and Hull have all either won or gone close to winning the domestic trophies in recent years and there’s no reason QPR shouldn’t be aiming to do the same. Who wouldn’t want to get back to Wembley as quickly as possible after what happened there in May?
And of course people say that concentrating on the cup distracts from the league, tires players out, gets them injured and suspended and so on. But consider this… Burton Albion have lost in the League Two play-offs for the past two seasons, and are yet to lose a game in five attempts this. They’re settled, well drilled, well managed, and no mugs. They’ll be backed by a big crowd and they’ll be keen to take a scalp of a Premier League team here. Turn up with a team not good enough, or committed enough, to do the job on Wednesday and QPR will lose — as they’ve done so often in so many similar circumstances in the cup competitions over the last decade.
Now you may say that’s a good thing, but the manner of the defeat at White Hart Lane on Sunday could well change the complexion of this game. Had QPR beaten Hull, or given a reasonable account of themselves at Spurs, then fine, ignore this game, let’s get on with playing Sunderland. But lose here and this game goes from a downpage nib to a back page lead in the Thursday papers. QPR are suddenly the team that’s bottom with two defeats from two, no goals scored, six conceded, and knocked out of the cup by a team from the bottom division. Harry Redknapp suddenly becomes a manager under pressure. Already Tactical Tim Sherwood’s agent appears to be at work with stories circulating about his potential appointment in W12 — Redknapp’s responding in kind with a terrifying story about a potential contract extension today. QPR becomes the crisis club again, that players don’t want to join before Monday’s deadline. The atmosphere changes from one of optimism to trepidation — both in the crowd and among the players. That fragile team spirit, that shone through briefly in May, can drain away very quickly as players look for excuses and people to blame.
Then there’s both the fitness of the players, and the much talked about new system they’re operating in to consider. QPR looked sluggish, leggy and lethargic in North London at the weekend. They have players — Leroy Fer, Mauricio Isla, Loic Remy — who have hardly trained with their new team mates, and barely played since the World Cup. Harry Redknapp has been openly critical of the quality of the club’s pre-season — poor opposition on poor pitches he says. Is this game, against a decent Burton side, in a competitive environment, not a chance to get some decent game time into the first team players and make some sort of amends for a badly organised summer?
Plus, it’s not just Richard Dunne who looks wholly uncomfortable with the back three and wing back system Redknapp wants to use this season. Here’s another chance to bed it in, without league points at risk, and get players used to playing it.
But then there’s always that bitter memory of Ale Faurlin, in the form of his life, crashing to earth and rupturing his knee ligaments in a cup match at MK Dons. And who’s to say that a weakened team would definitely lose, or more to the point that a strong one would definitely win? Lose here with the starting 11 on the field and it’ll be feeding time at the zoo on Thursday and all manner of over the top panic and hyperbole going into the Sunderland game.
QPR need a couple of wins to settle everybody down. They’ll get one here if their attitude is right whatever team is selected — unless they really do turn out with the Under 18s from back to front — and given the way Sunday went it’s probably that attitude, application and commitment that we’re looking for here, ahead of the result or anything else.
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With midfielders Lee Bell, Damien McCrory and Jimmy Phillips all still out with knee injuries, Burton are likely to be unchanged following a weekend draw at Newport County.
Elsewhere: As if proof were needed that we’ve finally slipped through the looking glass into a realm where the transfer of players, or the rumoured transfer of players, is more important than the actual games they play in, we’ve certainly had it over the last two nights. Having only managed to catch snippets of Manchester City’s 3-1 home win against Liverpool in between the long, lingering shots of Mario Balotelli sitting quietly in the stand, tonight anybody unfortunate enough to be tuning into Sky Sports News HQ (they’ve rebadged it you fool) would have been treated to the news they already knew — that Manchester United have signed Angel Di Maria — before the story they actually wanted to see: United’s 4-0 hammering at League One MK Dons.
There were other upsets too. Big Fat Sam’s Big Fat Brand of Entertaining Football was free flowing and silky enough to hold another second tier team Sheffield United to a brave draw before crashing out on penalties. West Brom escaped similar humiliation, eventually knocking out League Two Oxford 7-6 on spot kicks, but Leicester fell at home to a late goal from Shrewsbury Town.
Premier League side Burnley were beaten by early Championship form side Sheff Wed 1-0 while second tier Watford lost at home to freshly relegated Doncaster Rovers.
Tonight, Sunderland have an awkward trip to Birmingham and Leyton Orient may fancy their chances at Villa. Stoke v Portsmouth and Bradford hosting near neighbours and bitter rivals Leeds round off the week’s entertainment — lose there and I suspect Dave Hockaday ma be packing the contents of his desk into a small cardboard box tomorrow. If he’s had chance to unpack yet that is.
Referee: Paul Tierney returns to the ground where he sent off three players in Burton Albion’s 1-0 win against Bristol Rovers last season to oversee this League Cup game. He was in charge of the Brewers in their play-off semi final draw at Southend in May but is best remembered by QPR fans for falling apart completely under pressure from the Loftus Road squirrel in the R’s home match with Leicester before Christmas. For more information on that incident, and his full QPR case file, please click here.
Burton: The Brewers have already caused one upset in this competition this season, knocking out Championship side Wigan on this ground in the first round. That result is part of an impressive start to the new campaign which has seen Gary Rowett’s side win four and draw one of their first five. They’re currently fourth in the fledgling League Two table — two points behind early pace-setters Morecambe having only managed a draw at Newport County at the weekend. At home they’ve won three out of three against Wigan, Dagenham and Exeter and that follows the end of last season here they lost just one of their final eight games at the Pirelli Stadium. Overall at home last season Burton won 11, drew six and lost six. Albion weren’t exactly the team to follow for goals last season — just 47 scored and 42 conceded in 46 league games. Their best League Cup run so far since joining the Football League in 2009 was the third round, where they lost against eventual finalists Bradford, the season before last. At this stage last season they were knocked out by Fulham, who were of course eventually relegated from the Premier League at the end of the campaign.
QPR: Rangers have started the season with two defeats, five goals conceded, and none scored from two Premier League games so far and their recent cup pedigree doesn’t offer much hope that things are about to improve greatly on Wednesday evening. Three of their last four League Cup exits have been at the hands of lower division teams — Swindon, Rochdale, Port Vale — and the R’s have an inglorious history in the early rounds of this competition prior to that as well. Nobody in the Championship conceded more than QPR’s eight goals from opposition corners last season, and the R’s have already shipped two in as many games this season. This is Rangers’ first ever competitive meeting with Burton Albion, who count Adam Bolder and Andy Sinton among their former charges.
Betting: Professional odds compiler Owen Goulding tells us…
"I don’t know why, but I am actually looking forward to making what for me is a short journey to Burton. Perhaps it’s the thought of proper terrace viewed football from yesteryear, or maybe it’s just the brief escape from the over-hyped Premier League. QPR are obvious favourites for this one, but following an abject performance against a decent Spurs side on Sunday, they have drifted in the betting and can now be backed at evens here. That to me suggests a bit of an overreaction from the bookmakers.
"Prior to kick off on Sunday, the best price you could get on QPR was 8/11 for this one and were as short as 1/2 in places. I have no problem with the fact QPR's performance was poor to say the least and a drift in the betting is justified, but they have enough in their locker to beat a currently overachieving Burton Albion, and certainly more than the 50% chance the bookmakers currently make it.
"Team news is obviously vital here, but even a second string QPR would represent value at Even money. Burton are a hard working, busy side - unbeaten so far this season, including eliminating the much higher ranked Wigan in the first round of this competition. They rely very heavily on their forward line of Beavon and McGurk, with previous main man Billy Kee recently moving on to pastures new. They were lucky on the balance of play to get a result at Newport County at the weekend. Newport caused them a lot of problems aerially, and this is an area QPR will hope to benefit from. Caulker is an obvious choice of goal scorer if he is to play but I think he may well be rested. Clint Hill however is a player I would expect to see in the starting line-up and the prices of 33/1 first and 14/1 anytime about him will have to be a play if team news is as expected.
"I don't see it being an easy game, but QPR should have the upper hand here, and Hill (assuming he starts) is a definite chance of landing a mini windfall at big odds against an aerially suspect side.”
Recommended Bets: QPR to win at Evs - Betfair
Clint Hill to score First at 33/1 (Will Hill and Betfred)
Clint Hill to score anytime at 14/1 (888Sport)
Prediction: In John’s absence I’ll offer my usual kiss of death and say I do expect QPR to win this one. I don’t think Harry Redknapp will leave out as many players as he perhaps intended to before Sunday, knowing that a defeat here will really ratchet up the pressure, and of those coming in I expect it to be the likes of Hoilett and Onuoha who actually have strong cases to be starting against Sunderland so may relish a run here. Overall I think it’ll be more like last year’s game at Exeter then the following round humiliation by Swindon but as always at this stage of this competition, you really can’t tell until the teams are announced, and even then…
LFW’s Prediction: Burton 0-2 QPR. First scorer: Junior Hoilett
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