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From hero to villain, Cisse’s mad moment costs QPR — full match report
From hero to villain, Cisse’s mad moment costs QPR — full match report
Sunday, 5th Feb 2012 20:40 by Clive Whittingham

Djibril Cisse’s first half red card proved crucial as QPR blew a one goal lead to lose 2-1 against Wolves at Loftus Road on Saturday.

It was John Cleese who said: “What was that, sir? That was your life. Can I get another one? No, sorry.”

Life and football can mirror each other at times. To make a success of either takes days, weeks, months and years of hard work, graft, sweat and tears - and that’s only for the little successes. Failures, big and small, can be achieved with a minimum of effort and a modicum of carelessness. Finding a way to fail in life, and lose football matches, is so much easier the finding a way to succeed and win.

For Queens Park Rangers to be a better team than Wolverhampton Wanderers on paper, for them to be a better team than Wolves on grass, for them to dominate Wolves and take a deserved lead against them, for them to work into a position where a six point gap could be opened up between the teams took months of effort from scores of people and no small amount of money either. For them to toss it all aside and lose a game with them anyway took one half-second of madness from one Frenchman.

In football and life you rarely get what you deserve. Djibril Cisse deserved his red card against Wolves on Saturday but QPR, and Adel Taarabt in particular, didn’t deserve the defeat it caused. In football and in life nobody cares whether you got what you deserved or not. QPR now have a longer list of excuses and mitigating circumstances than they do draws and wins this season. Teams with large collections of complaints come May rarely have a healthy amount of points to go with them.

QPR had hoped that Djibril Cisse would be the man to fire them to Premiership safety and the initial signs have been very positive. After a powerful debut at Aston Villa where he scored a fine first goal for the club he started up front here alongside another debutant Bobby Zamora and the pair were combining well before the Frenchman’s brain explosion. They linked twice in the opening three minutes – first Cisse brought down a ball in the penalty area and hit a weak shot at Wolves keeper Wayne Hennessey, then Zamora collected a pass from his new team mate on the edge of the area and went in search of the far corner with a curling shot that Hennessey did well to turn aside.

But talented players often only end up at QPR because of a flaw in their personality and once Cisse had revealed his, grasping Roger Johnson by the throat and deservedly seeing red as a result, Rangers were completely incapable of seeing this job through with ten men. Despite the best efforts of Adel Taarabt, who returned from the African Nations Cup and immediately went back into the team on the left wing with Shaun Wright-Phillips finally moving to the right instead of Jamie Mackie, the R’s simply couldn’t hold possession adequately and Wolves equalised within a minute of the second half kicking off when Joey Barton, partnered by Shaun Derry in the centre once more, sloppily handed the ball to them.

A run of eight consecutive winnable Premiership games is now down to four, with only one maximum point haul in the bag. Cisse’s inevitable three game ban couldn’t have come at a worse time and ahead of matches with Blackburn, Fulham and Everton Mark Hughes is also likely to be without right full back Luke Young who started here alongside Anton Ferdinand, Nedum Onuoha and Taye Taiwo but left midway through the second half with a worrying hamstring injury. Hughes had his first choice back four together in front of Paddy Kenny for just over a game and a half.

At the start of the day all the pressure had been on his opposite number Mick McCarthy. His Wolves team came into this match with just two wins from their last 21 outings since QPR derailed an impressive start to the season with a 3-0 win at Molineux in September. They hadn’t won at all in their last nine and were without an away win since the opening day of the season when they’d beaten everybody’s favourite bundle of nonsense Blackburn Rovers – their 7-1 setback at Arsenal earlier in the day had lifted spirits around the Bush before this match kicked off.

An insipid midweek display against a Liverpool side that had previously been vulnerable to poor results and performances in games against the league’s lesser lights had drawn chairman Steve Morgan down to the dressing room and McCarthy was apparently a man on borrowed time. He responded with a tremendously negative team selection for a trip to a team with just home league wins to its name and was rewarded with a dreadful opening half hour in which his team was fortunate to only go a goal behind. An injury to one of five midfielders, Arsenal loanee Emmanuel Frimpong, actually improved them in the short term as it necessitated the introduction of a much needed second striker and when Cisse’s sending off allowed Kevin Doyle to join the fray as well alongside Steven Fletcher and Sylvain Ebanks-Blake they never looked book. Ultimately they were good value for all three points.

The early chances for Cisse and Zamora set the pace and tone of QPR’s superb start to the game. They’d come in the first three minutes of the game and just two minutes later Taarabt had wandered across to the right wing, collected possession, run across the face of the penalty area and then, after executing a neat one-two with Zamora, curled an imaginative shot wide of the top corner.

Wolves mustered a response in the twelfth minute and although Steven Fletcher’s shot from range gave warning that he would have to be watched closely the fact that he’d won the initial flick on, chased it down and retrieved it himself by the corner flag, and then worked his way back in field with no help from anybody else also laid bare their problem. A 4-5-1 formation set up to contain QPR wasn’t doing that, or providing adequate support for its lone striker. It would have been a brave or foolish man to accept a price on a Wolves win at this stage. Or somebody who’s watched QPR for a while and is familiar with their penchant for self destruction.

On the quarter hour the inevitable QPR goal arrived. Taarabt began the move with a crisp, incisive ball through the heart of the Wolves midfield to Cisse. He in turn fed Shaun Wright-Phillips in the area who teed up Zamora for a powerful volleyed finish that went under Hennessey’s body and into the net. Zamora’s first goal for the club just over 15 minutes into his first QPR appearance, the first time he’s ever scored on a Premiership debut.

Then, the first of two moments that changed the game in Wolves favour. Long term it will be a bitter blow to their hopes of survival if Emmanuel Frimpong is injured for the run in because it will return the far less talented and effective Karl Henry to the heart of their midfield. But in the short term it actually worked well in their favour as McCarthy threw on striker Sylvain Ebanks-Blake to provide much needed support to Fletcher. Within 60 seconds the burly front man got on the end of a decent cross from Matt Jarvis but decided to try and nod it back across goal rather than trying to beat Kenny himself – given Kenny’s current shots to goal ratio he’d definitely have been better served showing some selfishness.

Four minutes later, at the midway point of the half, Anton Ferdinand foolishly pushed Roger Johnson as a Wolves free kick dropped on the edge of the area and Fletcher whipped the resulting set piece over the wall and fractionally wide of the post.

Wolves looked like they were set to lose a second player when Richard Stearman hit the deck under what seemed to be meagre contact from Shaun Derry by the corner flag. His limp and then absolute failure to deal with the pace of Cisse when he ran at him moments later proved he was indeed injured. Cisse pealed him off with something to spare and delivered a low cross which Sebastien Bassong, almost a QPR player back in August but now making a debut for Wolves, fell over on the edge of his own six yard box and was fortunate to see the ball cleared away by Johnson.

And then the prosecuting barrister in the test case to determine whether most footballers are actually thick as pig shit got to his feet. Roger Johnson, probably scared of Cisse’s pace and the influence he was having on the game, launched into a wild tackle on the French striker as he threatened to turn and set off towards the Wolves goal once more. A poor challenge and definite yellow card from a defender who has been sent off at Loftus Road previously in his Cardiff days for a similar challenge in a similar area of the pitch.

Referee Mark Clattenburg was quickly on the scene to meter out the appropriate punishment, but that wasn’t good enough for Cisse who got immediately to his feet, walked over to Johnson and took the Wolves man by the throat. Club captain Joey Barton was nearby and looked horrified - he knew what was coming. Clattenburg had no choice in the matter at all and Cisse, after prolonged and exaggerated protestations, eventually had to walk.

He later took to Twitter to explain that he has previously had his leg badly broken twice which makes him rather more sensitive to attempts to inflict injury on him, and that’s certainly what Johnson was looking to do here – Ron Atkinson may have called his tackle a “reducer”.

But not for the first time this season QPR are full of excuses and naivety when calm heads and street smarts are required. Against Manchester City Jamie Mackie stayed on his feet when anybody else in the league would have crashed to earth and won a penalty kick – we lost 3-2. Against Norwich Joey Barton allowed himself to be corralled into a reaction by Bradley Johnson and was sent off with Rangers leading 1-0 – we lost 2-1. Two points were surrendered to Aston Villa after Armand Traore’s meagre back post pull back on Gabriel Agbonlahor – never a penalty, but Traore gave the Villa man the chance to do that to him and referee Michael Oliver a chance to penalise him for it. Likewise Clint Hill in the FA Cup against Chelsea. Wise. The. Fuck. Up.

But it turns out Wolves aren’t exactly packed with Mastermind contestants either. Mark Clattenburg, who’d refereed faultlessly to this point and actually looked pretty disappointed to have to change the direction of the game in the way he did, was given every opportunity to even the body count in the eight minutes that remained before half time. First Bassong, giving every indication that QPR have dodged a bullet by not signing him, miscontrolled a simple ball and then hacked into Shaun Wright-Phillips trying to retrieve the situation – a yellow card was the least he deserved.

Then Fletcher was booked for fouling the same player and, unbelievably, within a minute Jamie O’Hara had lunged in over the ball on Joey Barton. Clattenburg could have sent him off for that but settled for a lengthy lecture. Mick McCarthy must have been tearing out what’s left of his hair. Here they were in a terrific position against ten men in a relegation six pointer and they were doing everything possible to make it ten a side. Clearly the straight talking Wolves boss had words with his collection of morons at half time because they barely committed another foul in the game.

Three minutes were added to the end of the first half in which Jarvis inspired a wonderfully slick passing move through the left channel which featured two quick-fire one-twos and ended with him shooting over the bar from the corner of the penalty box.

A quick leaf through the manual on how to play for an hour with ten men reveals that it’s important to reach half time with any advantage you hold on the scoreboard still intact. If achieved then the theme of the half time discussion must be ‘ball retention’.

Perhaps Joey Barton was busy with his laptop when Mark Hughes took to his feet. Within 30 seconds of the restart he’d attempted a risky forward pass rather than the ball retaining simple knock to his right and handed Wolves their first possession of the half. Three passes later Matt Jarvis had turned inside Luke Young and sought out the far bottom corner with a low shot. In a rare moment of positivity Mick McCarthy had sent on Kevin Doyle for Richard Stearman and Wolves never really looked back.

There then followed 20 minutes of siege on the QPR penalty box. A superb cross from Jarvis was headed behind by Ferdinand and Fletcher headed off the face of the cross bar when the resulting corner was delivered, cleared and returned by Foley. Then more quality service from Jarvis was flicked into the path of Fletcher at the back post by Ebanks-Blake and Ferdinand was forced into a goal line clearance as the ball bobbled past Paddy Kenny. And Doyle went close twice as well; first turning inside and testing Kenny with a shot that he palmed aside, and then flicking an inswinging Ebanks-Blake cross a yard or so wide of the far post.

Doyle hasn’t been able to get a start in the Wolves team recently despite their troubles, but he must be pushing for one after his second half performance here. He won the game for the visitors with 20 minutes left to play. O’Hara’s cross was flicked into his path by Ebanks-Blake and after twisting and turning some space in front of Taiwo he slipped a low finish into the net that Paddy Kenny perhaps should have done better with.

Mark Hughes sought to turn back the tide by sending on Armand Traore in an unorthodox central midfield position instead of Shaun Derry who looks more out of his depth with each passing game at the higher level. Luke Young’s hamstring injury saw Fitz Hall introduced to the back four with Onuoha moving to right back. Both these changes improved matters – Traore was fresher and more mobile in the middle of the park, and Hall played better at centre half than I’ve seen him manage for some time.

But it was Adel Taarabt who took it upon himself more than anybody else to pick the game up by its ankles and shake it until change started to fall out. He served notice of his intentions with a long range free kick that beat Hennessey but dipped wide of the post after a foul on Wright-Phillips by Bassong on the hour mark.

When Zamora was replaced by Hulse with little more than 15 minutes remaining it really was all on Taarabt and the Moroccan responded superbly. After Barton had conceded possession in his own half again allowing Jarvis to test Kenny at his near post Taarabt advanced forward and forced Hennessey into a nervy save. Two minutes later a trademark shot from long range failed to dip as the keep might have expected and looked destined for the top corner before Hennessey got the merest finger tips to the ball and diverted it behind. And with a minute to go he tried to deceive Hennessey from range with a chipped effort on the outside of his right foot but couldn’t bring the ball down another yard to equalise.

Wolves didn’t really know what to do with him, and he showed a previously absent level of fitness and discipline to prove that he is capable of slotting into Mark Hughes’ preferred 4-4-2 formation in a wide role if he puts his mind to it. The visitors became nervous and chances started to open up for others. Traore advanced into space and stung Hennessey’s hands with a powerful low drive, Wright-Phillips forced a similar block after excellent work from Barton to win the ball back in the Wolves danger zone, and Barton went close himself when a cross from Taiwo was cleared out to him on the edge of the area and he lit rip with a low shot that flashed past the post.

Barton Tweeted afterwards that QPR would have won by a cricket score had they kept 11 men on the field and for once I suspect he’s right. Could have, would have, should have – it’s becoming the story of the season. QPR have now lost 15 points from winning positions this term and have the worst second half record of any team in the division.

They may have escaped with a point despite Cisse’s indiscretion had Anton Ferdinand, up for a corner, scored when he should have done in four minutes of time added on at the end of the game after more magical wing play and an intelligent cross into the area from Taarabt. He scuffed his shot wide and the final whistle followed a short time later.

I find Mick McCarthy a hard man to dislike. Post match he wore the expression of a man who knew he’d got away with one, and admitted as much in interview. Had Cisse stayed on Wolves would have lost, McCarthy probably would have lost his job, and QPR would be six points clear of the relegation zone. But then if my aunty had bollocks she’d be my uncle. There are no sub notes to the league table outlining points attained for moral victories, or that would have been attained had circumstances been slightly different.

If we are going to stay up, we’re going to do it the hard way and make things as difficult as we can at every possible step of the way. ‘Twas ever thus.

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QPR: Kenny 6, Young 7 (Hall 65, 7), Onuoha 6, Ferdinand 6, Taiwo 6, Taarabt 8, Derry 5 (Traore 64, 6), Barton 6, Wright-Phillips 6, Cisse 6, Zamora 7 (Hulse 74, 5)

Subs Not Used: Cerny, Hill, Mackie, Smith

Sent Off: Cisse 34 (violent conduct)

Goals: Zamora 16 (assisted Wright-Phillips)

Wolves: Hennessey 7, Stearman 5 (Doyle 46, 7), Johnson 6, Bassong 5, Ward 6, Foley 6, Frimpong 6 (Ebanks-Blake 24, 7), Edwards 6, O'Hara 6 (Milijas 87, -), Jarvis 8, Fletcher 7

Subs Not Used: De Vries, Elokobi, Hunt, Berra

Booked: Johnson (foul), Fletcher (foul), Bassong (foul)

Goals: Jarvis 46 (assisted Doyle), Doyle 71 (assisted O’Hara/Ebanks-Blake)

QPR Star Man – Adel Taarabt 8 Unfortunate to end up on the losing side, and he could hardly have done any more to try and prevent it happening. Married the usual array of skills and inventive play with a higher level of fitness and work rate than we’ve seen this season, and a new found positional sense and discipline when not in possession that suggests he may be able to play somewhere other than up front in a 4-4-2 formation.

Referee: Mark Clattenburg (Tyne & Wear) 8 Absolutely no choice with the red card which was entirely Cisse’s fault. I felt he could have sent Jamie O’Hara off on half time for a bad tackle on Barton but he settled for a lecture and other than that refereed the game calmly, competently and without fuss.

Attendance: 17, 351 (1,800 Wolves approx) A lively first half atmosphere gave way to quiet depression in the second half. I suspect most in the capacity crowd supporting QPR felt the same as I did – gutted that we’d blown our own chance of winning and now just waiting for the inevitable Wolves goals to go in. Not sure I understand people applauding Cisse as he went off having cost us the game.

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Jamie added 21:03 - Feb 5
Just to add, in the first half within minutes of Cisse walking, Bassong ushered a ball out and doing so flung his forearm in the face of Zamora over by Ellerslie. Zamora was absolutely furious but Clattenburg took no action...
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Neil_SI added 21:37 - Feb 5
I didn't think there was anything in that at all Jamie. Bassong accepted that he collided with Zamora, and once he did that, Zamora was fine about it and accepted it wasn't intentional. He tried to make more of it than was really there.
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RangerKIK added 22:33 - Feb 5
Great report Clive.

The thing is with football is that we invest a lot of money, time and emotion in a bunch of blokes who are only slightly more intelligent than Boxers. This inevitably leads to a feeling of frustration and disbelief by the truely incredulous decisions they make. This was proved once again on Sat. We were absoloutely crusing and my mind was actually wandering to 'we could get 4 or 5 today' and 'wow imagine this team with Barton and Derry out and a fit Buszacky and Faulin in'.... And then 'Oh boll**ks Cisse has just grabbed someone by the throat, please don't send him off, please don't....oh double boll**ks.'

And that was that. Another dream ONCE AGAIN ended by the continuing fiasco that is QPR. I have said it before on this forum that I wish my Dad hadn't listened to my Birthday pleas for football tickets and bought me a Scalextric instead. QPR has become like a 'Heroin' addiction. I know it's bad for my health and is slowly taking years off my life but I just can't kick it!! Seriously though, as you said Clive, we are just one sorry hardluck story after another. Sniff. And it's all becoming really boring now. The truth of the matter is we are just not good enough. Not good enough to not retaliate to a bad tackle, not good enough to get closer to the ball when their attacker is shaping to shoot (L Young), not good enough to play possession football and kill games off (Villa and Wolves) etc etc.

The only positive to come out of yesterday was Adel suddenly came out from under the shadow cast over him by Barton and thought 'if you ain't going to lead this team then I am'. It was great to see and long may it continue.

I think we are in real trouble and all we can hope for is that 3 other teams have more hardluck stories than us.


Let's all stay outwardly positive and keep cheering on this self destructive bunch of players so at least at the end of the season we will know we did everything WE could to keep us in this division.

Now time for my other addiction. Come on New England!

Come on you R's



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DesertBoot added 23:19 - Feb 5
For successive games now we have seen our defence battered by a team we really should be taking maximum points fron.
Ten men, eleven men, I have never seen a side so inviting as ours this week. Awful bar Taarabt.
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smegma added 00:02 - Feb 6
I'll lay money that IF Barton had fouled O'Hara like that the clown in black would've shown a red card. It was the worse challenge of the game but went unpunished. Meanwhile a game of handbags ends up with a red card.Clueless. Like some of our defending at times and our captains passing success rate.
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Spaghetti_Hoops added 00:16 - Feb 6
As far as I can tell Cisse has never been sent off before, in a lengthy career in French, English, Greek and Italian football of around 400 games. Is it a flaw in a personality to react to violence against you by confronting the perpetator. Surely that's just human nature. Cisse's crime was not to follow the eccentric football code which all pros have ingrained in them, that you don't raise your hands. A code that leads to them to stand arms down forehead to forehead instead. There's irony there.

Cisse's only 'crime' was to let his teammates down. Anger is in all of us, and it's not a flaw.
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AGEREPC01 added 06:05 - Feb 6
Cisse hopefully learned from this compare to Craig Bellamy...very similar players.

But the ref had chances to balance the scales but did not. O'Hackra and Johnson should have been sent off. as for Johnson's post game comments ...he makes it sound like he was not remorsefull but he knew what he was doing.

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AGEREPC01 added 06:07 - Feb 6
On another slant, if Young is out who plays RB? Onuha?
Then Gabby and anton go back as CBs
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ozranger added 07:02 - Feb 6
Strange. While I feel some anger over what Cisse did, it is also one of let's get on with it and stop crying over spilt milk. Clive, your anger comes out strongly in this report and I guess it has been built up over a long time. That, and all the hopes of a good recovery with the new signings all searching for the drain must appear a harbinger for disaster. Yet, with what maybe rose-coloured glasses, I remain the ever-optimist. There are still too many players in this team with something to prove, something that NW always wanted in his players. Pity Mali won today, so Diakite will not be in for another game and that means that el Capitan has another chance to impress, or depress as he has recently. I think Hughes will be reconsidering the options of the central midfield soon and I seriously would not be surprised if Barton is benched.

Then we come to Mr Mercurial. Brings back last season's memories of taking apart defences at will. Trouble is that this was Wolves, not City or Arsenal, etc. Yet, fortunately, he gets three more easy teams to work on his play so that he can become a fundamental tool for our survival. The real question will be where to play him. My preference, as stated before, has been for Adel to play in the centre and not out wide. We saw Saturday how he would drift all over the park and that can cause a serious problem for anyone who plays left back. Good opponents will work out to attack the right wing. Adel, of course, does not defend as we all know, so there lies the quandary.

I'm still optimistic, at least for the next few games. If we are still mired with the rest of the teams below us, heaven help us because we won't be able to.
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W10Lad added 07:41 - Feb 6
Depressing though that the first twenty minutes of the second was, Hughes is right to say that there was plenty overall to feel encouraged by. We might actually manage well enough without Cisse to pick up points in the next two but I worry about the continued use of Derry - his passing is more dangerous than Barton's. I also worry about the incessant abuse of our players by so called supporters in F Block, which starts even when we're winning. And then they follow it up by racially abusing Wolves' Irish players and offering to fight fellow supporters who ask them to stop the abuse of all the players. It's not just the players who behave stupidly.
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budaranger added 08:52 - Feb 6
We cant complain with the sending off - its absolutely just that grabbing someone by the throat ends your involvement there and then! But how can a potentially career ending challenge from behind warrant a yellow only? Johnson looked every inch the slow and ponderous centre half he has been all season - ironic that these qualities (and the naive reaction from Cisse) probably earned his side the points on Saturday
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headhoops added 08:54 - Feb 6
Spot on report - in cruise control until Cisse's moment of madness. Clattenburg had to send him off. If one handbags clutch of the throat is red how O'hara went without punishment for two dreadful challnges is beyond me.

Tarabt was back to his best in the second half and Zamora was a handful all day - surprised to see him replaced.

Biggest disappointment is IMO Joey. Could have intervened by grabbing Cisse before the second reaction, has to learn to play the easy simple ball and not concede possession in places where as you say 4 passes later its an equaliser.

Still confident we are better than Wolves, Wigan, Bolton and Blackburn but we are certainly making life much more difficult for ourselves.

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JB007007 added 09:26 - Feb 6
Thanks Clive. You summed up my emotions with that.
Best thing our players can do these day when fouled is just roll around until the anger subsides. Either that or take a leaf out of Adel's book. Get up dust yourself down and get on with taking the opponents apart. Easier said than done I know.
Everything has been covered really. We must start keeping the ball better and then we wont put ourselves in dangerous positions, as we do let teams carve out too many chances.
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Doughnut added 09:29 - Feb 6
Three easily winable points p****d up against the wall yet again! Its either one thing or another, but the end result is always the same for this QPR....nil points! Looks like its going to have to be done the hard way again, with us looking to the matches against the top teams to scrape survival.
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AshteadR added 09:35 - Feb 6
Thanks Clive.

You really couldn't make some of this stuff up that is the QPR farce.

I like Luke Young but it's not the first time he's been easily beaten one-on-one.

Not sure if Onuaha is going to be strong enough at centre back - lost far too many aerial challenges. looked better at right back, but let's wait and see. I liked Bassong - not sure about dodging a bullet.

Taiwo's positional play is a little bit suspect, but he's strong and can deliver a decent dead ball - why on earth is Barton allowed to keep taking corners etc!

Barton needs to concentrate on his own game - not worth £8k a week let alone the reported £80k. Derry certainly doesn't help in the centre with him.

And so it goes on....

Great 2nd half from Taarbs and good debut from Zamora
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QPRski added 11:13 - Feb 6
The Cisse reaction was stupid and let the team down - but it happened.

However I am most dissapointed that in the 2nd half "Rangers were completely incapable of seeing this job through with ten men". I really thought that with our recent strengthening we would show our class difference agianst Wolves in a similar manner as Chelsea did against us with 9 players. However we were completely unable to keep the ball and really lost the plot.

The only positive I see is that Abel tried to win the game by himself at the end and was incredibly unlucky not to score. Perhaps next game we will play 4-4-1-1 with Adel in the hole behind Zamorra.

Unfortunately it is a case of 3 points lost and time is running.
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AGEREPC01 added 11:31 - Feb 6
QPRski: Good note. I think Adel plays behind Zamora for while.
I heard alot about traore and Taiwo as interchangeable on the left side. but it did not happen. I hope to see those 2 together. Plus as MANY have said JB is a RM. Not a defensive midfielder. Thats were our problems really lie. with him right and derry/Mackie and Akos in the middle I think we might be better. Onuha may have just grabbed the RB slot. We have Fitz and Gabs plus Anton, with better coverage on the left.

Akos is really key. His passing is what was/is missing...not to mention corners, dead balls.
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dixiedean added 11:38 - Feb 6
we all end up repeating the same old lines,cos not a lot changes. Last week I said Barton keeps attempting Hoddle passes when a Wilkins pass would be the sensible option. So 30 seconds into the 2nd half he gives away cheap possession which leads to a goal which changes the game. Young ( who I like) makes very few blatant errors, but far too many goals come from his patch- N'Zogbia, Rooney,Best, Jarvis to name a few.Not sure Onuoha has the game going forward to be a great Right back,but he'll be adequate.Centre mid is now the danger area. Bit of an irony that we're denied Diakite cos his team wins a penalty shoot-out ! And who are these idiots who cheered Cisse off the pitch ? The same ones who cheered Barton no doubt,when he cost us the game v Norwich. Many of us have been unimpressed with Joey from the start, but I sense now that even his supporters have had enough of his off-field nonsense backed up only by mediocrity on it.Now he has the temerity to Tweet about the Terry saga. Joey mate, we don't give a shit what you think about that or the Euro crisis,or anything else. We want you to take football matches ( not opponents) by the scruff of the neck and deliver 8 out of ten performances game after game- not 5 or 6 out of 10, which is what we're getting. At this rate POTY is Anton who has kept quiet and let his football do the talking. And by christ,if anyone has the right to talk it's him,so it's to his great credit that he keeps his head down and does his job. Long term he'd be my captain,but he has enough on his plate right now. What are the odds of Samba reappearing on Sat and scoring for Blackburn ? That really would be Rangers of old.
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QPunkR added 11:59 - Feb 6
Akos is definitely key now Ale's out for the foreseeable future.
Another key is getting Our Joey right the f#ck out of the starting line-up.
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Monahoop added 14:07 - Feb 6
Doughnut. There are no easily winnable points to be had at this level. The outcome of this game could have gone either way. Sadly it went to Wolves, a team accustomed to relegation scraps. Mentally they were stronger than us and that was the difference between us and them on the afternoon. Playing pretty, stylish football doesn't always reap rewards as we saw. Wolves are not a good footballing side, but they are no mugs at the same time. I had my doubts about us winning this game with so much at stake. Only a fool can predict we have easy matches. A realist knows that we don't. That's life at this level I'm afraid.
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adhoc_qpr added 14:50 - Feb 6
I wish i'd bet everything i had on us losing 2-1 as soon as Cisse went off - it was so ball crushingly predictable!

It's just been one thing after another this season and the injuries and suspensions are just the iceing on the cake...

Trying to get a bit of perspective, if you'd offered me 16th at this stage of the season in August i would probably have bitten your hand off.
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Spiritof67 added 15:53 - Feb 6
Clive a good report written straight from the heart. A sure fire red card, but despite going down to 10 men, as a team, we could still have got something out of the game, as demonstrated by a certain local team who despite going down to 9 men at Loftus Road, almost got something from that game, in the second half.

Adel had one of his best games for a long time, and on that performance he should not have ended up on the losing side. But as Monahoop makes reference too, At this level it's tough, so we can't rely on just one player to change the game.

I'm getting fed up with the focus on our captain's continued "tweeting" and on not what he SHOULD be doing on the pitch. Hey Joey, have a look at someone like Paul Scholes and his second have performance on Sunday; now send this tweet i.e He's older than me, he plays in midfield, he plays simple passes to his own team mates, he moves into positions and offers himself up for them to pass to him, and he has the odd strike at goal - maybe I should be doing that!
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benbu added 16:24 - Feb 6
I think list most genuine rs fans, im totally frustrated and p!ssed off after saturday. This was a game I felt we had complete control of (like Norwich at home) and simply thrown it away. You cant keep conceeding home wins like this, we are in a battle now right to the end and we have a painful run in ahead. We have to be beating Wolves at home, no excuses, no blaming anyone else - we threw it away. I accepted the villa draw was a decent point but only if we would win this home game.

Barton was woeful imo and his pass that early in 2nd half to conceed the goal was a joke. Taarabt was superb 2nd half and did deserve a goal. I do think with the signings we have enough about us to stay up but a win saturday would have brought wba and fulham closer and to potentially jump up a couple of places with a win.
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Doughnut added 16:41 - Feb 6
That may be Mona; perhaps the description 'easy' is a little simplistic. But what is certain is that the last 10 matches will be anything but easy, and a lot more difficult than this one.
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swissqpr added 17:41 - Feb 6
If i'm a trainer from a opponent i would play with 3 forwards.Everybody can see that the defense is totally poor.When an opponent start to play offensively against us we get always big problems,in all match 'til now,even against Wigan at home.
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