Neil Warnock was furious with his centre halves as QPR blew two point at home to Bristol City on Monday, and he was dealt a further blow on Tuesday with Kyle Walker returning to Spurs.
QPR fought hard to recover from a goal down to lead 2-1 against City on Monday only to concede a soft goal from a corner in injury time. The R’s maintain a five point lead at the top of the Championship but manager Neil Warnock pointed the finger of blame firmly at Clint Hill and Kaspars Gorkss who committed a goal costing error each against the Robins.
Warnock told the official website: “We're devastated, but that's football. Our two centre-halves have gifted them both goals. We've given them two goals and it's cost us two points. Gorkss and Hill have made two horrendous mistakes and they'll feel a lot worse than anyone tonight. It's life or death at the end and if you've got a man to mark, you've got to mark them - it's as simple as that. They got out of jail though and I can honestly say I've never seen a more one-sided 2-2 draw.
"If it had been a boxing match they'd have stopped it after two rounds. Give them credit though. They held on with their finger-nails and somehow got a point. I thought it was the most one-sided match we've had all season against a good side. We did everything right apart from two crucial mistakes and its cost us big time. The performance was fantastic though. I thought we were absolutely superb today."
And following the City draw full back Kyle Walker returned to Tottenham at the end of his three month loan spell at Loftus Road – rumours circulate that he will spend the second half of the season on loan with Premiership strugglers Aston Villa.
Neil Warnock told the QPR official website: “He helped us enormously during his time here. We were keen to extend his stay, but they were against it. Maybe I'm being selfish, but I've got my own reservations about Tottenham recalling him. I think he'd be better staying here and getting another 20 odd games under his belt and learning some different aspects of the game, but they've got other ideas. Having said that, I'm pleased we've been able to play a part in Kyle's development and I wish him well for the future."
Rangers have made the transfer of Tommy Smith permanent from Portsmouth as expected. The right sided attacker has signed a two and a half year contract at Loftus Road after spending the last three months on loan in W12.
Finally the long, long wait for a home game kicking off at 3pm on Saturday is set to continue into March after the visit of Nottingham Forest to W12 was put back 24 hours for television coverage. Since beating Cardiff 2-1 on Saturday, November 27, the R’s have not had a Saturday 3pm start at Loftus Road with games one Friday, one Sunday and one Monday game with a Sunday, Tuesday and now another Sunday to come. The Forest game will now be played on Sunday, February 13, at 1.15pm and screened live by Sky. The next Saturday 3pm kick off is now due to be March 5 at home to Leicester although with the Foxes managed by Sven Goran Eriksson and expected to have a good second half to the season don’t bet against that game being moved as well.
With the transfer window now open stories will circulate with alarming frequency and it will be interesting to keep a track on just how many of the rumoured deals actually take place. The Daily Mail is the latest paper to link Adel Taarabt with a move to Alan Pardew’s Newcastle side.
QPR are one of a host of sides linked with a loan move for Tottenham defender Jonathan Woodgate as he looks to recover fitness after a succession of injuries. With Cardiff also said to be circling Neil Warnock told the Fulham Chronicle: “I will ask Harry about Woodgate. And a lot could depend on his fitness, although London clubs have tended to look after each other in the past – so we’ll have to see.”
ESPN says the R’s are lining up a loan move for West Ham striker Benni McCarthy ahead of a potential permanent transfer in the summer if promotion is successfully achieved.
Gareth Ainsworth has ruled himself out of a return to Port Vale as their player manager following the appointment of Mickey Adams at Sheffield United. Ainsworth played for Vale in the 1997/98 season before joining then Premiership Wimbledon for £2m and he has two caretaker manager spells under his belt from his seven years at Loftus Road but despite being the front runner for the Vale Park post he says he is happy to remain a player with Wycombe for the time being.
Ainsworth told the Buckinghamshire Advertiser: “Whenever one of my ex-clubs get a manager's vacancy I seem to get mentioned and it is a flattering thing because I do want to become a manager one day and that is something I want to pursue. But as far as I am concerned, at the moment, I just want to play football and I am enjoying playing under Gary Waddock, who I respect and who is a great manager. He is looking after me and I want to keep playing as long as I can and then I will think about that side of things after. I want to play for Wycombe and at the moment I am feeling pretty good still."
Ainsworth scored the winner as Wycombe moved into the automatic promotion places with a 2-1 success at Cheltenham at the weekend.
Elsewhere in League Two our former youth team striker Ricky Sappleton, who was once linked with a move to Liverpool and left QPR for Leicester, has been warned by Macclesfield manager Gary Simpson that he must lose weight after nine months out of the team with a knee injury if he is to become a first choice at the Moss Rose.
Simpson told the BBC: “We're just hoping that he can lift his fitness levels. I don't think he's fit enough for the 90 minutes he needs to shed a few more pounds but only he can do that. We can't monitor what he puts in his mouth unfortunately and when he's away from here, we can only monitor when we see him on the scales. He’s been warned and dealt with internally but basically he's got to lose the pounds to give himself a chance to play football for 90 minutes. He's heavier now than when he got the injury so at the end of the day that should say something to him about looking after his body so he doesn't get that injury again. He's the best finisher at the club without a shadow of a doubt and we would love to have him in this team, but we've got to have him effective so he can work for us.”
Championship Shorts
- QPR remain five points clear at the top of the table after tonight’s game between Cardiff and Leeds. The Bluebirds led 1-0 at half time thanks to an early goal from Craig Bellamy but Leeds fought back in the second half and equalised on the hour through Rob Snodgrass. City snatched a late winner through Michael Chopra to move back into second place on goal difference and leave Leeds trailing seven points behind QPR in first.
- Three Championship clubs are currently seeking new managers and it’s Crystal Palace who seem to be going at the task with most urgency. Former Newcastle boss Chris Hughton has been linked but Steve Coppell is also being tipped for a fifth spell in charge at Selhurst Park despite retiring from football after walking out on Bristol City just two games into this season. Chairman Steve Parrish said: “I absolutely will be giving him a ring and having a chat with him. I don't expect Steve Coppell to apply for the manager's job at Crystal Palace, but I think it would be silly not to at least speak to him, ask him his advice or see where his head is at at the moment."
- Former Plymouth winger Peter Halmosi has had his contract cancelled by Hull City The Hungarian signed for £2m in 2008 but has made only four starts for the Tigers. New signing Matty Fryatt has hailed boss Nigel Pearson after he scored on his debut in a 3-2 win at Portsmouth on Monday. Fryatt said: “I didn't take much persuading, I knew the gaffer from Leicester and the feeling of being wanted. Once the gaffer came in strong I had no decision to make and I just wanted to get started." Hull have had a £300k bid accepted by Man Utd for centre half James Chester who has been on loan at Carlisle.
- Watford’s farcical win at Scunthorpe on Monday, three times delayed by floodlight failure, has come at a cost with Danny Graham, Don Cowie and Andrew Taylor all forced off through injury. Manager Malky Mackay said: “Danny's hamstring got tight, he's experienced, and knew to get himself off before it went. Don Cowie felt something down near the back of his Achilles. We felt it was right to get him off before he could do any damage to it. Andrew Taylor rolled his ankle pretty badly, he said he could have continued, but looking at him I didn't want him to continue."
- Portsmouth have offered new contracts to midfielders Michael Brown and Richard Hughes in a bid to get them back into their first team. Both players are entitled to a new contract at inflated wages under deals signed in the Premiership if they make another appearance for the club so are not currently playing. Pompey hope a compromise can be reached with the new deals. CEO David Lampitt said: “We think we've made fair, reasonable offers. The players are resisting those deals and that's their prerogative. It is a difficult one and obviously I'd like to think those players haven't played their last games for Portsmouth, but that's something that's not entirely in our gift."
- Robbie Savage has criticised Derby fans after the club made it six games without a win with a goalless draw against Millwall on Monday. He said: “What you want them to do when we are not playing well is get behind us. It's as if they're waiting for a mistake to get on our backs."