End of term report — defence

LFW’s three-part player-by-player review of the 2013/14 season starts with the goalkeepers and the defence who served QPR so well during their attempt to secure an immediate return to the Premier League.

1 — Rob Green A

It's easy to forget, because they behave so ridiculously and are paid extortionately, that footballers are human beings too.

The decision to sign Julio Cesar from Inter Milan in the summer of 2012 was, on paper, a no brainer. Somebody rated as one of the world's finest goalkeepers was willing to come to QPR and was available on a free transfer. Why on earth would you say no? The answer, with a hefty dollop of hindsight, is because it was the right thing to do. QPR had signed Rob Green from West Ham just six weeks prior to that with the promise of a number one jersey — doubling their weekly spend on goalkeepers in the process having used Green to replace Paddy Kenny. Despite Green starting life at the club in appalling form in the pre-season friendlies and early league games, the Cesar deal should have been passed over and written off as bad timing. By bombing Green out it not only demoralised the former West Ham keeper — he frequently (even for him) made errors on the occasions he was picked — and left an unhappy player on the club's books, but also sent out a message to that rest of the squad that they were unimportant, completely expendable, and would be dropped the very second a supposedly better option became available whatever promises they'd been made and however long they'd been with the club. It was a disaster for squad morale.

So Harry Redknapp deserves credit for saying, well before the end of last season, that Rob Green would be his number one goalkeeper in the Championship, and sticking to that. Clearly Redknapp expected Cesar to move on - and why on earth, with his considerable wealth, Cesar wouldn't take a pay cut to do exactly that and play Champions League football with Napoli only the Brazilian knows —but when it became clear Cesar would be staying, it would have been easy for Redknapp to make the same "no brainer" argument for recalling him. The Brazilian number one, a Champions League winner, playing for a Championship team.

By sticking with Green it sent out a clear message about the manager keeping his word, and players being valued as individuals. Green repaid his manager with an outstanding campaign. He made a string of key saves in a September fixture at Yeovil laying the platform for a key 1-0 win to maintain the unbeaten start to the season and preventing an early headline-making embarrassment with the team with the lowest budget in the league beating the one with the highest. Further fine performances followed and when the play-offs came around Green came into his own. He made routine but important saves in the away leg at Wigan and then excelled in the home game, making a crucial second half stop one on one with James McClean to prevent an unassailable 2-0 lead being built. In the final at Wembley he was exemplary, making a series of stops, particularly when Rangers were reduced to ten men. He finished the season with 19 clean sheets and should have had more backing for the Player of the Year award.

But here's the thing… of course he did. Robert Green has always been an excellent Championship goalkeeper. In this division, where the strikers are not of the quality of the Premier League, and the shots from long range are more hopeful and speculative than purposeful and menacing, he has always excelled. Conceding a goal in the Premier League, for a club like QPR, West Ham or Norwich , usually means you're going to draw at best. In the Championship such positions can be recovered. So Green's mistakes, which still occur (Millwall at home for example) and his often kamikaze short distribution game don't get shown up quite so much. He is, in my opinion anyway, a player like Nigel Quashie, Ricardo Scimeca, Neil Redfearn, Tommy Smith, Paddy Kenny and others used to be — a little bit too good for the Championship, not quite good enough for the Premier League. A yo-yo player.

West Ham recognised this, offered him what they thought he was worth to renew his contract, refused to raise it when QPR trumped their offer, waved him on his way and brought in Jussi Jääskeläinen on a free to no notable decrease in the quality of their goalkeeping. QPR paid him more than he was worth to get him, and his arrival made no improvement whatsoever on the goalkeeping of Kenny the previous season. Rangers have a decision to make now, with Green out of contract, and personally I'd probably like him to stay, given how settled the defence has become and how well he has played this season. He strikes me as a keeper that responds well to faith, and love, and attention, rather than threat, and competition, and criticism. So having spoken about treating footballers as human beings, QPR should probably be looking to reward a fine season with further faith in his ability and a new deal. But I think he's over-priced on his current wages and there are younger goalkeepers of greater potential out there (Alex McCarthy at Reading , Alex Smithies at Huddersfield ) who could come in at a fraction of his weekly wage and do a similar job. Perhaps a happy medium would be to extend Green’s contract by a year and sign one such player as cover with a view to replacing him next summer.

Stats:

Man of the Match Awards: 3 (Bolton A, Yoevil A, Wigan H play off)

2 — Danny Simpson A

When Danny Simpson arrived on a free transfer from Newcastle last summer it appeared to make a mockery of QPR’s stated ideal of stocking their squad with the "right sorts” after the horrors of the 2012/13 Premier League season. He’d recently featured in the tabloid press laid spark out on a pavement after an altercation in a nightclub, following hot on the heels of an ugly series of stories from his ex-girlfriend and mother of his children who’d he’d spurned to hang out the back of everybody’s favourite classy, mentally well together, superb influence Tulisa Contosavlos instead. Bringing this boy to London Town seemed to be a recipe for still further disaster, like handing a fat kid the keys to the chocolate shop, and while with QPR there’s been another story about him chasing a mobile phone thief with an iron bar. But on the field Simpson has been exemplary, and in the dressing room he seems like a valuable, well-liked, and well behaved member of the group.

When I played Sunday League as a child they told me I was too small to go in goal so, despite having no outfield ability whatsoever, they stuck me at right back presumably thinking that’s the place you could have the least influence and do the least damage. When Danny Simpson didn’t play right back for QPR this season it was keenly felt. Defensively impeccable at Championship level he adds ball retention when in possession and is remarkably consistent — as the numbers below will testify to. Only three assists is a poor return at a club that was brought up on creative full backs like David Bardsley, and he needs to add that crossing to his game as well as stepping up to the higher quality of the Premier League, but overall he’s been an excellent signing, second only to Charlie Austin this year in my opinion, and he can reflect on a terrific season personally.

I’d like to see Michael Harriman kept on as cover for Simpson next season — those two can fill that position for Rangers for many years to come.

Stats:

Man of the Match: 3 (Wigan A league, Blackpool H, Forest H)

5 — Richard Dunne A

When Richard Dunne Pub Landlord pitched up at Loftus Road in the summer you'd have been forgiven for thinking "here we go again". Old, injury prone, coming off the back of a year out of the game with a serious knee injury, with nothing left to prove, and earning plenty — stop me when you've heard this one before. Ultimately though Dunne proved to be more Ray Wilkins and Shaun Derry than Ji-Sung Park and Mark Hateley.

In a League Cup tie at Exeter back in August he looked so far off the pace against League Two opposition that the idea of him playing regular Championship football was laughable, but he went on to make 45 starts for QPR which is more than he's managed in a single season for anybody for the best part of ten years. Initially the defence he anchored was impregnable, keeping a club-record eight straight clean sheets in an unbeaten start to the season that lasted 12 matches. Dunne didn’t concede a goal in his first nine appearances for the club and he looked like he could play in his club suit against Championship opposition, swatting them aside like flies, almost as if he was insulted that they were trying at all.

But, as the season wore on, mistakes started to creep in. He was too casual with a loose ball at Millwall, costing the R's two points in the process. After Christmas there was a spectacular volley against Burnley to marvel at — not his first goal for the club it should be said, he registered an own goal for Rangers against Villa in our first season back in the Premier League — but his performances declined steadily as the games stacked up. At Sheffield Wednesday he was sent off, arriving late and clumsily onto the scene of a penalty box entry from Leon Best. Harry Redknapp said Dunne was "running on empty" but despite the return to fitness of Nedum Onuoha and the loan signing of Aaron Hughes — as well as the presence of Max Ehmer and Oguchi Onyewyu before Christmas — the manager picked his giant Irishman remorselessly.

In the play-offs Dunne came into his own. In extra time against Wigan at Loftus Road he seemingly made it his mission to win every single header on the pitch — a monstrous, dominant display of centre half prowess. Republic of Ireland regulars will have been taken back to an astonishing performance in Moscow against Russia in 2011 as Dunne repeated the 'thou shall not pass' routine against Derby in the final. He was magnificent at Wembley.

And therefore Redknapp will say he was vindicated in selecting him remorselessly. Personally I felt his game time could have been managed more sensibly.

Stats:

Man of the Match: 3 (Brighton H, Birmingham H, Derby play-off)

6 — Clint Hill A

Year four of Clint Hill's 12-month QPR career was much as any other. The defender, initially brought in by Neil Warnock in 2010 to "do a job" for a single campaign on an ankle that "sounds like a cement mixer", led from the back with a series of domineering displays. Rangers continue to feel Clint Hill's absence keenly when he's not there, mainly because opponents suddenly start winning lots of headers in the QPR penalty box which simply doesn't happen when he's there. Hill remains extraordinarily good in the air.

His interview on the pitch at Wembley after the final win was as moving as all this irrelevant football nonsense gets — talking about his pride at finally lifting a trophy at the national stadium, 15 years after he "let everybody down" with a red card in a League Cup final playing for Tranmere Rovers. His move from lower league journeyman to Premier League defender with QPR has been unlikely, almost remarkable, and has given Hill an enormous connection with the club and its supporters.

However… there were signs towards the end of the season that his race is now run, and the way he was speaking in the closing months of the campaign it seems he's well aware of that as well. Against Wigan in the semi-final and against Derby at Wembley he twice asked to be substituted for the good of the team, so more legs — Suk-Young in the first instance, Armand Traore in the second — could be added at left back. That's the mark of the man, but not a ringing endorsement of his ability to play in the Premier League next season.

Hill has spoken of his love of QPR and desire to stay with the club and coach its younger players. Tony Fernandes should already have bitten his arm off up to the shoulder for this and handed out a lengthy deal. For far too long QPR have shied away from appointing QPR people into off the field positions at the club. Clint Hill, a Scouser who grew up at Tranmere and Oldham and came here from Stoke via Crystal Palace four years ago, may not strike you as a QPR person in the Marc Bircham, Kevin Gallen, Lee Cook sense of the term but he's now played more for Rangers than anybody else except Tranmere and made his 150th appearance for the club at Wembley. The way he speaks, plays and conducts himself on and off the pitch is a tremendous example to younger players, and a rarity in this modern game of big money, fast cars, feigning injury, and walking around in giant headphones. Having allowed Bircham to leave his youth coaching role at the club earlier this season Rangers must move heaven and earth to keep Hill here to fill his boots, and recognise the value of having people like that around the place in the future to maintain standards and make new arrivals and up and coming youngsters aware of their responsibilities to our club.

Simply must be kept on, but not as a player.

Stats:

Man of the Match: 3 (Burnley A, Blackburn H, Everton A)

13 — Yun Suk-Young B

The South Korean international, who started his country's first World Cup game in Brazil this evening, is a strange case of a player most fans would have been happy to see the back of three months ago, but many now want to be starting every week in the Premier League next season.

Initially he looked like the playing equivalent of QPR's vile green and yellow away kit — i.e. a concession to chairman Tony Fernandes. Yes, yes Tony thanks for the continued supply of money for us to fritter away on tat, now in return you can have the Caterham colours on the away shirt and at least one South Korean knocking around the place at all times. A pre-season friendly appearance at Exeter hinted at disaster to come — Suk-Young looked like he'd never played the game before — and things didn't improve greatly back at St James' Park in the League Cup, or indeed at Huddersfield in the league despite an assist for Junior Hoilett's goal. A loan spell at Doncaster was interrupted by injury.

But then just when the season seemed to be slopping out into an apathetic blancmange, Suk-Young was picked at left back for a 3-1 win at Middlesbrough and excelled. Quick, direct, strong and cruel in the tackle, with an eye for a decent cross, the young full back started to win over supporters quickly at a time when the team lacked real impetus. At Barnsley in a meaningless end of season game he scored a wonderful first goal for the club, and then against Wigan at Loftus Road in the play-offs his impact from the bench as Rangers chased a single goal deficit was marked.

Suddenly QPR were pulling every trick in the book to keep him in the country for Wembley. South Korea requested Suk-Young's release as the game fell inside the Fifa World Cup window but Rangers warded off their advances by saying there was "no Harry at this address" or they were "just going into a tunnel" whenever the South Korean FA picked up the phone. Although circumstances meant there was to be no Wembley run from the bench, Suk-Young has certainly done enough to stake his claim for a starting spot at left back in the higher division. A good World Cup could cement him there and give Harry Redknapp one less signing to make this summer.

Very promising indeed.

Stats:

Man of the Match: 1 (Boro A)

15 — Nedum Onuoha B

Possibly a slightly harsh mark for The Chief, who won more LFW Man of the Match awards than any other player last season. It has helped, first and foremost, that the idea of him being an adequate right full back has finally been put to bed. He's not. His distribution simply isn't good enough for it — as he proved conclusively with the pass that lead to Gary O'Neil's sending off in the play-off final. But as a centre back he's got the strength, athleticism, intelligence, positioning, heading ability and, most of all, speed to be a real Premier League asset to Rangers. I think he's absolutely superb, a player for the club to be really proud of and build a defence around.

But… another long term injury midway through this season means we still haven't had a full campaign out of Onuoha in the two and half years he's been with QPR. Although people still refer to him as a young prospect — and relative to most of the QPR players, and most other centre halves I guess he is — he's 27 now and that's no puppy age. I think he has tremendous potential to be QPR's main centre half next season, though his distribution will have to improve, and go onto captain the club. But I want to see a full, uninterrupted, consistent 12 months from him now he's settled in his favoured position.

Potentially a superb player for QPR for many years to come. A rare good Mark Hughes signing.

Stats:

Man of the Match: 7 (Leeds A, Watford A, Leicester A, Watford H, Millwall H, Barnsley A, Wigan A play-offs)

Aaron Hughes C

Well, you couldn’t fault Hughes for his effort, and nor could you say he ever had a terrible game or cost us a goal with a dreadful mistake. We thought we were getting an experienced, Steady Eddy type when he arrived and in that respect I guess he delivered.
But overall I thought this signing said a lot about where QPR have gone wrong in recent years and doesn’t bode well for the assertion that they’ve learnt from past mistakes.

Hughes was signed because Danny Simpson got injured at the same time as Nedum Onuoha. In Michael Harriman and Max Ehmer QPR have two defenders with plenty of lower league loan experience who, in my opinion, are more than good enough to play regular Championship football now. At any other club they’d have been brought in and benefitted hugely from three months of semi-regular action. At QPR we always look for another player and another signing even when, in Hughes’ case, it resulted in an ageing centre back, who wasn’t much of a right back a decade ago, looking hopelessly out of position (particularly at Charlton) on the right hand side of the defence.

So while Hughes was neither terrible, nor terrific, I thought his signing was a shame and a wasted opportunity. It will leave several young players already knocking on the door wondering "well if not then, when” and will send a concerning message to talented youngsters further down the pecking order about their first team chances at the club.

Stats:

Man of the Match: 0

Benoit Assou-Ekotto D

The signing of Benoit Assou-Ekotto was initially something for fans of other Championship clubs to cite as everything that’s wrong with QPR, and then latterly something for fans of QPR to cite as everything that’s wrong with QPR.

Bringing in an established, international left full back of such obvious quality from the Premier League was not something any of the other second tier clubs could have done last summer, apart from fellow relegated sides Reading and Wigan and in those cases they’d have struggled to attach such a big name because of wage restrictions and location. QPR could go to Spurs and bring in their starting left back on loan. It seemed unfair on the rest.

Initially it looked unfair as well, as Assou-Ekotto cruised through Championship games in first gear. At times he seemed to simply be posing, pulling balls out of the sky with immaculate first touches tight to the touchline just because he could. Against Charlton at home he was outstanding, and in the matchday programme he spoke warmly of seeing a "new England” by playing in the second tier. Assou-Ekotto has never shied away from the fact that he’s not a football fan, and sees it purely as a job, and for the first half of the season at least that attitude seemed to play right into QPR’s hands — he wasn’t bothered about dropping down a division, and simply got on with his job in an eye-catching manner.

Things changed around Christmas time. Perhaps Assou-Ekotto simply went into self-preservation mode to make sure he was fit to play in the World Cup or, more likely, he simply dropped his already meagre levels of effort still further when he realised that Andre Villas Boas getting the sack back at Spurs didn’t mean he would be recalled, as seemed logical and as he perhaps thought would be the case.

From the turn of the year his attitude stank and his performances declined alarmingly. He developed a habit of starting fights with team mates — with Charlie Austin who’d dared to complain about the late arrival of a cross, and then Richard Dunne who’d asked why the Cameroon left back had allowed Reading’s Garath McCleary to run 30 yards unchecked before whopping the ball into the back of the School End net. He also began to cost QPR goals through sheer laziness and casualness in dangerous positions. After the two most glaring examples — in that home game with Reading and then away at Brighton — he further embarrassed himself by pretending to be injured immediately after the goal had gone in.

Rarely will you see a finer example of Harry Redknapp’s favouritism than his persistence with Assou-Ekotto which went on far, far too long, preventing Yun Suk-Young’s progress into the first team which — given his performances on the rare occasions he was selected — seems a real missed opportunity. In the end even Redknapp’s patience snapped when Assou-Ekotto launched into a series of ridiculous, nasty, dangerous tackles in the Easter away game at Leicester and was deservedly sent off. He didn’t play for the club again after that and I sense would not be welcomed back warmly when he returns to Loftus Road in the future.

A real shame, a total waste of talent, and for the last four months of the season a lamentably unprofessional attitude to his work. Rarely gave a single fuck about the club he was playing for or how he was performing. Mercifully only on loan — good riddance.

Stats:

Man of the Match: 1 (Charlton H)

Others

Well, it was nice to see Brian Murphy in a league game, albeit a 3-0 loss at Sheffield Wednesday he could do little about. In the fleeting glimpses we’ve had of the Irish keeper in League Cup games (he featured in a 2-0 loss to Swindon this year) he’s given little indication that he’s anything other than a distant third choice.

Julio Cesar played just once, in a 4-0 FA Cup defeat at Everton. While fully accepting that the whole situation is of QPR’s making, and there’s no obligation for a player being paid, say, £90,000 a week to accept a £35,000 a week offer elsewhere simply because the parent club no longer want him around or can no longer afford him, I have found Cesar’s behaviour difficult to fathom. Unless he’s been seriously stupid with his money then he is rich, certainly rich enough to go to Napoli on the reduced money and play regular Champions League football that would have prepared him well for a World Cup where he’s currently looking highly suspect in goal for the host nation. Sitting around playing occasional reserve matches against Wycombe, and then wasting a few months on loan at Toronto, seems a terrible waste of a talent.

Speaking of which, Luke Young continues to absolutely coin it in from QPR for zero output. Again, totally Rangers’ fault for handing out such ridiculous contracts to suspect signings in the first place, but she sheer number of these highly paid, well renowned, senior names left kicking around Harlington on big money playing no football is a disgrace to the club and its administration, the sport in general, and the players themselves. Redknapp’s decision to suddenly hurl Young back in for a single start, out of position at centre half, for a midweek game at Blackburn, rather than give a player who does have a future at the club a chance of some football, was an insult to the supporters who went to Ewood Park that night and brought a predictable 2-0 defeat.

On that theme, bringing in US international Oguchi Onyewu as cover rather than trusting Max Ehmer sent a poor message out. Onyewu never got on the pitch for QPR, but showed when playing against the R’s for Sheffield Wednesday later in the campaign that he’s actually a half decent player. The purpose of bringing him in only to not use him, other than to further hammer home to the club’s juniors that aother signing will always be made before they’re given a shot in the first team, is lost on me. Poor all round from Redknapp that one.

Ehmer got on the field once for the senior side in the league — against Middlesbrough at home — and did a fine job against the physical presence of Lukas Jutkiewicz. Other than that he spent time on loan at Carlisle which, aged 22 and with more than 70 appearances at that level with Preston, Stevenage and Yeovil already under his belt, you have to wonder exactly what he gained from. Ehmer should be playing semi-regularly for QPR now, as should Michael Harriman who spent the whole season on loan at Gillingham while Rangers brought in crusty old Aaron Hughes on a short term deal to play out of position while covering for Danny Simpson.

Coll Donaldson arrived into the youth set up midway through the season from Livingston and was belatedly given a debut at Barnsley in a dead rubber at the end of the season. He looked strong in the air and enthusiastic, but chronically short of pace and with plenty of work to do. Still, nice to finally see a junior player given a bit of a go.

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Pictures — Action Images

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