Saturday’s defeat to Forest continued a poor run of home form since Chris Ramsey took charge of QPR. Wednesday’s match with lowly Blackburn should represent a chance to change that, but Rangers have previous for this sort of thing.
Saturday’s poor performance, dreary match and disappointing defeat continued a number of unwelcome patterns for QPR.
Firstly, and least scientifically, Rangers always seem to play below par when live on television, and games moved to early kick offs when many of us would still like to be in bed — or propping up the bar in the Crown and Sceptre — are especially bad because the atmosphere is funereal. Not a good funeral either, one of those where the family all fell out years ago.
Secondly, and most worryingly medium and long term, Chris Ramsey has struggled for results and performances at Loftus Road since he took over as manager. The 2-0 win against Sunderland that impressed everybody so much and showed us how good Leroy Fer really could be was in Sunderland. The 4-1 win against West Brom when Rangers suddenly cut loose with a wonderfully optimistic, flowing, attacking display laced with spectacular goals was at West Brom. A subsequent 3-3 with Aston Villa when, but for Christian Benteke, Rangers would have won and Ramsey won praise for his second half changes which totally outwitted Tactical Tim was at Villa Park. This season there has been a thumping home win against Rotherham, although they’re quickly setting up as whipping boys, but the two other victories, and the best performance so far, have also come on the road — notably at Wolves.
Ramsey has won five, drawn one and lost six of his dozen away games. He’s won only two and drawn another two of his 11 home matches, losing the other seven.
That’s a total about face from when he took over and the team had lost all 12 of its away games so far, scoring only six times. Harry Redknapp had described the away games as "bonus matches”. That team he inherited, as we’ve discussed many times on here, was riddled with deficiencies and I don’t read too much into what he did with it during the second half of last season, but the home results since he was given the job in January have, nevertheless, been dire.
Now you can easily say that defensive (and, specifically, Rob Green) errors have turned potential draws with Spurs, Arsenal and Chelsea into defeats, and a win on Saturday against Forest into another loss. So perhaps there’s been a degree of misfortune to all this. But then QPR were so negative, so direct, so aimless, so lump-it-long against Dougie Freedman's side that even though you could probably assume they would have gone on to win but for Green’s latest brain fart, they’d scarcely have deserved it and it didn’t feel like Forest smashed nor grabbed.
One of the games Rangers did pick up a point in at home, against West Ham, was another really negative display, and dreadful game, which finished up 0-0 when QPR desperately needed to win. Karl Henry played on the wing that day, when Rangers needed a positive result.
It feels like when QPR are away and teams come to attack them, the space they leave behind is where all the good stuff that Chris Ramsey has brought tends to happen. Rangers get it quickly, directly into that space and play from there. When we get a visiting team at Loftus Road set up as Forest did, at the moment it seems we have few ideas what to do with them. Those quick, direct balls forward are simply lofted into an area heavily populated with defenders for Charlie Austin to try and perform some miracle with while he waits for support.
This needs to be cured and Wednesday night against a struggling Blackburn side is an ideal opportunity — providing they play as they did in the first hour against Fulham at the weekend, and not the last 30 when they rallied from 2-0 down and would have drawn but for an errant linesman call.
But to comfortably defeat Blackburn, winless in seven so far this season, would go against the third pattern, which has been ingrained in QPR since Chris Ramsey was still playing the sport — the John Jensen Foundation Registered Charity effect. QPR fans know that any player without a goal in 150 appearances (in the case of Jensen) or 500 (in the case of Lloyd Doyley) need only catch sight of the blue and white hoops to suddenly adopt Alan Shearer-like goal scoring instincts. Teams without wins in weeks always get off the mark against Rangers — Swindon’s dozen games without a win at the start of their only Premier League season to date was broken by a 1-0 win against QPR, achieved while playing with ten men for 75 minutes. The Robins only won five matches all year, but two of them were against QPR.
Playing a team in the bottom three, without a win in seven attempts, should be just what QPR need on Wednesday but it feels like we’ve seen this film before. Here’s hoping some of the improvements we’ve seen under Chris Ramsey away from home can be translated into a game under the lights in Shepherd’s Bush.
Links >>> Rovers’ slow start — Opposition profile >>> Hail to the Chief — Podcast >>> Rhodes remains but Rovers struggling — Interview >>> A goal that never was — History >>> Deadman walks in — Referee
Entertaining games between QPR and Blackburn Rovers are as rare as Chelsea fans who've heard of Mark Stein.. The last meeting between the sides at Loftus Road finished 0-0 and, for the most part, the skyline was the best thing about it.
Jamie Mackie and Leroy Fer were both pencilled in for Hull at Saturday, but given how poor QPR were against Forest and how little we had to change it from the bench I wonder if they might be pushed forward for a bench spot here. Likewise Sandro, given Karl Henry’s shambolic weekend display. Seb Polter is still out having his top knot tightened. Ale Faurlin needs to return, given how well QPR have played with him and how badly they’ve done without him this year.
Blackburn are waiting to hear on Jason Lowe’s attempts to find a babysitter so he can travel down while Chris Brown (knee) and Chris Taylor (mother-in-law visiting from France) are doubtful.
Elsewhere: In case you were wondering (somebody must have been, come on) why we haven’t started putting the current league placings next to QPR and Blackburn in the top graphic yet, it’s because it’s too bloody early. There are 40 matches still to play and at the moment there’s more order and pattern in Danny Behr’s sex-toy drawer than the Championship league table. A near full set of fixtures tonight has cleared up nothing.
Behold Waitrose, who walked all over the top of Ipswich Town on Friday night and won 5-1, only to lose 1-0 on the same pitch four days later to Derby Sheep. Ipswich, meanwhile, went to the previously unbeaten Champions of Europe and won 1-0. Nottingham Trees, one win from six games prior to Saturday, now have two from two after winning at in-form QPR, and in form Birmingham tonight. Huddersfield, without a win all season, went away to high-flying Charlton and won 2-1 on Tuesday.
The division’s two most consistent teams are Brighton and Rotherham, and they maintained their form with the league leaders winning 2-1 on the South Coast. Big spending Burnley have also started strongly and continued that with a 2-1 win against the Franchise this evening. Tigers Tigers Rah Rah Rah have recovered from relegation sufficiently to set some early pace, and they ended Cardiff’s unbeaten start with a 2-0 win in South Wales. Boro, also, predictably, are flying early and stuck a 3-1 through Abacus’ increasingly flawed looking GCSE maths exam at the Riverside.
Bristol City’s poor start continued with a 1-1 draw at Preston while anybody unfortunate enough to be at Bolton 0 Sheffield Owls 0 has probably missed their cue to crunch into the cyanide pill.
QPR v the Mad Chicken Farmers is the only game on Wednesday, but Ipswich swoop back into action on Friday night v Birmingham in a game that’s sure to attract a colossal audience — scheduled, as it is, against England first actual game (as opposed to endless knock abouts with France) of the egg chasing World Rugger Yah Yah Championship.
Referee: Darren Deadman, a referee with a history of sending off QPR players and one who often officiates like he doesn’t even like the sport and is determined to deliberately ruin it for anybody that does, is the man in the middle at Loftus Road on Wednesday evening. For his full QPR case file/car crash please click here.
Blackburn: Rovers finished last season with a solid unbeaten run of six games — four draws and two wins, with seven points from the final three games. But the loss of Rudy Gestede and Tom Cairney over the summer are being keenly felt and the team is without a win from its first seven games this season with three losses and three draws in the league and a League Cup home defeat by Shrewsbury in the first round. They’re yet to score more than a single goal in a game, although they bagged a legitimate second to tie the game at 2-2 at Fulham on Sunday morning only for the officials to miss it crossing the line. So far on the road they’ve lost by a single goal at Brighton and Fulham and drawn at fellow struggles Huddersfield. QPR have been happy opponents for Rovers in recent times though — they’ve lost only two of 18 meetings.
Prediction: Reigning Prediction League champion ISawQPRatWhiteCity tells us…
"At least I know that nobody's getting rich off my tips. Last Saturday's debacle is kyboshing any semblance of tipping competence I may have had delusions of. Such is life.
"I was pleased to see Blackburn remain in the drop zone on Sunday, but that drew three responses, all counselling caution, but based on three different evaluations of what that game meant. So, will QPR come out fighting? Will Blackburn capitulate or grind out a draw? I have to go with league positions but I'm getting more bearish on our performance. Meanwhile, have a good one, Alex Smithies."
Jim’s Prediction: QPR 2-1 Blackburn. Scorer: Charlie Austin
LFW’s Prediction: QPR 2-1 Blackburn. Scorer: Charlie Austin
The Twitter @Loftforwords
Pictures — Action Images