As we pass the halfway point in the season LoftforWords takes a look at how every player in the QPR squad has done so far charting the winners and losers in a squad that has already had three managers this campaign.
Back Line
Radek Cerny A
The Czech keeper endured a tough start to life at QPR. He looked shakey against Barnsley on day one when many felt that Lee Camp had been harshly dropped to accommodate him – it took the Loftus Road crowd just 15 minutes to sing Camp’s name to his successor just to boost his confidence further. That poor start continued with a howler at Sheff Utd for their third goal and a poor command of his penalty area that unnerved defenders and encouraged pressure with him punching when he should have caught or flapping when he should have punched. The watershed seemed to be Camp’s departure for Nottingham Forest – his presence on the bench gave fans a stick to beat Cerny with whenever he made mistakes but with Camp gone there seemed to be a feeling that we may as well support Cerny as we now have nobody else. Not every player responds well to pressure for his place and since Camp’s departure Cerny has been absolutely superb – winning QPR points with superb saves against Wolves, Birmingham and others and keeping Man Utd at bay almost single handedly in the League Cup. His confidence has obviously increased and he now seems to inspire rather than scare those in front of him.
Appearances 27, goals conceded 25, average rating – 6.72, man of the match awards 5
Matt Connolly B/C
It has been an injury hit start to Matt’s first full season at QPR. He picked up a knock on his knee at Falkirk in pre-season and missed a good chunk of pre-season and the opening match, then had to serve a ban after a silly sending off at Norwich for two rash tackles. Since then he has been used out of position at full back on either side of the defence until recently when he injured his back against Burnley and has not been seen since. Connolly has shown that when selected there he is one of the most composed and confident ball playing centre halves in the division however we are very, very well off in that position and consequently his versatility means he more often than not ends up filling in at right and left back. He is competent there, certainly better than Delaney and Ramage, but nothing more than that and so a potentially outstanding centre half becomes a steady B student down either side of the team. Michael Mancienne experienced something similar at QPR and Matt must be careful not to get labelled as a steady full back rather than a quality centre half as his QPR career progresses. When fit he would be ahead of Fitz Hall in my pecking order.
14 starts, four sub appearances, two yellows and one red, 6.5 average rating
Damien Delaney D
The Irishman blames his poor form this season on fatigue after a summer spent playing for his country for the first time. That call up came on the back of some superb form after moving from Hull a year ago and people laughed at me for saying he was a poor signing and that I had never been impressed with him at the KC Stadium. Rather than tiredness I happen to think his drop in form has been more a return to his usual level than a temporary dip. Delaney is another centre back masquerading as a full back and while he enjoyed his rampaging role under De Canio last season he could not cross a ball even then and still cannot. His performance at Watford this season was the worst in living memory from a QPR player and he needs to either rediscover his form of last season or be replaced if we are to progress.
23 starts, one sub appearance, one goal, one assist, eight yellow cards, average rating 5.04
Kaspars Gorkss B/A
Endured a bit of a nightmare start with a mediocre display against Barnsley and a dire performance at Sheff Utd followed by the chop for a couple of months. He came back in at Norwich as a sub following Matt Connolly’s sending off and was the top man there only to be dropped as soon as Fitz Hall was fit again. Iain Dowie’s sacking and a sending off for Hall at Watford gave Gorkss a third chance and he has grasped it with both hands turning in consistently excellent performances over the past month. All the signs are good that he can enjoy an excellent second half to the season and recapture his Blackpool form at Loftus Road. Looks a class act at the moment.
Ten starts, two sub appearances, average rating 7/10, four man of the match awards
Fitz Hall B/C
Fitz Hall is currently where he should have been earlier in the season – on the bench waiting for another chance because of the form of Stewart and Gorkss. When he was injured earlier in the year Hall was put straight back into the team when fit again despite Gorkss playing well in his absence. Everybody knows Iain Dowie sleeps with a poster of Hall above his bed but it still sent out a bad message. That is harsh on Hall though who has been better this season than last and played consistently well when called upon. I have two concerns with him – one his fitness, and two the fact that he never seems to defend on the front foot for me. Hall comes up with lots of last ditch clearances and outstretched legs but rarely reads a pass or strides onto an interception in the same way as Gorkss or Connolly. Not bad but could do better.
16 starts, three sub appearances, two goals, one assist, one red card, 6.33 average rating
Peter Ramage D
Let’s start with the obvious – he cannot pass for toffee. Be it a ten yard short ball or a cross on the overlap Ramage is absolutely woeful. He has the distribution of a pub footballer, and that is being unkind to some pub footballers. This is because he is another converted centre back and as I have written at length on this site and in A Kick Up The R’s a centre back converted to full back may prevent you conceding back post headers but he detracts from your team going forward, especially in our new diamond formation. However Ramage is quite a reasonable defender, only really Matt Jarvis at Wolves has given him a torrid time. Having said that he often tucks too far in field and regularly waves his arms around and blames everybody around him for his own failings. A poor right back who needs to be replaced on current evidence.
Appearances 21, one assist, two yellow cards, 5.45 average rating
Damion Stewart A*
From a player few wanted to see in the squad at all to Player of the Year elect inside six months. At the start of the campaign almost every QPR fans had Hall and Gorkss down as their preferred partnership and Stewart was included in the first half team at Stevenage alongside the likes of Bolder and Rehman – basically a team of people Dowie no longer wanted at the club. However a nervy and leaky start by the defence gave Stewart another chance and he has never looked back. The winning goal and man of the match performance at Aston Villa in the League Cup was the highlight so far but he has been consistently brilliant at the back this season, only dropping below six out of ten once in 26 appearances. When Stewart first arrived at Loftus Road he clearly had all the attributes to be a terrific centre back with strength in the air married up with lightening pace across the ground however his concentration levels were akin to those of a three year old child and QPR conceded numerous goals after he had switched off. He has improved that side of his game immeasurably and there are now few other centre backs I would have ahead of him in this division. His contract was due to expire at the end of this season but rumours suggest this has been extended to 2011 at some point without being announced in much the same way as Gavin Mahon’s – let’s hope so because other clubs will surely be sniffing around before much longer.
26 starts, three goals, one assist, two yellow cards, 7.16 average rating
Across the middle
Akos Buzsaky C
One man who really will be glad to see the back of 2008 is Akos Buzsaky. He began it as the star attraction in Luigi De Canio’s QPR team, entertaining the crowd and livening up the Football League Review with skilful and, at times, outrageous goals. Sadly he picked up an ankle injury while on international duty in March, aggravated that by trying to play through it at the end of last season in meaningless matches, and then had surgery over the summer that ruled him out of the first two months of this season. When he returned his form was patchy, both Dowie and Ainsworth were guilty of forcing him into a formation and position that did not suit him and he turned in poor performances wide on the right in several games. He seemed to be coming back into some sort of form with a trademark goal from outside the box against Nottingham Forest but his season was cut short by torn knee ligaments during the cup game at Man Utd and that was that. As if his loss for the rest of the season was not devastating enough we now have a manager keen to play a diamond midfield formation which means the position behind the strikers that Buzsaky excelled in under De Canio is available for him once again. It is so frustrating that we have to wait until August to see him in it.
Seven starts, six sub appearances, one goal, one assist, one yellow card, one man of the match award, 6.083 average rating
Lee Cook C
The third coming of Cook was hailed as a major coup in the summer when he joined on loan from Fulham but he has flattered to deceive since. His form picked up briefly during the Derby, Blackpool and Birmingham away matches but he was mediocre before that and has been ever since until Saturday when he suddenly pulled his finger out and tore Preston apart. He showed against Irvine’s men that he has still got it and hopefully now with his injury problems behind him he can go on to show that form more regularly and justify QPR’s faith in him. The Preston game showed that he could be the ideal man to play behind the front two, but he must do better than he has overall in the first half of the season to make that or any other place in the team his own in 2009.
24 appearances, three as a sub, four assists, four yellow cards, two man of the match awards, 5.76 average rating
Hogan Ephraim B-
Hard to judge Hogan really as he started the season with shin splints and then clearly was not part of Iain Dowie’s plans at all so his season only really started when we changed managers. Since then, under first Ainsworth and now Sousa, Ephraim has made a reasonable start, settling into an unorthodox midfield role and making it his own with good performances particularly at Palace and against Preston at the weekend. He is the kind of player you are happy to allow the odd mistake because first of all his attitude on and off the pitch is excellent, particularly evident earlier in the season when Dowie told him he was very much part of the first team picture and then cast him aside without explanation. On the pitch he passes the ball well, has an excellent touch and tries intelligent things that, while they don’t always come off, are worthy of appreciation. A promising young player who is now fully fit and back in the team so needs to push on in the second half of the season – must work on his upper body strength and asserting himself more on games, he is prone to drifting out of matches for long periods. Even when not playing well players like Rowlands and Cook actively go looking for the ball and Ephraim should learn from that.
Eight starts, two sub appearances, one assist, two yellow cards, average rating 6
Emmanuel Ledesma C
Started like an express train with a goal against Doncaster, a hat trick against Carlisle and a couple of man of the match awards. Many were saying at the end of August that we should shell out the agreed fee of £2.2m straight away in case bigger clubs came sniffing but I bet there are not many people who would pay that for him now two months on. Ledesma has proved to be all style and no substance since September, flicking and tricking his way to nowhere and irritating QPR fans and players alike with his play acting and light weight ways. Showed a brief flash of a return to form as a sub at Man Utd but at the moment looks far too lightweight for the Championship and fills just about every stereotype of a young, Argentine player in this country – plenty of skill, plenty of play acting, ultimately flatters to deceive. Another not small factor to consider is his seven cards, six yellows and a red, most of which have been picked up for dissent, play acting or over celebrating. A better signing than the other three foreign lads that arrived at the same time, but still lucky to still be at the club never mind in the team. Must improve massively to have any kind of future here.
14 starts, five sub appearances, four goals, four assists, two man of the match awards, average rating 5.333, six yellow cards and a red
Mikele Leigertwood C
It certainly does not help that Leigertwood has already sat five games out through suspension. One of those was for accumulation of bookings but the other our all came from a very, very harsh red card handed out by calamity referee Stuart Attwell against Birmingham City. Leigertwood got an extra game ban for daring to appeal that which rather sums up his stop start season. There have been none of the spectacular long range goals we saw from him last season and he has been in and out of the team and bumped around the midfield and full back positions by three different managers so far. It is easy to see why he has not been at his best but with Mahon really starting to look his age in recent games Leigertwood may find himself utilised more frequently and consistently at the base of the midfield diamond. So far his best performance has come at right back against Reading and many feel he may be better served there more permanently.
17 starts, four sub appearances, two assists, five yellows and one harsh red, one man of the match award, 6.24 average rating
Gavin Mahon C/B
Steady but unspectacular, as the season goes on age looks to be catching up with him more and more and I think his time at this level is drawing to a close. At the start of the season he looked calm and composed in midfield but in more recent games he has looked pretty slow and laboured, even in a holding role that suits him. Will do us a steady 6/10 job for the rest of the season but we need better in the near future really.
19 starts, five sub appearances, one goal, two assists, one yellow card, 6.28 average rating
Daniel Parejo – D
Brought in during the summer in a blaze of publicity with Flavio Briatore keen to show the world what his connections in the world of sport could bring to QPR. The early signs were good, he scored for Madrid against Hamburg at the Emirates the day before signing for us and passed the ball creatively and accurately during his first couple of games. However he soon started to go off the boil, Aston Villa away was his last good performance and as the winter nights have drawn in his displays have declined alarmingly. His work rate was poor, his body language appalling and he moved around at what could best be described as a leisurely pace – regularly getting caught in possession and muscled off the ball as a result. In the end he turned out to be every stereotype in the book for a young, foreign player in this league. He was, by the end, totally ineffective and a passenger in the team – twice recently, at Man Utd and Palace, he was withdrawn at half time after a terrible first half performance. When Sousa hooked him at Selhurst Park the writing was on the wall and he is now, mercifully, back in Spain.
14 starts, three runs off the bench, three assists, two yellow cards, 5.625 average rating
Martin Rowlands B
Rowly was at a disadvantage straight away this season as he sat the first three games out suspended following a harsh red card on the final day of the 2007/08 campaign. When available for selection again he was not put straight back into the team by Iain Dowie as he tried to juggle his many midfield options and then when he did come back in he was often used behind the strikers where he is not at his best. Nevertheless he was outstanding at Norwich where he scored the winning goal and improved still further when Gareth Ainsworth took over as caretaker manager. While never recapturing the form of last season when he was QPR’s best player he has started to look more at home as one of the middle players in Sousa’s diamond formation and capped a man of the match performance against Wolves with a thunderbolt goal of the season contender.
18 starts, three sub appearances, two goals with two assists, three yellow cards, one man of the match award, 6.61 average rating
Damiano Tommasi C-
A big name signing made by Flavio Briatore for Iain Dowie who then insisted that the former Italian international was not fit to play. Tommasi, who once demanded a wage cut at Roma when he was injured for a season, is certainly not the sort of player to moan but Dowie’s assertion looked laughable when Tommasi made his debut and was absolutely superb in the home win against Birmingham City. His first three performances were all excellent in fact but since then under Ainsworth and latterly Sousa he has been pretty poor, struggling to keep pace with the Championship and maintain possession of the ball. If he can find any kind of form and fitness he would be absolutely ideal for the base of the midfield diamond but at the moment he does not merit a place in the starting eleven and may soon be following Parejo through the exit door.
5.75 average rating and two assists from five starts and two sub appearances
Up Top
Patrick Agyemang C
His form last season after signing from Preston was like nothing he had ever produced before in his entire career so it was unrealistic to ever expect that to continue this season. He has struggled with a hip injury for long periods and been in and out of the side but since returning to fitness and the team under Paulo Sousa he has shown that he can bring something a bit different to the team. His pace, strength and work rate make him a handful for any defence, Wolves could not live with him at Loftus Road, and if he could actually put the ball away consistently then let’s be honest he would not be playing for us in the Championship. Sadly he cannot, eight goals in six games last season is as good as it will ever get for Pat and missed chances like the one on Saturday against Preston and the previous week at Plymouth are much more the order of the day. With that in mind his best hope is to become a poor man’s Emile Heskey – not scoring many but creating chances and space for others to profit from. In the last five games or so he has certainly shown an ability to do that and we look a much more threatening team with him in. Must steer clear of injuries and keep his head up, when it drops he is next to useless to us, in the second half of the season if he is to continue playing a role in the team.
Nine starts, nine sub appearances, one goal, one assist, one yellow card, one man of the match award, 6.33 average rating
Dexter Blackstock B+
The only thing not frustrating about Dexter Blackstock this season is his goal scoring – his fabulous headed winner against Preston on Saturday was his tenth of the season and he remains on course to be that elusive 20-goal a season man we have craved for so long. Despite this many QPR fans offered to pay his train fare when rumours of a move to Wolves surfaced and he is regularly criticised by supporters. He has a bit of a languid style that can at times be mistaken for laziness, he is not built like an athlete and doesn’t move like one either and he has been wildly inconsistent this season – his marks out of ten in our match reports have ranged from as low as three right up to nine. Yet at the halfway stage he is one of the division’s top marksmen and it is hard to argue with that, ten goals in a team that is as shot shy as QPR is a fine achievement.
21 starts, four sub appearances, ten goals, two yellow cards, three man of the match awards, 5.74 average rating
Sam Di Carmine C-
Probably being a little generous with him there to be honest but he has shown odd flashes in the first half of the season. Everybody remembers the terrific match winning goal against Birmingham and he went close to a similar strike against Wolves in injury time but that’s about it. He is quite a strong lad and has shown more strength and guts for a battle than any of the other foreign imports, but he appears one paced and slightly overweight and is a back up striker at best at the moment. Would certainly be no great loss if he returned home early but is still a kid learning the game so there is hope yet perhaps.
Seven starts, nine sub appearances, one goal, one yellow card, 5.45 average rating
Heidar Helguson B
QPR have been crying out for a striker for most of the season and although Helguson was few people’s first choice, it is debatable whether he was even the club’s first choice, he has settled in well and is starting to look like a terrific signing as he gains match fitness. This could so easily have been an A* had he taken the four very presentable chances he missed at Palace, Sheff Wed and Wolves at home. The miss at Selhurst Park with his first touch for the club was particularly harrowing and he could have been forgiven for suffering a crisis in confidence, especially after his miss at Hillsborough resulted in a defeat, however he kept at it and has now scored three in the last two games. Absolutely unbelievably good in the air and a terrific go to man who adds a lot to our attack. Would be a welcome addition to the team for the rest of the season and maybe even longer than that.
Four starts, one sub appearance, three goals, one assist, one yellow card, 6.4 average rating, one man of the match award
Best and worst of the rest
Lee Camp has only played once for QPR but has excelled at Nottingham Forest who are keen to keep him when the deal expires in January. Radek Cerny’s form improved when Camp left but I think that is just a coincidence and it would, in my opinion, be foolish to allow a good young goalkeeper to leave permanently when Cerny will need replacing in 18 months time. Camp’s form at Forest would be attracting us in the transfer market if we were looking for a keeper so it seems daft to let him leave permanently.
Zesh Rehman has hardly had a look in at Blackpool but has no future at QPR, he has been linked with Plymouth and MK Dons this transfer window. Adam Bolder’s future also looks to lie elsewhere, he is impressing on loan at Millwall and deserves first team football that he just won’t get here. Matteo Alberti has hardly been seen, just three sub appearances.
Angelo Balanta started the season in the team and scored at Swindon but was poor at Sheffield United and disappeared for a couple of months. He returned to the line up with a goal against Forest and with two goals and two assists from three starts and three sub appearances he can perhaps count himself unlucky to be out on loan. He seems to be enjoying it at Wycombe all the same with two great goals in five starts and rave reviews from all at Adams Park. That deal has been extended to the middle of February now but cannot go on any longer than that and personally I would like to see him much more involved in our first team in the last three months of the season, particularly with Buzsaky injured and that position in behind the strikers that would suit the youngster so much now being available.
…and finally
I shall do a proper list of thank yous and best wishes in the final column of the year next week but I could not let this pass without wishing all of you a very Merry Christmas. This time last year the Rivals network had just collapsed and I spent my Christmas Eve and Christmas Day negotiating with new networks and trying to whip our copy off the old site before it was shut down forever. That did not prove very popular with the female inhabitant of LoftforWords towers but I have to say it’s been worth it – I am very proud of the site we now have and all your kind comments and e-mails make it very worthwhile. To everybody on the message board as well – thankyou for sticking with LFW, keeping me entertained and making the irritating six days between QPR matches bearable. The very best wishes to the other writers, posters, readers, occasional visitors and all of your friends and loved ones. We are QPR.