Antti Heinola reports from Fulham were, after several dull games, QPR ensured this one wasn't a snoozefest by attacking with greater purpose while simultaneously attempting to eclipse their defensive display v Newcastle with something even more terrifying.
I'd be interested to see a video of Lee Mason's greatest hits when 'refereeing' QPR games. From the utter farce of the Derry sending off at Man Utd (never rescinded, despite the fact it was proved he never touched Young and that it should have been offside anyway) to this latest tour de force. I saw it mentioned on here, and noticed it myself at the game: we did not receive a free kick for a foul until the 44th minute of the game. That in itself is an astonishing thing - that a team can play a half of football without conceding a single foul? Throughout the game, tiny nudges on Fulham players resulted in free kicks, whereas any decisions given for us had to be absolutely cast iron for him to blow up - apart from the foul on Shodipo in the box, of course.
I can't comment too much on the penalties, I haven't seen any angle on the first one at all (although why on earth a pull in the box that results in a pen is worth a yellow is beyond me), but the second looked extremely unfortunate. What got me more was that Mason was pointing to the spot almost before the challenge. Has and always will be a dreadful referee - and I usually try to be on the ref's side - they have a very difficult job blah blah, but I can't bear the thought of another game with this clown in the middle doing his level best to skew the result. Not when we're doing our own level best to skew the result ourselves.
At the end of the longest of weeks for our beleaguered boss, some light at the end of the tunnel. It's been fascinating to see the swing these last few days. When the story broke, it felt like 98% of fans believed he had to go. By Saturday morning, it seemed at least 50/50, with even his harshest critics starting to believe that the Telegraph's story wasn't quite as devastating as it looked at first.
I'm not sure there could have been a worse game for Hasselbaink to face after last week. Playing a team who had ripped his own team to shreds only a few months earlier, and who give us regular pastings on their own patch. Mix that with the sizeable portion of our support who want change at the top, and you have a poisonous cocktail no one would want to swallow.
Yet, he had to. He came out last from the tunnel, refusing to even glance at the fans. His only look was to his goalkeeper coach to whom he gave a 'come on!' clench of the fist sign to. The reaction was difficult to gauge from fans, I heard no boos or chants, there were a few claps of support, but it felt wary. We all knew that if Fulham were three up before half time as usual, things would get very ugly. But the support, actually, was superb. Far better than it has been at home. Even when the equaliser went in there was only encouragement - it made a huge difference I think.
At the end of the game, Jimmy might've been tempted to come over and clap or wave, but he did neither - he simply urged his players, particularly the apparently reluctant Caulker, to go to the fans and applaud them. His whole demeanour was of discomfort and even shame. And I had sympathy for him. If he was to clap us before the game, what would it mean? 'Thanks for your support?' 'I'm innocent lads'? 'I'm sorry'? Almost any action could have been misconstrued, so he did nothing except make the players show that he was grateful for the support. And with that fortuitous win, perhaps the tide has turned. After all, LBlock gave him three games and we won one and drew two. He's earned at least another deadline.
And there can be no doubt, despite some horrendous defending, that the players still believe in him and are playing for him. To a man they worked their arses off. And Jimmy himself perhaps thought he had little to lose and we were as open and attacking as we've ever been under his stewardship (admittedly not a huge boast). It was a game that proved how attacking and dangerous 4-2-3-1 can be if the wide players provide a genuine goal threat, but also how weak we are through the centre of the park without Cousins or Borysiuk. Or, perhaps, Sandro.
So it was a brave selection, and his subs were equally brave. An early rest for the tiring BFG. A huge show of belief in young Shodipo and then, when I think we all expected Sandro for Henry, he made the call to give us some more pace and mobility at left back, withdrawing the noble Lynch and rolling the dice with young Niko. He could've placated the fans, sought to curry favour, but, in this week where his principles took a bashing, he stuck to them here. And, remarkably, was rewarded, even if it meant an entire season's worth of luck came in this one game.
A word, at the end, to the Fulham fans: 'There's only one greedy bastard'? I think if we've learned anything this week, it's that there really isn't only one greedy bastard. That's sort of been the point. Classic wit of the terraces.
I've seen Hall and Caulker described as both immense and awful. Somehow, they were sort of both. On the one hand, lack of communication, poor positioning, crazy, unnecessary runs upfield and failure to get back quickly enough could and should have cost us dear. However unfortunate Caulker might have been for the first penalty, he was still unwise to be grappling in the box. Equally, when Fulham hilariously wasted their two-on-one v Smithies after Parker's simple yet brutally effective through ball, Hall was badly at fault - playing everyone on by being about three yards behind the defensive line. On the other hand, they worked their nuts off, made some fantastic challenges, some courageous blocks and were visibly exhausted at the end of the game. In some respects then, they were immense. But also awful.
Our defence has good players in it, but at the moment, particularly in the centre, we are all at sea. We said all last season we needed an organiser in there, we bought Lynch, but for one reason or another he hasn't yet been given that role. Yesterday the poor bugger had to fill in at left back, where Aluko taunted him all afternoon with his pace and trickery. I think we need to see what this defence would be like with him at the centre, doing the ordering.
You don't need the best defenders to make a good defence. The great Arsenal back four is proof of that - all good players, but only Adams was ever the best player in the country in his position at the time. But together, they were perfect. Drilled, determined - *organised*. Look what Gigi De Canio managed to do with perhaps the worst back four we've had in the last 30-odd years. We do not have that organisation - too often, Hall and Caulker are miles apart. They are just not working as a team well enough. But who knows? Maybe by persevering we'll get a good defence. Or maybe Lynch needs to be given the chance to knock this porous back four into shape.
Having said all that, as with the Newcastle game, they didn't get much protection from the midfield (or the two full backs either)...
First game of the season, the Leeds central midfield stood right back and allowed Henry and Luongo to dominate the middle of the park and control the game. That's rarely happened since - and this had terrifying similarities to the Newcastle game at times. Parker and Cairney in particular tore us apart, but Aluko and Lucas Piazon made equal amounts of hay (which they then casually set fire to, luckily for us). While we undoubtedly played the best attacking football we have this season, and looked dangerous every time we went forward, their passing was slicker and faster, their movement better, their attacks far more direct. And our midfield just could not cope. It didn't help that Henry had to keep dropping deep to fill in for kamikaze runs by our centre backs, but generally we just looked so slow - they passed like we were barely there.
But as with the centre backs, the odd thing was that Henry and particularly Luongo actually had good games. It wasn't like they were making tons of mistakes, it was just that they seemed woefully outnumbered and outpaced. The two wide players in a 4-2-3-1 are crucial. Back in the championship season we had two from Hogan, Routledge, Mackie and Smith - four conscientious, hard working wide players who knew they had to support Adel and Helguson AND help out their full backs and their central midfielders. Yesterday, we played quite wide, sometimes not too far off a 4-2-4, and the holes as they attacked were enormous. If we are going to press that high, we desperately need pace in that centre of midfield and this pair just do not have it. Neither, a little worryingly, does Borysiuk.
But we need to find a balance and fast - yesterday could have been as bad as Newcastle, that it wasn't was because of poor finishing, luck, great blocks and good saves. I don't like Sandro, I want him out, but I think in these situations JFH may need to accept that we could do with his physicality and dynamism, even if it is for an hour, because these two were totally overrun yesterday - although both worked phenomenally hard and Luongo in particular grew into the game fantastically well, and ended it really strongly. Needs a goal, though.
Now, this is more like it. Finally liberated from having to do a really shit impersonation of Heidar Helguson, he's starting to look a better player. Only Jimmy will know why it's taken quite so long to give him a couple of games in this position, but it should have been done much earlier. He could turn into a Jamie Mackie type player, only with a little more guile. Yesterday, he was my MOTM. A superb display I thought - worked his arse off, created chances, finally got his goal and who cares how fortunate it was, and really unsettled their full back all afternoon.
He's taken time to score goals wherever he goes, so now perhaps he'll have the confidence to get a few more for us. It's also encouraging that we have some decent competition on the wings - Yeni, Wszolek, Washington, Nasser (now probably fifth in line) and Shodipo...
Wszolek was struggling. Blowing out of his arse. Not able to really track back. As well as he played first half, he had gone. Here was a problem. I wondered if Jimmy might go 4-3-3 and bring on Sandro. Or play the more defensive Kakay. Or try Nasser. But his belief in Shodipo is clear - and it paid off. The last week has shown us why you have to be so careful with young players. A week ago v Birmingham, Shodipo was ineffective, a bit lost and contributed little. This week he started on the bench, came on, and tilted the game towards us.
There were many things to admire. Speed, strength in possession, determination, some lovely interplay with Chery and I think four dangerous crosses pinged in in the last 20. The only surprise was that it wasn't him that set up the winner, although he did lay the ball off to Chery for that perfect cross. He was also, surely brought down for a penalty - if not, he most certainly should have been booked, because why else, when faced with an open goal from 12 yards and having controlled the ball, would he elect to tumble in the box? Maybe he had no idea about Mason's history and how the chances of him giving us a pen were virtually nil. Still, really encouraging from Shodipo. He won't and can't play every game, but it'll be interesting to see how he develops this season. With Kakay and Hamalainen knocking on the door too, there are things to be upbeat about.
Pictures — Action Images