x

Saints At Tottenham Hotspur The Verdict

This result will be seen of typical of this season, exhilarating attacking play all to no avail due to some awful defending, Saints came out of this game with pride and a sense of injustice but sadly nothing else.

Saints had the bad luck to have not one but two setbacks in the first half when firstly the ball struck Jack Stephens and wrong footed Angus Gunn to give Spurs a lead they did not deserve and then shortly after Shane Long had struck an equaliser . James Ward Prowse was the victim of a 50/50 challenge that cut his knee to the bone.

But Saints showed spirit to fight back and completely dominated the second half and when Danny Ings scored a cracking goal after a briliant run by Nathan Redmond had put him through, you thought that only one team would now win the game.

But Spurs rallied in the final 12 minutes to score two goals that really should have been defended better, the second a controversial penalty after Son Hueng Min clearly dived over the outstretched Angus Gunn and with the penalty dispatched there was little time for a Saints come back even if the fight was there.

There was plenty of good things to say about this game, from the great Saints support that drowned out Spurs who are fast showing they have opened a second branch of North London Libraries Ltd alongside one in the Highbury area, to the way Saints counter attacked on the break and caused a lot more trouble to the home goal then they on ours.

But yet again all the good work was undone by kamikaze defending and we can say all we want about certain players, but the fact is we have conceded soft goals all season, going forward we are a top 10 side, defending we are rock bottom.

People sometimes accuse me of being biased against certain players, perhaps I am and it is for good reason, they cannot defend.

There could be exciting times ahead for Saints, but only if we buy the right central defender, perhaps even two in the summer, if we do that then we can challenge for the top 10, if we don't then it will be deja vu, a case of what might have been if we had defended better.

Yes the penalty was an atrocious decision, at the game I'm not even sure it went to VAR, but the fact remained that Son was right through on the keeper and really shouldn't have been, as I have said all season some weeks we get away with it others we don't.

WE have to accept this season may either be spectacular in the rest of the Premier League season or it may turn out to be a damp squid with soft goals conceded all the way, but we can look forward to next season when we might just march forward again.

They have their critics, but Nathan Redmond, Pierre Emile Hojbjerg and James Ward Prowse have been magnificent in recent weeks and dragged us up the League table, they can be the backbone of this side, if we make the right additions in the summer then next year it may be different, it has to be !

What to read next:

Something about a Valentine’s Day massacre – Report
QPR cut loose for their biggest win of the season on Valentine’s night, thrashing hapless Derby County 4-0 at Loftus Road.
Queens Park Rangers 4 - 0 Derby County - Photo Gallery
Pictures from Ian Randall at Loftus Road where QPR ran riot on Valentine's Day, massacring struggling Derby County 4-0.
Queens Park Rangers 4 - 0 Derby County - Player Ratings and Reports
If you saw the match, please give us your player ratings and a mini match report.
Oh, it's Eu again - Preview
For the second time in as many home games QPR face former coach John Eustace in the opposition dug out as the new Derby manager brings his struggling side to Loftus Road.
Derby complete surprise Eustace raid as Warne falls on sword – Oppo Profile
After seven league defeats in a row and a cup exit at Leyton Orient, Derby have called time on Paul Warne and pulled off a surprising raid on Blackburn for John Eustace – Ollie Wright @DerbyCountyBlog assesses the new man’s chances of keeping the Rams up.
Match of the 70s - History
Back to the 1970s in the History again this week as we look back to a memorable win for QPR at home to their opponents on Friday, Derby County.
Webb in charge of Derby meeting again - Referee
David Webb, with whom QPR have won only once in 16 attempts, is the referee in charge of our Friday night game against Derby, the fifth time he's refereed a fixture between these sides.
In the blue corner – Report
QPR lost to the last kick (head) of the game in Coventry on Tuesday night, having spent the whole of stoppage time running a disasterclass in corner delivery only to end up conceding to one at the other end.
Coventry City 1 - 0 Queens Park Rangers - Player Ratings and Reports
If you saw the match, please give us your player ratings and a mini match report.
A meeting of the Championship's two great recoveries - Preview
QPR and Coventry formed two of the bottom four when they last met in October, but meet tonight for the return fixture both midtable and just four points off the top six.