"You just want Chris Foy's address... : P" by mpbx3003 on Oct 23, 2011 6:17 PM "Roman probably has people there right now" by Al Benson on Oct 23, 2011 6:19 PM "Brilliant!" by allies8fl on Oct 23, 2011 7:16 PM "as angry as I am about what he did, I can't throw away everything he's done for the club over this. I’m sure I’ll feel better about him in a few days." (Drogba) by Cablinasian on Oct 23, 2011 6:31 PM "I might feel better about him when he puts in a good performance. Not before." by Al Benson on Oct 23, 2011 6:34 PM "QPR fans throwing the ball away. Did anyone see that dude that threw away the ball and then gave a rude gesture to ivanovic??? i wanted to punch his face." by Blue_Lion on Oct 23, 2011 6:25 PM -- "My image of Branislav Ivanovic is as a cold bloody assassin who keeps a diary and sheds a single tear before he goes to bed every night" by Graham MacAree on Oct 23, 2011 6:31 PM "He sheds tears???" by allies8fl on Oct 23, 2011 7:19 PM "I was right there with you until the sheds tears part. You lost me after that." by Noleforever9399 on Oct 23, 2011 10:40 PM BST up reply "A single tear, not many tears. Just the one. For the sins he’ll have to commit, deep in the night, to avenge the misdeeds committed against him that he noted in his journal." by FootieFromAfar on Oct 23, 2011 11:33 PM "O, now it makes sense." by allies8fl on Oct 24, 2011 11:44 AM BST up reply "That sounds quite dirty; Goatse? Is that the Germanic donkey show?" by DPeezy on Oct 23, 2011 6:46 PM "It's almost like, Foy was in the locker room for the QPR pregame talk. Strategy: 1) kick the ball long 2) fall down 3) try to provoke chelsea players. Right, got it." by Gautam Cfc on Oct 23, 2011 6:57 PM "Get over it lads! Arsenal next week!" by Graeme Harvey on Oct 23, 2011 6:56 PM "Drogs was absolute rubbish today.. by Garrincha7 on Oct 23, 2011 8:15 PM "QPR Fan here Valid complaints from you guys on the Bosingwa red card … hate to see a game come down to a close call like that. But the penalty looked legitimate. An exaggeration, maybe, but Luiz has to know better than to bump a guy in the area. And Drogba’s tackle was inexcusable. Good luck the rest of the season, you guys can get right back on the horse with Everton, Arsenal, and more Champions League play." by Pierson on Oct 23, 2011 9:59 PM "This isn't going to be a popular opinion but I’m really getting tired of his stupid, needless, reckless tackles. And he’d good for 1 or 2 every game. And today it cost us dearly. Yeah, the two red cards were very bad, but QPR was already up to a stupid needless penalty at that point. Angry, sexy in the 2nd half was superbly amusing to see, but someone needs to smack him in the head and have him cut that shit out already." by FootieFromAfar on Oct 24, 2011 12:15 AM Be invisible “It’s key to being a good ref. No one pays to watch Chris Foy referee. I want to walk out of the ground at the end and have no one know who I am. The way to do that is to ensure the game runs smoothly. If I had my way I’d blow my whistle four times: start of the game, end of the first half, beginning of the second and end of the game. Unfortunately that doesn’t happen.” The irony is making me homicidal." by DPeezy on Oct 24, 2011 7:06 AM News (other): FourFourTwo Team Premier Ratings: City dare to believe as Chelsea & United endure hell Monday 24 October 2011 08:30 FourFourTwo.com's Christopher Cox runs his eye over the weekend's efforts in the Premier League... Manchester City — 10 (Man Utd A, W 6—1) Quite extraordinary, thoroughly deserved and highly entertaining. All hail the Premier League champions elect? This was without question the most momentous result in the Premier League for quite some time and one that was a joy to watch. Silva, Balotelli, Dzeko and Aguero lit up the Manchester derby (no jokes about Balotelli’s bathroom, please) and they’ve put smiles on the face of just about every neutral in the land. City don't have to dare to dream anymore. They can dare to believe. Queens Park Rangers — 8 (Chelsea H, W 1—0) Have QPR played a part in the most pivotal weekend of the 2011-12 season to date? Their pressing game prevented Chelsea from playing their usual fluid and flowing football in the first half, the one that ultimately counted. Barton looked every inch the perfect captain, his decision to take the ball off of Taarabt prior to the penalty paid off for a huge three points. Sunderland — 8 (Bolton A, W 2—0) This huge win for Sunderland will ease the pressure on Steve Bruce, though realistically it was a game that could have gone either way. The victory was a timely one - being just the fifth the Black Cats have mustered in their last 23 league outings. Eight out of ten for the magnitude of this result and the potential for it to be a turning point. Perhaps we’ll see more of the prodigious Connor Wickham in the coming weeks, too. Norwich — 7.5 (Liverpool A, D 1—1) A result Canaries fans will be rightly proud of. They’ve not been overawed by the ‘big teams’ this season and it’s as good a draw as they’ll get all season, especially given how Liverpool rallied late on. This result is another confidence booster and Norwich look almost certain to stay up if performances and results continue in this vein — what a set of saves by keeper John Ruddy, too. Everton — 7 (Fulham A, W 3—1) It’s hard to see Everton winning all that many games on the road this season — they only managed four last term — so this will have gone down very well with the club‘s rather concerned fanbase. At times the Everton defence was like the Alamo as Fulham rained in shots and duly got their equaliser. It could have been worse had Zamora not missed a sitter, but Saha and Rodwell’s late late strikes provide a fortunate yet welcome three points. Arsenal — 7 (Stoke H, W 3—1) Arsenal’s record against Stoke may be horrible, but Van Persie’s in front of goal is fantastic. A good win for the Gunners, but they need to learn how to score without their captain. Positives? Fourth place is up for grabs again based on this performance, but results like this need to keep coming. As for negatives, look no further than Chamakh — lazy, tepid and just not a very ‘Arsenal’ player. Tottenham Hotspur — 7 (Blackburn A, W 2—1) Job done. Van der Vaart was in scintillating form and Spurs have averaged two points per game, a record which, should it continue, will put Harry Redknapp‘s side in a very strong position in the race for a top four spot. They took the opportunities presented to them on the Ewood Park pitch and off it — with Liverpool only drawing, this was a good weekend for the men from White Hart Lane. West Brom — 7 (Aston Villa A, W 2—1) The talking points will be Alan Hutton’s tackle and Chris Herd’s red card, not the Baggies’ win, which is unfortunate. Hard-fought wins like this point toward a mid-table finish for Roy Hodgson’s men, and full credit to them for capitalising on the opportunity presented to them. A good win and their first at Villa Park since Art Garfunkel’s ‘Bright Eyes’ was number one in the hit parade… Newcastle — 7 (Wigan H, W 1-0) It took 81 minutes to come but their fans won’t mind. Newcastle knocked on the door throughout the game against lowly Wigan and they’ve now cemented their place as a top half team. Measures of a good team include grinding out results, finding that goal from somewhere just as it looks as thought all hope is lost and beating the underdogs when required to do so. Newcastle met all those requirements on Saturday. Swansea — 6 (Wolves A, D 2—2) Not a result Swans fans will look back on fondly, but the performance was certainly impressive. It was all going swimmingly, with Vorm playing the game of his life, another goal for ‘Golden’ Graham and a 2-0 lead that looked unassailable - but they then blew it against a side who had looked awful at best for most of the 90 minutes. A worrying sign, not least in a match against a potential relegation rival. Wolves — 5.5 (Swansea H, D 2—2) For a long time it looked as though Mick McCarthy’s men were in trouble — as was the man himself, with boos ringing around Molineux owing to some ‘interesting’ substitutions. Wolves were abysmal and yet somehow got the two goals to level it up but this is by no means a bright new dawn for Wolves. It‘s probably fair to say they papered over the cracks with their point rather than building towards anything solid. Liverpool — 5.5 (Norwich H, D 1—1) While Liverpool are ambitious, it doesn’t look as though this season will be the one where they get back into the top four. This wasn’t as bad a result as, say, their loss to Wolves last season, but it may have a brought back a few bad memories of the Hodgson era for some Reds fans. You don’t qualify for the Champions League without winning home games against sides outside the elite, so a draw against a newly promoted team is no good to them. Aston Villa — 5 (West Brom H, L 2—1) On paper Villa had the better team, but this reign of Alex McLeish seems to be defined by the club’s continuing run of below par performances and underwhelming results. Villa are in a rut and losing to West Brom at home will be seen as unacceptable by the club‘s fans. With five of last season’s top six coming up in the next ten matches, could things be set to get worse before they get better? Wigan — 5 (Newcastle A, L 1-0) Only losing 1—0 is almost an achievement for Wigan these days, especially when facing a side in as ruthless form as Newcastle are at present. It seems nothing has changed since that final day relegation decider last season, and it feels like light-years since those euphoric scenes at the Britannia. How they will regret Rodallega’s missed chance in the first half… Fulham — 5 (Everton H, L 3-1) A winnable fixture and for most of the game Fulham played as if they would take at least something, with the Cottagers creating several chances to put themselves in front. Bryan Ruiz’s audacious chip will have inspired the Craven Cottage faithful but it was a completely false dawn. Seven points from nine games isn’t good enough, nor were their squandered opportunities. There is a slight bit of hope on the horizon — Wigan away up next... Stoke - 5 (Arsenal A, L 3—1) Maybe the good old days of Arsenal being intimidated by Stoke are over, maybe they suffered from hard luck due to an inspired substitution. Either way, Stoke lost 3—1 at the Emirates which in itself is hardly humiliating, though Tony Pulis will be concerned his side once again fell short following a midweek European match. Still, another goal from Crouch proved just how good a signing he is. Bolton — 4 (Sunderland H, L 2—0) What is going on at the Reebok? Answers on a postcard please, as it’s baffling stuff. Following last weekend’s success over Wigan, you’d have tipped Bolton to record back-to-back wins due to Sunderland’s equally poor start to the season. Is this a sinking ship? Owen Coyle is constantly praised for having a commendable ‘footballing philosophy‘, but has he met his match? Can he show strength in a relegation battle…? Blackburn Rovers — 4 (Tottenham H, L 2—1) How long can Rovers stick with Steve Kean? In truth, it’s surprising he’s lasted this long. The league table tells you all you need to know, five points from nine games, one win and five defeats. The ineptitude of sides around them is the only thing preventing them from being completely cut adrift. Chelsea — 3 (QPR A, L 1—0) Horrific. David Luiz, Jose Bosingwa and Dider Drogba let their team down in quite some fashion at Loftus Road. Luiz has looked defensively shaky in recent weeks and giving away the penalty wouldn’t have helped his confidence. Bosingwa showed glimpses of his Ancelotti-era self with a clumsy tug on Shaun Wright-Phillips that drew a red card, while Drogba’s tackle and sending off was a result of his sheer frustration at being isolated up front. Bouncing back from this will be Villas-Boas’ first real test. Manchester United — 1 (Man City H, L 6—1) There can’t be many weekends when you see a one out of ten rating for the champions, but this is deserved — it may well have been zero were it not for Darren Fletcher’s goal. A horrendous result for United, who rang the changes - as they had done at Liverpool - and they again paid the price. Evans’ dismissal shouldn’t be an excuse for the margin of defeat - United looked stale with 11 men and those left on the pitch looked largely disinterested. Sabotage Times 24 October 2011 After an impressive thrashing of QPR, Fulham's season is on the decline. Their defeat to Everton was their third in a row, and showed up some serious gaps in their squad as well as providing Bobby Zamora with nightmares for the rest of his life... The 6-0 thrashing of QPR has since been undone by three listless displays finishing with a cruel defeat against Everton. The Blues have a poor record at Fulham but took full advantage after Bobby Zamora inexplicably missed a guilt edged chance to win the game on 89 minutes, scorng twice in the dying embers. In all honesty, Fulham only had themselves to blame and were always chasing the game after Royston Drenthe’s stunning opener. The fact that it was gifted to him when Danny Murphy clumsily lost possession added to the sense that the Whites are their own worst enemy. Everton are consistently strong, defy the fact that they have perhaps less money than ourselves to throw around but were more committed, cohesive and ultimately more ruthless in front of goal. They are also the sort of team we should be beating at home and it’s worrying. In all honesty, Fulham only had themselves to blame and were always chasing the game after Royston Drenthe’s stunning opener. Rumours that Zamora and Jol were nose to nose at the training ground recently are indicative of a side that may not be settling to the new regime comfortably and despite Bryan Ruiz’s world class leveller, we fashioned little in front of goal today, in Poland last Thursday and at Stoke last weekend. Was the QPR result a freak? Not sure, but you wonder how this squad can continue to combine European ambitions and a climb up the Premier League table, at least with the Europa League in its current, seemingly endless format!! Fulham’s midfield seems the problem. Danny Murphy has been a magnificent player, captain and leader for Fulham and still posses the brain but perhaps not the legs, while Moussa Dembele is all too prone to run up his own ar****le when a simple pass wide will do. If Bobby Zamora had chosen to place the ball past Howard inside of an insane swip against the bar Fulham would have won this game and we would be snugly mid table but as it is the clouds of doubt remain over Martin Jol’s Fulham. QPR playmaker not excited by French league Tom MooreMonday, October 24, 2011 11:12 AM “Without being disrespectful, playing at Evian or Dijon would not be very exciting.” QPR star Adel Taarabt is not excited by the French league, despite being linked with giants Paris Saint Germain. The 22-year-old was targeted by the Ligue 1 club in the summer only for the move to break down. While the idea of playing at some of the French clubs appeal to him he is not enthralled by others in the league. “Paris makes me dream, but there are only four big matches to play against Marseille, Lyon, Lille and maybe Rennes,” he told Canal+. “Without being disrespectful, playing at Evian or Dijon would not be very exciting.” The Morocco international believes the French side’s owners still want him, even if PSG sporting director Leonardo, has the final say. “He (Leonardo) called Flavio Briatore, but the first thing he said was: ‘OK but there is Adel’s temper...’ Taarabt said. “Flavio just replied: It is up to you to know how to manage it. We could manage it last season he helped us back into the Premier League. “That is just an excuse from Leonardo not to sign me because he had other priorities. He preferred (Jeremy) Menez, (Javier) Pastore and even wanted Ganso. “The Qatar officials told me ‘Do another great six months and in January we will be back.’ “However, I am under no illusion. I know I am not Leonardo’s priority.” QPR 1-0 CHELSEA: Decisions, Decisions! Posted on October 24th, 2011 by Chelsea D It’s hard to know where to start with a game like this one. I could maybe say we had a poor first half and fought like lions in the second half but neither of those things truly sum it up. And neither of them sum up the injustice of the scoreline either. Yes, we had a poor first half, whether the Manchester derby scoreline proved a distraction or whether it was the immediate onslaught of boots to shins that put our players off is hard to say but minds were far from focused out there. Of course things weren’t helped when Helguson went down like a sack of shit in the area after a risky-but-hardly-brutal brush of the shoulder from David Luiz just ten minutes in. We seemed to spend the next 20 minutes getting our heads around going a goal down and our legs around everything flying at them — something Chris Foy was blissfully unaware of apparently — and then just after the half hour,things went very wrong. With Lionel Messi Shaun Wright-Phillips somewhere close to our area — and I say close because he wasn’t in a goal scoring position at the time (and we know he’d have put the ball in row Z given the opportunity anyway) — him and Jose Bosingwa had a bit of a shirt tugging session and following a SWP slip, he got up, turned round and found Chris Foy frantically waving his red card about at Bosingwa. Stunned much? I should bloody say so. Didier Drogba was obviously pissed off although clearly forgot we were already down to ten men since he’d paid little attention to anything but his bottom lip all game, because he went in two-footed on Taarabt less than ten minutes later — and I won’t even argue that decision. So, down to nine men before the break — you could say we had a bit of a mountain to climb. And we tried. If the first half had got me pleading for some pride, the second just had me begging for justice, although with both Lampard and Luiz subjected to no less than Helguson got a penalty for in the first half — and Luiz in fact being bear hugged like a long-lost friend at times, that sense of the world being against us just grew. And our players responded to that with the sort of battling performance we’ll always appreciate. 12 men against 9 was just too big a battle on the day and we have to accept we didn’t capitalise on points dropped earlier in the day. C’est la vie. The QPR Monday Verdict: Every day must be derby day at Loftus Road Ian CooperMonday, October 24, 2011 11:50 AM Rangers’ 1-0 win over fierce rivals Chelsea must be the blueprint for the rest of the seasonQPR’s dramatic victory over Chelsea on Sunday afternoon represented the pinnacle of their season so far, but the challenge now must be to replicate that level of performance on a regular basis if Neil Warnock’s men are to make a realistic challenge for survival. A display of grit, determination and passion from the Hoops ultimately proved too much for Chelsea who, although a superior footballing side, were simply unable to live with their hosts’ relentlessly high-tempo approach which delivered a deserved first home win of the campaign. The match was the very epitome of a local derby; a high-octane, bruising encounter which produced 11 bookings — seven of which went to the visitors — and straight reds for Chelsea’s Didier Drogba and Jose Bosingwa which were to fatally undermine the visitors’ hopes. Warnock suggested the result could be a landmark moment in the club’s history. Psychologically, certainly, it could represent a pivotal moment in their season; ahead of a testing trip to Tottenham and a home clash with Premier League leaders Manchester City, it has demonstrated that Rangers are capable of taking on and beating the best sides in the top flight. Perhaps most significantly, QPR have proved that fact to themselves. The matches to come will not match the unique atmosphere, nor place the same demands, as the west London derby, but it is the fundamentals of QPR’s performance on Sunday which they must repeat week in, week out, particularly at home, if they are to avoid the drop-zone. “We had a plan all week, we worked hard in training on what we were going to do, and we did our best to go forward when we could,” reflected Warnock after the match. “We had to show a lot of character today, a lot of guts, and I thought we played well eleven against eleven. These top clubs aren’t used to having their feathers ruffled, and that’s what clubs coming up have to do. But I still felt we played some good football as well at times.” The football, in truth, often took a back seat as QPR ‘ruffled feathers’ all over the pitch, from front to back. The listless Drogba was rendered virtually anonymous even before his sending off by Anton Ferdinand — still suffering the effects of a virus — and Fitz Hall. The tigerish trio of Shaun Derry, Alejandro Faurlin and Joey Barton hassled and harried Chelsea’s Frank Lampard, Raul Meireles, John Mikel Obi and, later, Florent Malouda, from first minute to last. Even Adel Taarabt, much maligned for his lack of work ethic, put in a shift up front, measuring the usual array of fancy flicks with some disciplined defensive work. Equally, Heidar Helguson gave John Terry a hugely uncomfortable afternoon, and drew the foul from David Luiz from which led to his successful penalty after only 10 minutes’ play. It all equated to 90 minutes of blood and thunder during which Chelsea, crucially, were never allowed to gain a foothold. Once Helguson put QPR ahead from the spot, the hosts didn’t create many clear-cut chances, but then, until the final, frantic moments, neither did Chelsea. Chelsea’s defiant manager Andre Villas-Boas complained at length about the sending off of Bosingwa and referee Chris Foy’s failure to award a penalty for Ferdinand’s innocuous brush with Lampard inside the penalty area, but even he had to recognise that his team struggled to function even with a full complement of eleven players. So where do QPR go from here? White Hart Lane on Sunday is the simple answer, where Warnock’s side will need to produce the same level of performance against a Tottenham side high on confidence with five Premier League wins from the last six. It is crucial that they do. With a daunting fixture list to come, it is still all too conceivable that QPR will find themselves drawn into a battle at the foot of the table by Christmas. Rangers’ form so far this season has been alarmingly patchy, and the lacklustre display in the defeat at Fulham three weeks ago stands in even greater contrast to the result against Chelsea. They cannot afford too many repeats of that afternoon; a glance at the upcoming games shows the names of Manchester United and Liverpool making trips to Loftus Road: although it is safe to say that neither will be relishing their trip to west London now. But visits to Norwich and Stoke will, in many ways, be equally testing matches for Rangers, and having struggled to disappointing results against the likes of Fulham, Aston Villa and Blackburn Rovers already this season, QPR know they cannot afford to only turn up against the big sides. Their fate this will not be defined by results against the likes of Chelsea, but their ability to scale the heights of their performance against their fiercest rivals on a weekly basis will have the biggest influence on their final position. Follow Ian Cooper on Twitter @QPRTimes Is this what John Terry said? 'Anton, you're blind' Simon Johnson 24 Oct 2011 Queens Park Rangers will meet with defender Anton Ferdinandtomorrow to discuss the nature of his exchange of words with Chelseacaptain John Terry. The England captain issued a statement last night denying claims made on the internet that he had racially abused Ferdinand during QPR's 1-0 victory at Loftus Road. Television footage of the incident appears inconclusive and sources suggest the 30-year-old used the word "blind" rather than "black". Ferdinand, who was out with QPR team-mates last night celebrating Shaun Wright-Phillips' 30th birthday, has been given today off like the rest of the squad and has yet to talk to any club officials about what took place. Terry insists the matter was just a misunderstanding and said: "I have known Anton for a long time and spoke to him about it after the game and there was no problem between us. I congratulated him on their win. He has not accused me of any wrongful remark." Chelsea had two men sent off as they lost a bad-tempered affair thanks to Heidar Helguson's first-half penalty.Jose Bosingwa and Didier Drogba were both shown straight red cards before half-time as Cheslea's discipline evaporated. Rangers midfielder Shaun Derry believes Chelsea, who also had seven players booked by referee Chris Foy, were sore losers and lost the plot. Chelsea's indiscipline means they have been handed an automatic £25,000 fine by the Football Association. In contrast, Derry was one of only two QPR players booked as they won their first League match at home. Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas is also expected to be charged by the FA for his comments regarding Foy's performance after claiming the 48-year-old made many bad decisions and insisting he "lost it". But QPR midfielder Derry, who clashed with Frank Lampard in the second half, said: "It's very easy to come out and say things like that. These top players aren't used to losing, and to teams of our stature. Perhaps it hurts them and it shows even the best players can lose their head. "What do you do? Do you sit off these players and let them dictate or get among them and mix it with them? I don't think we were vicious in any way or over-aggressive. I thought the ref did superbly. You look at the yellow cards - the majority of them were Chelsea players. I thought our guys kept our heads and that was part of our game-plan, to approach it physically in the right manner. "From my angle I thought the ref got the big decisions right. Shaun Wright-Phillips was through on goal, Bosingwa was the last man and that's the rules. If it happened to us we would have taken it on the chin. The second red card was a centre- forward's challenge. Perhaps Didier doesn't make too many of them, but it was a straight red." Asked whether seeing Chelsea players moaning to Foy was a sign they had got to them mentally, he added: "Yes. We knew we were doing our job right. We knew what we were doing was paying off. "They have a knack, these big players of perhaps persuading the refs to make different decisions, but I thought the ref was very strong." | |