Hopes that QPR’s fine recent performances against the division’s leading lights may lead to points being posted in so-called easier fixtures suffered a blow at Newcastle on Saturday.

QPR will find little use in playing out of their skins in the games they’re highly unlikely to win regardless, if they then regress to this kind of level in the ones that they might.

A fortnight ago against reigning champions Manchester City, Rangers looked fantastic. They’d have been good value for a win and richly deserved the point they took from a 2-2 draw. It seemed a corner had been turned ahead of a couple of months of kinder fixtures. Maintain that level and the R’s would soon climb away from the drop zone — so the theory goes.

At Newcastle on Saturday eight of the outfield players from the City game took to the field again and every single one of them turned in a worse performance than he had a fortnight ago. Every one of them. QPR’s season will not be dictated and decided by their results against Manchester City, Chelsea and Liverpool. It’s the results in the kind of fixtures they have coming up over the next six weeks that will ultimately seal their fate one way or the other and this insipid effort didn’t bode well.

It’s hard to say which was more frustrating — the 2-0 defeat at West Ham a month ago where QPR simply weren’t at the races at all and you couldn’t help but conclude they wouldn’t be good enough to stay in the division, or this one at St James’ Park now we actually know that there is a good QPR team here when it puts its mind to it.

And perhaps that ‘mind’ element is the most important here, because QPR have now lost all eight league and cup games they’ve played on the road this season, scoring only two goals in the process and conceding 16.

Expand that record back to last Christmas, and include the 15 away matches they played in the second half of last season, and they’ve won just four of 22, drawing another two, losing 16, scoring 14 goals and conceding 38 — most of that in a division where they spent at least 10 times more than all but two of the other sides. Harry Redknapp’s Premier League away record since arriving at Loftus Road two years ago is played 18, won two, drawn four and lost 12, scoring just 13 and conceding 33. His overall away record at the club is played 45, won 12, drawn 10 and lost 23 and, again, more than half of those games were in the league below.

Redknapp, and QPR, often look beaten before they’ve even set out on the pitch in away games, and on Saturday that was particularly frustrating.

Newcastle are obviously a half decent side. Even when they were struggling at the start of the season they weren’t losing at home — just one defeat at St James’ Park so far this season and a win against Liverpool here last time out — and this was their sixth straight victory in all competitions, lifting them briefly to fourth. They’ve discovered a way of playing that suits their - mostly fleet of foot, lightweight and foreign — squad that allows them to counter attack at speed into space created by inviting opponents onto them, with the muscular presence of this game’s outstanding player and winning goalscorer Moussa Sissoko between the midfield and attack. They look decent, but they’re certainly not infallible.

In fact, the home team were beset by injuries before and during the game. They were missing both first choice centre halves, including influential skipper Fabricio Coloccini, and were forced to field Mike Williamson, who’s no more a Premier League centre half than I am, and full back Paul Dummett at the heart of the defence. With Charlie Austin in form and Bobby Zamora’s influence growing by the week QPR must have fancied their chances of targeting them there, but it never quite happened.

Austin got into space in the right channel after 12 minutes but found nobody in support when he looked up so dragged an ambitious attempt across the goal. Leroy Fer burst into the penalty box on a counter attack but was maneuvered off the ball by Mike Williamson — only a penalty if the referee is Mike Jones and the man on the floor is Eden Hazard. On this occasion, Chris Foy rightly waved it away. The official erred a short time later though when Zamora finally rolled Williamson on the edge of the area only to be pulled to the ground and have the free kick awarded against him. That, and a weak Richard Dunne header from a late Joey Barton corner that keeper Tim Krul palmed harmlessly over the bar was the sum-total of the QPR threat against a side missing its two centre halves.

Not only that, but Mehdi Abeid, who’d protected the Newcastle back four in such an accomplished manner during their 2-0 win at West Brom before the international break, freeing Jack Colback to have his best game since a summer switch from Sunderland, was also out. Newcastle had to use Ryan Taylor, conventionally a full back and out of the game through injury for two years prior to this first start, as a holding midfield player. He was at the heart of everything the home team did well for half an hour, twice forcing saves from Rob Green from the edge of the area — one when a corner was spread out to him, and another on a swift counter where he should have scored. Tragically he left the field in tears with another knee injury before half time, to applause from both sets of supporters. Mercifully, a post-match scan revealed no lasting damage, but there’s a definite ‘when rather than if’ air around him at the moment which our own Ale Faurlin could sympathise with.

But despite Abeid’s absence, and the reshuffle caused by Taylor’s withdrawal and Yohann Gouffran’s introduction, QPR lost the midfield battle comprehensively. Harry Redknapp will point with some justification to the absence of Chilean winger Eduardo Vargas owing to the birth of his daughter on Friday — where’s Trevor Francis when you need him? — and the lack of energy, pace and pugnacious attacking threat he brings to the table was immediately obvious. But whether that really justified selecting two of a flat midfield four out of position in a very basic, ineffective, 4-4-2 set up is up for debate.

Redknapp started with Leroy Fer on the left wing where he turned in his worst performance for the club since a summer move from Norwich. Joey Barton, making his first competitive return to St James’ Park since a 2011 departure, started wide on the right and although the first ten minutes of charging around, snapping into tackles and setting a high tempo boded well, Barton soon regressed to a typically ineffective performance littered with Hollywood passes straight into touch or to Newcastle players and poorly taken set pieces. His insistence on placing the ball just outside the quadrant for every corner, seemingly for little more than devilment on a pristine playing surface like this, winding up opposition fans, wasting time, and drawing the referee’s attention, before planting the ball squarely on the head of the defender at the near post is particularly piss boiling. That beaten only by a ridiculous 45 yard miracle ball straight into touch 15 yards away from the nearest QPR player when, deep into five minutes of added time, Rangers had loaded the penalty area to set up for a final push for an equaliser. If only he was half as good as he thinks he is.

Both Barton and Fer have played better for QPR in a narrower 4-3-3 set up. Fer was man of the match against Sunderland earlier this campaign in a number ten role behind the strikers but hasn’t been picked there since. He’s certainly no kind of left winger on this evidence. Even when Niko Kranjcar was introduced after an hour, adding much needed quality on the ball and purpose to the passing, he was shoe-horned into a winger’s role. Harry Redknapp has been a manager for 30 years and I’m a no-nothing gobshite, but it was difficult to see why Rangers persisted with a set up that obviously wasn’t really working. The lack of tempo, belief and snap in the QPR play was the biggest problem, but the shape of the team dented their hopes further.

You sensed it would be that sort of day when, after four minutes, Yun Suk-Young left a pass back to Steven Caulker slightly short, and he in turn did likewise to Robert Green who then lazily tried to punt it away down the centre of the field regardless and was lucky that it bounced wide after striking Jack Colback who’d closed him down. Cabella shot straight at Green after a decent short corner move with the time in single figures and the keeper then palmed over the first of Taylor’s two efforts. Taylor’s second came from a poor pass by Suk-Young, another who regressed alarmingly from the level he set a fortnight ago, albeit with a week of international air travel by way of mitigation. Sandro survived a similar penalty appeal to the Fer incident and Richard Dunne diverted a low Ameobi cross fractionally wide of his own goal after Cabella’s shot had deflected into the path of his team mate. Newcastle weren’t great, but their dominance of the midfield, aided by the QPR set up and led by Sissoko, meant Rangers frequently struggled to clear their lines for long periods of time.

Redknapp selected Nedum Onuoha at right back instead of Mauricio Isla after his travels with Chile, and his dreadful distribution showed once again why he should probably be considered at centre half or not at all. Richard Dunne picked up a fifth yellow card of the season for a necessary tactical foul on Ayoze Perex midway through the second half paving the way for Onuoha to move infield next to Steven Caulker for next week’s crucial visit of Leicester. Oh, but then Rio Ferdinand is available again next week, so, you know…

Taylor struck a free kick into the wall before he went off, full back Darryl Janmaat ventured forward and volleyed wide just before half time, and then immediately after the break Suk-Young had to get back and make a goal-saving tackle after Caulker and Sandro had gone for the same ball and allowed Perez into the area.

Sandro must have been a bit paranoid that his new team mates don’t really like him by the end of this game because he, once again, failed to complete 90 minutes after being accidentally taken out by Suk-Young on the hour. Redknapp sent on Kranjcar, which improved things, but kept the same system and simply moved Barton in field, which did not.

Barton produced a fantastic block tackle in the area to stop Newcastle taking the lead five minutes into the second half, and had Charlie Austin then connected properly with a dropping ball at the back post which he attempted to volley first time then a famous victory could have been on the cards. Newcastle were by no means totally dominant, and the game could quite possibly have ended 1-0 to the visitors on another day, but there was always the feeling that QPR weren’t quite there and a 1-0 home win was much more likely.

Green rushed out to the edge of his area to make a fine one on one save from Perez as Newcastle counter-attacked again — Barton’s honesty, staying on his feet when a fall would certainly have brought a free kick, not rewarded by Chris Foy who waved play on allowing that attack to develop. If we want players to stop diving, we have to be willing to award free kicks when fouls are committed but they stay on their feet. Green then charged way out of his area with a well-made, brave, quick decision and reached a through ball before Ameobi to prevent an opening goal. He had nervy, fumbling moments, but was probably QPR’s best player, which unfortunately tells you a lot.

The inevitable goal came 12 minutes from time. Sissoko unloading a powerful shot from 15 yards out, curling the ball through Karl Henry’s legs and round Green into the corner after being played in by Sammy Ameobi. QPR have now lost their last three trips to this ground 1-0, in almost identical circumstances — limp, sluggish performances, goal conceded about ten minutes from the end.

When you look around St James’ Park and compare it to Loftus Road it’s hard to imagine these two clubs are in the same division. One wonders whether there’s something of an inferiority complex for QPR players coming here, added to this lamentable attitude Redknapp and his players currently seem to have about away games being some sort of “bonus” in which they can only ever hope to hold their own and avoid a thrashing, rather than going all out to try and win. They won’t survive losing all 19 away games, they’ve got to show more ability and ambition than this.

The conviction wasn’t there, and this mostly turgid encounter will slip off into the deepest memory recess of everybody who was there along with similar recent classics like the 0-0 draw at Watford where QPR played with no strikers, or the 4-0 defeats at Spurs and Man Utd where they didn’t turn up at all, or that loss to ten men at Bournemouth, or that one at Blackburn where Luke Young played centre half, or that one at Charlton where Aaron Hughes played right wing back…

Afterwards Redknapp said QPR “lacked quality” but he “couldn’t see Newcastle scoring”. As if that’s the point. What about QPR looking like scoring? And there was certainly no lack of quality in the QPR team against Manchester City and Chelsea. Fact is, had QPR played as they did a fortnight ago they’d have won here, and had they gone about their work as they did at Stamford Bridge they certainly wouldn’t have lost.

Bitterly, bitterly disappointing to see all the recent improvements slip silently away to a shrug and a mumbled excuse about the Chileans being absent.

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Newcastle: Krul 6; Janmaart 6, Williamson 6, Dummett 6, Haidara 6; Colback 6, Taylor 7 (Gouffran 34, 6); Ameobi 6, Sissoko 8, Cabella 6 (Cisse 68, 6); Perez 6 (Armstrong 89, -)

Subs not used: Anita, Ferrerya, Elliott, Streete

Goals: Sissoko 78 (assisted Ameobi)

Bookings: Sissoko 57 (foul), Armstrong 90+3 (time wasting)

QPR: Green 7; Onuoha 5, Dunne 6, Caulker 6, Suk-Young 5; Fer 5, Henry 6 (Hoilett 82, -), Sandro 6 (Kranjcar 61, 7), Barton 5; Zamora 5, Austin 5

Subs not used: Traore, Phillips, McCarthy, Isla, Mutch

Bookings: Onuoha 40 (foul) Dunne 72 (foul), Zamora 89 (foul)

QPR Star Man — Rob Green 7 Couple of nervy moments where he fumbled routine saves, and blasted a bad back pass against Colback, but two very fine pieces of keeping in the second half to deny first Perez and then Ameobi makes him the best of a terribly mediocre bunch. Niko Kranjcar improved things when he came on.

Referee — Chris Foy (St Helens) 7 Not too bad, and both the big penalty appeals were rightly waved away. I thought he was very harsh on Bobby Zamora all game — penalising the striker when he looked to have been sinned against on the edge of the Newcastle box in the first half, then calling Joey Barton across to talk about repetitive fouling when it was difficult to remember Zamora being penalised more than twice. Jack Colback committed a particularly poor tackle on Charlie Austin in the second half with no yellow card as well. Overall though, reasonable.

Attendance — 51,915 (1,600 QPR approx) The numbers following these two teams remain remarkable, given their respective performances, but the giant St James’ Park crowd is certainly in a “entertain us, then we’ll sing” mode at the moment, and the place was very quiet until the goal. It’s an odd situation for them, dead set against both chairman and manager but suddenly on a six game winning streak. A strange atmosphere all in all. Tremendous support from West London given the distance, expense, form and notorious position of the away end here.

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AussieRs added 22:51 - Nov 23 Typically fair report Clive - thanks as ever. Every player considerably below par with exceptions of Green, Dunne and probably the now quite consistent Henry. Terrible 90 minutes of viewing, with little control, generally poor passing and almost no goal threat. I know I am a broken record. But "lacking creativity" is the epithet most often tossed in by 'Arry and all in regards to the team. Long balls up to Zamora to chest down to Charlie etc only every going to be one tactic, with limited shelf life in this division. By creative players, we would def include Niko and also probably Vargas. Fer is unconvincing for me so far. Which leads me to Adel. Again (apologies). But has he lost so much weight as to disappear completely? Perfect link man between forwards and rest, can pick a pass, can shoot. Surely better bet than Fer on this form. Not even on the bench, nor at training according to youtube vids put up by the club, nor playing in behind closed doors match the other day. Not in Moroccan squad. Should someone report lost property? At this rate we are one Austin injury away from relegation. Must find more routes to goal.

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Pablo_Hoopsta added 23:30 - Nov 23 Good write up as always Mr Northern! Agree that Green was our MOTM, he made some great saves and brave decisions at times. Let's hope this is a reminder to the players and staff that we can't just play well v the big boys (as you say turning it on for those games only wont do us any favours!) but need to against some of the more realistic sources of points. Lesson learned before the arrival of Leicester I hope, or we are in big trouble.

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TacticalR added 01:26 - Nov 24 Thanks for your report. The game was a scrappy affair with some very poor passing, and ball retention almost completely non-existent on our side. I think you're right about our inferiority complex at places like St. James' Park. Just as some players don't like coming to Loftus Road, some of our players don't seem to like the really big grounds. Dunne. Another good game. Austin & Zamora. Little to feed on from the midfield, and not able to create too much by themselves. Yun. Seemed overawed and made some bad passes at the start of the game, plus took some poor free kicks. As the game wore on he had to cover for his team mates on more than one occasion. Onuoha. Completely overawed and incapable of passing to one of our own players. Outmuscled and outthought by Sissoko for the goal. Fer. I say this every week, but I am not sure he did too much wrong. Although he can tackle he's not a scrapper like Henry and Sandro, but looks a hell of lot more creative on the ball than either of those two. Sandro. Once again we had a clean sheet when he went off on the hour, and once again we conceded once he'd gone. Green. It's strange the way he manages to combine generally sound performances with those odd nervous lapses.

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isawqpratwcity added 01:39 - Nov 24 thanks, clive. i didn't see the game but, damn, that's a depressing report!
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probbo added 08:43 - Nov 24 Thanks Clive. Good point about the 'mind' element - we clearly have a deep rooted losing mentality away from home. And we're not very good at playing for goal-less draws either. It's been 5 games including this one since the mugging by Liverpool and the 'much improved performances' but the fact is we've collected just 4 points from those and a total of 8 points from 12 matches so far - relegation form however you cut it. Nearly a third of the season gone, where are the points going to come from? Redknapp's solution to this will be to plunder the transfer market in January for more ex Spurs players with Defoe top of the list and however many thousands a week that may cost, for a player whose supposedly spurned Redknapp's advances on at least two previous occasions. But without more creativity from our midfield, he'll be as stranded as our other forwards. Worrying times, despite the generally improved play of late.

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HastingsRanger added 09:21 - Nov 24 Whilst there are no obvious bad midfielders, it seems to me that the presence of Vargas offers the movement/pace to expose opposition defences. And I agree with the unnerving prediction of Rio at the back again. Leicester will feast on that. The problem now is holding it together for the next key games, with the pressure mounting as we look like being cut loose otherwise.

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RonisRs added 11:46 - Nov 24 I worry with Dunne suspended, Ferdinand will be his replacement. I seriously hope management read this and put Onahua with Caulker. so much for easy games, all the players need to step up and perhaps the manager needs to think more creatively.
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extratimeR added 16:09 - Nov 24 Thanks Clive. Three holding players in mid-field? appreciate their might be doubts about Kranjcar fitness, but why not stick him on for 70? pairing of Henry and Sandro has worked well to date, don't need three holding players, even away from home. No width on left hand side or service. Joey's distribution is awful, if you are the guy "breaking up play" just look up and knock it to Yun. Someone has to stop him taking all the free kicks and corners, surely the "stat" guys can say knock it on the head your success rate is appalling, saying that his tackling, tracking back and blocking tackles were exceptional, which is er what he is supposed to be doing.

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Kaos_Agent added 17:06 - Nov 24 Dunne MotM for me. Again. Great run of games for him. Rio should not get a sniff. We did miss the Chileans. In no way were Onuoha and Barton a worthy replacement for Isla and Vargas in attack, and in no way was Barton a worthy replacement for Vargas on free kicks. Ned in particular showed his bench rust, creating countering opportunities for them instead of positive service for us nearly every time he kicked the ball. Definitely not the way to get back in Harry's good books. I'll give Newcastle their due - much more convincing in attack. Not as gutted by this one as the earlier away no-shows. I expect we'll be back on track if we can field the same side that has looked so promising recently.

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windsorloop added 18:02 - Nov 24 I believe Harry needs to go for a win from the start. My team against Leicester on Saturday with Dunne suspended for the game, NOT introduce Rio Ferdinand, as I consider he would be too slow against the opposing forwards, would be :- Green, Caulker, Onouha, Suk-Young, Isla, Traore, Fer, Barton, Vargas, Zamora & Austin. The dynamics of Vargas & Isla on the right should be balanced with Traore & Suk-Young on the left. Suk-Young would have greater confidence with Traore's backing him up, which he does not get from Kranjcar

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cranieboy added 18:06 - Nov 24 Didn't see this game but do agree with others regards Fer. I'm not sure what he is, he's mobile enough and not a bad player but doesn't seem great at either defending or being a creative midfielder. Playing him on left certainly doesn't do him many favours either.
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dixiedean added 19:18 - Nov 24 One look at the team sheet says it all about HR. Shoehorn his favourites in regardless of the system. Granted that Hoilett, Traore & Phillips all blow hot & cold but how can you play 4 centre mid players all at once , with 3 wide players on the bench ? Barton should have been sub and come on for the inevitable injury to the Glass Beast. I've been unsure about Fer for ages, but as cranieboy says, wide left ain't any good for him. When that is compounded by Barton wide right it's a disaster. When will someone be brave enough to tell Barton he's not a playmaker- he's a reasonable ball-winner a la Cattermole but not quite as mad. We had a chance to go for a result against a team shorn of important players, yet still we are like timid lambs. Where was the in-your-face attitude from the Man C game ? If HR thinks we can just turn it on at will in home games versus " lesser teams " ( there aren't any at present as we are bottom ) then he might get a nasty shock. Having Vargas back should add some energy & pace at least. And please can we cut out all the Austin 4 England rubbish ? Leave the man alone to carry on his good form for us without having to think he needs to change his game. Being selected for England would damage him IMO.

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TacticalR added 22:56 - Nov 24 Altogether now: 'Austin not for England!'
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dixiedean added 10:33 - Nov 25 Thanks Tactical. Glad you agree :) Or maybe you were being ironic..... Not that I was meaning anything bad about Charlie, but a) our need is greater than England's and b) he will no doubt become a victim of how we build people up only to knock them down again, and either way I can't see that benefiting QPR. OR, he does well and gets seduced to move to a bigger club. I'm quite happy for him to carry on just scoring for us and carrying our attack to compensate for HR's awful recruitment policy. So I see Barton says our home form is crucial ( cos our away form is so shit presumably ) and Fer says we need to improve our away form ( no shit Sherlock ) Call me radical, but how about they all say/write/ Tweet nothing and channel their energy into performing ON the pitch ?

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TacticalR added 15:22 - Nov 25 Ironic? Me? No point in getting Charlie involved with that three lion circus when he's only just started scoring goals in the top flight.
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romfordranger added 16:01 - Nov 25 Frustrating, another away game where I wonder why we bothered! There was no game plan at all from Harry, just the hope we could grab a lucky point. It always seems to be one step forward, two steps back and we risk being marooned at the bottom and cut adrift. I have given up wishing Harry would get the sack, it just won't happen. He lives on his Tottenham reputation at QPR but I have never seen any tactical genious from him, his transfer dealings are very hit or miss, he insists on playing his favourites and playing people out of position, and some team selections simply defy logic! We desperately need Hoddle to get a greater say in things, and Harry to take more of a backseat! I just can't see us staying up this season, it needs a change of manager to give us a fighting chance.

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