LFW begins its annual number crunch and review of the QPR players’ individual performances across the season with the goalkeepers. It’s going to be a long week folks.

1 – Rob  Green C

33 – Julio  Cesar C

Few positions in the 2012/13 QPR team sum of the skewed thinking of Mark Hughes last summer, and the club as a whole, as the goalkeeping spot. Rangers succeeded in taking a squad with three goalkeepers earning approximately £30,000 a week between them and turning it into one with four taking home around £130,000 every seven days without making any discernable improvement to the team whatsoever.

The first step in that process was casting aside Paddy Kenny and bringing in Robert Green. Now there’s been a good deal of hindsight about a lot of the mistakes QPR have made over the past 18 months and it’s very easy to sit here now the whole thing has fallen apart and say that the club made this daft decision or that bad signing – Kenny had played poorly for much of last season, albeit playing injured for some of the campaign, while Green had impressed in West Ham’s promotion campaign.

You couldn’t say that Green flagged up the same warning signs as the likes of Jose Bosingwa, Esteban Granero, Ji-Sung Park and Julio Cesar – who’d all come from big clubs having achieved pretty much everything they were ever likely to and will have found QPR incredibly small time in comparison. Green had spent his career prior to signing at Rangers with clubs of a similar size. But the question Rangers should have been asking therefore was why was he so keen to make what seemed to be a sideways move from a club where he’d been for a number of years and just won a promotion? Or more to the point, why were West Ham happy to allow him to leave? Hammers chairman David Gold was fielding Tweets from fans on a daily basis asking why the club weren’t giving Green a new deal and the simple fact was they thought they’d made a fair offer for his ability and QPR had offered far more. West Ham allowed him to leave, brought in Jussi Jaaskelainen on a free and less wages, and were all the better for it.

QPR meanwhile had a goalkeeper who wasn’t that much better (if he was in fact better at all) than the one they’d allowed to leave and had broken the bank wage wise to do it. Another thing that was perhaps overlooked during a summer when it felt wonderful to be a QPR fan and see them spending serious money for the first time in the club’s history, especially as Kenny subsequently blotted his copy book after a bitter parting to Leeds, was that the former Sheffield United stopper was a good fit for Rangers. There’s no way a man of Kenny’s height (6ft), weight (14 stone) and style (unorthodox) should be keeping goal in a top flight anywhere in Europe in an age of Petr Cech and Manuel Neuer but then there’s no way QPR in their 18,000 seater stadium and training ground borrowed from a college should be either. Kenny was a strange, scrambling, never-say-die sort of a keeper who fought tooth and nail to keep his sheet clean in a variety of unusual ways, had an understanding with his defence, and a rapport with the QPR fans. Rangers got rid of all of that to sign Green, who seems to concede goals for fear of causing offence to opponents.

He conceded some amateurish goals during the pre-season matches and followed that up by allowing a speculative long range shot from Michu slide through his hands and into the net after eight minutes of the opening game with Swansea. LFW said at the time…

Since he’s arrived here he’s done nothing but concede ludicrously awful goals – one on the tour of Asia, two in Germany last week, and now one here. He looks depressed frankly. He carries himself with the confidence and self-worth of an underappreciated poet with a gay porn addiction. He looks like a man who expects to concede goals, and retrieves balls from the back of his net with an air of “told you so.” He’s like the Sunday league player pressed into goalkeeper service against his wishes because of a no show. - Swansea match report

So what did QPR do next? Well, they signed another goalkeeper of course, on even more money than Green. Mark Hughes said publicly it had always been his intention to sign two goalkeepers that summer, but privately told Green he would be dropped for the newcomer and if there was interest in him then he could go. The identity of the replacement is largely irrelevant – having cast Kenny aside despite his affinity with the club and fabulous performances in the promotion side, now they were ditching his replacement after two matches. Whether you rate Kenny, or Green, it didn’t exactly send a terrific message out to the players about their value to the club and how they would be supported through bad times and rewarded for good did it? Green had been brought in as number one and was now told he was surplus to requirements a fortnight into the new season because he hadn’t started well and somebody supposedly better had come along. That sort of thing doesn’t escape the attention of the rest of the players.

The replacement was Julio Cesar, a signing so outrageously good on paper that few really gave a stuff about Kenny or Green any more. Inter Milan’s Brazilian international goalkeeper came to Loftus Road on a free transfer. But why did Cesar want to come to QPR? Why were Inter Milan happy to lose him on a free transfer? How would he settle down into the totally different dynamic of playing for one of the league’s worst teams, behind a new and fairly rickety defence, in a new country and a new style of football? Questions largely ignored at the time, because it didn’t seem possible that this could be a bad signing, soon came back to haunt Rangers.

Cesar’s distribution was awful from day one, and his command of the penalty box in the more physical Premier League poor. Goals in an early home defeat against West Ham raised eyebrows. There were some fabulous performances – away at Arsenal first of all, and then during a fine January when he held Man City, Spurs and West Ham at bay almost single handed at times. The QPR fans taunted City’s England goalkeeper and Wash ‘n Go enthusiast Joe Hart with chants about Cesar’s perfect hair. Overall though the Brazilian has fallen well below expectations and finished the season not even making the bench. His dreadful positioning and decision making for an equaliser right on half time at Aston Villa felt like a key moment in the season. Performances either side of that in defeats at Swansea and Fulham were frightening. Sympathisers often said he was playing injured – but this seemed something of a chicken and egg situation with injuries often coming on all of a sudden when the going got particularly tough. Twice in closely fought away games he had to be substituted.

That has all meant sporadic recalls for Green, who has featured in five of QPR’s six victories during the season. He was impressive as a substitute at Southampton, from the start at West Brom in the cup, and in a draw at Wigan. But the simple fact is he remains an accident waiting to happen. I find myself looking away as balls go into the box. Against Aston Villa at home he spooned Brett Holman’s shot into the net from much the same range and at exactly the same time in the game as Michu’s on day one. His nadir, for me, came against West Brom at Loftus Road on Boxing Day when he took the somewhat unusual step of positioning himself two yards behind his own goal line at a corner and then found himself trapped by Fortune who did little more than stand his ground. Ordinarily a free kick would be awarded – but then ordinarily a goalkeeper would either take a theatrical fall or command the situation and get ahead of the man. Green did neither and ended up palming the ball pathetically into his own net. I mean Christ alive even David De Gea had dusted the sand from his lady parts and strapped on a pair of testicles by the end of the season.

Green stats:

Others >>> No appearances for Brian Murphy but a new deal signed today suggesting he’s being lined up as second in command to the number one next season. That’s likely to be Robert Green given that no other club of the size of QPR, Norwich or West Ham is likely to pay him what Rangers have him on so he’ll be almost impossible to sell. That may not be such a bad thing, as the Championship is more his level, but Rangers would be able to find a better goalkeeper for the second tier at half the weekly cost. Radek Cerny didn’t even make the 25-man squad and retired at the end of the campaign but deserves credit for some fine displays, often at key times, during a turbulent five year spell for the club. Youth teamer Aaron Lennox impressed in the pre-season games and may have potential, while Under 18s stopper Joe Lumley kept clean sheets for fun and was one of seven rewarded with a professional deal at the end of the season.

Tweet @loftforwords

Pictures – Action Images

Photo: Action Images

jo_qpr63 added 00:23 - Jun 4 For me, it was the first sign of Hughes not knowing what he was doing with the team and not knowing how to use Fernandez money. Poor business sense,poor man management,poor manager he turned out to be I didn't get excited seeing Cesar in goal for Brazil against England for some reason.
0

hoops_legend added 08:22 - Jun 4 Cesar played season at times but tailed off at the end of the season.. It just goes to shows no matter how good a keeper is then behind a poor defence - it won't work. He also really struggled with commanding his box and one annoying thing I found was when an opponent with the ball was wide in the box he would take up a position right on the post (sometimes even beyond) allowing an easy pull back and a completely empty goal! Did anyone else notice this Otherwise at times have really enjoyed watching him play! Seems like a good guy and genuinely cared so let's not been too tough on the man!

0

TheChef added 09:02 - Jun 4 "He carries himself with the confidence and self-worth of an underappreciated poet with a gay porn addiction." Couldn't put it better!
0

ozexile added 09:30 - Jun 4 I was the same when I heard we were gonna get him it worried me greatly as it showed Hughes had wasted pre season. But he had Fernandes over a barrel. If we hasn't let him sign Caesar he'd have probably walked away like he did at Fulham.
0

bloberts added 09:38 - Jun 4 Your comments about cesar are quite frankly laughable. There is no doubt in the world that he has been are best player this season, and by about a country mile i would say. To say green has been as good as cesar makes me wonder which games you have been watching this season?!?! If we had green for the whole season we would have probably been relegated by january, because he is quite frankly a useless goalkeeper. Its amazing how everyones memory is so short! For example Mbia, everyone said after the fulham game how he has been underappreciated by the fans, now everyone hates him and says he is sh*t! Cesar single handidly kept us in most games this season, the only game he played poorly was against west ham at home. I thought you were better than this...

0

DesertBoot added 10:36 - Jun 4 Agree with Jo. Some of the signings were already ludicrous, getting Cesar capped the lot for me. Why were Inter so happy to let him go and why was he so keen to join lowly QPR. This piece is shake of the head reading Clive, hiding behind the sofa for the next one.
0

Patrick added 10:52 - Jun 4 I have to agree the signing of Caesar looked like MH marking his previous work in signing Green at 0/10. This is possibly the only time I would find myself in complete agreement with "Sparky" (surely superb irony there from former team-mates) as Green is vastly over priced in the keeper market. However, do Caesar a favour, no keeper can win games for you, all he does is try to prop up one end, and Caesar did brilliantly there for a while. He may have lost it at times but behind that defence, is that any surprise. I know we're all feeling a bit bitter and twisted right now, and the instinct to condemn virtually the whole squad is overwhelming, but I do feel you have been too harsh on the best keeper we have had since Seaman. And what's that other team he plays for? Oh yes, Brazil.

0

francisbowles added 11:07 - Jun 4 I think you have it just about right, Clive. Although Cesar had some superb matches he also had some very poor moments. Away at Swansea and Villa spring to mind and didn't he also look a bit shaky for 'that other team' at Wembley. He hadn't dropped to third choice in Milan for no reason! He did, however, do his best and apart from the shirt incident conducted himself well. With regard to the signing of Green, we were all a bit dubious because of some big mistakes in the past but Kenny wanted to leave anyway so we needed to sign somebody.

0

Northernr added 11:25 - Jun 4 Alright Bloberts calm yourself down – better than what, offering an opinion? That's all it is. I think you're being very generous to say that Cesar's only bad game was West Ham at home. He cost us a crucial goal at Villa and should have saved at least one of the others. He was dreadful in the 4-1 at Swansea and poor at Fulham. There were some fabulous performances in there as well – Arsenal, Man City, Spurs, West Ham away – but even when he was playing well his kicking was poor and his performances were based entirely around making saves rather than commanding his area. I don't recall a single instance of him coming off his line into a crowded penalty area and catching the ball cleanly to take the pressure off. I've been disappointed with him. I don't like Green at all, I think he's a liability and I've said that since he moved here. But look at his wins per appearance stats compared to Cesar's. He made important saves and put in good performances at Southampton (win), Wigan (draw) and West Brom (win). Overall, IMO, they've both been poor. Other players have been worse (Bosingwa, Park) and they will get Ds and Es which means Cesar and Green have to get slightly higher marks = Cs. Francisbowles - Cheers mate, though I'm not sure Kenny wanted to leave until Green came in and it was made clear he wasn't in the plans. He'd have happily stayed if he'd played.

0

QPunkR added 11:57 - Jun 4 bloberts, come off it. If you'd been watching us this season you'll have noticed how, yes, Cesar had some excellent games, West Ham and Arsenal away stand out for me, but also that he dropped some absolute ricketts. Not obvious ones like Green flapping the ball into his own net (apart from Soton away, with the ball placed straight at him), but his overall positioning for many goals conceded was woeful. The whole season he failed to get to grips with balls being crossed to the back stick and goals were conceded from that position with monotonous regularity. I would say that he's been slightly better than Green overall, but only marginally

0

Metallica_Hoop added 12:03 - Jun 4 Schmeichel would struggle in our team with our defence.
0

bloberts added 13:08 - Jun 4 I wasnt actually at the swansea away and villa away, but to me it looked like the CB's should have dealt with the attacks previously...
0

themodfather added 14:25 - Jun 4 generous ratings green = c from the moment swansea scored their first, when a pea roller bobbled by him, we were shafted...green looks like a frightened rabbit in the headlights. cesar...big name, big rep, many big errors...a shot stopper but that cost us many goals then again our defence was woeful too, who'd want to be behind them?
0

JB007007 added 21:26 - Jun 4 I think that's a fair assessment of the keepers. Green had a terrible pre season and it followed into the new campaign. Like you say hindsight an all that, but we should have stayed with him and tried to build an understanding with the defence. I thought Cesar was going to work as he made a smart save early on in his first game against Chelsea and looked to have a calming influence on the back line. After that, so many times I watched him pick the ball out of the net thinking he should have done better. So many times, he's palmed saves into the danger zone again and his command of his area is appalling for a keeper of his experience. I'm amazed that someone as astute as Wenger is looking to sign him if we believe the rumours.

0

Kaos_Agent added 00:22 - Jun 5 I'm struck by the similarities to ice hockey (still dragging on here in not so frozen Canada): - goaltenders' success is usually proportional to the quality of their defenders - a great "reaction goalie" can steal a game for you - a great "reaction goalie" can also lose a game for you if he does not catch the puck but instead deflects it (a "rebound") especially when facing better teams - good goalies command the area in front of the net (albeit with a lot more physicality than is allowed in football) Cesar is a great reaction goalkeeper who allowed too many rebounds and did not command his area, and did not have stellar defending. That's in line with the 6.4-6.9 ratings given. I don't know what to make of Green. A goalie who committed as many howlers as him would not be an NHL starter and certainly would not be paid what he's being paid by QPR. With hindsight, Kenny/Cerny with a couple of really good center backs (surely obtainable with what was spent on Cesar/Green?) may have been the right way to go. How on earth could QPR go so long without real quality at center half? I suppose that's your next column Clive. Good work as usual on this one.

0

Noelmc added 09:42 - Jun 5 Brilliant line on David de Gea, made me laugh out loud. Very fair assessment in my opinion Clive. Cesar flatters to deceive with a high percentage of Hollywood saves but lacks command of his box & defenders. Green, although more suited to English football, just makes too many mistakes and lacks confidence, which I think is an essential pre-requisite for a top class keeper.

0

Loft1979 added 10:28 - Jun 5 Clive, I commend you on your articles. I really think you give a quality analysis. The 16 previous posts however add to your article: It is fair to say that the difference between Green and Cesar probably was not that wide, and the opening 5-0 drubbing unfairly blemished Green. JB, Kaos and Metallica basically reflect my thoughts.....the defense was ABYSMAL and unfairly victimized the keepers. A great passing team like Swansea had a heydey (x2) with our defense. Our backline. West Ham improved NOT because they lost Green, but because they LOST their premiership backline after being relegated and returned with a new one. I enjoyed a you-tube recording of QPR thrashing (Soton?) back in the day with one Peter Shilton in goal for them.

0

MTG added 12:09 - Jun 5 I completely agree with Bloberts & I can't understand why Cesar gets hardly any praise. We were able to sign him from Inter as they're going through a process of asset stripping to meet the UEFA Financial Fair Play rules, just like why they sold Wesley Sneijder & Philippe Coutinho. Almost everytime he makes frankly amazing saves all the fans accuse him of "Hollywood/One for the Cameras" saves. Everyone talks about the 1st goal at Villa as if it was a season defying moment - which I don't lay any blame on him and it's not even comparable to any of Green's numerous clangers. As far as I'm concerned he claimed many more crosses than Green & although he can't kick the ball as far he never struggled to deal with back passes. As for Green I wasn't exactly excited when we signed him, he has made several 100% to blame high profile errors with Swansea, Villa & WBA already being mentioned. I'm sure Clive has said in his match reports Green should've done better on other goals like Arsenal, Sunderland and several more to mention. He was particularly unconvincing in a relatively easy cup win v Walsall, got away with a handball away to Norwich and shoot me down for saying this but I blame him & not Boswanka for Newcastle's winner at Loftus Road. I'm also concerned about his presence around the camp as he went off moaning to the press pretty much as soon as he lost his place, was seen laughing on the bench when Vaz Te's DEFLECTION put West Ham 2-0 and didn't join in the celebrations with the rest of the subs & Management when SWP scored v Chelscum

0

parker64 added 13:42 - Jun 5 Cesar is one of the worst kickers I've seen in professional football. Probably don't need it playing for Brazil or Inter but QPR you do. Doesn't kick through the ball, sort of chips it with back spin. Lamentable.
0

qprninja added 15:04 - Jun 5 Spot on assessment I'd say Clive, I don't think Cesar's really suited to the English game and I'm amazed that Arsenal are supposedly interested, I can only think they're judging him on the good game he played at the Emirates. I'd like to think that Rob Green will come good next season, his confidence was clearly gone last season, whether that began on the far east tour when he realised how useless the defenders in front of him were I don't know. Making further costly blunders and being replaced immediately by Cesar couldn't have helped either. There's a good keeper in there somewhere and I hope that knowing he's first choice and a good bonding pre-season will rebuild his shattered confidence.

0

Spiritof67 added 20:11 - Jun 5 Not sure it would have much difference to our league postion given the players in front of the keeper, but it was a shame that MH didn't buy Ben Foster
0

cranieboy added 21:57 - Jun 6 I think it was spot on too, Ceasar had some great games, some superp shot stopping, but never had any command of his box and his kicking was dreadful, as mentioned, his game is probably not well suited to the English game really. Green always looks like he's about to burst into tears even when he's doing well.
0

Blogs 31 bloggers

West Ham United Polls