The latest in a string of mistakes by QPR’s goalkeeper Robert Green handed Hull City a last minute winner at Loftus Road on New Year’s Day.

Queens Park Rangers won just 11 of the 47 matches they played during 2015. Sadly, the romantic ideal that the dawning of a New Year may herald the start of some improvement is just as trite and doomed as the idea that QPR fail as badly as they do because of who the manager or the goalkeeper is.

Rangers will put their season tickets for 2016/17 on sale this week, a welcome change from the recent situation where prices were released in May and money had to be found one payday later by the end of June or you’d lose your seat. But the whole thing is based around what a bargain you’ll get if you renew at the early-bird prices — which are expensive for the Championship — if the club then gets promoted to the Premier League. They go up even more after that, apparently. There’s no mention, as yet, about what happens if the club is relegated to League One. It’s like it hasn’t been considered.

Manager Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink said after this latest loss, secured in absolutely farcical circumstances against Hull City at the home of football, the club “shouldn’t even be thinking about promotion” and though you’d think that’s rather stating the bloody obvious it does need saying. The club should, however, be starting to think about the very real possibility it may exit this league in the wrong direction.

Director of Football Les Ferdinand was at pains to point out last summer that it is very easy for clubs in QPR’s situation to drop straight through the Championship and into League One following relegation from the Premier League if they’re not extremely careful about it. The prime example is Wolves in 2012/13. Ferdinand spent the entire summer managing expectations, preaching caution, saying consolidation was the aim. He was exactly right, and while the football wasn’t particularly inspiring, the performances were inconsistent and a couple of London derbies went very badly, QPR made it to the middle of October this season in midtable with only four league defeats to their name.

Having steadied the ship in midtable, as they said was their aim, what they’ve done since, entirely of their own volition, is push the whole thing off the side of the cliff again, thinking maybe it can fly after all. This is now a club descending so rapidly it’s whistling through the air as it goes - again. Rangers have won twice in 12 matches, one of which thanks to a shambolic piece of goalkeeping, and have only won four of their last 20 matches. That is relegation form and QPR, who play four of their next five matches and six of the next nine away from home, are now just nine points from that relegation zone. They have won only seven times all season and accumulated 30 points — Wolves in 2012/13 had won nine times by this point and had 31.

The more concerning thing still, is that the R’s played reasonably against Hull — while obviously saddled with confidence and fitness issues — and still lost. The QPR players certainly weren’t wanting for effort. Who could you accuse of phoning it in? Quite the opposite in most cases — Seb Polter, Ale Faurlin, Grant Hall, Junior Hoilett and Tjaronn Chery in particular. Hull, third in the league, looked a better team on paper, are a far better team in practice, but would have had to settle for a point had Robert Green not decided to continue his own personal 2015 Year of the Wally Brain into 2016. QPR don’t win whether they play well or not, that’s a bad sign.

In an attempt to set a better tempo and tone after Monday’s dire draw here with Huddersfield, the R’s flooded forward from the kick off, attacking the Loft End in the first half unusually. Matt Phillips got going down the right and crossed low to the near post where Seb Polter found the ball just out of his reach. Hull responded in kind. Mo Diame’s strong, muscular running from midfield will be a key asset to them in the second half of the season if he stays through the January transfer window, stays interested and stays fit. The former West Ham man curled one wide of the top corner after three minutes.

I was impressed too with Sam Clucas, a summer signing from League One Chesterfield, who found good space at the back post coming in from his wing all evening and had a shot blocked from that position after 21 minutes.

But Rangers traded the punches well. Junior Hoilett looks like one of the few who is on an upward trajectory of form and confidence, and his energetic first half display was epitomised by an interception and pass to Polter on the quarter hour. The German rather got the ball tangled up in his feet as he searched for space in the area to shoot, and in the end his effort was repelled by the defenders. Hoilett, sadly, faded from the game after half time.

Both teams saw their centre backs — Curtis Davies for Hull, Grant Hall for Rangers — head well-taken corners back across the face of goal from a deep position in the area only for nobody to stick a boot in and convert the chance. Both teams caused further havoc from wide set pieces at the end of the half — Ale Faurlin almost scoring without realising when a clearance whacked against him and flew over, classy Scottish full back Andrew Robertson snapping a more conventional volley fractionally wide as the ball was cleared to the edge of the area.

Little to choose between the sides then, and so it continued after half time. Rangers appealed in vain to referee Keith Stroud that a swift counter attack between Faurlin and Tjaronn Chery had been interrupted illegally by a Hull hand as they tried to free Matt Phillips. Hull, meanwhile, continued to get Clucas, and on this occasion Robertson, free at the far post as balls were delivered from the right flank. Onuoha got across to block Robertson’s volley on the hour.

QPR had named Samba Diakite among the substitutes for the first time this season before the match, causing nothing short of hysteria in the Crown and Sceptre prior to kick off, though sadly they stopped short of sending him into the action despite him warming up in his full kit as if his introduction was imminent. Hull, for their part, took off the ineffective Ahmed Elmohamady and sent on Robert Snodgrass, which I mention only because the Scottish international is only now working his way back into first team football more than 18 months after suffering a horrific knee injury on his Hull debut on this ground at a time when he was one of the Premier League’s hottest properties. The very best of luck to him. Inspiration could be sought in the form of Ale Faurlin who never stopped trying to get Rangers around the park here in stark contrast to the efforts of his replacement against Huddersfield, Daniel Tozser.

The opening goal, when it came, reflected the extra quality in the Hull team, rather than the balance of play. QPR have Karl Henry in midfield, who certainly can’t ever be accused of hiding or not trying - despite now constant barracking from his own supporters which must have some effect on his performances — but also isn’t going to be troubling the notepads of too many scouts too soon. Hull, meanwhile, have Diame who was able to first catch Henry in possession, then shrug him aside, and then accelerate away from him into space in the QPR half without challenge far, far, far too easily. Given time to pick a cross he skilfully selected Abel Hernandez whose gentle finish from the edge of the area made the whole thing look very easy.

Referee Stroud might have done more to break up a prolonged, gratuitous, prayer meeting among the Hull players in the penalty area in the aftermath — and several flagrant examples of timewasting thereafter — but in the end he settled for merely adding five minutes to the end of the match and by the end of that we wished he hadn’t bothered at all.

Loftus Road had been morgue-like before this, and now the church was restless. Henry was replaced by Leroy Fer, resulting in a bizarre situation where the fans cheered the removal of one boo-boy target only to then abuse another coming on. Fer, looking absolutely bereft, contributed nothing in his 20 minute outing and now doesn’t even seem to be able to complete a simple ten yard pass to a team mate. The Dutchman, another who QPR were so excited about keeping they ripped up their plans for the whole season and set a course for the Premier League they simply don’t have the ship for.

Mind you, contribution isn’t any indicator of whether the current QPR crowd will stay with you or not. Few put as much into this game as Seb Polter and he crowned a tireless effort with a fantastic equaliser four minutes from time. First the German snapped a sharp pass wide to Matt Phillips - switched to the left by this point — then he turned and sprinted into the penalty area, arriving perfectly on time to power a fabulous header into the top corner from ten yards. This after 80 minutes of baiting and ridicule from sections of the home support.

Polter is an interesting example of how the dynamic of the crowd and the support has changed at Loftus Road since the club had money invested into it. Previously we absolutely revelled in having those unconventional, underdog players in our team. We considered them an embodiment of what we were as a club — making the most of what meagre attributes we’d been given to bloody the noses of the sport’s aristocracy. Maybe not technically the best, maybe a bit odd to watch, maybe a bit of a maverick, but 110% effort, totally committed and effective. “As long as they try, that’s all we can ask” used to be the refrain. “I don’t mind if they’re crap, as long as they’re trying.” We used to absolutely love somebody like that and make cult heroes of them. Jamie Mackie, Devon White, Danny Shittu... People who got somewhere because of their endeavour and attitude, rather than any given ability.

Now we absolutely pummel Polter, even when he's doing a good job for the team. He’s currently scoring and assisting goals regularly — bagging two of the last four himself and helping to set the other two up. We seem to think we as a club should be above this sort of basic footballer, and should be out there spending yet more money on supposedly accomplished strikers and big names, like that's worked at all for us over the past five years. “Spoilt” isn’t the right word for a group of supporters who have had so much festering shit foisted upon them over the past few years and kept coming back for more regardless — 11 wins in an entire year, and by the way we’re sticking £20 on your already expensive season ticket just the latest whack in the gentleman’s area — but we’ve certainly been changed, for the worse, by the money coming into Rangers in exactly the same way the club has as a whole.

Polter should be a fucking hero. Big German lump with ridiculous hair, scoring and setting up goals despite seeming to have no natural technique or ability - or, more kindly, an unconventional style - in a team that's struggling to score goals at all and is playing poorly. He’s old QPR.

And he should, should, (should), have been able to kick back in his lederhosen last night and reflect on a point won from the third placed team in the league thanks to his fine goal. That he’s not is down to somebody who does actually embody what we are as a club these days.

There had been a warning that the scoring wasn’t done in the immediate aftermath of Polter’s goal. Clucas was free at the back post yet again but volleyed over when it seemed easier to score as another right wing cross sailed over a lopsided QPR’s defence. QPR have two right backs, Darnell Furlong and Michael Harriman, and should be picking one of them in James Perch’s absence. Not only because that’s how it should work — player gets injured, player is replaced by his understudy, rather than rejig the whole team and start fielding up to half a dozen players out of position — but because even a mediocre, or inexperienced, right back is still a right back while a centre back, particularly Nedum Onuoha, will always be out of position there.

Having got away with that what happened next defied belief.

Except it didn’t, because Robert Green has been doing shit like this with increasing frequency. He has cost QPR seven points this season alone with catastrophic, basic goalkeeping mistakes against Nottingham Forest, Brighton and now Hull. He has, in my opinion, cost us even more than that, with weak goals conceded at Charlton and early against Fulham. Last season, there was the Chelsea goal, and against Spurs at home and Hull away he developed an unhappy knack of charging off his goal line and diving full length towards crosses with his fists clenched. Crosses he was never likely to get to, crosses he had no right to come for. Harry Kane in the first instance, and Dame N’Doye in the second, were allowed to head into totally unguarded nets as a result.

Green is a classic ‘new QPR’ player. An ageing big name in the game, paid far more than his ability justifies, picked regardless of his form, and held up as an example of why we think we should be great. QPR’s continued faith in their accident-prone stopper is ridiculous not only because he is now throwing the ball into the back of his own net with increasing frequency, but also because he’s neither young nor cheap. He’s exactly the sort of player a relegated club needs to be cutting adrift, to be replaced with a younger cheaper option. That’s how you don’t breach Financial Fair Play. QPR have left one younger, cheaper, better option on the bench so long he left and are now doing exactly the same thing with Alex Smithies. Not only are we not doing what you have to do when you’re relegated — with Fer, with Sandro, with Green — we’re doing the exact opposite. We’re putting them all at the front and centre of the team, ahead of the players who should be replacing them and are now left kicking their heels getting grumpy. We expect their presence to be the difference between us and the other sides in the division. They are the difference, but not in the way we want/think.

The latest reward for this absolute fuckwittery was Green once again springing from his line for a cross Grant Hall was about to calmly volley away into the stand — as his excellent positional sense has seen him do on countless occasions. Green punched it straight into City substitute Adama Diomande and it bounced into the open net. He was, justifiably, given very short shift by Hall and the other defenders when he stood up and had the temerity to blame them for his own, latest, obvious, amateur-standard judgement.

But QPR aren’t poor because the goalkeeper is poor — though it’s certainly not fucking helping — nor are they poor because of the manager’s failings, despite Hasselbaink still searching for his first win after six matches. Despite that, the first calls for his head were audible around the ground, the first “Chelsea cunt” call reported by plenty, and predictable pleas for Neil Warnock to return.

Neil Warnock’s four game stint will hang over the Dutchman as long as the poor results continue. But the “We want our Warnock back” sentiment ignores the fact that Warnock himself has said he doesn’t want a full time manager role again, that Warnock’s personal circumstances meant he couldn’t commit to the club for more than eight weeks, and that Warnock’s four matches in charge were desperately dull affairs played almost entirely without a striker on the field. It also ignores that successive managerial changes have brought no improvement whatsoever in the team or its results.

It’s based on his magnificent historical achievement at the club which is beyond reproach or question, but more recently on some idea that we were awful under Chris Ramsey, awful under Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, but wonderfully successful under Warnock. He presided over a dreadful 0-0 draw with lowly Preston and a 1-0 loss at Middlesbrough every bit as bad as what went before and has come since. He beat a Leeds United team who’d lost at home to Rotherham the week before thanks to a goal from a set piece by Charlie Austin — who would make any QPR team, and therefore manager, look infinitely better. He beat a dreadful Reading side about to sack their own manager thanks to the home goalkeeper throwing the ball into his own net in a style so comical even Green hasn’t tried it yet. Buoyed by the euphoria of that last minute win he came out afterwards and said he might have the bug again, upon which everybody has leapt and assumed he was the answer all along.

There’s nowhere near as much to go on as people will make out, with increasing ferocity, during a tough looking January for Rangers.

The New Year brought a joint message from the co-chairmen Ruben Gnanalingam and Tony Fernandes in the programme and the official website which included the priceless line “patience will be required”. Excuse me while I laugh until my oesophagus ruptures and blood flows out between my teeth. Do remind me again, who was it that took to social media a few months back with Rangers safely midtable to say that while hard work on the training ground was all well and good “promotion means everything to me”? Was it the supposedly overly negative, pessimistic, melodramatic “blogerati” through our websites and podcasts? Was it the Loftus Road regulars who have, for all their faults, turned up in big numbers to two dreadful Christmas games in quick succession? Was it the managers who have lost their jobs or the players who are copping varying levels of abuse because of those raised expectations?

That Rotherham match is looming large.

Links >>> Photo Gallery >>> Ratings and Reports >>> Message Board Match Thread

QPR: Green 2; Onuoha 5, Hall 6, Angella 6, Konchesky 6; Faurlin 6, Henry 5 (Fer 71, 4); Phillips 6, Chery 6 (Luongo 85, -), Hoilett 6 (Mackie 78, 6); Polter 6

Subs not used: Smithies, Tozser, Diakite, Petrasso

Goals: Polter 86 (assisted Phillips)

Yellow Cards: Hoilett 73 (foul), Angella 90+1 (foul)

Hull City: McGregor 6; Odubajo 6, Davies 6, Maguire 6, Robertson 7; Elmohamady 5 (Snodgrass 65, 6), Livermore 6, Diame 6 (Diomande 86, -), Clucas 7; Hernandez 6 (Huddlestone 81, -), Meyler 6

Subs not used: Taylor, Maloney, Jukupovic, Aluko

Goals: Hernandez 61 (assisted Diame), Diomande 90 (assisted Green)

Yellow Cards: Maguire 34 (foul)

QPR Star Man — Seb Polter 6 I’m making a bit of a cheap point really, but if people can go over the top with their criticism and piss taking of him then I can go a bit over the top the other way. Like Faurlin, Hoilett, Hall and Chery in particular I thought he gave absolutely everything he had to get QPR something from this game, but he got a bloody good goal as well.

Referee — Keith Stroud (Hampshire) 7 Controlled the game reasonably well, all cards justified, but could have clamped down more on the time wasting at 1-0. Mind you, he did add five minutes, which we now rather wish he hadn’t.

Attendance — 16, 205 (700 Hull approx) Just about the worst atmosphere I can remember at a QPR game. Totally silent, then grumpy, then nasty. I don’t blame any of us really, after everything that’s gone before it’s a bit much to expect us to be all up and dancing about isn’t it? It just feels like the life has drained out of the crowd now, people are utterly miserable and fed up of the whole thing. That said, the stick handed down to limited players who are trying their best but simply aren’t good enough, isn’t helping. The longer we keep making scapegoats of individual players or managers the longer it’ll be before we start moving forwards.

The Twitter @loftforwords

Pictures — Action Images

Photo: Action Images

GloryHunter added 23:00 - Jan 2 Absolutely spot-on report, Norf. I too was drooling over Clucas - didn't realise he was such a recent recruit from the lower leagues. One point I'd make - and I'm no Fer-basher - is that I'm pretty sure it was he who gave the ball away cheaply, and under no pressure, which led to Hull's winning goal. Is that because the crowd has been on his back, and made him anxious to get rid? Who can say?

1

snanker added 23:02 - Jan 2 Nothing you can really add to CW's expert accurate analysis except maybe put that 20 quid on R's to end '15-'16 in the bottom three as alluded too !! I've penned enough previously about Green & he seems untouchable ? No pun...........I think we generally agree who should stay & go but someone certainly gave JFH sage advice on signing a 1 year "rolling" contract (only at QPR) & the R's promptly delivered on time for big TF'S visist !! Appropriate R's irony.N. Warnock must be pissing. himself !!!!!!!!!! Come on u R's (and I don't mean Rotherham)

0

sexton added 23:20 - Jan 2 Yes it was Fer who gave the ball away for the winner. But he's not sh!t because the crowd are on his back, the crowd are on his back because since he signed he has almost always been sh!t.
3

itsbiga added 00:57 - Jan 3 I liked Polter day one because he is a loony and seemingly a clattering shambles on the pitch but has an aura of likability. Lets get behind him because he seems to care and is doing a pretty decent job so far. Austin is off so we need to support what we have.
5

dixiedean added 01:02 - Jan 3 Sometimes our fans really get on my tits.We all accept -or should-that guys like Henry and Polter are limited technically but neither can be accused of hiding or not putting in a shift. And the w*nkfest over Warnock pisses me off too. Yes he steadied the ship but wasn't a long term option.Many fans seem to be suffering delusions of grandeur, no doubt inflamed by the nonsense messages from TF. the refusal to pick Harriman or Furlong at RB or Luongo is very odd but it's now 3 managers who've done it as Clive said in his preview. Who knows what we are to make of that? The midfield has been crying out for some youthful energy which Massimo could bring yet he has been ignored since the Brentford game ( where he twice hit the woodwork ). I remember ned's body language when Perch was injured and he went to RB in the re-shuffle . You could see him thinking FFS why me? He NEVER gets close enough to cut out crosses and being Played out of position is no excuse for that . Maybe that's an excuse for not being able to cross the ball but not for his inability to do defensive basics .ive seen Harriman play at Wycombe and he should walk into this team. He has pace and energy and a great attitude even if limited on the ball. If our coaches have seen him, which they surely have , it's baffling that we persist with Ned .Whatever happened to the notion of giving young blokes a chance?Did that get thrown out with Ramsey ?

6

gigiisourgod added 01:09 - Jan 3 Fantastic report and sums things up succintly. Your hard work is much appreciated. Give me 11 mad Seb's all day.
2

062259 added 05:12 - Jan 3 What a colossal disaster the retention of the so-called big players has turned out to be. The ludicrous promotion pipe dream is exposed as exactly that, whilst any value those players might have had at the end of last season is either considerably reduced or wiped out altogether. A very costly gamble, both in terms of money but also valuable rebuilding time. Unless Austin regains fitness and starts scoring again soon, he will leave in the summer for nothing (which he claims with wide-eyed innocence has been his intention all along); that's £12 million down the drain right there. Bet he wished he said yes to Leicester after all. I like Charlie but he's not stupid.

1

Roller added 08:19 - Jan 3 Excellent as ever Clive, you've encapsulated many of my own thoughts and beliefs. If only those at the very top of our club had the capacity to understand what your saying.
3

Myke added 10:03 - Jan 3 Clive, I have to completely disagree with you blaming Green for the Hull winner. He has certainly made some clangers this season - Forest and Brighton the obvious ones - but this was not his fault. Hall is one of (the only?) positives this season but he was badly at fault here. A long, gently- flighted ball from the touchline, without a Hull player attacking it, was the goalkeepers all day long. He claimed afterwards he called for it and I believe him because he has always been completely honest and held his hand up when he has made a mistake. Your overall analysis of him is harsh also, last season - especially up to Christmas - he and Austin were our best two players by a mile and while his form deteriorated in the 2nd half of the season he was not alone in that. Don't get me wrong, I fail to see the point in buying/cultivating young players like McCarthy /Smithies/Harriman/Furlong etc etc and not playing them, but I think we need to be balanced and fair in our criticism. The goalkeepers spot is completely thankless as every error is punished. In the games I've seen this season ( and we must be second only to Leeds in terms of SKY) we have made laughable, schoolboy errors all over the pitch, the majority of which are barely noticed. We must have been really poor against Huddersfield if this was an improvement, because I thought we were dire, 2nd best to every ball. Think back to the Brighton game; the passion, desire and commitment we showed, we have regressed so much in a few weeks it's scary. I was disappointed in Hoilett especially, I was so looking forward to this new rejuvenated player and all I saw was the same old running down blind alleys, largely anonymous , hugely frustrating shadow of the Blackburn player. Positives? A big plus was Polter an honest grafter who took his goal superbly. Chery also showed nice touches and control even though his final ball was poor. Good to see Mackie back too. - we will need him for the relegation battle ahead because I don't think many of our 'star' players have the stomach for it. Sandro finds the championship 'difficult' apparently because of all the games. Imagine how hard it would be for the poor lad if he actually had to play in them? Gotta feel sorry for Ramsey, he knew we 'shouldn't be even thinking about promotion' but he couldn't dare say it

0

Pey added 11:19 - Jan 3 Good report Clive as always, thought the outstanding performer was Diame in their side in my opinion. He was tricky, quick and strong with the ball in the midfield with some crisp passing game. Big difference to our lot in the midfield area thats why they looked much more in control of the game. Would have rated him with a 7 at least, in my votings for players i gave him an 8.

0

billericaydicky added 12:55 - Jan 3 As usual an excellent report Clive and one that must have been hard to write after the farcical end to the match. I've been trying to clutch at straws and have come to the conclusion that this could actually be a blessing in disguise if we now recognise that we need to shop out certain players and perhaps give others a chance, whilst recognising that we are no where near good enough to get promoted, but certainly aren't too good to get relegated. It will get much worse before if gets better, we are a club on the decline. Never a dull moment at the basket-case that is QPR.

0

romfordranger added 14:18 - Jan 3 A happy New year to all long suffering R's fans. I didn't attend the Hull game, it just seemed like a predictable poor performance with either a draw or a loss so had a day in the warm in front of the television with the family. Hasselbaink has moaned a few times about luck, but sometimes you make your own luck. If he was brave enough to not just picked players on reputation, but drop them on poor performances and give one or two of the youngsters a chance. Otherwise we have certain players with an air of arrogance or complacency knowing they will always be picked. And why play players out of position such as Onuoha, when we have natural right backs, but oh no, we can't play one of the youngsters. Sometimes it's just weak management, just trying to always keep the big names happy, but neglecting the rest of the squad. I personally think Hasselbaink is out of his depth! From inheriting a strong set up at Burton Albion with solid foundation, to a chaotic mess at QPR, it needed a much more experienced manager. He can keep blaming luck, but unless he tries to mix things up, drop a few of the overrated, overpaid players (Green, Fer, Sandro, Henry) and chuck in Luongo, Petrasso, Doughty and Smithies and be a bit more adventurous what's going to change. Hasselbaink needs to be braver to get the fans back on side, and prove he is worthy of the job.

0

westberksr added 15:08 - Jan 3 Great report Clive. Relieved that i avoided the 140 mile round trip for that, it was bad enough in the warm at home. Even by our standards we are really going all out to completely fukk up the season. We have virtually half a team on the bench not on loan that haven't been given a chance, its not as if the players keeping the shirts are exactly covering themselves in glory. Totally agree about the fans too, chanting at someone pretty much because he isn't Austin is pathetic, they should get used to it as we won't have another like Chaz for a while given the direction we are headed.

1

olderR added 15:10 - Jan 3 How true your comments about Polter, guy behind me moaned about him from the moment he didn't connect with that first minute cross. To use JFH's term "It is what it is" and what it seems to be is someone who is contributing well from the available resources. You're right about the effect on the crowd too. Guy next to me has left straight after the late goals the oppos scored in the last two games, never did that even in the worst of the prem days. guy

0

PinnerPaul added 15:34 - Jan 3 Thanks Clive. I'm blaming goal 70% on Green but the other 30% was down to Ned. Watch replay. Hull player out wide collects ball with his back to goal, on the touchline - he is allowed to turn, run 20 yards and cross all unhindred by Ned who just watches him - not RB or not, that's not good enough. And if I can be my usual pedantic referee self, we kicked off so Hull chose to kick that way 1st half and ref added 6 minutes, which I thought was fair given time their goal celebrations and subs took.

0

Northernr added 15:55 - Jan 3 Pinner - totally agree on the referee, more than fair amount of time. I just think a mandatory yellow card for whipping your shirt off is draconian, and everybody gathering together to pray takes far longer and wastes more time. Why not a yellow?
0

HastingsRanger added 16:54 - Jan 3 As always, many thanks for these excellent write ups. At the minute, I am seriously worried about the team, we have done the playing for the new manager bit with Burnley and Brighton and now back to the reality. I think we will finish lower than we are by a couple of places but wins are essential to be that 'high'. I accept keepers make mistakes but Green is making concentration errors rather than odd mistakes, and costing goals as a result. The right back and left back scenario is crazy, not least remembering Simpson being ushered out last season! Who does he play for now?!! Centre backs seems strong for once. Faurlin seems to be the spark in midfield but without the legs - which surely means Luongo gets a role, with a fit holding player to support. Wingers we have, if only both were consistent and able to compete over the full 90 minutes. Up front, we need to get used to Polter and he is delivering where others have failed. And this boo-boy attitude in the game can never help a player, and therefore the team. What are they thinking?? PS I wish Warnock had done the full 8 games and then gone, boring but more points in the bag to squander later.

0

BrazilNutR added 17:04 - Jan 3 I really like Polter, I am desperately hoping he proves everyone wrong and becomes a real legend, he has such a great name for starters... The Polter Geist, Lightining Polt, an Absolute Polter.. he looks like Bjorn ironside from the series Vikings, and has a battling 110% effort style.. I think in an old school style big man little man 2 up top, he could be useful, would like to see him get a run alongside Chaz and see what happens.. He is the classic unknown player bought from an unknown league that you dream of becoming a really gem.. rarely happens but it's the type of signing that always excited me, more than the old has beens. The Gregory Goodridges, Nick Ward types,, they rarely come off, but they are what makes me love supporting QPR. Signing big names usually ends in equal or greater dissapointment and at far greater stakes it seems.

1

Burnleyhoop added 18:10 - Jan 3 Good report, if painfully deflating. I personally don't have a problem with Polter, the guy is clearly a trier and gave his all in the game and scored a great goal. Hoilett and Philips didn't offer enough over the 90 minutes and the number of crosses that Onuoha allowed to come in was criminal. We have been piss poor since our pair of sick notes disappeared again and as f*cking annoying as it may be, they offer our best hope of moving forward. Having spent a quarter of a Billion pounds over recent years, we are in an embarrassingly piss poor position. This is what is difficult to take when served up with some of the utter shite recently on show. And Green is utter crap. His fault all day long. Again.

1

HamptonR added 20:38 - Jan 3 I despair at the comments and shouts that I hear from QPR "Supporters" at the game. Phillips was booed, before he touched the ball, Henry was booed off, Fer booed on. Henry was probably, in my opinion, our best player against Huddersfield, apart from when he was playing as our forward, he wasn't great against Hull but he will never be great, just effective, hopefully. Fer may have given the ball away cheaply which led to the Hull winner but he also won the header for Poulter to start the move which led to our equaliser. The pratt who sits behind me, confidentially predicts when the opposition will take the lead or equalise, week in and week out - Law of averages says that he will be right eventually, and boy does he enjoy it when he is. Moan of the day was a shout of you're rubbish, 9 seconds from the kick off! We are QPR, we wish and hope for better and should expect better but FFS, give the players a break, get off their backs and give them a lift.

0

Myke added 22:49 - Jan 3 Burnleyhoop have another look at Hull's winning goal (if you can bear the pain!) Ball drifts in from the wing, no Hull player attacking the ball, Green comes to make a routine catch, Hall tries to head clear, collides with Green as both men have their eye on the ball, which ricochets off Diamonde, who was no more than an interested bystander and rolls over the line. No way can that be attributed to Green. Not trying to defend some of the cock-ups he has made this season but fair is fair. We have to be so careful with criticism which is largely counter-productive as most players - especially keepers and strikers I reckon- thrive on confidence. I wonder if Green had been having a great season and it was say Perch or Angella or Konchesky that collided with him would we be so quick to blame him? A far more worrying thing for me is that we deserved to lose the game. When Polter scored it felt like we had got out of jail. Hull are genuine play-off contenders so perhaps we should expect them to be better than us. But we were so insipid and lack-lustre that it was really alarming. After just six games they have decided that JFH is not worth the effort and they have gone back to playing well within their capabilities. As Clive has correctly pointed out many times, the malaise that is coursing through our little club isn't down to one particular manager or one or two crap players. It goes much deeper than that, we're currently rotten to the core. While trying to keep things in perspective (people over here have lost their entire livelihoods and homes because of the floods), I genuinely fear for our short -term future.

0

Aitch added 00:05 - Jan 4 Couldn't agree more about Polter. The QPR I grew up supporting would've embraced him and his oddities. I never realised that supporting the team meant slagging players off at every opportunity irrespective of what they do on the pitch. The likes of Marlon King probably get less of a slating from our supporters than some of our own players.
1

Northernr added 00:48 - Jan 4 Myke - Your opinion is let down by this line. "Green comes to make a routine catch." I don't care how many times you try, but if you dive full length, forwards, with your arms at full stretch, and your hands together both clenched into fists, you're catching no football, whether anybody else is there or not. If Hall hadn't been there he'd have dived forwards and punched it straight forwards, because that's what he intended to do, and what he did do. Shame for him, and for us, that there was a Hull player standing there. Look at the hands. There's no catch being attempted there.

2

simmo added 09:03 - Jan 4 Just as an additional point - Clucas was at Hoddles academy in Spain, dropped out and went to get back on track, made his way from lower leagues from there. Great to see him doing well.
0

QPunkR added 09:37 - Jan 4 The righteous indignation was spot on in that report Clive. Our support has gotten so much worse since the money arrived here. In some ways I'd like us to go down so we could lose a few of those hangers-on, and so that the rest that still turn up remember what we're about as a Club (or used to be, at any rate). Last time we were down in that league under Olly was my favourite time as an R, the team and crowd were together back then. But would it be the same if we went down again? Unfortunately, with all those million$ that have been pumped into our little QPR, I fear that - unlike the banks - we genuinely are 'too big to fail' now..

1

Blogs 32 bloggers

Wycombe Wanderers Polls