Post by Macmoish on Sept 16, 2014 6:48:29 GMT
Wally Downes, Jnr (Son of - Not THE Ex-coach)
www.espnfc.co.uk/club/queens-park-rangers/334/blog/post/2036176/chaos-and-confusion-reign-at-qpr
by Wally Downes Jr.
Chaos and confusion reign at QPR
QPR manager Harry Redknapp believes Wayne Rooney's goal right before half was the icing on the cake in his side's 4-0 loss to Manchester United.
Manager Harry Redknapp might have been the only QPR-supporting person in Old Trafford on Sunday afternoon who afforded himself a wry smile when Radamel Falcao entered the rout.
- Macintosh: QPR look lost
- Brewin: Deadline day debutants: How did they fare?
- Report: Redknapp rues poor errors
Because the only thing that could possibly overshadow Queens Park Rangers' capitulating in the most insipid of fashions to four poorly conceded goals was getting blown away by the four most fashionable new superstars to hit Manchester since The Stone Roses.
It all added up perfectly. It was the ideal day to bury the bad news that has been coming all summer -- or at least since the identical result against Tottenham. You could almost imagine the press conference after the match (in this case, it has been quite literally imagined):
Q: Poor set-piece defending for the opening goal, Harry?
A: It was, but what a ball from the new signing, Angel di Maria, eh? He showed what 60 million pounds gets you -- a great buy.
Q: Didn't close the ball down well for Ander Herrera's goal, did you?
A: Difficult to mark him when he is allowed to roam so far forward from midfielder. That's all down to Daley Blind sitting behind him, who enjoyed a superb debut, he looks a top player.
Q: Bad defending for the third goal?
A: Well, we couldn't afford to buy a centre-back like Marcos Rojo; he looked very comfortable for a man who had never played in the Premier League before.
Q: Juan Mata's goal, the fourth, added insult to injury, didn't it?
A: Yes, but he was then replaced by the new boy Falcao shortly after, so if Mata didn't score he probably would have.
At halftime United were miles ahead, dancing into the sunset with a three-goal lead. But in the TV studio, Patrick Kluivert could not have been less impressed. Louis van Gaal's former assistant with the Netherlands thought Manchester United had played bang average -- who knows what he thought about QPR? It all traces back to the wasted summer. Granted, with the playoff final in late May, there was little time to prepare for the new season, but so much energy and resources were ploughed into a 3-5-2 formation that ended up being ditched at the first sign of trouble.
There just seem to be no answers as to what is going at QPR right now. There just seem to be no answers as to what is going at QPR right now.
The faith the club showed in Loic Remy -- a footballer not famed for his loyalty -- has backfired terrifically. While four is the de rigueur figure for the number of strikers a club should have in the Premier League at present, Rangers have Charlie Austin and Bobby Zamora -- the latter a playoff hero who Redknapp openly labeled an "off-the-bench man".
The muddled methodology doesn't end there, for there also seems to be some rank confusion about how, and more importantly where, certain players play -- which is mystifying at this stage. At Spurs two weeks ago, right-footed 36-year-old Richard Dunne started at left-centre-back and was hauled off at halftime after a torrid time versus speedsters Erik Lamela and Nacer Chadli, with QPR down 3-0.
Against Manchester United it was the turn of 35-year-old Clint Hill -- who will spill blood for the cause and admit in a heartbeat to being short of pace -- to have a go at left back against the interchanging Mata, Di Maria and marauding right back Rafael. And once again Hill, like his comrade Dunne, failed to emerge for the second half.
Surely Redknapp does not need the opening half-hour of a match to realise milk turns quicker than Dunne, and Hill hasn't won a sprint since his glory days of the past. These are two powerful, commanding and honest centre-backs who deserve more than to be slung out wide where they are vulnerable at the top level and made to look weak, because they are not. Is there anything else so elementary Rangers are not sure of? Should Adel Taarabt get a run-out as a defensive midfielder? Maybe if Dunne and Hill are wide men now, then Shaun Wright-Phillips could get a chance at centre-half?
QPR owner Tony Fernandes and CEO Phillip Beard have apparently learned so much since the days when Mark Hughes was manager and they frittered away millions on gigantic mercenary-shaped pegs for tiny footballer-shaped holes, all fans hear about is the education the club has had and the journey it has undertaken. Well, Hughes is back on Saturday -- with his tidy-looking Stoke side -- and QPR have an awful lot to learn, still, and time is running out.
Wally Downes Jr.
Wally Downes Jr. is a multimedia reporter for Hayters sports news agency in London and a contributor to ESPN FC. He preferred it when QPR were poor and desperate -- like him. Follow him on Twitter at @wallydownes_Jr.
www.espnfc.co.uk/club/queens-park-rangers/334/blog/post/2036176/chaos-and-confusion-reign-at-qpr
by Wally Downes Jr.
Chaos and confusion reign at QPR
QPR manager Harry Redknapp believes Wayne Rooney's goal right before half was the icing on the cake in his side's 4-0 loss to Manchester United.
Manager Harry Redknapp might have been the only QPR-supporting person in Old Trafford on Sunday afternoon who afforded himself a wry smile when Radamel Falcao entered the rout.
- Macintosh: QPR look lost
- Brewin: Deadline day debutants: How did they fare?
- Report: Redknapp rues poor errors
Because the only thing that could possibly overshadow Queens Park Rangers' capitulating in the most insipid of fashions to four poorly conceded goals was getting blown away by the four most fashionable new superstars to hit Manchester since The Stone Roses.
It all added up perfectly. It was the ideal day to bury the bad news that has been coming all summer -- or at least since the identical result against Tottenham. You could almost imagine the press conference after the match (in this case, it has been quite literally imagined):
Q: Poor set-piece defending for the opening goal, Harry?
A: It was, but what a ball from the new signing, Angel di Maria, eh? He showed what 60 million pounds gets you -- a great buy.
Q: Didn't close the ball down well for Ander Herrera's goal, did you?
A: Difficult to mark him when he is allowed to roam so far forward from midfielder. That's all down to Daley Blind sitting behind him, who enjoyed a superb debut, he looks a top player.
Q: Bad defending for the third goal?
A: Well, we couldn't afford to buy a centre-back like Marcos Rojo; he looked very comfortable for a man who had never played in the Premier League before.
Q: Juan Mata's goal, the fourth, added insult to injury, didn't it?
A: Yes, but he was then replaced by the new boy Falcao shortly after, so if Mata didn't score he probably would have.
At halftime United were miles ahead, dancing into the sunset with a three-goal lead. But in the TV studio, Patrick Kluivert could not have been less impressed. Louis van Gaal's former assistant with the Netherlands thought Manchester United had played bang average -- who knows what he thought about QPR? It all traces back to the wasted summer. Granted, with the playoff final in late May, there was little time to prepare for the new season, but so much energy and resources were ploughed into a 3-5-2 formation that ended up being ditched at the first sign of trouble.
There just seem to be no answers as to what is going at QPR right now. There just seem to be no answers as to what is going at QPR right now.
The faith the club showed in Loic Remy -- a footballer not famed for his loyalty -- has backfired terrifically. While four is the de rigueur figure for the number of strikers a club should have in the Premier League at present, Rangers have Charlie Austin and Bobby Zamora -- the latter a playoff hero who Redknapp openly labeled an "off-the-bench man".
The muddled methodology doesn't end there, for there also seems to be some rank confusion about how, and more importantly where, certain players play -- which is mystifying at this stage. At Spurs two weeks ago, right-footed 36-year-old Richard Dunne started at left-centre-back and was hauled off at halftime after a torrid time versus speedsters Erik Lamela and Nacer Chadli, with QPR down 3-0.
Against Manchester United it was the turn of 35-year-old Clint Hill -- who will spill blood for the cause and admit in a heartbeat to being short of pace -- to have a go at left back against the interchanging Mata, Di Maria and marauding right back Rafael. And once again Hill, like his comrade Dunne, failed to emerge for the second half.
Surely Redknapp does not need the opening half-hour of a match to realise milk turns quicker than Dunne, and Hill hasn't won a sprint since his glory days of the past. These are two powerful, commanding and honest centre-backs who deserve more than to be slung out wide where they are vulnerable at the top level and made to look weak, because they are not. Is there anything else so elementary Rangers are not sure of? Should Adel Taarabt get a run-out as a defensive midfielder? Maybe if Dunne and Hill are wide men now, then Shaun Wright-Phillips could get a chance at centre-half?
QPR owner Tony Fernandes and CEO Phillip Beard have apparently learned so much since the days when Mark Hughes was manager and they frittered away millions on gigantic mercenary-shaped pegs for tiny footballer-shaped holes, all fans hear about is the education the club has had and the journey it has undertaken. Well, Hughes is back on Saturday -- with his tidy-looking Stoke side -- and QPR have an awful lot to learn, still, and time is running out.
Wally Downes Jr.
Wally Downes Jr. is a multimedia reporter for Hayters sports news agency in London and a contributor to ESPN FC. He preferred it when QPR were poor and desperate -- like him. Follow him on Twitter at @wallydownes_Jr.