Soccernet/John Brewin """"" This year's crisis club? First call for QPR John Brewin is the senior editor of ESPN FC. Follow him on Twitter at @johnbrewinespn Confusion reigns at Queen's Park Rangers but, then again, it often does. It seems unlikely that we are to be let behind the scenes again in the style of The Four-Year Plan, the infamous documentary that laid bare the slings and arrows of their previous ownership, but if we were then scenes of equal chaos might greet the viewer. Mark Hughes may not be as natural a television performer as a Neil Warnock or indeed Brendan Rodgers, but his narrative could be just as compelling. An internationally famous footballing name facing the deepest crisis of his career, this is the kind of stuff the people want to see from a documentary. Being: QPR is not particularly pleasant at the moment. The first-half performance that Hughes' team put in against West Ham United was as inept as any outfit have posted so far this season in the Premier League. Hughes, once a bright young thing of management, is in danger of not only a relegation fight but also having his previous body of work discredited. The strong work done once with Wales and Blackburn Rovers has been frittered away by unsatisfactory sojourns at Manchester City and Fulham. A manager who once felt he was in line for jobs at the likes of Chelsea and Liverpool is now rock-bottom, with the name of Harry Redknapp wafting around Loftus Road. A game at West Brom ahead of an international break â often an uncomfortable time for underfire managers â is now vital to Hughes' immediate future. In the boardroom, the expected withdrawal of the Mittal family further points to a lurching ship. A London club of small means yet over-arching ambitions, incoherence lies at the heart of Rangers' current problems. QPR are wracked by an identity crisis. Any team featuring both Clint Hill and Esteban Granero reveals itself as one of contrasts. Twelve new players arrived in August, more than a full team, and yet the club's standing is worse than it was under Neil Warnock, the face that never fitted the Tony Fernandes regime. A pick through summer business finds a mix of attempted box-office signings, cronyism and players inexperienced in Premier League football. And none of them is exactly cheap either. Estimates place Rangers' wage bill at 200% of turnover, utterly unsustainable even before any financial fair play controls are enforced. Ryan Nelsen and Andy Johnson both joined up with Hughes once more, to join Nedum Onouha, Shaun Wright-Phillips and Bobby Zamora in Sparky's alumni club. Johnson has already succumbed to injury, while Nelsen was dominated by Carlton Cole on Monday. And that is hardly a good sign. Rangers' new foreign contingent are similarly to be questioned. Samba Diakite has twice been sent off for impetuous play, which says enough, while Stephane Mbia was as hapless as Nelsen in that fatal first half. Granero's gifts are obvious, yet his head went down early on Monday. His midfield partnership with the returning Alejandro Faurlin may offer creativity, but there is a soft centre at the heart of Rangers. There is little mystery to how Kevin Nolan plays yet he was granted the freedom to make his trademark surges and he created havoc. Mark Noble could dictate play in a fashion he was last used to in the division below - a another rather telling sign. The big-name arrivals are still more troubling. Park Ji-Sung seems an unlikely choice of captain, unless you consider his club is owned by the proprietors of Air Asia. Currently, he embodies a team lacking in leadership. Park has been a fine player in European football, but he may just be proof of the adage that Manchester United rarely let go of those who might still be of use to them. A player famed for his energy only sparked a Rangers revival when Adel Taarabt arrived in his stead to provide the drive that Park is surely expected to provide. If there is a position and player that reveals a lack of clear direction then it is QPR's current goalkeeper. Julio Cesar is the type of big name that an aspirational club covets, and not just for its empire-building connotations. However, Cesar was culpable for the Hammers' second goal. Not the type of performance expected of a highest earner, and all while there is another high earner sat on the bench too. Estimates of Rob Green's wages point to a possible reason for his grinning on the bench, though Cesar's error for Vaz Te's strike was the more probable cause of his jollity. Such visible schadenfreude is another pointer to impending crisis. Cesar's arrival at the club is said to be through the work of Kia Joorabchian, the agent who numbers Carlos Tevez and indeed Mark Hughes on his client list. The Iranian former car-dealer has adopted QPR as his latest home, to follow self-appointed tenures at West Ham and Manchester City that ended in rancour. Such a presence, when it skews transfer policy and leads to conflicts of interest, can hardly assist a club fighting for safety. This already looks a season in which survival might be the limit of QPR's ambitions """"
From QPR Report: """"" One Year ago after six Games.... (QPR had just dropped points in a 1-1 Home Draw vs Aston Villa, the PM watching - and we were set to get Crushed by Fulham, 6-0) 2011-2012 1 Man Utd 6 17 16 2 Man City 6 14 16 3 Chelsea 6 5 13 4 Newcastle 6 4 12 5 Liverpool 6 0 10 6 Tottenham 5 0 9 7 Stoke 6 -2 9 8 Aston Villa 6 2 8 9 QPR 6 -2 8 10 Everton 5 0 7 11 Wolves 6 -3 7 12 Arsenal 6 -5 7 13 Sunderland 5 2 5 14 Norwich 5 -2 5 15 Wigan 6 -4 5 16 Swansea 6 -5 5 17 Fulham 6 -3 4 18 Blackburn 6 -5 4 19 West Brom 6 -5 4 20 Bolton 6 -8 3 And what it looks like today, after six games 2012-13 Club Pld Pts Chelsea 6 16 Everton 6 13 Man Utd 6 12 Man City 6 12 Tottenham 6 11 West Brom 6 11 West Ham 6 11 Arsenal 6 9 Fulham 6 9 Newcastle 6 9 Swansea 6 7 Stoke 6 7 Sunderland 5 7 Liverpool 6 5 Aston Villa 6 5 Wigan 6 4 Southampton 6 3 Norwich 6 3 Reading 5 2 QPR 6 2 """""
I know it's only six games but I think the bottom six are already in place. Maybe throw in the swans for the seven. We know who we're up against. Didn't think I'd be looking at other results so early in the season.
Sadly it's hard to disagree with any of this and all the points raised are at the very least worrying away in the back of the mind of each and every QPR fan. BUT... if the team had delivered the start to the season that the high profile investment and individual player quality merits then this article would never have been written. Quite simply they have to start winning and soon otherwise articles like this will simple wash MH away. Fernandez is nothing if not very aware of bad publicity.
On 26 December 2010 Fulham, managed by Mark Hughes, were in a relegation slot with 15 points from 18 games. They went on to finish 8th and qualify for Europe. We are a long way from being a 'crisis club'. This bloke with his 'journalism by numbers' florid writing style, is a paid WUM.
You can only judge him ln the present not his past. What he did with fulham has no connection with what he is or isn't doing now.
Is this a philosophy you apply to everything in life Bob? People's past efforts, achievements, failures and behavior count for nothing? You yourself said that his set up and tactics v Chelsea and Spurs were spot on.
The tables above are the relevant ones, not Fulham 2010! Also the tables that shows Hughes taking over in 17th and us finishing in 17th under him last season. Throw in all the players he has been given funds to buy through 2 windows, and you don't need "florid journalism" to get the drift. Time for us to get in a new manager that can get all these players playing together, and move us up the table.
Your view is clear and understood mate! And you have a growing band of colleagues on here on your side. And Park's (JSP) performance the other night was poor as well! Doesn't mean I have to agree, and in fact the more negative stuff I see on here the more inclined I am to post positively, out of sheer bloody-mindedness. Plus, it livens the place up a bit. If you and Bob don't see any relevance in previous experience fine, your call. With 96 points still to play for, I haven't even found the panic button, let alone pressed it.
Good stuff Oh Man of Steel Balls. Good to be positive, we have some very good players, and certainly no need to panic. I hope TF his now looking thoroughly at all potential candidates, so he chooses the right Manager this time, and so he's ready to bring him in, in few weeks.
It is 100% far too early to say we are in a crisis or that we will be in a relegation spot come March/April next year. Hughes has it wrong so far.....we all know this and if he can work it and change things all will be forgiven. That journo says we are a club with an identity crisis....mixing players like Hill with Granero, which is very shortsighted considering we are a club in transition from a Chmpionship side to a Premier League team......this will mean we will have a mix as we bring in new better players. Also when it comes to wages, we are in the midst of planning a new stadium so that we can become self sufficient and the money from Sky next season with hugely help with our wage bill. This article may have been a valid concern if we had been sitting in the Premiership for 8-9 years, but we havent......he isnt giving us a chance and saying we are in a crisis already! There are still 32 games left to go! How anyone can call that we will be relegated is beyond me.
What he did at Fulham, which may be relevant, is abandon his own "style" and revert to Roy's team and tactics which had taken us to the EL final. So he can change plan - paticularly at the behest of the senior players.
The article contains some truths of which R's fans are painfully aware, yet its tone really only reflects the first half and the second half before the substitutions. After Taarabt and Diakite came on, we drove forward and it was West Ham that was on the back foot. Of course, Diakite's enthusiastic ill discipline did effectively end the contest but with defenders back from injury, Taraabt playing in form and a hopefully more circumspect Diakite available after West Brom, we can be enough of a threat to keep us in the fray until the Jan window when at least one central defender, and hopefully a striker, will strengthen the parts where they're needed.
Defender maybe.....but you will never get a decent, on form Striker in January as no team will let go of a man scoring goals for them.
We got Cisse and Zamora in Jan. If a striker's disgruntled, it can happen but I agree it's more difficult
Ouch! I am finding it hard to come up with anything to challenge the original post. Maybe there are some positives with decent performances (with not much to show) against The Scum and Spuds and that we have some key players out injured who will improve the team on their return. The concern is that although we have lost players to injury that their replacements have not been up to the job. I'd have thought M'bia would have been a decent replacement for Ferdinand but he looked lost for most of the Hammers game, I can only hope he was a bit rusty and will improve. Quickly. The biggest problem we had last year was having to change management and that we fielded 3 different teams during the campaign. Add Barton into the mix too, I don't think he helped. I don't know if the current squad need the hair dryer treatment or taking away during the international break for some team building/bonding work. Until Adel and Diakite came on against West Ham we looked bereft of effort or ideas. If Sparky has a plan in mind he doesn't seem to be able to convey it to the team when things are going wrong and I blame our lack of on field leadership for this. Time to drop Park if he isn't playing well and give the arm band to someone like Zamora who is not affraid of opening his gob when needed.
GOOD POST Sb73!! Keep them coming. 'News' in this country is only bad news and of course there is some bad news with Monday's first half display and being bottom. A couple of wins and we will cease to be news which is fine by me. I've stated elsewhere that the QPR way would be to now beat WBA away and even get a win or draw against one of Everton or Arsenal. I was sad on Monday that the players hardly (if at all) came to applaud the fans. I tried to make my way to the front of PU to clap the lads but they just walked off. To me, that is much more of a problem because the home support needs to be solid to get them playing well. Generally on Monday, I thought the support was good. There was some booing (my policy is to never boo my own team - ever!) but that and the chants for Adel got the sub made and the immediate impact. Let other criticise and mock but for goodness sake, let us get behind the team perhaps as never before. COYRss!!
