Yesterday's game - The worst yet!

First up, I'd just like to say what a pleasure and honour it was to meet so many of you at the pub yesterday. The Irish boys were a great bunch and it was nice to meet Tooting, Nines, Roller and Brix too. I find it so humbling that a love for QPR can connect so many complete strangers with such a strong bond!

Anyway, unfortunately back to the game.

Hughes again picked the trio of Faurlin, Granero and Diakite, but AGAIN he played 4-4-1-1 with Adel off Cisse and Granero on the RIGHT (FFS!!).

The atmosphere was pretty muted at the start, although the Saints fans were in good voice.
The game started in quite a nervy vain as one might expect and it was Rangers who settled better with a couple of good moves. But once Southampton started to play their good passing football, made easier by our open formation, they started to look very dangerous. Puncheon, who looked awful at our place, was looking a different player and curled an effort against the far post with a cross/shot. The writing was on the wall.
With Granero on the right looking like a fish out of water, Rangers looked gradually more and more inept. The passing was awful, with Granero the worst culprit of all. On the right or not, this was easily his worst game for us. He looked disinterested and not at all up for the fight. Saints were passing through the wide open spaces in our midfield like a knife through butter, leaving Faurlin and Diakite to again chase shadows. Apart from a couple of sweet passes from Faurlin, Rangers hardly managed to put two passes together. The first goal was again the result of a ball into the box which we failed to defend and already having to clear the ball off the line the useless defence left Lambert free at the far post to nod in from a yard. Cue the beginning of real unrest in the crowd.
Rangers huffed and puffed with Taarabt and Hoilett trying to make things happen but on the stroke of half time, Puncheon made it 2-0. Turning easily away from Faurlin, he seemed to have the freedom of Loftus Rd to curl a shot into the far corner. Loud boos rang out and got louder as the half time whistle was blown.
Hughes made a change for the 2nd half by bringing on Mackie for Faurlin and now playing an orthodox 4-4-2. Huge credit must go to Jamie Mackie as he worked his socks off and tried to gee up both the crowd and his team-mates.
Rangers were soon back in it when Taarabt played a nice ball into the box and Hoilett capitalised on the keeper's poor positioning to head in. This should have been the signal for a full scale assault on the Saints' goal, but instead, Southampton took complete control of the game, passing through our even more open midfield and looking likely to score with every attack. They did just that when a cross from the right was met by a lazy swing of the boot from Ferdinand which deflected the ball passed Cesar for the 3rd gaol.
Now the terraces turned nasty!
"You're getting sacked in the morning" came the cry.....FROM THE HOME CROWD!!!! Along with...."You don't know what you're doing" and "Hughes out". It certainly wasn't the entire crowd who were venting their anger, but a quite significant number from what I could tell. A lot of people got up and left amid a lot of angry shouting aimed across at the dug out.

The final whistle put us all out of our misery and the players trudged off. Nelsen and Mackie, to their credit, stayed and applauded the fans.
The chorus of boos was pretty loud and would have left Tony and the board in no doubt as to what the fans were feeling.

In conclusion, can anyone seriously argue that Southampton would have enjoyed so much space and thus possession in midfield and around the edge of our box if Hughes had played 4-2-3-1 or even 4-3-3 that becomes 4-5-1 when the ball is lost? Playing Granero on the right in a 4-4-2/4-4-1-1 was ineptitude of the highest order. There was no fight and little desire. Only Nelsen, Taarabt and Mackie really seemed to give a ****, although I'm sure Diakite and Faurlin do too. The rest seem to be over-paid mercenaries who are "only here for the money" (another heart-felt cry from the terraces). My 13 year old was incandescent at the end and his team of choice would surely have been a better option:
------------------------------Cesar-----------------------------
Fabio---------------Nelsen----------Ferdinand------------Traore
---------------------Diakite-------Faurlin------------------------
Hoilett----------------------Granero---------------------Taarabt
--------------------------Cisse--------------------------------- It ain't rocket science Mark!!!

Player marks and comments:

Cesar - 7 - Couldn't fault him for any of the goals and made some good stops.
Bosingwa - 4 - Looks like he couldn't care less. Awful and shouldn't wear the shirt again imo.
Nelsen - 7 - A solid performance and he DID seem to care. A natural leader.
Ferdinand - 5 - Not great and rarely is anything better than very average imo.
Traore - 6 - Tried to get forward when he could, but I'm not convinced he's that bothered either!
Granero - 4 - Looked disinterested and gave the ball away with alarming regularity. Played out of position by the clueless Hughes though.
Faurlin - 5 - Not his best game, but he was chasing shadows for much of the first half. Subbed at half time.
Diakite - 6 - Tried to burst forward, but was also hamstrung by Hughes's inept tactics. Made some good tackles.
Hoilett- 7 - Took his goal well and looked an occasional threat.
Tarrabt - 7 - Couldn't really make an impression on the game, but to his eternal credit, he never gave up and ran and ran, tackling back and trying to make things happen.
Cisse - 5 - Another who had terrible body language, but he's simply not getting the service.

Subs:
Mackie - 8 - Rangers MOTM for no other reason than he ran and ran and really cared!! Too many of them clearly don't!!
Fabio - 7 - Looked so much better than Bosingwa in the few minutes that he had.
Derry - 7 - Brought on to get in front of Lambert, it seemed, to try to stem their flow, he at least put himself about and will always care!

In my opinion, players who seem to care:

Ferdinand, Nelsen, Taarabt, Faurlin, Mackie, Derry, Hill.

Those I'm not sure whether they care or not:

Cesar, Fabio, Traore, Diakite, Park, Onuoha, Dyer, Hoilett, SWP.

Those who don't look like they care at all:

Bosingwa, Zamora, Cisse, Granero, Green (understandable). NOT ENOUGH IS IT. SOMETHING HAS TO CHANGE!!

Thoughts?

 

I didn't go but have watched the game col. Good report as per and i agree totally.
I noticed a buzz when mackie got stuck straight in, is that correct?
I for one would give him a run of games up front.

 

Yep...he really tried to lift the crowd and they responded to him. I think I'd give him a run up front too.

 

Your marks are generous Col, it was a dire, inexcusable display 'caring' isn't enough for me I'm afraid. Players equally to blame as Hughes for this one.

Did anyone else notice the directors box was at least half empty? Looks awful with the rest of the ground full and fans unable to get tickets. Half it's capacity and tell the freeloaders to pay.

 

Well summed up, as usual, Col. What amazes me is the shirkers have absolutely no shame and knowing the whole country is watching the 'highlights' (none of ours) continue to show their contempt for the fans who pay their over-inflated wages.

If MH does get the chop it will be interesting to see whether these scumbags actually suddenly start playing for the new boss...

 

Cheers Col, agree with almost all of it except Granero, has looked like he cares in every games and adapted to the speed of the english quickly. Hopefully just had a stinker or as I suspect a number of players have decided enough is enough, and there was never a chance of us winning that game !

PS Faurlins always looks as lf he can't be bothered to defend and tackle, anyone remember the last time he left his feet? Not saying he's a bad player but does need to work on that aspect of his game.

 

I think given the chance Dyer would care as the club have really stuck by him and to be fair the glimpses we've seen he's looked sharp, I'd have him in for Bosingwa without a seconds thought and Fabio in for Traore.

Time to give some youngsters a chance? other teams are playing 17 and 18 years olds.

 

The moment when some started chanting "You're only here for the money" was without doubt the worst moment I've experienced at Loftus Road. We've hit rock bottom but unfortunately the "only way is up" is definitely not the case.


Also. Granero on the right......christ.

 

Good point on Dyer but lets face it he'll never hold down a regular place due to his injury problems, shame though he has looked sharp.

 

True, would be lovely if he could stay fit, if ever we needed a few players with points to prove it must be now.

 

Yeah....you're right. I think I always tend to be a bit generous with the marks.

 

Good write up Col - thats how I saw it - but as has been said some players dont deserve that higher mark imo. Only Nelsen, Tarbs, Mackie and Derry can come out of that with any credit. All showed exactly what we need right now.

 

Well said Soopy. Its sickening to think of the kind of wages the Club is shovelling out to these guys. Hughes is an embarrassment at this stage.

 

It was barely 2 years ago that Mackie had that fabulous goal-scoring streak and making the headlines in the CCC. I agree, why not play him up front and through the middle instead of Dribble.

 

Nice read Col. Thanks for the effort, much appreciated.

Agree. Mackie up front every game for the foreseeable. The one R who'd die rather than not try. Massive drive.

 

Can't wait until you get a chance to write a match report for a game where we actually buckin win.
Here are my thoughts;
We are leaderless. You could actually see the players looking around at each other looking for inspiration. Nothing there. When Derry came on he tried to cajole the players into lifting their performances He was the only player actually trying to motivate the others. We have NO leaders on the pitch.
Southampton deserve a lot of credit. When they attacked us they regularly threw 4-5 players into our box and they were the away team.
Too many of our midfielders pass the ball backwards or sideways. No forward penetration.
We simply cannot defend high ball into our box. This is our Achilles. Teams know this and pump balls into our box.
Any time we did actually manage to cross a ball into the opposition box we had nobody there capable of winning a header. Imagine that, a team that can’t compete in the air at either end.
None of our players (except Adel in phases) actually drives forward with the ball.
I though the overall lack of effort from our players was shocking. Nobody was busting a gut (except Mackie) to win tackles, to challenge for headers, to get stuck in. We played like a bunch of nancy boys. No effort, no passion, no desire, no love for the club or our fans.

Desperate performance. No progression under MH. In actual fact we are slowly getting worse.

 

Jeez Nuts, I must say, I really felt sorry for you after the match.

The hurt you were feeling in the pub afterwards is obviously still there.

I would love to put all of our players in a room with you to listen to the hurt they have caused us, the fans.

This lack of effort from most of them just can not continue.

We feel your pain Nuts.

 

Feel every word of that nuts....and agree with it all too.

 

Finglas, it was a real pleasure to meet you. Your dedication to the cause is simply incredible. Your football knowledge is also first class. I was not joking when I said that I could have played better than most of them. I think any of us could have. I am a hugely competitive person. I can forgive most things, but a lack of effort and desire is unforgivable for me. I was genuinely shocked at what i saw yesterday. And yes, by the end of the game I was really pi**ed off. I would love 5 minutes in a room with some of those lads. Disgraceful. I want to get over again before xmas but I won’t go if MH is still the gaffer.