I know I'm a total fool but my glass is filling again and I feel that wave of optimism growing! I can't help it, it's the never say die attitude and at the moment there still appears effort from the players and we are making chances now. Some of our luck must turn, shots start going in instead of hitting the post, penalties given and our defence perform better! Back to back wins in the Midlands, home wins against wet spam and Newcastle with an away day victory at already down Leicester see us finish on 37 points and who knows maybe the odd bonus point from the scum or others! We always seem in the match against Citeh! Come on you rrrrrs, backs to the wall, we've been written off, a chance to go down in history with the great escape!!!! This show ain't over yet, it's a chance to be heroes and I'll be singing my heart out to play my part!!!
I've been too fearful of being shouted down as a 'Happy Clapper' to say anything remotely positive buuuuuutttt the aforementioned fixtures are winnable, Brum, Spam and Toon won't have much to play for so there is still a glimmer folks.
Happy clapper? Who cares, thought I'd break cover! I know it's tough but I've never given up at anything and I see more effort from the team this time than when we last went down. All to play for!
I have previously been more of a happy clapper but I'm afraid I can't see it this time. Obviously delighted to be wrong but only if it heralds the appointment of a very high quality manager with a proven track record and some half decent signings. You do have a fair point about the effort from the players. They have not given up - yet.
If only we were playing Sunderland or Alfreton Town in every remaining fixture.....then we may have been up to it......
I'll be delighted to be proved wrong but I'm struggling to see us escape. In truth I'm more depressed about this than I was a couple of seasons ago. Then we all know why we were so poor, but this season we've played better and not got the results in so many games. Having been through the season's fixtures, I can see at least 15 points that we deserved in the balance of play and chances, that we lost simply because of poor defending, missed opportunities or bad decisions like clear penalties we didn't get. Had we captured those points, we'd be eleventh now. I'm gutted because we look likely to go down when it's all so avoidable.
Absolutely spot on all this, (apart from the possessive apostrophe in the title! )... still all to play for.
Haha! I'm genuinely upset that I even considered typing that instead of Heroes! Is man flu an acceptable excuse??
Probably not a good idea to bring up our club's name not having the possessive apostrophe it should have...
Wally Downes take on things, not so negative as normal - There was refreshing heart and courage in QPR's latest Premier League failure -- a 2-1 home defeat vs. Everton -- but quality, ultimately, was lacking. From back to front, players like Rob Green, Nedum Onuoha, Yun Suk-Young, Richard Dunne, Karl Henry, Joey Barton, Bobby Zamora and Charlie Austin have run and kicked and battled but collectively and individually they are coming up short. Everton could never have been more vulnerable than on Sunday, when they limped into West London on the back of a 5-2 defeat at Dynamo Kiev. Rangers manager Chris Ramsey admitted he smelled blood before kickoff, and Everton forward Steven Naismith said after the victory that his side was nowhere near full strength. However, at crucial moments -- when the home side had chances to score and to clear danger around Green's goal -- there was a lack of technical quality and footballing nous. Unlike the last time Rangers dropped out of the top-flight with disinterested players like Jose Bosingwa, Stephane Mbia, Fabio da Silva and Chris Samba involved, this Rangers squad has commitment running through its core but, barring Green and Austin, nobody can claim to have had a successful personal season. The two full-backs on show on Sunday, Onuoha and Yun, are athletic and fit and brave. Onuoha has been playing with stitches in his face, such is his determination to help the club but he, along with the South Korean on the opposite side of the defence, have struggled in the top flight this season. And they are not alone. Barton and Henry in the midfield engine room would run over hot coals just to get close to a full-blooded tackle. Against Everton, his boyhood club, Barton was a human shield and wrecking ball at times. Meanwhile, when no QPR player would speak to the media following a defeat shortly after Harry Redknapp walked out, Henry gave some context. He had been an unused substitute and was hurting but he was, as always, honest and fair. Unfortunately, though, on the ball and in possession, neither Barton nor Henry have created or scored enough. Zamora got Rangers into the Premier League with the winner in the playoff final last season and then took a pay cut to stay at the club before being ignored at the start of the season so Loic Remy could briefly play with Charlie Austin or Matt Phillips. Now 34, he trains and plays with an ongoing hip problem that causes him almost constant nagging discomfort. He can be effective and has been a perfect foil for Austin, but this season has probably been one too many in a division where speed and power are king. Perhaps the clearest signs that Rangers have fallen short on guile and not guts are the matches in which they had some of their best performances. Over a three-week period between Oct. 19 and Nov. 8 they played Champions League chasers Liverpool and lost by a single goal, visited champions-elect Chelsea and lost out to a single late goal and then drew 2-2 against defending champions Manchester City in a match in which more favourable refereeing might have ended in a win. The reason Rangers played so well during that period -- there was also a 2-0 home win vs. Aston Villa sandwiched between Liverpool and Chelsea -- is they were not asked, nor expected, to keep the ball or create chances or outplay their more expensively assembled opposition. They were asked to be organised and aggressive and dogged and strong and they were. QPR's problems this season have come when they have been asked to play football or create or dominate or take the initiative. Austin's self-made goals are indicative of this, as was the amazing solo consolation goal Matt Phillips struck against Crystal Palace recently. "If you need something doing ..." Rangers have eight matches left and Ramsey says they need to win at least four of them to survive. The chances are beyond slim. Commendable draws against the likes of Liverpool, Man City and rivals Chelsea should not be ruled out, such is the makeup of this Hoops squad that has the right DNA at its core. However, it is the matches against more mediocre sides, such as rejuvenated and likely-to-be-safe West Brom and Aston Villa, as well as West Ham and Newcastle, where Rangers will struggle. At least if Rangers remain true to form and retire to the second tier at the end of this season they will go down with a lot more self-respect than before. Furthermore, players like Yun, Onuoha, Phillips and some of the youngsters that are emerging will be more suited to the demands of the Championship, which will give them a platform -- of sorts -- to return to the Premier League with more lessons learned. Wally Downes Jr. is a reporter for Hayters sports agency in London and a contributor to ESPN FC. Follow him on Twitter @WallyDownes_Jr.
Sorry but I've never seen a side so nailed on as relegation certainties as us. Sure, mathematically we still have a chance. But come on. Sunday was the final straw. Everyone else had lost the day before. A win would have put us within one point of safety. Everything to play for, then. And we were up against an Everton side in desperate form, who'd returned on thursday night after getting an absolute shoeing in Europe. In short, the perfect opposition. And yet we still contrive to lose! Yes, we hit the bar twice, had chances blah blah. Sadly, we're not good enough to put those chances away. And we're so poor at the back, we look like conceding every time even a feeble opposition attack. Sorry, I admire your optimism, but we are dead and buried and will finish bottom.
