Ok so we lost. So what? Its a game we all had marked down to pick up 3 points in, but lets face the facts. Blackburn are now the side with the worse form in the premier league. With fixtures against Norwich (who'll be looking to bounce back from todays drubbing), Spurs (away), Chelsea (away) and Wigan (who'll be going all out for a win to stay up), its more likely they'll end the season without gaining anymore points than getting the 7 Kean thinks they need to stay up. And with Wolves needing to win every game plus getting some luck with other results, it means that 2 of the spots are practically filled. So that leaves us, Wigan and Bolton to fight it out not to fill the last spot. Bolton have many more games to get the points however the surge in results they experienced following the tragic Muamba incident seems to have stopped. Even if they do find form again, they now have to play twice a week for every week left of the season, meaning fatigue will start to become a factor. Although they arguably have the easiest of run ins, it literally will depend on which Bolton team turns up. Wigan (assuming they dont get a result away at Arsenal tomorrow) will be level with us on 31 points. Their run in looks easy on paper however, they have to play away at Fulham (who in my opinion this year, and not just becuase they beat us 6-0, are one of the best if not the best side at home), home to Newcastle who have a real shout of top 4 and are not going to relax just because it Wigan and games against fellow relegation candidates Blackburn and Wolves. Even though I have already condemned those teams, if either of them has a chance at staying up when they play, they will be Wigan's toughest game of the season. And finally to us. We have the toughest run in of all however, home games against Spurs and Stoke are real chances to pick up points. For some reason over the last couple of weeks, our home performances have been the best performances all season and whilst neither team is easy to beat, this is our best chance of gaining valuable points. The Chelsea game is a local derby. Whilst I dont expect us to pick up points, if we approach it like a derby and give it our all, who knows what the result will be. Look at Liverpool Everton today. Before the game I'd have never said Liverpool had a chance, but in the second half, the competitive instinct of trying to beat your neighbours kicked in, and from then on Liverpool looked much the better team. This season we've put our best performances in against top sides and then struggled against 'weaker' competition. If we approach these next 4 games like we did Liverpool and Arsenal, who knows what can happen. Anyway onto today's game. Frustrating somes it up the best. We had more chances, more of the ball and yet always seemed to be lacking the final pass. Kenny 7 - possibly could have saved the goal however from my angle in the away end it was difficult to tell. Otherwise he controlled the box well and made several smart saves to deny WBA Onuoha 5.5 - pretty poor going forward, not helpedby his first touch often spraying the ball 10 yards in any direction. Defensively was overlapped far too often. Ferdinand 6 - won the ball in the air but was repeatedly turned by Odemwingie or Long. Also made quite a few poor passes that put the rest of the defence under pressure Hill 8 - looks with each and every game a better defender than he was in the championship. Made several crucial last ditch stops. Taiwo 4 - never before have I seen a LB so far out of position on so many occasions. Didnt look great going forward and was generally completely out of position at the back. Possibly his worst game for us so far. Diakite 5 - looked off for much of the game and just didnt really seem to get going. Derry 5 - made quite a few poor passes and generally looked off his game today. Barton 7 - good performance from him. Seems to have mastered the 'enforcer' position. Taarabt 5.5 - off his game for most of today however shouldnt have been substituted. The difference between us with him and without him is huge. Mackie 7 - typical performance however was often pushed out on the far left wing. This limited his ability to run inside the box and was closed down for most of the game. Really not helped by his strike partner though. Zamora 4 - definetly his worst game in a QPR shirt. Won literally nothing in the air and shooting was poor. Summed up really by his one real chance when unmarked in the penalty area he managed to hit it so wide, it hit Mackie on the arse. Subs SWP 4 - a very generous 4. Looked utter crap for the entire time he was on and more often than not either lost possession or managed to put it out for a throw to WBA when trying to force a corner or throw in. Seems to manage somehow to get more dissapointing with every performance. Helguson 6 - won more in the air in 10 minutes than Zamora managed in the whole game. When back to full fitness, he could well become our 1st choice striker again. Traore 6 - had little to do at the back in the time he was on, however looked much better going forward than Taiwo did.
I definitely didn't have this one marked down for 3 points. That would've been disrespectful to the opposition. We don't have a divine right to walk into someone's backyard and win the game, no matter how well we're playing. I thought a draw would've been a good result, a win would've obviously set us up nicely. But the equation doesn't change with this loss. We still need to win our remaining home games.
Just watched MOTD. The game summarises our season in many ways. I know it is selected high lights but looks like we easily played as well as they did but probably not better than them. No goals. Zamorra should have scored twice at least, Jamie once and maybe even another elsewhere. Paddy got fingertips to it and just bad luck he is not an inch taller as would have tipped around if he was. I do wonder if we might not have won this with Cisse on the pitch (for 90 mins). On a lighter note, I see that Adel has been teaching Joey to use the outside of his foot for the neat ball that Zamorra should have headed in.
