Richard Langley - Hughes Gets It Right

Rock Solid - Hughes Wins Tactical Battle Against Rogers

It's the morning after one of the most important victories we have seen at Loftus Road. QPR have had the rub of the green when it comes to results going for them over the last few days and it was important to capitalise on that.

Last night I was on my way back from France and in a rush to try and make it on time to the game, swerving my way in and out of the Rangers fans on the Uxbridge Road with my suit case in tow (just incase some of you that saw me were wondering.) The majority of fans i spoke to were more nervous than I ever recall being as a player, almost as if they were going to walk out on to the pitch themselves. It was great to see that passion from them. What was equally as impressive was what followed.

The unity I witnessed in the team was great. I felt real equality throughout, like they were all in it together. All prepared to work for each other without berating or singling anyone out like I have seen on other occasions. The fans had the back of each player too.

I did mention that last night's game would be about how well QPR could break off their defensive shape. I also mentioned that it was imperative that Hughes gave the same amount of respect to Swansea as they did to Arsenal recently. We knew that Brendan Rogers would have his team playing total possession and this was the case. For the first fifteen minutes the ball was being zipped left to right, but rarely did Swansea penetrate. The crowd were growing frustrated, "boring boring Swansea" being the cry. I liked this tactical game. I didn't see the stats for the opening fifteen minutes, but I would have a guess that possession was 80%-20% in favour of the visitors. It was like a boxing match where one boxer kept jabbing the other annoyingly on the nose and running away when the other tried to get close. The patience QPR showed was vital. Hughes, I have to say got his tactics spot on, just as he did against Arsenal. For all the passes that were being chased by Rangers, The Swans had no cutting edge.

QPR waited for the mistakes and then pounced not leaving themselves open to any counter attack. Taarabt at the heart of the first break away that gave the home fans something to cheer about, pouncing on a stray ball and bursting down the left before unleashing a shot. The ball, charged down fell to Barton and he teed up Onuoha, who played his cross first time into a melee of players in the Swansea box, the ball dropped to Mackie who swiped at the ball and came close to breaking the deadlock.

Now instead of getting carried away after realising that they can hurt their opponents, QPR were straight back into their shape, just like a boxer with his guard up. Hughes must have drilled this into his men, it was visible, for not one moment throughout the game did they get exposed or caught with too many players forward allowing Swansea to exploit the gaps. The organisation meant that the expected firepower of the Welsh team were facing too much resistance, they fired blanks most of the night.

On the stroke of half time Taarabt whipped in a dangerous free kick from the right, just in front of the West Paddock. The ball found it's way to Barton who controlled the ball instantly and drilled into the bottom corner. Perfect timing. With all the dominance Swansea had they failed to break down a stubborn Rangers XI. The best chances falling to the home side despite them absorbing pressure for most of the first half.

This frustration sparked a change on half time, Dyer came on for Routledge but the nippy winger didn't make a difference.
The patience of QPR was what enabled them to get this victory. For large chunks of the game they had to concede possession and stay on the back foot. This must be hard to do especially when you are at home and your supporters are pressing you forward.

The second goal came from Mackie, who must have covered more ground than most last night. He received a drilled pass from Ferdinand, albeit returning from an offside position, (but the luck, as they say is meant to even itself out over the course of the season, a lot more evening out I am hoping!) his first touch deceiving Williams, his second touch drove him at the heart of the Swansea defence, a swivel of the hips faking a pass to Zamora opened up space for a shot, and when it took a deflection, Vorm was rooted and the back of the net bulged.

At 2-0 the R's grew in confidence and started Swansea had almost given up realising there was no give in the rock solid formation Hughes had set up. The boys started their own possession games. Taarabt breaking from time to time, then slowing things down to his own pace, on this occasion he spotted Buzsaky in field and picked him out, the ball bounced up in front of the Hungarian who pounced on the opportunity to meet it on the half volley sending the ball beyond the arms of the outstretched Vorm, who picked the ball out of the net for the third time. Any hopes Swansea had of staging a comeback where dashed, and the R's support were giving it all to the away fans, "3-0 and a long way home" tickling me the most. The reality of a 3-0 beating and a 4-5 hour coach ride home would have been anything but humorous for the Swansea manager.

Swansea flattered to deceive and on the contrary Hughes got his team playing with heart, spirit and organisation that was too much for Rogers to deal with. With three great wins in the last few weeks, hope of survival is rising. The players seem to be set up and well prepared during the last few games. If Rangers keep this standard I do believe that they will have the momentum coming into the final games to survive. Once again Mark Hughes has produced the right game plan at the right time.

Star man : Diakite. Bossed the midfield.

Another solid performance is needed at The hawthorns on Saturday.
Posted by Langers at 03:56




I saw Richard before the game, he was standing on the corner of Uxbridge & Bloemfontein Rd with his suitcase. I stopped and had a quick chat with him, he is a top bloke. ( Nines )

 

Here's a different take on the Swans game, a very amusing piece by Chris Charles.

After Masongate, the quiet man delivers for Rangers

13/04/2012
by Chris Charles
A few weeks back, QPR fans were serenading their skipper with chants of “Joey Barton, he tweets what he wants.”

After Wednesday night, they may want to revise it to: “He tweets it best when he tweets nothing at all.”

Barton took a self-imposed sabbatical from Twitter after being dropped for the Sunderland game, with the boos of disgruntled fans still ringing in his ears.

And while we all miss his philosophical musings and tales of banging nights out following a Saturday defeat, it seems to have done the trick.

After weeks of looking like he’d struggle to pass water, let alone a football, Barton stepped up to the plate against Arsenal, before producing a master-class against Swansea, dictating the play, making a goal-line clearance and scoring a tidy opener, prompting the refrain: “We’ve got our captain back.”

The visitors weren’t afforded the same respect by the home support after their patient build-up play was reinterpreted as “It’s just like watching paint dry”.

“Fulham have brought in chickens to their training ground to lay fresh eggs for their players – and if they could see their way to beating Wigan in a week’s time, that would be clucking marvellous.”
And while Brendan Rodgers’ team deserve all the plaudits that have come their way this season, it seems the immaculately-applied make-up is beginning to flake off, revealing worrying cracks underneath.

While I couldn’t fathom the logic of booing old boy Wayne Routledge, the Swans were clearly out of their comfort zone in the claustrophobic confines of Loftus Road.

Incredibly over the past three home games, HQ has been transformed from a help yourself buffet to an Anne Robinson catchphrase – Liverpool, Arsenal, Swansea, you leave with nothing.

Indeed, the Swans were lucky to get nil as their famed passing game unravelled quicker than a Murder She Wrote plot.

Aside from Barton, Diakite was immense, while those partners in rhyme Mackie and Buszaky applied the coups de grace – the latter with an exquisite 25-yarder that was strangely kept off Sky’s goals of the week selection by a Robin van Persie penalty.

Even Rangers’ often dodgy defence was, like many home fans after the game, well-oiled, as they kept their first clean sheet in the league since that heady day in October when the noisy neighbours were silenced.

At the centre of it all was that colossus (we just like watching) Clint Hill, whose incredible run of form has been nearly as surprising as Manchester United being denied a stonewall penalty at Wigan on Wednesday evening.

I know I should have been rooting for our relegation rivals to lose but after the grave injustice they suffered at Chelsea on Easter Saturday, coupled with events at Old Trafford the following day, I couldn’t help thinking that Shaun Derry had arranged for the Karma Police to pay a visit to the DW Stadium.

After Ashley Young went down quicker than the ill-fated ship we have been remembering this week, even the normally reserved QPR chief executive Philip Beard was moved to tweet: “Ashley Young could partner Tom Daley at the Olympics.”

Incredibly Shaun of the Red was not shorn of the red when the FA’s little panel had their secretive meeting, holed up in a nuclear bunker somewhere deep underground to discuss what to do about Messrs Derry and Balotelli.


Shaun of the red.
They eventually emerged to tell the outside world that as long as you play for a big club you can dive and almost slice someone in half and no further action will be taken.

It’s a good job I don’t feel passionately about any of this, otherwise I could have rambled on for a bit there. And don’t get me started on the original offside.

Thankfully things improved for QPR after that, starting with Liverpool’s dramatic late win at Blackburn – a game which had me cowering behind the sofa for the first time since Jon Pertwee was fighting the Daleks.

The importance of the result was summed up by my Liverpool-supporting other half
congratulating me on her team’s victory.

Elsewhere in west London, Fulham and Chelsea fought out an entertaining derby draw at Craven Cottage, days after the Whites had put in an imperious performance to turn over Bolton in Lee Mason’s back garden.

It emerged this week that Fulham have brought in chickens to their training ground to lay fresh eggs for their players – and if they could see their way to beating Wigan in a week’s time, that would be clucking marvellous.

Brentford’s fine run continued as they made it five wins out of five by beating Bury, before getting a useful point at Hartlepool.

Loan striker Clinton Morrison was more than happy to take the credit as he proudly declared in one paper: “They had lost three in a row before I arrived.”

So are Brentford really a one-man team? A paragraph further down the piece shed a different light on proceedings: “Morrison, who is still waiting for his first Bees goal….”

But we’ll end where we began, and a few people on the messageboards pointed out a touching little moment between Joey Barton and Taye Taiwo when they walked off the pitch on Wednesday night, as the excitable Nigerian poured a bottle of water over his captain’s head.

The inference was that it typified the new-found bond between the squad, but from where I was sitting, Barton looked none too pleased at seeing the famed quiff getting a soaking live on TV.

Upon turning to confront his assailant he saw a grinning 6ft built-like-a-brick-outhouse defender and decided not to take the matter any further.

Even Joey’s not that daft.