Having not posted much of late I thought I might muse over our current plight a bit. I'm sure much of this will have been said by other but not getting on as much means I don't have a real Scooby as to most peoples opinions of late so please bare with me. Burnley away was as poor as I've seen in a long while. Until something familiar happened, I seem to have developed a stress response to watching us play badly away, I passed out in the chair. Ten minutes past 4 on a Saturday afternoon with two kids screaming, I passed out. Like a light. It seems this didn't go un-noticed by Mrs Rhino who made a reasonably fair comment on waking of why do you always fall asleep watching your team play? How long have you got? I asked knowing full well Mrs Rhino couldn't ignore the screaming baby for long enough to listen to the a ramblings of a clearly distressed husband. Again. So while Mrs Rhino doesn't really care for my excuses I wondered weather this may be an experience shared by others, It goes a little like this. Match day arrives and the radio goes on, I look for the HR post match love in show on tinterweb and even take a cheeky peek on here, if I feel like we have a snowballs chance I may even make a prediction, but usually I steer clear for league stuff as I worry the players may read the thread. Apologies for the Sheffield prediction by the way, even if I did get the right result give or take 12 or so goals. The point is a routine is formed like a religion, but a its a religion with a difference, and it's polarised by being in the premier league. Somehow it means more it shouldn't but it does and when the games over its either the heavenly reward of a much needed 3pts or the excruciating ball aching spasm that is the Hell of losing again. Sometimes we draw and the seeds of hope are sewn for another week, but usually in a the soil of despondency. Redknapps era at the club was always going to be a difficult, he did have a choice when he came and he choose us which I've always appreciated. The alternative would have been the national manager for a country where there is constant political unrest, daily demonstrations and the Russians would seem to be invading a bit as well as portions of the civilian population being in dire straits and the footballers with any sense having all legged it. I still think Harry made the tougher choice in coming to QPR. The state of the club he inherited from the **** that was Mark Hughes cannot be underestimated. Phil Beard had run the club to the point of near extinction and Harry was a gamble. Just like the Cesar Gamble, the SWP Gamble, the Luke young Gamble. the club had for several years allowed the signing of un-scouted players on ridiculous wages that a club of our size cannot ever sustain. The board have since taking control behaved like an addict in a casino at 5 in the morning making bleary eyed decisions that fearing losses you should gamble harder bigger. Harry got blamed for Samba being signed but I doubt he was correctly scouted either and what about those loan signings? did they all get thoroughly scouted in the last week of their respective transfer windows? doubt it. We lack infrastructure plain and simple but Harry doesn't run the club, he runs the team and asks for players he wants to sign. Now most people knew Harrys M/O when he arrived and while its not original and he does sign the odd stinker he sticks to what and who he knows. Did the board scout for a manger suitable when the issue of FFP came calling and we the cash ran out? no didn't think so. Just another throw of the dice. So I'm pro Harry I hear you think. No not really, he should have been sacked mid-season last year but he wasn't and again after the Arsenal result he really should have gone but he's still here and it's to late again. Where Harry cannot escape criticism any longer is the shambles that is our defence in signing Rio all the goodwill earned in promotion was wiped out by signing another washed up has been. Christ when was the last time we go a good player from Man Utd? Answers on a post card. Watching Onouha makes me want to chew my own feet off as he seems disconnected from his. Our only real senior LB is a fruit cake. the goal keeper employed to hoof it can't kick, Clint's legs went sometime back in 2011 and they're not coming back. Dunne can still do a job next to a quicker player but not every week and Caulker is average. England manger Harry is not. So until the end of the season QPR induced narcolepsy will be a common feature of away games unless a miracle occurs. If I'm unconscious I can't watch horror. I hear that some of our supporters went to Burnley and actually paid for tickets. These people deserve huge credit and possibly Mental health evaluations, but mostly huge credit. I doff my hooped hat. On plus side, Isla is looking better. I suppose that's something eh? U R'ss
Some enjoyable rambling... I suffer a similar Saturday torpor. I can't stand listening to games on the radio - I sort of sit staring willing the ball into the net only to suffer the inevitable disappointment when we concede a late goal or let slip a two goal lead. So I find myself checking the BBC updates with feverish regularity. I sort of slip into a coma where Mrs Badger gets only two or three words out of me for an hour as I nervously wait to see if we can drag ourselves back into the game or hold on to our early lead. The defence are becoming indefensible, Harold has assembled a hotch potch of players that could you create some sort of Frankenstein's monster then we might get one or two decent defenders out of them. As it is, they are considerably lesser than the sum of their parts and unless something is done to plug the gaps then I fear our defence rather than our incisive midfield or one man strike force will be the thing that drags us down. A sketchy win over United on the weekend and things will be on the up again...it's going to be a painful few months I think!
