Hoop Dreams - QPR FC

United can call on new loan signing Marcel Seip who just joined the club from Plymouth Argyle. After falling out with then manager Paul Sturrock earlier in the season, the defender was placed on the transfer list and spent the first half of the season on loan at Blackpool. United were quick to strengthen their defensive options after two other loan signings, Andrew Davies and Toni Kallio returned to Stoke City and Fulham respectively.

Two likely absentees are Darius Henderson up front (gluteal muscle) and defender Kyle Walker (thigh strain). Henderson's unavailability will be welcome news to the travelling Hoops fans; with 10 goals this season, he is the Blades' top scorer by some distance.

Midfielder Lee Williamson is back in contention for a starting place after recovering from a hamstring injury.


QPR are without two of their recent loan signings, Ben Watson and Tommy Williams who have returned to Wigan Athletic and Peterborough United respectively.

Of the two, Watson looked to have the most potential on arriving at the club, showing the calm control and accurate passing which still mark him out as a talented footballer but his performances recently suggested he was more than ready to move on from the club. Whether Wigan were unwilling to accept a longer loan initially or whether Rangers didn't desire one, I can't help thinking he would have made a more positive impact if he knew he was at the club for the rest of the season.

The signing of Williams was even more short-termist and questionable in its reasoning. Though Gary Borrowdale had performed admirably for much of the season, the decision was made to replace him with Williams even though his loan was only for just over a month. Though Williams coped commendably in a team that was falling apart, it looked like another destabilising influence on a defence that was struggling to cope anyway.

More positively, Matt Connolly is now fit and could and should play today. As mentioned in previous posts, though he has struggled for playing time this season, whenever he does Rangers tend to concede fewer of the sloppy goals that have blighted their season.


In league games, United's form trumps QPR's by some distance at the moment with five wins in their last eight games, taking them to the seventh in the table. Rangers on the other hand managed just two wins in the whole of November and December, culminating in the miserable concession at Ipswich on Monday which can hardly have raised spirits for this game.

In terms of the Cup, United have much the better recent pedigree as well. They've made it to at least the fifth round in five of the last seven years; QPR's woeful Cup record doesn't warrant repetition.


Hart deserves to be granted greater benefit of the doubt if Rangers' current performances aren't up to scratch, but very few seem keen to afford him this luxury at the moment. He inherited what can best be described as a mish-mash of footballers, talented yes but ultimately lacking in even a modicum of team-spirit. We can only speculate, but I'd suggest the QPR dressing room was far from a happy place in the last few weeks and Hart now has the job of picking those players back up again.

This game could come too quickly to see a vast improvement from the limp display on Monday though. The Cup setting must raise the ambitions and spirits of the away side but the defensive tightness and physical nature of United's game will really test this crop of players' footballing desire. I don't foresee an embarrassment such as against Ipswich or Middlesbrough but the home side currently look the safer bet.

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