Hoop Dreams - QPR FC

Not exactly a match to make the mouth water. Over the last six games, no two teams in the Championship have worse form than Peterborough United and QPR. As both clubs bed in new managers, with Peterborough appointing new boss Jim Gannon just this week, the overriding aim for both sets of players and supporters as well will be three points by any means necessary.

QPR Team News

One new headache for the QPR manager is who to pick from his haul of loan players. Only five loan players can be named in the match-day squad, so Mick Harford will have to choose from Carl Ikeme, Nigel Quashie, Adel Taarabt, Tamas Priskin, Marcus Bent and Jay Simpson.

Ikeme seems to have supplanted Radek Cerny in the QPR goal and with central midfield options looking light, Quashie is almost certain to start as well.

Harford worked hard to get both Priskin and Bent in this week after bemoaning the club's striking problems after the Scunthorpe defeat, so those two are also a good bet to feature.

That leaves one from Taarabt and Simpson to sit it out. If it was me I'd go with the former, despite his undoubted ability but I suspect it might be the latter. Either way, with a game against Ipswich on Tuesday, it won't hurt to rest at least one of these players.

To complicate matters, The Mirror is today reporting that the club is lining up another loan for Aston Villa midfielder Isaiah Osbourne. The 22-year old holding midfielder is not high up in Martin O'Neill's estimations and had loan spells last year at Nottingham Forest and Middlesbrough. With the club still to officially announce a contract for free agent Moritz Volz as well, it could soon be an all-new Rangers team taking to the field.

The addition of Lee Cook to the match-day squad and possibly the starting XI will in effect feel like a new signing as well. Cook made his first appearance of the season last weekend, coming on as a sub in the Scunthorpe game and certainly raised the bar for the team in terms of effort if not creativity. With some more match-time under his belt, he could start to have a greater influence on the team.

Form

As bad as it comes. As mentioned above, neither of these sides can buy a win at the moment.

It's not been a great start to life with Rangers for Mick Harford, with one point in three games. Peterborough can outdo that though, with just one point in four since a Boxing Day win over Bristol City. Defensively both teams are all at sea as well. Rangers have gone 16 games without a clean sheet, the longest such run by any team in the Championship this season whereas the Posh have the leakiest defence in the league, with 51 goals conceded already.

Prediction

The stats above suggest goals but I think this will be a more cagey affair. Peterborough look doomed and in a sense could play with more freedom as a result, but with Gannon appointed just days ago they will be happy to pick up only their fourth win of the season.

Rangers on the other hand are chronically short on confidence and where earlier in the season they would have set about Peterborough at will, the prospect of another embarrassing defeat may loom larger in their minds. With the home side buoyed by the buzz of a new boss, I think Rangers could really struggle in this game. Sometimes it is has to get really bad before it gets better.

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