Plymouth Argyle vs QPR - Match Preview
Posted On 15/08/2009 at at 14:16 by Alistair KleebauerQPR continue their trio of matches in the south-west of England today. Taking the Godfather trilogy as 
the marker, Tuesday night's performance was the opener, a classic that wowed all who saw it. As a result, today's game should be a bit more challenging and more subtle in its technique, but in the end, even more rewarding and memorable. By the time, they play Bristol City then, QPR will have disappeared up their own arse and will get completely tanked. It's a very tenuous analogy that has little basis in reality but it may yet come true.
For Part II then, QPR cannot call on their captain Martin Rowlands, new signing Alejandro Faurlin or long-term absentee Lee Cook. Angelo Balanta is also doubtful as he is carrying a knock. I don't expect Magilton to change the team vastly from Tuesday night's impressive win. I think Matt Connolly deserves a league start. Despite my superlatives for Peter Ramage's game on the opening day, Connolly is technically the better player and is more reliable defensively. I expect Magilton will bring Ramage back in though. Likewise, Damion Stewart should be one of the first names on the team sheet but I suspect Magilton may try out Fitz Hall again alongside Kaspars Gorkss. Borrowdale will start at left-back because the club have barely any options in this position.
Exeter City 0 QPR 5
Posted On 11/08/2009 at at 20:53 by Alistair KleebauerQPR turned what looked like a difficult Carling Cup away tie at Exeter City into a comfortable passage to the second round, where they will face the glamour draw of Accrington Stanley (
who are they?) at home. With all due respect to the Stans, QPR will be quietly confident of progression to the third round where a Premiership scalp could be waiting. At that stage last season, the Hoops saw off Aston Villa only to be knocked out by Man United in the fourth round. To go as far or further this season could be a welcome sign of the club's progression; judging by the team put out on Tuesday night, QPR's new management are taking this competition seriously.
Martin Rowlands sat it out following his ankle injury on the opening day, we still await news on a likely return date for Lee Cook and new signing Alejandro Faurlin was still not match-fit, but apart from that Jim Magilton had a relatively full squad to choose from and he was afforded the luxury of being able to swap a few players around. Peter Ramage, despite providing QPR's only goal against Blackpool, was swapped for Matt Connolly, which was a decent call by Magilton as both players deserve their share of first-team football and the chance to build up their match fitness. Damion Stewart was also brought in instead of Fitz Hall. It may be too soon to call after only two matches, but Magilton seems to be a fan of Kaspars Gorkss, especially after he showed his attacking danger from set-pieces during this game so it will be interesting to see who he believes is his natural partner in future games. Gary Borrowdale completed the four at the back.
In midfield, Mikele Leigertwood returned to take a defensive role, with Akos Buszaky ahead of him and Wayne Routledge and Hogan Ephraim on either wing. Two of the substitutes from the opening day came into the side as well, Magilton deciding to partner Patrick Agyemang and Rowan Vine up front. There was further good news for Hoops supporters as new signing Alessandro Pellicori finally recieved his international clearance to play and so could be included on the bench.
QPR suffered through a nervous first half in which they failed to impose themselves on the opposition, despite the relative gap in talent between the two teams. Routledge did fire off a warning of the night he was to have with some good link-up play with Agyemang, who played in the winger only for him to blast his shot directly at Paul Jones in the Exeter goal. The time and space that Routledge was finding on the right was not properly acknowledged by Exeter and they would suffer for this oversight in the second half.
Magilton described a fairly lively team-talk at half-time which clearly worked wonders on his players. The manager has talked a great deal about the expectations the players should have for themselves, rather than any imposed from above by the Board and he clearly has already set a high marker for the team. There was a definite renewed sense of pride and professionalism about their second-half display which the Hoops will now hope to carry into the league.
Routledge got the scoring under way just eight minutes into the half. Leigertwood chipped a delightful through ball into his path and he was able to take advantage of some poor positional play by Jones to gently lift the ball over the keeper and into the net.
Against lower-league opposition, the first goal can be so vital and QPR could now relax into the game with the impetus on Exeter to provide more attacking threat. Within ten minutes, the match would be completely over as a contest and Routledge would be the main reason.
For the Hoops' second goal, Agyemang turned provider, driving at the Exeter defence before gently playing the ball into the path of Routledge who struck it first-time past Jones. It was an easy chance for the winger and was borne of Agyemang's tenacious build-up play.
The third came from the spot in circumstances which killed any sporting interest Exeter still had in this tie. A long cross to the far-post found Gorkss in a surprisingly advanced position and he powered a header towards goal which defender Scott Golbourne could only keep out with his hand, drawing a red card from the ref. Routledge stepped up to convert the penalty for an eleven-minute hat-trick, his first in professional football. It was a ruthless display from him, with two excellent finishes amongst the goals and as on the opening day, he is now developing into an important attacking threat for QPR, with the bonus of adding some goals to his game.
Much talk has been made of QPR's supposed deficiencies up front and whilst some critics have gone too far, I am still unsure who in their squad will be capable of providing 20 goals a season. Vine had a quiet game in this one and had less chance to get on the scoresheet than in his brief appearance against Blackpool. Agyemang, on the other hand, made a nuisance of himself throughout the game with some powerful runs and showed his value in creating goals as he was the key architect of Routledge's second. Yet, despite the ease with which QPR now controlled the match, neither player could get on the scoresheet.
Neither remained on the pitch for much longer though as Magilton decided to use the comfort of a 3-0 lead to get a look at some of his other options. Routledge came off for Gareth Ainsworth immediately following his third goal and Vine made way for Pellicori to make his debut at the same time, with Agyemang swapped for Gavin Mahon just six minutes later.
QPR could obviously take their foot off the gas somewhat with Exeter unable to muster any late fightback but it took until the dying minutes for the game to become a rout. Most importantly, it was a striker who now got on the scoresheet, though Pellicori is unlikely to get many easier chances in his QPR career, however long that may be. Leigertwood flicked a decent pass over his head by the goal-line and it found Pellicori in the six-yard box to provide the simplest of touches to claim his first goal for the Hoops. For any new striker, the wait for that opening goal can become a real burden, so to kickstart his account so quickly could be a godsend for Pellicori though we don't yet know where Magilton sees him in his hierarchy of strikers.
The best of the night came within only a minute remaining, with Ephraim staking a claim for a first-team berth with a wonderful curling shot from the edge of the area which left Jones with no chance of a save. Ephraim cut in from the wing and with the merest hint of back-lift, stroked the ball up and over Jones and into the net.
The scoreline by now didn't flatter the Hoops. The improvement in their second-half display was massive and demonstrated a real gulf in ability with the League One team who will be pleased to get back to the bread and butter of league football this weekend. QPR on the other hand will surely always prioritise getting out of the Championship, but with a decent size to their squad now and a relatively easy draw in the next round, they must surely be looking to go at least as far as they did last season in this competition.
HIGHS: Routledge finding his scoring boots, Pellicori notching a debut goal and Magilton demonstrating an ability to rally his players at half-time.
LOWS: Sluggish first-half display, unimpressive performance from Akos Buszaky who may not yet be over his injury, no goals yet for Agyemang or Vine.
QPR team - Cerny; Connolly, Stewart, Gorkss, Borrowdale; Leigertwood, Buzsaky, Ephraim, Routledge (Ainsworth 65), Agyemang (Mahon 71), Vine (Pellicori 65).
Subs not used - Putnins (GK), Ramage, Hall, Alberti.
Goals - Routledge (53, 61, 64), Pellicori (85), Ephraim (89).
Bookings - Ephraim (47)
Exeter team - Jones, Duffy, Seaborne, Taylor, Golbourne, Russell (Logan 73), Harley, Cozic, Sercombe, McAllister (Norwood 72), Stewart (Tully 67).
Subs not used - Marriott, Archibald-Henville, Saunders, Burnell.
Red cards - Golbourne (64)
Referee - Mr S Bratt
Attendance - 4614 (813 QPR fans)
Carling Cup 1st Round - vs Exeter City
Posted On at at 16:30 by Alistair Kleebauer
With more than a few Premiership managers unimpressed that there is an England international tomorrow, just days before the start of their season, they should spare a thought for their lower-league counterparts. Not only do they play 8 more league games a season, but they play through the early rounds of the cups as well. So just days after opening with a draw at home to Blackpool, QPR have the opportunity to get their first win of the season when they visit St James' Park, home of Exeter City FC.
own in popular memory for getting a 0-0 draw at Old Trafford in the FA Cup (a game which did wonders for their bank balance) and for welcoming the late, great Wacko Jacko (can you still call him that?) to have a walk around under one of his umbrellas. Since then, they've been relegated to the Conference, taken over by their Supporter's Trust and in the last two seasons, sailed through two successive promotions to now sit pretty in League One. Based just on the hard time that they gave Leeds in their opening game, they are not a team that is easily bowed by big-name opposition (do QPR qualify?). When you add in that they are at home, it's early in the season so form is hard to predict and the fact that QPR are normally woeful in the cups, then it could easily be a home win.The Midfield Part 2
Posted On 10/08/2009 at at 22:57 by Alistair KleebauerIn slightly backward fashion, I'm still reviewing last season's performances after the start of the new one. Even Charles Dickens serialised his work though. Below is my equivalent of Oliver Twist.
If you use first impressions to judge a footballer, Hogan Ephraim would be unlikely to get a very fair trial. I could be in a minority of one here, but Ephraim has a similarity to Skeletor (of Masters of the Universe) fame and a pallor which makes Dimitar Berbatov look positively glowing. I thought I was just imagining things until I found an old interview in which he discusses how much he loves Football Manager and the pieces fell into place: http://ultimatefootballmanagercompanion.blogspot.com/2009/03/hogan-ephraim-interview.html). See that's the problem with modern footballers; computer game
s are now so good that they spend more time indoors than your average supporter (to be fair to him he does admit to never having bought himself on the game because his stats are way too low).All this could be a very roundabout way of saying I don't have much to say about his season. That isn't entirely true, but he would probably admit himself that he didn't make a great impact on the team in 2008/9. Despite an impressive first campaign with the Hoops in which he made 30 appearances for the club, his second season didn't get started until November. This was clearly down to a change in management with Ephraim featuring far more greatly in Paulo Sousa's plans than in Iain Dowie's.
In fact, Sousa seemed to see a different future for the winger and began to employ him far more centrally. This led to hit-and-miss results with the player clearly finding his feet in a new position and perhaps lacking the physical strength needed to truly impose himself on the opposition. His control and dribbling skills are his most potent weapons but it remains to be seen if the new manager will still place him out on the wing. That QPR have this option is an asset to the squad.
The departure of Sousa may not have helped his progress with the two clearly forming a close relationship, Ephraim going so far as to describe Sousa as like a 'father figure' in an interview. In the end, he made less starts than in his first season, with a great proportion of those coming from the bench and managed only one goal, but if he can lay off his 'seven hour a day' Football Manager habit, he will surely feature more prominently for QPR this season.
Daniel Parejo, 18 appearances (14 league), 0 goals.
It was a case of the club he was coming from being far more exciting than the player himself for Danny Parejo. Signed on a year-long loan from Real Madrid last summer, supporters and neutrals alike couldn't help but wonder if Flavio Briatore's contacts had unearthed access to the type of player QPR would formerly have struggled greatly to attract. Whilst still not being the type of 'marquee' signing that most were expecting, the pedigree of Parejo's previous club and his upbringing within it suggested that QPR were onto a real find.I got quite easily caught up in the hype surrounding him and fellow loan signing Emmanuel Ledesma. In one early home game, a 2-0 win over Doncaster Rovers, I thought both players were the best things about QPR's attacking play and envisaged a season where they pulled the strings as stalwarts of the side.
The reality was quite different. Parejo was an undoubtedly skilful player with wonderful control but his passing was often wayward or misjudged. His ability to read a game looked decidely poor though this could be attributed to his freshness to the English game. Real Madrid saw fit to recall the player in December to cover injuries to Rubén de la Red and Mahamadou Diarra though he went on to make only 3 appearances and has now moved to Getafe, where he will surely experience more first-team football.
Had he stayed he might have settled in to Championship football and pushed QPR closer to the play-off spots, but I feel the rot had already started to set in and that his heart was never truly at QPR. I don't want to harp on about the Crystal Palace game as I know QPR had worse away performances last seaon (which I luckily didn't witness) but Parejo was woeful that day, disinterested and perhaps even out of his depth in the type of game he should have dominated. He was taken off at half-time in what proved to be his last game for the Hoops. It seemed like a fitting end.
Damiano Tommasi, 7 appearances (7 league), 0 goals.
Who is in charge of transfers at QPR? Do we really have to ask? To say that some of QPR's signings were and remain bizarre is an understatement but that's happens when decisions over player acquisitions fall to a man who has spent his life in Formula One and fashion. The signing of Damiano Tommasi on a one-year deal bore all the hallmarks of a Briatore signing and did leave the impression that he probably conducts these transfers based on who he bumps into at parties.In truth, I was really impressed by Tommasi on his arrival at the club and his CV suggested he could more than amply cope with the Championship. He had played 262 times for Roma, was an integral part of their Scudetto winning side in 2001 and after suffering a serious knee injury in 2004, he suggested he be put on youth team wages for the good of the club. When you added his wild-man image and advancing years, it was hard not to instantly warm to him and I thought he had the makings of a real cult hero at QPR.
But the problem with the Briatore transfer policy is that players seem to be signed with little thought into how or where they will be deployed. As a result, Tommasi suffered the fate of most QPR midfielders in being switched around, even finding himself on the wing. Despite my reservations about Gavin Mahon, the defensive midfield position is one where QPR have adequate coverage. At 34, Tommasi was the most short-termist of signings and QPR promptly terminated his contract by mutual consent (not quite in the same way they did for Paulo Sousa) after just 7 appearances. He has now moved to Chinese side Tianjin Teda so he is definitely winding up his playing days, if he wasn't already at Loftus Road.
What the signings of Parejo, Tommasi and Ledesma all point to is that you won't get promoted by purely shopping around for short-term loan deals of either untested youth players or ageing veterans. But that's really a subject for another day...
Emmanuel Ledesma, 23 appearances (17 league), 4 goals.
Another loan signing, more initial promise and then eventual disappointment and a quiet exit out the back door. Its certainly a strange way to do business.
If anything, Emmanuel Ledesma was the most promising loan signing to arrive at QPR last season. He arrived in the summer of 2008 from Serie A side Genoa with then manager Iain Dowie trumpeting his technique and his potential to make an instant impact on the side.He remained a near-regular in the side until his departure in early January without ever again finding the net or truly hitting the promise of those early weeks. It was another departure by the back door; the loanees at QPR arrive and leave with indecent abruptness, but his loss would not be greatly mourned by QPR's fans. He saw out the rest of last season at Serie B side Salernitana but will drop another division for 09/10 to play with Novara Calcio, which suggests his career has hit something of a road-block in recent months.
Adel Taarabt, 7 appearances (7 league), 1 goal.
The one who nearly got away. Adel Taarabt has now signed on at Loftus Road for another year (as a loan signing of course. You can't expect Briatore and co to actually lay out for transfers, right?) after his seven appearances at the tail-end of last season.He's already shown what he can do in pre-season with a fantastic solo effort in the 3-0 win over Southampton so his presence in the squad for the next 12 months (well, so they say) is a definite plus. With Lee Cook and Wayne Routledge and now the signing of Alejandro Faurlin, he is one of a number of attacking midfield options for QPR which can only help in pushing the team's goals tally higher. That could be the key in a potential promotion campaign.
Jordi Lopez, 10 appearances (10 league), 1 goal.
The one that did get away. The sense behind sacking Paulo Sousa could be debated for a long time but it is clear to me that four to five months is nowhere near ample time for a manager to impose their vision on a club. What will be interesting is how Sousa shapes up this season at Swansea City, a side which finished seven points ahead of QPR last season and who may challenge for the play-off spots again.Why then did he go? As a free agent, it was obviously at Lopez's discretion as to where he went. Perhaps he had a look at the set-up at Loftus Road and thought he didn't fancy a season of managerial changes and boardroom interference. Apparently QPR didn't offer him the money he was looking for, though surely they would be better equipped to offer a sizeable contract than Swansea City. In short, the club weren't too sure on him and coupled with that, the player had a genuine desire to be reunited with his fellow countryman at the Liberty Stadium. In this respect, Paulo Sousa has something that Jim Magilton does not; a name which has resonance around Europe and which can attract players normally out of QPR's reach. Magilton may well make up for this in other departments and supporters will hope that he shows more tactical consistency than Sousa, but they will also hope that they are not lamenting the two that got away come next May.
Liam Miller, 13 appearances (13 league), 0 goals.
I've spent a fair bit of time criticising the transfer set-up at QPR, whereby the owners, despite a stated desire to be in the Premier League, look unwilling to dip into their pockets on a regular basis for permanent buys and prefer instead to get by with a smattering of loan signings. The benefit of such short-term deals is that if the player cannot hack it, the club can easily get rid of him and this was thankfully the case with Liam Miller.Miller arrived on a short-term deal at Loftus Road in January, with Paulo Sousa complimenting the player on his 'box-to-box' abilites. There was little evidence of this in his 13 games with the club, as he tended to be firmly rooted in the middle, offering little in the way of attacking options. For a player brought up at Celtic and then Man United, I was definitely expecting a greater degree of composure and touch from Miller. All too often, he would get caught out on the ball in the middle of the park (a frequent problem for QPR, with Gavin Mahon suffering from the same tentativeness when in possession).
In this instance, the short-term nature of QPR's acquisitions played to their advantage. They would have gained little from having Miller at the club for two or three years in my opinion, especially when there are areas of the team in greater need of improvement. Perhaps tellingly, the player, despite still being called up for the Republic of Ireland squad, has not yet found a club for the upcoming season.
Posts
