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QPR and Leicester bring Championship farce to top flight - report
Monday, 1st Dec 2014 02:03 by Clive Whittingham

QPR started a crucial December period of fixtures with a frantic, hard-fought win against fellow strugglers Leicester at Loftus Road on Saturday.

As Harry Redknapp prepares to mark two years in charge of Queens Park Rangers, perhaps the most surprising element of a tumultuous reign has been just how dull a lot of the football has been.

Prior to arriving at Loftus Road, Redknapp had always seemed like a Cockney version of Kevin Keegan. Tactics? Little mints. Football’s about players. If they get three we’ll get four. Stories about Paolo Di Canio. That sort of thing.

The two fixtures with Leicester City last season, played in the division below, summed up the Redknapp QPR found themselves guided by better than most. The Foxes won both 1-0, with Rangers threatening sporadically, and an overriding air of boredom and apathy drifting down from the stands and being reflected by the playing squad.

With a transfer budget and wage bill enough to sink 20 of the other 23 teams in the league, and the Championship’s best centre forward marauding around in attack, one would have thought QPR might have been capable of repeating Newcastle’s free-scoring, 100 point assault on the league title from a couple of seasons ago. Instead the Loftus Road faithful was treated to a dull, laboured, slow-paced, monotonous, possession-based, dirge. It was like visiting mediocre art galleries in non-descript commuter towns — you’d heard paintings could be so beautiful, and yet here was something you fancied you could do better yourself.

Now in the league above, these two clubs have gone from big fish to cannon fodder. Their roles in life are now clearly defined. When Sky Sports talks about “games that matter” QPR and Leicester are about as far away from their thoughts as the concerns of constituents to a career politician. The R’s and the Foxes are supposed to be relegated this season, and if they are to survive it’s going to be done with their backs to the wall, playing not to lose, clinging frantically on to whatever scraps may fall from the table.

Bizarrely, having bored the tits off everybody for 180 minutes in a division where there are so many games to play individual results don’t matter a great deal until you assemble them into runs of half a dozen wins or defeats, these two newly promoted teams decided on Saturday to serve up a happy, entertaining sort of farce with five goals and 51 shots on the goal in the Premier League. No top flight game has produced as many shots since 2006.

Tactically, it was a complete mess. Gary Neville can breathe a sigh of relief that there is no Monday Night Football this week because trying to analyse this and pick out coherent patterns and thoughts would be like knitting fog. These two looked desperate, like two dogs fighting over a final scrap of meat. They essentially threw stuff at each other for 90 minutes and then, when the final whistle blew, stopped to check on the score. It was like a Saturday evening entertainment format for ITV, not a professional football game at the highest level. It was a total mess. It was absolutely wonderful. So engrossing you wanted to pay more for your ticket. Well, maybe not quite…

This is what I expected we’d see a lot more of from Harry Redknapp: shapes, formations, tactical plans and structure all mere suggestions to be ignored. Sling the best 11 players out there, tell them to try and score every time they have the ball, see how it goes, and get Bondy Bond to drive home. Rangers, ostensibly, played 4-4-2 but picked Niko Kranjcar and Leroy Fer on the wings — neither of whom are wingers… neither of whom would include “tracking back” on their LinkedIn profiles. In the absence of Sandro, who’s starting to make Matthew Rose look like Zeus, Joey Barton moved to the centre of midfield where, for the first hour at least, he decided his role was to attempt Hollywood passes that conceded possession, and ludicrous 35 yard Hail Mary shots on the goal with more chance of killing an old lady shopping round Shepherd’s Bush Green than finding the back of Kasper Schmeichel’s net.

The result was a totally exposed back four. Full backs Mauricio Isla and Yun Suk-Young were swamped. Nedum Onuoha, whose move to centre half to replace Richard Dunne rather than a recall for Rio Ferdinand was a popular choice, struggled with his weight of work. Only Steven Caulker, who spent a lot of the first half doubling up as a third striker, looked comfortable with the stress of the situation. He was a man swimming against the tide.

Caulker’s frustration was clear when, after a bright opening two minutes, Rangers contrived to concede to Leicester’s first attack when a series of missed tackles and two on one situations ended with the exceptional Esteban Cambiasso delicately placing a 20 yarder against the base of Robert Green’s post and into the net. The lack of pace on the shot had cynics blaming the goalkeeper until the replays revealed the truth — Leicester’s Argentinean midfielder is still a talent at 34 years of age and that was a terrific finish.

Leicester would probably have taken a point before the kick-off, and now had half a foot planted firmly in all three. Schmeichel started to waste time after five minutes - meticulously cleaning his boots by banging them against the post before every. Single. Goal. Kick. I’d have fancied myself to complete an oil painting of the scene before he finally got round to leathering a couple of them away down the field. Annoyingly, Schmeichel’s clearances are so long, and QPR’s defence so unprotected, that Leicester’s goal kicks posed more danger to Rangers on Saturday than the average team’s corners — Caulker and Onuoha were bailing water out of a leaky boat the whole game, unable to deal with the aerial bombardment.

What choice did the home team have but to attack? The entire match took on the feel of the stoppage time period of a play-off semi-final. By the end it felt like you’d been through an ordeal, not a day at the football.

Niko Kranjcar, a swaggering influence when QPR had the ball and a total liability when they didn’t, had a free kick deflected over and then provoked a goal-mouth scramble with a corner. Joey Barton’s protracted punts straight onto the head of the defender at the near post were mercifully cast aside this week with the return of a man who can actually take a set piece. Karl Henry skipped (really!) into the penalty box only to panic when the space opened up for a shot and take just enough touches (roughly 37) to allow Leicester to scramble back and clear the danger. Charlie Austin had a shot blocked. Henry crossed low, inches away from Eduardo Vargas.

A goal felt inevitable. Steven Caulker took it upon himself to stay forward as a makeshift centre forward having journeyed downfield for a corner and his optimism/lunacy paid off when he sent a low cross into the six yard box that seemed designed for Vargas to tap home until big clumsy Wes Morgan slid in and poked the ball into his own goal while trying to clear.

But let’s not pretend QPR were dominating completely - unlucky to concede early in the game and destined to assert superiority thereafter. Leicester should have made it 2-0 before Morgan’s personal disaster: Onuoha slow to recognise a problem with Vardy in the right channel and allowing a low cross to come in that Mahrez should have converted from close range. From the kick off (from the kick off!) Jamie Vardy raced through on goal onto a fine pass from Mahrez but found Green in determined form and able to produce a block.

Mahrez, incidentally, never fails to impress me when I see Leicester. Nigel Pearson, with no wins from seven going into this game, took him off and sent on Marc Albrighton after an hour, and the former Villa man contributed next to nothing to the final half hour. Answers on a post card, addressed to Leicester’s no-doubt-concerned Malaysian owners please.

Only QPR could struggle to defend kick offs.

The equaliser did nothing to calm this relentless cartoon of a football match. Rangers led at half time. Joey Barton’s well flighted cross to the back post found Charlie Austin arriving late and although his powerful header was blocked by Schmeichel, Leroy Fer was on hand to smash the rebound into the ground and up into the roof of the net. Austin, who is growing into his role as a Premier League striker and will surely be attracting agent-inspired newspaper headlines about big money moves shortly, would have scored that nine times out of ten, and may find profit in late penalty box arrivals moving forwards. His leap is so prodigious that no centre half can deal with it, and on this occasion the timing was all about him having to put his boot back on before he could run forwards.

The half time mood was buoyant, with oxygen being gulped. Calm down boys, stay in shape, hold what we have? Not a bit of it. After a break of 15 minutes, QPR and Leicester retook the field and recommenced lobbing bits of rubble at each other. It was like a chimp’s tea party.

Mahrez cut inside Suk-Young and forced a low save from Green. The South Korean had seen yellow before half time for a cynical hack — QPR would be well served to do that more rather than allow counter attacks to flow — as his struggles continued. Within seconds a fine cross from the same flank had been skilfully flicked onto the cross bar by Jamie Vardy. Soon Armand Traore was summoned as a replacement.
At the other enda delicious move concluded with Austin and Kranjcar playing and aerial one-two and the former Burnley striker hitting a full volley that Schmeichel saved well. England awaits.

Pearson’s decision to withdraw Mahrez was mystifying. The introduction of David Nugent for an ineffective, heavy-legged, labouring Leonardo Ulloa less so. Leicester attacked with renewed purpose.

A quick free kick just after the hour, which only Green realised had been taken, was toed wide by Vardy by way of a shot across the bows. QPR must snap out of this belief that a free kick concession means the game is stopped indefinitely and they can have an amble about and discuss other matters. Green was furious with his team and he was dead right.

Warning unheeded, Leicester equalised four minutes later. Steven Caulker can count himself unfortunate - having produced a brave block from the initial shot as a corner caused panic -but the rebound was dispatched powerfully into the corner of the net from 20 yards by Jeffrey Schlupp. He’s one of those footballers who looks laughably awful in every game you see him until the day he plays against QPR at which point he morphs into some sort of Ronaldo-Messi hybrid. He was excellent here, second only to Cambiasso, and deserved his beautifully struck equaliser.

QPR looked spent. Momentum was swinging against them. Robert Green entered into a fool’s errand under a high cross from the left, succeeding only in taking out Caulker as he flapped at a ball that was never his and leaving first Cambiasso to have a header cleared from the line, and then Morgan to spoon a close-range effort over when he should have scored. Terrifying stuff. In the next attack Joey Barton, finally realising his role was about blocks and simple passes rather than Hollywood attempts at raking crossfield balls and unlikely shots, produced a fine tackle as Leicester threatened a third.

But the Londoners rallied. Leroy Fer channeled the club’s new director of football operations Les Ferdinand and hung in the air at the back post for an inordinate amount of time before powering a header towards goal that only Schmeichel could have saved. The value of having a corner taker who can actually take corners was starting to be felt and when Caulker headed a Kranjcar delivery down into the path of Onuoha, Charlie Austin was on hand to head the ball home after the defender’s shot was blocked on the line. His celebratory tribute to two supporters sadly lost in separate circumstances this week summed up the class and ethics of the man. Whatever QPR were offering by way of a new contract last week, they’re probably going to have to up that this.

That set up a cliffhanger ending. Schmiechel had been like the minutes taker at an arthritis care meeting in the first half but was suddenly racing around like a contestant on Supermarket Sweep, retrieving balls and pumping them straight to the heart of the QPR defence. Charlie Austin was booked for kicking the ball away by East — you wondered why Schmeichel hadn’t suffered similar treatment before half time.

Steven Caulker picked up an injury but refused to leave the field. There was a pump to be manned here and QPR needed all hands. Redknapp sent on Jordon Mutch instead of the excellent Vargas to add a body to midfield. It was the first hint at a plan, shape or formation either team had showed all afternoon. Yun Suk-Young succumbed to a worrying looking injury — replaced by Armand Traore who is notoriously awful at the defensive side of the game. There would be no closed shop. In the dimming light both teams loaded for a final assault.

Leicester corners caused panic routinely. When Jordon Mutch encroached on a late free kick and blocked it before it reach the area the Foxes were understandably furious, but it was the first time you could really fault referee Roger East who controlled a mentally unsound football match with deft understanding. He added six minutes to the end of it for the benefit of the neutrals — those inside Loftus Road with a vested interest reached for the Beta-blockers.

There was still time for a flare up in front of the Ellerslie Road stand — Marc Albrighton appearing to lash out at Henry after fouling him. Robert Green raced from his goal to cause a scene, more interested in wasting time than any genuine belief the Leicester man should have been red carded. Albrighton, and Green, were booked. Schmeichel will have looked on with a knowing smile. Nugent saw yellow as well.

From a low starting point, the contest was descending into a total shemozzle. There was even time, shortly before the second reading of the classified football results, for Matty James to strike a crisp volley a foot over the bar with Green beaten after Rangers had allowed a ball to drop on the edge of the area. East drew a merciful conclusion to a breathless nonsense a short time later.

Championship football in the Premier League. QPR need three more such outcomes in winnable home games this month, and a similar attitude in their away games, if they’re to keep it that way.

Rip roaring stuff.

Links >>> Photo Gallery >>> Ratings and Reports >>> Message Board Match Thread

QPR: Green 7; Isla 6, Onuoha 6, Caulker 8, Suk-Young 6 (Traore 51, 6); Kranjcar 7 (Hoilett 90, -), Barton 6, Henry 6, Fer 6, Vargas 7 (Mutch 76, 6), Austin 8

Subs not used: Ferdinand, Phillips, Wright-Phillips, McCarthy

Goals: Morgan own goal 37 (assisted Caulker), Fer 45 (assisted Barton/Austin), Austin 73 (assisted Kranjcar/Caulker/Onuoha)

Bookings: Suk-Young 43 (foul), Austin 76 (kicking ball away), Green 90+3 (dissent)

Leicester: Schmeichel 5; De Laet 5, Morgan 6, Wasilewski 6, Konchesky 6; Mahrez 8 (Albrighton 60, 5), James 6, Cambiasso 8 (King 89, -), Schlupp 7; Vardy 6, Ulloa 4 (Nugent 60, 6)

Subs not used: Drinkwater, Hamer, Moore, Knockaert

Goals: Cambiasso 4 (assisted Schlupp/Ulloa), Schlupp 67 (unassisted)

Bookings: Nugent 90+2 (foul), Albrighton 90+4 (foul)

QPR Star Man — Steven Caulker 7 Odd decision, perhaps, given that QPR’s defence looked so exposed and troubled, but with little protecting in wide areas, or from midfield, I thought Caulker stood up and carried a broken defensive system on his shoulders. Doubled as a centre forward for a lot of the first half, leading to the crucial equaliser.

Referee — Roger East (Wiltshire) 8 As this was a Championship match in quality, style and pattern it’s perhaps no surprise to see East excelling, because he is a Football League referee who has struggled to step up to the top division. But he handled this very well, two teams throwing things at each other and he let them get on with it. Could have done more to stop Schmeichel’s blatant time-wasting in the first half.

Attendance — 18,504 (1,800 Leicester approx) Great atmosphere inside Loftus Road, aided by the stressful nature of the clash.

The Twitter @loftforwords

Pictures — Action Images

Photo: Action Images



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isawqpratwcity added 03:18 - Dec 1
ripper report of a great game, clive.

optimism levels rising...
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Kaos_Agent added 04:28 - Dec 1
Farce. Relentless cartoon. Chimps tea party. Shemozzle. All hands manning the pump. Great description Clive.

Shots going off in all directions at a rate of 1 every 113 seconds. Who needs tiki-taka football? Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead.

1

timcocking added 05:03 - Dec 1
Well, although i agree it was totally out of control, and i can't imagine what Serie A fans would have thought, for me it was the best premiership match i can remember watching for donkey's years. Both teams were totally desperate and fighting to the death. Fantastic stuff and a great effort from our boys to come from behind and win in such a vital game. I reckon the report almost seemed a little mocking and critical, where personally i was incredibly proud of the whole spectacle. Only QPR at home produce games like that and i absolutely loved it. I bloody love QPR.
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snanker added 07:01 - Dec 1
A genuine crash or crash through performance a laugh a minute giddy up like one of those Yank big dipper roller coasters that pressures the pit of your gut ! 3 points deserved for entertainment alone. Both keepers had good games and it could have been another 5 all score draw !! Yes TC only QPR could be involved in a match like that. Its the start we needed in the run up to the new year so here's to the fun and games and anxiety and anguish we relish in December..................
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Waithere added 07:23 - Dec 1
A cracker of a report, Clive! Well Done.
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London_Pride added 08:41 - Dec 1
As usual, a great report.
A small point but I think Barton took the corner for the third goal. Kranjcar had just taken one from the other side and I groaned when I saw Joey go to take the next one. I guess under the laws of probability one of his eventually had to reach the penalty box.
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xian added 10:19 - Dec 1
London Pride is correct, it was Joey who took the second corner. And I agree with timcocking that the report was a bit too mocking. This was redblooded stuff, entertaining from start to finish. I could not understand why Leicester fans on their noticeboard were so negative - they had great pace and a goalkeeper who could shoot for goal every time he has the ball...
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francisbowles added 10:19 - Dec 1
Great report Clive on a thoroughly enjoyable game. Came away absolutely shattered from the rollercoaster I had been on for 98 mins.

Just like to say I thought Fer was very good, easily his best game since his mom against Sunderland. 6 seems a bit low!
1

pedrosqpr added 10:46 - Dec 1
Good report son , nothing more to add except 2 spanish Real Madrid supporters sat next to me.
They said that QPR are fantastic value for money and often for them matches in la liga are very predictable.
enjoyable match but would prefer a better organised defence.
Now Dunney served his suspension .
who would have thought last season that Dunne and Henry would be part of the first team, long may it continue
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Northernr added 11:29 - Dec 1
Yeh don't get me wrong, I'll take this any day, I thought it was great. Pure QPR, exactly as we want them.

Francisbowles - Perhaps harsh but I work it out like this. I thought Cambiasso was the best player on the pitch, but wasn't a 10 or a 9, so he gets 8, and everything works back from that. So I thought Caulker, Vargas, Austin and Green played particularly well for us, but not as well as Cambiasso, so they get seven. I thought Fer and the others played well, but not as well as Caulker, Vargas etc so they get six. There is a sort of science to it :-D
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1MoreBrightonR added 11:29 - Dec 1
Thought the 6 for Fer was a bit harsh too. Although he still showed his failings giving the ball away at the odd key time, he scored, showed some excellent skill and won every header that came his way. Excellent report all round.
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Northernr added 11:31 - Dec 1
And I stand corrected on the Barton corner thing - we should have a picture of it framed as it misses the first man!
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HastingsRanger added 11:50 - Dec 1
This was a great spectacle and a credit to both teams. Only negative was that Schmeichel was never even spoken to regarding time wasting.

Whilst his defending is poor, I thought Kranjcar's performance on the dead ball, difficult to knock off the ball and deft turns was tremendous. Caulker was outstanding in my view, with intelligent distribution from his defensive headers too. Traore's osteoporosis seems to have been cured as he seems much more solid at the minute. Green and the centre backs do need to work on their communication - there were too many examples of this going wrong.

Just hope he persists with Onuoha, as we know he has the ability, seems low on confidence probably due to being played out of position.

Please can they start working on the away form, as that will be our downfall.


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Marshy added 12:33 - Dec 1
Just about recovering from all the stress and tension of Saturdays match. If we could sort out some of the aspects of our schoolboy defending, then we have the makings of a half decent team. We definitely missed Richard Dunne who will get his head and body behind pretty most everything that's in the air. Thought that Joey with his Hollywood passing gave a B movie performance. Nico was the outstanding player on the day for me followed closely by Vargas.

The main difference between this season compared to last is that we do look dangerous on the attack, and more than capable of scoring. The key to survival will be to keep particularly Austin and Vegas fit. Lose them and we could be stuffed.
0

AgedR added 13:23 - Dec 1
Typo I know Marshy, but, surely we should be singing "Viva Ed Vargas!" by now?
0

wrinklyhoop added 14:38 - Dec 1
Great write up! Mercifully we came out with the points, but any result could have happened. Best laugh of many was Nugent getting booked during the added time for dissent/ throwing the ball away!
0

onlyrinmoray added 15:17 - Dec 1
Listened to the game on Radio London via the internet Its strange listening to any game on the old fashioned wireless where you have to use your imagination. But this game was a nightmare. I was pacing up and down, jumping out of the chair, biting my nails for 95 mins Plus it had a woman commentator someone called Emma which was hard to cope with, and an ex Charlton midfielder as the expert The joys of being a long distant R
0

SimonJames added 15:26 - Dec 1
Great report. Sounds much more exciting than the turgid England performance against Australia that I was watching at Twickenham.
Although it sounds like QPR are going to continue to push my stress levels into the stratosphere this season.
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dixiedean added 19:17 - Dec 1
great report Clive and it made me chuckle a few times. I rarely find much to disagree with in your reports and articles, but I wasn't so impressed with the ref. He's a typical modern day ref- knows all the laws but not how to implement them with little feel for the game. As many have said I don't remember any hurry up gesture to Schmeichel when they were in the lead, yet as soon as Green did the same he was straight on it. And Yun's card ( while deserved) had a touch of the Mike Dean's about it, ie allow stacks of fouls by the opponent and then dish out a yellow to the 1st foul we commit. To be fair he didn't get anything badly wrong but was a sucker for the foul where any sort of contact means the player can fall over and get a free kick. God help him if he has to referee Drogba. And how ironic that Jones gives Aguero yellow for diving for a far more blatant foul than the one he gave for Vargas on Hazard. Sat was massively entertaining and long may that continue, but let's defend better. Maybe Green needs to be more vocal. Peter Shilton used to say his best games were when he never had a shot to save, because he had everyone organised, which Green doesn't do , so I think he has to take a share of the blame for when the defence switch off at free kicks. On we go - maybe we'll even get a point away from home one day.
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Loft1979 added 12:03 - Dec 2
Thank you. As usual, you did not disappoint!!
Important to any discussion is the fact that despite the win, QPR were not impressive. The tackling and defending was AWFULL. Caulker was a stand out, but Ned disappointed. However the fault lay in the game plan, absence of lynch pins (Dunne and Sandro) and the fact their was no defense support to the flanks, where their wings cut in time and time again.
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TacticalR added 23:11 - Dec 3
Great stuff. You really captured the hell for leather nature of the match. The commentators loved it.

At the beginning we looked very vulnerable to Leicester's breakaway attacks - in particular our centre-backs looked very naive in dealing with Leicester's route one balls from Schmeichel. Part of the problem is that neither centre-back looks the clear commanding player. At the end it could have been a draw or a Leicester victory.

Onuoha. Although he made some well-timed tackles, he really had a problem dealing with high balls.

Caulker. Seemed disorientated at the beginning of the match. Excellent run from deep for the first goal.

Barton. We really saw the two sides to his game. Tidy in midfield and defence, wild in his long passes and shots.

Fer. Looks composed on the ball and always looks like he can make things happen. Also had showed a good understanding with Yun.

Green. Some excellent saves that kept us in the game.
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