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On the way home from Nottingham yesterday, it was one of the few times of watching QPR that there was almost a dead silence the whole way home. It really was one of those performances that left you just speechless. For anyone interested (wanting more punishment), here was my take on yesterday’s game.
I left the island at 12 o’clock, and after making my way through to London for a quick pick up, we headed up the motorway for Nottingham. The main topic of conversation was the sale of Wayne Routledge, and one that we felt extremely disappointed about. You do have to wonder just what direction the club is heading in when we even consider selling such an important player… But either way I was still quietly confident that we might sneak a result in typical QPR fashion, just when nobody expects it. Oh and I’ll add that we weren’t overly sympathetic towards the Palace situation…!
We parked up in the Nott’s County car park, and briskly walked round and into the stadium. I have to say, for a Tuesday night away game up there, I felt we took a pretty good following. It wasn’t a great surprise that we had two players making their debuts, with Quashie partnering Leigertwood in the middle, and Hill slotting in at left back… the latter particularly catching my eye in the opening few minutes. Without doing anything particularly spectacular it was clear from his first few touches that he really can play football.
I’ve tried to blot as much from yesterday out of my mind, but I believe it was a fairly early goal that they scored. Anderson fed Earnshaw on the edge of the box, and I think it was a challenge from Gorkss which led to the freekick. It was one of those horrible angles where you felt that should it get over the wall, it would more than likely find its way into the back of the net. Sure enough it did just that, and Earnshaw wheeled away in celebration at putting Forest a goal to the good. Camp turned towards our direction and seemed to go fairly overboard with his chest pumping and celebration… it was clear he was desperate to beat us.
Undeterred, the travelling QPR fans still stuck right behind them though, and I still felt that maybe we could do something. Shortly after we were punished yet again, after some very slack defending. I think it was Quashie who was robbed in the middle of the park, and a simple through ball led to Earnshaw with a one on one chance with Ikeme, which again in all honesty he dispatched perfectly. What happened to the defending here I don’t know - they seemed to be all over the place?!
I’m trying to think of one chance or time that we really tested Camp, or even had ONE effort on goal – but truly I just can’t think of anything at all!
The mood did turn far more sour shortly after when we found ourselves 3-0 down. I have to say, I thought we were very unlucky with the penalty decision that they were awarded. Again, I think it was Earnshaw that went down and it wasn’t a surprise to see Blackstock demand that he took the penalty. As his shot blasted in off the left hand post, it was game over in my mind… And the sight of him celebrating wildly with their fans didn’t help the mood either.
The rest of the first half went by without us creating anything, and while Forest did look dangerous coming forward, I can’t think of any more real opportunities that they could realistically have scored from.
As the players walked off for the first half, I felt just gob-smacked… little did I know that far worse was to come.
Harford decided to mix things up at half time, and Stewart and Faurlin (why why why!) made way for Ephraim and Ramage. I’ll be honest, after the first half showing I never felt we had even the slightest chance of getting anything from the game, but the one thing I was hoping for was a bit of heart and effort from the players.
After kicking off it seemed like only a couple of minutes, and Forest had scored yet again. After coming through completely unopposed one of their players (I don’t have a clue who, my head was buried in my hands after this one hit the net), had a shot from the edge of the box. It would probably be a little harsh to say that it was a routine save for Ikeme as it was shot with a fair amount of power, but I’m sure he will be disappointed not to have stopped it.
I noticed a number of QPR fans leaving the game at this stage... It couldn’t have even hit 50 minutes on the clock. But all hope was lost, and the noise from the travelling QPR fans was well and truly muted. This is the first time that I can say that I have ever felt this, but as a whole those 11 players on the pitch didn’t deserve any support at all.
One of the few times that I could actually find something to smile about was when we were awarded our first corner of the game. It must have been around the 60th minute… “Came for this corner, we only came for this corner” was sung by the now sparse travelling fans.
I would go into detail about just how badly we played, but I’m sure without reading any other reports/snippets from games that you probably know all too well just how poor it was. Watching Forest demolish us with such ease was just painful. As I mentioned above, just some amount of effort would have gone down a treat. But never have I seen a QPR side bottle so many 50/50 tackles. Forest were given the freedom of the pitch yesterday, and while our defence backed off and backed off – every single one of their players were right in our faces the second any of our players touched the ball… and that ran through from defence to attack.
Again, sadly it was no surprise when Forest scored yet again… I think it was Blackstock that got in behind Ramage, and after a goal line scrap the ball eventually fell to Birch who made no mistake in sliding the ball past Ikeme. A small chant of “You’re even worse than Cerny” started, but then soon faded out. Another negative on what was a shocking night.
One funny highlight for me was when Blackstock went over to celebrate in the corner following this goal… A man to our right stood up pointing at him shouting “You should have stayed with the Rangers” then briskly charged out of the ground with his son following closely behind.
By this stage the dwindling support that was left to entertain themselves with the following chants –
“Furlong, there’s only one Furlong!”
“One Peter Ramage, there’s only one Peter Ramage… Walking along singing a song, walking in a Ramage wonderland!”
“Kevin Gallen’s magic…”
Then one that did make me laugh…
“If you can’t borrow money Borrowdale!”
It’s a sad state of affairs when the second richest club in the world’s supporters are driven to a stage where those chants are the only form of entertainment, but that really is how low we plunged to last night.
As the clock ticked down towards the final whistle, you were almost begging for it to just end. Those 50/50 challenges that the players weren’t going in for turned from being half-hearted to just downright insulting! A heated blast of “Put a tackle in” came from where we were sitting, and I think it was fully justified.
As a handful of the players walked over to clap the fans, I took one MAJOR thing from the game… Nigel Quashie. I read a post by Scott Jones on WATRB speaking about how Quashie understood the fans frustrations etc, and I’ll hold my hands up and say that I still thought it was an appalling signing. I’m more than happy to say that I couldn’t have been further from the truth. He walked right down to the supporters, and while looking up he must have apologized near on 10 times to the fans… he truly looked absolutely devastated!
Again it’s not something I take any pleasure in whatsoever, but with that performance yesterday, it’s clear that certain players don’t want to be here. Quashie’s character as much as anything makes him absolutely pivotal to us restoring any form of pride this season… and fitness permitting I would start him in every single game possible.
Speaking on a personal note, I have been quite critical of those supporters who “want their Ranger’s back” but last night I think I finally understood exactly where they are coming from. Genuinely, I would rather see us have the likes of Bignot, Bircham & Furlong than people like Borrowdale, Buzsaky & Taarabt. There is not one cent of passion in this squad at all, and far too many players are more than happy to just pick up their pay cheque’s and not show up on a match day. My mindset has completely changed as well… Before I wanted someone like Beckford/Jackson, but I’ve gone way past that now. All I want is to see a full 11 that want to play for QPR.
There were a couple of players I thought were worthy of a special mention:
Quashie – As mentioned above, I’m more than happy to eat humble pie on this one. One of only a couple of players that genuinely looked interested. He didn’t have the best game, but he was by far and away our MOTM on the night. Possibly not yet fully fit, but did work ever so hard. His expression at the final tells you everything you need to know about him… he’s a real winner. I will never criticize any player that puts in just half of the amount of heart that he does. Top signing.
Hill – It might seem a little ironic that I am commending on a defender after we have shipped 5 goals, but there were positives to take from him. I was quite shocked at quite how small he is, but there is definitely a very good footballer in there. Looked like a fairly pacey full back, and had a couple of moments that went beyond CCC level defending with great intelligence. Very good on the ball, and again a promising signing based on this performance.
Buzsaky – I’ve had enough of him now. I must sound like a broken record, but as I have said for weeks on end, he was shocking AGAIN yesterday. His refusal to track back, and actually work for us was beyond belief (admittedly he wasn’t the only one). The argument that he has been played out of position doesn’t wash wish me either… I cannot believe that a footballer that is paid circa £12k a week cannot pass a ball 5 yards. It’s almost as if the ‘White Pele’ song has gone to his head, and he now feels that its job done. How much worse he will have to play before he is dropped is just beyond me! If ever there was a player living off of his name it’s apparent here. Deserving of way more than just a head-butt by Magilton in my opinion!
Taarabt – We all know what a special player he can be, but he was irritating in the extreme last night. Lost possession over and over again, and like Buzsaky – has this almost arrogance that he is too good to chase back and work. Extremely disappointed in him after such a promising display under Harford against Blackpool.
The above were the only ones that really stuck out to me, the rest were all pretty shocking as well in honesty. Ramage was absolutely destroyed at right back, and again while I will never slate him for his effort… he just isn’t good enough.
We are going to need to play a hundred times better than this next week or we will get slaughtered again. The QPR fan’s reached boiling point last night, I cringe at how bad things could turn at Loftus Road if they play the same way again.
I know we all have our opinions at what has gone wrong at the club, but for me when you see a squad of professional players look so unmotivated to play a game of football you know that there is a fundamental error behind the scenes. If I was one of those players, I would feel moved to refund every single one of those fans yesterday. To spend all that money trying to follow your team, and then have to sit through a team devoid of any desire was such a slap in the face. I have seen young children playing football in a park with more effort than that bunch… it may sound cliché but its absolutely spot on.
I couldn’t speak highly enough of them after Blackpool, and yet a matter of days after that game, the very same players almost refuse to play?! It can’t be that ALL the managers we have had in charge are wrong, and it stems so much further than just the coaching etc. I know a fair few fans point the finger at Paladini. Genuinely I don’t see him as being the problem at all. There is one man that is destroying this football club… Flavio Briatore… and I would include the Mittal’s in that if they are happy enough to stand by and watch this circus continue.
I have tried to stand by and support this board for as long as I could… enough is enough. Just a couple of weeks ago I ripped into those supporters who chanted against the board against Sheffield United… my message to them now is SING YOUR HEARTS OUT!
Our loyal supporters have suffered far too much under them, and I hope that as a united force, we can force this bunch of idiots out of our football club.
*I just wanted to add that I hope this doesn’t come across as just another supporter venting their frustration on a message board. Against Sheffield United I didn’t feel the players deserved all the stick that they got, I thought we showed a lot of effort and determination in that game. At 3-0 down, we pulled it back to 3-2 and could have drawn… I wasn’t too downbeat. But yesterday was just a performance that you cannot pull any positives from whatsoever.
If we get thumped 10-0 but they come off the pitch having put in a shift I wouldn’t EVER knock them… sadly Quashie aside, they just weren’t bothered.
WE WANT OUR RANGER’S BACK!!!
I left the island at 12 o’clock, and after making my way through to London for a quick pick up, we headed up the motorway for Nottingham. The main topic of conversation was the sale of Wayne Routledge, and one that we felt extremely disappointed about. You do have to wonder just what direction the club is heading in when we even consider selling such an important player… But either way I was still quietly confident that we might sneak a result in typical QPR fashion, just when nobody expects it. Oh and I’ll add that we weren’t overly sympathetic towards the Palace situation…!
We parked up in the Nott’s County car park, and briskly walked round and into the stadium. I have to say, for a Tuesday night away game up there, I felt we took a pretty good following. It wasn’t a great surprise that we had two players making their debuts, with Quashie partnering Leigertwood in the middle, and Hill slotting in at left back… the latter particularly catching my eye in the opening few minutes. Without doing anything particularly spectacular it was clear from his first few touches that he really can play football.
I’ve tried to blot as much from yesterday out of my mind, but I believe it was a fairly early goal that they scored. Anderson fed Earnshaw on the edge of the box, and I think it was a challenge from Gorkss which led to the freekick. It was one of those horrible angles where you felt that should it get over the wall, it would more than likely find its way into the back of the net. Sure enough it did just that, and Earnshaw wheeled away in celebration at putting Forest a goal to the good. Camp turned towards our direction and seemed to go fairly overboard with his chest pumping and celebration… it was clear he was desperate to beat us.
Undeterred, the travelling QPR fans still stuck right behind them though, and I still felt that maybe we could do something. Shortly after we were punished yet again, after some very slack defending. I think it was Quashie who was robbed in the middle of the park, and a simple through ball led to Earnshaw with a one on one chance with Ikeme, which again in all honesty he dispatched perfectly. What happened to the defending here I don’t know - they seemed to be all over the place?!
I’m trying to think of one chance or time that we really tested Camp, or even had ONE effort on goal – but truly I just can’t think of anything at all!
The mood did turn far more sour shortly after when we found ourselves 3-0 down. I have to say, I thought we were very unlucky with the penalty decision that they were awarded. Again, I think it was Earnshaw that went down and it wasn’t a surprise to see Blackstock demand that he took the penalty. As his shot blasted in off the left hand post, it was game over in my mind… And the sight of him celebrating wildly with their fans didn’t help the mood either.
The rest of the first half went by without us creating anything, and while Forest did look dangerous coming forward, I can’t think of any more real opportunities that they could realistically have scored from.
As the players walked off for the first half, I felt just gob-smacked… little did I know that far worse was to come.
Harford decided to mix things up at half time, and Stewart and Faurlin (why why why!) made way for Ephraim and Ramage. I’ll be honest, after the first half showing I never felt we had even the slightest chance of getting anything from the game, but the one thing I was hoping for was a bit of heart and effort from the players.
After kicking off it seemed like only a couple of minutes, and Forest had scored yet again. After coming through completely unopposed one of their players (I don’t have a clue who, my head was buried in my hands after this one hit the net), had a shot from the edge of the box. It would probably be a little harsh to say that it was a routine save for Ikeme as it was shot with a fair amount of power, but I’m sure he will be disappointed not to have stopped it.
I noticed a number of QPR fans leaving the game at this stage... It couldn’t have even hit 50 minutes on the clock. But all hope was lost, and the noise from the travelling QPR fans was well and truly muted. This is the first time that I can say that I have ever felt this, but as a whole those 11 players on the pitch didn’t deserve any support at all.
One of the few times that I could actually find something to smile about was when we were awarded our first corner of the game. It must have been around the 60th minute… “Came for this corner, we only came for this corner” was sung by the now sparse travelling fans.
I would go into detail about just how badly we played, but I’m sure without reading any other reports/snippets from games that you probably know all too well just how poor it was. Watching Forest demolish us with such ease was just painful. As I mentioned above, just some amount of effort would have gone down a treat. But never have I seen a QPR side bottle so many 50/50 tackles. Forest were given the freedom of the pitch yesterday, and while our defence backed off and backed off – every single one of their players were right in our faces the second any of our players touched the ball… and that ran through from defence to attack.
Again, sadly it was no surprise when Forest scored yet again… I think it was Blackstock that got in behind Ramage, and after a goal line scrap the ball eventually fell to Birch who made no mistake in sliding the ball past Ikeme. A small chant of “You’re even worse than Cerny” started, but then soon faded out. Another negative on what was a shocking night.
One funny highlight for me was when Blackstock went over to celebrate in the corner following this goal… A man to our right stood up pointing at him shouting “You should have stayed with the Rangers” then briskly charged out of the ground with his son following closely behind.
By this stage the dwindling support that was left to entertain themselves with the following chants –
“Furlong, there’s only one Furlong!”
“One Peter Ramage, there’s only one Peter Ramage… Walking along singing a song, walking in a Ramage wonderland!”
“Kevin Gallen’s magic…”
Then one that did make me laugh…
“If you can’t borrow money Borrowdale!”
It’s a sad state of affairs when the second richest club in the world’s supporters are driven to a stage where those chants are the only form of entertainment, but that really is how low we plunged to last night.
As the clock ticked down towards the final whistle, you were almost begging for it to just end. Those 50/50 challenges that the players weren’t going in for turned from being half-hearted to just downright insulting! A heated blast of “Put a tackle in” came from where we were sitting, and I think it was fully justified.
As a handful of the players walked over to clap the fans, I took one MAJOR thing from the game… Nigel Quashie. I read a post by Scott Jones on WATRB speaking about how Quashie understood the fans frustrations etc, and I’ll hold my hands up and say that I still thought it was an appalling signing. I’m more than happy to say that I couldn’t have been further from the truth. He walked right down to the supporters, and while looking up he must have apologized near on 10 times to the fans… he truly looked absolutely devastated!
Again it’s not something I take any pleasure in whatsoever, but with that performance yesterday, it’s clear that certain players don’t want to be here. Quashie’s character as much as anything makes him absolutely pivotal to us restoring any form of pride this season… and fitness permitting I would start him in every single game possible.
Speaking on a personal note, I have been quite critical of those supporters who “want their Ranger’s back” but last night I think I finally understood exactly where they are coming from. Genuinely, I would rather see us have the likes of Bignot, Bircham & Furlong than people like Borrowdale, Buzsaky & Taarabt. There is not one cent of passion in this squad at all, and far too many players are more than happy to just pick up their pay cheque’s and not show up on a match day. My mindset has completely changed as well… Before I wanted someone like Beckford/Jackson, but I’ve gone way past that now. All I want is to see a full 11 that want to play for QPR.
There were a couple of players I thought were worthy of a special mention:
Quashie – As mentioned above, I’m more than happy to eat humble pie on this one. One of only a couple of players that genuinely looked interested. He didn’t have the best game, but he was by far and away our MOTM on the night. Possibly not yet fully fit, but did work ever so hard. His expression at the final tells you everything you need to know about him… he’s a real winner. I will never criticize any player that puts in just half of the amount of heart that he does. Top signing.
Hill – It might seem a little ironic that I am commending on a defender after we have shipped 5 goals, but there were positives to take from him. I was quite shocked at quite how small he is, but there is definitely a very good footballer in there. Looked like a fairly pacey full back, and had a couple of moments that went beyond CCC level defending with great intelligence. Very good on the ball, and again a promising signing based on this performance.
Buzsaky – I’ve had enough of him now. I must sound like a broken record, but as I have said for weeks on end, he was shocking AGAIN yesterday. His refusal to track back, and actually work for us was beyond belief (admittedly he wasn’t the only one). The argument that he has been played out of position doesn’t wash wish me either… I cannot believe that a footballer that is paid circa £12k a week cannot pass a ball 5 yards. It’s almost as if the ‘White Pele’ song has gone to his head, and he now feels that its job done. How much worse he will have to play before he is dropped is just beyond me! If ever there was a player living off of his name it’s apparent here. Deserving of way more than just a head-butt by Magilton in my opinion!
Taarabt – We all know what a special player he can be, but he was irritating in the extreme last night. Lost possession over and over again, and like Buzsaky – has this almost arrogance that he is too good to chase back and work. Extremely disappointed in him after such a promising display under Harford against Blackpool.
The above were the only ones that really stuck out to me, the rest were all pretty shocking as well in honesty. Ramage was absolutely destroyed at right back, and again while I will never slate him for his effort… he just isn’t good enough.
We are going to need to play a hundred times better than this next week or we will get slaughtered again. The QPR fan’s reached boiling point last night, I cringe at how bad things could turn at Loftus Road if they play the same way again.
I know we all have our opinions at what has gone wrong at the club, but for me when you see a squad of professional players look so unmotivated to play a game of football you know that there is a fundamental error behind the scenes. If I was one of those players, I would feel moved to refund every single one of those fans yesterday. To spend all that money trying to follow your team, and then have to sit through a team devoid of any desire was such a slap in the face. I have seen young children playing football in a park with more effort than that bunch… it may sound cliché but its absolutely spot on.
I couldn’t speak highly enough of them after Blackpool, and yet a matter of days after that game, the very same players almost refuse to play?! It can’t be that ALL the managers we have had in charge are wrong, and it stems so much further than just the coaching etc. I know a fair few fans point the finger at Paladini. Genuinely I don’t see him as being the problem at all. There is one man that is destroying this football club… Flavio Briatore… and I would include the Mittal’s in that if they are happy enough to stand by and watch this circus continue.
I have tried to stand by and support this board for as long as I could… enough is enough. Just a couple of weeks ago I ripped into those supporters who chanted against the board against Sheffield United… my message to them now is SING YOUR HEARTS OUT!
Our loyal supporters have suffered far too much under them, and I hope that as a united force, we can force this bunch of idiots out of our football club.
*I just wanted to add that I hope this doesn’t come across as just another supporter venting their frustration on a message board. Against Sheffield United I didn’t feel the players deserved all the stick that they got, I thought we showed a lot of effort and determination in that game. At 3-0 down, we pulled it back to 3-2 and could have drawn… I wasn’t too downbeat. But yesterday was just a performance that you cannot pull any positives from whatsoever.
If we get thumped 10-0 but they come off the pitch having put in a shift I wouldn’t EVER knock them… sadly Quashie aside, they just weren’t bothered.
WE WANT OUR RANGER’S BACK!!!
NPower Champions 2010/2011
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