November ushered in several firsts at Loftus Road; the appearance of the yellow ball, the first truly ‘taters’ day at hoops headquarters, and the first game that by common consensus QPR had to win.
The changes to the R’s line-up were generally approved by the fans. Ferdinand replaced the banned Mbia and Djibril Cisse came in for Zamora who was carrying a hip injury. Shaun Wright-Phillips was nowhere to be seen in the match day 18, with Mackie coming in as the replacement.
Cisse sports his late entry for the Great British Bake Off
The R’s faithful shivered as the real hoops kicked off. The tone for the game was set early as the ball was immediately pumped forward into the arms of the Reading keeper Alex McCarthy. Moments later the ball was crossed in to the Rangers box, meeting the unchallenged head of former player Kaspars Gorkss, who prodded wide.
In a game which was to flowing football what Genghis Khan was to international diplomacy, Rangers made heavy weather from the off. Early chances for Cisse and Hoilett disguised a stuttering Rangers performance. A flexible formation for QPR unfortunately did not aid fluidity of movement. Mackie had an unusually quiet game supporting Cisse upfront, while Hoilett and Taarabt patrolled the wings with frequent switching.
The Reading midfield pairing consisted of another former R, Mikele Leigertwood and former Brentford and Coventry man Jay Tabb. Tabb, who like many of the Reading line-up, must consider himself fortunate to be playing in a Premier League outfit, was a combative presence for the away team. The central two time after time won the second ball in the middle of the park, enabling Reading to get more possession down the left with their adventurous Jobi McAnuff.
On the quarter-of-an-hour mark, McAnuff won a corner from one of his numerous forays forward. The resulting ball in was headed towards goal. Cesar managed to get a palm to it, only for it to fall to the once again unmarked Gorkss, who bundled the ball to the right of the stricken R’s keeper. Classily, Gorkss for the second time this season refrained from celebrating a goal in front of the Loft.
Leigertwood surges forward
As at West Brom and on countless other occasions this season, most R’s players’ heads dropped after conceding the early goal. But not all, Taarabt took it upon himself to fight for the cause and showed why he is now an automatic pick. On 25 minutes he dispossessed Tabb 30 yards out and surged forward to unleash a venomous shot which flew just over the bar.
Bar flashes of inspiration from our mercurial talent, only Diakite showed any flair with some of his trademark drifting runs. Elsewhere on the pitch it was huff and puff with little end product. Once again Rangers were frequently profligate with possession, with Bosingwa being the worst offender. Maddeningly, we often reverted to hoofball tactics, with Cisse and Mackie mostly getting nowhere near.
QPR’s best chance of the half came when Mackie was fouled on the left edge of the box by Sean Morrison. The strangely subdued Granero stepped up to fire on target, only for McCarthy to brilliantly push the ball onto the bar and away to safety.
The second-half was typified by long periods of scrappy play where neither side could truly assert dominance. Ironically it was the wasteful Bosingwa who turned provider of the cross on 66 minutes which Cisse poked home for the equaliser. Taarabt shortly afterwards tested McCarthy again with a low shot to the keeper’s right. Really Taarabt should have done enough to slot it home, but a brilliant save from the excellent Reading stopper kept it out.
The R’s man of the match awaits a ball in
Reading had chances to win the game and truly sour the afternoon for the Rangers support, notably through the substitutes Kebe. In truth however, this was a stalemate which was a fair result. The ambitions of the Rangers Board are flying sky-high of the realities of capability on the field when we fail to capitalise at home against a workmanlike Reading side.
This was a game of Championship quality against a Championship side. Little wonder then that the R’s message boards and Twitter were awash with calls for Hughes’s head, and derision at the Chairman’s latest excuse – that a number of our players are still coming to terms with Premier League football, Oh, that’s all right then…..
Team: Cesar 7, Traore 6 (Onuoha 6), Ferdinand 6, Nelsen 7, Bosingwa 5, Diakite 7, Taarabt 7, Granero 6, Cisse 6, Mackie 6 (Zamora 6), Hoilett 6,
Subs Not Used: Green, Hill, Derry, Wright-Phillips, Faurlin
QPR MOM – Adel Taarabt. Adel’s drive and class shone on a day when it wasn’t hard to set yourself apart from the pack.
Reading MOM – Kaspars Gorkss. A rock at the back and a real threat upfront.
Attendance: 16,797 (including 964 Reading fans)
Saycey
Thanks Finney. For the first time this season I am no longer sure MH can turn this around. If we defend like that at Stoke, well, there’s no point turning up. If we were to bring Redknapp in now – a top quality man-manager in the Warnock mould – it would restore confidence and take some pressure off the players. I don’t like seeing anyone sacked but it is the law of the jungle. My fear is Soton will lose tonight and turn to ‘Arry. Then we may have to get rid of the boss in a few games time anyway with no-one to turn to.
I had been privately quietly concerned that
while you can buy players a team has to be built,and that adage, as true in football as in business seemed to have passed MH by, i supported anyway impressed his revemping of the club behind the scenes, introducing sports scienece and so forth. Sunday was a turning point. The players, are better than that. They underperformed by and large.That is management it can solved by inspirational man management. People like Olly,Warnock,Big Sam and sadly for MH, Harry, can induce a group of players to play above themselves, and for the team to be greater than the sum of its parts. Now that MH and his more distant and aloof style ( the nuances of man management not being his greatest strength) has produced an underperformance on Sunday in front of the home fans who now clearly see that MH s weakness will see us relegated, the game is over. HR took Spurs from Bottom to success. He can do it here, for all his faults, this is Harrys moment.
–cometh the hour – cometh the man —
as the saying goes. CL
Steve that is also my fear i do not know what is going on at the club and why you sack one manager and start on the list with Harry on the top and it all becomes a merry go round.
sometimes a club needs to scout it’s people or do what Liverpool done for years and now Barca down and that is have a line of people who are cultured in the set up of the club.
Reading..Players like Le Fondre( Ex Rochdale Rotherham Stockport) L’wood (R’s championship reject) Jason Roberts well past sell by date. I could go on.
Why cant we beat a team with obviously lesser quality players than us on our own ground??
Why are Reading Norwich(Canaries dont believe in signing premiership players!) Wigan and West Ham above us in the league??
Sadly Mark Hughes doesnt have a good backroom staff to rely on. Who are they ? We know who Eddie Ned is, didnt he play for some second rate Chelsea side that we used to smash years ago………says it all!! If Neil Warnock had that squad and those players we’d at least have a good spirit in the camp. Rob Green didnt even smile let alone leave his seat when we scored on Sunday……some team spirit…Not!
Never been a fan of Hughes, it’s not the players, it’s the manager, no direction, no tactics no set pieces no plan B or organisation, no idea how to defend a corner or free kick. The squad has been improved in the last three transfer windows but the performances have declined.