Rangers first away
trip of the season came quickly after our
first home one with just over 48 hours to
recover from playing in the blistering heat
on Saturday. The trip to Watford though
saw rather different elements with pouring
rain and humid weather making it more like
an October evening than an August one.
Rangers fans turned out in good numbers
for this one with what looked like over
3,000 in the away end and we were in good
voice ahead of the game. Before kick off
the Watford announcer asked for fans to
look at the big screen to our right for
a tribute to Jimmy Davis who died a year
ago in a car accident.
Bizarrely a picture of Jimmy was shown with
the theme tune to Kill Bill playing over
the PA. Fans of both clubs didn't seem to
know what to do as we stood in silence and
then waited for something to happen and
instead the song just ended and the teams
came out to bemused looks from everyone
in the stadium. That has to be the weirdest
tribute I've ever seen.
Rangers came out wearing the all new sky
blue kit which looks better than I expected
but it's not really QPR and I think it's
a joke that we don't wear hoops even when
our kit doesn't clash.
Ian Holloway sprung a few surprises with
the team line up. Gareth Ainsworth was deemed
too tired to play twice in three days so
dropped to the bench and Kevin McLeod made
his first start of the season. George Santos
replaced Marcus bean and started in the
back four as Matthew Rose went into the
midfield position he rarely looks comfortable
in. Tony Thorpe also got a first start of
the season in place of Paul Furlong.
We started brightly though and tried to
get the ball out wide and get some crosses
in. The midfield battle was pretty fierce
with some rather strong tackles going in.
One hard tackle from behind by Rowlands
looked like it may yield a yellow card for
him but the ref played on and the ball ran
through for Gallen. Gallen held off his
man but lacked the pace to get away from
his defender and shot wide of the far post.
It was an encouraging start but our defensive
frailties soon reared their ugly head. A
distinct lack of pace at the back was obvious
from the start and our offside trap clearly
wasn't working. A ball through the middle
saw arms go up and although Danny Webber
looked offside we should have played to
the whistle.
Webber ran through
and Day came out but then stopped giving
Webber enough time to easily take the ball
past Day and roll it into the net. Santos
made a late bid to clear it off the line
but just managed to put it in his own net
instead and we were 1-0 down.
The Watford fans woke up from their silence
to give a little cheer before going back
to sleep again and their team took over
the game as we looked like frightened rabbits
starring into the headlights. The midfield
completely lost their way as they gave the
ball away quickly and Watford played through
us with some nice football.
One nice move saw
good movement off the ball by the midfield
and forwards as we stood static and a neat
ball to Webber saw him receive the ball
with his back to goal and a little shimmy
later he had left Arthur for dead but his
finish was poor and he fired into the back
of the stand.
It was not looking good for us and simple
balls through the middle were carving us
apart. The defence were trying to play offside
but got their lines all wrong and didn't
have the pace to recover. Danny Webber must
have thought it was still the warm up as
he got the freedom of the Rangers half to
run clean through with no one near him.
This time though Day produced an excellent
save to turn it around the post.
Marcus Bignot was our only plus point of
the a dreadful first half. His pace got
us out of several difficult situations and
he was our only player who looked comfortable
at this level.
A long break in play allowed us to regroup
as Sean Dyche went down with a head injury
and the netting came lose in Chris Days
goal. We were treated to the hilarious scene
of the groundsmen trying to reach the crossbar
but not quite being tall enough and cries
of you don't know what your doing seemed
to fluster the poor bloke even more as he
made hooking a piece of net onto the crossbar
looks as difficult as we were making putting
three passes together.
The gap in play seemed to help us and we
had our best spell of the game. Padula whipped
another corner right on top of the keeper
but hit the roof of the net for the second
time in the game. Rowlands fired a long
range free kick just over the bar.
We then looked like we had gone level only
for the referee and linesmen to go against
us. A cross to the far post saw the keeper
come to claim it and he appeared to drop
the ball and allowed McLeod to tap it into
an empty net. The goal was ruled out for
a foul on the keeper. I've not seen it on
tv yet but at the time it didn't look like
a foul but referees usually blow whenever
someone goes near a goalkeeper. We didn't
deserve to be level but it would have changed
the game if it had been given.
Rangers pushed forward trying to get that
vital goal before half time. Our best chance
then came as good work by Gallen saw him
put in a low cross and Thorpe was inches
away from getting on the end of it and turning
it past Lee in the Watford goal.
Hopes were high among the Rangers fans of
getting back in the game but disaster struck
after the fourth official signalled three
minutes of added time. Panic in the Rangers
area resulted in a free kick being given.
Once again we looked clueless at how to
defend but for once we held or offisde line
as Devlin crossed for Dyer and the ball
came off the big mans nose and went in.
Dyer looked yards
offside and replays seem to show he was
offside but the linesmen bottled it and
as the ref was going over to speak to his
assistant about it the replay was shown
on a big screen ten yards behind them which
proved it was offside. I'm not a huge fan
of the video replay but if they can get
it shown on the big screen within 30 seconds
it may be worth doing so we get the right
decisions in future.
Half time came and a few boos for the officials
but the truth was Watford were well worthy
of the two goal lead and we were heading
for a heavy defeat in front of the Sky cameras.
Holloway made two changes at the break.
Paul Furlong came on for Kevin Mcleod with
Gallen switching to the left wing and Marcus
Bean replaced George Santos. We started
the half brightly as we urged the team on
to get a goal back. Gallen and Thorpe linked
well on the left and we won an early corner
but chances were few and far between.
We looked like we had run out of ideas very
early on and Watford always looked like
adding more to their tally. Dyer missed
a great chance as he got through against
Day but placed his volley wide of the post.
They were soon 3-0 up through more pitiful
defending and some not to great refereeing.
A ball over the top left us square again
although Webber again looked well offside.
It's hard to tell if he was or not but judging
by the other decisions this muppet gave
I expect he got it wrong. Webber was one
on one with Day and Day made it easy for
the striker going down early and letting
Webber take it round the keeper again. This
time though he hit the post and Rangers
failed to react to the rebound which Webber
stroked home. 3-0 and it was all very embarrassing
now.
It could and possibly should have got worse
for us as Webber broke through several times
but was denied a hat trick via some poor
finishing. The linesmen at the Watford end
had totally lost the plot by now and was
waving offside for everything now including
a laughable decision against Watford when
a Padula back pass was cut out by Webber
but the former Man Utd player was waved
offside. Even the basic rules of football
were too much for this bloke who will hopefully
be sent back to school to learn the rules
for a few weeks before he gets anywhere
near an important football match again.
In between all this Lee Cook came on to
make his debut for Rangers and was booed
by the Watford fans who took great delight
in telling him the score. Fair play to the
Watford fans though who gave very good receptions
to old boys Chris Day and Richard Johnson.
Apart from booing him they were pretty quiet
and the QPR fans kept themselves awake with
chants such as Your fans are shit and various
other songs. It was quite funny at the time
but always a bad sign when the only thing
we have to sing about is the oppositions
fans.
Watford had one late chance when substitute
Hameur Buazza headed over from close range
with Day beaten and the final whistle came
as a relief to Rangers fans so we could
put this game behind us.
So much went wrong in this game it is hard
to know where to start. The referee and
linesmen were dire, gifting Watford one
goal with a terrible offside decision which
they tried to make up for by flagging them
offside for the last 20 minutes when the
game was already over. The ref let so many
tackles from behind go I'd be surprised
if he's allowed to stay at this level for
long. Dyche and Cox put in some very late
tackles that went unpunished whilst Rowlands
was again lucky to avoid an early bath with
one dodgy tackle which the ref didn't even
give a free kick for.
Still I don't think we can look for excuses
and as Holloway said the ref made mistakes
but not as many as our team. We were dire
in so many positions it was scary and the
performance was very reminiscent of our
last visit here during our relegation season.
Changes need to be made and quickly if we
are to avoid our season being over before
it even gets going.
I think we need some pace in the back with
Forbes looking a necessity at the moment.
Rowlands and Gallen need to buck their ideas
up and the midfield and forwards need to
show far more movement off the ball than
they have in the first two matches of the
season.
Onto Sunderland now who on paper our the
best of our first three opponents which
is pretty scary considering how we struggled
against Watford in this game.
Man of
the Match: Marcus Bignot
Players
Ratings
1.
Chris Day: Poor decsion making for the
first goal and he needs to come off his
line when the offside trap fails. Not his
best nights work in a QPR shirt. 6/10
2.
Marcus Bignot: The only player to come
out with any credit. Worked hard and defended
pretty well. 8/10
3.
Gino Padula: Started well but struggled
after we went a goal down and wasn't at
his best. 6/10
22.
Arthur Gnohere: Looked woefully slow
and clumsy against a decent Watford strike
force. It's amazing that he was playing
regularly at this level just a few months
ago. 5/10
23.
George Santos: Moved from central defence
after a poor start. I thought he did OK
in midfield but not the best of full debuts.
6/10
7.
Matthew Rose: A strange decision from
Holloway to play him in midfield and he
did better when he went back in defence.
He was caught ball watching a few times
though and the movement of the Watford forwards
had him beaten on more than one occasion.
6/10
6.
Richard Johnson: Got a good reception
from the Watford fans but did very little
when the game started. He seemed to want
to sit far too deep which had him always
under pressure and giving the ball away.
5/10
14.
Martin Rowlands: Another very poor performance
from Rowlands, well bellow his best and
he needs to improve very quickly. 5/10
18.
Kevin McLeod: Worked hard on the left
and was improving before the break. I thought
he was a bit unlucky to be taken off. 6/10
9.
Tony Thorpe: Ran
his socks off but every ball to him was
played over his head so he had no chance
of making an impact. 6/10
10.
Kevin Gallen: Was played in three different
positions and was disappointing in all of
them. Never really got into the game. 5/10
Subs.
16.
Marcus Bean : Worked hard and brought
a bit of bite to the midfield but the game
was over by the time he came on. 6/10
29.
Paul Furlong: One
of the few players who wanted the ball even
at 3-0 down and kept going until the end.
7/10
17. Lee Cook: His
every touch was booed by Watford fans and
he gave them plenty to cheer about by miss
controlling it every time it came near him.
His first game since May though so good to
see him get a half an hour run out. 6/10
