After a two week
break it was back to QPR again yesterday and it all had a fresh
feel about it with new players and new optimism for a brighter future.
It didn't take long for that optimism to be kicked into touch. Jim Magilton changed things round again with two players making a home debut for the visit of Darren Fergusson's Peterborough. Mikele Leigterwood moved to right back as Ramage dropped to the bench whilst Stewart came in for the injured Hall. Ben Watson made his debut in midfield alongside Faurlin, Ephraim and Routledge whilst the front two remained the same as the on loan Taarabt and Simpson were paired together. On paper at least
it looked a strong line up but with the side playing together for
the first time it proved to be a tough afternoon for Rangers. We
started well enough though and won an early free kick on the edge
of the box which Watson fired in straight at the keeper. The visitors looked the more organised of the two teas and began to grow into the game when Mackail-Smith saw his deflected shot beat Cerny but drift wide of the post. That was a warning shot to rangers and we started to look a little nervous. Watson was caught
in possession just outside our own box and Peterborough quickly
turned that mistake into a goal. The ball was played out to Tommy
"Square it" Williams and his inch perfect cross into the
middle was met by Aaron McClean to glance a header past Cerny into
the back of the net. It was a decent goal but one that could have
been avoided with first Watson giving the ball away, then a failure
again to stop the cross before slack marking in the middle. Not
the best from our point of view but still plenty of time to fight
back. We looked low on
confidence though as we tried to play from the back unsuccessfully
leaving the front two very isolated up front. Routledge and Ephraim
were getting no real joy out wide and very little support from the
two full backs who were very busy having to defend against the pace
and power out wide of Peterborough. The visitors continued
to have chances with a shot going well wide parried away for a corner
by a very nervous looking Cerny. Peterborough should have been two
up midway through the half but within a minute it was Rangers who
were level. Frecklington broke
clear of the Rangers defence and teed the ball up for a shot but
as he pulled the trigger Ben Watson came from nowhere and won the
ball with a superbly timed tackle. If he'd got that wrong it would
have been a penalty and a red card but the brilliant tackle saw
him come away with the ball and Rangers broke and then equalised. Taarabt got on the
ball in the middle and despite cries from the crowd for him to go
out wide he cut inside and played an unexpected ball into the box
for Simpson and with Peterborough's defence carved open Simpson
laid it back to Routledge who made no mistake shooting through the
defenders legs and past the keeper from eight yards out. That was
a fifth goal of the season for Routledge in what was probably his
least effective performance so far. Routledge needs just two more
goals for his best ever scoring season. The goal settled
Rangers down and we began to play some decent stuff as
we grew in confidence but chances continued to be hard to come by
with a deflected Watson free kick the best of them. At the break a draw
was about right but we looked quite capable of stepping up a gear
and winning the game, sadly the opposite happened and we spent much
of the second half hanging in for dear life. Mackail-Smith had
the first chance of the second hand and he should have done better
shooting straight at Cerny. Rangers huffed and
puffed but played with no real confidence r authority and only really
looked a threat from set pieces. Watson put in a good corner for
Connolly to head over the bar whilst Stewart peeled away from his
man but couldn't connect to a near post Watson corner. As usual it was
Taarabt who made way which prompted some boo's from the crowd, I'm
not sure why as he had done next to nothing since half time. Rowan
Vine replaced him whilst Martin Rowlands returned from injury in
place of Faurlin who I thought had played pretty well. The changes didn't
have the desired effect with Vine looking hopelessly out of form
and Rowlands looked rusty to say the least. Routledge and Vine
both put in decent balls from out wide as we looked for a winner
but too often any good approach play was wasted with a lack of numbers
in the box, it was similar to what we've seen for the last year
really. Akos Buzsaky was next on for the disappointing Ephraim and
Buzsaky played with plenty of effort and determination with his
best display since returning from injury. The visitors were
growing into the game though and in the final twenty minutes there
only looked one winner and it wasn't us. Cerny made one good save
from a long range shot but the number of dangerous balls into the
box and corners being won had us really hanging on. McClean should have
won it for the visitors when a brilliant ball in by Williams gave
him a free header from close range but he put it wide. Peterborough should
have won it in the last minute when a long range shot was parried
by Cerny and Mackail-Smith was on hand to bury the rebound. The
Peterborough players went mad celebrating with the fans in the away
end for a good sixty seconds completely unaware that the offside
flag had gone up. It didn't look offside to me and still doesn't
when you see it on TV but we had got away with it. The referee wouldn't
let us play on with the players celebrating which was a pain and
probably our best chance of scoring if the other team was not on
the pitch. The boos at the
final whistle were a little harsh but a fourth home draw in a row
is not really good enough and with performance snot great either
it is a pretty depressing place to watch football at the moment. The problem to me
was that Peterborough look like what they are, a side who has played
together for 3 years and knew what they were doing under a manager
given time and the resources to bring in his own players and build
his own team. It's not rocket science and you compare that to a
QPR side who go through managers like no one's business and have
not named an unchanged side since January it's no wonder we look
like a team of strangers every week. I think we just
need to settle down and give this side a run together rather than
wholesale changes every week. We looked ok at times but very few
of the players are on the same wavelength and that won't come until
they play more together. Magilton is trying to get the team to play
from the back but to do that the players need time to learn each
other's game and grow in confidence together, at the moment the
back four changes every game and the midfield contains just one
player who has been ever present this season.0 We had some good
moments in the second half but just that lack of understanding between
players saw the wrong final ball made too often. It wasn't all bad
but on that showing and what I've seen of us so far this season
we look like we need to build confidence and find a settled side,
if we can keep picking up results and not lose too many along the
way we should improve as the season goes on. Magilton really
needs to settle on a team and stick with it, we all have our opinions
on what the team should be, personally I'd go with Cerny in goal
a back four of Leigterwood, Gorkss, Connolly and Borrowdale with
a midfield four of Routledge, Watson, Faurlin and Taarabt on the
left. Buzsaky could then play in the hole behind Simpson. I'd like
to see that side given five or six games to play together and see
how we get on. I thought Watson had a steady debut, made one outstanding tackle which kept it at 1-0 and we scored within a minute of that, a real game changing moment. He soon picked up the QPR way of hitting corners to the first man so he is a fast learner. Simpson looked decent
up front but not really the answer to our goal scoring problems.
Leigterwood played well at right back and will hopefully make that
position his own but does need to get forward and support Routledge
a bit more and at least take one of the defenders away and allow
Routledge to make use of the extra space. On the downside Rowlands was poor when he came on and Ephraim was a waste of time on the left, nice stopovers as usual but no end product and Stewart was woeful again, we seem to have got the 2006 version of Stewart back this season rather than the one who has played the last two years. I thought the booing at the end was harsh but seems
to happen every week now, the atmosphere really is abysmal at Loftus
Road these days. Man of the Match: Ben Watson Manager Comments
"We are stuttering, there's a nervousness about us at times. The opposition have come here and enjoyed it - probably a bit too much. "I don't know what to put it down to. At times we were hesitant, sloppy and our decision making was poor. "Our play at times is good but that's not enough, especially at home where expectation levels rise. You've got to be able to handle that and maybe some can't."
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5/10