From the South West Corner: Seven questions with Queens Park Rangers
Ahead of Saturday trip to Loftus Road, we sat down with Clive from dedicated QPR fan site “Loft for Words” to discuss the game.
Leeds travel South on Saturday to face a QPR side struggling for form. However, the Whites do not have a good record at Loftus Road in recent seasons, so they will need to be fully focused if they are to take the three points back to West Yorkshire.
Ahead of the game, we sat down with Clive from dedicated QPR fan site Loft For Words to see how they’re feeling going into Saturday’s game.
From the South West Corner: Queens Park Rangers
Hey Clive. After a decent run in October, QPR have lost 4 of the last 5. What in your opinion has changed since the win against Sheffield United?
Ian Holloway’s 13 months back in charge so far have seen the team briefly cough into life with a couple of weeks of good form and results here and there (March, August, October) but long periods of poor results around that. He lost six of his first seven in charge, seven of the last eight of last season, and we’re now into another five-match spell without a win.
There are circumstances around all of that, and I’m still with him, but his overall record since coming back is 16 wins, 10 draws, and 27 defeats from 53 games which isn’t good enough. We also haven’t won in 17 away games going back to February, again not good enough.
I’ll go into the wider context in the next answer but this specific run has coincided with a monumental injury crisis, which has struck us primarily in defence. We’re missing ten first teamers at the moment, seven of them defenders, including our entire first-choice back three and now two of their three replacements. We’ve got Alex Baptiste, originally signed as cover but turned into a mainstay by all of this, suspended this weekend as well so it’s basically looking like Jack Robinson, a left back by trade, at centre back with either a midfielder or a kid. Take ten first teamers out of any team in the division and they’re going to struggle.
Do you think Ian Holloway’s jobs is at risk if QPR does not win on Saturday?
I’ll preface this by saying the QPR support, as ever, is very, very divided on this, and just about everything else. Look on Twitter and Facebook and the hunger for another managerial sacking is rapidly out of control. Look on our message board, speak to people in the Crown and Sceptre, they’re much more willing to stick rather than twist. I’m in the latter camp, but I can’t pretend I speak for everybody, it’s just my point of view.
I think Holloway has had a lot to contend with. We’re trying to reduce the wage bill drastically after years of mismanagement, but most of the squad is tied up on contracts (at least until this summer when a dozen of them are all up). Holloway’s being told to cut wages, cut the squad back before he can add to it, and when he does add to it it’s only free transfers or lower league chances. We’re short of quality up front, but the market for strikers has gone crazy and we can’t afford one.
When people are having serious discussions online about potentially getting Charlie Austin back on loan, you can’t help but think that their expectations and demands bear no relation to the reality of the situation. Throw in the injuries, taking over mid-season, years of mismanagement before him, the financial situation — it’s a tough job.
We change the manager all the time, almost always in the middle of the season. It never makes any difference, we don’t even get any new manager bounce — Mark Hughes won one of his first 12, Redknapp two of his first 15, Ramsey two of his first 15, Hasselbaink none of his first eight, Holloway one of his first seven. Sooner or later you have to conclude the manager isn’t the main problem, or certainly that changing them midseason all the time isn’t helping.
That’s not to say I’m not infuriated by some of Holloway’s team selections. We have seven wingers in the squad, including two he bought on deadline day, and we don’t play with wingers. We have two strikers in Smith and Sylla who thrive on width and crosses, but we never play with any width and we don’t cross the ball. When we finally do start with two wide men at Preston last week, we leave Smith and Sylla out and pick a midget combination of Washington and Mackie up front. Derby away the week before, we leave all the strikers out and pick David Wheeler alone up front — third ever game at this level, signed as a right-sided player from Exeter.
So he can be infuriating, his record is poor, he’s dividing opinion, but he’s got a lot to contend with and I doubt we’d get anything other than the usual desperate wankers interested in the job if he was sacked… I’d keep him. If we can survive this season, he has shown with Josh Scowen and Luke Freeman that he can do bits in the transfer market with our chief scout Gary Penrice given the chance. There’s wiggle room for signings next summer with so many out of contract so if he can get there, get the big earners off the book, and trade, we might be ok.
But yeh, many want him out now so he is under pressure this weekend, as managers at QPR are at all times thanks, in part, in my opinion, to our chairman being relentlessly Tweeted with the sort of extreme opinions you get on that platform and thinking that’s what the majority of the fanbase thinks and wants.
Who should we be watching for on Saturday?
Luke Freeman is playing well and having a good season in midfield. He’s added one or two goals of late as well and is fresh back from a one-game ban. Along with Mass Luongo and Josh Scowen as a midfield three, they’ve been our best three players this season ())along with Jack Robinson trying to fight the whole world by himself at the back). Alex Smithies hasn’t had a good time against Leeds, particularly at Elland Road down the years, but we rate him as one of the best keepers in the division.
Why do you support QPR?
Forced by father, who’s from Grimsby bizarrely. When I was a kid we did every game home and away from there. He fell in love with the club when he was training in the Met Police in the early 70s.
Give us a reason you’ll win?
We’re pretty decent at home, where we’ve already beaten Wolves and Sheff Utd this season. We press high on a tight pitch and play at a quick tempo. We’re desperate for a win as well; we’re starting to slip down the table and if you never win away, there’s extra emphasis on having to get a win at home.
Give us a reason you’ll lose?
The entire defence is injured and we’re fundamentally not very good.
What’s your match prediction then?
Take a first half lead, try and hang onto it with no defence, fail. 1–1.
We would like to thank Clive for taking the time to answer our questions. Check back here at Nowt For Second for the full preview of Leeds United’s match against QPR, and be sure to follow us on Facebook or Twitter for more Leeds United coverage throughout the season. MOT.
