The teams waited in the tunnel before being led out to the Loftus Road faithful, but it was at this point that I had a feeling that this might not go as planned. West Ham, led by the experienced Kevin Nolan, looked buoyant and jovial. They had a relaxed swagger about them as they waited to be given the nod from Mark Clattenburg to proceed up the tunnel and onto the pitch. Rangers on the other hand, led by the equally experienced Ji Sung Park, looked tense. Overly focussed. Full of nerves. This didn't bode well and as soon as the whistle blew they carried these negative feelings from off the pitch into their performances on the pitch. Defensively, we instantly looked shaky and within minutes we were breached. A miss hit Kevin Nolan shot somehow found it's way to Matt Jarvis at the backpost, and within minutes of the kick off we were 1-0. Now I know Matt Jarvis doesn't pose the same aerial threat as Carlton Cole or Andy Carroll, but who was marking him? Logic would suggest Nedum Onouha, (who didn't have his best game out of position at right back) lost his man and the West Ham winger found the back of the net.
We continued to meander through the first half with no real purpose and conviction, creating very little in the way of chances and losing out in most areas on the pitch. Granero's deliveries from set pieces were poor, almost Joey Barton-esque, barely clearing the first man. Then following some comical defending, which I didn't find funny, Ricardo Vaz Te's close range toe-poke flicked off Stephane M'bia on his Premier League debut and beat Julio Cesar at his near post to make it 2-0 to the Hammers. Fingers of blame were instantly pointed at Cesar for his part in the goal, in my opinion a combination of poor marking from M'bia and a slice of luck were the biggest contributing factors in that goal. West Ham deservedly lead at half time.
I screamed and tweeted for the 15 minutes during half time about the need for changes. "Get Taarabt on.......get Park off........where's Kieron Dyer? Is he injured again?". But to my surprise, out came the hoops with the same line up that they had started with. Was Hughes happy with the first half performance? Surely changes were required if we stood a chance of getting something out of this game? There was no surprise that we started the second half the way we had floundered through the whole of the first half. West Ham looked like they were going to make it 3-0 very soon. Then the home crowd started to make some noise, possibly for the first time all evening. We seem to have a habit of making lots of noise for the big teams, but are far more subdued against the rest. This was hardly fortress Loftus Road. The noise however was that of anticipation and excitement. Adel Taarabt was warming up and readying himself to be reintroduced to the QPR fold, after his last lackluster performance against Swansea on the opening day of the season. Every time Taarabt plays, as fans we completely forget about what he did or didn't do in the last game he played, we all simply rejoice in the possibilities of what we know he can do. Just in case anyone had forgotten what he can do, with his first touch of the game he instantly controlled the ball, cut inside from the left flank, faked a shot and then in typical Taarabt style bent the ball up and over Jussi Jaaskelainen from 25 yards. As one we cheered and celebrated in awe of what the mercurial Moroccan had just managed to produce. Welcome back Adel.
Loftus Road was now buzzing with excitement, to a man we genuinely believed we could now get back into this. Some of us even dared to dream that we could go on and win it, and with Adel in this mood, anything was possible. This fire of belief was soon extinguished however, as the card happy Mark Clattenburg went on to book second half substitute Samba Diakite once and then twice to all but end the game. Samba was full of energy and running. His first challenge warranted a telling off, not a yellow card. His second challenge however, was reckless. It seemed that Diakite hadn't learnt much from his Premier League debut, and that the coaching staff perhaps hadn't worked on the timing of his tackling a great deal over the past 9 months. From this point onwards, we had a few half chances, Jaaskelainen making some decent saves, but in truth West Ham could and should have put the game beyond doubt and had it not been for the poor finishing of Carlton Cole, they would have.
As it finished, it was clear from our first half performance that Mark Hughes had got the team selection tonight, all wrong. Some of his choices were forced upon him, notably in the back line with 4 absentees through injury. However, it was in the midfield that we lost the game. Faurlin and Granero are fantastic footballers. Gifted and blessed with a range of passing and vision that could match most in this league. However, against a Sam Allardyce team, you need more than that. You need strong, dominant midfielders who will work tirelessly to stifle their creative outlets and combat their strength and power. We didn't have that. Momo Diame had an absolute field day, constantly brushing our two central midfielders aside with his tough tackling and powerful running. This allowed Mark Noble to pull the strings for West Ham. We had no time on the ball and ended up lumping far too many aimless balls forward. The balance was all wrong.
If you can't select Taarabt or Hoilett in a home game against West Ham, then when can you play them? It baffled me that we opted for Park and Shaun Wright Phillips. This wasn't Man United away, this was a very winnable game had we got the balance of our team right. But we didn't. And we paid the price.
Am I gutted we didn't win this game? Yes. Do I still believe that the team and the manager can kick on from here and turn things around? Without doubt. But what Hughes needs is consistency. He needs to know who his starting eleven are and stick with them. We are away at West Brom next, for me it is clear that the changes we need to make is to ensure that one of either Taarabt or Hoilett starts, to give us that creative edge. If Traore is back fit, slot him into left back, move Hill back into his natural centre back position and put M'bia into the midfield to give us the steel we need because West Brom, like West Ham, have a strong midfield and unfortunately Faurlin and Granero alone just won't be able to stifle them. Then stick with this team. Consistency is the key.
Losing to West Ham is disappointing, but it's not the end of our season. Some of those calling for Hughes' head already, are simply living in an altered state of reality if they think that is the answer. We will achieve nothing by chopping and changing managers. Have we already forgotten about what was happening to our club before Neil Warnock took charge? We were a farce. We cannot and will not go back down that road with our new owners, they have created the whole vision of long term stability, and that vision does not go hand in hand with knee jerk reactions. Give Hughes time. He is a good manager that has made a few poor decisions. But he will get it right, we will come good and we will move up the table and be safe from relegation. Just try to avoid looking at the Premier League table at the moment, for a QPR fan it's not pleasant reading. Keep singing your hearts out on a Saturday afternoon, or a Monday night, and believe that we will achieve our ultimate goal of another season at the top table of English football. Onwards and upwards Rangers, onwards and upwards.
No comments:
Post a Comment