The title of the blog is exactly where Mark Hughes' QPR career is currently stationed. 11 games into this season that started with so much promise, dreams of mid table mediocrity have come and gone, my beloved hoops are still without a win.
I admire Tony Fernandes for the fierce loyalty shown to his manager, but his loyalty is now being stretched to breaking point. We saw Rangers unconvincingly salvage a point against a hard working Reading side. We created a few half chances and we could argue that if Adel Taarabt had scored the glorious 1 on 1 chance he had late in the game we could've taken all 3 points, but did we really deserve them? No. We lacked belief, taking a number of speculative long distance strikes instead of creating real chances. The goal we conceded was again born from sloppy defending, schoolboy-esque marking which led to ex-Rangers Latvian rock Kaspers Gorkks sweeping the ball home past Julio Cesar to put us on the back foot and chasing a game against a team we need to be beating. Hughes didn't go for the jugular, much like he didn't against Arsenal. This Reading team were just coming off the back of a 7-5 defeat midweek in the Capital One Cup (against Arsenal), after such a draining game for them physically and mentally, Hughes really should've put them to the test and got the team to go for kill early on. But he didn't. Instead we saw the languid, sluggish tempo we have seen all to often this season from QPR and this style simply highlights the lack of confidence in our players. Cisse who was playing like a man possessed last season, is now lumbering around looking lost and frustrated and this just highlights the lack of an impact that Hughes is having with his tactics, team selection and man management.
The last away game we won in the Premier League came at the Britannia Stadium over 11, yes 11, months ago under Neil Warnock's leadership. We now found ourselves back at the Britannia, hoping to replicate the win from last season. We looked better across the midfield with Ale Faurlin returning to replace the injured Ji Sung Park. Stoke hadn't been the force they had been in previous campaigns and this again was another chance for Hughes to fire his troops up, send them out to battle and scrap for their lives and attack a lacking in confidence Stoke side.
We started decently, dominating possession without really creating many chances, again just half chances. Towards the end of the 1st half, after a Stoke mistake Adel Taarabt found himself bearing down on Asmir Begovic, with just the Serbian goalie to beat it seemed that Adel simply had to guide the ball low and hard into the bottom corner of the net to put us into a well deserved lead, but instead he went for a dink over the keeper which he fluffed horribly. This wasn't the finish of a confident player. It was the finish of a player that had the weight of responsibility on his shoulders. All of our players, barring perhaps Esteban Granero, look completely void of confidence. They don't believe in themselves and don't believe they can turn this situation we are in around. I agree that it isn't Hughes' fault if we miss chances like that, but what he can control is the players mindsets. He has a wealth of experience at the very highest level of the game, he's played with and for some of the best the game can offer, but he cannot seem to motivate his players to believe they can win a Premier League game. He sends them out to play cautiously, which in turn has a negative effect on the players. If he sent them out to play open and attacking football, this would tell the players that he believes in them, he believes in their ability to be able to get QPR out of the rut they are in. Ultimately his lack of man management skills and dare I say it guts to be bold and take a chance have created this disillusioned and frustrated squad that should be achieving far more than it currently is.
As it was, yet another awful piece of defending from a set piece lost us the game at Stoke, but we have to look deeper than that. We have to look at why we aren't winning games not just what we are doing to lose games. Hughes has no plan B. He's played his ace in the hole. He's spent a huge amount of money on aging players coming to the end of their careers and players that lack experience in the Premier League. A number of the players he has bought in having won a vast amount of silverware, but have they ever had to slug it out in a relegation dogfight? Have they had their characters tested when everything is going against them? For players like Ji Sung Park, Jose Bosingwa and Julio Cesar simply haven't had to, and this unfortunately shows in our performances. As the saying goes "when the going gets tough, the tough get going", and this rings true in our current predicament. These players that Hughes has brought in to lift the club to new heights are simply contributing to taking us to a new low in our Premier League story.
This weekend sees us entertain Southampton at Loftus Road. This really is it. Win and we could see the start of a winning streak that could completely change the outcome of our season. But lose and without doubt, regardless of the constant backing from Mr. Fernandes, Mark Hughes' time as QPR manager will be over. His record speaks volumes. He hasn't won a game away from home since he took over in January. He has been given more money than any QPR manager I can remember, yet we still sit bottom of the table without a win to our names. This is it Sparky, this is make or break time. You are at the bar, drinking what could be your final drink at the last chance saloon. I want you to succeed because it means my club will succeed, but I honestly don't believe you will. The stage is yours.
