QPR vs Wolves: Further Reports....Sousa Receives High Praise

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- Supposed QPR Target Wins Player of the Month
- Vinnie Jones Fights and Gets Arrested
- How "Lee Cook HAS Signed for QPR" Leaked Out
- Video Snippets From Some Past QPR Games
- "When Football Was Football: A Nostalgic Look at a Century of Football"
- The Different Types of Managerial Departures


QPR vs WOLVES

- VIDEO: - Video of Rowlands' Goal Against Wolves ---- Extended Video From The QPR-Wolves Game


Daily Mail/Graham Otway - QPR 1 Wolves 0: Paulo Sousa's A-star pupils a class apart
- New QPR manager Paulo Sousa gave his side an A* grade after they brought an abrupt halt to Championship leaders Wolves' eight-match unbeaten run.
- 'I'm proud of the players,' said the former Portugal midfielder.
- 'They are working very hard and they have beaten the team at the top of the league. To put in a good performance and take three points is near to perfection.'
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- However, according to one of his star pupils, it is Sousa who should take all the credit after turning Rangers' season round in a fortnight, during which they have taken seven points from three games and climbed to seventh in the table.
- 'He's made a big difference so far,' said burly striker Patrick Agyemang.
- 'He's very strict in training. He wants it done his way and he wants you to listen to him all the time.
- 'He's always drumming things into our heads. He's playing with this diamond formation which he wants everyone to know. We're having meetings every day, watching videos.-
- 'Sometimes it is like going back to school, but it's good. It's all part of a footballer's job. If we're at training longer than we're supposed to be, so be it. As long as we get the three points, it's okay.'
-It was Agyemang and fellow striker Dexter Blackstock, before he left the field after only 27 minutes with a back injury, who put Wolves on the back foot with an aggressive opening display.
- Several nervous fumbles from keeper Wayne Hennessey and a series of slips by Michael Mancienne, who looked anything but a potential England centre half, saw Rangers create a series of early chances.
- Mancienne, who was on loan at Loftus Road from Chelsea last season, had to put up with constant taunts of: 'You should have signed for Rangers' from the home fans but deep down, for 90 minutes at least, they must have been relieved he chose Molineux instead.
- Hennessey, however, found his composure to deny both Agyemang and industrious loan signing Heidar Helguson before Rangers finally got their reward in stunning fashion on 63 minutes.
- After pulling off a brilliant save to keep out a close-range header from Sylvan Ebanks- Blake, Radek Cerny cleared upfield for a swift counter that saw Martin Rowlands beat Hennessey with a 25-yard shot.
- Wolves manager Mick McCarthy said the goal, which halved his side's lead at the top to three points, 'was like a bomb - it really was a fabulous strike'. Even that hardly did it justice as the ball swerved and dipped late.
- Wolves exerted late pressure and Cerny pulled off two reflex saves to deny substitute Sam Vokes in a frantic finish." Mail


TELEGRAPH/Huw Turbervill - Paulo Sousa marches on as Queens Park Rangers take slender win over Wolves
- Queens Park Rangers' manager Paulo Sousa is reacquainting his new pupils with the classroom, educating them on his football requirements. On the evidence of this display against Championship leaders Wolverhampton Wanderers, his mature students are fast learners.
- The cramming is paying off for Patrick Agyemang, who uncomplainingly says he feels as if he is back at school. He gave the visitors a torrid afternoon, even though he failed to cap his muscular, vigorous display with a goal. Instead it was captain Martin Rowlands who struck the winner, a delightful dipping shot after 63 minutes.
- The hosts deserved victory, although Wolves did improve as they battled in vain to maintain their six-point lead over Birmingham City.
- "The manager has made a big difference," said Agyemang. "He's very strict in training. He wants it done his way and he wants you to listen to him all the time. He's always drumming things into our heads. He's playing with this diamond formation which he wants everyone to know.
- "We're having meetings every day, watching videos. Sometimes it is like going back to school. But it's good.
- "Wolves are the leaders and they've scored a lot of goals, but we stopped their strikers [28-goal partnership Chris Iwelumo and Sylvan Ebanks-Blake] from scoring, or even getting involved. If we can beat the top of the league we can beat anybody."
- QPR's wealthy and ambitious owners probably believe their side should be heading the table instead of Wolves, and on this evidence they could have a point. They have now beaten both the top two, after the 1-0 home win over Birmingham under Gareth Ainsworth.
- Wolves still lead by three points, but their fans will no doubt point to the curse of the manager-of-the-month award that Mick McCarthy picked up for November. He said: "The goal was worthy of winning any match – and that is also only the second time we've not scored in the league.
- "Can QPR make the promotion shake-up? The teams that are there now are strong – Sheffield United, Burnley, Cardiff, as well as ourselves, Birmingham and Reading. Swansea are also decent. QPR had slipped back a bit, because big things were thought of them. However, a big investor coming in and supposedly putting money in doesn't make a team. You have to have a good management team, good coaches and it strikes me in Paulo they have that."
- There was a nice moment when fans pleaded for Sousa to wave. Twice they tried, but their plea was being lost in translation, and assistant Ainsworth stepped in to tip off his new boss. Sousa eventually played ball. He certainly seems to know how to keep the punters happy. Telegraph


GUARDIAN/John Ashdown Wolves retreat to gnome comforts
- If points were awarded for the speed a club attempts to brush off defeat, Wolves would be a shoo-in for the title. "It's forgotten about already," said the striker Chris Iwelumo within an hour of the final whistle at Loftus Road. His efforts were matched by the club's official website. Their lead story yesterday morning? "Brighten up your garden with a Wolves garden gnome!"
- Victory would have made Mick McCarthy's side the fastest to 50 points in the Championship since Reading in 2005 and, with the club still three points clear at the top, gnome sales should not be the only thing going up this season. But how quickly McCarthy's side can shake off this disappointment remains to be seen.
- Martin Rowlands' howitzer strike ended a run of seven wins and a draw in eight games and the last time a Wolves' winning streak was brought to a halt - eight successive wins ended in defeat by Reading in September - it prompted a spell of three defeats in four that saw the club knocked off the summit by Birmingham City.
- There is certainly a determination not to fall into the same trap. "It's not nice to lose but we've done ever so well up to now to be where we are, so we've got to bounce back," said Iwelumo. "We've got character. We know what's ahead of us. We've got to get back to basics and do what we do."
- Home games against inconsistent Derby and Barnsley sides this week provide ample opportunity to return to winning ways, though Wolves will have to improve on this flat display. QPR's Radek Cerny produced two superb saves, from Mark Jones' free-kick and Sylvan Ebanks-Blake's header, but his near man-of-the-match performance belied the home side's superiority. McCarthy, though, kept his cool in the dressing room afterwards.
- "To be honest, he just said we've worked hard and it was just a little blip," said the Wolves centre-half Michael Mancienne, who was in the Rangers team the last time these two sides met. "You can't expect us to be awesome every single week. We just have to pick ourselves up from this."
- Wolves' problems stemmed from their inability to cope with Rangers' 4-3-1-2 formation, with the outstanding Heidar Helguson initially just behind the front two. The effectiveness of the tactic was testament to the impressive impact that Paulo Sousa has had at Loftus Road.
- "He's made a big difference," said the QPR striker Patrick Agyemang. "He's very strict in training, he wants it done his way and he wants you to listen to him all the time. He's always drumming things into our heads. He's playing with this diamond formation which he wants everyone to know. Sometimes it is like going back to school but it's good. It's all part of a footballer's job."
- Man of the match: Heidar Helguson (Queens Park Rangers) Guardian


THE SUN - QPR 1 Wolves 0
-IT seems Flavio Briatore no longer hands a piece of paper to the manager.
- As a result QPR punters can aspire to a loftier place — although fans should not be jumping through Hoops just yet.
- How long Paulo Sousa will be left alone to try and implement his innovative methods remains to be seen.
- Bubbly-swilling blonde beauties at the ground’s reception do justice to flamboyant Flavio’s “boutique football” ambitions for Rangers. Off the pitch.
- And Martin Rowlands’ champagne winner was quite in keeping with the ambience around Loftus Road these days. - Rowlands’ pop was a Moet & Chandon-style corker that exploded into the roof of the net. A fitting winner against the lousy leaders who were completely outplayed for most of the game.
- Wolves chief Mick McCarthy said: “The goal was like a bomb, it looked like it was going over but dipped viciously. It really was a fabulous strike.”
It has been a rocky start to QPR’s season with accusations co-owner Briatore got involved in team selection.
He sacked Iain Dowie and caretaker Gareth Ainsworth admitted that Briatore was in the dressing room and on the training pitch most days.
New boss Sousa was not the first choice for QPR.
Real Madrid legend Michel quit as the Spanish giants’ reserves chief this week and revealed he turned down the job three weeks ago.
Rangers have been dubbed the world’s richest club, because of co-owner steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal’s huge wealth — but few experienced bosses wanted to work with Briatore.
The gamble on untried Sousa has paid off so far, with seven points out of the last nine.
Striker Patrick Agyemang said: “He’s made a big difference so far. He’s always drumming things into our heads. We’re having meetings every day, watching videos. It’s like going back to school. But it’s good.”
McCarthy’s men played their worst game of the season but would have snatched a point had it not been for four super saves by Radek Cerny.
Michael Mancienne’s poor showing for Wolves will have England Under-21 boss Stuart Pearce worried.
Mancienne admitted: “My performance could have been better. But we could have been better as a team.”
SUN STAR MAN - RADEK CERNY (QPR). Four world-class saves The Sun

- See Also:

- Earlier QPR-Wolves Match Reports and Comments I

- Earlier QPR-Wolves Match Reports and Comments II

-Visit the QPR Report Messageboard for additional football material and comments.