- RODNEY MARSH LOFTUS ROAD BOOK SIGNING, SATURDAY-
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- VIDEO: QPR vs Leeds (Including the 1975/76 Last Game Pre-Game Warm-up (Not the game)
- Presumably not-credible: Report that Swindon's Charlie Austin might be going out on loan (no club named)
- The Chelsea Defender almost-loaned by QPR a year ago, Patrick van Aanholt, highly praised
- Seven Match Ban for Biting
- Sheffield United Lose Almost 19 Million Pounds
- Wally Downes in as Coach at West Ham
- Next: Cardiff - Previews, Stats, Flashbacks
QPR The Boutique Club
From The Guardian - Guardian Blog/John Ashdown "The Football League blog Christmas gift guide"
- "...If you're feeling flush 'boutique club' QPR have the gifts for you, though they've gone a bit Del Boy in order to get rid of some of their teensy-weensy bit over-priced gear. A £275 jumper? Yours for just £51.99. A £120 pair of trainers. Just for you, £39.99, can't say fairer than that. And have you ever wanted to smell like QPR? Well, now you can! http://shop5.mailordercentral.com/qpr/prodinfo.asp?number=105254 " Guardian
Paul Warburton/Fulham Chronicle - Lee Cook's QPR career in the balance
- THE next month is crucial in the QPR career of Lee Cook.
- Boss Neil Warnock admits the fans’ favourite will have forced his way into the first team by then – or been persuaded to go out on loan.
- Cooky has recovered from horrific injuries over the last two seasons – but the manager insists the club’s greater good trumps any sympathy he has for the luckless winger.
- Warnock said: “To be fair to Lee, he’s just rejoined the first team in training – and he’s worked his socks off to get there, and I’ve got him in mind for half a reserve match next week.
- “He may still get a chance for the first team. But if not, I’ve already had a couple of enquiries from Championship clubs, and that might give him the extra sharpness he needs.” Fulham Chronicle
CROYDON ADVERTISER/Daniel Jones - Exclusive: Palace chase Nouble and Rowlands
- CRYSTAL Palace are trying to tie up short-term deals for West Ham striker Frank Nouble and Queens Park Rangers midfielder Martin Rowlands before this evening’s deadline.
- The cut off point for Football League clubs to sign emergency loans is 5pm today, with manager George Burley working overtime to get players in to strengthen his squad.
- And sources have confirmed to the Advertiser that the players he is after are Nouble and Rowlands.
England U19 forward Nouble was at Swansea on loan earlier this season, the teenager scored once in six appearances.
- Former Hoops captain Rowlands has represented Republic of Ireland at international level but has fallen down the pecking order at Loftus Road after rupturing his anterior cruciate ligament while playing for Eire in 2009.
- Burley wouldn’t confirm the names of his targets but said he was doing his best to get something done today.
- “We’re working hard at it,” he said. “The areas we are looking at is up front and in midfield. “Hopefully we can get something completed today....”
Croydon Today
South Wales Echo/Chris Wathan - Top Championship dogs ready to be let off Loftus Road leash
“WHEN the chips are down, the top dogs usually come up smelling of roses.”
So said QPR boss Neil Warnock in his inimitable style this week.
Normally better-known for his rants at referees, Warnock has had little to grumble about thanks to his Hoops’ unbeaten start to the season.
Only Manchester United have matched Cardiff City’s weekend hosts in terms of their undefeated start to the campaign.
It’s why we’ve seen the Warnock smile more than the Warnock snarl.
“I’ve loved every minute of the season so far,” the 61-year-old said recently.
“I love having a team that can go anywhere and win.
“I’ve always looked at Manchester United and Chelsea and thought that it must be brilliant to expect to win every week – and that’s how I feel at the moment.”
Whether Warnock feels quite so comfortable about his top dogs this weekend is another matter. Although he has tried to play down Saturday’s Shepherd’s Bush summit meeting, it represents a test of Rangers’ real Championship title credentials.
Because, while last weekend’s defeat at home to Nottingham Forest has suggested the pressure is on City to deliver, it’s perhaps more accurate to say it’s all on the Londoners this time around.
Given their 18-game stretch without defeat, those casting a customary glance at the division could put QPR down as favourites – for once leaving the Bluebirds without that pressure of expectation over 90 minutes.
Even Cardiff fans, still smarting from back-to-back home losses, have started muttering about a draw being a good result when every other fixture this season has been marked down as ‘surely a City win.’
But, when you examine the two sides in the Championship automatic promotion spots, City come out on top.
For all of QPR’s achievements this term, the Rs’ rise under Warnock has been down to organisation rather than ingenuity.
As you would expect, it’s much about bite from the likes of Shaun Derry than the brilliance the Bluebirds have shown when really flying forward.
Perhaps the big difference from this Warnock outfit to years gone by is the superb ability of the man he calls the matador in a free role between midfield and attack, one Adel Taarabt.
“I think it’s fair to say in my early career I don’t think Adel would have been one of my players,” said Warnock after the Moroccan’s brace beat Preston last Saturday.
Now, he has built a team around him. Midfielders behind him to make up for his wandering, midfielders alongside him to support his front-running – and the old big man up front to play off.
It means Cardiff’s supposed weak link – their defence – will have a job on their hands when the hosts get forward.
And, to their credit, they have equalled City in the ‘goals for’ column, 33 apiece the best in the division.
But that old organisation stands out when you look at QPR’s goals against – just eight all year adding up to 11 clean sheets from 18 games.
It’s why Derry – who Michael Chopra will remember not so fondly from the midfielder’s Palace days – made doubly sure he was available this weekend.
“Everybody who watches me knows the type of player I am, I’m going to collect bans,” said Derry, after a last-minute yellow against Forest ruled him out of the Preston match while allowing him to return for this one.
“With the greatest respect to Preston, I’d rather miss that game than the Cardiff game.
“I’m disappointed to miss any match , but, as it’s turned out I’m delighted to be available to face Cardiff.”
The back four have experience and consistency as well as a star in the making in on-loan Spurs defender Kyle Walker, who gives that covering pace.
And behind them all is Paddy Kenny, a goalkeeper who has made a living from getting the last laugh on fat jibes with some outstanding shot-stopping.
A decent side no doubt, not at the top for no reason. But Warnock will be telling them all to stop Cardiff first and foremost.
And our head-to-heads show why.
Regardless of new Scotland striker Jamie Mackie’s success in a supporting role, it is Taarabt that holds the aces for QPR – meaning the Bluebirds need a big game from Seyi Olofinjana.
And, with Chris Burke battling to be back, again the individuals suggest there are too many game-changers to stop City creating.
Dave Jones will have to get it right, will have to make sure his players are fully armed to break through a team that have frustrated rivals so often.
But, far from the pressure being on Cardiff, Loftus Road could be the venue where reality bites for Warnock’s top dogs. Wales on Line
QPR Official Site - GAFFER: 'LET'S LOOK FORWARD TO IT!' Posted on: Thu 25 Nov 2010
Neil Warnock is champing at the bit to lock horns with fellow high-fliers Cardiff City this weekend - and is urging everyone to enjoy the occasion at Loftus Road.
Table-topping Rangers welcome the second placed Bluebirds to W12 on Saturday afternoon and Warnock told www.qpr.co.uk: "It's a great game to look forward to.
"We're two good teams and it promises to be a great game.
"They've probably got a better forward line than us at the moment, but we're a hardworking team and we've got players of real quality.
"We've got a good squad here and it's a great opportunity for us both to show what the Championship is all about.
"I'm sure there'll be a fantastic atmosphere and I'm really looking forward to it now." QPR
David McIntyre Blog - There to be shot at November 25, 2010
Early in the season, I said to a friend that if teams that man-mark Adel Taarabt don’t do so with a player who can pass the ball, Rangers could go through the whole season unbeaten.
I was half-joking and don’t think for a moment Rangers won’t eventually lose. But the way teams have gone about playing against them – and Taarabt in particular – sums up the Championship and why QPR are the best and most exciting team in it at the moment.
Gushing articles about Rangers are all the rage these days, but I think Adam Boxer of the Vital QPR website makes a good point in the local Times newspaper’s ‘Beat around the Bush’ column this week.
Adam suggests Rangers’ rise to the top of the table is partly down to the poor standard of the Championship, and to a large extent I agree.
Not that QPR don’t warrant the praise they’ve received this season. Most of the complimentary comments, apart from those suggesting they haven’t spent massively on players, have been pretty accurate.
To adopt a gung-ho attacking style built around someone like Taarabt, yet have the best defensive record in the division, is a real achievement. But it also underlines the limitations of other Championship teams.
An article in the South Wales Echo ahead of Saturday's game portrays Cardiff as playing total football, and a more attacking style than Rangers. They've seen Taarabt, Shaun Derry and QPR's goals-against column, and seem to have concluded that the key for free-flowing Cardiff is to somehow break down a typical Neil Warnock side. That's well wide of the mark on several counts.
Yes, QPR are solid for a team that plays the way they do, and for that Warnock is responsible. But they are far from impenetrable. In fact I’d say they’re vulnerable. I’d even describe them as there for the taking for any team with decent players and the right gameplan.
Other clubs know this. I know managers and scouts who’ve watched Rangers dish out a thrashing and have sat there anything but worried. In fact they’ve sometimes been rubbing their hands in glee, convinced that it’ll all be very different against their team. But so far this season, it hasn’t been.
I’ve seen some teams - Reading being a classic example - and wondered if they’ve actually had QPR watched or taken any notice of whoever has watched them, such is the extent to which they’ve played into their hands and done everything you should not do against this Rangers side.
Others had clearly done their homework, had a good gameplan, and had seen that QPR’s strength could, in theory, easily be turned into their weakness. But they simply don't have players capable of carrying out that gameplan effectively.
Taarabt can be lethal in the final third of the pitch, but not even his biggest admirer can deny that he can cause problems for his own team as well. No player will beat his man every time, not even Taarabt in full flight.
Without the ball, Taarabt is ineffective. We know that. And while Derry is excellent in his role, it’s a very defined role in a defined area of the pitch in order to save his legs. In between, there’s Faurlin, who has great attributes but also does not have the legs to dominate a midfield. As I did with Ben Watson, I wonder whether this will prevent him becoming the top-class player many think he will be, but at the moment he can do no wrong in the eyes of many.
What this all means is that an opposing team that closes down Taarabt or Faurlin is very often one decent pass away from being onto Rangers’ back four. Taarabt will not track back, and Faurlin is a good player but lets people run off his shoulder for fun.
So any team taking the ball off Rangers should then have at least one extra man - provided they can play the right ball.
In the Premier League, this would be punished because a player taking the ball from Taarabt is then likely to be able to do something with it. Not so in the Championship, where plenty of players are capable of stopping Taarabt but few are capable of doing anything more. For them, stopping him is only a stay of execution.
The key to playing against QPR is having a player who can break up play and then, crucially, pass the ball. But how many Championship teams have one of these?
Preston have one in Adam Barton, but the job of man-marking Taarabt was given to Darel Russell - the epitome of the limited Championship midfielder who will close a man down and have some success against him, but can’t do much more.
Through choice, but in most cases necessity, teams are trying to cut off QPR, and especially Taarabt, with their version of Mikele Leigertwood.
That’s great for Rangers, who are potentially vulnerable against any side who can close them down and then shift the ball into areas where they would have an extra man - something Premier League sides do instantly but Championship ones struggle to do.
If Seyi Olofinjana can help Cardiff do it, Rangers are likely to have problems against them - especially as they also have strikers who can finish. But even if that happens, it’s only one game. The season so far has shown that Championship sides lack that type of player.
Rangers have weaknesses like every other team, and I’ve long thought coming up against an energetic midfield would be their undoing. Forest have one, and a cracking player in Lewis McGugan, but they couldn’t beat Rangers.
I didn’t go to the Burnley game but wasn’t surprised to hear Faurlin struggled, because they too have the kind of midfield likely to cause Rangers’ problems. But they couldn’t beat them either.
This is why the recent run of draws shouldn’t be seen as a mini-wobble, but a great sign for QPR and an indication of their strength.
These were some of the strongest teams in the Championship. In Norwich’s case they had a brilliant away record, in Forest’s case a great home record. These sides were up for it, in good form, and determined to raise their game against unbeaten QPR - none more so than Millwall and Portsmouth, who had both been in great form. And of course there’s Swansea.
These sides caused problems, and so did Burnley with the kind of midfield that was always likely to have some success against Rangers, as opposed to sides who’ve been blown away by them. And still, a draw has been the best they have all managed.
Cardiff could go one better. But even if they do, Rangers could just as easily win there in April and, barring injuries to key players, will be well on course for promotion whatever the result on Saturday. David McIntyre
- QPR's Norwegian "signing" Petter Vaagan Moen Again Says he's signed and Coming to QPR
- Two Year Flashback: Very-Long Serving Club Secretary Sheila Marson Axed by QPR
- The Changing Face of QPR: OFF-The-Field Staff/Board Changes over Past Few Years. "Who Was Who"
- According to Messageboarders, QPR's Deputy Managing Director (and also Commercial & Marketing Director, Ali Russell Has Departed the Club...Update: There has been no QPR announcement and Ali Russell is Still Listed on the Official Site (Flashback: Ali Russell Joins QPR)
- Vote to Select the 2011/2012 Football League Charity
- Marking Exactly 1,300+ Days: QPR's Last Fan Forum......QPR's Last Club/Fan 'Reps' Meeting approching 250 Days Ago
- Donate to QPR GIRLS ONLINE
Npower and the Football League Promotional- There are the Three QPR options to choose between:
RESPECT: Queens Park Rangers striker Heidar Helguson thinks we should put 1,200 young people through a Respect training workshop
PLAYGROUND: Queens Park Rangers wide midfielder Hogan Ephraim wants us to transform a local park or playground into a sport training zone
COACHING:Queens Park Rangers striker Jamie Mackie would rather we run a new skills coaching session for 4–6 year olds - VOTE HERE
Mr and Mrs Paladini - No Further Updates
- The reports first appeared over the weekend on the We Are The Rangers Boys Fan Site from several QPR fans close to QPR FC Chairman Paladini. The reports which recounted that the Chairman's wife was attacked in her home on Friday, have elicited universal condemnation from all QPR Fans who have posted in response. From the Chairman's strongest defenders to the Chairman's strong critics: All have responded to the reports with universal and unequivocal condemnation; and send all best wishes to Mrs and Mr. Paladini.
- Original Thread: A couple of Posters recount reports of an Attack on Chairman's Paladini's Wife......Update: And a reported Message from Chairman Paladini