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If at first you don't succeed... - full QPR v Watford match preview
If at first you don't succeed... - full QPR v Watford match preview
Monday, 15th Feb 2010 21:46

It’s yet another ‘must win’ game apparently as QPR look to bring to an end a long, frustrating, depressing and embarrassing run of form stretching back to and beyond the first meeting with Watford in December.

Queens Park Rangers (17th) v Watford (13th)
Coca Cola Championship
Tuesday February 16, Kick Off 8pm
Loftus Road, London


My baseball loving step dad says that one great thing about that sport is the teams play every day, sometimes twice a day, and have 160-odd fixtures before you even get to the World Series. So if you have a disaster on Tuesday, fear not, there’s another game on Wednesday. And if you go on a losing run of, say, 16 matches that actually only equates to a fortnight or so in real time. His argument is somewhat flawed by his support of the Toronto Blue Jays, whose losing run currently stretches back to 1991. At the moment QPR are playing Saturday, Tuesday, Saturday every week so you would think, at some point, something has to give in one of these games and we will beat somebody. Sadly, on Saturday, the luck was all set against us again.

There will be much talk this week about where this season all started to go so horribly wrong. It was in this group of matches - Coventry, Watford, Doncaster and Middlesbrough - earlier in the season that our season spectacularly derailed and we are still no closer to finding out why that was or, more importantly, how the hell we can get it back on track sufficiently for us not to be playing Rochdale in the league next season.

Jim Magilton was, of course, sacked after the corresponding fixture between us and our opponents this evening Watford. Rangers were beaten 3-1, after losing 5-1 at home to Middlesbrough on the Saturday, and Patrick Agyemang refused to celebrate the goal he did score. After the match the dressing room inquest into the defeat got out of hand and Akos Buzsaky left the changing room to hang around by the side of the pitch for an hour. Allegations then emerged that Magilton had in fact assaulted Buzsaky, a player who he had singled out for personal criticism in the past, and at a meeting of the players, John Gorman and Flavio Briatore later in the week not a single one voted for the manager to stay. It’s worth bearing in mind that at this stage we were fifth in the league.

Some have since said that by backing our bolshie players ahead of their manager that set the tone for the rest of the season - player power rules, and they can simply down tools and go off into moods whenever things aren’t just as they would like them. Rumours of a row between Adel Taarabt and Paul Hart emerged shortly before his own departure after Christmas. For me, with hindsight, there is strength in the idea that we should have simply told the players that it was tough, he was the manager and they should just get on with it. As we’ve gone through two managers, 17 matches and just a single solitary victory since would we have done any worse if we had? At the end of the day though I’m still inclined to suggest that Magilton’s ‘in your face’ aggressive attitude to man management and constant chopping and changing of a winning team had lost him that dressing room even before he lost the plot still further at Watford. The Doncaster, Middlesbrough and Watford performances that preceded the dressing room incident were not those of a team suffering a blip, more a complete collapse.

I’m still inclined to point the finger in four directions. Flavio Briatore - whose transfer policy of high wages but no transfer fees have lumbered us with this over paid mercenary squad of players nobody else wanted and whose treatment of several very good managers meant we were restricted to appointing the likes of Magilton and then Hart in the first place. Gianni Paladini - for awarding such ludicrous contracts to the likes of Patrick Agyemang who was at the heart of the Watford bust up. Magilton, for actually getting QPR playing wonderful football and winning matches only to then mindlessly change his team around to include favourites and needless loan signings. Had he left the team alone post Preston/Reading/Derby there would have been no Watford incident of any description because we wouldn’t have lost the game. And the players themselves - because however much you dislike your boss you just have to get on with it. They have, and continue to, let us all down massively this season and not a single one of them can say they have justified a penny they have earned since August. And they’ve earned plenty of pennies in that time, rest assured.

On Tuesday night we face Watford again, in a very different situation to the one we found ourselves in at Vicarage Road. Back then (just over two months ago) we were worried about losing touch with the play offs during a blip. Now we’re two points off relegation and can enter the bottom three for the first time on Tuesday evening. We’re on a bad run few can recall the likes of before at Loftus Road and although the players and management are making much of ‘must win games’ and ‘sticking together’ they’re proving time after time after time that actions speak louder than words. That Watford’s own bid for success in the Championship this season is boosted by the presence of one of our players in their attack, eight goals and counting, still earning big money from our bank account further underlines what a total farce our club has become. Thankfully we have at least had the foresight to say they cannot pick Heidar Helguson to play against us. Or, at least, I think we have.

Five minutes on Watford
The story so far: Watford and cash problems go together like Ashley Cole and dodgy behaviour with mobile phones. Still at least he’s texting with it this time, rather than inserting it into himself I suppose. Anyway, yes, Watford. This season has been much like several others in the life of the Hornets – tipped by many for a relegation struggle in the summer they have over achieved on the pitch while collapsing off it.

The cash crisis has been coming, quite clearly and obviously despite denials from chairman at the time Graham Simpson, since the club was relegated from the Premiership after a one season stay in 2007. Despite getting the thick end of £10m for Ashley Young when he moved to Aston Villa Watford found their wage bill impossible to support in the Championship and an eighteenth month fire sale of anybody they could shift from their books ensued – Danny Shittu, Hameur Bouazza, Clarke Carlisle, Marlon King, Gavin Mahon, Darius Henderson and others were all flogged off while Nathan Ellington was sent out on loan to Derby.

Prior to the start of this season they did sign Carlisle striker Danny Graham who initially settled really well and scored seven goals but is without one in his last 13 appearances. More importantly though they played the loan market better than any other team in the Championship bringing in Craig Cathcart and Tom Cleverley from man Utd, Henri Lansbury from Arsenal and Heidar Helguson from QPR. Those players have boosted them sufficiently to push for the play offs before Christmas, and keep them anchored in midtable through a sticky winter period of ten games without a win.

Meanwhile the threat of administration has been omnipresent. The Russo brothers who own the club and spoke passionately to Sky about their intentions for the future at Vicarage Road before the game between these sides in December pulled their money out a fortnight later and suspended the cub’s shares on the stock exchange. The Russo resignation promoted loans totalling nearly £5m to be called in and the club said it could not survive beyond Christmas – so far administration has been avoided somehow though rumours of a sale and relet at Vicarage Road, the second time such a measure has been taken in recent years, have surfaced in recent weeks.

Lord Ashcroft owns 37 per cent of the club, but is said to be a private person and will not speak to deny fears that he intends to profit from the sale of the ground and lease back to the club. Now only will he not speak to the pres or the fans, but he will not speak with the Russo’s either. Former Watford and England manager Graham Taylor is now the interim chairman and says after a recent meeting with Ashcroft that the answers he gave to his questions were “truthful”. It’s another Championship club in a bit of a mess maintaining its position in the division by spending money it doesn’t have basically – and unless you’re a Scunthorpe or Doncaster fan looking in on this preview don’t you dare look down your nose on them for that.

The Manager: Malky Mackay was an uncompromising centre half best known for his 200+ game spell in this country with Norwich City after a playing a bit part role at Celtic during the 1990s, Mackay was brought in to replace Brendan Rodgers last summer when he defected to Reading. Towards the tail end of his career Mackay found a niche for himself in captaining sides to promotion to the Premiership and then immediately moving on – doing so with Norwich, Watford and West Ham. He sensibly recognised, or perhaps had it recognised for him, that he was never going to be quick enough to play the likes of Thierry Henry but for experience and leadership in the Championship he was ideal. He looks set to be succeeded in this role by Wayne Brown who was promoted with Hull City 12 months ago, hardly played in the Premiership and is now at Leicester.

Mackay was unfortunate not to be appointed as Watford manager just over a year ago when they went for Rodgers instead. He won two and drew two of five matches in charge and seemed to galvanise the Watford side. It was no real surprise, despite his lack of experience, when they turned to him this summer and he has done a very reasonable job so far against a backdrop of financial uncertainty at the club. Watford have had the look of a club in decline, and struggling for money, for some time so this is a tough baptism for him but he has shown a canny ability to pick up good signings both temporary and permanent and the Hornets should comfortably stay in the league if they avoid a points deduction for administration between now and May.

Three to Watch: Watford were pushing for the play off places when they beat us at Vicarage Road but went ten games without a win through the Christmas and New Year period and started to concede goals at an alarming rate. They are on an unenviable run of ten away games without a win, during which time they have conceded 27 goals. To solve that problem manager Malky Mackay has again turned to the loan market to secure the services of a ball busting centre half in his own mould – step forward Birmingham City man Martin Taylor.

Taylor almost joined QPR from Birmingham shortly after the takeover by Flavio Briatore but was not convinced that he would not be dumped the minute the club reached the Premiership (ho ho ho chortle chortle isn’t hindsight a wonderful thing) so stayed put while we have suffered two years of Fitz Hall instead. Taylor probably wished he’d gone through with the move as he became public enemy number one just a few weeks after the transfer window shut when he almost crippled Arsenal’s Eduardo with a crude tackle that left the Croatian striker’s leg hanging by its nerve endings.

Taylor, harshly written off as a pub footballer in a league of players with ability in the ensuing media frenzy, featured heavily in Birmingham’s promotion campaign last year but has hardly been seen since and with Alex McLeish enjoying tremendous success in the Premiership this season with two centre halves bought from this division in the summer, Scott Dann and Roger Johnson, Taylor has had to drop back down to the Championship to look for action. The results so far speak for themselves – after ten games without a win Watford have won two of their last three and conceded only once.

The architect of QPR’s downfall at Vicarage Road, other than ourselves of course, was Manchester United midfielder Tom Cleverley who scored one, made another, and was a class act on a terrible pitch for the majority of the match. Cleverley is one of three long term Premiership loans to enjoy great success at Vicarage Road this season – United’ Craig Cathcart and Arsenal’s Henri Lansbury are the others. A combative and creative midfield dynamo in the style of our own Martin Rowlands Cleverley has scored ten goals this season, including three in his last four appearances, but as missed the last two matches.

Since time began QPR have always prided themselves on providing charity for teams and players in poor form. Haven’t won for 20 matches? Get yourself down to Loftus Road. Haven’t scored in 80 appearances? Step right this way Mr Bowditch. The famous example is Arsenal’s John Jensen who bagged his only Gunners goal against us on New Year’s Day 1995 – a fact that totally eclipsed our impressive 3-1 win that day in the press the day after. I was there when Jensen scored – and Gallen, and Allen, and Impey.

The latest player to break his duck against Rangers is Watford right back Lloyd Doyley who, as a Base Soccer client, was targeted by QPR in the first January after the takeover but stayed put in the end. A right full back with a prodigious long throw Doyley found himself in the QPR penalty area two minutes before half time in the corresponding fixture this season for reasons known only to himself and hurled himself at the ball to divert it into the net. That’s one goal in 279 Watford appearances and counting.

Links >>> Watford Official Website >>> Watford Message Board

History
Recent Meetings:
Such was the dramatic nature of the post match events at Vicarage Road when these sides met in December the game itself actually gets overlooked. Coming into the match just 48 hours after a 5-1 home defeat by Middlesbrough the R’s took the lead when Faurlin fed a cute ball through to Agyemang who hammered it home from the edge of the area. It was clear all was not well within the camp though when Agyemang made a point of refusing to celebrate after scoring and sure enough before half time the Hornets drew level when Lloyd Doyley scored his first goal in three quarters of a million appearances with a spectacular diving header. The impressive Tom Cleverley set up Cowie for an eye catching second ten minutes after the break and then rounded the scoring off himself deep into injury time with Rangers pushing forwards looking for an equaliser.

Watford: Loach 6, Hodson 6, Mariappa 7, Cathcart 6 (DeMerit 46, 7), Doyley 8, Cowie 8, Cleverley 8, Eustace 7, Harley 7 (Severin 82 -), Ellington 5 (Henderson 57, 6), Graham 5
Subs not used: Lee, Bennett, Sadler, Bryan
Goals: Doyley 43 (assisted Cowie), Cowie 56 (assisted Cleverley), Cleverley 90+4 (assisted Henderson)

QPR: Cerny 5, Ramage 6, Hall 5, Stewart 6, Borrowdale 6, Routledge 4 (Simpson 72, 5), Watson 4, Leigertwood 5 (Buzsaky 76, 4), Faurlin 7, Agyemang 6, Vine 3 (Taarabt 59, 4)
Subs not used: Taylor, Gorkss, Williams, Pellicori
Goals: Agyemang 33 (assisted Faurlin)
Bookings: Stewart (foul), Hall (foul), Borrowdale (foul)

The last meeting between these sides at Loftus Road was at Christmas 2008 and was one of 11 0-0 draws fought out by QPR last season. The R’s had been beaten 3-0 at Vicarage Road so avoiding defeat was a bonus but Rangers dropped two points here and at Charlton on Boxing Day as a result of too many team changes following an impressive 3-2 home win against Preston.

QPR: Cerny 7, Delaney 6, Ramage 5, Hall 7, Stewart 6, Cook 6 (Blackstock 46, 6), Rowlands 6, Mahon 5 (Leigertwood 84, -), Ephraim 6, Agyemang 6, Helguson 5
Subs Not Used: Connolly, Ledesma, Alberti
Booked: Ramage (foul), Rowlands (foul), Helguson (foul)

Watford: Loach 6, Doyley 7 , De Merit 6, Mariappa 8, Harley 6, Bridcutt 6 (Bromby 89, -), Williamson 7, Jenkins 6, Smith 6, McAnuff 5, Priskin 6 (Rasiak 62, 5)
Subs Not Used: Lee, Hoskins, O'Toole
Booked: Mariappa (dissent), Rasiak (off the ball incident), DeMerit (deliberate handball), Harley (foul)

Head to Head:
QPR wins – 46
Draws – 29
Watford wins – 31

Previous Results:
2009/10 Watford 3 QPR 1 (Agyemang)
2008/09 QPR 0 Watford 0
2008/09 Watford 3 QPR 0
2007/08 Watford 2 QPR 4 (Rowlands 2, Stewart, Buzsaky)
2007/08 QPR 1 Watford 1 (Moore)
2005/06 QPR 1 Watford 2 (Nygaard)
2005/06 Watford 3 QPR 1 (Shittu)
2004/05 QPR 3 Watford 1 (Gallen 2, Furlong)
2004/05 Watford 3 QPR 0
2000/01 QPR 1 Watford 1 (Ngonge)
2000/01 Watford 3 QPR 1 (Connolly)
1998/99 QPR 1 Watford 2 (Peacock)
1998/99 Watford 2 QPR 1 (Slade)

Played for both clubs:
Devon White
QPR – 1993 to 1994
Watford – 1996 to 1997

Regular readers of A Kick Up The R’s and our fine message board will know that Devon is, strangely, one of my all time favourite QPR players despite his time with us only being brief and his unconventional style often being confused with a lack of ability.

Devon made a big impression on me as a youngster. You see when I was ten years old QPR were a bloody good team, fifth in the Premiership, and they had international players like Les Ferdinand who would rip the teams all my school friends supported to pieces so I could go to school on Monday not only sporting a big smile because we’d just beaten Spurs again, but also because I had been there to see it. Every now and again though Les would get injured - usually his big toe as I recall, an injury often attributed by my father after a couple of drinks to a lady called Danni Behr. If only I’d known then what I do now.

Anyway when Les was at home having his toe rubbed by whoever this Danni Behr woman was QPR would wheel out Devon White – once memorably described by The Times as being “as tall as a lamp post and about as mobile.” Needlessly cruel I thought, especially as it was a report of a victory at White Hart Lane, a victory Devon had set up by helpfully wrestling goalkeeper Erik Torsvedt to the ground and then laying on top of him until Trevor Sinclair had stuck the ball into the empty net. Devon was a tryer and he seemed to make everybody laugh so I liked him. He also scored his fair share of goals for Rangers.

Plenty of people laughed when I wrote a feature entitled ‘top nine goals every scored for QPR by Devon White’ for AKUTRs because I had originally planned a top ten only to realise he never quite made it into double figures. Still, as unconventional cover for the best striker in the country at that time and a man whose background was more in re-wiring plugs than playing Premiership football he did bloody well.

After QPR Devon played for Notts County and won them the Anglo Italian Cup (the campaign to bring that competition back starts here by the way) with a bullet header at Wembley against Brescia. This was enough for Watford to splash £100k on him in 1996 but despite two goals on his debut the Vicarage Road fans never took to him as much as those at QPR had done and he moved back to Notts County 12 months later. He finished his career touring the lower leagues and non-league pyramid with the likes of Shrewsbury and Ilkeston and now works as a leccy again in Nottingham.

I don’t care what anybody says, Devon is a cult hero in my eyes and a breath of fresh air compared to some of the over paid tossers currently playing in our top flight, and indeed our first team. A record of 126 goals in 417 goals when he was ostensibly a target man speaks for itself – Kevin Davies would kill for it.

Links >>> Watford 3 QPR 1 Match Report >>> QPR 0 Watford 0 Match Report >>> Match Report Archive >>> Connections and Memories

This Tuesday
Team News: Antonio German is pushing for a QPR start after half an hour as a sub at Coventry on Saturday - Tamas Priskin would make way if the youngster is given the nod to partner Jay Simpson. Mikele Leigertwood serves the final match of a three game suspension so Lee Cook will captain the side against his former club. Watford are likely to replace Heidar Helguson, inelligible under the terms of his loan, with Danny Graham and midfielder Tom Cleverley is fit to return after missing the last two matches.

Elsewhere: A full programme of Championship action spread across two nights this weekend that could leave QPR just a single place above the drop zone if results go against us – only the fact that Crystal Palace and Reading play each other prevents the possibility of us entering the bottom three for the first time. Of the other teams below us Scunthorpe have Barnsley at home, Ipswich are at bottom of the table Peterborough and Sheff Wed are at home to Doncaster in a South Yorkshire derby match. Nottingham Forest v Sheff Utd and Cardiff v West Brom are the pick of the fixtures at the top end of the table, leaders Newcastle are at home to Coventry on Wednesday.

Referee: Pat Miller from Bedfordshire is in charge of this one – his first QPR game since New Year’s Day 1998 when he took charge of our 3-1 home win against Leicester with Luigi De Canio at the helm. Prior to that he had us for a crucial 1-0 win at Coventry in a relegation battle under John Gregory and a 3-2 cup win at home to Northampton with Gary Waddock in the dug out – so three games and three QPR wins, long may that continue. More details of his record at the link below.

Links >>> Dean Sturridge Memorial Injury List >>> Arthur Gnohere Discipline Counter >>> Miller in charge >>> Referee League

Form
QPR: Highlight text, CTRL + C, CTRL + V, bump all the numbers up by one. QPR are now without a win in nine, have lost their last five, have won just one of the last 17 and have not kept a clean sheet in 22 games. This is the longest run without a win, and the longest run without a clean sheet, in the division. Having lost none of their first seven games at home this season, Rangers have only won one of their last nine, losing five to Leicester, Scunthorpe, Middlesbrough, Sheffield United and most recently Ipswich Town. Rangers have scored just one goal in their last five matches and fired blanks again at Coventry on Saturday.

Watford: The Hornets have not been in the best of touch themselves recently with a run of just one win from ten games over the Christmas period dropping them down into the bottom half of the table amid tales of financial difficulties. However two wins from their last three games, 3-0 and 2-0 at home to Sheff Utd and Bristol City respectively, have lifted their spirits somewhat. Since winning at Middlesbrough in October, when everybody except us was beating Middlesbrough, Malky Mackay’s team has gone ten away matches without a win – losing their last four on the bounce and conceding 27 goals in the process. Chelsea, West Brom(both five), Blackpool and Palace (both three), have enjoyed great success in front of goals as home teams facing Watford. Prior to the Boro game they won at Plymouth (1-0) and Nottingham Forest (4-2) earlier in the season.

Prediction:Is it really sensible to predict anything other than another QPR defeat? Five on the spin now, some from good performances, others from abject ones, even when we play quite well we succumb to an unlucky goal. It’s clear from Harford’s chopping and changing that he doesn’t know the answer and it is so frustrating to see a player dropped for a poor performance, only for somebody who was perfectly fine in the previous match to have a stinker and get dropped themselves. We’re all over the place basically, and as far as I can tell this will continue indefinitely.
Watford by one

Links >>> Championship Table >>> Total Form >>> Home Form >>> Away Form >>> Prediction League >>> Fantasy League

Photo: Action Images



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