Rangers slipped to a poor 1-0 home defeat against Leeds on Saturday.

After two important, but hardly inspiring performances over the last week, a result which ticks both of those boxes was much needed at Loftus Road as we entertained Leeds United.

To say things didn't go to plan would be an understatement really. Holloway was disgusted with his players' performances, and rightly so. But he should bear in mind that there are plenty who are becoming increasingly infuriated with his team and perhaps the man himself. And what this means is that more and more people are sharpening their knives for the annual attack on Ollie, his tactics and selections. More of that will be discussed later - but first lets sum up this depressing performance.

Overall it was another decidedly average performance (that's the very nice version) and not many of the 15, 523 can say that was money well spent. £30 to sit in SA Road, you have to be joking? The club certainly aren't attracting the walk up fan at the moment are they?

It was a similar team to the one that faced Luton a few days earlier. Dean Sturridge returned to the starting line-up and Steve Lomas started his first game for the Superhoops since his move from West Ham. Langley and Rowlands both occupied spaces on the bench and many would have been pressing for at least one of them to be included from the start.

Leeds came to W12 on the back of a defeat against Yorkshire rivals Sheffield Wednesday and a virus sweeping their camp. Despite their problems their line up was still fairly impressive with plenty of recognisable names such as Sullivan, Kelly, Healy and Hulse.

The game started and there was little for the crowd to be getting excited about really. We looked solid enough though and there was little troubling the R's goal except for when Hulse failed to get on the end of a cross and Douglas shooting high and wide.

Meanwhile at the other end Furlong shot from a Cook free kick but it didn't trouble Sullivan nearly enough. Its been said before but this was the type of chance Furs would bang in all day last year - at the moment things just aren't going his way.

It all started going wrong for Rangers on 30 minutes, Milanese pulled up and it immediately became obvious he couldn't continue. Without another left footed player on the bench, Ollie had to make an important decision that would have a telling factor on the game. He went for Evatt and he came on and slotted in at centre back while Santos was moved to left back.

After only a couple of minutes it was clear that this just wasn't going to work with Santos being given all sorts of problem by the Leeds wide man. After no more than 10 minutes of this Bignot and Santos swapped positions. This would be the third position that Santos occupied and he had his fourth in the second half when he was moved up front.

Bignot looked far more comfortable in this position while George continued to get to grips with things at right back. Evatt made a composed start to life at centre back and made his presence felt by winning a couple of excellent headers. He is one hell of a big fella and will have some great battles this season.

Unfortunately for us his composed start went downhill fast. He attempted to be slightly too clever and chipped the ball over Healy's head - but there just wasn't enough space and the ball trickled out of play. From the resulting throw in, Santos gave away a needless free kick (something which he did all afternoon coincidentally). And you just know what happened next don't you?

Oh yes, Leeds scored. It was not the best of set pieces and professional footballers should be able to mark properly and clear their lines. We forgot how to do this and Kelly found Hulse at the back post and he had the easy task of slotting home unmarked. Everyone seemed to look at each other and shrug their shoulders, paints an endearing image doesn't it?

With just four minutes to go till half time we didn't pose much of a threat, Sturridge had earlier gone closer with a half volley but Sullivan easily gathered. Shortly after the break Leeds could have had a second but Bircham was there to clear the ball on the line after a powerful header.

On 59 minutes Ollie threw on two subs to try and give the team and crowd a much needed lift. Rowlands entered the frame at right midfield and later covered the right back position when Santos was thrown upfront. Moore also made another appearance but there appears to be no kind of urgency from him which is hugely disappointing. He should be closing down defenders and generally being a total pain in the arse - something he hasn't done so far this season. Sturridge was slightly brighter than past games but he looks miles away from full fitness at the moment.

The bizarre tactical changes continued throughout the half, I swear I remember Lomas briefly covering the right back position and Lee Cook also moved behind the front two. After Leeds had their man sent off we needed our wingers to be hugging the touchline and really stretching their backline. Or was Cook just trying to get away from Kelly who done a great job on him all afternoon? I don't know - what I do know is that we didn't create enough.

The sending off happened on 65 minutes right in front of the Leeds fans. Healy and Bircham clashed and it looked like Healy ended up on the floor. The Northern Ireland striker then got up to confront Bircham.

Predictably Bircham went to the floor and the referee immediately produced a red card. Now if I was a footballer I would stay as far away as possible from Birch and not get involved with his antics as you just know he's going to go to ground. Whether there was substantial contact or not (I couldn't see from my seat) but you just knew what was coming next.

We produced a lot of hustle and bustle but actually created very little, Leeds worked harder with ten men and we looked clueless at times. Lomas shot over the bar and Furlong's shot from distance summed up the afternoon for us really.

Rowlands was time and time again in plenty of space on the right but we just didn't use him enough. Too much of our play ended up at the feet of Cook and he didn't get much change out of Kelly all afternoon. As the clock ticked down our play was getting more and desperate with fans getting very restless.

We had a penalty appeal turn away near the end as well, which didn't surprise me as we rarely get spot kicks After neatly turning, Furlong was brought down right on the line but the ref opted to awarded a free kick. The resulting free kick was charged down and the ball rolled away. Kind of summed the day up really.

The last throw of the dice was when Santos was moved up front. I thought he had maybe taken a bit of a knock as he wasn't running properly but it was hardly awe-inspiring stuff. He didn't look comfortable all afternoon and I'm afraid to say I never feel confident when he's got the ball at his feet at the back. This is not meant as a nasty pop at Santos as I know he's got many critics, but his performance was pretty woeful today.

All in all it was another frustrating day for Rangers - and how many times have we had to say that this season? We just don't look dangerous going forward this season and without Furlong on form our goal scoring record is abysmal.

The season has gone pretty badly so far, although we sit comfortably in twelfth place our performances have been poor and the whole aura around the club is depressing. I haven't really enjoyed this season, I can take being beaten, but the games and particularly the away days have been anything but enjoyable.

The problems both on and off the pitch need to be addressed quickly otherwise before we know it, it will be too late. Without getting into the whole Holloway debate, I don't think now is the time to be negotiating a new contract. He's had a couple already in the last few years and whilst I fully understand him wanting a real kind of security (who wouldn't in such a business) after recent events at the club, the whole affair as well as other non-footballing things are having a detrimental effect on the team yet again.

Our player turnover over the last couple of years has been in the Barry Fry style of things. We have brought a whole host of players in this summer and at the moment many of them don't seem good enough or aren't ready for the first team yet. Whilst I have the patience to await the emergence of players like Shimmin and Hislop, and I do really hope they become great players for us, many are sharpening the knives and questioning all of these signings.

If you look at the size of our squad compared to other teams who have visited LR this season, our squad appears to be very sizeable. The question is how many of them are good enough for the Championship? I still believe we are a mid table Championship side, but goals win games and if we aren't scoring them we aren't going to win games. From a financial point of view I would hate to think how over budget we are this season and this culture of constant buying to paper over cracks is going to get us into big trouble (again).

There is no doubt that this is a slump in the season, we will probably have brighter periods when the team becomes settled again but right now things aren't going well. Our midfield has got to be one of the smallest in the league and far too much of our play is too predictable. You just know that nine of ten balls out of defence are going to end up on the head of Furs or Ainsworth.

It's been fairly difficult writing this report trying to get into words our predicament at the moment. Looking ahead we have two away games and we may be missing our first choice left back. It will be very interesting to see who plays there if Milanese isn't fit. Rose got badly found at Coventry and it may be Bignot because I don't think Ollie will risk Hislop with the team playing so badly.

I'm going to stick my neck out and say we will get something at Leicester. If the players have any sort of pride, the criticism will motivate them. But the underlying problems need to be addressed. Just three days later we travel to a seemingly resurgent Millwall - oh the fun!

QPR: Royce 7, Bignot 7, Santos 5, Shittu 7*, Milanese 7 (Evatt 29, 7), Ainsworth 6 (Rowlands 59, 7), Bircham 6, Lomas 6, Cook 6, Sturridge 7 (Moore 59, 6), Furlong 7.
Subs Not Used: Nygaard, Langley.
Booked: Cook, Bircham.

Leeds: Sullivan, Kelly, Butler, Gregan, Crainey, Douglas, Einarsson, Derry, Lewis, Healy, Hulse (Cresswell 71).
Subs Not Used: Bennett, Pugh, Moore, Kilgallon.
Sent Off: Healy (65).
Booked: Gregan, Einarsson, Kelly, Derry.
Goals: Hulse 41.

Att: 15,523

QPR Man of the Match: Dan Shittu - Another generally composed performance from Big Dan, but in all truth it was not about his brilliance more the fact that none of his team mates done nearly enough to earn this coveted award!! God knows what would happen if the man picked up a serious injury.

Ref: P Walton (Northamptonshire). 6 out of 10. I was so wrapped up watching our own pathetic performance that the ref made little effect on me. He sent Healy off as expected and produced six yellow cards in a far from dirty game. An average performance from him - but he was far better than some of the morons who have been in charge of our games this season.

Photo: Action Images

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