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Toothless QPR embarrass themselves again
Toothless QPR embarrass themselves again
Saturday, 1st Apr 2006 01:16

QPR turned in another embarrassing performance on their own patch, losing to bottom side Crewe on Saturday.

Loftus Road hosted its second game in four days as we entertained relegation threatened Crewe Alexandra. The Railwaymen, are starring right down the barrel of a return to Division 1 - but if they carry on winning like this they may have a fighting chance of staying up.

Following Wednesday's disaster against Stoke, Waddock had hinted that changes would be made for this fixture. That didn't materialise and the only change was Paul Furlong who replaced Youssouf. This did allow though an opportunity for those players who underachieved in such spectacular fashion during the week a chance to make up for their errors.

Unfortunately this didn't materialise and it only further frustrated fans and management alike. Surely now there will be major changes over the next few weeks and youngsters such as Bailey and Donnelly should starting featuring soon.

Our best attacking avenue was coming from the unlikely source of Mauro Milanese - he was combining well with Lee Cook who was also looking a threat with some excellent forward runs. On more than one occasion Milanese overlapped with Cook and stretched the Crewe defence.

Despite not looking solid at the back, Crewe did look a danger going forward. Jones was easily winning his battle with Bignot and was yet another example of a team exploiting his height. He was superb for us last year but was yet again a major disappointment - competition for the right back spot is far too weak and he needs someone to compete with.

Crewe were a danger when they had men running from deep and this was how they got their first goal on 30 minutes. Kenny Lunt, who was very impressive on the day, received the ball from a throw in and after a quick one-two with Taylor fired past the stranded Jones. Our defence had once again gone to sleep and they just couldn't handle the runners from midfield. They were given precious little protection from Bircham and Lomas and when we have two fairly defensively minded players in midfield at last one of them should protect the back four.

As soon as the goal went in you could see that the body language of our players wasn't good at all. Heads were down and they didn't look they had the fight in them or could even be bothered to be honest.

Our best efforts during the first half came from a Lee Cook free kick, which was turned around the post. Furlong also had a weak header easily saved. Furs was just off the pace all afternoon really and it was sad to see a player perform like that after he has been so vital to that over the past couple of seasons. His strike partner Marc Nygaard was having a torrid time and nothing was going his way.

Shortly before the break Shittu headed over from a Cook corner and this was to be the last chance of the half. The half time whistle was greeted with a loud chorus of boos - something which is happening all too often at Loftus Road recently.

At the start of the second Crewe could have easily had a second if it wasn't for another good save from Paul Jones. Our defence once again got dragged all over the place and Jones was given aches of space and time to cross. After a clever dummy the ball was at the feet of Lee Bell but luckily for us Jones was alert to stop their second goal.

It should have been a warning, but the writing was already on the wall for a second for them. We were quite frankly embarrassing and only one or two players can hold their heads up high after this game.

At the other end, Milanese twice entered the Crewe penalty box after good work with Cook. Unfortunately neither came to anything with one shot parried and his other pass missed by his team-mates.

Nygaard then headed over after a cross from Bircham - this wasn't surprising at he had been poor all game. With 64 minutes gone, Waddock decided to make a change and took the under performing Bignot off. The system was also changed and Waddock switched to a 3-5-2 formation.

Langley entered the field and was soon linking up with his fellow midfielders. He found Cook wide on the left and he managed to pass to Nygaard who found his strike partner. Furlong controlled the ball but lashed at his shot and it was easily saved by Turnball.

Crewe then added a second after 73 minutes. Evatt was having a torrid time dealing with Jones who was a threat all day. Jones found Vaughan who was unmarked and he picked his spot and fired past Paul Jones.

Immediately after their second Stefan Moore was brought on in place of Paul Furlong. He had been simply terrible on Wednesday night but he didn't need to hear some sections of the crowd singing 'Stefan Moore, you're having a laugh'. Hardly an encouragement was it? The ground was now emptying quickly and those left were growing more agitated.

Rangers managed to pull a goal back in injury time but it really was too little too late. Ainsworth was again the scorer as he volley flashed past Turnbull into the net.

We were simply awful. It was a shocking display and perhaps proves that some of our players just don't have the ability or the desire to play for QPR at this standard. Last season we managed to continue with the momentum after promotion and perhaps we punched slightly above our weight. This year our squad is bloated and hasn't improved in quality.

The main difference in this league is strikers and we just don't have the sort of player in our ranks that can bang in 20 goals a season. That's the difference between scrapping around the lower end of the league and actually achieving something.

There simply has to be changes next week and I for one am totally fed up with this season. It's quite obvious that many are just going through he motions and this is coming across in the teams performances and results.

It looks like Waddock has faith in the younger players so we may as well see what they can do. The club have got a major job on their hands to try and attract fans for next season as the football isn't going to do the job at the moment.

Some players have clearly given up on this season and they should be ashamed of themselves. Roll on the summer.

QPR: Jones 7, Bignot 5 (Langley 64, 6), Evatt 6, Shittu 6, Milanese 7, Ainsworth 6, Bircham 5, Lomas 5, Cook 7, Furlong 6 (Moore 74, 5), Nygaard 5.
Subs Not Used: Cole, Santos, Bailey.
Booked: Bircham, Evatt.
Goals: Ainsworth 90.

Crewe: Turnbull, Otsemobor, Bougherra, Foster, Billy Jones, Bell, Lunt, Grant, Taylor (Varney 89), Rodgers (Vaughan 60), Steve Jones.
Subs Not Used: Tomlinson, McCready, Higdon.
Goals: Lunt 39, Vaughan 73.

Att: 12,877

QPR Man of the Match: Mauro Milanese - Was an unlikely attacking source for QPR and linked up well with Lee Cook. He probably had a better game going forward than he did in defence. Milanese was generally solid enough but one occasion he nearly got caught in possession and he needs to clear his lines quicker. But overall was one of the stronger players.

Ref: S Tanner (Somerset) 7 - The referee had a fairly decent game and let the game flow well. With such a bad performance from the R's most of the frustration were vented at the team rather than the officials. He rightly booked Bircham for a very late tackle and many would have given a pen when their striker went down in he area after an Evatt tackle.

Photo: Action Images



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