West London is ours!

Jamie Redknapp, he of the overly tight trousers and breathless punditry, described Sunday’s premier league encounter between QPR and Chelsea as “old school”. What with the two clubs locking horns in a league fixture for the first time in fifteen years, and the match taking place at a packed Loftus Road, very much an “old school” type of football stadium, Redknapp’s description seemed an apt one. Even the result, a 1-0 win for the Superhoops, recalled a bygone era when QPR regularly finished above their bitter West London rivals in the top flight.


There was no shortage of passion in the stands, nor any lack of commitment on the pitch, and yet, despite the favourable result, I felt strangely flat at the final whistle. Maybe it was due to the realisation that decisions made by referee Chris Foy undoubtedly had a significant impact on the game, or because I felt a certain frustration, evidently shared with many fans around me, that Rangers failed to take the game to Chelsea and so fully exploit their two man advantage. That said, it is often remarked that is harder to play against a team a man down, and Chelsea seemed determined to prove that is harder still to play against a team two men short. Credit must be given for their steely determination and their excellent levels of fitness, if not for their palpable lack of discipline which, it could be argued, ultimately cost them the game.  Rangers, for their part, clearly had a game plan which seemed to revolve around closing Chelsea down quickly and so not allowing them time on the ball, whilst looking to hit them on the counter attack. This approach seemed to work well in the early stages of the game, and indeed did result in a one goal lead as early as the tenth minute. Whilst their decision to retain this approach, even with a two man advantage, was questionable – I would have preferred to see more men pushed forward in search of that killer second goal – the composure and discipline displayed by the team during a tense, ill-tempered, fractious second half was commendable, and pivotal to the eventual victory.


My vantage point in the upper tier of the South Africa Road Stand provides me with a good view of the goings–on in the school end of the ground, where interestingly, most of the significant events during the game took place. My initial reaction to David Luiz’s clumsy challenge on Heidar Helguson was that it was a certain penalty. Action replays that I have since viewed suggest the penalty decision was less clear cut, with Helguson, whilst not going down like the proverbial ‘ironing board’, perhaps going to ground a little too easily. José Bosingwa’s dismissal, for his challenge on Shaun Wright-Phillips, initially seemed harsh, but viewed again in slow motion it is evident that it was not simply a case of the two players racing towards Adel Taraabt’s through ball and colliding as I had thought. There is a definite foul committed by Bosingwa, who is clearly last man and whose actions deny Wright-Phillips of a goal scoring opportunity – a sending off offence if you apply the letter of the law.

Drogba’s sending off, resulting from an ugly and dangerous challenge on Taraabt, was clearly   not in doubt. Chelsea’s two penalty shouts in the second half seemed justified at the time, though David Luiz’s ridiculous theatrics after being upended in the box did not help his cause. Analysis of all these incidents, both in real time and in slow motion, only serve to emphasise how difficult a job it was for referee Chris Hoy, who of course does not have access to action replays and must make a decision in the heat of the moment. It also puts into perspective Chelsea manager André Villas-Boas’ post-match comments. Unsurprisingly, Villas-Boas was highly critical of Hoy, accusing him of being “led by the emotions of the crowd”, clearly overlooking the fact that Chelsea’s two penalty shouts took place right in front of their own noisy, charged up, three thousand strong travelling support, and that Hoy chose not to send off David Luiz or John Terry despite justified encouragement from the home support.


Not surprisingly, the tone of Neil Warnock’s post-match comments contrasted sharply with that of Villas-Boas, with Warnock going as far as saying that the match marked “the finest day of his career”.  This comment indicates, in no uncertain terms, the shock nature of the Rangers victory and the consequent sense of achievement. Since the two teams last met in the Premiership, in March 1996, Chelsea’s upwardly mobile progression within the game has largely run in parallel with Rangers’ fall from grace. Last season’s Championship victory and consequent promotion back to the Premiership promised a change to this trend, but even at the start of the season, a QPR victory over Chelsea, let alone Premiership survival still seemed highly unlikely. The fact that the former has been achieved, and that the ultimate goal of survival, at the time of writing, seems distinctly possible, is testament to the remarkable progress that has been made by the club in the last two months. Of course, much of the credit for this turnaround must be taken by Tony Fernandes and Amit Bhattia, the two men now at the helm of the club. Their efforts to open up clear and effective communication with the fans to ensure that the fans’ needs and opinions have been given due consideration has been much appreciated, particularly in light of the approach adopted by the previous régime at the club, which only served to antagonise and marginalise many loyal supporters. Their significant yet sound recent investment in the playing staff (resulting in probably the most exciting transfer deadline day in the club’s history!), and their sensible yet ambitious long-term planning has also been very well received.  

Twelve points from the opening nine fixtures represents a sound start to the season. Aside from the matches against Bolton and Fulham, the defence has looked pretty solid with the introduction of Luke Young and Armand  Triaore adding some much needed pace to the back line.  The central midfield duo of Sean Derry and Alessandro Faurlin have continued where they left off last season, with Faurlin impressing many a pundit with his composure and accurate distribution. Shaun Wright-Phillips and skipper Joey Barton have provided pace, guile and premiership know-how in the wide positions but a stat of just seven goals scored in the nine games is a telling one and requires some investigation. Jay Bothroyd, who started the season in the lone striker role, is clearly lacking in confidence in front of goal whilst injury has limited the availability of viable alternatives in the role - DJ Campbell and Jamie Mackie. The reintroduction of Heidar Helguson to the side has been a successful one so far, but much of his good work in the air often goes wasted because there is no one near him to make use of his knock-downs. The 4-2-3-1 formation adopted by the team requires the attacking trio behind the lone striker to provide support by getting forward in numbers, but this is not happening – far too often when a telling Rangers ball is played into the opposition box the Rangers attackers are outnumbered and a member of the opposition defence is first to the ball.  A further explanation for the team’s lack of goals stems from an apparent change in Adel Taraabt’s role within the team. Last season, Taraabt was given a free role within the same formation, and so given licence to make full use of his undoubted individual brilliance. This season, Taraabt has clearly been encouraged to curb his showboating and play more for the team, which is not a bad thing in itself.  However, he has yet to appear on the score sheet, and has also failed to register an assist and, if recent games against Fulham and Chelsea are anything to go by, is clearly not happy with his lot at the moment. Perhaps he simply needs more time to develop the judgement needed to decide to when to keep it simple, and when to fully express himself. More likely though, mercurial and magical talent that he is, we just have to accept that he will always frustrate and excite in equal measures.