Match Preview - QPR v Wolves
Rangers return home this weekend to face Glenn Hoddle's promotion chasing Wolves side. After throwing a massive spanner in that pillock Warnock's promotion bid last weekend can Gary Waddock do the same to the former England boss?
QPR (13th) v Wolves (7th) - Championship
Saturday 4th March 2006
Gary Waddock's QPR side return to Loftus Road with a spring in their step after two successful road games last week. The result at Bramall Lane speaks for itself but many supporters took almost as much satisfaction from the defeat at Crystal Palace. Sure we lost the game, but two months ago going two down inside twenty minutes would have been an excuse to hoist a white flag and declare at 3 or 4 nil. Rangers knuckled down, changed their tactics, pulled one back, were unlucky not to score another and should have been awarded a penalty. Still 4 points from Palace and Sheff Utd is greedy, we're happy with three.
That magnificent result in Yorkshire means Waddock has two wins from three games and having looked at his first four fixtures with some trepidation when he took the job, Waddock could be forgiven for flying into this match with Wolves with all guns blazing. Even those miserable message board sods that hope we lose in order to prove their pathetic, childish points are back onside now Holloway's gone (they've gone totally the other way now by the way, every win is an excuse for a gloat - you couldn't make it up) and there's a massive wave of positive energy behind the Hoops.
Wolves have only won one more away game than us this season, and having travelled around the country with us this season and watched some of the tripe we've served up, that's nothing to fear. What happened the last time Wolves came to Loftus Road?
Well the short answer is they earned a draw with a late goal from Carl Cort and could so easily have grabbed a winner. The long answer points to some of the reasons Ian Holloway is no longer in charge at QPR. Rangers really took the game to Wolves in the first half and grabbed a deserved lead through a fine Kevin Gallen goal.
After half time Wolves changed things around though, and then they changed them again, and again, and again until they found something that worked. And Holloway stood and watched. By the time the goal came, and it's a miracle it took until the 85th minute for it to happen, Hoddle had made three subs, bringing on Cooper, Olofinjana and most importantly Cort. He'd changed the formation and tactics many more times than that though. And Holloway stood and watched. With Santos and Bircham in the centre of midfield Rangers looked shot by the time the goal went in with tired legs all over the park.
When Cort scored Holloway made two subs. Two bloody late. Two points gone. Hoddle jumped around on the pitch when his team scored, he deserved it, only a great late save from Royce denied him three points.
Holloway said Wolves had knocked long balls over the heads of his full backs and pointed to Seol (who went off with half an hour to play while the score was 1-0) against Bignot as a key factor in the defeat - nothing to do with him. This season Olly stuck Evatt at full back and Bignot at right wing to combat this supposed problem. QPR lost 3-1.
Previous QPR-Wolves results
2000/01, Rangers 2 Wolves 2, Peacock with 2 for the R's, one a penalty one a magnificent volley, Ndah and Pollet for Wolvs.
1999/00, Rangers 1 Wolves 1, Corica for Wolves, Peacock again for the R's
1998/99, Rangers 0 Wolves 1, late Steve Sedgley goal
1997/98, 0-0 in the league, Wolves won 2-0 at Loftus Road in the first round of the league cup.
Memorable match - QPR 2 Wolves 2, 31/3/1997, probably one of the best performances the team put in after its relegation from the Premiership. John Spencer and Gavin Peacock gave the R's a much deserved 2-0 lead in the first half hour but a defensive slip from a corner allowed Don Goodman to power one home before half time. A tense second half culminated in a controversial penalty, a fight between Keith Curle and everybody else, a successful conversion by Curle himself and then a scrap in the back of the net as he tried to retrieve the ball.
What's the team news?
Gary Waddock has allowed the Bristol strangler to join Yeovil on a month long loan deal after signing Stefan Bailey on a professionl contract. Bailey may make the bench for the second week running as a result. Gareth Ainsworth and Mauro Milanese are back from suspensions but expect Marc Nygaard to sit out after he suffered another hamstring injury at Sheff Utd last week. His replacement could be Kevin Gallen who scored twice on his comeback in the reserves at Aldershot this week. If Gallen is only fit enough for the bench then expect to see Baidoo or Youssouf make their first starts under Waddock. Martin Rowlands is out for the rest of the season.
Wolves look like they could be with out Paul Ince. He hadn't trained up to Thursday and was rated 50/50 to make the trip at best. Colin Cameron has returned to light training this week and may be fit but two players returned from international call ups early with problems. South Korean international Seol arrived back in the Midlands with a nasty skin infection and it's unclear if he will be ready to play. Mark Davies pulled out of the England Under 19 match with a back strain but that isn't serious. Mark Clyde is fit enough for the bench but Jody Craddock is out.
All players with four bookings or less had their totals wiped down on the last day of February.
Referee
For the first time this season we have the pleasure of Paul Armstrong in charge of a QPR match. Armstrong once gave a seriously harsh penalty against the R's at Layer Road but refereed the opening game of last season at home to Rotherham without incident and is normally pretty decent. Berkshire based Armstrong has issued 60 yellows and 3 reds in 28 games this season, only 5 of those matches have been in the Championship where he has given 15 yellows and 0 reds.
Who to watch out for
Wolves squad on paper looks quite scary to a club like QPR, but they never seem to be able to quite string it together at the right time and win promotion. This season and last the problem has been too many draws - and that could be down to the forwards. Vio Ganea has 19 goals and 40 caps for Romania but has managed just 5 goals in 19 appearances this season. He missed the whole of last season with a knee injury.
Scottish forward Kenny Miller will join Celtic this summer on a Bosman and has regularly been linked with a big move elsewhere during his time at Wolves. Yet he's bagged just 9 goals in 30 appearances this term.
Carl Cort, once a seven million pound player at Newcastle although rumour has it Bobby Robson actually wanted Jason Euell *tongue in cheek*, has 10 in 21 this term which is a lot better than the perennially injured George Ndah's 1 in 16. Ndah was of course linked with a transfer to QPR in his Swindon days. Polish striker Tomasz Frankowski is yet to get off the mark after his big money move January move, it's five appearances without a goal for him. Leon Clarke recently made one start for QPR on loan without scoring, he has two Wolves goal to his name this campaign.
The real talent at Wolves lies in the midfield and wide areas. Ki-Hyeon Seol is one of the best players in the league on his day, fully justifying the £1.2million Wolves paid to get him here from Anderlecht. He impressed against Rangers twice last season so lets hope his skin problems don't calm down before Saturday! Take it as a compliment Ki!
Everybody knows all about Darren Anderton, the good and the bad, but another former Tottenham man Rohan Ricketts looked like an astute buy last summer. He has made just 13 appearances so far this season though. Mark Kennedy enjoyed a memorable spell on loan at Loftus Road and can still turn it on at this level when his head is right. Olofinjana looked absolute quality last season but hasn't played so much this time around.
Everybody raves about Joleon Lescott at the back but Chris Kamara thinks he's good so I'm not going to talk about him here for fear of agreeing with that pillock.
The Manager
There's not much to say about Hoddle that hasn't already been said. Started as a player manager at Swindon, to great effect, before moving to Chelsea. His achievements at the Bridge earned him the England job but a mediocre World Cup in France and some rather unfortunate comments about the disabled saw him fired. He re-emerged with a great spell as manager at Southampton but his dream move to Tottenham was a bit of a flop. Last season he replaced Dave Jones for the second time in his career when he took over at Wolves and he went on to lead them to an obscene number of draws. Wolves looked good for promotion early this season when they produced some outstanding stuff but they haven't quite lived up to the hype and are now sweating on even making the play offs. It's criminal really when you look at the players at their disposal.
Form guide
Rangers last three home wins have been 1-0, against Millwall, Southampton and Cardiff. Sadly since the 3-0 success over Norwich they've also drawn with Hull and Burnley and lost to Leicester, Coventry, Preston and Reading. Gary Waddock has a hundred percent home record to preserve after winning his first match against Millwall far more comfortably than the score suggests.
Wolves have won their last three matches, including away wins at Burnley and Hull City. Prior to that they lost to Leicester and Coventry on their travels and only picked up a point at The Den against lowly Millwall. They have won 6 drawn 7 and lost 5 overall on the road this season.
