Ramblings from the weekend defeat against rock-bottom Rotherham United – Holloway, Sandro and Smithies in the spotlight.
Holloway the Thinker
‘I don’t like nostalgia – unless it’s mine’ – Lou Reed
Ian Holloway’s return to the club was seen as a positive thing – and why not? He brought Queens Park Rangers from the wilderness of the third tier without two coins to rub together at his beginning. Looking back at days like the Oldham Athletic playoff win, the promotion in front of over 7000 travelling fans at Hillsborough and an incredible winning run in the club’s first season back in the Championship – what was not to like about this appointment?
I partook in this guilty pleasure – I allowed myself to crack a smile during his first press conference and stuck in the end of season DVD culminating in that day at Hillsborough. Humming ‘Holloway’s Blue and White Army’ to myself and following it up with songs about Furlong, Padula, Gallen and Bircham made the working day go that much quicker.
After wallowing in this nostalgia the reality dawned on what his appointment could mean for Queens Park Rangers.
It came with a predictable wave of good vibes from social media – ‘we’ve got our Rangers back’ – contented but cautiously optimistic. For every Hillsborough there was a Vauxhall Motors; for every Oldham, there was a Cardiff (either one, you pick). Holloway had won three promotions – two to the Premier League, but his recent demise at Crystal Palace and Millwall could not be ignored, a balanced and open-minded view would clearly be required over this appointment.
The chest beating from the boardroom over he and Marc Bircham’s arrival was well-meaning but Holloway’s start to life has been somewhat stuttering. A 3-5-2 formation was a welcome change of pace; something different. An attacking style of play, again; something different – it would always get a hurrah as opposed to the maligned and ‘negative’ Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink approach – very cautious and not at all ‘in our philosophy’
A bizarre start to life with a red card and a missed penalty in the opening minute, Rangers stuttered over the line against Norwich City. Holloway’s side was then thrashed at Ipswich Town before James Perch saw red on that hot-bed of footballing evenings, a Thursday night against Wolves. That was troubling enough; but the weekend debacle at Rotherham United was deeply troubling.
If you’ve followed Queens Park Rangers for any length of time you won’t have travelled in expectation at the weekend. Expectation really isn’t, or at least really shouldn’t be, in our nature. We could win somewhere stupid as likely as getting beaten by nobodies, Holloway has multiplied those variables by 100, such is the unpredictability.
So therefore, I’m not so surprised we lost at the weekend – pretty standard QPR to be honest. It was the manner of performance both individually and collectively combined with an unnecessarily convoluted tactical set-up that troubled me the most.
Holloway at his very basic was and is a fantastic motivator – able to get the best out of average players and lead a fairly instantaneous turn in fortune; by and large. At present we seem to have Holloway the thinker – we’ve moved on from the basics and now we’re onto advanced physics – this became apparent in the way the Rs over-cooked themselves against Rotherham. A simple formation and simple tactics may well have done the trick against a poor Millers side. I don’t like to unnecessarily deride teams, but Rotherham looked every bit a League One side, albeit an organised and hard-working one. That’s not me being arrogant about our position you understand, I take nothing for granted as a supporter – this is purely an analysis of what I saw on Saturday. This is context is therefore quite a damning assessment of our own performance on and off the pitch.
The fact was that Rangers tried to be too clever, set up in 4-5-1 formation and almost returned to the bad old days. Sandro vacating his position to wherever he fancied and leaving gaping chasms in the middle. Tjaronn Chery being wasted out wide – albeit performing well below expectations, Conor Washington trying to bring down crosses to his neck as the lone forward. We were picked off with ease by a team that had only one once this season – and not in 15. It was child’s play as they took the ball from a confused set of players and set-about punishing Rangers, in the end, with ease.
Asking players to play positions either a) they don’t want to play or b) simply can’t play, isn’t conducive to a successful away performance. The idea that Nedum Onuoha was asked to be our most creative outlet down the right was laughable. Washington and Chery were mentioned above, Jake Bidwell seen as our left winged saviour when in truth is a capable defender and that alone.
So why didn’t we beat the league’s bottom side? – as Sir David Frost would have said, ‘The clues are there’. Simplicity was the order of the day, and Rangers and Holloway the thinker were punished. Nostalgia is indeed a dangerous enemy!
Sandro the Saviour?
A bizarre back and forth appeared in my time-line on Twitter when I gave Sandro a generous 3/10 after another performance that asked more questions than it answered. We got a solid hour of his impression of a central midfielder before his exit stage left after another partial shift.
I wasn’t alone in this assessment but there were more than a couple that still give credence to this pretender of a central midfielder. He has a lot of work to get through if he is to convince supporters his motives are genuine, because only a few short months ago he was extremely vocal about his wanting to leave.
Rumours about his training habits or lack thereof suggested to me that he has no business being in the first team – but many choose to hang their hat on Hasselbaink as the reason for this attitude – who knew. A couple of goals against Rochdale and a bit of chest beating was enough for some to start the bandwagon rolling.
We have a glut of central midfielders at our disposal and if the club’s philosophy is to allow younger talent to flourish, why allow this road block – as they did with Paul Konchesky last season – to stifle the progress of these players, particularly if the ambition isn’t the top six.
He may well turn it around and become the dynamic central midfielder we signed, but I’d wager he’d be off like a shot at the first sniff of Tony Pulis, and we’d be more than happy to facilitate that departure. It may be a short-term win – somehow – but it’s really not worth the hassle now is it?
Smithies the Saviour!
The Man of the Match vote wasn’t really difficult now was it? – Alex Smithies once again proved he is a shining light in an otherwise damp squib of a set-up at present. His saves were inspired and stopped it from getting even sillier than a convincing defeat against a team that had won only once before Saturday.
He had an off day against Ipswich, and the fact I can name the one mistake he has made tells you how wonderfully consistent he has been since joining the club. Cannot say the same out of Rob Green, particularly towards the end – despite what Matt Lawton is paid to say.
We have found an absolute gem here and it will not be long before he is playing Premier League football. Until then we can rest assured that we have something consistent in the nets and a good young ‘keeper in Matt Ingram keeping him on his toes.
If we could organise a defence in front of him without being ridiculously cautious about the whole thing – we could be in business.
Share this article
Related Articles
