Queens Park Rangers’ manager Ian Holloway has a simple message ahead of this weekend’s game against Wolverhampton Wanderers – cause the upset of the weekend.
Nuno Espirito Santo’s side are eleven points clear at the top of the Championship table and have taken 68 points from 30 games so far this season and on top of that they have only lost four games.
With few outside of QPR themselves thinking we are in with a chance of getting something from the game, Holloway is relishing the underdog position we are in and he wants us to make the most of it.
Speaking to the Official Site as he met with the media this week for his pre game press conference, Ollie explained.
‘Wolves are the most consistent team in the Championship. They play attractive football, they move the ball well and their manager deserves full credit for that. Let`s see if we can go there and pull off something that no-one believes we can. We beat them there last season and I believe we can do it again.’
Having got back to winning ways last weekend in the one nil victory over Barnsley at Loftus Road, Holloway knew that would be a confidence boost going into this one, even if the game itself wasn’t a classic.
‘Sometimes the result is all that matters and that was the case last weekend. I actually said to the lads at half-time that they were probably trying to win too much – it sounds weird, but I actually thought we were getting too many people forward and in the wrong areas. In the second half, I thought we did better and reaped the benefits of that. Ryan showed his eagerness to get around and put his foot in, and got himself sent off. That was a test and we came through it. Having lost to ten men against Bristol City we go and win with ten men. If anything sums up our topsy-turvy season, it was probably that.’
With Wolves winning 11 of their 15 games at the Molineux, Holloway was under no illusions as to what we’d face however.
‘It`s a big pitch there so we will have to make sure we get tight and get around them. We will need to be careful with our normal game of pressing and closing everywhere that we don`t get dragged out of position and leave open spaces. Their crowd will be buzzing. They know how good their team is and we know we are going to have to be on top of our game. I want to get over our last away performance because we just didn`t turn up at Bristol City. We need to make sure we turn up on Saturday and have our heads right.’
In terms of team news for the game, Massimo Luongo is likely to be out with his knee injury but a late decision will presumably be taken on him, but Idrissa Sylla, Jamie Mackie, David Wheeler and Paul Smyth are ruled out already.
