QUEENS Park Rangers saw first hand at the weekend, the perils of staking your claim on one key signing in a promotion push.
Queens Park Rangers saw first hand at the weekend, the perils of staking your claim on one key signing in a promotion push.
The undoubted talent of Michael Chopra has decided many games on his own this season, and will continue to do so over the course of the campaign, but an off-day such as his yesterday leaves Cardiff with little in the way of a talisman.
Spending big bucks on a player like Chopra, leaves very little to bolster a thin squad as has been seen by the penny-pinching additions of Solomon Taiwo and Anthony Gerrard who have predominantly plied their trade at a lower level.
The introduction of Josh Magennis epitomised the lack of genuine strength in depth for the Bluebirds who could only look to the work ethic of Chris Burke and the sheer liveliness of Chopra to carve out their attacking threat.
With a dominant QPR defence keeping the creative pair relatively quiet, Cardiff had very little to fall back on in terms of goals from other areas. A problem that QPR didn’t seem to have.
Rangers have refused to break the bank on a solitary player, much to the disappointment of sections of support – however the all round talent on display yesterday showed that QPR are no one trick pony.
An all-round dominant team performance justified their transfer policy, and while they were adept at snuffing out Cardiff’s limited number of threats, they used their fantastic team ethic to carve out chances at will.
One of the major talking points when it comes to Cardiff City is the work of Peter Ridsdale, a man who in my opinion has taken them from their natural home and borrowed heavily against the club – making a club built on firm foundations, to one teetering on the financial brink.
Expectancy levels have risen in South Wales, but despite moving across the road into another identi-kit soulless bowl of a stadium has ripped the very heart out of the Bluebirds, making a once intimidating club, a nice place to play for many Championship clubs.
A nice wide pitch for away teams to express themselves and carve open what is at present a makeshift defence with no natural leader.
When it comes to owners, surely QPR fans should be thanking their lucky stars that they are a solvent club financially, with a bright future if the performance yesterday and in many games this season, is anything to go by.
So many times QPR have come out undeservedly short this season when dominating possession for large spells and for the first time they got their just deserts yesterday after some clinical finishing from Jay Simpson.
One thing is for sure Michael Chopra will win many games for Cardiff City this season, a player of his calibre and price-tag would be expected to do so – but when he misfires who can the Bluebirds look to for solace?
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