Hasselbaink Blames Tiredness

QPR fell to a second consecutive league defeat after a 2-0 loss against Preston North End. Manager Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink blamed tiredness of the squad as a reason for the defeat.

The team were involved in a rollercoaster ride with Barnsley only a few days ago. The 3-2 game ended in a loss for QPR and this brought their winning run at the start of the season to an end. After starting out the new campaign with a view of promotion to the Premier League, QPR will have to rebuild the lost confidence from the start.

Even though the home team had the better of the statistics by having more possession and more shots on target, they were unable to make a major impact on the game. Former Everton striker Jermaine Beckford opened the scoring within the opening 25 minutes. Defender Onuoha’s own goal in the 52nd minute seemed to be the final straw for the home team, as they never appeared to come back into the game.

Hasselbaink will be aware that the team cannot afford anymore slipups and they need to come back to form quickly. QPR are up against Rochdale in the League Cup on Tuesday night followed by an away match against Wigan Athletic.
Hasselbaink also criticised the individual errors committed by the team.

“You have to give Preston credit. They did well, put us on the back foot and we looked flat. We looked like we had 24 hours less to recover. It looked a big ask. When you have a big squad it doesn’t matter, but when you don’t then it does. As as a group, we expected more and wanted more but couldn’t deliver. We didn’t look like us. Individual errors cost us. But we are a team – we lose together and we win together,” said Hasselbaink.

QPR Drew The Match Against Leeds

Jermaine Jenas helped his team QPR to draw the match by scoring a goal 1-1 against Leeds in the championship fight on Saturday at Loftus Road. The midfielder Jenas silted in the equalizer just before half time thus evading fourth straight defeat of Queens’ Park Rangers.

Rangers’ manager Harry Red Knapp under pressure came out arguing this week refusing proposal that his place is under risk while declaring their recent form was not anything more than a jinx. Conversely that blip was in threat of turning into a full-brown disaster when McCormack just after missing a penalty fired Leeds forward with a deflected free kick.

Queen Park Rangers were gifted with the probability to get a 10th minute escort when Richard ungainly confronts sent McCormack dipping in the penalty area. But McCormack’s kick was a feeble attempt which the QPR keeper Rob Green saved the ball from left low side.

Four minutes later the in-form front man with a twisting free kick from about 10 yards further out sheared the Rangers’ wall on its way past green. For the majority of the first half Rangers, it appeared mournfully and the total effort was given by Jenas just before break by a header which looped straight into the arms of goalkeeper Jack Butland.

It was Jenas who collected Kevin Doyle’s layoff from ravel’s Morrison pass and send off it past Brutland from the rim of the area. Rangers felt relaxed with the goal when they arrived out for the 2nd half session. Leeds got the chance of doubling their goal when Wickham’s shot flew across green and barely wide of the far post. Wickham had a free header into the greens penalty area only to set it straight at Rangers just a minute before end.

But there was a tragedy in the walk out time when Rangers’ defender Clint Hill was thought to have snatched a doubtful winner only to be flagged offside.

CARROLL DECISION

QPR manager Harry Redknapp has called for Tottenham to make a quick decision on the future of midfielder Tom Carroll.

The youngster is on loan at QPR from Tottenham, but there has been speculation that he may be recalled in the middle of his loan spell in order to help his parent club tide over the injury crisis. Newly appointed manager Tim Sherwood has had to deal with injuries to the likes of Paulinho, Sandro, and Sigurdsson. As a result, the club has the option of recalling Carroll in order to sustain their quest for the top four.

Carroll has been outstanding for QPR this campaign, as he has made 14 appearances in an impressive season for the club. QPR were expected to struggle after relegation with big-name players last season, but they have managed to maintain a push for the automatic promotion spots from the start. Even though they have fallen five points behind Leicester City, they have comfortable advantage over the rest of the chasing pack that includes clubs like Burnley and Derby County.

Due to the presence of an experienced manager like Harry Redknapp, they are the favourites to get promoted along with Leicester. A recall may affect the Championship team, but Redknapp wants the future to be sorted as soon as possible.

“I’m not sure what’s happening. It’s up to Tim Sherwood what he wants to do. He likes him an awful lot and has been excellent for us. I haven’t spoken to Tim for a week or so, but if he wants to take him back I need to know because we need time to try and find somebody else. I wouldn’t want to leave it until the last minute [of the window]. It’s a difficult time of year to find players,” said Harry Redknapp.

CHARLIE AUSTIN MAKES THE GRADE

The manager of Queens Park Rangers, Harry Redknapp, has lauded the English striker Charlie Austin for his wonderful strike in the game against Charlton Athletic last weekend. With the help of Austin’s goal, QPR secured a 1-0 win in that game.

With that win, QPR got equalized with Burnley and Leicester City in terms of points, but, since their goal differential is worse than those two sides, they are still at no. 3 in the Championship points table.

Austin had arrived at the Loftus Road Stadium during the pre-season transfer window after leaving Burnley. QPR had bought him after paying a transfer fee of about 4 million Pounds.

Austin has so far featured for QPR in 16 Championship games and has scored 7 goals. This is not a bad record by any means.

Talking to the reporters about Austin in the post match press conference, Redknapp said, “Charlie has really been sensational for us. The goal that he scored today was absolutely brilliant.”

“The thing that I like the most about him is his attitude. His energy level remains the same either he is on the pitch or he is training and that’s fantastic.”

QPR’s assistant manager, Kevin Bond, also had a few things to say about Austin after the match. Bond said, “The thing about Charlie is that he trains very hard and the way he performed today, it was top class. The young man deserves to be praised.”

When asked about Harry Redknapp completing 30 years of his managerial career, Bond said, “Harry is one of those guys who don’t focus on these kind of things that much. Off course, that’s a brilliant achievement and now, that the team has secured 3 points, it has become an even more special day for us.”

REMY NOT QPR

QPR manager Harry Redknapp has revealed that he is not considering French international Loic Remy as part of the QPR future.

The striker became the club’s record signing after his £ 8 million arrival from Marseille last January. However, he was unable to prevent the club from being relegated to the Championship.

Being one of the highest wage earners at the club, the club had no other option to loan him out. He was sent on a season-long loan deal to Newcastle United, but it was thought that he may return to QPR if the club was promoted to the Premier league.

There is good chance of QPR being in the Premier league next season because they are currently top of the Championship table after having played nine matches. They are level on points with Burnley, but they have a game in hand, which should give them a three-point advantage if they win the encounter. Manager Harry Redknapp, who has received a lot of praise on the start of the season, has ruled out the possibility of loan stars like Remy and Adel Taarabt returning to the club. The Moroccan international is on loan at Fulham till the end of the season.

Redknapp has revealed that it was Remy’s decision to go to Newcastle. “Remy wanted to go to Newcastle, so good luck to him. I hope he does well. He’s not in my thoughts. I only want people who are here and want to be here, that’s all I’m concerned with. Taarabt and all those who’ve gone on loan, good luck to them. I hope they do well, stay where they are and get a contract there,” said Redknapp.

QPR are the only Championship team not to have lost a single match this season. They face Barnsley during the weekend.

HOOPER SIGNS

Norwich recently managed to win the race to sign Celtic striker Gary Hooper, who has been the top scorer in Scotland for the last three years.

The 25-year-old was recently signed by Norwich city for around £ 5.5 million, and he has signed a four-year contract with the Premier league outfit. QPR were one of the teams in the race to sign the Englishman, but manager Harry Redknapp believes that the urgency shown by Norwich proved to be the difference in the end.

Norwich were very keen to sign a new striker after the loss of Grant Holt in the summer. The striker has signed for Wigan athletic for a transfer fee believed to be around £ 2 million. After their failure to score goals on a consistent basis in the pre-season, manager Chris Hughton was keen on strengthening the forward line up. Redknapp, who is now targeting a straight return to the Premier league, is also on the lookout for a new striker. Remy, who was signed for a club record £ 8 million in January, is expected to leave on a loan deal.

Newcastle have been showing a lot of interest in the French international. Redknapp has said that Hooper was keen on a move to QPR before the serious interest from Norwich.

“You can’t hang about. I could write a book about players that I have signed and lost over the years. Deals have got to be done quickly and it dragged on probably two-and-a-half months altogether that deal. It was miles too long. It should have been done, but that’s how it goes, we learn from that one and move on. We can’t make that same mistake again. If we’re after a player and we really want him and he wants to come,” said Harry Redknapp.

REDKNAPP DENIES ISSUES

The manager of Queens Park Rangers, Harry Redknapp, has denied the fact that his players didn’t show enough hunger for points on the field in this season. According to the QPR manager, the team was lacking skills not desire.

After the match against Reading FC, Jose Bosingwa was seen laughing while coming off the ground and after that incident, people have been saying that the QPR players were not really concerned about the team’s performance and they didn’t try hard enough on the ground.

But, Redknapp doesn’t have the same opinion. When he was asked whether he thinks that his players didn’t give their 100% on the ground, he said, “No, I don’t think so. The boys tried hard in every game. It would not be right to say that the effort was not there. The main reason behind our relegation was that we were lacking skills. We didn’t have too many high quality players and that’s why, we were thrashed by the teams.”

“People have been saying that we had a balanced squad, but, we still couldn’t save ourselves from relegation. I don’t agree to them. I don’t think our squad was well balanced. We lacked quality and that’s the reason why we got relegated.”

QPR will put its goalkeeper Julio Cesar on sale in the pre season transfer window. Arsenal is believed to be interested in Cesar.

When asked about that, Redknapp said, “Well, Arsenal will be coming here in a couple of days’ time to play against us and if they want to sign Julio, then, Arsene Wenger will definitely talk to me about that.”

“Julio is a world class goalie. So, it’s obvious that the club which wants to buy him will have to pay a big amount.”
Cesar had signed for QPR at the start of this season.

QPR SPEND BIG

QPR were one of the two clubs during the transfer window that recently concluded. They spent big money on players like Christopher Samba and Remy. Despite their lowly league position and lack of finances without a benefactor, the club spent around £ 20 million on these players.

This is an astonishing amount of money for QPR to spend, but the news gets even bigger due to the wages of these players. There have been reports that the defender Christopher Samba is on a contract worth around £ 100,000 per week. Despite such speculation, the manager Redknapp has rejected rumours suggesting that he is gambling with the future of the club.

If QPR are relegated this season despite the presence of these players, then they are in danger of being financially stricken. Dropping down to the Championship will result in revenue losses of around £ 60 million even with the parachute payments. It is believed that many of the top players have clauses inserted into their contracts that will allow them to leave on a free transfer. A few weeks after taking over, Redknapp suggested that he was unlikely to bring in high-profile signings during January. However, the club’s rock bottom position in the table has forced Redknapp to act in the transfer window.

“You will sell Samba at the end of the season if you want to because he should be playing for a top-four team. He is a monster of a player. He is as quick as lightning, fantastic in the air, he has the lot. At the end of the season, if it doesn’t go well, they will get £12 million for Samba, no danger. That could be £14 million because there will be managers out there thinking: I thought he was gone, he’s back in England’. There will be takers for Samba so they have not done their money on him,” said Redknapp.

HARRY BELIEVES

The QPR manager Harry Redknapp has expressed his confidence that his team will be able to survive in the Premier league after taking three points of the match against Chelsea.

QPR came into the match as the bottom club in the Premier league, but they managed to achieve an unlikely result by winning against the European champions at Stamford Bridge. QPR might have secured only their second win of the season, but this is extremely important in the context of the season according to the QPR manager. Redknapp blasted his players after the 3-0 defeat against Liverpool during the weekend.

They were far better in the match against Chelsea with defending that could help them keep a number of clean sheets over the rest of the season. QPR were in a similar situation last season as well, but managed a stunning escape that was completed on the final day of the season. Even though this victory has meant that QPR’s position has not been able improve, this has at least helped them close the gap on the 17th placed team in the division – Southampton. Shaun Wright Phillips scored the only goal of the game in the second half after Chelsea had created very little in terms of opportunities up until the moment.

“After Sunday’s defeat by Liverpool it was difficult to convince anyone we could survive. But the players have set the standard with this win and to get out of this mess they have to do it every week. That was our first away win in the league since October 2011 and let’s hope we can build on it. There’s still a long way to go but that was encouraging. The players worked their socks off and they got their rewards,” said Redknapp, whose team now have 13 points on the board.

HARRY LIKES TARAABT

The new QPR manager Harry Redknapp has said that the rumours linking the midfielder Adel Taarabt with a move away from the club in January are untrue.

The Moroccan midfielder Adel Taarabt is regarded as one of the best players at the club, and he has been linked with a move since the days of Neil Warnock. However, the club have been able to persuade him and keep him at the club. Harry Redknapp has said that he is one of the key members of the squad, with whom he will be hoping to achieve safety in the Premier league.

He recently replaced Mark Hughes after the former Blackburn manager could not manage even a single victory in the first 13 matches of the season. Even though Harry Redknapp was also unable to guide the team to a victory in his first match as a manager of the club, people are extremely confident that the former Portsmouth and Tottenham manager will work extremely well at Loftus Road. Incidentally, Adel Taarabt was sold by Harry Redknapp when he was the Tottenham manager to QPR in 2010. This was following two successful loan spells at the club, but Redknapp sees Adel Taarabt as an integral part of his team this time around.

“He was alright with me, Adel. I think he has improved. His attitude is good and he has got bags of ability. I wouldn’t have let him go, in all honesty – I said that at the time – I would have kept him at Tottenham. I would have kept him around because I always felt he was a player you could bring off the bench and he could change a game for you,” said Redknapp about the reasons for selling the 23-year-old when he was the Tottenham manager.