High-flying Huddersfield present QPR with daunting task - Preview Friday, 10th Feb 2017 20:08 by Clive Whittingham QPR return to Loftus Road after a last minute defeat at fellow strugglers Blackburn to find a Huddersfield team, bang in form and sitting fourth, standing in their way. QPR (9-7-14, LWDLDL, 19th) v Borussia Huddersfield (17-4-8, WLWWWW, 4th)Mercantile Credit Trophy >>> Saturday February 11, 2017 >>> Kick off 15.00 !!!!! >>> Weather — Freezing, some wrath of God >>> Loftus Road, London, W12 If, as the form table suggests is quite likely, QPR get out played and outscored on their own patch by Huddersfield Town tomorrow, it could be seen as quite a chastening experience. To a London-centric media and a Premier League-obsessed sport, Huddersfield is one of those grim northern places that sits somehow a bit beneath the rest of the country. Teams coming down from the top flight talk about the ignominy of a league fixture away to Barnsley, foreign players are chided with the old ‘cold Tuesday night in Wigan’ stuff, and achievements on the pitch by clubs of this ilk get treated as ‘and finally’ novelty stories deserving of pats on the head. “Look at Huddersfield Town doing well, good for them… won’t last though.” Huddersfield have it particularly tough with the two Sheffield clubs, the two Manchester giants and The Champions of Europe all, relatively speaking, just up the road. They’ve not been in the top flight since 1972 and they kicked around between the bottom two divisions from 2001 to 2012. They’ve finished 19th, 17th, 16th and 19th again in the four years since they returned to the second tier and worked their way through four managers in as many seasons. Only Harry Redknapp would (and indeed did) dare to suggest that the three stars above their badge (for league title wins between 1923 and 1926) make them any kind of sleeping giant ready to come in the night and devour us all and so they become one of those stereotypical sticks for clubs like ours with a bit of money and a couple of recent Premier League seasons behind us to beat ourselves with — can’t believe we lost at home to Huddersfield, new low etc etc. Huddersfield, though, look like they’re going places under enthusiastic/nutty German manager David Wagner. Not only sustaining a promotion push having been tipped by many to struggle against relegation, but doing so in a thrilling and exciting style. They are, for my money, the best team to watch at this level by miles — taking the 4-2-3-1 set up that managers like Jose Mourinho and Rafa Benitez use to solidify their teams and bore opponents into submission, and turning it into an excuse to throw four forwards up the field and attack at pace, with width and in big numbers. At Norwich and against Brighton and Leeds when I sat and watched them they were utterly, completely exhilarating. QPR, meanwhile, have improved a bit in style, if not really in results. Very good against Reading and Newcastle, terribly unlucky not to win (never mind lose) at Blackburn last week, better against Wolves and Ipswich, pugnacious against Fulham… Ian Holloway’s side have been decent to watch and in Ryan Manning appear to have unearthed a genuine prospect for the future. There is a theory — advanced by the recent Reading, Fulham, Newcastle and Burton games — that QPR are a good deal better when playing teams that have a lot of the ball and come at them, rather than sitting back and seeing what Rangers have got to offer. So if you’re looking for positives there’s that, and Huddersfield’s record at Loftus Road which reads played 14 league games won zero — though, full disclosure, they did win here in the FA Cup in 1998 and have outplayed QPR on their last two visits while only taking one point from six available. But we need to be realistic here — QPR’s form, however you dress it up and whatever positives you look for, simply isn’t good enough. The home defeat to Burton a fortnight ago, however decent the performances either side of it were, was absolutely abysmal. Just four wins at home all season, now just three places and six points outside the relegation zone, and having surrendered 11 points out of a possible 18 to the current bottom four this season already this is a season that could yet completely unravel. There is a prevailing feeling, and it was certainly the case at Blackburn last week, that QPR have to work really hard to score, but they’re not that difficult to score against. If there is a positive in what’s likely to come our way tomorrow, perhaps it’s that the financial fair play restrictions don’t - yet, despite their best attempts — stop stories like Huddersfield from happening. QPR are, allegedly, moving towards a more sustainable model after years of ruinous expenditure. The gigantic earners have largely been shifted, although sadly Steven Caulker’s latest extra curricular activities at Clapham Junction and subsequent brush with the legal system seem to have rendered him too drunk an idiot even for Russia — a slight on a par with us being refused admission to Flares Newcastle last week. As clubs like Newcastle and Aston Villa come into the division and, within the rules, start spending £10m on Dwight Gayle it can be disheartening for the rest. How do you compete? Huddersfield, under David Wagner, have shown that sound coaching, scouting and (I don’t think this can be overstated) actually attacking teams and going out to win games rather than getting “deep, tight and narrow” or holding possession for possession’s sake can still get you places at this level. Hope for the future then perhaps, as QPR look forward with some trepidation to the end of their parachute payments. That won’t help them much tomorrow though, and if things go to form we’ll be scratching our heads still further at how one team assembled on a tight budget with loan players and unheralded players from dark corners of Europe is so much better, and so much better to watch, than the other. Chastening, but for different reasons than before. Maybe it’ll be alright. Links >>> 1999 opening day — History >>> Wagner’s way — Interview >>> Bankes in for Huddersfield clash — Referee Classic footage from QPR Huddersfield games being somewhat non-existent, here’s the bit from Planes, Trains and Automobiles when they end up on the wrong side of the motorway instead. SaturdayTeam News: Idrissa Sylla and Yeni Nbgakoto are both back in full training but are rated as “a bit foreign” for this weekend’s match with Huddersfield leaving roast beef Matt Smith and Yorkshire pudding Ravel Morrison to push for starts. Jack Robinson is still at the glue factory. Huddersfield striker Kasey Palmer has been ruled out for eight weeks with ringworm but in modern football where one Chelsea loanee becomes unavailable another one simply grows in his place so expect Izzy Brown to slide straight into his slot. So to speak. Elsewhere: Rattle the bars of the cage all you like mate, you ain’t coming out until this is all over, and there’s still another three months and 4,943 rounds to get through yet so just settle yourself down and don’t make us force your eyes open for Sheffield Owls v Brum which we’re very considerately forcing upon you this evening. More gruel for your nourishment comes tomorrow evening in the form of the Wolverhampton Wolves against Champions Newcastle. That means there are a whopping ten games at 15.00 — clean that puddle up off the floor you naughty girl, that’s only because there’s another full blast of fixtures on Tuesday so they can’t move games to Sunday breakfast this week — headlined by the dramatic clash between Relegated Rotherham and The Mad Indian Chicken Farmers. Still waiting on that free hamper of sub-standard subcontinent battery farmed goodness by the way guys — not sure anybody will do as much for Rovers’ survival chances as QPR have this season. The Nottingham Trees, now under the semi-permanent management of Gary Brazil and Jack Lester, go to Norwich City in a rare clash between two teams beginning with N. The all to regular meeting of two teams beginning with B this week is Promoted Brighton v Nigel Clough’s Burton Albion. Though surely they start with a P and an N I hear you cry. Your mum. The Derby Sheep against the Wurzels looks like something of a forgone conclusion, although we’re fast approaching that point of the season where the whole thing collapses in on itself at Pride Park leaving Schteve’s hair island flapping forlournly in the wind. The Champions of Europe v The Seventh Annual Neil Warnock Farewell Tour looks like a friendly affair, Leddersford v Ipswich doesn’t exactly fire the imagination and Waitrose v Barnsley may as well not be taking place at all. Preston Knob End striker Paul Gallagher was filling his car up earlier this week when he saw his elderly neighbour Reginald almost fall off his bike on an uneven surface. A minute of silence has been demanded in the tenth minute of their meeting with Brentford as a mark of respect, and to calm Gallagher’s nerves after a week in Deepdale’s designated ‘safe space’. The poor love. And finally Tarquin and Rupert welcome Wigan Warriors to the riverside Cottage for a discussion about the gold standard. Referee: Peter Bankes from Merseyside is back at Loftus Road for the first time since the League Cup Third Round (I know, we were surprised it had one as well) tie with Sunderland earlier this season. Usually quite a decent fella, albeit with an inability to keep time, full details and recent stats are available here. FormQPR: For all the recent improvements in style and entertainment, QPR have just four home wins to their name all season, lost last time out here to lowly Burton, and are in poor form results wise. No wins from the last four (two draws, two defeats) and just three from the last 14 in all competitions. The R’s haven’t scored more than two goals in a game since the opening day of the season against Leeds (3-0), 33 games ago. They’ve won four (Leeds, Bristol City, Norwich, Ipswich), drawn four and lost seven (Preston, Newcastle, Brentford, Wolves, Derby, Villa, Burton) at Loftus Road in the league this season.
Huddersfield: Town come into this game on a hot streak of four straight victories, including the last two against fellow promotion chasers Brighton and Leeds. They’ve scored 11 goals in those four as well, extending their run of form to one defeat from 13 games, of which ten have been won. Away from home this season they’ve won six (Newcastle, Leeds, Ipswich, Burton, Norwich, Wigan), drawn two and lost six (Sheff Wed, Cardiff, Fulham, Preston, Reading, Brighton). That run does include a random 5-0 hammering down the road at Fulham, and they’ve never won a league game at Loftus Road in 12 attempts so maybe they don’t like this specific part of the world. Their recent run means there are now eight points between them and the team in seventh — Norwich currently — but still six separating them from the automatic promotion spots. The Terriers are currently on a run of 64 matches without a goalless draw — the longest run in the Football League (hat tip BBC). Predictions: All that usual stuff about QPR being better against the better teams, more effective out of possession etc etc not withstanding, I’ve been seriously impressed with Huddersfield this season and they looked absolutely terrific against Brighton and Leeds last week. On the face of it, a long afternoon in store. Prediction: QPR 1-2 Huddersfield. Scorer — Matt Smith. The Twitter @loftforwords Pictures — Action Images Action Images Please report offensive, libellous or inappropriate posts by using the links provided.
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