A little later than usual, LoftforWords assesses the QPR playing squad’s performances so far at (roughly) the halfway point of the season.

Main Players
24 – Radek Cerny B/C
Well excuses out of the way first, a goalkeeper is often only as good as the defence in front of him. Cerny won the division’s golden glove award last season behind a rock solid and very settled back four. This year he has been forced to play behind a vast array of defensive set ups that has included four different centre halves and four different full backs. That has led to a much more leaky and nervous looking defence in general, and not done Cerny any good at all. However I just cannot shake the feeling that his overall game is not as good as it was last season. He seems to stay on his line a lot more, whereas last season he was very keen to come out and punch or catch and we seem to be conceding a lot more close range efforts from crossing. He’s also costing us more goals than he was, and going close to costing us more. The Leicester goal is the obvious one, but against Sheff Utd last week he was caught dallying on the edge of the box and was fortunate not to concede an embarrassing goal. That’s being harsh and looking for issues with him really, because he’s still one of the division’s better keepers, but I don’t think he’s as good this season as he was last. I wonder if Tom Heaton were to return now whether he may find himself seeing more action – Carl Ikeme may well not be here to warm the bench.
25 appearances, 36 goals conceded

2 – Peter Ramage B
Steady, consistent, unspectacular, not particularly good but you can perhaps forgive him that for his effort, work rate and heart for the cause which is invaluable in a footballer in a situation like ours. Let’s be honest, Ramage is never going to be a David Bardsley like full back swinging over glorious crosses and curling balls down the touchline. In fact, when he tries to do so, those in Ellerslie Road would do well to protect their cups of coffee. However I do think his crossing has improved – two great balls in at Ipswich recently spring to mind. I felt he started the season very well and was hugely unfortunate to be dropped in favour of Mikele Leigertwood – easy to forget, as I did during a recent message board debate, that it was Ramage at full back for the 4-0 4-1 results against Preston and Reading. He’s steady, we need better really, but he’ll always give you 100 per cent and does seem to appreciate the supporters more than some of his team mates. A prime example of how much you will be forgiven by the fans if you try hard.
17 appearances, one goal v Blackpool

3 – Damion Stewart C
Imperious at times last season and a deserved winner of the club’s Player of the Year, but Damion has been a long way short of that for much of this campaign. One of several members of the first team squad that seems to be a good deal heavier than he was 12 months ago – and his lack of sharpness is perhaps best highlighted by his five yellow cards so far. He has already served a ban for accumulated bookings having only picked up four in the whole of last season, and five in the whole of 2007/08. There have been good performances, like many he was at his best around the time of the Newcastle away game, but like many he just has not been as good as he has been in previous seasons. Reached a low with his performance against Leicester and has only just come back into the team after that. Like Cerny, not helped by the constant chopping and changing of the defence.
19 appearances, one assist, five bookings

5 – Fitz Hall C
Pinpointed by many fans as the main reason for our defensive problems this season, he has undoubtedly caused us problems but he is not the only one. The main problem he causes for me is through his injuries – Magilton loved him and played him at every possible opportunity, but his constant battles with fitness meant he those opportunities came in spurts of three or four games followed by a lay off. That meant we were changing the part of the team you want to keep constant far too often and turned a defence that was the league’s best last season into the mess it is now. Hall is not as bad as many make out, but he does have Darren peacock syndrome of undermining 89 minutes of competent play with a horrendous mistake. Right at the start of the season it was his slip that let in Nicky Maynard for Bristol City’s winner, and then more recently in the corresponding fixture he inexplicably turned into his own area and teed up City’s David Clarkson for what should have been an equaliser. There are many other examples in between. He’s not as good in the air as Gorkss, as good with the ball as Connolly or as quick as Stewart so he should be our fourth choice centre half as far as I am concerned but perhaps his earners, he’s said to be one of the club’s best paid players, mean that he’s likely to be put in the team more often than perhaps he should. Hs main problem seems to be always playing on the back foot, retreating to the safety of his own 18 yard line, and then having to react and stretch for things rather than attacking the ball and playing on the front foot. The problems he has caused this year have been, for me, down to his fitness rather than the lack of ability some fans level at him – but he is accident prone and shouldn’t be in the team with everybody fit in my opinion.
11 starts, two sub appearances, one assist, three bookings

13 - Kaspars Gorkss B
I’m starting to wonder whether Kaspars is just a slow starter generally. He was dire at the beginning of last season before blossoming into a superb asset to the team and the general consensus seemed to blame his protracted transfer from Blackpool and subsequent lack of pre-season action for that. However despite getting a perfectly normal summer behind him this year he was again pretty dodgy for the early weeks of the campaign - an own goal at Plymouth in week one not helping with that. Just recently though he has been back to something like his best, regularly topping the LFW interactive player ratings poll at the end of matches. He has also managed to break his scoring duck with QPR with goals at Sheff Wed and West Brom that won us four points. All the defender’s ratings and criticisms are to be viewed in the context of a constantly shifting and changing back four which has helped nobody – it’s no coincidence for me that Gorkss’ better performances, and increased consistency lately, have come since Damion Stewart and he were reunited as the first choice partnership and largely left to it. Not as good as last season though.
22 appearances, plus one as sub, two goals, one assist, one booking

16 – Matt Connolly C
A season so far decimated by injury and illness. Connolly has not started a game since the Coventry match at the end of November. He missed the thick end of three months early in the season with glandular fever and has been suffering with a muscle strain more recently. With only six starts to his name so far it is hard to see many positives for our most promising young player at the moment and he will be hoping for much better in the second half of the season. Jim Magilton blamed him for one of the Coventry goals in his last start when Leon Best climbed high above him to head home, highlighting Connolly’s physical weakness when it comes to centre half play. Once again, broken record time, when he has been fit he has not been helped by constant chopping and changing of the back four.
Six appearances, plus two as sub, one booking

29 – Gary Borrowdale B
Very much like Ramage in that he is very consistent, but not particularly good with it. Borrowdale is just a very steady full back, he does very little wrong or outstandingly right but you know you can rely on him. His main problem is he stands off his winger too much, and often turns his back, which means he is not stopping the crosses coming into our box as often as he should. Overall though he has been very steady defensively and I think we saw his value to that side of things when we replaced him with the more exciting and attacking Tommy Williams who was better going forwards but left us open down that side of the defence. We need better if we are to progress, but he’s steady enough.
21 starts, two sub appearances, four yellow cards

6 – Mikele Leigertwood B
Used as a right full back and central midfielder in equal measure Leigertwood has enjoyed success and endured failure in both positions. He is still a wildly inconsistent player, capable of scoring a good number of goals and commanding the pattern of play from the centre of midfield, but also capable of looking like a bumbling idiot and conceding possession with alarming frequency – his ball retention at Scunthorpe earlier this season must have been less than 20 per cent. Many have said since his brief appearance in that position at Reading last season that he would be better off at right back, and impressive performances (and another goal) from there against Cardiff and Barnsley seemed to add weight to that. But he was increasingly found out in that position towards the end of Magilton’s reign and has been moved back to the centre of the park more recently – although injuries to Rowlands and Mahon probably made that necessary, rather than a change of tactic. He’s a very frustrating player, impossible to predict from one game to the next.11 goals from a defensive midfield role in two and a half seasons should make him a prized asset, and there has been interest from Wolves and a lucrative contract extension offer from QPR recently, but the reaction of the fans to that contract offer says much for the wildly fluctuating qualities of his performances.
24 starts, one sub appearance, four goals, one assist, two yellow cards

7 – Wayne Routledge A
I might be wrong, a poll is now up on the right of the site to see, but I’d say if we held the Player of the Season vote now Wayne would be in with a very good chance of winning it. I was very excited by his signing a year ago and hugely disappointed with the form he showed in the second half of last season. However this year he has been much more like the player I thought we had bought – starting the season with a hat trick at Exeter, tormenting full backs and getting himself right up there among the top assisters in the league. His finishing needs working on, he could easily be in double figures by now and should have at least twice the three league goals he has managed this season, but six goals and six assists from 27 starts is very productive form for a winger and he has been good to watch and entertaining with it. Consistently good, often excellent, has suffered a little since Magilton left but was still our biggest threat in a hoof-a-long derby with Sheff Utd last time out. Well done Wayne.
27 starts, one sub appearance, six goals, six assists, three yellow cards

10 – Akos Buzsaky B/C
Hugely frustrating. Started the season very slowly, enjoyed a rich purple patch through Setember and October, and has been next to useless just lately. Buzsaky is another player who appears to be carrying excess weight, and is obviously wasted as a winger. However even when moved inside recently he has been ineffective. He was the target of Jim Magilton’s angst that led to the incident for which the manager was suspended, and I felt Magilton unfairly picked on Buzsaky at times considering he is still our second top scorer with seven goals (plus five assists) from midfield. Basically he needs to get fit, get on the ball more and get back to doing what he does best. He’s potentially the best player in this division by a long way in my opinion but he’s not showing anything like the form he is capable of at the moment and often looks exasperated and disinterested during matches. Must improve and get back to his September/October form to justify further inclusion.
21 starts, three sub appearances, seven goals, five assists, three yellow cards

15 – Ben Watson C/D
A long pursued signing, in the end we were left wondering why we had bothered. In fairness I thought he was excellent at Crystal Palace, and very good initially for us. He ran the show at Newcastle and really suited our style of play, receiving the ball from the back four and distributing it forwards with Rowlands snapping around his heals buying him time. Rowlands’ injury hindered his performances, as did two stupid suspensions for petty red cards against Swansea and Reading. He has got steadily worse as he has gone along though – costing us a goal against Sheff Utd at home and then, when it became clear he was going to go back to Wigan and then out on loan again in January, he got a touch of the Scott Sinclair’s – pulling out of tackles and incurring the wrath of the crowd for lack of commitment. I have no doubt he will go elsewhere and be a great player in this division.
16 starts, two goals, three assists, four yellow cards and two reds

18 – Alejandro Faurlin A
I have perhaps been a little guilty of this myself over the course of the season but it does make me laugh when people talk about Faurlin being a tippy tappy South American footballer who will not cope well with the cold Tuesday nights in Blackpool and Sheffield. Faurlin is Argentinean, and there’s a reason the rest of South America hates them. There’s nothing tippy tappy about most Argentineans, and as Faurlin belied the snow, ice and physical nature of the game to execute a lunging tackle that left both Stephen Quinn and Nick Montgomery rolling round on the floor at Bramall Lane last week I think the QPR fans in attendance started to realise that. I think QPR fans have widely accepted that the £3.5m price tag bandied around in the summer when we signed him is a myth, we’ve paid a fraction of that up front, and have therefore been willing to give him more time than if they genuinely believed he had cost us that much. He has had some bad games, Leicester at home springs to mind, and has been protected a little and taken out of the side on numerous occasions. But I’d be surprised if anybody said he hadn’t exceeded their expectations this season. Wonderful passing game and not overawed or intimidated by the physical nature of the league. Much more to come and largely impressive so far.
16 starts, five sub appearances, four assists

8 – Rowan Vine D/E
Whenever a player breaks a leg or ruptures a ligament supporters will often rub their furrowed brows and trot out a line about the player being able to recover physically, but never being mentally the same again. “Will he be able to go into that first tackle,” they ask, presumably having heard some injured player or other say something similar in the past. QPR’s history is littered with players who promised much but failed to deliver after a bad injury, Kevin Gallen and Paul Murray spring immediately to mind, and Rowan Vine could well become the most extreme example. Vine’s injury was a straight broken leg but his recovery was delayed by numerous set backs and he is now a pale shadow of the player he once was. Remember the Rowan Vine we first signed, the close control, the jinking runs, the goals. Remember him tearing Charlton apart at The Valley live on Sky, tricking his way into the area and winning a penalty. Now look at him. At least a stone heavier, and barely able to control the ball. His recent cameo against Sheffield United was heartbreaking because he just looked like he had never played the game before. A loan spell at Millwall has been mooted and while it is easy to say he needs to be playing football, if he went there and played like he is doing at the moment it may destroy what shreds of confidence he has left. I don’t know what the answer is at the moment but it’s terribly sad to watch him at the moment.
Eight starts, 11 sub appearances, one goal, four assists

11 – Patrick Agyemang C
Another of the overly heavy brigade that could do with shedding a few pounds, and a footballer with perhaps the worst first touch I’ve seen since Devon White was playing the game. Like Devon Agyemang is best used, in my opinion, as cover for others or as an impact sub late in games when we either need to try something different against a tired defence or need somebody to occupy opposing defenders and keep the ball in the opposition half when protecting a lead. He should not be starting games, and is not as good as Helguson in my opinion. You can forgive him many failings because of his work rate, I saw him referred to as lazy the other week and I certainly do not think he is that, his work rate at Watford when he obviously was unhappy with numerous things at the club was admirable, but a very presentable chance to win the Sheff Utd game was toed back to the goalkeeper with a dreadful first touch and that’s his main problem. He’s just not very good. Can be effective with his height, pace and power, but he has the natural ability of a house brick. Even his height advantage is hindered by his bizarre technique of jumping to head a ball while ducking his head thereby making him smaller than he was when he was just standing there waiting for the ball. An impact sub and nothing more.
Seven starts, 12 sub appearances, three goals, one assist

23 – Jay Simpson A
A goal every two games. Nothing more to say really. Not a particularly quick or skilful player, but well trained and brought up giving him an immaculate first touch, wonderful movement and ice cool finishing ability. Apart from on his debut at Scunthorpe where he was perhaps a little nervous and keen to impress I can’t actually remember him missing anything you could call a ‘good chance’ since he arrived. Every time the ball drops with him in and around the penalty box he seems to finish it very cooly. If he stays fit there is no reason to believe he cannot make 20 goals this season, unless Hart persists with the ludicrous idea of playing him wide – like I say he’s not particularly quick or skilful, his strength lies in his finishing, so like Buzsaky he’s completely wasted out wide and with Taarabt, Cook, Routledge, Ephraim and others at the club there is absolutely no need for him to be out there. I’m not sure if he will make a Premiership player, and I’m certain he’s not going to get in the Arsenal team, and at 21 he’s not what you would call a promising youngster any more – he now needs to be playing first team football. I’d really push the boat out for him in the summer, a 20 goal a season Championship striker without a shadow of a doubt.
20 starts, one sub appearance, ten goals, four assists

39 – Adel Taarabt B
In and out of the team, used in a variety of different positions, and still has four goals and two assists to his name. However when you consider he has had the rough end of 70 shots this season that isn’t quite so impressive. Taarabt for me is conclusive proof that QPR fans will never be happy – they pine for the good old days when you had mercurial talents like Marsh and Bowles and while I’m certainly not comparing Taarabt to them what we have here is a genuinely entertaining, attractive player to watch. Somebody who can go past players, try different things, score great goals and yet we moan that he doesn’t pass or is selfish. Personally I’d have him in the team every week. He’s been inconsistent this season, he has been very frustrating on many occasions, and he’s heavier than he should be like many of his team mates, but I love watching him and he’s just the sort of player that makes the extortionate entrance fee worthwhile. I do wish fans would just lay off him, accept him for what he is, and enjoy the good times when what he tries does come off.
18 starts, seven runs from the bench, four goals, two assists

Best, and worst, of the rest
In my opinion the biggest impact on our season so far has been the injuries suffered first by Martin Rowlands and then his replacement Gavin Mahon. Both deserve A ratings for their performances prior to injury – Rowlands was revelling in Jim Magilton’s style of play before knackering his knee again and just as many, me in particular, despaired at his absence Mahon came in and played his best football for the club in his place. To lose them both after six and eight appearances respectively. I wonder whether Magilton might still be in a job had we kept one or both of them fit, because the results would undoubtedly have been better and the need to stick one on his players reduced. The impact of their absences cannot be underestimated in my opinion.

Hogan Ephraim has only made eight appearances, scoring two excellent goals in the league cup along the way, and bagging one in two appearances on loan at Leeds recently. Like Simpson he can no longer be considered a promising youngster, the time to deliver and play regularly is here. He has suffered with injuries this year but I would like to see him given a position and played regularly, certainly ahead of a loan player. After all we paid the thick end of £800k for him, no doubt pay him very well, and are yet to really use him consistently. I’d hate for us to let him go and another team to discover he actually is really good if you just give him a consistent run of games. He’s a player I like, with a good attitude, and I’d like to see him used more.

Three attackers have hardly featured this season for a variety of reasons. Alessandro Pellicori has started only once because he is not very good and will hopefully be returning home at the first possibly opportunity. Heidar Helguson has been on loan at Watford to clear a portion of his substantial wage from the bill but has shown at Vicarage Road, as he always has done at QPR in my opinion, that when he is fit he’s a very good player at this level. Should be kept and played in the second half of the season as far as I’m concerned. Angelo Balanta had a terrific pre-season and has just extended his contract but injury has decimated the last six months for him. Like Ephraim, a player I would like to see us use and develop ahead of loan players in the second half of the season.

Rangers have used four other shorter term loans this season. Tom Heaton was very impressive against Accrington and Chelsea but those were his only appearances, were he to return now I’m almost sure he would be given a run in the team. Would be a good signing if we could get him. Tommy Williams played very well against us for Peterborough and I was reasonably pleased to see him return but he wasn’t as good defensively as Borrowdale and really only performed well on one of his five starts. Not great, and probably not worth pursuing permanently.

Steven Reid made one start at Doncaster, completely cluttered and unbalanced the midfield, looked slow and cumbersome, and was then dropped to the bench. A further sub appearance later and he was injured, predictably, and sent back to Blackburn. Complete waste of time, an easily predictable one looking at his fitness record over the past few years.

Good old Gareth Ainsworth made welcome sub appearances when the games against Exeter and Preston were over and done with. We need players and characters like him around the place during these difficult times, his infectious enthusiasm seemed to do Wycombe a lot of good during a brief loan spell as well.

Photo: Action Images

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