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QPR hope for another Green day at The Den — preview
Saturday, 19th Oct 2013 01:23 by Clive Whittingham

QPR travel to Millwall on Saturday on a run of eight consecutive clean sheets with goalkeeper Robert Green a man bang in form.

Millwall (18th) v QPR (2nd)

Championship >>> Saturday October 19, 2013 >>> Kick Off 15.00 >>> The Den, Bermondsey

Time was a clash between Millwall and QPR would have the respective goalkeepers very much front and centre of thoughts prior to kick off.

In the mid-1990s Mick McCarthy’s Lions developed a reputation as a team to avoid in cup competitions, and not only because your supporters were likely to have their teeth knocked down the back of their throat at the tube station afterwards. Arsenal and Chelsea both faced knock-out football humiliation at the hands of the Lions and QPR could easily have gone the same way with a League Cup tie in 1993/94, and an FA Cup fifth round clash at Loftus Road a season later.

Premier League v First Division it may well have been, but with the accident prone Tony Roberts keeping goal for Rangers and up and coming American stopper Kasey Keller at the other end the playing field felt distinctly leveled. Keller, who went on to enjoy a fine career in the top flight with Leicester and Spurs, specialised in making a series of unlikely saves in backs-to-the-wall Millwall victories. Rangers beat him easily enough in the first instance, winning 3-0, but struggled second time around until an inexplicable hand ball at the Loft End in the last minute of the game gave Clive Wilson a chance to fire QPR into the quarter finals from the penalty spot — which he duly did. Any draw other than Manchester United away at that point could easily have placed an in form Rangers team in the semi-finals but luck wasn’t with them when the balls dropped.

The infuriating thing was that when Millwall did eventually cash in on Keller, for a measly £900,000, QPR let him move to Leicester while pursuing another American, Luton’s Juergen Sommer, instead.

In theory the presence of Robert Green between the sticks this weekend should be striking fear into the hearts of the home team. Green has kept eight consecutive clean sheets in the league and with the QPR club record now broken he’s quickly closing in on the overall Football League record of 1,311 minutes which was set by Edwin van der Sar at Manchester United back in 2009 — Green can break it during the first half of the Charlton home game in five matches time if he can continue clocking up the shut outs until then.

Green seems happy and settled at QPR this season and says as much himself, when few would have blamed him from demanding a move and seeking new pastures during the summer. Whatever salary he’s on at Loftus Road, substantially more than West Ham were prepared to offer him hence the move at the start of last season, it cannot have been easy to arrive at a club as the number one goalkeeper only to see another top class stopper brought in just 70 days later and immediately promoted into the first team.

Mark Hughes will say that you can’t legislate for a keeper of Julio Cesar’s stature not only becoming available, but being willing to move to QPR as well. Signing him was a no brainer, if harsh on Green. But it was the message that whole saga sent out to the rest of the players that caused problems — you could sign for QPR and be made assurances about your role at the club and have that ripped up and changed completely within days if somebody better could be signed in your position instead. You’d be hard pushed to argue that Robert Green is a better goalkeeper than Julio Cesar, but having brought him in to be a number one the club should have cursed their luck and stuck with him, rather than grabbing the Brazilian and bombing Green out.

Harry Redknapp is reaping the rewards of showing faith in Green — Cesar, through a stubborn refusal to take a pay cut and play top flight football elsewhere in a World Cup year, remains a Rangers player but Redknapp has made it clear that Green is his number one regardless. The keeper looks calmer, more confident and more secure this season.

It’s fair to say I’ve never been a big Robert Green fan, and still see him as a bit of an accident waiting to happen. He just doesn’t seem to either have the brash, confident swagger, or the quiet self-assuredness of the best goalkeepers. At times he’s almost apologetic in his stance. And while his record this season is exemplary, only in the win at Yeovil did I think he really excelled individually. There were some decent saves in a win at Bolton as well, but in truth I thought they were made to look more difficult than they actually were. The defensive record has been as much down to Richard Dunne, Clint Hill and Nedum Onuoha as the goalkeeper.

Ultimately I think Green is like a version of Tommy Smith — a bit too good for the Championship, but not quite good enough for the Premier League, and therefore always destined to yo-yo between the two. Much like the rest of the QPR team this season it will be interesting to see what happens when the going finally gets tough. A fixture list quirk means the R’s have played nine teams in the bottom half of the table and nobody higher than tenth. Greater tests for Green and his team lie in wait — for the goalkeeper a trip to Millwall could be a big moment because his West Ham connections are sure to attract a raucous welcome.

Green is talking the talk and walking the walk so far this campaign, but a big month of fixtures, mainly away from home at the division’s better sides, no lies in wait.

Links >>> History >>> Opposition Focus >>> Betting >>> Referee

Saturday

Team News: Rangers have Nedum Onuoha (hamstring), Andy Johnson and Bobby Zamora (both knee) out medium term and unavailable for this fixture. They’ve now been joined on the sidelines by Little Tom Carroll who injured his foot on England Under 21 duty during the week and faces a few weeks on the sideline. Matt Phillips was in full training this week as he continues to be troubled by an elbow injury and is fighting with fellow wide man Junior Hoilett for a recall to the starting 11.

Millwall have problems in defence where long serving full back Alan Dunne is suspended — two red cards in nine appearances already this season — and centre half Mark Beevers is out with a knee complaint. Midfielder Richard Chaplow (groin) and striker Scott McDonald (knee) both face late checks.

Elsewhere: Well thank goodness for that, the Championship is back after an enforced two week absence due to internationals. I thought we were going to have to start executing hostages for a moment there.

Instead let’s ponder very carefully the several possible outcomes of crucial early-season death matches between not only Blackburn and Charlton, but also Barnsley and Middlesbrough. And you thought this league had jumped the shark back in round 739 a fortnight ago?

For QPR it’s eyes primarily on Burnley at Ipswich and Leicester at home to Huddersfield. Well, you’d hope QPR eyes are primarily on Millwall to be honest, but during the down time at The Den it might be worth a cursory glance at the other scores in what is an absolutely crucial twelfth round of second tier fixtures this weekend.

Sky have Blackpool v Wigan live on Saturday lunchtime — Paul Ince must row a boat out into the Irish sea and deliver instructions via a megaphone for the next five matches under the terms of his stadium ban. The it’s the Champions of Europe looking to continue their sizzling run of six defeats from eight matches against the Brum on Sunday lunch time.

Bolton v Sheff Wed has an air of loser gets the sack about it, Reading v Doncaster feels a little bit like something neither really wants to bother with. Udinese v Derby maybe? Might be alright, few goals you would think. Nottingham Forest v Bournemouth likewise.

All of it, and I cannot stress this enough, absolutely crucial.

Referee: A London derby, with QPR flying at the top of the league and Millwall’s unique atmosphere well known to all, was always likely to bring a Premier League referee and that’s exactly what we’ve got. Mike Dean, a regular with Rangers during our Premier League stay, is in charge on Saturday, his first Rangers fixture since a 4-2 defeat to MK Dons in the FA Cup in January. For his extensive QPR case history please click here.

Form

Millwall: It’s been a curate’s egg of a season for Steve Lomas’ Millwall side so far. They started with four defeats and two draws from the first six games which included bad home defeats by newly promoted Yoevil (1-0), Huddersfield Town (1-0) and a 5-1 thrashing by Derby County. Lomas appeared to be on borrowed time but a remarkable turn around saw them win three matches in seven days including home success against Leeds and high flying Blackpool. Just when it seemed a corner had been turned they lost the next two matches to Birmingham and Bournemouth, conceding nine goals in the process. Lomas has already used 27 players this season, far more than anybody else in the league, and had a player sent off on a league-leading three separate occasions.

QPR: Rangers go hunting a ninth consecutive clean sheet, and fourth straight win at The Den on Saturday. The R’s have shipped only two goals in total in the league this season and have shut out Barnsley, Middlesbrough, Yeovil, Brighton, Birmingham, Leeds, Bolton and Ipswich since conceding in the first half against Huddersfield in a 1-1 draw back in August. The R’s have the division’s only remaining unbeaten record, and are closing in on the club record for an unbeaten start to a league season which was set at 19 matches during the 2010/11 promotion campaign. Richard Dunne hasn’t seen a goal go in against Rangers during his nine matches on the pitch so far this season.

Betting: Professional odds compiler Owen Goulding tells us…

“QPR take their unbeaten record to The Den this week. It is often referred to as 'Fortress New Den', but the truth of the matter is it is anything but a fortress this season. Having won only two of their five home games, Millwall hit a season low after a particularly demoralising 5-1 drubbing by visitors Derby County on September 14. They then surprisingly won their next three games on the bounce, defeating Blackpool, Charlton and Leeds in the space of ten days. It seemed they had turned the corner, but a return to that terrible form came back with a bang as they have conceded nine goals in their last two games after drubbings from Bournemouth and Birmingham.

“Steve Lomas is not a popular figure down the 'Wall. His West Ham connections aren't doing him any favours, and coupled with their schoolboy defending, I'm not sure how long his tenure will last. On a team news front, Millwall will be missing the tough tackling Alan Dunne through suspension, and centre half Mark Beevers through injury. Scott MacDonald will face a late fitness test and may well not make it, leaving a likely forward line of Martyn Waghorn and Steve Morison - hardly a pair to strike fear into the Rangers defence.

“Their main problem though is undoubtedly in defence. Karleigh Osborne and Paul Robinson will provide the centre half pairing for the Lions and the movement of the QPR diamond can cause these two no end of problems. I'm tempted by the Evens on offer for a QPR win but goalscorer betting has served me well this season so I'm going to stick with that. With Carroll a doubt, the exact midfield is not known but one thing that is apparent in recent weeks is that Richard Dunne is like a fine wine - improving with age. He's had a number cleared off the line this season so far and with Millwall missing Mark Beevers and Alan Dunne, it certainly leaves them open to aerial attacks. Millwall seem to have made a habit of conceding goals to opposition centre-halves, Jake Buxton (Derby), Reda Johnson (Sheff Wed) and Steve Cook (Bournemouth) have all netted headers against the Lions this season, and I’m hoping Dunne (and/or Hill) can add to that list.”

Prediction: Mase, reigning champion of the Prediction League, on a run of three consecutive correct score calls, tells us…

“Having not written one of these for a fortnight now it'd probably be lazy of me to rehash and combine my thoughts on our recent matches with Barnsley and Middlesbrough, but essentially I am a lazy man and, to quote Homer Simpson, if something's hard to do, it's not worth doing. A trip across postcodes to SE16 doesn't actually bring back many good memories. I was there for our last visit but one, in 2005, and little about the hosts seems to have changed. They are still a lower-midtable Championship outfit, who have been up and, more recently, down.

“It is hard to believe that only a year before, they were playing in Europe having lost the FA Cup Final to Manchester United. I find it quite hard to tell which Millwall team we'll face on Saturday. They have been heavily turned over on their last two outings, and both times to unfancied teams at that, but these two setbacks were presaged by an impressive three-match winning run, including over then-leaders Blackpool, and Leeds. Having been bottom of the table for a month at the start of the season, it appeared Steve Lomas had saved his own neck and got them moving in the right way, so the two defeats and accompanying -7 goal difference must have come as rather a jolt.

“Harry Redknapp has used the international break to use his hot air generator and produce a lot of guff about various topics, so I am glad we now have a match for everyone to focus on again. Millwall are without their longstanding captain leader legend Alan Dunne but have very useful looking options up front in Waghorn, Morison, McDonald and Keogh, all of whom have caused us problems previously.

“With all that, and notwithstanding the febrile atmosphere that there will undoubtedly be come 15.00, it can't be easy to face us at the moment. We have players returning from injury and lack of form who can't even get in our team but would likely walk into any other in the league. We are creating good chances and have the players to put them away, meaning I anticipate a similarly positive outcome to our previous two matches. Hopefully this will be my fourth successive accurate score prediction.”

Mase’s Prediction: Millwall 0-2 QPR, First Scorer: Austin

LFW Prediction: Millwall 0 QPR 1, First Scorer: Austin

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JAPRANGERS added 06:59 - Oct 19
Runs have to come to an end sometimes and often when you least expect it. BUT not today.

Millwall 0 QPR 3
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JAPRANGERS added 07:01 - Oct 19
PS if the grammar police are reading this, of course I mean "sometime".
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ozranger added 07:34 - Oct 19
Nice grab from the Evening Standard Clive, but more so a nice pair of articles, one being a long interview, on Rob Green. Good to see the R's getting some decent positive press in the local free rag. Better than all the Harry v England stuff we have seen recently.
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TacticalR added 21:26 - Oct 20
The Green comeback is quite amazing considering that he was frozen out for a year.

Your 'Tommy Smith' remarks about Green apply to the whole team - we just don't know how good they are at the moment. Burnley will be the first real test.
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