Queens
Park Rangers are currently bottom of the Premier League with 17 points from 26
games, 4 points from the nearest team (Wigan on 21 points) as well as being 7
points from Aston Villa in 17th. Despite the appointment of Harry Redknapp it
would still require a gargantuan effort as well as a huge slice of luck for
them to begin the 13/14 season as a top flight club. Where has it all gone
wrong for them?
One
thing it most certainly isn't is the quality of the squad. The Malaysian money
provided be Tony Fernandes have allowed them to buy players with a surprising
amount of experience, in fact I have prepared a table stating the number of
Champions League, Europa League (or UEFA Cup) and International caps acquired
by each player currently available to QPR, also in the right hand column I have
added together CL, IC and EL multiplied by 0.66, as it is deemed a lesser
competition I considered it unfair for it to carry the same weight.
|
|
CL
|
EL
|
IC
|
|
|
Remy
|
18
|
7
|
17
|
37
|
|
Samba
|
0
|
15
|
26
|
36
|
|
Fabio
|
14
|
2
|
2
|
17
|
|
Cesar
|
52
|
0
|
65
|
117
|
|
Traore
|
2
|
2
|
4
|
7
|
|
Park
|
54
|
3
|
100
|
156
|
|
M'Bia
|
15
|
4
|
41
|
59
|
|
Taarabt
|
0
|
4
|
15
|
18
|
|
Granero
|
15
|
9
|
0
|
21
|
|
Jenas
|
14
|
38
|
21
|
60
|
|
Zamora
|
0
|
21
|
2
|
16
|
|
Onuoha
|
0
|
6
|
0
|
4
|
|
Bosingwa
|
63
|
4
|
24
|
90
|
|
Mackie
|
0
|
0
|
9
|
9
|
|
Hoilett
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
|
Diakite
|
0
|
0
|
8
|
8
|
|
Wright-Phillips
|
17
|
20
|
36
|
66
|
|
Johnson
|
0
|
15
|
8
|
18
|
|
Ben Haim
|
1
|
14
|
63
|
73
|
|
Young
|
0
|
8
|
7
|
12
|
|
Bothroyd
|
0
|
2
|
1
|
2
|
|
Green
|
0
|
0
|
12
|
12
|
|
DJ Campbell
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
|
Clint Hill
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
|
Yun Suk-Young
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
|
Cerny
|
0
|
23
|
3
|
18
|
|
Murphy
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
|
Derry
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
|
Ephraim
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
|
Townsend
|
0
|
9
|
0
|
6
|
A
startling amount of experience is held just between Park, Cesar and Bosingwa,
who all happen to have won the Champions League. There are, however, 2 worrying
things about having so many big players within a team like QPR. Firstly,
without looking it up I think it's safe to say that none of QPRs stars (bar the
man mountain Christopher Samba) have been involved in a relegation battle
before. Secondly, should QPR get
relegated there would have to be a mass exodus of players. A championship team
would struggle to pay for the wages of that many big names, players like that
understandably want to be playing top flight football and as none of the
"big" players have been at QPR very long it seems unlikely that they
would have developed the loyalty to take a pay cut and stay to help fight for
promotion.
With
all of this taken into account I think QPR would have to rely on a run of form
based on being the better team in order to stay in the league (i.e. being the
better team in all of the games they play as opposed to nicking wins despite
being dominated). If we look at all of the Premier League fixtures they have
reaming;
|
Opponent
|
Venue
|
Date
|
|
Manchester
United
|
Home
|
23/02
|
|
Southampton
|
Away
|
02/03
|
|
Sunderland
|
Home
|
09/03
|
|
Aston
Villa
|
Away
|
16/03
|
|
Fulham
|
Away
|
01/04
|
|
Wigan
|
Home
|
07/04
|
|
Everton
|
Away
|
13/04
|
|
Stoke
|
Home
|
20/04
|
|
Reading
|
Away
|
28/04
|
|
Arsenal
|
Home
|
04/05
|
|
Newcastle
|
Home
|
12/05
|
|
Liverpool
|
Away
|
19/05
|
How
many of them are winnable? There are 5 games between Manchester United and
Everton which present QPR with a brilliant opportunity to pick up points,
followed by Stoke and Reading. So if QPR are to stay up, which doesn't look
impossible, they can hardly afford to drop any points in these 7 fixtures and
must aim to cause upsets in the other 5 games. Can I see them doing it? No.
Expect to see the big names leaving Loftus road for cut prices in the summer.
By Alex
Follow US on twitter: @ChapsTalkFBall
All statistics and facts are from the marvellous sites transfermarkt.co.uk and whoscored.com
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