QPR SURRENDER TO THE DROP
Relegated Rangers insult boss and fans with a gutless display
FOR Queens Park Rangers t his was more than merely a limp descent f rom the Barclays Premier League. It was a descent into financial chaos and possibly even non-League football.
It should embarrass the Loftus Road hierarchy as much as it does the highly paid players who surrendered their top-flight status so meekly, hit for six by Sergio Aguero and his Manchester City colleagues.
Before this encounter had even kicked off, an issue with Sandro’s visa meant he was unable to take his place in QPR’s midfield. Ridiculous. But more depressing for manager Chris Ramsey, so honest and dignified afterwards, was the manner in which the players who were available acquitted themselves.
For a team supposedly fighting for survival, this was an abject, strangely apathetic display. Quite the opposite to the defiance we saw from Burnley the previous day and an insult to their head coach, not to mention the travelling supporters.
Joey Barton complained of ‘bad eggs’ in the dressing room during the build-up to this match and while Ramsey said it would be wrong to suggest the skipper was referring to Shaun Wright-Phillips, he did acknowledge there were ‘people who could have helped us who haven’t helped us’.
What a mess. There might be as many as 12 senior players out of contract this summer but it is going to take as many accountants and lawyers to guide Rangers away from financial ruin when there is a risk of a £58million fine for a breach of Financial Fair Play Rules, a situation that could see them drop to the Conference next season.
QPR are in this situation largely because of the money squandered on ageing, mediocre players. Even last season, when they were chasing promotion from the Championship, they were said to have a higher wage bill than the winners of Spain’s La Liga and the beaten Champions League f i nalists, Atletico Madrid.
That wage bill would only have increased this season, seemingly ranking them seventh or eighth in the Premier League, and their efforts have been disappointing to say the least. Those 15 defeats in 18 away games say it all.
Sure, they had to contend with losing Harry Redknapp at the start of February. And in hindsight it was a mistake to hand the reins to Ramsey when Crystal Palace and West Bromwich Albion have demonstrated the value of appointing a gifted, experienced manager to guide them out of trouble.
Ramsey, for all his apparent ability as a coach and his decency as a man, reflects today on just two wins from his 13 games in charge. But the players need to take responsibility for this as much as those running the troubled club.
Compare this QPR performance to the one they produced under Mark Hughes on the last day of the season three years ago.
On this occasion they offered no resistance, Aguero scoring a hat-trick with Aleksandar Kolarov, James Milner and David Silva adding City’s other goals in an emphatic win that presumably eases the pressure on Manuel Pellegrini on a weekend when there has been yet more talk –— denied by the club on Saturday — of Pep Guardiola moving to the Etihad this summer. At the very least it has guaranteed City Champions League football for another season. But the ineptitude of QPR’s defending more than played its part, with Ramsey describing this as their ‘ worst performance for a long time’.
Aguero’s fourth-minute opening goal illustrated the point, with only Matt Phillips even trying to make a challenge before the City striker chipped an advancing Rob Green.
So poor were QPR the only surprise was how long it took City to score a second, Kolarov unleashing a marvellous 32nd-minute free-kick to double their advantage.
QPR did go close to halving that lead soon afterwards when Leroy Fer sent an effort against the bar that Bobby Zamora really should have then pounced on.
City’s third compounded Ramsey’s misery. The hopeful ball Silva tried to deliver into the path of Aguero should have been intercepted by Yun Suk-young, but the Korean allowed the ball to slip under his right boot and so enable City’s striker to burst clear. With only Green to beat, Aguero scored with ease. His third came from the spot after Phillips had made a clumsy, cynical challenge on Silva. It was Aguero’s fifth hat-trick for City and should see him secure the Premier League’s golden boot, with Harry Kane five goals behind.
Milner scored City’s fifth from close range and by the end it had become something of an exhibition, with Silva accelerating on to a delightful back-heel by Wilfried Bony before rounding Green and slotting home. Lovely goal but yet more awful defending.