Are QPR really too good to go down?

"They're too good to go down" - This, readers, is a quote you read/hear every season. It was said  during the season Newcastle United plummeted into Championship abyss, likewise when West Ham United suffered the same plight 2 seasons ago. This season, it's QPR's turn.

Newcastle had the likes of Jonas Gutierrez, Kevin Nolan, Jose Enrique and Michael Owen as they slipped through the trap-door. Similarly, West Ham couldn't rely on Demba Ba, Scott Parker and Mark Noble as their fate was sealed with defeat at Wigan Athletic.

HAMMERS CON-DEMB-ED: Ba couldn't save them

QPR's manager, Mark Hughes, simply had to strengthen his side that only just survived in the Premier League last season on the last day - you know the one, that boring game against Manchester City.

Looking in, it appeared as if he had some decent players coming through the door - Junior Hoilett was a highly rated winger at Blackburn Rovers who a number of clubs were looking to snare on a free transfer.

Esteban Granero also made the move from one capital city to another as the Spaniard swapped Real Madrid for a stint at Loftus Road for a fee believed to be around £9 million. A bright spark in a dismal campaign for the Rs so far.

SHINING LIGHT: Granero

Another high profile capture was the signing of Julio Cesar from Inter Milan. The goalkeeper who many believed was one of the best in the world in his position had somehow agreed to join Hughes' new revolution in west-London.

Despite the slightly better players arriving, Hughes has also added the odd shocker, splashing a reported £5 million on 31-year-old Ji-Sung Park isn't good business in my book, a player who just runs around a lot. I've never really understood that "he plays in the big games" dross that comes out of some peoples mouths. If your QPR and don't really have any "big games" then it's a pretty pointless signing.

Another was Andy Johnson. Injury prone most of the time (he's on the treatment table at the moment) who should give company to Kieran Dyer in the physio's room. Released by a mediocre Fulham side, who finished above QPR last season. Thumbs up for that one Mark.

DOWN AND OUT: Johnson (blue)

Admittedly it seems a good mixture, however, for every Esteban Granero, you also have a Shaun Derry.

I suppose one positive for the team was getting rid of British football's Mr. Controversial in Joey Barton as the midfielder headed to France to join Marseille on a season-long loan with Stephen M'Bia coming the other way.

FRENCH CONNECTION: Barton

Hughes won't have been helped by the dreaded "vote of confidence" from the club's Chairman, Tony Fernandes, nor the fact that Harry Redknapp seems to be constantly linked to the Hoops' hotseat.

The next two games arent bankers either with in-form Everton at home and Arsenal away, I fear that Hughes' time in charge could be numbered - hard to believe he was snooping on the vacant Chelsea job not so long ago.

Is time running out for Hughes?

Images courtesy of Zimbio, Atomic Soda and The Sun.

Spurs Squad Makeover Taking Place

It was a bit of a shock for fans of Tottenham Hotspur when Harry Redknapp was sacked back on the 14th June.


The former West Ham player and manager had led Spurs to a fourth place finish in the Premier League last season and had Champions League football to look forward to, that was, however, undone by Chelsea's Final win on penalties versus Bayern Munich.

Redknapp was surprisingly sacked

Soon later, it was Chelsea's old boss that was handed the White Hart Lane reigns with Andre Villas-Boas (known as AVB from now on in this blog piece) taking over.  


For AVB, he now had to try and hold onto a player that he tried to snare to Stamford Bridge last Summer. 

AV-Boss: Took over at Spurs

That man of course is Luka Modric.  The Croatian schemer played a huge part it Tottenham's season; appearing in 50 games in all competitions and seemingly looks as if he is heading away from Spurs.  Real Madrid and Manchester United are just two of the clubs reportedly waiting to take Modric on to pastures new after a four year stay in north London, having joined from Dynamo Zagreb in 2008 for just over £16m, somehow turning down the likes of Barcelona to join the club.


I'm a fan of Modric. He's a very good player. However, one of his downfalls is his lack of goals.  Having amassed just thirteen goals in all his years at Spurs he isn't really clinical enough in my view. 


Is he really worth the highly priced £30m-£40m figure that is being banded about? In my opinion he isn't.  Admittedly he plays a little deeper as Rafael Van der Vaart plays in the hole and comes up with the goals regularly so maybe, getting out of Spurs is the best thing he could do, maybe they are restricting him.

LUK-ING FOR A MOVE: Modric

Spurs soon moved to conclude the Gylfi Sigurdsson to Reading/Swansea/Liverpool/Tottenham transfer rumour by finally signing the Icelandic midfielder from Hoffenheim for £8m. An absolute bargain in my view. 


It looks to me as if Sigurdsson has been brought in as a direct replacement for Modric.  He turns into a class player on Football Manager 2012 and had a great time at Swansea for the second part of last season, finding the net seven times in seventeen including a goal away at Tottenham.


Another position that Spurs filled was centre back.  The Jan Vertonghen deal it's fair to say went on for a while having began whilst Rednapp was still in office. It was on, off and then back on again as a £12m move was completed last week.

Vertonghen (L) and Sigurdsson (R) flank AVB

Central defence has been a problem for Spurs recently.  You never know when Ledley King will play, Michael Dawson is injury prone, William Gallas isn't as good as he once was, Sebastien Bassong hasn't lived up to the billing after being so impressive at Newcastle United a couple of years ago.  Youness Kaboul will probably be the only one at the moment to have his place cemented after a good season.


On the subject of Bassong, it is a chance for AVB to finally get rid of some of the Tottenham deadwood that has been clogging up the wage bill for the last few years.  The likes of David Bentley, Tom Huddlestone, Giovani Dos Santos and Jermaine Jenas should all be allowed to leave.

OUT THE DOOR?: Bentley (L) and Jenas (R)

Another player AVB is looking to bring in is Emmanuel Adebayor.  The Manchester City striker spent the whole of last season on loan at Tottenham where he was another that played his part, culminating in 17 goals.  A £5m fee is believed to have been agreed.

Could Adebayor return?

So what can we expect from Spurs next season?  AVB will do well there.  He had a poor period at Chelsea admittedly but he was never going to get the time to stamp his mark on the team.  You can't forget how well he did at Porto.  For me, Spurs will get top 6.  Good, considering it will be the first year of a transitional period.


Until next week...