QPR’s worst performance of the season saw them crash to an abject 3-1 home defeat against fellow strugglers Southampton at Loftus Road on Saturday leaving manager Mark Hughes staring down the barrel.

The media dubbed it ‘El Sackico’ – a match where defeat would cost the losing manager his job. With that in mind, the playing squads of Southampton and Queens Park Rangers delivered convincing verdicts on their respective bosses: the former delivering a committed and lively performance while 3,000 travelling supporters chanted Nigel Adkins’ name, the latter turning in a display that could scarcely have been worse if they’d tried to a cacophony of boos and calls for Mark Hughes to leave. The writing is now very firmly on the wall for the beleaguered QPR boss.

The day began with a line in The Times, missed by most, saying Bobby Zamora now refuses to eat lunch with the rest of the team because he is disillusioned with life at the club, and Anton Ferdinand is sulking because he asked to be made captain during the summer only to be told he was being replaced. It ended with Shaun Wright-Phillips telling supporters on South Africa Road they are at fault for the poor results because they create a negative atmosphere, while Djibril Cisse took to Twitter to offer fans criticising him what former Leyton Orient boss John Sitton might have called “a proper sort out.”

In between was a 90 minute performance that highlighted just how flawed the strategy of Hughes and the board of directors at Loftus Road has been over the past year. A team full of international players, Champions League winners and multi-million pound signings was completely outclassed by the side that sat just one place higher in the table, with five defeats from five away games, and the league’s worst defensive record at the start of play. Not only that, but QPR were carried through the match by 35 year old Ryan Nelsen, and three players who were here before Hughes even arrived and who he has tried to replace at every turn – Shaun Derry, Jamie Mackie and Adel Taarabt. Without them this could have gone into double figures – Southampton registered 15 shots on target as it was.

The defence was a particular embarrassment. Jose Bosingwa and Armand Traore were an embarrassment to themselves in the full back positions and Anton Ferdinand proved once more that he’s nowhere near good enough to approach Premier League football in a half hearted manner. Quite frankly Anton I wouldn’t let you captain a Lego pirate ship so if that’s what you’re sulking about kindly piss off.

Those three played at about 30% of what they’re capable of and then marched down the tunnel immediately at full time leaving Nelsen to carry the entire defence during the game, and then stand in the centre circle afterwards shaking his head and acknowledging the fans as they sang “Ryan Nelsen, he plays on his own.” He does.

Further forward the midfield was completely overrun. Samba Diakite was totally anonymous, Esteban Granero – admittedly played out of position wide on the right – disinterested and Junior Hoilett hardly in the game at all. After a truly, truly horrific first half Mark Hughes looked at this situation and decided Alejandro Faurlin was the problem and substituted him. Words fail me. Up front Adel Taarabt did everything he could, Djibril Cisse did not.

QPR were in trouble from minute one. Southampton did nothing more than keep the ball in an attractive short passing game and commit men forward to attacks but it was more than enough to totally outclass their hosts. With the time in single figures the Saints’ two outstanding attackers Rickie Lambert and Adam Lallana combined with an eye catching one-two on the edge of the box and the latter volleyed over the bar from 20 yards. Two minutes later Lallana stretched every sinew to reach a cross from Gaston Ramirez and got the faintest of touches to guide it onto Julio Cesar’s post with the keeper beaten. Then he got in round the back of Bosingwa and sent a devilish cross right through the six yard box with nobody on hand to apply a killer touch. Rangers cleared that behind, then left Lambert unmarked from the corner and he forced Cesar into a save. From the next set piece no fewer than three Southampton players were left unattended and able to win headers and when Jose Bosingwa cleared from the goal line Rickie Lambert could hardly miss from less than a yard out and the visitors led 1-0.

Mark Hughes says he prepares his team meticulously for every match. Less than a fortnight ago I saw Southampton play at West Brom and they approached this game in almost exactly the same way. I saw nothing from the Saints here that I hadn’t seen from them in games earlier this season, and yet QPR looked stunned by it. It was as if they’d never seen Southampton before. If this is a meticulously prepared team, I’d hate to see one that isn’t.

QPR’s meticulously prepared attacking plan basically consisted of giving the ball to Adel Taarabt and hoping he could produce some individual brilliance. After a quarter of an hour he dropped his shoulder and dummied through two would-be-tacklers on the edge of the penalty area but young Southampton keeper Paulo Gazzaniga – sporting an outrageously awful haircut that featured two small platted rat’s tails emerging from the back of an otherwise shaved scalp – raced from his line and made a save. Taarabt subsequently drilled a free kick into the wall on the half hour.

But this was one way traffic. QPR were making Southampton look like the greatest team to ever walk the earth, and Jason Puncheon like some sort of God. The former QPR loanee – fat, disinterested, ineffective during his time at Loftus Road – smacked one low shot at Cesar, as did Jack Cork, and then turned past Ale Faurlin and buried a second goal into the bottom corner with a venomous strike just before half time. It was nothing more than he, Southampton or QPR deserved and it ensured a hostile reaction from the home crowd when referee Mike Dean called proceedings to a halt moments later.

Whatever Mark Hughes said at half time was short and sweet – Rangers were back on the field of play within 12 minutes of leaving it. There they stood, separately, mooching around, mostly with hands on hips, nobody apart from Adel Taarabt talking to anybody at all. The Moroccan made his way round four team mates and each appeared more disinterested in what he was saying than the last.

The conclusion QPR’s embattled manager drew from the first 45 minutes was that Alejandro Faurlin needed to go off. Now, I’m sorry, but if ever confirmation was needed that Hughes has lost the plot then this was it. When is he going to realise that the main problem here is the amount of players he has brought into the club, and the attitude of them to their work? It’s the players that were here when he arrived – with the exception of Nelsen – who are actually doing the business for him, and yet it’s them that he is so keen to turn away from. Rangers lose heavily to Swansea, out goes Adel Taarabt; Rangers lose heavily to West Ham, out goes Ale Faurlin. Shaun Derry, Clint Hill, Heidar Helguson, Jamie Mackie, Paddy Kenny, Luke Young, DJ Campbell – Hughes has been absolutely determined from the minute he walked into the place to get rid of the players who were here before and who had enjoyed 18 months of success in this league and the one below. More to the point they feel something for the club, and try hard to do their best for it. What had Granero done in the first half to deserve a chance after half time? Or Diakite? Or Hoilett? Or Cisse? What was it particularly about Faurlin’s admittedly mediocre first half display that made Hughes decide he was the scapegoat? Why is Hughes so blind to the fact that it’s his 16 signings that are hanging him here?

Luckily he did recognise that the game needed Mackie’s drive and energy and so it was him – rather than some money-grabbing toad like Shaun Wright-Phillips – who came on. And wow, wasn’t the difference there for all to see? Mackie is a basic player with many flaws whose modus operandi is to pick the ball up and run in a straight line towards the goal until he either loses it, scores, or misses with a shot. But he’s a willing runner and worker and the difference having somebody in the team happy to do that made was actually embarrassing.

Straight away he won possession back for the team and put in a decent cross only to find the penalty box completely devoid of any QPR attackers. A minute later Taarabt demanded the ball wide on the left and sent in an excellent cross which Cisse volleyed straight at the goalkeeper. A further 60 seconds passed before Taarabt tempted Gazzaniga – dodgy all afternoon it should be said – from his line to claim a cross that was never his and Junior Hoilett was able to nod into the empty net. The effect of Mackie was instantaneous, it lifted the crowd and the team and within three minutes of kicking off the deficit was halved.

No doubt Hughes will start with Mackie next week and then, after an inevitable defeat at Man Utd, hold him responsible and drop him again.

This should have been a catalyst. Southampton, for all their attractive first half play and two goal lead, are not a team brimming over with confidence or ability. Conceding so early in the first half, with a goalkeeper in questionable form, could easily have been the beginning of their complete collapse. Not so, QPR proceeded to drain all the gathered momentum out of their performance and allow the Saints to resume control of the game.

Puncheon, Lallana and Lambert were at the heart of everything. Lallana, man of the match for me, responded to Hoilett’s goal by making space for himself in the QPR penalty area and hitting a shot that was blocked away. Puncheon then drew an awkward save from Cesar and in the next attack crossed low for Lambert but he took a fresh air shot when unmarked in the box. There was a weak penalty appeal as Gaston Ramirez collapsed under a cross at the back post – never a spot kick in a month of Sundays but considering the one this referee awarded to Chelsea here in the FA Cup last season in almost identical circumstances you couldn’t blame the expensively acquired Uruguayan for trying his luck.

When Mackie accelerated in round the back of the Southampton defence and almost set up Cisse for an equaliser on the hour, Nigel Adkins decided to remove Ramirez and shore up his midfield with the introduction of Steven Davis. It was a nervy, unnecessary move. Southampton were streets ahead of QPR in every single department and put a ten pass move together at the midway point of the second half that concluded with Lambert nodding the ball down at the back post and Puncheon volleying wide. A minute later the stocky winger tried his luck from considerably further out, and sent a 25 yard barnburner an inch wide of the post with Cesar well beaten once again.

Jose Bosingwa’s attitude to proceedings could be summed up neatly by his sixty eighth minute booking for a deliberate handball made necessary because he’d allowed his man to run past him and he would have been free to run clear into the penalty area had the Portuguese full back not batted the ball down with his hand. Pathetic.

Hughes then took off Samba Diakite for Shaun Derry. Again, like the earlier substitution, I was glad to see the man coming on because it’s people like Mackie and Derry who are going to fight for this club now and Diakite had looked disinterested throughout. However, trailing 2-1 at home in a must win game against the team lying immediately above us at the bottom of the table, is bringing on another defensive central midfielder any kind of answer? I was glad to wave Bosingwa goodbye three minutes later when he went off as well – but again Hughes made a like for like change and sent on another full back in Fabio Da Silva.

If you’d just walked into Loftus Road at this point you’d have thought it was QPR protecting a lead: Southampton left two strikers forward when defending corners, QPR brought all 11 players back into their own box; when Adel Taarabt played a decent pass into the left channel shortly after the substitution Djibril Cisse had no choice but to cut in and shoot from a difficult angle because he was the only home player within 40 yards of the Southampton goal and yet when the visitors, who were already leading, attacked they had three or four options for every pass. This was staggeringly bad now, really amazing.

Within 180 seconds Puncheon sent a cross shot right through the goal mouth with a little touch from Cesar on the way, then drilled wide from range, then shot straight at the goalkeeper. We were making him look like Ronaldinho in his prime.

Despite bringing the entire team back into the penalty box to defend Southampton set pieces, Rangers still contrived to leave several visiting players unmarked at every delivery. Ten minutes from time Lambert had a free header brilliantly saved by Cesar and although Nelsen returned fire with a similar chance at the other end that fell nicely for Gazzaniga play was soon back at the School End and Davis drilled over after being set up by Lambert who had ghosted in behind a stationary QPR defence that had apparently forgotten you cannot be offside from a throw in.

The mood inside Loftus Road was ugly now, and the game was killed as a contest by a shambolic third that eventually went in off the boot of Anton Ferdinand. Few people deserved an own goal more.

At full time the QPR team left the field immediately except for Nelsen, Derry and Mackie. That said a lot for me. It’s a stock reaction for supporters to question effort, attitude and commitment of players in a struggling team and it’s usually an over-reaction and a load of nonsense. It’s not on this occasion though, the difference in attitude from those three and Taarabt compared to the rest is there for all to see.

Mark Hughes said on Friday he was still confident of a top half finish this season but by Saturday evening, with his team bottom of the league and five points adrift of safety, he looked shell shocked and broken. He told both Sky and the BBC afterwards that his coaching staff would sit down with the players to try and “get to the bottom of why this has happened” and that they “didn’t see this coming.” It’s the latest in a long line of quotes from Hughes, Mark Bowen and Eddie Niedzwiecki that makes it all to plain that the QPR coaching staff don’t know why their team is playing this badly, or what they can do to stop it happening.

His persistent assertion that his coaching staff prepare the team meticulously for each game was renewed this week, and not for the first time this season was then completely blown out of the water across 90 diabolical minutes of football. Southampton played in the same manner, style and shape as they did ten days ago against West Brom and QPR looked absolutely amazed by it – as if Southampton had bought 11 new players during the week and played in a completely new and previously unseen way. The players letting Hughes down are not the ones he is blaming, or the ones he inherited, it’s the ones he brought here.

Hughes must carry the can for signing these players – several of whom he’d worked with before and should therefore have known about their temperament. He too must accept responsibility for the mistakes he has made that have resulted in confidence draining defeats, rather than constantly trotting out this bullshit about meticulous preparations. And he must also be held to account for ostracising so many players who do want to play for QPR and will make an effort for the team – Helguson, Kenny, Campbell, Young, Mackie, Derry, Hill – in favour of those who don’t and won’t. It has made his position untenable in my opinion.

But managers don’t lose football games, football players do. It’s the players at QPR who are the problem – watch how they all suddenly up their game when a new manager arrives – and in the modern game they hold all the power. The players are untouchable, and they know it. Short term whoever is in charge must find a way to motivate them, medium to long term an entire change of mentality about the sort of players we need, and how we go about acquiring them, is required. Big ageing names from favoured agents is not working. Hughes and a board lacking football experience have worked the club into a dire position that will take many years to correct and I’ll say now that I don’t believe appointing Harry Redknapp and indulging him in the inevitable seven or eight January signings he’ll demand will be anything other than a very short term fix, if it even proves that successful. At the moment Kia Joorabchian seems to hold too much power – bring in Redknapp and that problem will still exist, with Willie McKay in the puppeteer role.

Tony Fernandes must now decide whether to make a stand against this player power, keep Hughes regardless and show football players that at QPR if you simply stop trying it is you that will be shipped out rather than the manager; or hold Hughes to account for his catalogue of errors and fire him. The former will almost certainly now result in relegation, and while it would be a worthy stand he’d be doing it behind the wrong manager. Hughes says QPR are working towards this and that and improving but he’s wrong and he knows it – QPR are getting worse. The latter will no doubt bring short term gains and possibly survival, but only until this group of mercenaries decide they don’t much fancy whoever replaces Hughes and stop playing for him as well.

Bad management has caused the problems here, but they’re so deep rooted now that it will take more than simply removing Hughes to cure them. That would be a start though.

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QPR: Cesar 6, Bosingwa 2 (Fabio 73, 5), Ferdinand 2, Nelsen 8, Traore 2, Granero 4, Faurlin 5 (Mackie 45, 7), Diakite 4 (Derry 71, 6), Hoilett 5, Taarabt 7, Cisse 4

Subs not used: Green, Wright-Phillips, Dyer, Ehmer

Goals: Hoilett 48 (assisted Taarabt)

Bookings: Bosingwa 68 (handball)

Southampton: Gazzaniga 4, Clyne 8, Yoshida 6, Fonte 6, Shaw 7 (Fox 74, 6), Schneiderlin 6, Ramirez 7 (Davis 61, 6), Cork 6, Lallana 8, Puncheon 8, Lambert 8 (Rodriguez 90, -)

Subs not used: K Davis, Hooiveld, Ward-Prowse, Mayuka

Goals: Lambert 22 (assisted Ramirez), Puncheon 45 (unassisted), Ferdinand og 82 (assisted Schneiderlin)

QPR Star Man – Ryan Nelsen 8 Everything you want in a footballer, surrounded by the sort of players you pray never end up at your club. I’ve never seen a one man back four before, but here he is.

Referee – Mike Dean 9 Very little to referee given how uncompetitive the game was but I felt he got just about everything right and controlled the contest in an unfussy way. I hardly even noticed he was there, which is always a good sign.

Attendance 18,174 (3,100 Southampton) After being remarkably patient with the team over the last four months, the QPR fans have finally snapped, and rightly so. They’ve put up with a lot, and enough is enough, I think the R’s support has been magnificent this season and everybody was fully justified in having their say on Saturday – the players and the club deserves it. The Southampton fans were as noisy as any travelling following has been at Loftus Road for years – even before they took the lead. Their vocal support for Nigel Adkins from the first whistle, compared to the QPR attitude to Hughes, should be another telling factor for the QPR board. Supporters of clubs like these two don’t necessarily mind defeats, if they can see effort and application and progress being made. Southampton can see it and support their boss as a result, the Rangers faithful clearly cannot and therefore don’t.

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Photo: Action Images

isawqpratwcity added 05:25 - Nov 19 A top report, Clive. It can't have been easy to write. Last year very few on this site wrote 'manager out' threads until TF started one of his own and just handed it to the bloke rather than post it. I was glad to have trusted in Warnock, I just did it a little too long. This season the tumult has been building for a long time: a snowball picking up malcontents until a general line-in-the-sand consensus formed that the ten month, three transfer window spell with a pot of gold never before seen at the club was p*ss-poor value for money. "Give us two decent showings against Reading, Stoke and/or Southampton or sling your hook." The rest is history. Thank you for your comprehensive State of the Union critique, Clive. If you are a bit harsh on some of the players, it isn't without justification. The big question now is whether TF and the board will see it as 99% of the site do, and show our under-performing, self-promoting manager the door. I look forward to your review of the Hughes's reign (you've said previously it's already largely written). Even more, I look forward to your (and Neil's) opinions on Hughes' likely replacement. I don't know who it should be, but I agree that we need a manager to motivate immediately (a strong captain would be invaluable, too: Nelsen, even Derry if he's up to it)), and almost as quickly, the skills of a football analyst/tactician. This season is not yet lost; the squad is still skilled and experienced, if poorly motivated and directed. Make the change, TF, and let us show some optimism for the club.

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BklynRanger added 05:35 - Nov 19 I respect the efforts that people have put in above in their posts, but in my moments of darkness, or actually clarity i CANNOT FCUKING BELIEVE THAT WE'VE ALLOWED OURSELVES, HAVING LURCHED LIKE MAD DRUNKEN IDIOTS INTO THE 'PREMIER LEAGUE" TO BE KUNTED OUT BY THE EXACT BLAND, OVER-HYPED DROSS THAT WE KNEW THIS LEAGUE WAS RENOWNED FOR. Fcuk the TV and the extra publicity, the clappy hands and the advertising metrics - I'm at the point where I'm ready to return to listening to it on the internet and meeting, on an annual basis, sound blokes who still give a fcuk.

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DesertBoot added 06:53 - Nov 19 Hughes is like a rogue banker. Bungling his way through his job on a daily basis and getting paid vast amounts if money for it. I feel for Fernandes who has big plans for our club, Hughes and those around him smelt this and have mugged him blind for nearly a year.
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singapore_dave added 07:09 - Nov 19 Great report Clive. I wouldn't really fault Hughes for taking Ale off though. He is just not athletic enough to play in the premier league. Players just run past him as if he isn't there all the time and his usually tidy passing just doesn't make up for his deficiencies i'm afraid.Granero was as bad but he was playing out of position and , although he was subsequently crap in his true position, I would have left him on ahead of Ale.How Bosingwa played after his performance at Stoke I will never know and he was even worse this time around. I hope he never plays for us again.

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QPRski added 07:45 - Nov 19 I could not watch this match thus did not suffer the described agony. I am a very positive person, but it is obvious that this this team instead of "gelling" has gone into total "meltdown", and has now announced abdication. How can three players perform at rating of "2"? How can MH try to calmly explain this situation with one liners of: => need to “get to the bottom of why this has happened” => and, they “didn’t see this coming”? Where is his humility? Where is the pride of most of the players? I am both embarassed and angry. I truely sympathise with Tony Fernades who must feel he has been betrayed and mugged. Despite his obvious wish for stabilty and long term planning, he needs to act, and act quickly.

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parker64 added 08:00 - Nov 19 I thought it was the correct move to take Faurlin off and move Granero into the middle. AF was breathless after 5 minutes. Not sure what's happened there because stamina wise he's usually fine. Same last week. As for the rest who knows. TF's been well and truely shafted by whoever's been advising him.
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MackemR added 08:17 - Nov 19 Saturday's was a car crash performance and I cannot argue with anything Clive has said. What makes it worse for me is the infantile posturing in the media from people like Ferdinand who trot out the same banal lines before a game and then spend 90 minutes lurching round a pitch like a camel in a drug induced haze. I agree with the idea of TF speaking to Derry and Nelsen. I am not advocating player power but it is clear something is deeply wrong at the club - and whilst it may not be cured overnight it does look like we need to sluice the Augean stables. God knows I don't want more change but the management and players have brought this on themselves. We expect nothing at Old Trafford so why not try something new and drop some of particularly inept performers (Bosingwa and Ferdinand). And by drop I mean remove them from the squad for as long as necessary.

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R_in_Sweden added 08:55 - Nov 19 Thanks for a realistic and relatively calm report as usual Clive. For me many of the aspects of why people hate "modern day" football reared their ugly head on Saturday. Player (and agent) power stinks, this overwhelmingly bunch of trumped up mercenaries have no shame. Not only does Zamora not like football he doesn't like food either, ah diddums. I wonder has our "captain" Park handed in a "to be excused from P.E. and games" note from his Mum to Hughes? (Pure tongue in cheek speculation) You also seem to have hit the nail on the head regarding Hughes favouritism of his own, or rather Tony's purchases. Hughes is becoming a bit like one of those groupies that hang around ageing single male lottery winners draining their winnings until there is nothing left but a load of flashy sports cars in the garage that are going to be repossessed. If given the choice I'd go for the emergency solution, if there is one, of a new manager to read the riot act, kick them into shape and try to stay up. Bolster the defence and attack in January with players who have a bigger heart than medal collection. With the massive increase in TV money now that Sky is pushing their "product" in China and beyond the gap is getting wider and it will be decidely harder to get a foothold in the Premier League when coming up from the Championship again. I reckon that the closed league system with no promotion/relegation to and from the Premier League is less than 10 years away. I think that's when I'd jack this all in. P.S. Thought that you were a little harsh on Diakite.

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highlandbill added 09:39 - Nov 19 My neighbour was widowed some time ago & over a period of time it seems that his 2nd is gradually eliminating all trace of her predecessor. Does Hughes hate Warnock so much that he is determined to follow the same policy? Judging by NW's recent comments he certainly thinks this is what is going on. I cannot believe this to be the case but if true it means our manager has the balls of a fluffy 12 year old. Saturday was like going through an operation without anaesthetic. I felt like crying for Ryan Nelsen, he has been a rock (maybe a whole quarry of rocks) since coming to our club. He alone is proof that there is something seriously wrong. His wages are probably less than most of the newer "stars" yet his committment is like a man who has worn the Hoops since birth. Why should he be like this and the rest of the pack are such a bunch of tossers? From day one I have been suspicious of Hughes, more recently on this site, when relegation was mentioned,I shuddered and put the this impossible thought to the back of my head. Today,with my realist hat on I have to admit it is staring us in the face. Clearly we need a miraculous turnaround and on Saturday it was hugely evident that this will not happen under our current manager. Did any Hoops fan really think we would actually get worse!!!! He must go & soon as the new man will need as much time as possible to steer us away from the rocks. I am still having nightmares about our 2nd half "performance on saturday. Please Tony ,do it & do it now!.

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enfieldargh added 09:47 - Nov 19 I watched the London Calling aired prior to the Reading game. TF said that the players we have signed all have equity for selling on. Very few of these players have any resale value Concise report and appraisal of our shitemare Listening to Talk sport this morning all they need do is read out your report on air
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dixiedean added 09:56 - Nov 19 Hughes should have had them meeting in the Scrubs car park at 7.30 Sun am followed by 2 laps of the Scrubs.With no gloves ,hats or snoods by the way. Then a team meeting where each player has to write down the 3 names of who plays with the most heart & passion ,then count the votes. Those with few/no votes should then explain to the team ( and us !) why they think this is so.If they have any pride in themselves as human beings let alone footballers,they should be shamed into action,but somehow I doubt it. The whole world knows our recruitment strategy is flawed and we've just repeated the same mistakes of Agyemang, Hall & Co but at much higher stakes. The irony is, TF is in this plight through being too hands OFF ( for which he deserves our respect & credit) whereas previous regime were too hands ON. A sad irony.I don't really know what I want,but it's obvious MH has lost the lot and if he can't motivate the team for the Soton game, he never will.

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HastingsRanger added 09:58 - Nov 19 Change is now essential, otherwise relegation is a certainty. The first benefit will be no more bland pre-match statements about 'meticulous preparation', which mirrors my old Sunday League team's meticulous preparation of ensuring the kit is washed and everyone has the address of the away ground. No more equally bland post-match comments on the performance not being up to 'what is expected'. Going forward, who should replace MH? Someone who is judging players on commitment not record. I cannot see the mercenaries changing attitude, so they will be dropped, leaving a weaker side to be fielded, which will be WIP for the rest of the season. If I am pessimistic, I think we are preparing a new team to challenge in the Championship. If I am optimistic, I think the same. I do hope that TF is here for the long haul, as I think he has been committed to the club more than most of his predecessors over a very long time. I'm not sure he deserves what's happened. Then again, I don't think we do either. All in all, very disappointing.

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MelakaRanger added 10:34 - Nov 19 Firstly, Tony has often posted on Twitter that he is here for the long haul, so anyone doubting his resolve should not be. Secondly our problem is immense. Its not just Hughes but a number of these high earning new recruits that are causing the problems. They not only refuse to play as instructed by Hughes and his team but don't even care how well they play or whether we win or lose. Hughes and his management are unable to motivate these 'lazy tossers' to perform and as such are failing as man managers. So the answer to our real problem is to not only get rid of Hughes (failed as a manager) his management team (failed likewise) but also this rotten core of apathy - SWP, Zamora, Bosinwa, Ferdinand (and send Da Silva back). Park should go too but there is no way Tony will get rid of him as he means big advertising in Korea for Air Asia. Park will stay come what may, so lets just accept that . But its no good just getting rid of Hughes, at the very least these 4 should be put on gardening leave and left to rot. If they don't care about QPR, then why should we/the club care about them? Let them rot and once their QPR contracts have finished they will be too old or too out of shape to get any other Premiership club take them. Let then rot! Radical surgery that will probably cost best part of 15 - 20 million, then another 10 million trf budget for the new guy. Expensive yes but compared to the loss of Premiership prize money, it is a bargain.

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patelvis added 11:20 - Nov 19 Surely Hughes has some semblance of pride ?? Why does he not resign, oh yeah because he want's to get sacked !!! He keeps harping on about the HUGE task he inherited, I am sorry but the task was and is still being made harder each week by him & his ineptitude ... 1st goal, with all our "meticulous" planning why on earth was Faurlin tasked with marking Lambert ??!!! I know Ferdinand can't jump, run , speak, look up or even resemble an conference footballer (apologies to conf footballers) ... But surely he had to be in the vicinity of Lambert ?? Cisse & SWP proved what they are about this weekend (finally)... as did Mackie, Dezza & Nelly !!! It's time Amit got involved and makes the hard choice, well the easy one really .. Christ even Flavio could pick a side that would run through walls for him, admittedly most of them would run through the wrong walls !! but they would.

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derbyhoop added 11:27 - Nov 19 7 of the starting XI were brought in by Hughes. After 40 minutes Steve Froggat on the commentary (and I don't think he has any notable bias) said that QPR had 6 or 7 players not making an effort. Hansen, on MOTD, described it as abject. The players have let Hughes down, but they are mostly his players, his selections, his training, his meticulous planning, his motivation. Until now, I've bought into TF's support and stability but cannot accept blind faith. If Hughes won't resign, he has to be sacked. I think it's already gone too far for anybody to rescue this season, so let's start building for the Championship now. And that would be manager and players. On the ratings, I'm surprised the 2 full backs got as manay as 2.

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PinnerPaul added 11:34 - Nov 19 Good report Clive. Moot point if AF deserved to be taken off but hardly that relevant to the whole situation. Clearly enough of the players for whatever reason (choose from any or all of the many "inside" stories doing the rounds) have stopped playing for us , the club or MH to make MH's position untenable. However I think TF, who is no fool, may still hesitate for 2 reasons 1) Our position - we need to win 10 and draw 6 from 26 games - can you see that under ANY manager? 2) HR or anyone else will want to ship out 5 & bring in 5 and I don't think TF and the Mittals have the £s and/or desire to oversee yet more expensive players come in. As Clive rightly says, problems now run deeper than just appointing Harry R. Sad to say 8/11 for us to go down and 11/4 to be bottom, just too good for me to turn down yesterday - don't feel at all guilty betting on those given my investment & return in my season ticket so far this season!

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patelvis added 11:40 - Nov 19 Seen Cisse has offered to chat to a disgruntled fan at the training ground, and then got coated off with the shooting practice on Weds gag !!! Well according to Mbia, we rarely train anyway so i am surprised Cisse remembers where the training ground is ....
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QPRFish added 11:57 - Nov 19 This season is looking like a mirror image of the one in 1996 onwards, certainly off the field at least. An owner with millions to spend, but delegating the job for others to oversee. (Chris Wright admitted that himself.) And appointing people with no previous football knowledge whatsoever, however good they may've been in other sectors in which they have worked! Bit harder running a football club isn't it phil, as opposed to aquiring a disused tent on the greenwich peninsula, putting a few thousand seats in to it, getting a few pop acts & comedians to perform a few nights a week and kerrrching! Well you've certainly brought some comedians down to W12 but it seems the audience ain't laughing. It may be a very small point and have absolutely no bearing on our current state, but having the owner of our football club welcoming directors of other teams, West Ham in this case, via twitter was, quite frankly, laughable. This is also the man that when he did actually get his hands dirty, in this case appointing a new manager, it seems the prospective candidate ended up doing the interveiwing of the man that was meant to be interviewing him! Confused?? No doubt with Phil Beard sitting beside him tweeting to all the wonderful, magnificent, loyal fans that the deal was nearly done and that Kia joorabchian really was the man to run this football club! #QPR. So it appears that Anton Ferdinand has got the hump because he didnt get the captaincy? I agree with him. Not with being captain but who it was awarded to. Who's decision was that? I can't believe that Tony Fernandes didn't have a tiny little say about that? It appears that ji sun park is somthing akin to god in the far east, mostly where Tony Ferandes' buisnesses are based. And that has nothing to do with why he was made captain? For my money i would've given it to the elder statesman Ryan Nelson. It's obvious for all to see that Tony fernandes is a big fan of the far east. That being the case Tony, maybe you'd be better off lookin to the far east of london, and your beloved West Ham, cause it seems they've really got the hang of how to run a football club.

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R_in_Sweden added 12:22 - Nov 19 QPRFish You are making a lot of sense. Non-football people running a football club. Seem to remember Beard going on about what a top notch bloke Barton was not so long ago. Ahem.
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YorkRanger added 12:34 - Nov 19 Great report Clive. Over the years there have been many deeply upsetting afternoons (and evenings) watching Rangers - Saturday was up there with the worst of them..
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patelvis added 13:02 - Nov 19 No Passion… No Spirit … No Commitment …. No Leadership….. No Pride ….No Drive … No Responsibility…. I am sure I must have seen worse performances, but cannot think of one at this moment in time and that includes Vauxhall Motors, getting a good tonking at Orient, Sheff Weds away when Carlton Palmer scored a hat trick … At least we tried in all of those , we gave it a go !!!! Cant believe what Cisse has done on twitter, SWP is probably unlikely to ever be applauded again at Loftus Road but rest assured he will get on the pitch at some point whilst Hughes & co are still there and that is something I do look forward to !!!!!!! No one inspiring out there to take over…. Harry I suppose would be the choice, ahead of Raffa & Sven (I would hope), but is it too late ??? Think the rot has set in , too many big time Charlies with big time salaries happy to go through the motions as long as they get their cigars after the game, and piss off to their movie premiers, fashion shows & music awards …. It could take a good few years to get out of the mess Hughes & his agent have gotten us into that’s for sure …… Outtraged of W12

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Antti_Heinola added 13:37 - Nov 19 I'd only add that Traore did not disappear down the tunnel. He collapsed to the floor and looked devastated - probably by his own meagre performance as much as the situation we're in, but I genuinely think he does care. Somehow Puncheon took him to the cleaners. Other than that, spot on.
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ngbqpr added 14:14 - Nov 19 Yeah backing up Antti - Traore stayed on to applaud with Mackie, Derry & Nelsen (albeit he hid a bit behind the latter). Personally I think he's nowhere near one of the worst offenders, for all that he didn't have a great game by any stretch.
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QPRFish added 14:22 - Nov 19 As a aside to all the current problems, i must admit that liveried plane looked wonderful sitting on the tarmac. Made me feel really proud. But rather than planes Tony, maybe cruise ships would be a better option for ya. I think replicas of the Titanic or the Costa Concordia in QPR livery would be a far more appropriate reflection of the football club you are owner of at the moment.

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benbu added 14:36 - Nov 19 Very good write up, must have been almost as painful as watching the match! I sat there at half time in upper loft and almost had a tear in my eye (genuinely) with watching our club perform like that. Agree with most on here, Nelson, Mackie, Derry and Taarabt only had the right attitude and passion. I thought also the service to Cisse' was dire and couldnt really be too harsh on him with no help from midfield. The rest were a disgrace to the club and to their profession. I was baffled by the substitions and the positions players were playing in - granero for example right midfield. The players just dont seem to be getting the basics right especially the weekly gifts of goals we conceed, some this season have been park standard, a total shambles and joke. I wanted Hughes to succeed but he has lost the dressing room, time to go! The players havent helped him at all, and will basically cost him his job. when i got home saturday night, I sat in my car for 10 minutes trying to get my head in a 'normal' mode but have continued to be a miserable b@stard since! I then thought to myself - 'what can you do?' ... oh yeah travel to Old Trafford saturday for more pain (mentally and in the wallet) and realise I have to buy my newcastle away ticket to accompany my £70 train ticket!!! we give so much time, emotion, money, our lives into this club - just dont think some players even care that this is people's passion and that the fans give 100% to the club for their whole lives. We only ask they put in 100% for 90 minutes and if they lose they lose, but actually give a t0ss...please

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