It is a clash of two teams at opposite ends of the form table at Loftus Road on Saturday as QPR without a win in six take on Sheff Utd unbeaten in twelve consecutive away games.

Queens Park Rangers (11th) v Sheffield United (6th)
Coca Cola Championship
Saturday March 7, Kick Off 3pm
Loftus Road, London

QPR’s 3-0 defeat at Sheffield United in August was the first puncture wound to the bubble of early season optimism. Rangers had apparently strengthened well during the summer and started the season with two wins, including an unprecedented League Cup success at Swindon. We sang about having the best midfield in the world and being taken up by Iain Dowie, not a pleasant thought when you put it like that. Sheff Utd shone the cold light of day on all of that during 90 tortuous minutes at Bramall Lane.

Since then we have fired the manager, got rid of the supposedly highly rated foreign players that were so obviously out of their depth against United first time round, brought in a whole load more new players and now may apparently be on the verge of sacking somebody else. Paulo Sousa says he was brought in with a brief to build a solid foundation from which QPR can spring next season. Sounds reasonable. Except that 3-1 home defeats to Ipswich in front of a television audience and owner Flavio Briatore are not the way to go about keeping your role in that future vision. Briatore has already shown a ruthlessness with his managers seldom seen outside the Mandaric household and we are once again in the ridiculous position of going into a game with the manager apparently under pressure if you believe the press.

We could hardly be playing worse opponents for such a situation. United are a good, strong Championship side with very real hopes of play off success this season. They are in great form at the moment - without a defeat in twelve consecutive away games and coming into this on the back of a midweek win at Coventry City who had just had Chris Coleman crowned manager of the month. Most of all though they are confident and while QPR were clearly a better side than Norwich on Tuesday night nobody looked happy when presented with chances in front of goal and the players visibly wilted after Norwich had taken the lead. Saturday promises to be a good deal tougher for players who don’t seem confident in themselves and often look uncomfortable in the variety of shapes and systems they are being asked to perform - QPR have played a different formation in each of their last three games and gained only a single point doing it.

Part of building for next season, you would think, would include plenty of chopping, changing and looking at new players so the current inconsistencies in team selection are perhaps to be expected. However there is always that sub clause at QPR that whether we have anything to play for or not, whether you’re building for next season or not, if we don’t play well and get results consistently you’ll be in trouble very, very quickly. Dowie got just 15 matches. In my opinion there is no way we should be starting next season with anybody other than Sousa in charge and it would terrible for the stability of the club and team if we were to sack another manager - especially as it would be difficult to convince anybody competent and in their right mind to come here and replace him knowing that a bad run of only five or six matches could cost them their job. To that end it would be awfully handy if we could turn it around and pick up a surprise win in W12 this weekend.

Five minutes on Sheff Utd
United are for me the best example of a Championship club in almost every way. They are a former Premiership club, one of seventeen in the league this season, trying to balance the books after relegation playing 4-4-2 with a big man-little man combination up front and getting decent service into them from wide areas. They are active in the transfer market and bring in a mixture of big money signings, like James Beattie and Darius Henderson, players whose contract situations allow them to be pinched, like Brian Howard and Jon Joe O’Toole, and good lower league prospects like Billy Sharp and Jamie Ward.

They have an English manager who likes his football direct and simple and a plodding oaf at centre half who makes you think that you too could have played professional football to a reasonable level.

Chris Morgan has never been the opposition fans' best friend. He looks about 108 years old and is slower than most pensioners – he makes his way through games at this level constantly badgering match officials and scything more talented players down with tackles that should be punished by red cards but are laughed off as “an early feeler” or “typical Chris Morgan challenge there ho ho.” Should I repeatedly elbow Mark and David who sit behind me in the head at a match I would be arrested and banned from attending. Morgan has made a living from it.

That is all well and good until somebody actually gets hurt. I managed, in a drunken stupor, to leave my programme somewhere in the Barnsley area last Saturday and so took advantage of a rare Monday off work to drive over there and pick up another one from the club shop. I had not realised on the match day, as we approached the ground from the opposite side, that pinned to the back of the stand behind the goal is a large banner saying “Barnsley fans support Iain Hume”. Good. Somebody has got to.

Hume is a man who has been let down by his profession this season. You probably all know by now that Hume suffered a fractured skull in a match with Sheffield United earlier this season after being elbowed in the head by Morgan. Hume suffered a brain bleed and spent a week in intensive care as a result. He hasn’t played since, has a scar around his scalp that looks like he has had a run in with an extra from Jurassic Park and Morgan got off with it all scot-free. Actually that isn’t true, Andy D’Urso did show him a yellow card as Hume was leaving the field complaining of feeling unwell. Good old D’Urso, he can always be relied upon.

This punishment, a single yellow card, has never been upgraded. No action has ever been taken against Morgan by any of the authorities who hid behind the idea that as D’Urso had seen it and acted they couldn’t do anything – the same authorities who last week upgraded a yellow card given to Leeds’ Jermaine Beckford for elbowing to a three game ban, the same authorities who have made You Tube remove footage of the incident because it infringes copyright. To show footage of an incident where a young man got his skull fractured by somebody against whom the authorities took no action you must pay the authorities some money. They did however charge Barnsley manager Simon Davey for criticising the referee on the day, the same Simon Davey who warned D’Urso about use of elbow from Sheff Utd players at half time.

After the game Sky thought it appropriate to bring Morgan’s old manager Neil Warnock out to defend the guilty party – "he’s really not like that at all" said the current Palace manager as anybody who has ever seen Morgan play laughed to themselves in the background.

Blades assistant manager Sam Ellis said upon announcement that no charges would be brought he considered the matter ‘closed’ – although when previous FA decisions regarding the Carlos Tevez affair that played a small part in United’s relegation from the Premiership were made the club wasn’t so keen to declare it closed. They still await their £30m payout from West Ham on that one – I wonder if anybody ever got up and questioned whether Neil Warnock’s belief that he could stay in the Premiership playing Christian Nade up front by himself might have had more to do with their relegation than Carlos Tevez?

Anyway Ellis also said: “We didn’t think there was anything more. We think people have made a little bit more out of it than they should have.” An amazing statement really. Now who would that be making more out of it? Iain Hume himself with a large hole in the head? The Barnsley manager charged by the FA for complaining and without his £1m striker for the best part of a year? Barnsley football club for threatening to take them to court? Because Sheff Utd would never take a footballing dispute that far would they? Who on earth did he mean?

I can already hear the few Sheff Utd fans that stumble across this article tapping out e-mails and comments on this article telling me I’m a twat. I anticipate abuse. Chances are if the boot was on the other foot I’d be doing the same to the author of such an article about QPR. The fact is I actually quite like Sheffield United. They are my local team, Bramall Lane is the best ground in the Championship by a country mile in my opinion and one I always enjoy visiting, their team is good to watch and has every chance of making it back into the Premiership through the play offs. They are a good, solid, well run club that we should be modelling ourselves on (apart from the appointment of Bryan Robson of course) and they deserve every success they get for their sound long term planning. I think they will win the play offs and I hope they do.

However what happened to Iain Hume, an injury caused by a player football fans up and down the country would tell you regularly sails close to the disciplinary wind, and the way football people and football authorities have spoken about it and dealt with it since angered and upset me and where else can I express that than here, as we prepare to play the Blades for the first time since the incident at Loftus Road?

Men to watch
Sheffield United’s basic but effective game plan is put into practice by a group of good, workmanlike Championship footballers. The most important of which seems to be, on the evidence of their game with Birmingham that I sat through last week, Darius Henderson. Eyebrows were raised when United paid more than £2m for his signature when he joined from Watford last summer and in truth that is a bit on the pricey side but in the Championship there can be few better target men than him. He stands, he heads it, he holds it up and brings others into play and he scores every now and again – and really that’s all a Championship striker needs to do.

For such a player to be effective you generally need a smaller, nippier, more naturally talented goal scorer knocking around at his feet. Against Birmingham that role went to Danny Webber who QPR fans will remember well from his goal scoring exploits against us in Watford colours. Webber scored against Birmingham, picking up on a good headed knock down needless to say. It was a nicely taken goal but it didn’t stop the moaning and groaning of the Bramall Lane crowd going his way during the second half. The fans’ frustration is bourn out of Webber’s chronic inability to stay onside despite having pace to burn and therefore no need to go early. Still, I’ve always quite liked Webber and he is one of those strikers that always seems to score against us – four goals against Rangers in his career so far.

At the start of the season that little goal scorer role was filled by Billy Sharp who scored a hat trick against us at Bramall Lane but struggled for goals before that and has done since. I said when Sharp was at Scunthorpe that Andy Keogh was actually the better player despite scoring half as many goals and I think I have been vindicated with that. Sharp’s goal scoring exploits at Scunthorpe, who bought him from Sheff Utd for £200k and then sold him back to them for £2m, were based around League One defenders allowing loose balls to drop in and around the penalty box and that just does not happen so often in the Championship. He has 12 goals in more than 50 appearances since his move.

Sharp started the season alongside James Beattie who has since moved on to Stoke City. Henderson is an adequate replacement but United have loaned in Craig Beattie from West Brom as well – he played well in a similar situation at Palace earlier this season.

In a basic big man little man set up good service needs to come from wide areas. Probably the most impressive United player against Birmingham last week was former Wigan wide man David Cotterill – a good, honest, Championship winger capable of good service and a mean penalty taker into the bargain it seems. United have been using full back Greg Halford as a makeshift striker or attacker but he is normally a tall full back – with a very long throw that QPR got caught out by in the third minute of the first meeting between these sides this season.

United have also recently added Jon Joe O’Toole and Jamie Ward to their attacking midfield options. O’Toole has been one of the stand out performers in a poor Watford team this season and United have taken advantage of the shortage of cash at Vicarage Road to bring him in on loan with a view to a permanent deal. Ward is a spikey little forward or attacking midfielder who was released young by Aston Villa but has been very impressive for League Two Chesterfield in recent years. Holding the midfield is another good player United managed to pick up relatively cheaply through good scouting and knowledge of players’ contract situations. Brian Howard was the star of Barnsley’s FA Cup run last season but moved to United for just a few hundred thousand pounds. Nick Montgomery provides the steal, Stephen Quinn the enthusiastic running and goals from deep lying positions.

At the back United have Chris Morgan who I’ve already spoken about. United’s success story of the season so far has been full back Kyle Naughton who made his England Under 21 debut at Bramall Lane earlier this season and looks a hugely promising prospect. Matthew Kilgallon is a classy performer at this level. Paddy Kenny remains in goal despite being transfer listed earlier this season for consistently turning up late to training – Kenny has breached club discipline before, infamously getting his eyebrow bitten off in a fight in a Halifax night club.

Previous Meetings
Early season optimism brought on by two wins in the first week was quickly shattered at Bramall Lane on the second Saturday of the current campaign. Looking back a midfield of Parejo, Ledesma, Cook and Leigertwood was always going to lack a little oomph and physical presence and so it proved as the Blades cut QPR apart. Billy Sharp scored all three goals, two in the first quarter of an hour and then one just after half time when Cerny came for a corner and missed it completely.

Sheff Utd: Kenny 7, Halford 7 (Cotterill 66, 7), Naysmith 7, Morgan 6 (Ehiogu 34, 7), Kilgallon 7, Jihai 8, Speed 8, Tonge 7, Quinn 7, Sharp 9 (Webber 83, -), Henderson 8
Subs Not Used: Stead, Spring
Booked: Halford (foul)
Goals: Sharp 3 (assisted Halford/Henderson), 13 (assisted Speed), 51 (assisted Tonge)

QPR: Cerny 3 Delaney 4, Hall 3, Gorkss 3 Connolly 4, Leigertwood 4, Parejo 5, Cook 4 (Alberti 80, -), Ledesma 5, Balanta 3 (Di Carmine 46 5), Blackstock 3
Subs Not Used: Camp, Stewart, Mahon
Booked: Delaney (reacting to Halford’s foul)

Match Report

At Loftus Road last season a poor game finished level thanks to a late leveller from centre half Chris Morgan. Rangers had taken the lead in the first half thanks to a first senior goal from Angelo Balanta whose flicked near post header flew past Kenny and into the School End net. QPR were poor though in truth, coming off the back of a morale sapping midweek hammering by Burnley, and it was no real surprise when Morgan scrambled the ball home from the edge of the area with a quarter of an hour still to play. A point was no more than the Blades, by this time under the guidance of Kevin Blackwell, deserved from the game.

QPR: Camp 6, Mancienne 6, Connolly 7 (Stewart 73, 6), Hall 7, Delaney 7, Ephraim 7, Rowlands 7, Leigertwood 5, Balanta 7 (Blackstock 73, 6), Vine 5, Agyemang 5
Subs Not Used: Pickens, Lee, Rehman
Goals: Balanta 19 (assisted Ephraim)

Sheff Utd: Kenny 6, Geary 6, Morgan 7, Kilgallon 7, Naysmith 5, Stead 7 (Shelton 77, 6), Tonge 6, Armstrong 7, Quinn 7, Sharp 5 (Cotterill 70, 6), Beattie 6 (Hulse 77, 6)
Subs Not Used: Gillespie, Lucketti
Booked: Morgan (foul), Geary (foul)
Goals: Morgan 78 (unassisted)

Match Report

Head to Head
QPR Wins – 15
Draws – 15
Sheff Utd wins – 13

Previous Sheff Utd v QPR results:
2008/09 Sheff Utd 3 QPR 0
2007/08 QPR 1 Sheff Utd 1 (Balanta)
2007/08 Sheff Utd 2 QPR 1 (Agyemang)
2005/06 Sheff Utd 2 QPR 3 (Nygaard, Morgan og, Furlong)
2005/06 QPR 2 Sheff Utd 1 (Bircham, Moore)
2004/05 Sheff Utd 3 QPR 2 (Rowlands, Gallen)
2004/05 QPR 0 Sheff Utd 1
2003/04 Sheff Utd 0 QPR 2 (Rowlands 2)
2000/01 QPR 1 Sheff Utd 3 (Ngonge)
2000/01 Sheff Utd 1 QPR 1 (Koejoe)
1999/00 Sheff Utd 1 QPR 1 (Beck)
1999/00 QPR 3 Sheff Utd 1 (Breaker, Wardley, Steiner)
1998/99 Sheff Utd 2 QPR 0
1998/99 QPR 1 Sheff Utd 2 (Peacock pen)
1997/98 QPR 2 Sheff Utd 2 (Sheron, Ready)
1997/98 Sheff Utd 2 QPR 2 (Murray, Morrow)
1996/07 QPR 1 Sheff Utd 0 (Spencer pen)
1996/97 Sheff Utd 1 QPR 1 (Slade)
1993/94 Sheff Utd 1 QPR 1 (Barker)
1993/94 QPR 2 Sheff Utd 1 (Wilson pen, Sinclair)
1992/93 Sheff Utd 1 QPR 2 (Allen, Holloway)
1992/93 QPR 3 Sheff Utd 2 (Ferdinand, Barker, Bailey)
1991/92 Sheff Utd 0 QPR 0
1991/92 QPR 1 Sheff Utd 0 (Wegerle)


Team News
QPR should welcome Lee Cook back into their squad after two games out with a mystery injury. If he does return then Rangers will only be without long term absentees Martin Rowlands, Akos Buzsaky (both ligaments), Patrick Agyemang (thigh) and Rowan Vine (broken leg) although even Vine is expected to be back in the reserves in a fortnight’s time. Hogan Ephraim recovered from a knock to his knee to make the bench on Tuesday and Jordi Lopez came through his debut unscathed and may feature again.

Sheff Utd have one or two long term casualties of their own. Gary Speed (back), Ugo Ehiogu (hamstring) and Derek Geary (knee) are all definitely out while Billy Sharp, scorer of a hat trick in the first meeting this season, is probably out for the rest of the season with a bad groin injury. At Coventry on Tuesday United played Henderson alone in attack with Brian Howard supporting from midfield and full back Kyle Naughton in a more advanced role - a two one win against the in form Sky Blues suggests a similar set up may be likely again.
Injury List

Referee
Neil Swarbrick from Lancashire is the man in the middle on Saturday. He refereed our opening day victory against Barnsley where QPR were awarded a penalty (that they missed) and Barnsley had a man sent off. More of the same on Saturday would assist the QPR cause no end. Incidentally, and I’ll look into this in more detail later, have we had a penalty at home since?
Details

Elsewhere
It is a mixture of league and cup action for Championship clubs this weekend. Coventry host Chelsea while Burnley go to Arsenal in the nock out competition, while the league programme is awash with fixtures between clubs with concerns at opposite ends of the table. Birmingham, Reading, Wolves and Cardiff are all playing teams below halfway in the league – Southampton, Plymouth, Sheff Wed and Doncaster respectively.
Tony’s Championship Preview

Form
After playing themselves into play off contention with consecutive away wins at Blackpool and Derby Rangers have promptly dropped right out of the race with a run of six games without a win. It has gone very flat all round really with no home win in seven attempts dating back to December 20 - to think before Christmas it was only our away form holding us back from a real tilt at honours this season. QPR have lost three of their last four and scored only three goals in those matches.

United have recovered from the disappointment of a derby defeat against Sheff Wed and a cup exit at Hull City where they should have had a penalty andhad a goal awarded against them that didn’t cross the line to put together back to back league wins. They beat Birmingham at home last weekend and then won at Coventry in midweek. That Coventry result means it is twelve away games in the league since they were last beaten - sadly from their point of view that last loss was at Sheff Wed completing the first Wednesday double in the Steel City derby in nearly a century. Still, Wednesday would no doubt take United’s league position were it offered to them - the Blades are are fourth with 58 points. Eight wins and six draws from 18 away games is the best away record in the division.
Form Guide

Prediction
Well stranger things have happened I suppose but I was quite alarmed by the way the players’ heads dropped on Tuesday after going a goal down. We were better than Norwich but the belief seemed to drain out of our boys as the chances kept going begging. United on the other hand must be brimming with confidence on their travels and will present a very tough test. I hate to say it, but it’s hard not to predict a continuation of Tuesday come 3pm Saturday.
QPR 0 Sheff Utd 1

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