Chalkboard For QPR

Good morning.

Four o’clock tomorrow and it’s our 4th Premier League outing and 5th game under the human of immense dimensions himself, the Ginger Ninja aka GFG.

It’s not overstating things to say that just about everyone was buoyed by the performance against Lazio, if not the actual result itself. One aspect that merits yet another mention is that we really demonstrated the merits of possession play. It’s stating the flippin’ obvious, but if you’ve got the ball, the other fella ain’t.

The game-play itself is far more demanding. The pressing game doesn’t carry passengers. You can’t drift in and drift out and if the appointment of Azza as captain was a one off or not it was indicative of the message having got through.

Lennon has yet to achieve all he might – no change there, ho ho ho – but he’s noticeably upped his game. He could have scored twice against the Italians and I don’t say that as a dig, rather to underline a positive. His efforts are putting him in the right places.

With Naughton injured a shuffle is required. Hence the annotations on the board.

It seems to me that there are two obvious answers. First is to move Jan out to left back where he is comfortable and bring Billy in. This is not a poor relation of a line up, until you wonder if Vertonghen will be as commanding moving forward from the left. And of course you can argue he might provide killer service to Bale and Moussa.

The alternative which I believe would be braver and more exciting is play Bale as left back, let Dempsey move wide in his stead and let Jan stay put. Bale is as fit as a butcher’s dog so if he wants to go walkies it wouldn’t be a massive gamble. Deuce loves a bit of cutting in off that wing and could really give Mark Hughes a migraine. If you move Dempsey out, then Siggy steps in.

I see no point in mucking Hugo about and would start him again. He didn’t have to do too much midweek but it would be close to churlish to play Brad ‘just so you could say that you did’. Brad is a professional and a sweetie. He won’t sulk.

Up front I’m opting for Adebayor. The reason is that QPR are going to be a pain to unlock. We let the multifaceted Togoan have a go and keep the midget gem up our sleeve for the old ‘impact sub’ gig. Jermain won’t be delighted but such is life. I think it will get congested in the final third and maybe we should kick off proceedings with a player who might just offer more variety.

Prediction? QPR’s season has so far been a fair reflection of the way their team has been assembled. Scrappy. The punt being taken by Tony Fernandez is sizable. And if I was looking to see where Redschnapps might be re-homed I’d look not to St. Mary’s but to Loftus Road. Anyway, Spurs should win this. Ideally of course with a clean sheet so a 2-0 from me.