 Wednesday, 1st Feb 2012 10:04 by Clive Whittingham Aston Villa, without a win in five home matches, host the talk of the transfer window Queens Park Rangers on Wednesday evening with the Londoners now requiring points on the pitch to back up their activity off it. Aston Villa (12th) v QPR (16th)Barclays Premier League >>> Wednesday February 1, 2012 >>> Kick Off 7.45pm >>> Villa Park, Birmingham I couldn’t help but wonder what Neil Warnock made of it all yesterday, as first Djibril Cisse and then Bobby Zamora signed on at Loftus Road for big money. Warnock spent most of December saying that he would sort out any problems the team had in the January transfer window and would no doubt tell you, if asked, that he would have signed a similar calibre of player to the ones Mark Hughes has brought in if he’d been given time and the backing of the board. Sadly of the six signings made this January Federico Macheda, the only one Warnock was responsible for, looks the worst and although our former manager did state that he too was keen to bring in Nedum Onuoha it’s likely that his pursuit of Alex from Chelsea would have ended the same way Hughes’ did. Sadly it’s difficult to imagine Cisse and Zamora signing for QPR with Warnock in charge. I haven’t liked some of what I’ve seen from Mark Hughes so far. For me, 442 is a rigid and outdated formation that enables teams in more imaginative and modern systems to enjoy too much space and time between the various straight lines it creates. I fear we may see some of this tonight with Robbie Keane positioned between our defence and midfield. That said, it’s a formation that has worked well for Hughes before at clubs of a similar size to us, and in similar situations, and it’s impossible not to admire the speed and efficiency with which Hughes has implemented a new ethos, shape and discipline on our team. Joey Barton was (rightly) chastised by QPR fans for stating before the Wigan game it was the first time they’d had “a plan” for a match in a long time, but nobody can deny that QPR have been more disciplined and in a better overall team shape in the last few games than they were under Warnock. Sadly, after everything he did for our club, I fear Neil will always be remembered as a good First Division manager who was sadly found tactically wanting at the highest level. Whether that’s fair or not, it’s what happened at Notts County, Sheffield United and Loftus Road. Hughes has focussed on the defence first and foremost, as most managers do, and quickly whipped the team into a tighter mindset back there while adding Taye Taiwo and Nedum Onuoha, the latter of which I think is probably, pound for pound, the signing of the transfer window. Why on earth have Spurs gone after Ryan Nelson and Wolves Sebastien Bassong when Onuoha was so readily and cheaply available from Man City? Congratulations QPR on an inspired piece of business. But at Newcastle and again against Chelsea the lack of a cutting edge in attack was a clear issue. In signing Bobby Zamora and Djibril Cisse we’ve not onl bolstered our options up fron substantially, but we’ve done so in the model pioneered by Stoke City who may not be good to watch but have shown how Premiership consolidation can be turned into prosperity through steady transfer market activity. They signed Dave Kitson when they first arrived in the top flight, just as we signed Jay Bothroyd. Zamora and Cisse are our equivalent of James Beattie who they then replace d Kitson with and after him came Kenwynne Jone and more recently Peter Crouch as they went from relegation battlers through midtable into their current position of European football and cup runs. European football? Cup runs? Foreign concepts, and still a million miles away for a QPR team that desperately needs points over its next six games if it’s to avoid relegation. New signings or not, our last ten fixtures of this season are a bloody nightmare. Unfortunately that makes tonight’s game at Villa, where four strikers are injured, three Africans are still away and Bobby Zamora isn’t registered in time, rather more important than we probably would have liked. Villa haven’t won at home in five matches, losing four, and showed defensive frailty in a second half collapse at Arsenal on Sunday. QPR can’t really afford another narrow defeat with “positives to take from the game” tonight. Links >>> Opposition Focus >>> Fixture History >>> Referee >>> Travel Guide This WednesdayTeam News: Djibril Cisse was signed and registered in time to play tonight and Taye Taiwo finally has his international clearance through. With Nedum Onuoha an unused substitute against Chelsea on Saturday that means QPR could have three debutants on the field tonight. Just as well really, with Jay Bothroyd and DJ Campbell definitely out and Heidar Helguson and Federico Macheda doubtful the striking options were down to Rob Hulse by himself before Cisse’s arrival. The farce of when exactly players come back from the African Nations Cup is likely to grip us for a few more days yet – there is no indication of if Adel Taarabt, Arrmand Traore and Samba Diakite have arrived back yet, or when they might, so we’ll have to wait and see what team trots out at twenty to eight tonight. Midfielder Marc Albrighton (thigh) and centre back James Collins (calf) both missed the weekend collapse at Arsenal and are likely to do so again but Charles N’Zogbia (heal) could return to the line up. Elsewhere: It seems rather strange that in this full round of Premiership fixtures ten teams had to play last night without their deadline day signings, and another ten can play tonight with them. Playing games on the night when transfers are being rushed through seems daft to me and probably won’t happen again given the stink kicked up by Sam Allardyce and others last night. It turned out to be a decent evening for QPR in the transfer market, and on the pitch where Wolves and Wigan were both well beaten. Tonight, as well as our trip to Villa, fellow strugglers Blackburn host Newcastle and Bolton are at home to Arsenal. Just above us West Brom travel to Fulham and two of the form midtable sides Sunderland and Norwich meet on Wearside. Referee: When Neil Swarbrick sent off Joey Barton in our home game with Norwich at the beginning of January he broke the golden rule of refereeing in doing so – you can only give what you’ve seen. Neither Swarbrick nor his assistant Dave Richardson saw Barton’s alleged headbutt on Bradley Johnson. We know this for a fact because QPR were in possession of the ball at the time and were allowed to continue attacking down the field after it had occurred – had either official seen the incident play would have been stopped immediately and Norwich awarded a free kick. They saw Johnson holding his face, knew there’d been a coming together of sorts, and guessed, possibly with input from the fourth official. The decision was wrong, and despite being upheld on appeal the FA as good as admitted as much when they then relegated Swarbrick down into League One for his next game. A month on he returns to the Premiership for the first time since that game tonight, and quite incredibly the league have seen fit to appoint him straight back to a QPR fixture. Mindless. Anyway, a full case file is available here. FormVilla: Recently Aston Villa have won 3-1 at Chelsea but lost 2-0 at home to Swansea. Last weekend they lead 2-0 at half time against Arsenal before conceding three in nine second half minutes to lose. That lack of consistency is there for all to see looking back through their recent results LWDWLWDLLWL. They haven’t won back to back games all season. At home they’re without a win in five and have lost four of those matches, the draw coming against Everton. It’s their worst run of home form in nearly three years. Darren Bent needs one more goal to reach 100 in the Premier League. QPR: Mark Hughes has never won a game at Villa Park as a manager with Blackburn, Man City or Fulham but will be hoping to make it four away wins this season for Rangers this evening. QPR have already won at Everton, Wolves and Stoke this season, compared to just two home league wins, but have lost four and drawn one of their last five road trips in the league scoring just twice in the process. The Chelsea defeat at the weekend was the third time in four games under Hughes that the final score has been 1-0 and that looks a pretty decent bet this evening. With Wolves, Blackburn, Fulham, Everton and Bolton to come (in that order) over the next few weeks it’s clear that QPR’s season will be sorted out in the next six games or so. Betting: Professional odds compiler Owen Goulding says… The trip up to the Midlands pitches two sides with similar recent records against each other. Both teams have two wins, one draw and two defeats in their last five games. I expect Mark Hughes is looking at the players available tomorrow and thinking much the same as me in that I would be very happy to get anything out of this game and then move onwards with players back from Africa and new signings for the rest of season. Unfortunately it seems this match has come too soon for any new strikers that may sign between me writing this preview and the match actually taking place, so QPR will be left a little lightweight up front with doubts about virtually every - and I use the term lightly - 'striker' we may have available to play. However, despite the similar records, the general consensus among both sets of fans is one of optimism on behalf of the Londoners following, and one of pessimism on behalf of the Midlanders. I know a vast number of Villa fans and I have yet to meet one who agreed with the appointment of McLeish or even more so one that still wants him at the club. He is massively unpopular - most notably for his defensive style of play, and in all honesty I can understand why. The way they capitulated in those fifteen minutes at the weekend to go from 2-0 up to 3-2 down so easily has not helped his cause with the Holte End faithful. Some of the defending was truly abysmal., and when you set your team up to be as defensive as McLeish does, you cannot ever expect to get anywhere with the schoolboy defending on show the other day. That said - as I see it, the attack of QPR available tomorrow looks more toothless than my Gran and so I think it makes sense to back less than 1.5 goals at 5/2 with Stan James. It’s the bet of the week for me.... Prediction: I’m in full agreement with Owen that this looks like a potential snoozefest with a single goal likely to be the winner. This time yesterday I’d have said Villa were the more likely to get that goal, but with Djibril Cisse since signed and apparently able to play a little wave of optimism has washed over me and now I quite fancy QPR for the 1-0 win – Rangers are available at 4/1 if you fancy them. However with QPR improving at the back but still missing key figures from the attack I’m going to stick with my original gut instinct and back a goalless draw. 0-0 draw available at 10/1 with Stan James and Sky Bet Tweet @loftforwords Photo: Action Images Please report offensive, libellous or inappropriate posts by using the links provided.
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