I thought it was strange to watch Match of the Day on Saturday night and hear Alan Shearer’s comments on Rio Ferdinand. I’m not how much of the game Shearer watched but by his quote about Ferdinand having “one of them afternoons” – I’m going to hazard a guess at not much.
Ferdinand looked classy, very classy. As expected he started in the middle of the back three, playing as a sweeper and often the deepest of the trio. Yes, he lost James Chester for Hull’s winner and yes it happened again on the next corner…but the 35-year-old will still be an asset over the course of the season.
A sign of a good defender is not necessarily one that is diving in making last-ditch tackles or blocks but one that can read all the signs of danger before it has even happened. The Italians have it perfect. Why jump around flinging yourself at everything, when you can leave the pitch as clean as when you came on?
Ferdinand managed to do this time and time again, one of the most impressive times happening when Andrew Robertson’s – who looked impressive and a snip at just under £3 million – cross was taken off the toe of Nikica Jelavic by the former England defender who then looked to start a Rangers counter.
His leadership qualities shone through too, communicating and organising the defence throughout and he had his work cut out with Armand Traore and Danny Simpson. The look of horror on his face as Traore decided to stop playing and instead argue with Jelavic over the forward’s penalty appeal whilst the game was still going on really was something to behold.
Ferdinand had an impressive game no doubt about it and the stats back him up too.
He won the most amount of tackles on the pitch – in fact he didn’t lose a tackle. He won the ball every time he went to win it. To put that into perspective, Curtis Davies who also had a decent game only won 50% of his tackles, Ferdinand attempted double and won them all. He also made the most ball recoveries for QPR and the second highest on the pitch(which points back to my earlier point of his reading of the game). He also didn’t commit a foul or lose anything in the air.
Along with this, Ferdinand had the highest pass completion percentage with 89% – almost 10% more than any player. Of course, it’s easier for someone like Rio to pick a pass when he has all the time in the world and no pressure on him than someone like Ali Faurlin in the middle of the park but of the four passes he failed, three were in the attacking third and the other was in the middle of the pitch – were he made 29 other successful ones.
Hull obviously fancied their chances of Ahmed Elmohamady being up against Armand Traore . So much so, McGregor to the Egptian was one of the most frequent pass combinations of the afternoon along with Huddlestone to Elmohamady. Thankfully for Rangers, every goal kick that was aimed towards Traore, he won. All 11 times it was tried – he came out on top.
Despite looking defensively solid, QPR looked pretty void of any attacking flair in the new 3-5-2 formation. The most frequent pass combination for the home side being Ferdinand to Caulker, who then more often than not looked to his right towards Simpson, who was often wasteful when in possession completing only 64% of his passes.
Jordon Mutch played and looked promising although slightly rusty in the more advanced central role with Joey Barton and Faurlin behind him. I thought the Argentine looked for the spectacular pass a little to often, playing off of his left foot and looking for the channel ball between Chester and Elmohamady and it often didn’t come off. Barton said himself that his corners were poor, but he also attempted 13 crosses in open play and was successful just twice.
Charlie Austin worked hard and created problems for Chester, Davies and Alex Bruce. He does look a little more bulky and it does seems to have made him slightly less mobile, he wasn’t the most agile in the first place so he will have to be careful but his tireless work rate will always create him chances. He mustered 5 attempts on goal and the only one on target was the penalty which was saved. Statistically his passing was slopping too but he can be pleased on the whole with his first performance in the top flight. He struggled for any real service all afternoon.
His partner was the man of the moment Loic Remy, whether he stays or goes is another matter but despite looking like he was blowing after the first 30 minutes, Remy was at the heart of everything good QPR did going forward.
He had three shots on target and should have finished his last one, turning substitute Paul McShane before firing at McGregor from 12-yards. He could have put it anywhere but he fired straight at the Scottish keeper, he has to score in that position .Get him fit and if they can keep him, they will stay up comfortably.
They won’t face many teams worse than Hull this year and really should have picked up some points, despite being praised for creating 19 attempts you really need to put the chances away and Rangers suffered by not doing that.
Another little final gripe from the game would be starting Richard Dunne. Surely, if you are playing with 3 centre backs you need the wide two to be able to be comfortable playing full-back and be able to play. I don’t really see how Richard Dunne offers any of that, especially with Nedum Onuoha and Clint Hill sitting on the bench.
It was obvious before the opener that Rangers need legs in midfield and nothing has changed – that was always obvious. I’d imagine Fer will sign before the Spurs game. Another striker to add some depth will no doubt be brought in, hopefully Vargas, and a number 10 that can thread passes and create a little bit of magic. I like Mutch, but can’t see him staying in the ‘hole’ for the duration of the season. Perhaps that slightly portly Moroccan will still be here come the end of August – he’d be perfect.
As usual, please do tell me how wrong or even right I am by commenting or tweeting.
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