Watford v. QPR (Championship Matchday 2: 9 Aug) [R]

[Atouk]

Watford -- 20th(T), 0-0-1, 0 points, -1 GD
v.
QPR -- 9th(T), 0-1-0, 1 point, 0 GD
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9 August 2004, 7:45 p.m.
Vicarage Road
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Television:
UK - Sky Sports - Live
US - Setanta Pub Channel - 5 p.m. and 11 p.m. ET
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Rangers News:

The R's opened their return to this level with a 1-1 draw at home against Rotherham. No new injuries have been reported. Lee Cook returned to training last week and is thought to be available as a substitute on Monday after being left off the bench for Saturday's opener.

The Opponent:

Watford lost to Preston North End, 2-1 at Deepdale on opening day. Preston took a 1-0 lead, Watford's Paul Devlin equalized just after the break, but then Devlin gave away what the Watford site called "a needless penalty" to allow Preston to retake the lead. Watford missed a penalty with 8 minutes remaining and returned south with no points.

The Series:

Rangers have a rather large lead in the series, with a 44-27-26 lead in the overall series, including a 43-27-24 lead in league play. However, the clubs have met just four times since 1988, with Watford winning three with one draw. The last meetings between the club were in 2000/01 in Division One, with Watford winning 3-1 at home and the encounter at Loftus Road ending in a 1-1 draw.

The Referee:

Tony Bates gets the assignment. In 32 matches last year, he issued 92 yellows and 5 reds. 11 of those 32, but 6 of his last 7, were in Division One. Last year, he worked our 1-0 away win at Blackpool (7 yellows issued). His last Watford match was an April '03 0-3 home loss to Reading. His only QPR match that season was our 3-1 away win at Blackpool.

[art]

useless trivia: Watford are the second most common opponent in QPR's league history, the Rs and Watford having played 94 times over the years.

What club is the most common opponent, having played the R's 100 times in League play? Hint...we wont be playing them this year in the CCC, as they aren't in it.

[HiJazzey]

ahhh, finally some decent TV coverage. Haven't watched a "regular" game on TV in full for a long time. Not an easy game, since we're playing away. I'll definitely settle for a draw.

[Atouk]

What club is the most common opponent, having played the R's 100 times in League play? Hint...we wont be playing them this year in the CCC, as they aren't in it.I was guessing Palace, but I see we've played them 84 times. A bit of searching turns up that we've played Luton 90 times in total, but Premiership newboys Norwich City are the answer -- 100 times in the League (we're down 33-29-38) and 104 times overall.

Good question!

[Atouk]

The Evening Standard's match preview (http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/sport/football/articles/12446560?source=Evening%20Standard) focuses on Lee Cook, with Cook saying "The plan is to be involved at some stage tonight. Even if I only come off the bench, it will be great. It's a massive game for me." The story says Holloway is likely to run out the same XI, although I wouldn't be shocked to see a change or two (Thorpe in?) just to have some fresh legs out there. At the very least, I'd expect Olly to bring in subs earlier.

Also, about Watford, the story says the Hornets have two players who are in doubt after slight opening day injuries:
Lewington, meanwhile, is hoping midfielders Neal Ardley, who has a twisted ankle, and Brynjar Gunnarsson, with a bruised ankle and toe, can shake off injuries sustained in Watford's 2-1 openingday defeat at Preston.

"It's touch and go for both of them," he said.

"We will leave it right until 5.30pm to make a decision. I'd rather have another day to prepare the team, there's no doubt about that."

[Atouk]

Match previews:

QPRnet.com (http://queensparkrangers.rivals.net/default.asp?sid=925&p=2&stid=8355683)
They report that former R and new Watford signing Jermaine Darlington is out with a groin injury.

BBC (http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_div_1/3942219.stm)

QPR Mad (http://www.qpr-mad.co.uk/news/loadnews.asp?cid=PREV&id=169671)

The Sky Sports preview also provides the odds for tonight's match: (http://skysports.planetfootball.com/list.asp?hlid=218188&cpid=8&CLID=52&lid=&title=TV+Picks)

Watford win 6/5
Draw 11/5
QPR win 15/8

Watford 2-1 win 15/2
Helguson first scorer 11/2
Ainsworth first scorer 12/1

[Atouk]

The official site confirms (http://www.qpr.premiumtv.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10373~549911,00.html) that Lee Cook is available for selection tonight.

[Atouk]

The Watford site says (http://www.watfordfc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10400~549695,00.html) Brynjar Gunnarsson and Neal Ardley are "major doubts" for tonight, with their manager saying they've a 50/50 shot to play. First choice keeper Alec Chamberlain missed the opener with a rib injury, but is said to be "making progress" and could feature. Richard Lee, who started in net last weekend, was making just his fifth start.

The Watford site also says (http://www.watfordfc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10400~549877,00.html) they've signed West Brom defender James Chambers on a one-month loan and he'll be available for selection tonight.

[Atouk]

The lineups have been announced: (http://www.watfordfc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10400~550036,00.html) Furlong, Bean and Ainsworth out; Thorpe, Santos and McLeod in.

With such a hot day on Saturday and another match this Saturday, these changes (especially for the older players like Furlong and Ainsworth) are probably a good idea.

Tonight's starters:

Day; Bignot, Gnohere, Santos, Padula; Rowlands, Rose, Johnson, McLeod; Thorpe, Gallen. (I'm assuming Santos is starting in central defense and Rose in the midfield, although Santos is supposed to be able to play in midfield too, so it could be reversed).

Bench:

Ainsworth, Furlong, Cook, Bean, Cole.

I'll be watching the match at 5 p.m., so won't do any live updates after kick-off.

[Atouk]

The Watford site says (http://www.watfordfc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10400~549695,00.html) Brynjar Gunnarsson and Neal Ardley are "major doubts" for tonight, with their manager saying they've a 50/50 shot to play. First choice keeper Alec Chamberlain missed the opener with a rib injury, but is said to be "making progress" and could feature. Richard Lee, who started in net last weekend, was making just his fifth start.

The Watford site also says (http://www.watfordfc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10400~549877,00.html) they've signed West Brom defender James Chambers on a one-month loan and he'll be available for selection tonight.Gunnarsson and Ardley are both starting, as is new signing Chambers. Chamberlain is on the bench, so Lee gets his sixth start in goal. Former Ranger Jermaine Darlington has an injury, but is listed on their bench.

[Bluto11]

2-0 down at half. i need FIFA 2005 so i can take the Rs to the top of the Prem again.

[HiJazzey]

3-0. Very dissapointed. The third goal was a bit comical.

[therealronaldo7]

3-0. Very dissapointed. The third goal was a bit comical.

Is Watford that good? I have not seen a preview of the Championship as they now call it, but where do most experts have QPR finishing?

[QPR Kevin H]

Is Watford that good? I have not seen a preview of the Championship as they now call it, but where do most experts have QPR finishing?
No, they're not. But they have a bit of pace, and that was enough to beat us tonight.

Most previews had QPR finishing between 15th and 17th. Don't think anyone predicted us to go down. The 'experts' might have a slightly different opinion now (although we're not at full strength with injuries to Sh1ttu and Bircham)

[Atouk]

It's a long season, but I hate to drop three on goal difference right out of the box. Watford was definitely better yesterday and well deserving of three points. There were three controversial calls that lead to goals or non-goals and, while two of three were arguably correct, all three went against us -- change a couple of those and we lose 2-1 or 1-0, which might have flattered us, actually, but would have been welcome.

About the calls: You're not going to get the call that nixed McLeod's goal very often, so I can't complain about that too much -- if a Watford player had had that much contact with Daysie, I'd have wanted that goal disallowed, as well. Could it have stood? Absolutely. The contact wasn't much and seemed to have ended before the keeper dropped the ball. I was mad at the time, but from some angles (including the referee's) the contact looked like more than it did from behind, I think.

And their second goal was very close to being offside, but a case can be made that the pass was sideways, so the player wasn't nearer to the goal than the ball was when it was played, which would mean he isn't offside. Close call there and could have gone either way. (both players were clearly not in an offside posistion when the second-to-last pass was made).

The third goal probably should have been stopped anyway, but the man was clearly offside when he received the ball, no?

Overall, we were poor (more comments on that in the other thread). Marcus Bignot was clearly the MOTM. Otherwise, Thorpe and Furlong looked pretty good, McLeod had his moments, Padula was good in defense but a letdown on set pieces, and that's about it for the praise.