It’s been a funny old two weeks for QPR. Hammered 4-0 at home on their return to the big time, owners that didn’t want to be there, no signings in the summer and supporters having to pay ridiculously high prices for the privelege of watching their team play in the “Promised Land”. Then, a new owner comes on board, they win their next game at Everton. Money will be available for new players. Things are looking up in west London.
Enter Rochdale. League One team. A sparsely populated Loftus Road, less than 5,000 fans, and a surprise 2-0 defeat. cup football is all about surprises but the comment by the QPR manager after the game, along the lines of, “nobody cares about the Carling Cup, I’m glad we lost” is quite disturbing in my opinion. Whilst I can understand teams fully utilising their squads for game time, to make wholesale changes as Warnock did and to have the post match attitude is disrespectful to the competition.
So his Warnock’s view that QPR had no chance of winning so why should he bother. This small time attitude permeates many Premier League managers’ thinking. It is on the other hand, the easiest route into European football. B irmingham proved that last year and yes I know relegation ensued but that was more downto the abnormal run of injuries rather than winning the Carling Cup in February.
Soon we will be in the position where the likes of Warnock decide, well we can’t beat Chelsea so we’ll save our better players for next week against lesser opposition. This has happened before as we know with Wolves and Mick McCarthy. His argument, I’ll pick who I want, I will do what is best for Wolves. Probably ok as long as the fans know in advance and don’t have to pay top dollar to watch a reserve side.
The better funded clubs such as Arsenal and Man Utd, , have generally tended to put “weaker ” sides out for this competition. The fact that all have tended to be successful in it is not an argument for playing weaker sides by all, it simply is that their second strings can give lower placed first strings a competitive game. It’s a shortsighted way of looking at things but unfortunately managers are too afraid of losing Premier League status that they wrap their stars in cotton wool.It’s two weeks into the season, are they tired already?
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