Why Chris Ramsey is not the right man for QPR

With the season drawing to a close and Rangers’ fate already sealed, caretaker manager Chris Ramsey should find out shortly whether or not he will be offered the Rangers job on a permanent basis. He has repeatedly stated his desire for the job and no one can question his passion. Unfortunately, it is his tactical ineptitude that means he is not the right man to take the club forward.

Admittedly for Chris, he had it tough from the outset. Rangers were poorly managed by Harry Redknapp and playing good football was never embedded into the club’s culture this season. At the time of Harry’s departure, only Manchester United and fellow-strugglers Burnley averaged more long balls per game than Rangers.

Some things have improved under Ramsey. Away from home, he ditched Redknapp’s favoured approach of playing Charlie Austin up front, isolated and sitting back, hoping that we would be good enough to soak up pressure and hit opponents on the counter, in favour of a more gung-ho attacking brand of football, where Bobby Zamora would frequently partner Charlie Austin and with the resurgent performances by Matty Phillips on the right of midfield, Rangers would seek to press teams in the final third.

Seemingly, this approach did yield some positive outcomes. Convincing wins against Sunderland and West Brom and a 3-3 draw at Aston Villa show that when we do attack, we can be very dangerous. Indeed, at the time of writing, QPR boast the joint-highest number of goals scored in the bottom seven.

Unfortunately, it the goals against column which is more worrying from a Rangers perspective. At 68, we have comfortably the worst defence in the Premier League and it is clear that this is why we are struggling. And while at times we can point to many goals which are as a result of Sunday League-esque defensive errors, it has always been my view that the main reason we ship so many is our inability to retain possession.

At 44.8%, Rangers have the fifth worst possession average in the league and at 70.7%, the third worst ball retention. Popular under Harry and even more so under Chris Ramsey is the option of playing Bobby Zamora alongside Charlie Austin in a rigid, old-fashioned 4-4-2 formation. While most teams nowadays opt to play with one out and out striker with support coming from creative midfield players, some teams still play with two up top, including Manchester City for much of this season, so to say that the formation is dead is disingenuous.

But City are just a little bit better than Rangers, and are able to still play passing football and remain fluid in a 4-4-2, something which Rangers have failed to do under Chris. The “lump it up to Bobby” option seems to be all he has in his strategic locker and all attempts to play good football have gone out of the window, and this is largely down to a manager who either does not have the will or the know-how to implement passing football in a fluid system.

A good indicator of a team’s willingness to play is how they choose to set up for a goal kick. At most clubs, the two centre halves will usually split and the two full-backs will push on towards half way. The intention is always to play out from the back and only kick long if needed. With the exception of Ramsey’s first game in charge away at a laughably poor Sunderland side, Rangers have not done this. When Rob Green has the ball in his hands or on the ground, the first instinct for the two centre-halves is to turn around and jog towards half-way. There will be traditionalists who think that this is the safer option and I am being too fussy by focussing on this but if the traditionalists were right about football philosophy then England would have won something since 1966. They haven’t and it is the Spanish and the Germans who are dominating modern European football.

Ramsey is still very much operating in this English conservative kick and rush approach to football and in the Premier League you simply cannot go anywhere unless who prioritise ball retention.

I accept that the one thing Rangers need more than anything right now is stability and changing manager again may only further plunge Rangers into further descent. But stability should not be considered an end in itself. The right man needs to be at the helm to take the club forward and build for the future and while Ramsey is a lovely bloke, well-spoken and clearly has the desire to help Rangers rebuild, unfortunately, he simply does not have the tactical credentials.

So I think I know why QPR are sh*t

It's bloody frustrating being an Rs fan. Anyone who has seen Four Year Plan knows just how difficult it was for QPR to get to the Prem. And although we were relegated in two seasons we somehow managed to find our way back to the big time last May in an enthralling, and hugely stressful encounter against the unfortunate Derby County.

Yet despite two promotions, QPR have never really got going in the Premier League. And what is more frustrating, is that Rs fans have been forced to watch Southampton, Swansea, Crystal Palace, West Ham among others, all win promotion and consolidate themselves in the top flight, despite having for the most part spent less money.

A managerial change this season has done little to change fortunes but I think I am starting to work out why QPR have been so poor this term. At just 100m x 65.85m, Loftus Road has comfortably the smallest playing area in the Premier League.

Another theme of Rangers' disappointing season has been the contrast between home comforts and away fortunes. Just three of Rangers' nineteen points in the Premier League have come on the road, or to put it another way, one win in fourteen attempts, a record which is quite frankly abysmal. Contrast with our record at home and this isn't quite so bad, positioning Rangers 13th in the league and ahead of all of their relegation rivals.

Home table GP W D L GF GA GD Pts 1 Chelsea 13 11 2 0 27 5 +22 35 2 Manchester Utd 14 11 1 2 30 10 +20 34 3 Arsenal 14 10 3 1 33 11 +22 33 4 Manchester City 14 9 3 2 28 12 +16 30 5 Liverpool 15 8 5 2 24 14 +10 29 6 Southampton 15 8 3 4 25 10 +15 27 7 Tottenham 15 8 3 4 25 19 +6 27 8 Swansea City 14 7 4 3 19 15 +4 25 9 West Ham Utd 15 7 3 5 21 15 +6 24 10 Stoke City 14 7 2 5 19 17 +2 23 11 Newcastle Utd 14 6 4 4 19 18 +1 22 12 West Bromwich 15 6 3 6 18 19 -1 21 13 QP Rangers 15 5 4 6 20 20 0 19 14 Burnley 15 4 5 6 14 19 -5 17 15 Everton 13 3 7 3 19 18 +1 16 16 Hull City 14 4 4 6 15 17 -2 16 17 Crystal Palace 14 4 3 7 17 20 -3 15 18 Aston Villa 14 3 5 6 11 18 -7 14 19 Sunderland 15 2 7 6 12 22 -10 13 20 Leicester City 13 2 5 6 13 17 -4 11

Away table GP W D L GF GA GD Pts 1 Manchester City 15 8 4 3 31 16 +15 28 2 Chelsea 14 8 4 2 30 17 +13 28 3 Arsenal 15 7 3 5 23 19 +4 24 4 Tottenham 13 7 2 4 21 20 +1 23 5 Southampton 13 7 1 5 14 10 +4 22 6 Liverpool 13 7 1 5 18 16 +2 22 7 Manchester Utd 14 4 7 3 17 16 +1 19 8 Stoke City 15 5 4 6 14 18 -4 19 9 Crystal Palace 15 4 6 5 17 20 -3 18 10 West Ham Utd 14 3 6 5 18 22 -4 15 11 Swansea City 14 4 3 7 14 22 -8 15 12 Aston Villa 15 4 2 9 8 20 -12 14 13 Sunderland 14 2 7 5 11 21 -10 13 14 Newcastle Utd 14 3 4 7 13 25 -12 13 15 West Bromwich 14 2 6 6 9 17 -8 12 16 Everton 15 3 3 9 14 23 -9 12 17 Hull City 15 2 6 7 11 20 -9 12 18 Burnley 14 1 5 8 12 28 -16 8 19 Leicester City 15 2 2 11 11 27 -16 8 20 QP Rangers 14 1 0 13 10 32 -22 3

It would be easy to flatter ourselves and posit that Rangers' world class home support is the determining criterion for this rather odd situation but I reckon that there is a more profound link between the Loftus Road pitch and our oscillating form. Anyone who knows anything about football will tell you that the key to winning football matches is controlling the spaces. That means you want to make the pitch as big as possible when you have possession, so as to stretch the opposition and create space; and as small as possible when out of possession, pressing as a unit so that the opposition are suffocated in possession and the ball is won back as quickly as possible.

Consider Loftus Road then, where the small pitch makes finding tight spaces extremely difficult at the best of times. This was most prevalent in October when Brendan Rodgers' free-flowing Liverpool side were simply unable to get going against a hard-working Rangers side and it was only through us gifting the Reds two sloppy own goals that they were able to go back to Merseyside with the three points.

Gutted - a late Steven Caulker own goal gave a poor Liverpool side a 3-2 win over QPR last October

In my years supporting the Rs I cannot say I've ever seen us play what I consider to be good football. And this season has been especially poor in my opinion, with only Burnley and Manchester United averaging more long balls than us per match. At home, this often works, where teams who have tried to play a progressive game have been found wanting by the Rs quick, combination of counter-attacking wide-play and the effective utility of underrated front-man Bobby Zamora, whose intelligent hold-up play has been crucial in enabling the Rs to retain possession high-up the pitch without necessarily passing the ball well.

OOOOH BOBBY ZAMOOOORRRA - since his Wembley goal last May, the target-man has put in a string of impressive performances

But this has consequences away from home too. It's not the case that QPR are actually a long-ball team. Indeed, at times this season the Rs have gone on the road and look like they quite simply have no plan at all. Sometimes we try to play passing football, but due to a lack of rhythm and discomfort at trying to play a style they don't use at home games, the Rs often lose possession quickly and in dangerous areas. When they try to play more direct, they discover quickly that something which works on a small pitch, where Zamora and leading-scorer Charlie Austin are able to get support from the midfield quickly, does not work away from home when these two frequently find themselves isolated.

Off the ball, the problems continue. At home games we often get away with not pressing effectively because the pitch is so small that space is already hard to create for opposition players. But away from home the lack of preparation is clear for all to see. One of the most important principles of pressing is that it must be done in unison, and that is not something which happens over night - rather this needs to be harnessed over time both in training and in matches. QPR at present have little incentive to do this, because they think that provided in home games their pressing style works, this should seamlessly translate to away games. But quite clearly, in all three of QPR's recent Premier League seasons, this simply isn't working, and the spaces between the lines are at times embarrassing.

So there you have it. It's the middle of March but I think I've finally cracked the mystery which seems to have evaded both the departed Harry Redknapp and the incumbent Chris Ramsey. It's the bloody pitch!