Posted by Lamin Oo

While the two table topping Manchester clubs battle it out in a local derby, Chelsea will get the chance to improve their league standing on their visit to Loftus Road. Queens Park Rangers are undefeated at home in the last 3 league games but they have not been able to score that many goals at home either (2 goals in 4 home games).

QPR will test Chelsea's high defensive line with their long balls out from the back. Their players will press hard to break up the play when they lose possession. Chelsea may, once again, have to rely on the skills and elusiveness of Juan Mata to unlock the QPR's defense and the powerful surging runs of ever-youthful Frank Lampard to pounce on loose ball in QPR's box. Here's my scout report.

Current Form...


After eight games, QPR sits pretty comfortably at 11th in the league table. For a newly promoted team, that is not a bad place to be. And take away their dreadful 6-0 loss to Fulham, Rangers are in decent form recently. They are well-organized both in defense and in midfield. Anton Ferdinand and Danny Gabbidon have had a good partnership in the back and when the latter was injured Fitz Hall has stepped in and done a decent job.

Goals have come much easier on the road than at home -- 4 away goals compared to 2 home goals. But they are undefeated at home in the last three league games (all be it, they are all draws). The new signings before the transfer deadline have made Rangers a better team and they can keep things tight. But as the 4-0 defeat to Bolton and 6-0 defeat to Fulham show, they can also be totally torn apart. Work in progress might be the best way to describe QPR's current status.

Last Time Out...


Against Blackburn, QPR started with a 4-3-3ish formation but the shape of the team changed with the demands of the game. Central midfielder Faurlin dropped back along side Derry to cover the defense. Wright-Phillips on the right also dropped deep to watch the run of Blackburn's Martin Olsson. While the forward Mackie played almost as the second striker, Helguson, who started in the left, found himself to be the most forward QPR player at times.

Left back Traore and Wright-Phillips provided somewhat of a width to the team but QPR's play, in general, was rather narrow. Introduction of Taarabt in the second half helped but it didn't change their game drastically.

The home side dominated the first half and took the lead in the 16th minute through Helguson's cross/shot. However, QPR failed to take full advantage of it in the first half, during which they only mustered 2 shots on target -- one was the goal and another a long range effort by Young.

They were made to pay for this in the second half as Blackburn played much better. David Hoilett pulled the strings from midfield and Olsson's pace was a constant threat from Blackburn's left. But the Rovers scored from their trademark Christopher Samba header from a set piece. QPR fans maybe disappointed but the draw, at the end of the day, was a fair result.   

Against Chelsea, manager Neil Warnock might bring back Adel Taarabt on the left with Helguson leading the attack in a 4-3-3 formation.

Starting with Long Balls...


This season, we have seen newly promoted teams, like Norwich and Swansea, playing passing football and building patient attacks from the back. QPR, though, has a more direct approach. The chart above shows keeper Paddy Kenny's ball distribution against Blackburn and Aston Villas (both home games). It is apparent that Kenny has no intention to slip a short pass to his defenders to start the attack. Most of his passes are aimed towards the forwards and attacking players in opposition's half. Against Blackburn, six out of his eight long passes were received in Blackburn's half by Helguson.


The direct approach is not limited to the keeper. As you can see in Chart 2, Anton Ferdinand is not looking to build patient attacks either. He doesn't even make that many passes to the other center half, Fitz Hall, which is indicative of QPR's very direct approach.


Closing Down...


As mentioned above, QPR are undefeated in their last three home league games. Additionally, in those three games, they have not conceded from open play: Newcastle didn't score, Aston Villa scored through a penalty and Blackburn from a corner. And there is good reason for that.

QPR players are very quick to put opposition under pressure and are not afraid to go into tackles. As you can see in Chart 3, Rangers players go into tackles all over the pitch. They win some and lose some but they are always ready to break up the play.

This means two things for Chelsea. One, we must move the ball quicker without losing accuracy. Otherwise, both teams, playing high intensity pressing game, will lose a lot of possession in the middle and it will make for a terrible game to watch. And two, QPR will commit a good number of fouls as the result of their pressing game and Chelsea must take full advantage of any set piece situations, especially free kicks.

How They Conceded...


In my mind, QPR's 6-0 loss to Fulham was a freak result. It is not likely that they will concede that many goals in a game. And to be fair to QPR, they were missing key players in the defense in that game: Armand Traore was suspended and Danny Gabbidon was injured.

However, their defense was responsible for (1) not properly tracking the runs of Fulham's attacking players and (2) failing to clear the loose ball in their penalty area. Case in point is Fulham's first goal at Craven Cottage.


Fulham comes forward in a counter attacking move, Moussa Dembele (yellow square) playing neat little one-two with Bobby Zomora. Andrew Johnson (red square) , meanwhile, makes a straight run down the middle into the penalty area. There are about four Rangers defenders around the area. The situation is not great but it's not terrible either. Dembele, then, cuts onto his left...


... and hits a powerful shot from the edge of the area. Rangers players have retreated all the way back and now there are about six of them around the action. But all of them are watching the ball, while Johnson (red) continues his run towards the goal, unmarked. Paddy Kenny pulls off a good save but the rebound spills right back into the danger area.


The poacher Johnson (red)  is the first to get on the ball from about seven yards out. This goal could have been prevented if (1) someone kept tracking Johnson's run or (2) someone reacted first to the ball as it bounced back into the danger area. In the end, neither of that happened and QPR gave up a soft goal.


The Task At Hand...


In order to seal the victory against QPR, Chelsea's defense must be alert to their long ball technique and must execute their offside trap precisely. Chelsea's attacking players must also do their part in closing down QPR's defensive and midfield players, so that they won't have enough time on their hands (or feet) to make accurate long passes. The Blues must be quick and accurate with their passes since Rangers tend to press opposition all over the pitch. And finally, creative and elusive player like Mata must disrupt the organization of QPR's defense and later runners into the box like Lampard must ready to pounce on the loose ball in QPR's penalty box.

Carefree, wherever you may be...

You can follow me on twitter @CareFreeChronic.

You can read my other posts on my blog CareFreeChronicles.blogspot.com or at BlueTinted.com.