Friday 3 October 2014

West Ham United vs Queens Park Rangers

 Sunday 5th October 2014
16:15
Boleyn Ground

West Ham United vs Queens Park Rangers

Analysis
After a spell of decent results and good performances, the year of the West Ham Way (half joke) continues on Sunday with the visit of Harry Redknapp's Queens Park Rangers.

The Hoops have made a stuttering start to life back in the big league, struggling to get a return in terms of goals, clean sheets, performances and points. On that basis, in the past I'd've expected a QPR win against West Ham.

But not these days...

Key Player
As I've already said, QPR have found this season difficult so far. There have been no real stand out performers, despite a summer of heavy investment in the likes of Rio Ferdinand, Steven Caulker and Sandro.

Despite the early season struggles, there has been one man who has stood out for me, and he is a player West Ham fans should be familiar with.

Dutch midfielder Leroy Fer ran the show against West Ham last season in Norwich's 3-1 win against the Hammers. He was probably the shining light in a poor season for the Canaries, and was rewarded with a spot on the plan to Brazil in the summer.

And he has settled into life at Loftus Road pretty quickly.

Fer has already created 11 chances and nabbed an assist in his first five games for the Hoops. He's also won 50% of his 18 tackles, completed 12 of his 16 attempted take ons, and has registered a passing accuracy of 81%.

As I say, this shouldn't be a surprise to Hammers fans. Last year, Fer dominated our midfield and put in a match winning performance at Carrow Road. He completed 83% of his passes, scored a goal, created 2 chances, completed 2 out of 3 take ons, won 4 tackles, attempted another 6, won all four of his aerial duels and made two interceptions. It was a real, all round midfielders display.

The images below show his heat map and passes from that game. As you can clearly see, he was everywhere, and thoroughly deserved to be on the winning side.


How do you stop QPR?
The way QPR are attacking at the moment, it's not so much about stopping them as it is about letting them stop themselves.

In their opening six games Rangers have managed 4 goals, scoring more than once on just one occasion. They haven't really struggled to create shooting opportunities this season, creating 69 chances (we've created 63 ourselves), but their finishing has been poor.

The chart below plots West Ham's shots on goal and shooting accuracy against QPR's. As you can clearly see, the numbers of shots attempted are pretty evenly matched - sometimes we have more shots, sometimes they have more shots. However, the line depicts shooting accuracy, and you can see that QPR's blue line is significantly lower than ours.


And you can see by the image below just how poor their finishing has been.


Weaknesses
Other than finishing, QPR's biggest weakness is their defence.

Over the summer, Redknapp clearly recognised the need for reinforcements at the back, and brought in Mauricio Isla, Steven Caulker and Rio Ferdinand, who, along with Armand Traore, appear to be the first choice back four.

However, the four simply have not gelled as yet. The image below shows a comparison of the back four. As you can see, left back Traore misses a lot of tackles, and commits the most fouls of the four. On the other flank, Isla has been very poor in the air (maybe an area to attack using Enner Valencia's leap), and has already given away a goal through a defensive error.

Caulker and Ferdinand's stats aren't too bad, but neither have played at the heights they have previously touched at previous clubs, and look shaky as a pair.


This defensive fragility is highlighted by the number of chances they give away. So far this season, Rob Green has conceded 13 goals in his 6 appearances, and made 20 saves.


Conclusion
If West Ham continue to perform and finish in the manner that we have done recently, there is absolutely no reason QPR should leave the Boleyn with anything to show for it.

Rangers have a couple of danger men, in the likes of Fer and lower league scoring sensation Charlie Austin, but the performances of their side so far this season suggest that they are not a side capable of seriously troubling West Ham.

 Head to Head 
43% Head to Head Win % 32%
50 Won 37
28 Drawn 28
37 Lost 50
177 Goals Scored 154
154 Goals Conceded 177

 Recent Form (excl. Friendlies) 
W L L D W L Last 6 L L W L D L
13 Goals Scored 4
10 Goals Conceded 13
  
L W L D L W Home/Away Form L W L L L L
7 Goals Scored 4
7 Goals Conceded 14
  
 Form Player (excl. GK) 
 (Last 6 League) 
Stewart Downing - Leroy Fer
6 Appearances 5
539 Minutes Played 426
  
258 Sum Squawka Performance Score 119
43 Average Squawka Performance Rating 24
  
236 Passes Attempted 194
194 Completed 158
82% Success Rate 81%
  
20 Chances Created 11
3 Assists 1
  
7 Attempts on Goal 3
5 On Target 1
1 Goals 0

12 Take Ons Attempted 16
3 Successful Take Ons 12
25% Success Rate 75%
  
8 Tackles Made 18
2 Successful Tackles 9
25% Success Rate 50%
  
5 Interceptions 4
9 Clearances 3
0 Blocks 0
2 Defensive Actions Per Game 1
  
3 Aerial Duels 7
2 Won 4
67% Success Rate 57%

0 Defensive Errors 0
0 Leading to a Goal 0
  
 Last Meeting 
19 January 2013
0-1 Loic Remy 14'
1-1 Joe Cole 68'

4-2-3-1 Starting Formation 4-2-3-1

Jussi Jääskeläinen - Julio Cesar
Guy Demel - Nedum Onuoha
James Tomkins - Ryan Nelsen
Winston Reid - Clint Hill
Joey O'Brien - Fabio
Mark Noble - Shaun Derry
Mohamed Diamé - Stephane Mbia
Joe Cole - Jamie Mackie (67')
(88') Kevin Nolan - Adel Taarabt (82')
Matt Jarvis - Shaun Wright-Phillips (58')
(62') Marouane Chamakh - Loic Remy

 Subs 
Raphael Spiegel - Robert Green
Daniel Potts - Anton Ferdinand
Alou Diarra - Armand Traore (58')
Matthew Taylor - Alejandro Faurlin
Jack Collison - Ji-Sung Park (82')
(88') Ricardo Vâz Te - Junior Hoilett
(62') Carlton Cole - Jay Bothroyd (67')

 Absentees 
 Injured/Doubtful 
West Ham United: Joey O'Brien, Mark Noble, Cheikhou Kouyaté, Matt Jarvis, Andy Carroll
Queens Park Rangers: Sandro, Joey Barton, Alejandro Faurlin, Jordan Mutch, Adel Taarabt

 Suspensions 
West Ham United: 
Queens Park Rangers: 

  Opposition Last Time Out (League)
vs Southampton
 Goals Scored: 1
 Goals Conceded: 2
 Starting Formation: 4-4-1-1

  Robert Green

  Mauricio Isla  Steven Caulker  Rio Ferdinand  Armand Traore

  Matt Phillips (58')  Leroy Fer  Sandro (11')  Eduardo Vargas (77')

  Niko Kranjcar

  Charlie Austin

 subs:
Alex McCarthy
  Nedum Onuoha
  Richard Dunne
  Clint Hill
  Karl Henry (11')
  Junior Hoilett (58')
  Bobby Zamora (77')
  
 Best Player: Charlie Austin(SR: 30)
 Worst Player: Matt Phillips(SR: -23)
  
 Top 5's (Min 4 Apps) 
 Goals Scored 
Diafra Sakho 3 - 2 Charlie Austin
Enner Valencia 1 - 1 Niko Kranjcar
Mauro Zárate 1 - 1 Steven Caulker
Carlton Cole 1 -                           
Mark Noble 1 -                         

 Assists 
Stewart Downing 3 - 1 Eduardo Vargas
Mark Noble 1 - 1 Leroy Fer
Mauro Zárate 1 - 1 Jordan Mutch
Cheikhou Kouyaté 1 -                                
James Tomkins 1 -                            

 Passing Accuracy 
Mark Noble 87% - 87% Rio Ferdinand
Winston Reid 86% - 85% Joey Barton
Stewart Downing 82% - 81% Jordan Mutch
James Tomkins 81% - 81% Leroy Fer
Cheikhou Kouyaté 80% - 81% Junior Hoilett

 Chances Created per 90 
Stewart Downing 2.84 - 3.86 Joey Barton
Mark Noble 1.4 - 2.11 Leroy Fer
Aaron Cresswell 1.33 - 1.2 Mauricio Isla
Carlton Cole 0.71 - 1.19 Junior Hoilett
Enner Valencia 0.65 - 0.83 Steven Caulker

 Successful Dribbles per 90 
Guy Demel 1.97 - 2.54 Leroy Fer
Enner Valencia 1.95 - 1.62 Matthew Phillips
Cheikhou Kouyaté 1 - 1.59 Junior Hoilett
Diafra Sakho 0.93 - 1.41 Jordan Mutch
Mark Noble 0.83 - 0.65 Armand Traore

 Tackles Won per 90 
Cheikhou Kouyaté 3 - 2.38 Joey Barton
Mark Noble 2.8 - 1.9 Leroy Fer
Diafra Sakho 1.58 - 1.8 Mauricio Isla
Guy Demel 1.56 - 1.72 Armand Traore
Aaron Cresswell 0.83 - 1.67 Rio Ferdinand

 Aerial Duels Won per 90 
Winston Reid 3.33 - 4.52 Armand Traore
James Tomkins 3.2 - 3.17 Steven Caulker
Cheikhou Kouyaté 2.8 - 2.27 Charlie Austin
Diafra Sakho 2.49 - 1.5 Rio Ferdinand
Carlton Cole 1.76 - 1.49 Joey Barton

 Manager 
Sam Allardyce - Harry Redknapp
20016 DOB 17228
59 Age 67
  
 Playing Career 
Bolton Wanderers Main Club West Ham United
231 Appearances 175
24 Goals 8
  
9 Total Clubs 4
512 Appearances 316
43 Goals 14
  
England National Team England
0 Caps 0
  
 Managerial Career 
Preston North End First Managerial Role AFC Bournemouth
30/09/1992 Start Date 19/10/1983
22y 0m 4d Experience 30y 11m 16d
  
7 Sides Managed 7
2 League Titles 2
0 Cup Wins 3
  
39.7% Win % 40.4%
351 Won 550
232 Drawn 341
301 Lost 469
  
 Longest Role 
Bolton Wanderers Club AFC Bournemouth
19/10/1999 Appointed 19/10/1983
29/04/2007 Left 09/06/1992
7y 6m 9d Time in Charge 8y 7m 20d

0 League Titles 1
0 Cup Wins 1
  
41.2% Win % 39.3%
153 Won 180
104 Drawn 107
114 Lost 170
  
 Current Club 
01/06/2011 Appointed 24/11/2012
3y 4m 4d Time in Charge 1y 10m 10d
  
0 League Titles 0
0 Cup Wins 0
  
39.5% Win % 36.7%
57 Won 32
33 Drawn 23
54 Lost 32

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