Waddock had announced after the Stoke game that we could expect changes; he quickly backtracked on this to say that he had added some youngsters to the squad but he was going to give the players the chance to respond. I’m not entirely sure where these youngsters went as only Stefan Bailey was even on the bench. The starting XI was Jones in goal behind Bignot, Evatt, Shittu and Milanese. The midfield four were Ainsworth, Lomas, Bircham and Cook with Furlong back in to partner Nygaard up front.

Crewe started the game as you expected them to, moving the ball about but always looking susceptible when they were attacked. Cook looked bright early on and it seemed set up for a good battle between him and Crewe right back Jon Otsemobor. The battle between Crewe left winger Steve Jones and Bignot was a different matter though as the Northern Ireland international tore Bignot a new one.

Steve Lomas had the first shot in anger of the game but his shot was blocked before it could test keeper Turnbull. At the other end Evatt was having one of his leaden footed days and Gareth Taylor was beating him in the air almost at will. Everyone is all too aware of his limitations as a footballer but even a poor striker like Taylor was making him look daft.

He did manage to recover after Luke Rodgers had skipped past him and somehow muscle the little striker off the ball. I was fully expecting a penalty as he lumbered after him and I think Rodgers wanted the same as he hit the deck. Rangers had a shout for a pen when Bircham gave it the full Drogba treatment as he hit the deck under the slightest touch. It was a pathetic attempt and the sort of thing that infuriates both sets of fans.

Milanese was proving to be a threat going forward and was linking well with Cook. He slung over a beautiful cross that was missed by Furlong and Nygaard and finally miscontrolled by Ainsworth. Cook almost scored with a blistering in swinging free kick that was palmed round the post by Turnbull.

The attempts we were having were coming in spite of how we were playing rather than because of it. The two in the middle of the park were having shockers and Lomas seemed to be spending more time moaning than playing. Bircham alongside him wasn’t even doing that and may as well have stayed in the dressing room.

Furlong should have done better with a near post header after an excellent cross from Cook. He didn’t get enough power into it and Turnbull gathered easily. Crewe immediately went up the other end and opened the scoring. They won a throw on the right and Otsemobor took it and committed a foul throw, as he had with every single throw he took before and after. The ball found its way to Kenny Lunt and he played a one two with Taylor before firing past the exposed Jones.

The Crewe skipper had run unopposed from the middle of the park with our two so called defensive midfielders standing around twenty yards back watching him. If they are not creating anything then they have to be stopping something instead and they didn’t make the slightest effort to do so.

At the end of the half Shittu escaped his marker in the six yard box but could only head Cook’s corner into the stand. The half ended with boos ringing around Loftus Road yet again and the second half almost started in disastrous fashion. Once again Steve Jones strolled past the diabolical Bignot and crossed for Lee Bell to shoot. He had wandered in unchecked at the back stick and only a good save from Paul Jones prevented disaster.

Rangers were creating and squandering a host of chances. Bignot was first when he fired straight at Turnbull and then Furlong had a header fly well wide after a corner from Ainsworth.

Milanese then came close to creating the equaliser as he barrelled down the left and kept going after the ball had been lost. Otsemobor fluffed his back pass and the Italian pounced and sent in a terrific cross to Furlong. He somehow managed to let it roll through his legs before Ainsworth stood on it.

Milanese almost scored himself shortly after when his powerful surge took him into the box and he elected to shoot rather than pass to any of the clowns to his right. His shot had plenty of power but it was bravely blocked before Turnbull had to save it. Bircham finally got involved in the match when he delivered an excellent cross from the left and Nygaard met it at the far post. His header was nothing short of pathetic and failed to test the keeper. Nygaard was having a disaster and he could have stayed on the pitch all weekend and would still have missed everything that came his way.

Waddock finally made a change with just over twenty five minutes left when Bignot was hauled off and replaced with Langley. This necessitated a change of formation to 3-5-2 and ultimately led to Crewe’s second. Evatt was playing on the right of the back three and Steve Jones couldn’t believe his luck. Having done for Bignot he now had an even slower player to run past.

Jones should have scored not long after the change but Paul Jones intervened. At the other end Furlong should have scored after Rangers produced their best moment of the game. Langley played a sweeping cross field ball to Cook and he got it down before passing in to Nygaard. The big Dane stepped over the ball and gave Furlong the space to execute an excellent turn. He had so much space it was untrue but instead of taking his time and slotting it he snatched at a right footed shot and Turnbull saved with ease.

Rangers then committed suicide and allowed Crewe to double their advantage. Jones was the tormentor in chief again as he blasted past Evatt and slipped the ball into the feet of David Vaughan, who had been allowed to run free by Lomas. He made no mistake from fifteen yards and planted a low shot into Jones’ bottom left hand corner.

Still Rangers tried to attack and still they never looked remotely likely to score. They looked even less likely to score when Furlong was replaced with Moore. I am no fan of Moore as you will probably have gathered but he does not deserve to be booed onto the field and have “Stefan Moore, you’re having a laugh” sung at him.

The ground was getting close to empty when Rangers finally managed to score. A ball in from the left fell to Ainsworth and he slammed a volley into the roof of the net via Tunrbull’s fingers. It turned out to be the last action of the game as referee Tanner mercifully brought proceedings to an end.

This was a terrible display against the worst side in the league. The players surrendered without so much as a whimper and for the second time in a week sent the crowd home furious. Waddock has promised changes again and he had better bloody make some this time as people are not going to stand for this sort of display again.

He shouldn’t have picked the side he did; when he changed the formation he should have changed the personnel as it left us even wider open than we were with Bignot on the pitch. He has to take a chance on some of the youngsters at Burnley even if people don’t want him to. He needs to have the courage of his convictions and be his own man if he wants to make this or indeed any job, his.

I am not going to dissect every performance and I don’t think the site has the bandwidth to cope with the diatribe I could quite easily produce on the matter. Let’s just hope they pull their fingers out next week for everyone’s sake.

simon@qprnet.com