Rangers crashed to the foot of the Championship table after yet another defensive implosion that must have has De Canio tearing his hair out. This was the epitome of a game of two halves as Rangers controlled the first half and then totally fell to pieces in the second as they allowed a distinctly average Palace side to take all three points. 

De Canio made changes in personnel and formation as he switched back to 4-4-2 following the defeat at Blackpool. Camp was in goal behind Malcolm, Stewart, Rehman and Barker. Rowlands, Leigertwood, Buzsaky and Sinclair were in midfield with Sahar and Vine up front. There was a first place on the bench for seventeen year old youth team striker Angelo Balanta.  

The visitors started the game brightly and looked a far more assured side that the one Rangers had let off the hook a few weeks ago. French winger Frank Songo’o struck a tame shot that Camp held easily before Rangers took the lead with their first shot in anger. 

A right wing corner was fizzed flat into the box by Buzsaky and the Palace marking went to pot allowing Stewart space to power a header past Speroni. It was the first time in a long while that we had picked anything up from a corner and it made a nice change!

Hudson should have levelled for Palace soon after but he nodded one over the top. An incisive break then saw Vine draw a typically fine save from Speroni. Rowlands released Sahar and the young Israeli strode down the right wing before flashing a ball across the box where Vine was flying in. His connection was good but Speroni was on hand to beat the ball away to safety. 

As he had done in the game at Selhurst Park, Speroni was playing Rangers on his own as he produced three further saves in quick succession to deny Sinclair and Vine and then to turn away a snap shot from Sahar after Vine had been mown down on the edge of the area. 

Palace were being ably assisted by now by a truly inept display from the usually reliable Alan Wiley. Scowcroft was playing like an all in wrestler and despite conceding at least six free kicks in the first half he found himself free from censure. There were even more offences that Wiley simply turned a blind eye to and he was getting pickier by the minute.  

Soft awards from the man in black almost led to goals from two Watson deliveries. The first one from wide was allowed to drift through the box and it snuck past the upright. From a more central area the ginger haired midfielder had a strike but Camp was able to gather the ball with ease. 

Despite the Palace chances Rangers always seemed comfortable with Rehman and Stewart playing well at the heart of the defence. I think it says a lot about how thin the squad is at the moment when a player that is widely reported to be on the verge of having his contract paid up is able to get a game! For all of Rehman’s good work in the first half you just knew a balls up wasn’t far away. 

At half time the team and manager would probably have been pretty pleased. A goal to the good, keeping the ball pretty well and against a Palace side that wasn’t exactly ripping into them. But something changed, for a reason that was unfathomable to the fans and I am pretty sure to De Canio also, they stopped doing what they had done before the break.

Warnock had clearly had words at the break, his side were far more up for it and combative immediately and as has been the case in so many games recently, Rangers caved under the physicality. Wiley had also changed his style of refereeing at the break, having kept his cards away in the first half when he should have had them out, he immediately booked palace full back Butterfield for the first foul of the half. 

The R’s fans were becoming frustrated by the performance of the players and the ref now. The team weren’t getting into the same sort of attacking positions as the first half and they were intent on wasting any decent opportunities that set pieces afforded. One such failure to deliver a ball into the box led indirectly to the Palace equaliser. 

A ball in a good position was knocked short and faffed about with and possession was surrendered. From the ball forward Wiley somehow managed to pull Stewart up for a non existent foul on Scowcroft and Watson stepped up to take the kick. He floated a tame ball to the back stick and it should have been an easy one to defend but Rehman decided to have his moment. Instead of tracking Clint Hill he just left him and totally exposed Camp. Rehman had looked as though he was going to go and then just stopped, Hill walked in and poked home.  

It was typical of Rehman’s displays in his time at Loftus Road, sixty minutes of solid work followed by a horrendous error that leads to a goal. Palace soon won a corner on the left and the ball in was this time attacked by Hudson who had been allowed to run unchecked by Stewart. His header thudded off the underside of the bar and fell at the feet of Clinton Morrison who couldn’t miss from a yard. 

Rangers were all over the shop now. It was panic stations at the back and the ball was just getting smashed anywhere to get it away from the penalty area. The midfield had done nothing since the break and they were now getting totally bypassed anyway. De Canio was forced to send Nygaard on just to try and win some of the aimless punts being fired at the front men. Rowlands was the man that made way after another poor display. The Curse of the Skippers Armband seems to have gotten him to! 

Palace were seeing plenty of the ball now but weren’t exactly bothering camp unduly. They should have scored a third when the two teenage subs combined. Scannell flew down the right flank and crossed to the back post where left back Hills had come steaming in and managed to head over the top.

De Canio sent Balanta on for his first team debut with eight minutes left and the young striker showed a couple of nice touches. He managed to burst past Hudson and sent a good low ball into the box but nobody was on hand to turn the ball home. Bolder was sent on for the last couple of minutes in place of the out of sorts Buzsaky but it was no surprise that he didn’t manage to do anything either. 

In injury time camp came hurtling out of his goal to get a ball and ended up knocking it out for a throw and finding himself forty five yards off his line. He tried to slow down the play and was rightly booked but then gobshite Warnock and his disgusting mate Curle got involved. Warnock was finally sent off by Wiley, it was about the only second half decision to go against Palace. 

The final whistle brought a deserved round of booing from the crowd and sent the R’s crashing to the bottom of the league. This game had served to confirm what everyone already knew, that the previous managers and the chairman have managed to assemble one of the worst squads, if not the worst squad, in this division.  

People will keep banging on about waiting for January when we can buy some desperately needed reinforcements for this paper thin squad but there are six league games between now and then and at this rate I am not sure how we are going to get a point from any of them. We don’t score any goals and we don’t stop people scoring against us. Unless this lot start bucking their ideas up then it wont matter what we spend in January as it may be too late. 

I feel a little bit sorry for Gigi at the moment. There are clearly some issues from his point of view in terms of team preparation for the recent games at Stoke and Blackpool when the side looked under prepared for the challenge those teams posed but tonight was down to the players. Two rank bad pieces of marking at set pieces undid us again and this is undoubtedly our Achilles heel. As mentioned above, the squad is so thin it is embarrassing and this will now be a stark reality for the management team and the board. A large number of this squad are miles out of their depth and no manager in the world can change that, you can’t polish a turd no matter how much elbow grease you put into it. 

So what next? Who does the manger turn to in order to solve the defensive frailties? Where does he look to find those goals that have been elusive for the entire season? Answers in writing to Mr L De Canio c/o QPR please as I am sure he is as puzzled as the rest of us. 

Man of the First Half - Damion Stewart. Excellent in the first period and scored a good goal but like the rest of the side, went to pot totally in the second and was certainly culpable for the winner.

simon@qprnet.com