Queens Park Rangers v Norwich City

hoops
Columnist
ALEX BULLAMORE
‘R’ GENERATION WRITER ALEX BULLAMORE
DISCUSSES THE LATEST GOINGS-ON IN W12
So here we are. Our final four games and
on paper they give me a nauseating
feeling. There’s that old cliché that
there’s no easy game in the Championship
– well, realistically there’s probably no easy
game in any league.
Because you know these are all professional
players who are at the peak of footballing
brilliance. As fans we can create an
atmosphere in which positive results are
much more likely. It’s always a Catch-22
when it comes to atmosphere. Whose
responsibility is it to ramp it up? Is it the
attitude and application of the players on
the pitch, giving hope to the fans? Or is it the
fans’ responsibility to create an intimidating
atmosphere for the opposition and a
supportive one for our team?
I feel like in this situation it’s the responsibility
of the fans to get things going. The lads are
clearly struggling for a number of reasons
and in my opinion this is when we need to
rally round them, despite what we see on
the pitch. Returning to the four remaining
fixtures, there is the unenviable task of
trying to get something against Burnley, a
task which seems unlikely even to the most
optimistic of QPR fans. It’s perhaps more
likely that we can get something against
Stoke – if the lads could channel the same
performance they showed up there in the
lockdown season, when we won 2-0, that
would be very pleasing indeed. Another Ossie
Kakay goal would be received incredibly well.
Make yourself the unlikely hero – go on, you
know you want to.
Coming back to tonight’s opponents
Norwich, who in their most recent game were
handed a very comprehensive thrashing.
With that in mind, you might be tempted to
ask – is there much to be scared of? Yes,
of course there is. Teemu Pukki is still an
effective operator at this level. However,
and this is all very circumstantial, but the last
time I wrote in the programme we faced a
recently relegated team. A team we managed
to beat with a performance which enraged
the opposition, but gave QPR fans a warm
fuzzy feeling.
Here I am again with my name to a column
in the programme, again for a game against
a team who were in the Premier League
last season. What gives me a little bit more
confidence as well is that we seem to do OK
against teams like Norwich. Not teams like
Coventry, who have everything ahead of
them and aren’t burdened by expectations.
Norwich, West Brom, Watford… these are
teams who have had similar seasons, which in
their eyes are probably failures.
Then there’s the final game of the season.
If we leave it until then to secure our safety,
it’ll certainly be interesting. Having something
riding on the final game of the season isn’t
something we’ve experienced since that
famous day at the Etihad, and that ended
up OK.
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