Newcastle United vs Queens Park Rangers Match Preview
Will the New Manager Effect work for QPR and Mark Hughes up at St James Park this Sunday lunch-time?
Will the New Manager Effect work for QPR up at St James Park this Sunday lunch-time? Tony Fernandes had a mighty difficult decision to make when the results failed to improve under Neil Warnock, but in Mark Hughes, the entrepreneur has picked up an excellent replacement who knows the league and who knows how to get a response out of his team. Unfortunately for Newcastle, Hughes also knows how to beat the Magpies, with an enviable record both home and away in his last games against the North Easterners. But can Hughes steer his new team to points without key squad members Joey Barton and Adel Taarabt? What Hughes brings to his teams is a competitive spirit and fitness: Rangers players have already found training under the Welshman a significantly more taxing affair than under predecessor Neil Warnock, and their manager will hope that the change will have an immediate effect. But training and fitness overhauls take time to have an effect on the team, and the higher levels of fitness will surely come into play in the next couple of games, rather than straight off the bat. Under Hughes, QPR will likely switch to 442, with either Tommy Smith or a pacier striker like Jay Bothroyd taking up position on one of the flanks thanks to decimated midfield numbers, and with new loan signing Federico Macheda likely joining club top scorer Heidur Helguson up front. The absence of Joey Barton will annoy Hughes, given how influential the wannabe England international can be on the pitch, and how up for the game he would surely have been, and the central midfield battle will be a worry for the manager, even without touch-tackling Cheick Tiote in the opponent's line-up. Without Demba Ba, pundits have already written off Newcastle's chances of picking up many points in January, but both Jonas Gutierrez and Hatem Ben Arfa's glorious goals last Saturday against Blackburn showed that the Magpies have goals in other areas of the pitch to make up for the Senegalese talisman's temporary absence. And as a unit, Newcastle work well, for each other and for results. Last week's FA Cup tie allowed Pardew to give young midfielder Medhi Abeid an opportunity to stake his claim for the vacant starting defensive midfield slot (with Tiote in Africa), and the youngster did well, looking composed and clever on the ball without the obvious magic of team-mates like Ben Arfa and Cabaye. Whether Pardew will stick with Abeid after that performance and hope his form continues against a team in the same position as Blackburn, or if Danny Guthrie will return to the team having returned to training remains uncertain, but the manager tends to resist throwing returning players on too soon after Dan Gosling's premature return gifted Sunderland their equaliser at the end of last season. The other question on Newcastle fans' lips will be concerning the right midfield berth, which Gabriel Obertan has occupied for much of the season, to mixed results and frankly appalling reaction from some sections of the St James Park crowd frustrated by his apparently lax attitude and unwillingness to take defenders on. Pardew will assure them that the Frenchman will come good, and there have been flashes so far this term, but the crowd will no doubt prefer to see Hatem Ben Arfa unleashed in the position that saw him score last weekend's wondergoal. The problem with Ben Arfa on a flank is that whoever plays at right-back will be forced to work twice as hard, and with Danny Simpson a minor doubt, and questions still hanging over Ryan Taylor's defensive ability, Pardew might take the safer option of letting Ben Arfa play in a free role behind Shola Ameobi and leaving out-of-form Leon Best to come on as a later substitute when Shola inevitably tires around the 65 minute mark.