Team Focus: Redknapp Using Mbia In Midfield Hasn't Helped QPR

When Queen's Park Rangers confirmed the appointment of Harry Redknapp back in November, the media were left frothing at the mouth that the prodigal son had returned to footballing management. Sacked by Tottenham Hotspur back in June, a decision that saw Spurs chairman Daniel Levy regarded as 'Worse than the Venky's' in terms of ownership, no matter the fourth placed finish last season, and the veteran boss was back in the game.

His exploits with the north London side were impressive, taking them from the foot of the Premier League in 2008 to the Champions League knock out stages a little over two years later. With the club languishing on two points from eight games, his achievements saw him dubbed 'Harry Houdini', in reference to the famous stunt performer of the 19th and 20th century.

Nevertheless, with fans choosing to blissfully overlook his inability to keep Southampton in the Premier League in 2005, QPR supporters were fairly confident he could keep the club in England's top tier following the abysmal start the west London outfit made to the campaign under Mark Hughes. 

The Redknapp alarm bell was rung loudly in November 2012, and with the R's footing the table following a disastrous start to the campaign, the veteran boss was brought in with one simple instruction from chairman Tony Fernandes - remain in the Premier League come the end of the campaign.

Reported interest from Ukraine saw the club step up their efforts to land Redknapp as QPR aimed to survive the year in which an astronomical amount of money - £46m to be exact - had been spent on the likes of Esteban Granero, Julio Cesar and Stephane Mbia, with the side aiming to press on after their top flight status had been secured on the final day of the 2011/12 season.

The investment in the club by Fernandes had Hughes continuously under pressure to ensure his place at the club was safe, yet after no wins, four draws and eight defeats in the opening 12 games of the season, it was no shock to see him handed his P45 and shown the exit door. 

In order to bolster their likelihood of staving off the threat of relegation, Redknapp pleaded with the chairman to bring in a host of big name stars in January and following the arrivals of Christopher Samba, Loïc Remy and Jermaine Jenas, not to mention the loan signing of Andros Townsed, fans were cautiously optimistic that they would remain in the Premier League come May 19th 2013.

Alas, with QPR picking up a further four wins between Redknapp's appointment and the 1-0 defeat to Arsenal, it was no surprise to see the club drop down into the Championship following the 0-0 draw with Reading the previous weekend.

However, while Redknapp has attained more points for QPR over the current campaign, evidenced by the 21 mustered in comparison to just four by Hughes, the latter still boasts a better record during his overall 30 game reign in the Premier League - spanning from his appointment prior to the 1-0 defeat to Newcastle United last January - picking up 1.25 points-per-game compared to the former's 1.09.

The lack of attacking cohesion appeared to be the downfall of Redknapp and while his side were scoring on average 0.82 goals per game - a marginal improvement on 0.75 per game under Hughes - with Remy at the forefront of that with five goals in 12 appearances, it was the performances from the midfield that left a lot to be desired, with Stephane Mbia largely under performing in his designated role.

The powerful Cameroon international has been heavily involved in the media over recent days after a number of tweets were sent from his account, with the player supposedly keen on a move away from Loftus Road, while Mbia himself has claimed that his personal Twitter page was hacked. 

Nevertheless, the likelihood of him departing has increased significantly over the course of the past week. Should the player leave, Redknapp will see a key member of his starting XI exit Loftus Road, with Mbia starting 22 of the 23 games the veteran boss has been at QPR.

Unsurprisingly, with Mbia now higher up the pitch, it wasn't a shock to see the player spend more time on the ball as a result, and in the 22 appearances under Redknapp, the 26-year-old has made 288 forward passes compared to the 61 under Hughes.

While the figure under the current manager may be higher, attempting 15.25 forward passes per game under Hughes, the player himself was involved in the build up in attacks more than under Redknapp, where at present Mbia is making an average of 13.1 forward passes per game. 

With more forward passes per game, it wouldn't be a surprise to see the player failing more often too, but instead Mbia is at present failing to find a team-mate 6.7 times per Premier League encounter, with that figure at 5.5 per game during Hughes' reign. 

Furthermore, the move into midfield would leave the player prone to losing possession more, but being robbed of the ball 10.1 times per game under Redknapp compared to the 6.5 times per game under Hughes, Mbia's recklessness in the middle of the park has undoubtedly meant that further pressure is put on the QPR defence. 

Naturally, this saw Mbia's foul count rise significantly and while he has picked up just one red card during his QPR career - during the 1-0 defeat to Arsenal - making 0.5 fouls per game under Hughes compared to the 2.04 under Redknapp meant the player was more likely to concede possession further throughout the season. 

This was evidenced during the 1-1 draw with Wigan Athletic where the Cameroonian brought down Shaun Maloney on the edge of the 18 yard box, only for the same player to net a crucial equaliser for the Latics late on. 

Even in midfield, one would have expected Mbia to utilise his intercepting capabilities in order to break down opposition attacks, before instigating attacks for his own side. However, even under Redknapp he has only been making 2.5 per game compared to the 3.5 under Hughes. 

Particularly pertinent in the utilisation of Mbia as a midfielder, however, is that rather than wait to secure defensive reinforcements, Redknapp opted to throw him into the position instantaneously, rather than wait for any more players to arrive following his appointment in November, which ultimately led to the club bringing in Samba from Anzhi Makhachkala. 

Nevertheless, while Samba may have been signed to aid in plugging the leaky back-line at Loftus Road, failing to make a sustained impact in their quest to avoid the threat of relegation, putting Mbia in midfield limited the creativity of the club, as witnessed in QPR attempting only 204 passes per game in the opposition half under Redknapp compared to 253 under Hughes. 

This further limited the side pushing forward and it has been no surprise to have seen the club net just 29 times this season as a result. As such, Redknapp's hesitancy to take advantage of Granero's superior creativity ultimately hampered QPR, with Mbia failing to prove his worth in central midfield.