Warnock to relish Anfield encounter
Neil Warnock will savour QPR’s visit to Anfield – and has promised that his team will take the game to Liverpool.
Rangers’ manager leads the club into their first encounter with the Reds since 1996 and says they have no intention of sitting back and defending.
“I’m going to enjoy going to Liverpool with the best team I’ve ever managed,” he declared.
“In the old days you’d put an extra body in and get players behind the ball, but that’s not us.
“Shaun Wright-Phillips gets the ball and runs like he would in the park. Jamie Mackie’s the same. Coats down for goalposts – that’s how they are.
- ‘Coats down for goalposts’
“When you’ve got enthusiasm like that and a couple of players in the middle with the ability of Joey Barton and Ale Faurlin, you want to have a go.
“We’ll try to win it. If we lose, that’s what’s supposed to happen. We’ll be disappointed if that happens, but the main thing is we go there and perform.”
QPR have won only once at Anfield in their history, but the stadium was the scene of two of their greatest results.
A famous 2-2 draw in the League Cup semi-final second leg took the R’s to Wembley in 1986, and five years later goals from Les Ferdinand, Roy Wegerle and Clive Wilson gave the club its sole victory in front of the Kop.
Rangers will be backed by more than 3,000 supporters on Saturday and Warnock expects them to make their presence heard.
He said: “This game shows how far we’ve come. We played Crystal Palace in April last year and if we’d lost that day they’d have gone above us and we’d have gone into the bottom three.
“Our fans don’t forget, and that’s the best thing about QPR – we know how lucky we are and we’re going to enjoy every minute of it.
“How many fans would chant their manager’s name when they’re losing 6-0, like they did at Fulham? That made me so proud to be the manager of this club.
“By doing that, they were saying to me: ‘We know where we are and how far we’ve come, and we’re not going to have a go at you’.
“And look where we are; this game, Man United coming up, and Arsenal at the end of the month. It’s great to be involved in games like these, so let’s have a go.”
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