As I walked away from Loftus Road on Monday night following Neil Warnock’s post-match press conference, I overheard various comments from QPR fans about Jay Bothroyd’s performance. Some weren’t too complimentary.
After just a few Premier League matches it’s far too early to judge him. He hasn’t scored yet, but he does look capable of getting goals. And apart from that, he is vital to the way Warnock has the team set up.
Playing as a target man, Bothroyd is very good with his back to goal and was involved in several decent passages of play against Newcastle.
Sure, he doesn’t exactly have Les Ferdinand’s aerial ability but he is decent enough with his head and has shown that he is able to hold his own physically against defenders in the top flight.
Like any striker at a new club, he will want to get a goal sooner rather than later and I’m convinced it will happen in the next few games given the attacking talent around him in the shape of Shaun Wright-Phillips and Adel Taarabt.
“Zamora’s name is now regularly sung from in Hammersmith End and without him Fulham do not function as well.”
Even if it doesn’t, I’d suggest Rangers fans who may be tempted to lose faith in him should look down the road to Fulham, where another left-footed forward is now the main man.
Like Bothroyd, Bobby Zamora initially struggled to find the net after arriving at the Cottage from West Ham in 2008 for £4.8m.
Despite his excellent hold-up play, his lack of goals saw him come in for stick from some Whites fans on the internet.
Zamora didn’t take kindly to the criticism and after grabbing the winning goal against Sunderland in December 2009 he let rip at the keyboard warriors with a foul-mouthed tirade in the direction of the Hammersmith End.
The then Fulham manager Roy Hodgson wasn’t impressed by his reaction and suggested he’d been reading too many comments online.
Plenty of punters who had backed Zamora through his barren spell were not best pleased to be on the receiving end of Zamora’s angry reaction.
And when he finished that season with only four goals, he looked set to leave after Fulham agreed to sell him to Hull City for £5m.
In the end, Zamora turned down the move which proved to be a wise decision for both him and the club. In 2009/10 he scored 19 goals in all competitions which helped Fulham to a mid-table finish and a memorable run to the Europa League final.
It was a remarkable turnaround which also saw Zamora win his first cap for England.
Zamora’s name is now regularly sung from in Hammersmith End and without him Fulham do not function as well as a unit, as was proved last season when he broke his leg and was out for five months.
He returned to the side in February, and finished the campaign with seven goals, helping Fulham stay up.
At 29, Bothroyd is a year younger than Zamora and having joined the R’s on a free transfer I think he prove to be a similarly excellent signing.
Neither player wants to finish their career as one-cap wonders and are desperate to get back into the England reckoning, so this is a crucial season for them both.
Even at club level, Bothroyd still has much to prove. But he is capable of proving it – and Zamora is his benchmark.
This post was last modified on 16/09/2011
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Thanks for your points Runtertuntun, MartinC and LLoydy.
I'm convinced a goal is coming for Bothroyd against Aston Villa. If QPR continue to make chances like they have in the last two matches against Newcastle and Wolves then he is likely to see his fair share of them.
DJ Campbell is a quality striker and a lot more clinical than Bothroyd and perhaps Warnock will opt to start him on Sunday but I think he will stick with Bothroyd for a while yet. His ability to bring others into play and relieve pressure is vital to the system which is working very well at present.
Jermaine Beckford scored 8 Premier League goals last season. If Bothroyd gets the same number would you consider him a success?
The trouble that both the club and Bothroyd have is that he was signed when it looked like there were no other options, the powers that be at the time weren't spending on fees and as such he was perhaps seen as the only option with a hope that it came off.
I wasn't particularly convinced by his performances at Championship level, strikes me very much as the Beckford type, promoted up the divisions beyond his abilities.
Time will tell but he doesn't seem to have the sharpness and reactions required for the Premiership.
Fortunately DJ does and on the assumption we play a fluid 4-3-3 and DJ stays fit it might be a moot point as he (Bothroyd) won't play that many games.
Thing is, Zamora is technically better than Bothroyd and also has a better attitude which means he's stuck at it and got there through determination and being a good pro. Is Bothroyd made of the same stuff? I think not, but if he's a changed character then maybe. We'll find out a lot about Both and I'll be interested in seeing how he does at Rangers but as a Zamora fan (and always has been) I have to say I don't think Both has the mental strength to turn it round in the way BZ did.
No-one wants a striker who can't score (and there are plenty of them about) but far too soon to be writing Bothroyd off or getting on his back. Yes, he should have put one away on Monday night but, as long as he keeps getting in the right positions, it should happen for him before too long. And agree, his hold up play was good.