Bobby Zamora
How long do you think it’ll take before everything starts to gel? “I’d probably say about 10 games, to be honest with you. I know that probably sounds quite a lot – it’s a quarter of the season – but 10 games is a good amount of time to gel, I think. After that, we’ll have to look at the table and the results and see if everything’s going well. I’m confident it will be.” As a striker, is it hard to adjust to playing in front of what is a completely new midfield? “I’m quite adaptable. I’d say we’re a ’footballing team’ now. And I like to think that I can play football; but that if you need to put yourself in the mix and bruise up a couple of centre halves, I can do that as well.” But at Fulham, for example, you knew you’d have Damien Duff whipping in crosses and Danny Murphy playing it forward from midfield. Is it hard not knowing what runs to make, what service to expect? “That didn’t come straight away – that Europa League run, for example, was the third season in for us. Again, it was a new set of lads that was built up slowly – not with 11 players in a season, but maybe three at a time. It was quite settled – Roy [Hodgson] used to try and play his first XI every game, whether it was a cup game or whatever. The team certainly benefits, providing your body can keep up with it. It was obviously quite hard with the Europa stuff on a Thursday, then Sunday, then Tuesday.” What do you make of the new players who have come in – it must be exciting to play alongside the likes of Cisse? “Yeah, though we haven’t played a lot together. He was suspended for quite a few games last year [laughs]. I think he had a couple of silly challenges – forward’s challenges, I suppose. That’s why he’s a striker and not a defender. But he’s a great finisher – certainly one of
the best I’ve played with. But, you know, coming in now and seeing the likes of, say, Julio Cesar in goal in training. He’s a very special goalkeeper, and that’s one thing that’s certainly a bonus.”
and it’s down to judgement. I don’t think anyone got hurt in any of those challenges, but it was the referee’s decision. You have to work hard, and sometimes that can go a bit against you.”
You mentioned the red cards – QPR collected nine last season. Is discipline a problem? “I think we were in a dogfight, and I think everybody was flying about and trying to get close to the ball. At times, there’s a fine line
Are improvements being made behind the scenes as well? “Yeah, we will be getting a new training ground. The site is there and stuff – I think it’s literally a case of planning permission and bits and pieces, and then they’ll start building. But yeah, there’s no point really doing stuff to a training ground that we don’t already own. But it’s not just players – physios and all those bits and pieces are getting overhauled.”
Spending spree
Eleven new players donned the blue and white hoops over the summer – enough for a whole new team. Although, admittedly, quite an unbalanced one
Julian Finney/Getty Images
Jose Bosingwa fREE tRAnSfER from Chelsea
Robert Green fREE tRAnSfER from West Ham
Julio Cesar fREE tRAnSfER from Internazionale
Samuel magri fREE tRAnSfER from Portsmouth
Stephane mbia £5m from Marseille
Samba Diakite fREE tRAnSfER from Nancy
Park Ji-Sung £2.5m from Man Utd Junior Hoilett tRiBunAl to SEt fEE from Blackburn
Ryan nelsen fREE tRAnSfER from Tottenham
Esteban Granero £3.5m from Real Madrid Andrew Johnson fREE tRAnSfER from Fulham
How does the set-up at QPR compare to your time at Fulham? “I think it’s pretty much... well, Fulham have obviously been in the Premier League for however many seasons and have an established base. And obviously the training ground is their own. QPR are a team looking to go in that direction and become a bigger club. So I’m sure in three or four years time, if you ask me that question, QPR will be on another level.” Amit Katwala @amitkatwala Battlefield 3 Premium Edition is out now for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC
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