Cissé and Zamora: QPR Swoops for Pair of Oldies

By: phil | January 31st, 2012

Queens Park Rangers finished the January transfer period with a bang today, completing a double pick-up of Djibril Cissé and Bobby Zamora to bolster the second-half campaign. The news on Cisseé came first, followed only a few hours later by word that Zamora had agreed to terms, as well. Neither will likely be ready by tomorrow’s match vs. Aston Villa, but both should be set to debut by the weekend and provide some firepower for the spring charge.

Cissé is a player who needs no introduction. During his days at Auxerre, Liverpool and Marseille, the French international was one of the most feared strikers in the world. He was a member of Liverpool’s famous 2005 Champions League winning side, though his better year in red was actually the 2005-06 season, in which he scored 17 goals across all competitions. He’s spent the years two years in Greece and Italy, but appears excited to return to England.

Zamora, the some-time English international, comes to Loftus Road by way of Fulham. He’ll be reunited with manager Mark Hughes after a falling out with Fulham boss Martin Jol, if the rumors are to be believed. Zamora will be playing with his 7^th professional team, but is probably best known for his time with West Ham, where he scored 40 goals across all competitions over the course of 4 seasons. Zamora has kept up the pace in recent years, notching 5 in the Premier League so far this season with Fulham.

So, the Rs are in line for an immediate jump-start to the offense. The obvious drawback with both of these guys is age – 30 for Cissé and 31 for Zamora, with both carrying a lot of miles. We’d written before about the hope that QPR would bring in some under-25 talent to stock the cupboard for the future. Well, these moves represent the exact opposite of that – two veterans with plenty of pedigree but whose value certainly won’t be increasing over time. But, you can’t blame Hughes and the board for wanting to do something. Mired in 16^th place in the Premier League table, and with a disappointing total of 22 goals on the season, this pair of pick-ups represented a chance to really create some sustained danger in the opponent’s end of the pitch. So, congratulations to Hughes for making the moves.

The interesting thing now is to consider where these two will fit in. Both are goal-minded forwards, but Cissé is a true striker, while Zamora can play on the wing or in the hole. My guess would be that Helguson hits the bench, Cissé plays up top, and the club plays something like a 4-2-3-1. In this formulation, the “3” line (the forward-middies, behind the striker) would be some combination of Zamora, Taarabt, Wright-Phillips, Macheda, Campbell, and Mackie. Helguson and Tommy Smith stand to lose the most, although if Cissé struggles in his first few matches, I would be surprised to see plenty of rotation. In the biggest matches, though assuming everyone is healthy, we’d probably look something like this: