Premier League: Harry Redknapp praises his QPR players after win over Aston Villa

Queens Park Rangers boss Harry Redknapp praised his players for their aptitude following the 2-0 victory over Aston Villa at Loftus Road.

The result moves Rangers off the foot of the table and within one point of Sunderland, who are third from bottom in the Premier League.

Redknapp was relieved his side took their opportunities after enduring frustrating results against Liverpool, Stoke and Hull City in previous home games.

Charlie Austin scored both goals against Villa, but Redknapp also praised the performances of Junior Hoilett, Eduardo Vargas, Bobby Zamora and Richard Dunne, who he felt was “man of the match".

Redknapp said: “It was an excellent performance. I thought we did ever so well.

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“They started to get a bit of the ball in the second half and dominate the possession but I felt when we changed it and we tightened up with the extra man in midfield, and suddenly we started to get hold of the ball, and I felt we dominated then and had a couple of great chances.

“We hit the post with Junior’s shot, and it would have been a great goal for Vargas with great pass and movement, so overall I thought we deserved to win.

“Same as it was against Liverpool. We came out and worked hard tonight. We did it against Stoke here, we worked hard, we did it against Sunderland, we won 1-0. We missed a penalty against Hull in the last five minutes. I can’t fault the performances.”

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Redknapp had Sandro available for the first time this season, and he believes his team will continue to improve when the likes of Joey Barton, Jordon Mutch and Alejandro Faurlin return to action.

No excuse

“As I’ve said many times, it’s not an excuse, the players I’ve brought into the club, I’ve [only] just had a chance to get them playing. It’s been a real problem,” Redknapp added.

“Sandro’s had his first 90 minutes tonight and he makes a massive difference to the team. We’ve got people like Jordan Mutch who are not playing, Joey Barton, Ale Faurlin we lost. I’ve just not had a chance to gel a team together and that’s been a problem for us. It’s been stops and starts all the time.

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“Bobby Zamora, whenever Bobby plays he makes the game simple for us, Bobby, he’s a fantastic professional and he works his socks off for the team, but 65-70 minutes and he does the job.

"It’s in reverse, I had a spell off bringing him off the bench but we thought, ‘let’s start start with him and see what we could get out of him, and if he tires we take him off’ and that’s what we did today.

“Two great finishes from Charlie. No reason he can’t go on and get a real good tally of goals this year.

Two great finishes from Charlie. No reason he can’t go on and get a real good tally of goals this year.

The Rangers boss played down his recent comments on Adel Taarabt, after he claimed the player was unfit and overweight.

He expects the striker to play in the reserves on Tuesday, and concedes Taarabt has been working hard in the last week, also insisting the player has a future at QPR.

“Absolutely he can play a big part in the future. If he gets himself fit that’s all I ask,” Redknapp added. “That’s all I ask people to do is come in every day, train, be thankful for being a professional footballer, work hard. God gave him a fantastic talent, I just hope he doesn’t waste it. If he’s fit and ready to play he's a great talent.

“He’s working hard this week. He’s working with the fitness coaches and we’ve got a game tomorrow for the reserves. Him and one or two of the other lads will get a game. That’s all I just want him to do, get himself fit to run like the boys tonight.

“If you put a shift in, the stats early in the season [show] we were getting out-worked and if you get out-worked it’s very hard to win football matches.

"I think the stats now show we out-worked Liverpool here and I’m sure tonight we would have worked very hard. We had to chase the ball, they had the ball a fair part of the game, but at the end of the day we got the goals and deserved the win.”