Struggling Green ends rough week in a big flap against former club

By Sam Cunningham for the Daily Mail

Published: 16:41 EST, 26 August 2012 | Updated: 18:03 EST, 26 August 2012

A week must seem a long time in football for Robert Green. A howler on his QPR debut let in the first of five goals and, to make matters worse, the goalkeeper he replaced at the club, Paddy Kenny, sent mocking  messages and voicemails about him to a member of Rangers’ technical staff.

On Saturday, he made a shaky return to Norwich, the club where he started his career.

Green’s QPR team-mates rallied round the England No 1 after the 1-1 draw, claiming the 32-year-old had not been affected by the week’s events.

However, Green’s performance did not support those claims.

For Norwich’s opening goal, Green elected to stay on his line to cover a possible shot from Anthony  Pilkington, who instead stood up a perfect cross that Simeon Jackson then headed in.

A more confident goalkeeper might have bulldozed his way through the crowd to claim the cross, but Green ran into his team-mate, Clint Hill.

Fifteen minutes later, a relatively simple 20-yard low shot from Pilkington was hit straight at Green but he spilled the ball and was lucky there were no strikers lurking before he gathered it at the second attempt.

And it continued into the second half. Early on, he came out to stop Jackson running on to a long pass but there was a strong suspicion of foul play when he handled the ball dangerously close to the edge of the box.

Replays suggested he was  outside the area, but referee Mark  Clattenburg waved play on. And he could have cost QPR the game seven minutes from time when he was caught out of position as Russell Martin looped a header from eight yards out over Green, who was  running off his line but, luckily for the goalkeeper, on to the crossbar.

Junior Hoilett, like Green one of the many new players who have been brought in by Mark Hughes, was the first to defend his goalkeeper. He said: ‘Rob didn’t sulk at all.

He’s been great in training and you saw that in the game, the saves he pulled off. He’s done well. We were tight at the back and the goalkeeper made some fantastic saves.’ Green did make one good save, pushing Robert Snodgrass’s long-range drive over the bar, but it was almost straight down the middle.

Captain Park Ji-sung said he has not had to put a comforting arm around Green to help him. He said: ‘We haven’t spoken about them ( messages from Paddy Kenny). He’s not worried about them. He forgot things quickly — that’s good. He was calm so it’s good for us.

‘He’s not a young player and has experience. Every player speaks to each other and if we have problems, we sort them out. In the game, he showed that he’s getting better. We’ve only had two games. He has the ability so we just leave him and give him the confidence.’

It seems Kenny’s insulting messages were not even talked about on the training ground at QPR. Green would do well to look at John Ruddy in Norwich’s goal, who did not let conceding five against Fulham on the opening day trouble him.

That weekend, Ruddy still made the most saves of any Premier League goalkeeper. His best moment on Saturday was in the 19th minute when, at full stretch, he tipped  Djibril Cisse’s penalty on to the post, but he had no chance when Bobby Zamora, who ran at least five yards into the area before the penalty was struck, right in front of Clattenburg, scored from the rebound.

After the game, the QPR owner Tony Fernandes tweeted: ‘Pleased for Rob Green.’

But, since the club are reportedly in talks with Inter Milan and Brazil goalkeeper Julio Cesar and his future in the first team is in doubt, it is unlikely to provide too much  reassurance for him. Whatever must Kenny think of it all?