Had a 30-minute chat with Paulo Sousa this week - and very illuminating it was too.

The QPR boss talks the talk, is very personable, and appears at ease in an office where a giant colour photo of chairman Flavio Briatore adorns the pinboard behind his desk.

He also believes he has been given the go-ahead to plan for next season, when he intends to make a push for the Premiership all the way from August.

The reason why Rangers aren't in the Championship play-offs now,according to the manager,is down to new ideas, as well as missing 'eight important players' (it became 'five or six' a little later on in the interview).

You might think it strange it's taken this long for the QPR manager to open up - but month to get a word, even though the Portuguese arrived last November.

Sousa will take no phone calls; has limited time available to the media, and genial as he was even when pushed, reckoned the reason why Rangers aren't scoring regular-ly (three 0-0s in a row before Tuesday night) is down to the 'moment'.

This 'moment' it appears is undefinable.

Rangers, he says, have most of the possession in games, pass more than the opposition it seems, but can't stick the ball in the back of the net.

QPR practise 20 minutes a day doing just that pleads the manager - but it just isn't happening for them at the moment.

Is it mental? 'Sometimes', the manager reckoned.

Could it also be that a man who has played at the highest level in football, both with the likes of Inter,Juve, Benfica and Portugal alongside the likes of Luis Figo, just doesn't get what the English second tier is all about? And just before anyone thinks some of this

was lost in translation, the 38-year-old has a command of English that puts my foreign language skills to shame.

I think Sousa's arrival at QPR has come as a shock to the man. And I also believe some of the tactics he's employed has confused his team.

No one yet is breaking ranks on this one - but the idea he will be around next season if Rangers slip down the table might provoke another 'moment' - the one where he becomes the seventh QPR manager in two years to sort out his severance cheque.