Outstanding - the QPR rejuvenation of ex-Tottenham star Tom Carroll after Aston Villa and Swansea City disasters

p#x201C;There were so many good performances,quot; QPR manager Mark Warburton said after their 2-1 defeat to Bristol City this week. /p pquot;I thought across the pitch we were good. Tom Carroll was outstanding. I#x2019;m delighted for Tom. /p p#x201C;In recent games he#x2019;s been clocking over 12km and his fitness is really good after 10 months of injury. I thought his range of pass, cleverness and disguise of pass made him outstanding.#x201D;/p pItapos;s incredible to think that Tom Carroll is still just 28 years old. /p pAfter a nightmare two years in football, it is good to see the former Tottenham midfielder getting back to his best. Swansea City fans know what he can do; his impact was immediate when he signed for the club, playing a huge role in the shock win at Anfield against Liverpool on his debut under Paul Clement. /p pThose six months in a Swans shirt were arguably Carrollapos;s best in his career. He helped save his club from relegation and he was playing front-foot football. /p pBut Carroll was a confidence player, and when that seeped away he struggled for form and consistentcy - and thatapos;s even before you consider his horrendous injury record. As Swansea struggled in the Premier League, so too did Carroll and he looked a shadow of the player he was when he arrived. /p pWhen he left Swansea under Steve Cooper, it was announced as part of Borja Bastonapos;s transfer to Aston Villa. It was a solemn end to his time in SA1, something which he alluded to a href=https://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/i-just-gutted-former-tottenham-19321413 rel=Follow target=_self data-link-tracking=InArticle|Link data-content-type=newswhen speaking to talkSPORT/a last month. /p pquot;It was quite sad how my exit panned out as I enjoyed my time at the club,quot; he said. /p p#x201C;When I left Spurs I started playing really well under Paul Clement and had Nigel Gibbs and [Claude] Makelele as coaches. It was perfect for me./p p#x201C;The timing was obviously a weird one. I#x2019;d have liked it to have ended a lot better than it did, instead of walking out in January halfway through a season./p p#x201C;I wanted to finish my spell there and try and get back in the side and make things work again after injury, which I was confident of doing./p p#x201C;It was hard to take not being in the manager#x2019;s plans. One way or another he didn#x2019;t think I could cover the ground or he didn#x2019;t think I was fit enough to play his style of game, something I didn#x2019;t agree with./p p/ p/ p#x201C;In the end it got to a stage where I might have found myself not playing, not training with the [senior] boys and you#x2019;ve just got to make a decision and that was that.#x201D;/p pCarroll has now featured in 15 matches for the Hoops this season and has started seven of the last eight under Warburton - a far cry from his Aston Villa days when his loan move to the Midlands turned into a nightmare. /p pHe featured in just two games for Dean Smith before his loan was terminated. /p p#x201C;That was a really tough time,#x201D; he added. #x201C;It was probably one of the hardest moments I#x2019;ve been through in my career really./p p#x201C;Dean Smith took me in at a time where I was struggling a bit. I#x2019;d already had some hip issues that season at Swansea, so at that stage I was just hoping I was over it./p p#x201C;I felt it go in the first training session. We had Reading the next day and in the warm up I felt something pull [my hip flexor]./p p#x201C;I was just so gutted and I knew deep down things weren#x2019;t really getting any better. I could feel the pain with every pass I took, so something had to be done./p p#x201C;The whole thing just looked bad on me. I felt like I#x2019;d let the manager down as well, he#x2019;d put his trust in me by bringing me to the club and then I just broke down./p p#x201C;Mentally that was tough for me, and then to rub salt in the wounds Villa obviously went on and got promoted.quot;/p pAfter going through so much mentally and physically over the past two years, it is heartening to see Carroll returning to his best and going some way to achieve the enormous potential he had at Tottenham. Back with QPR, a club he spent a loan stint with earlier in his career, seems to be helping his rejuvenation. /p p#x201C;I want to make up for lost time,quot; he said. /p pquot;It#x2019;s been a tough two or three years personally for me, but I feel like I#x2019;ve got a lot of football left in me./p p#x201C;I still feel like I#x2019;m at a good age, I don#x2019;t feel like I#x2019;m 28. I#x2019;m not an old boy on his last legs. I#x2019;m still here to do my job./p p#x201C;There#x2019;s still so much I want to do and achieve. As long as I#x2019;m enjoying my football I#x2019;d love to keep on doing it.#x201D;/p