Ellerslie Echo

Getting Found Out

This league is absolutely all over the place. The top 8 doesn’t consist of a single parachute team, and going into this game, all 3 relegated teams were sat in the bottom half. Rangers, before visiting Derby, had lost one in eight, but by then the performances had started to dip, and it started to feel like we were due a humbling.

So, in typical sh*t-the-bed fashion, our impressive run of form came to a disappointing yet deserved conclusion when we handed 3 points to Eustace’s struggling Rams (who have now won 3 on the bounce). I didn’t manage to watch this game, and couldn’t find enough highlights, even on Derby’s part, to conjure anything up, so I didn’t bother. 

This weekend’s opponents were yet to win on the road. Therefore, we knew exactly what we were in for. It’s just how football works. This was always going to be a defeat. Don’t care how stupid that may sound. Guaranteed loss. But 4-1? At home? That’s unforgivable. Without messing about, let’s get it over with so we can all get on with our week.

We’ll start with the team selection. Because the way I see it, we’d given ourselves a handicap before even entering the pitch. Stephan’s selection will be the main talking point this week, partly so I can avoid as much reflection on the actual game as possible. So, if you aren’t interested in hearing me whine about the lineup, this one probably isn’t for you. 

Whichever full-backs you play are inevitably going to struggle against Jayden Philogene, 19 year-old £17million Norwegian wonderkid Sindre Walle Egeli (no I’d never heard of him either), or even Jack Clarke if McKenna decides to start him instead. Pace wasn’t really an option for us, so it’s crucial you pick your best, most capable and experienced bodies. 

Jimmy Dunne is club captain, and played an important role in our unbeaten run and the defensive solidity we showed throughout it. So whilst, even at his best, he struggles against any winger with a modicum of pace, we know he’s never in any real danger of losing that right-back spot. Not least because his only competition is someone’s Australian cousin who’s flown over on a visitor’s VISA to train with the first team and never get any minutes, before likely travelling somewhere else next year on loan.

On the left, we’d already come up with a short-term solution, bringing in a very decent left-back on loan who’s helped considerably in sorting our back line out. He may be due a rest, but, with his parent club coming up, could it not have waited one more week? 

We also had a whole week to prepare for this fixture, with more or less a fully-fit squad, so why not play our best players? Why give a start to a young, inexperienced, defensively questionable left-back against an attack as dangerous as Ipswich’s? Talk about getting chucked in the deep end. 

The double pivot had run out of steam over the last couple of weeks, with Jonathan Varane in particular having a bit of a rough patch. Madsen has continued to be one of our key players, and so it was likely to be a Hayden-Madsen pivot. What no one would’ve predicted though, was that they would be lined up in a flat 4. 

When you play a flat 4-4-2, you have to have natural wingers who, in addition to their technical ability, are able to compete physically, cover their full-backs, stick to the touch-line and have the legs to run back and forth for 90 minutes. It’s not a player profile that’s been popular since the days of Stewart Downing, Ashley Young, Marc Albrighton etc. and with how the game has evolved tactically, it’s not a set-up you see much anymore, with wingers often sat higher up the pitch and more reliant on pace, taking their man on or cutting inside. 

It’s absolutely mind-boggling then, how someone with years of experience in coaching elite level football players, could play two natural 10s in right and left midfield, in a flat 4-4-2. Especially when you have players like Koki Saito (who puts himself about more than his size would suggest), and even Kwame Poku on the bench. 

Harvey Vale has played primarily on the right-wing in a 4-2-3-1 and done well, so at least there’s a slight justification for that, but I can’t stress how badly I wanted to head back to the pub when I heard that Ilias Chair might be playing on the left. 

When Stephan took over, he explicitly assured us that he would be reverting Ilias Chair back to his position in the hole. The Moroccan picked up an injury in our opener (because of course he would), so we all forgot about this promise, and lo and behold, on his first start back, Ilias Chair starts at left midfield. 

Is this incompetent management or is Ilias telling these coaches that he prefers to play there? I highly doubt it’s the latter. I thought we were free of watching our best player waste away on the wing after Marti left. I was clearly wrong. 

I call it a flat 4-4-2 because it’s easier to call it that. It’s more of a 4-4-1-1 though, with our marquee signing, and big number 9, being dropped into the 10. If you’re going to pick this formation, just play a 2 with Kone and Burrell. Need I say more? We’ve signed him to score goals. Let him score goals.

Kone doesn’t do a bad job playing deeper – he’s physical and holds it up well, occasionally defending from the front – but his technical ability is not that of a 10. With Chair now back and looking sharp, we don’t need that temporary fix anymore. Play the striker as a striker, and play the 10 as a 10. 

That’s my team selection meltdown out of the way. Let’s try and talk about the game. As much as I don’t want to. 

It started well, with Esquerdinha being beaten instantly by his Norwegian opponent, enabling him to put a cross right on the top of the leaping George Hirst’s head, past Paul Nardi. Less than 2 minutes played. One step-over, one cross, one header, and Hirst, who had scored 3 in 11, and none since September, was running over to the R block in celebration. Class.1-0. 

The Tractor boys didn’t smell blood instantly, and allowed us back into the game. It was fairly end to end, with both sides having chances and attempts on goal, so it looked plausible that we may redeem ourselves. 

So when Ilias Chair’s long range effort was parried to the feet of Rumarn Burrell, who calmly slotted it in, it looked like game on. It has to be said that Burrell, so far, has been the signing of the season. Not only did the Jamaican play a key role in our winning run, but he’s been present during tougher games when others haven’t – clawing one back against Millwall, securing us the win at Swansea, and getting us level here. 

The goal was nothing special – Chair did well to bring the ball down, drive forward and get a decent shot off towards the bottom right corner which forced a save, and Burrell was there to pounce on it. I’m so impressed by this lad and his movement every week. Such a valuable player to have in your attack. Quick, clever, and hard-working, with a pretty decent striker’s instinct. More on him to come.

After levelling the scores, QPR looked pretty decent. Ipswich had a couple of dangerous chances, such as Nuñez forcing a save directly from a corner, but it was a two-way game. Kone nicked the ball in the final third and looked to be in on goal but was shut down well and forced to shoot from a tight angle. The teams went into the break at one apiece.

The second half started the same as the first. Ipswich launched the ball forward and were given a free kick on the edge of our box. What the ref saw here, with a clear view of the action, I’m still trying to decipher. I’ve watched it back a hundred times – Philogene jumps for a header, Hayden stands still, not laying a finger on him, and he ends up on the floor. Your guess is as good as mine.  

The Sol Campbell of East Anglia stepped up to take it, and to be fair, it wasn’t a bad hit. You could (weakly) argue that maybe Nardi should be stopping it, but it was a good strike round the wall into the far corner. Unjust, but a good hit. Frustrating.

The players were clearly as rattled as me about that refereeing decision, as any competitive edge we may have had flew out the window and the game fell into the visitors’ hands. 

10 minutes later, one of my favourite men to wear the hoops in the 2010s, Darnell Furlong, made a darting overlapping run and, beating the sliding Steve Cook, put a first time chipped cross in towards the back post and found an unmarked George Hirst. 3 goals in 11 now becomes 5 in 12. 1-1 now becomes 3-1. Here we go. 

Both open play goals came from crosses from the left-hand side. For the first, Esquerdinha was beaten by a sharp, hungry winger with pace and skill – it happens. This time though, he’s not even in the frame. The ball found Darnell far too easily, and our left-back was nowhere to be seen. Avoidable goal, which I would also expect Dunne of all people to be making a better challenge for. 

Rangers did continue to get forward but Kipre and O’Shea were proving difficult to beat. Just after the third went in, Madsen did well to drive forward and find Kone who again, due to Ipswich’s compactness, was shooting from far too tight of an angle, and wasn’t able to get a decent shot off.  Dunne headed just over from the resulting corner. 

The long-awaited return of Kwame Poku was warmly welcomed but it didn’t start well for the Ghanaian, who lost the ball on the half-way line to kickstart a dangerous counter attack. I say dangerous – it was one that I feel, with 6 men to Ipswich’s 4, would have been dealt with, if not for Morrison sliding in with his leg a metre in the air. 

This time a valid free-kick decision in the same area as the first one. Taken again by Marcelino Nuñez. The Chilean didn’t hit this one half as well, and looked as though it may have been going wide, until it bounced off of Saito’s head past a dazzled Paul Nardi who, in an attempt to avoid being beaten at the far post again, positioned himself in the right-hand corner of the goal, leaving two thirds of it so wide open that you’d be more surprised if it didn’t go in. 

Dead and buried. We searched for another consolation but it didn’t come. Saito’s low driven shot at the keeper was the most memorable chance, but there really wasn’t much else worth mentioning. A brutal way of bringing us back down to earth – though it’s not as if this descent hadn’t already begun a week prior. 

When our tactical switch first occurred at home to Charlton, I was cautious enough to point out that this won’t be a long term solution. It did last longer than I expected, and although going into it on paper you might’ve looked at it as an easy run, we beat Charlton, Stoke and Bristol City in that run – all currently sat in the top 8. 

There were signs though. 0-0 at home to Oxford, 1-1 at Hillsborough, a difficult win at Swansea. The Millwall loss was nothing, they’re a high-flying side and we competed. But did I ever feel that we looked like a side that could push for anything more than mid-table? Not really. 

Though Madsen has turned into a different player, we still don’t play enough through the midfield. It’s been direct, attacking football which has become far too predictable. Any decent side is now able to suss it out and make easy work of it. Varane and Madsen have been doing fine, but there is something missing – and after every game I’m still left unable to pinpoint exactly what it is. 

It could be that playing your striker in the 10 sacrifices a body in midfield? It could be that our full-backs aren’t technical enough to support their midfielders? It could be that we aren’t physical enough, though I’ve seen a huge improvement in that area over September/October. Maybe it’s a lack of pace? We are often very slow when it comes to building from the back or the midfield, so agile, energetic midfielders, like Nuñez, Bannan, or De Norre, find it easy to close us down and then create space for themselves. 

I’m not a tactician, I’m not a coach. But you can look back at my Charlton Issue – I knew this set-up would run out of steam, and that we’d eventually have to come up with a solution that means we compete more in the middle of the park, and rely more on discipline, intensity and creativity, rather than counter-attacks.

That’s not to say I’m a genius – I’m sure most people foresaw this. It’s just clear that it’s not working anymore – we’ve gone from scoring three goals a game to struggling to get even one. 

I personally would’ve expected Ilias Chair to be the solution. With Madsen much more reliable than last season, Chair, in the 10, would have more freedom to create and provide a greater threat in the attacking third, rather than having to do three people’s jobs.

Varane is not at his best, but I have no doubt he’ll be back to it soon enough. Hayden has been solid every time he’s played. So we have the quality in midfield, we just have to utilise it in the right way. 

Playing Chair on the left is like using a Porsche to do removals. It’s not what he’s there for. It’s a waste. In the same sense, playing Kone in the 10 is like bringing a Removal Van to a drag race. He’s a  strong, reliable finisher, who doesn’t have the fitness, agility or technicality to play in midfield. We need to see him in that box – that’s where his presence is most felt.

I get it, it’s a way of getting the best out of Burrell whilst having them both on the pitch. And the two link up very well. It worked wonders against Charlton and Wrexham, and to an extent, Swansea and Millwall, but Kone is becoming increasingly redundant, and as our one-dimensional game plan gets more blatantly found out, the longer we leave these holes in other areas of the pitch, the worse it’s going to get. 

Burrell, as much as I massively rate him and believe he’s earnt his place in the starting XI, would be so useful off the bench against tired legs. He’s performed better than Kone as of late, but the Ivorian was signed to bring goals and be the main man. He can’t do that if he’s not playing as a striker. 

So yes, I appreciate it’s not an ideal sacrifice and that there are issues that come with it, but you have to look at who our most important players are and where we’ve been repeatedly overrun. Sometimes in football you have to compromise – and whilst Stephan’s clever short-term fix got us out of some deep sh*t, Chair has come back at such a crucial time, bringing a bit of oomph to our midfield and potentially allowing Kone to flourish.

The dynamic football worked, and will still work in the right games, but long-term, with a now fully-fit squad, it’s not what we need. Play your 10 in the 10, play your striker as a striker. It’s not rocket science. 

Rant over. Time to rate the boys. 

Player Ratings:

Paul Nardi – 4/10

Speaks for itself, conceded four goals, half at fault for one of them. Terrible distribution, no box command from the crosses. Usual story. Boring. 

Jimmy Dunne – 5/10

Thought Dunne did a good job of keeping Philogene quiet, but was uncharacteristically poor in the air. Hirst did well to lose him for his second, but I’d expect the skipper to deal with that on another day. 

Liam Morrison – 4/10

Not a good outing for the Scotsman. Beaten in the air for the first goal, and gave away a stupid foul for the fourth. Good passing but terrible in the air and poor defensively – couple of really shaky moments and poor decisions. 

Steve Cook – 4.5/10

Non-involvement from Cook. Slow, poor on the ball and just not good enough. Not really at fault for any of the goals but just not at his best. In hindsight, this was a game for Mbuenge.

Esquerdinha – 4/10

At fault for two goals, beaten too easily for the first and then on-existent for the third. I’m really confused about this kid. Clearly an immensely talented footballer, but is he a left-back?

I don’t see where he fits into an 11-a-side team. He’s skilful, good at passing (particularly long-range) and can get forward, but defensively he’s just not up to it – it makes me wonder why that was ever his position in the first place. Weird one. Maybe Stephan was thinking about pace up against Ipswich’s wide players. Who knows, but it was the wrong decision. 

Harvey Vale – 5/10

Couldn’t get anything right – poor passing, poor crossing and not quick enough. When Vale has an off day, he really goes missing. Doesn’t have the fitness to play as a right midfielder in a flat formation either. 

Isaac Hayden – 6.5/10

Hayden has been pretty bloody good since coming into the fold. He’s made up for Varane’s dip in form and slotted in perfectly. Winning his aerial duels, his ground duels and just being everywhere on the pitch, Hayden has made a real stamp on this team, and he showcased that here.

Nicolas Madsen – 5.5/10

Madsen has not shown any signs of going back to his old self. Even in a game like this where he was unable to have much of an impact, he works so much harder, is a key outlet and so, so important to us, both defensively and going forward. He needs help though, in the form of an attacking midfielder, which I’ve already touched on. 

Ilias chair – 6.5/10

Played in the wrong position, but so good to see him back. Did well, and caused Ipswich problems with his usual work-rate and ball-carrying. Good effort for the first goal. Would be so much more effective in the middle. 

Richard Kone – 6/10

Again, does well as the second striker/10, but shouldn’t be there. We need to see him in the box. Created a good opportunity for himself but was closed down well, and then again in the second half when he was given a chance at a tight angle. I have no doubt that the goals will continue when he’s played up top.

Rumarn Burrell – 6.5/10

Signing of the summer so far. I sound so contradictory when I’m effectively calling for him to be benched, but I see his value – I just think we can still get the best out of him without wasting Kone out of position. We’ll see. 

Good work throughout the game, making good runs, and though he wasn’t getting on the ball as much, he was effective when he was – good finish for the goal, as easy as it was. He had to be there, and there are many that wouldn’t have been. 

Substitutes:

• Rhys Norrington-Davies (62’) – 6/10 – Gave us a bit of stability at the back, should have started.
• Kwame Poku (62’) – 5.5/10 – Lost the ball for the counter attack which led to Morrison’s foul. Not completely his fault but not the best start. Looked good otherwise. 
• Koki Saito (62’) – 5.5/10 – had a decent shot on goal but the game was practically finished by the time he was added. 
• Michael Frey (68’) – 4/10 – Touched the ball 3 times, may as well have not been there. 
• Amadou Mbuenge (78’) – 6/10 – Massive improvement on Steve Cook. Another who should have started. 

Man of the Match: Isaac Hayden – 6.5/10

Covers more ground than someone of his pace and agility would be expected to. Crucial defensively, and good passing ability. A cool head, giving Varane strong competition for his spot. Hayden barely put a foot wrong in this game, but it wasn’t enough. 

Donkey of the Day: Liam Morrison 

I could go with Nardi but I’m done participating in the pile-on that seems to be occuring. Nardi makes some really infuriating mistakes, but you lose one or two games because of your keeper. You concede silly goals. You don’t lose 4-1 because of your keeper. Thats not fair. We’ve not played well. It’s on the outfield players. Not the keeper.

Donkey has to go to Morrison for his needless challenge to give away the free-kick for the second. Too high, reckless and completely unnecessary. We had enough men back to likely deal with the attack. Naive. 

Summary:

A frustrating result which was probably overdue. However, as much as we deserved to lose, I’m not sure that was a 4-1 game. Take away a baffling refereeing decision and a stupid challenge, and that’s only a 2-1 loss, in which we’ve competed. However, I won’t go too deep with the whataboutery. We got smashed, and need to look at what our plan is going forward. 

Up Next:

Championship Matchday 14: Southampton (H)

Score Prediction: QPR 1-1 Southampton 

One to Watch: Ryan Manning

There aren’t many having a worse time of it than Southampton at the moment, but with the news of Will Still’s sacking, we could potentially be in for a tough one, especially with our dip in form. 

In terms of one to watch, I could have picked Adam Armstrong, a solid championship striker on the same goal tally as Kone and Burrell, or even Leo Scienza, a tricky winger who ranks among the top players for chance creation in the league. Dunne will have a tough time dealing with him. 

But I’m going to go with someone we’re all very familiar with. Ryan Manning. It feels like a lifetime ago that Manning left the Rs but he’s done pretty well (at this level) since leaving. The Irishman had a tough time of it in the premier league, but started this season as one of Southampton’s key men.

A technical left-back who can put a dangerous cross in (if only he could do that for us) but also defend well with a strong physical presence, will no doubt be a struggle to contain. I do also worry, after this weekend’s events, about giving him a set-piece. He’s scored two sublime free kicks already this season, so we need to ensure he doesn’t get that opportunity again. 

It just stinks of it, doesn’t it? Former QPR player who left on what I remember to be bad terms (correct me if I’m wrong) and has a point to prove (if he hasn’t already gone beyond proving that point). If he doesn’t get a goal I can at least see him having a strong game against our midfield and/or putting some dangerous balls into our area.

I think it’s too short notice for a new-manager-bounce but the Saints may get a bit of a spark, being able to express themselves without Still’s over-analytical approach to the game. He’s a brilliant tactician but as a man manager, I can’t see him being very motivational, and a motivator is what Southampton needed after their performance last season. 

With Still gone, whoever takes charge, or even the leadership team (fancy way of saying captains) may be able to find a way to gee their men up and get something out of this game. I’m also worried about Ronnie Edwards, of course.

1-1 draw I’m going for. Saito goal. 

Championship Matchday 14 Predictions:  

No predictions to reflect on from last week, so let’s dive straight into our midweek ones. 

• Birmingham City 1-2 Millwall
• Bristol City 2-0 Blackburn Rovers
• Charlton Athletic 2-2 West Bromwich Albion
• Derby County 1-1 Hull City 
• Ipswich Town 3-2 Watford
• Leicester City 0-2 Middlesbrough 
• Oxford United 1-3 Stoke City
• Coventry City 3-1 Sheffield United
• Preston North End 2-0 Swansea City
• Sheffield Wednesday 1-0 Norwich City
• Portsmouth 1-2 Wrexham

See you Wednesday.

You R’s.

Winning Ugly

Championship Matchday 12: Swansea City (A)

Swansea away is one of those fixtures that just fills me with dread, every time. Not always through fear of defeat – Rangers actually won there in 3 of their last 5 visits going into this, all three being 1-0 – but it just always feels like such a cagey fixture. Both either mid-table or hovering around 10th to 7th keeping an eye out for any narrow gap in the top 6 that might eventually open up. However, after seeing how we played in our harsh-but-fair home defeat to Millwall, I backed us to repeat that 1-0 score line again this time out. 

And don’t worry, I hadn’t forgotten about last season, where we all sat around the Christmas tree hungover (apart from those nutters who decided to spend their Boxing Day travelling over) and watched Liam Cullen spoil everyone’s Christmas.

But for the first time this season, I actually predicted a QPR score bang on. I didn’t think it would come as early as October! I was unable to feel much joy from this small win though, as I came away, like many, feeling that it probably should’ve been 3. 

Just like Saturday, it started pretty well. An even game at first, but the better chances fell to Rangers. Burrell and Saito were both caught offside in the first five minutes but we were getting forward, more than the home side can say. 

There were some moments of poor quality – plenty of fouls, crap passes and strange decisions. Jimmy Dunne booting a short throw straight off the pitch was one that stuck out to me. Madsen put a good cross in which landed on Kone’s head and ended up behind the goal. 

Madsen then pounced on a poor clearance from Burrell’s ball across the box, testing Laurence Vigouroux with a first time shot. Not a bad effort, but I couldn’t help but feel he should have laced it rather than side footing it – regardless, it forced a good save and won us a corner. 

Madsen would be involved in almost everything of note for the remainder of the game. We’ll get to his performance in more detail in the player ratings. There was a brief moment of panic when Mbuenge lost the ball attempting a risky turn in a dangerous area, and Gonçalo Franco drove forward with Yalcouye as support. 

This counter attack probably wouldn’t have gotten anywhere in the end, as it was 2 on 4, but Madsen made sure of it with a phenomenal tackle which would kickstart our next surge forward. His tackle became a clearance which was picked up by Kone in the centre circle, who carried it forward whilst waiting for the right moment to play it to Saito. 

Then, upon looking up for options, Saito was probably surprised to find Isaac Hayden, with his arm in the air, using every bit of power in his legs to make a run into the box. Saito cleverly knocked it round the full-back for him, and with his first touch, Hayden played a lightly-lofted ball to the front post, which was met by his Jamaica team mate, Burrell, to volley past the keeper from a tough angle.

Everything about this goal was good. Madsen’s tackle, Kone’s slow but calculated drive forward, Saito’s vision, Hayden’s run forward and first-time ball in, and most of all, the finish. It’s not a 30-yard screamer or a free kick so it won’t get the recognition it deserves, but to volley that in, with your weak foot, from that angle, and knock it past the keeper into the far corner, whilst pretty much sandwiched inbetween two defenders, is seriously impressive. 

Such a clever, technical finish from Burrell. He had to get the exact amount of power and the right direction on the ball for it to beat the keeper – really not an easy finish. This was, apparently, Hayden’s first assist since 2019. But it was Burrell’s third goal of the season – bargain of a signing so far. The two Jamaicans linked up well to put the Rs ahead after 18 minutes. 

Swansea lost their heads after this, and began trying to cheat their way back into the game. The Swans’ first attempt at fooling the ref into giving a penalty came from Ji-Sung Eom, who jumped onto the ground in the same way I jump onto my bed after getting home from a full day’s work. Arms and legs spread, head down, sink into the pillows. Except his head was obviously turned instantly over at the ref. There was obviously nothing in it, and I’m not sure why that wasn’t a booking for a dive. But I’m not here to talk about the rules on diving. 

It was Yalcouye’s turn to next, when Kone dared to stand near him on the edge of the box and apparently fouled him (ref wasn’t fooled). Then, whilst QPR went up the other end, off camera, Steve Cook went over to let the kid know what score he’d give him for that dive.

He obviously felt it was too low and so, 19 year old Malick Yalcouye fancied himself, squaring up to, and pushing his head into to 35 year old experienced Premier League centre-half Steve Cook, who played him like a fiddle, going down like a sack of spuds from very minimal contact. 

If you don’t know what the rules of this game are anymore and what’s a foul or not, fair enough, i don’t either. But one thing that is guaranteed, if you go in with your head like that, and slightly push it forward, you’re seeing red. There’s no exceptions. It’s a headbutt. Soft or not. 

It was refreshing to see these kinds of dark arts from a QPR player. We’ve all been saying for years how we’re too nice. We get bullied, sucked in and wound up by things like this all the time, especially at Loftus Road. So it’s good to finally be the ones bringing a bit of gamesmanship/shithousery to a tough away fixture. Naivity vs experience. 

For some reason, when QPR are given a man advantage, they take offence to the suggestion that they need the ref’s help, and prefer not to use it to their benefit. You know what, next time just let him stay on. With an extra man in midfield and the momentum on our side, you’d expect us to kick on, and maybe even get one more before the break.

As is often the case with any red card though, the game died. Franco came off for Josh Key at half time as Swansea formed a back 5. I’m not sure why you’d add a defender when you have nothing to defend, but I guess they’re thinking about their goal difference. Swansea didn’t seem to have any intention of letting the game unfold anymore than it had for that brief 20 minute spell in the first half. 

What followed was 45 minutes of infuriating football from the winning team as they strolled their way to full-time as if they were 4-0 up. The back four were outstanding, and Madsen was playing like prime Sergio Busquets – tackling, blocking, pinging good passes about, just everywhere on the pitch. Even Field and Hayden were having solid games in the middle. Going forward though, there was no urgency, everything was slow, sluggish and the end product was absolutely honking. 

Swansea got forward a few times but couldn’t break down the back line who probably had their best collective game of the season. Couldn’t really tell you one defensive error that was made all game. 

The first Rangers sub came at 60 minutes when Paul Smyth (probably our weakest performer) was swapped for Dembele. Kaddie’s first highlight was a quite frankly embarrassing long-range effort on goal, in bags of space, under no pressure, which was both high and wide. Wouldn’t have even been a conversion. 

The 71st minute saw the Jamaican duo hooked for Jonathan Varane with the long-awaited and warmly welcomed return of Ilias Chair. These switches definitely had a positive impact, particularly from our number 10 who, in the 20ish minutes he was on, covered a serious amount of ground and saw a lot of the ball. It was like he’d never been away, with the normal dropping deep, driving forward, looking to create that we always see from Ilias. 

Rangers went up a gear for a brief period, having a few shots on target but nothing that really tested the goalkeeper. It did look like we were finally going to get a second though as we pushed Swansea heavily onto their back foot.

However, both of the 71st minute substitutes each fumbled golden opportunities to put the game to bed. I honestly can’t say which one is worse. The first one came when Dembele played a cheeky through ball to Chair, who, 1v1 with the keeper, hit a pretty pathetic attempt straight at him.

It’s something the little man’s never been good at. Potentially it’s why he’s remained at the club for so long and not had his big move. He’s not the best finisher in a general sense but it’s particularly bad when it comes to being one on one. Such a frustrating miss, has to score.

At least Ilias had a keeper to beat. The same can’t be said for the next chance, when Jimmy Dunne’s shot bounced off the post and  fell to Varane’s right foot in the middle of the box. Varane, with enough time and space to consider every possible section of the open net he could’ve aimed for, opted for a nicely finessed shot wide of the post.

Should have been 3-0. Nothing else to say. We lost on Saturday, against a good team, partly because we didn’t take our chances. We got away with it here because we were the better side and got an early goal. But you cannot continue to miss chances like that if you want to get somewhere. 

Whilst it was cagey at times, with Swansea getting forward and occasionally making us work, the home side didn’t get their first shot on target until the 91st minute. Thankfully Paul Nardi had decided to have his best game of the season and pulled off two great saves in the dying minutes to keep all three points in our hands.

Swansea’s best chance, though, was one that anyone watching would’ve been scratching their head at how it remained 1-0. Ronald, who came on for the absent Inoussa, put a ball straight across the box on the half volley which only needed someone to breathe heavily over and it would’ve gone in. Somehow, Zan Vipotnik managed to miss the ball completely and the ball flew past him. That might explain why he hasn’t scored for 9 games. Big chance, big let off. That probably sealed it. If they couldn’t score that, they probably weren’t going to get their goal.

At last, after only three painful minutes added on, the whistle blew. Rangers were back to winning ways and up to 8th. Many, myself included, came away disappointed with the post-red card performance but upon reflection, you have to give the lads credit for what was a strong win on the road, that we had to work hard for. I can’t complain about that, as much as I may have wanted to.  

Player Ratings:

Paul Nardi – 7/10

His best game this season. Two huge saves at the end but still just looks shaky and flappy when given the ball at his feet. Probably secured us the three points so can’t be too critical of his performance. 

Jimmy Dunne – 6/10

Contrarily, Dunne’s weakest performance of the season (bar the obvious). Shocking on the ball but still contributed to a comfortable clean sheet where he wasn’t bothered much. Apart from, of course, allowing Ronald to hit that ball across the box. Not necessarily bad, but one of the weaker players on the pitch. 

Amadou Mbuenge – 7/10

Crucial to this win. Driving forward (he may have given the ball away in risky areas a couple of times through not releasing it early enough) but also winning his aerial duels and cleaning up his defensive area. It is just those risky decisions that someone just feel like they could go awfully wrong for him/us. 

Steve Cook – 8/10

Phenomenal from Cook. There’s something about Swansea away that Steve just loves. Maybe he’s got a mistress that lives out there. Who knows? Cook just seems to have such a good game every time he plays here (he was absent on Boxing Day, before you go there). 

Scoring the winner last time we won there, and playing a crucial part in winning us the game this time out. That’s not even taking into account the dark arts to get a man sent off. Warrior’s performance from Cookie. Commanded his defence like a captain. 

Sam Field – 7/10

I’m sure many were probably perplexed to see Field’s name on the team sheet but he did well for himself here. Defended well, made some good tackles, namely darting back to save Mbuenge from one of his errors. On the ball, he was okay, but there wasn’t much of a challenge in midfield, obviously, after the red card. It helped that the ones who remained had absolutely shocking games.

Isaac Hayden – 7.5/10

Had a little shift out on the left-wing for whatever reason. Got himself an assist through a run from deep into the box – a nice move well rewarded. Worked his socks off along with his midfield companions and played an important part in dominating that midfield. 

Nicolas Madsen – 8.5/10

Another man of the match performance. There’s no way this is the same Nico Madsen that I was watching last season. On Saturday I thought Madsen was one of our best players but defensively absent, here he was far from it. 

Madsen had control of that midfield in a way that I’ve not seen for years at QPR. The Dane made some crucial tackles, interceptions and clearances, but also got forward, whipping in crosses and having shots of his own. 

Madsen has probably been our best player so far this season but if he plays like he did today then I don’t see a reason he can’t carry us to some kind of success, or at least a strong league table finish. 

Paul Smyth – 5.5/10

Definitely the weakest performer for the winning side. Didn’t do anything of note and just couldn’t contribute to the attacking play. Most memorably running directly at defenders and losing the ball instead of playing Kone through on goal, Smyth just wasn’t at the races. Even if that move did win us a free kick (that’s one thing you can never deny his ability to do – win fouls). 

Koki Saito – 6.5/10

Fairly quiet from Koki, but can’t let his involvement in the goal go uncredited. Good hold up play to wait for Hayden to make his run and play him in just at the right time. Good pre-assist. Other than that, and a couple of early shots, Saito was pretty redundant. 

Richard Kone – 6/10

Attacking wise, another Wednesday away level performance from Kone, but played a key role in helping the defence, both from the front, and dropping deep when needed. Could have scored from his header in the first half but other than that, pretty absent in the box.

That’s the sacrifice we’ve had to make through playing Kone as a second striker. It’s working for now but we all want to see him play as a 9. That’s where we’ll get goals out of him. He’s doing fine though. 

Rumarn Burrell – 7/10

What a bloke. Superb finish for the goal – his second in five days. Great work rate again but after the goal, wasn’t very involved. Burrell wasn’t given any service but, in fairness, was marked out of the game by the Swansea back line after the goal.

 Substitutes:

• Kader Dembele (60’) – 6/10 – Deserved an assist for Chair’s missed sitter but also took one of the worst shots I’ve seen for a long time. A frustrating weekly occurrence from Dembele. Didn’t impact the game much. 
• Ilias Chair (71’) – 7/10 – Looked very sharp, ran the show for the period he was on. We looked a much better side with it being played through him. Absolutely shocking finish but forgiven for the work he put in. I’m very excited to see if a midfield including both Madsen and Chair is a possibility. 
• Jonathan Varane (71’) – 6.5/10 – Didn’t play badly since coming on but also missed a horrid sitter. Not a lot was asked of Varane but he did his bit, winning a couple of headers. Not much more to say. 
• Michael Frey (88’) – N/A

Man of the Match: Nicolas Madsen – 8.5/10

Sergio Busquets-esque performance from Madsen. Midfield general. Probably the first time I can say that about him, even since his turn around in form. Madsen ran the show both defensively and offensively. Sweeping, tackling and driving forward.

Every time Madsen gets on the ball at the moment you have a feeling that something will happen. 

I have an immense amount of trust in his capability with his feet. If he defends like that going forward, he’ll make a pretty complete player. 

Donkey of the Day: Jonathan Varane

Three stand out nominations for donkey here. Ilias Chair’s pathetic attempt whilst one on one with the keeper, Kader Dembele’s air shot and Varane’s open goal miss. Any time someone misses an open goal though, it has to go down as donkey. That’s a stinker. Sorry Jon. 

Swansea star player: Josh Tymon

Hard to pick a stand out player for a team that had to sacrifice any entertainment value from their game after going a man down. Can’t blame them, but it really wasn’t pretty from Swansea. They did defend well, and Josh Tymon was the man who I noticed was involved more than most. 

The left back got forward and created a few (pretty non-dangerous) chances for his side. He also won the majority of his duels, shut Smyth and then Dembele out of the game and had a very good all round game. Definitely the best performer from Swansea’s bunch.  

Up Next:

Championship Matchday 12: Derby County (A)

Score Prediction: Derby County 0-2 QPR

One to Watch: Carlton Morris

Despite being one of the teams we quite often get the better of, Derby is another fixture that I don’t look forward to. They played us at their ground at a really good time last season, when we seemed to have just given up on remaining a championship club completely. 

However, the reverse fixture was one of the best games we’ve had at home for a long time. It wasn’t quite Leeds United levels of blown away, but it was still a very convincing 4-0 victory. A chair brace, eith Edwards and Saito also scoring. 

I don’t think expecting more of the same is a million miles off with the style of football we’re playing at the moment, but it just stinks. Derby on terrible form, us on very strong form and near the top 6, what more do you need to know? This could go terribly. Especially after getting their first win of the season, albeit against a quite frankly woeful Norwich side.

But I won’t be that cynical. I’m gonna back us again. 2-0 win – Kone and Saito. As for Derby’s one to watch, there can only really be one, and that’s Carlton Morris. I wanted to go for Patrick Agyemang purely for the name, but I’m going for Morris.

Premier league experience, physicality, and a good finishing ability, Morris will be a problem for our centre halves. Scoring 4 in his first 4 games, Morris hasn’t scored in his last 7. So it makes even more sense for him to bag one here. Hopefully not, if my score prediction is anything to go by. 

Championship Gameweek 12 Predictions:

No time to round-up last week’s predictions this time. But here’s this weekend’s:

• Preston North End 1-2 Sheffield United
• Coventry City 3-1 Watford 
• Ipswich Town 1-2 West Bromwich Albion
• Portsmouth 1-1 Stoke City
• Blackburn Rovers 0-2 Southampton 
• Bristol City 1-1 Birmingham City
• Hull City 2-2 Charlton Athletic
• Middlesbrough 3-0 Wrexham
• Millwall 1-0 Leicester City
• Sheffield Wednesday 0-2 Oxford United
• Swansea City 2-0 Norwich City

An ugly win. But I’m sure you all remember a famous Ian Holloway interview which I won’t quote. See you Saturday. 

You R’s.

When You Don’t Take Your Chances…

This international break, for some reason, felt like months off – likely due to the high we felt from a 6-game unbeaten run and winning on the road most recently. So it felt bloody good to be back, and with the announcement of three key players (plus the briefly injured RND) returning to the squad, the excitement for this one was suspiciously high. 

London derbies don’t get played at 3pm anymore. It just doesn’t happen. A mix of Sky Sports re-scheduling and over-policing make it a pain for match going fans. But the last South London team to visit at 12:30 on a Saturday, also on Sky, we brushed aside, so fans were slightly optimistic despite only beating Millwall once in our last 5 meetings.

Going into this game, as the Sky Sports commentator was sure to keep reminding you, QPR were the ‘in-form team’ in the championship – unbeaten at home and no losses since Cov away. Millwall had also just smashed West Brom 3-0 and were yet to lose away from home in the league. I expected a draw, but on paper it was really one that could’ve gone either way. 

As it turned out, none of the three returning players – Chair, Poku or JCS – were in the Matchday squad. Not that you would’ve expected them to get many minutes of course, but when social media this week has seen nothing but talk about how stacked our attack now looks, it’s going to be underwhelming when you look at the team sheet and don’t see one of the returning names. 

Rhys Norrington-Davies, who was even more doubtful than the other three, was thrown straight back into the starting XI – probably in a bid to compete physically against Alex Neil’s aggressive Millwall side. Steve Cook kept his spot after a strong couple of performances, with internationals Saito and Burrell benched for Frey and Smyth.

It started immediately well, with a Jimmy Dunne quick throw being skillfully knocked down by Frey for Smyth to hit a satisfyingly struck volley which Max Crocombe had to get down for. A chance to go ahead 30 seconds in. We were pressing high and not giving Millwall any space or time to breathe. We looked sharp. 

Not long after, Massimo Luongo brought down Harvey Vale on the right wing, who whipped the resulting free kick in to no one, but after a Smyth ball back into the box was headed away, Cook was able to get a shot off from the edge of the box which nearly deflected its way to Kone, who claimed to have been brought down – I wasn’t convinced, and neither was the ref.

Millwall’s first chance came when Varane gave the ball away in a dangerous area of midfield, with Luongo the beneficiary, finding Smallbone whose long range effort forced one of the best saves we’ve seen from Nardi for a long time.

Luongo went down at 15 minutes, and stayed down for a long time. He didn’t look to be in a huge amount of pain but it was clearly a serious injury, which meant he couldn’t walk off the pitch, requiring a stretcher. The R’s faithful wished him well by singing his name as he was carried off.

Mass was replaced by Casper De Norre who, on his day, is capable of being one of the best midfielders in the division. The kind of ball-carrying, tough-tackling, ground-covering player that QPR often struggle to contain.

Rangers continued to look hungry, and keen to keep their run of form going. We looked comfortable in midfield, and good in the build up, and just kept going at them. Another Jimmy Dunne header in his favourite area of the pitch started another attack, where Frey and Kone linked up nicely to find Smyth, whose shot shook the bar. 

It’s looking good so far, but we need to put one of these chances away. The end product is lacking. 

An excellent first 30 minutes which was yet to be rewarded – Kone was playing well in the hole, and Smyth and Frey were making hard enough work of it for the defenders. But we just couldn’t break them down.

Due to a mix of good defending and bad decision making, the shots we could get off were of poor quality – like Kone’s awkward volley that went straight into the School end, and his scuffed shot that beat the post. So far, sloppy in front of goal from the Ivorian. 

Now 36 minutes of very promising, entertaining attacking football, still no reward. 

When you’re playing that well, getting forward that much, but not scoring, it only takes one good long ball for it to all crumble, and that’s exactly what happened. Kone was tackled on the right-wing enabling Billy Mitchell (no, not that one) to play a Pirlo-esque pass from deep to Femi Azeez who made a brilliant run past a trudging Steve Cook and did well to control it, and get a shot off. 

This was a weird one. It’s hard to fully pin the blame on Nardi, he did manage to save the first attempt, but his positioning was dreadful. He didn’t know if he was coming or going – dead centre in the middle of his box, allowing Azeez far too much time and space to make a decision and get a shot off.

Nardi’s save also fell straight back to the forward, whose rebound went through Nardi’s weakly planted fingertips and straight at Steve Cook, who, instead of blocking and booting it away, fell backwards into the net, along with the ball. 

36 minutes of near domination ruined by sleepy defending and wobbly goalkeeping. Mitchell was also given too much room to look up and make that pass – joint responsibility from Madsen and Varane. A good attack from a Millwall point of view, but an avoidable goal. Frustrating, but not game over yet. 

Heads weren’t lost after going behind, and we did continue to compete, winning corners and free kicks and posing a threat as we searched for an equaliser. There were a couple of let offs though, e.g. Madsen giving the ball away in our half, leading to an Azeez cross towards the back post which Ivanovic couldn’t reach. 

The Serb got a second chance when our entire back four and midfield decided to switch off and let a pretty poor cross, from the same position and same player, fly past 4 men in the box and reach him for an easy header past an unreactive Nardi.

There was a flick on from Varane, but there were three more men behind him who could’ve done something about it. that’s a really sloppy goal. Inattentive defending. 1-0 was frustrating, it happens. 2-0 was inexcusable.

Then, as the Millwall players ran over to the R block celebrating, the usual arms began to fly up in the air from the defenders, some looking over towards the Lino in the hope that maybe there was an offside there. 

No accountability, no responsibility, just moaning, shrugging and arm-waving. 

At this point, it was deserved. Wasteful in front of goal, sleepy at the back and uninspiring in the middle. A real collapse in the last 15 minutes of the half, undoing half an hour of really stimulating football. 

We knew what would now come in the second half – Millwall sitting back, bullying us (they’d already committed a number of fouls in the first half) and just making it impossible to get anything. 

That’s what they did. Cooper, Crama and Leonard sitting deep with Mitchell and De Norre sweeping in front of them. We needed fresh legs if we were going to trouble them. So, on the 54th minute, Dembele joined play in place of an underperforming Vale, with Morrison getting a knock, meaning Mbuenge was able to add some spice to the game.

The two of them did eventually make an impact but it wasn’t till 7 minutes later when Saito and Burrell were also thrown on that we were able to really tire them out and cause some trouble. From that point onwards it was surely a matter of time before we at least got one back. 

All four of these subs came on and allowed us to continue competing – outperforming the starters and giving us a fighting chance. The same theme of the first half remained however – wasting chances, making poor decisions and losing concentration. 

Jimmy Dunne came close from a corner, Mbuenge made a nice drive forward and put a promising cross in, Kone skied a shot and Dembele had a couple of chances, but it wasn’t happening. As frustrating as it was to waste so many opportunities, it’s a positive to see us fighting till the end and not embarrassing ourselves.

It wasn’t until the 85th minute however, that a move, started by Burrell, created by Dembele, assisted by Saito and then finished off again by Burrell, had us back in the game.

It felt like too little too late at the time, but for the remaining 13 minutes, Millwall were hanging on for dear life, relying on our silly decisions and poor end-product to get them over the line (that’s not to say they didn’t defend well).

Three chances to equalise stood out – A Dembele volley, which he had more than enough time and space to bring down, and create something proper, A Burrell header which really felt like it could’ve been the one, and a Steve Cook Bicycle kick in the dying moments which was welcomed by rolling eyes and audible sighs.

It was decision making like this that made it such a frustrating one. A loss was a fair result, we weren’t robbed, but when you compete like that in a game and come away with nothing because of sloppy attacking and dozy defending, it’s hard not to be irritated.

That being said, despite the loss, we competed against one of the ‘dark horses’ of the division, didn’t look out of our depth at any moment, looked comfortably the better side for a big chunk of the game, and still managed to score – there still is yet to be a game we haven’t scored in.

Plenty of positives to take from this, but as I said after Bristol, if you don’t take your chances, you get punished. This time it was us who faced punishment. 

This isn’t a loss to get upset about though. It’s one to learn from and continue playing the way we are, with some fine tuning in all areas of the pitch. We’re blatantly moving in the right direction, and we continue to prove that. 

Player Ratings:

Paul Nardi – 6/10

Highly, though not solely, at fault for the first goal, in another weekly instalment of his continuous campaign to get QPR to find a new goalkeeper. Made a couple of good saves, notably the camera save for Smallbone’s first half shot which he has since posted on his instagram story. 

Jimmy Dunne – 7/10

Dunne’s performances are going very unappreciated by our own fan base at the moment, and I’m not sure why. Possibly because we’ve had a few shaky moments at the back, such as the goal at Bristol, or the second Millwall goal, or maybe because any winger with pace has been able to get the better of him at least once a game and get a cross in. 

However, I think Dunne has been one of our best players this season, highly underrated. He was his usual self here, winning headers (11 aerial duels won. Eleven!!) against one of the most physical sides in the league, defending well but also providing an option down the right hand side. 

Dunne’s technical ability is obviously not the greatest but he does his best to link up with the midfield, and I think that 80% of the time, he doesn’t do a bad job of it – Dunne also won 3 fouls. For me, pace has been the captain’s only real shortfall this season. 

Steve Cook – 6/10

It was understood why Cookie was kept in the lineup for this one – aside from being on good form, he’s an experienced, physical defender who can provide stability against a well-drilled, aggressive team. This wasn’t a good day for him though. He just couldn’t get anything right. Pathetic attempt to stop the first, and played a part in Ivanovic being allowed to score the second. 

Cook, whilst mostly strong in the air was struggling to keep up with Azeez’s pace and skill. I said before that Cook has shown why he still has a place in this squad – I still believe that, but he’s probably not a starter. 

Liam Morrison – 5.5/10

Went off early in the second half due to a knock. Didn’t have a very strong first half. Not really involved, and when he was called upon, wasn’t amazing. A rare poor performance from Morrison, but not cause for concern, unless his injury is serious..  

Rhys Norrington-Davies – 6.5/10

RND is not far off Jimmy Dunne when it comes to aerial presence, and that showed here, but he was nowhere to be seen for either of the crosses that Azeez was able to put in from the exact same position – exactly where RND should be to stop that from happening. Again, not a terrible performance from the loanee, but arguably his worst so far. 

Jonathan Varane – 6/10

An off day for Varane. Poor decision making, poor passing, giving the ball away – just generally not at his best. Not much to say about it, but Varane stood out as one of our weaker performances, with Mitchell, Luongo and then De Norre showing him up in midfield.

Varane also flicked the ball on for the second goal, an unfortunate but avoidable mistake which threw the rest of his defence off (not to take any blame away from them). 

Nicolas Madsen – 6.5/10

The better of the two in midfield, Madsen’s passing and movement was decent, but the defensive work was lacking. In the first 30, I’d argue Madsen was one of if not the best player on the pitch, but once Millwall went ahead, Madsen went a bit quiet in terms of duels and tackles, but on the ball, was still a big outlet – whipping balls in, trying to create, and making the most passes of anyone on the pitch.

Harvey Vale – 5.5/10

Another one who had an off day. Couldn’t really tell you anything noteworthy that Vale did? Nothing comes to mind other than his (poorly) taken free kick which led to a chance on goal. Stephan was right to remove him. 

Paul Smyth – 6/10

Started off brilliantly, with his volley testing the goalkeeper 30 seconds in, then hitting the bar, and just generally linking up well with Frey and Kone. However, after Millwall went ahead, we didn’t hear from Smyth again. Drifted out of the game completely. Hooked on 61 minutes. 

Richard Kone – 6/10

I think we may start to see Kone as a number 9 soon. He does well as a 10 – holding the ball up well, bringing strikers and wingers into play, creating chances (for himself and those around him) – and is crucial, but I’d like to see him in the box more. Frey and Burrell aren’t as effective in the area as him, and so with Poku and Chair now back to play behind him, I feel he should be played as a striker again.

Saying that – the chances at goal Kone did have, he scuffed. At least three chances come to mind where he could have done a lot better, but didn’t even hit the target. To summarise – Kone did the ‘second striker’ role very well, but the ‘striker’ bit quite poorly. We know he’s capable of doing both well though.

Michal Frey – 5.5/10

Another one who started well, but after going behind, completely disappeared. Highlight of the game for Frey was his back-heeled lay off for Smyth’s volley. I really hope Frey remains part of Stephan’s plans, even if it’s the odd cameo.   

Substitutes:

• Amadou Mbuenge (54’) – 7/10 –  Didn’t concede with him on the pitch – though partly because of Millwall’s reluctance to leave their own half. Mbuenge also got forward and played some nice long balls, as well as a lovely cross that should’ve come to something.
• Kader Dembele (54’) – 6/10 – Thought Kaddie looked okay when he came on. Played a part in creating the goal, and was a definite upgrade on Vale’s performance. However, the end product still lacks with Dembele, some really poor shooting on show, and zero out of seven – yes, zero out of seven – accurate crosses. 
• Koki Saito (61’) – 6.5/10 – Understood why he didn’t start, but just as he has on other occasions off the bench, Koki changed the game and made it clear why he’s such a vital player for us. Running at the opposition and just being tough to deal with – getting a deserved assist. 
• Rumarn Burrell (61’) – 6.5/10 – Would have been higher had he put that header away. Burrell also brought his usual energy to the game and caused problems for Millwall. Started and finished the move for our goal, and gave us a real fighting chance.
• Kieran Morgan (71’) – Not a bad cameo from the returning Morgan, playing some nice passes and getting forward, but weak defensively, not winning any duels or tackles. Won a corner from a shot outside the box. Good to see him back in the side. 

Man of the Match – Amadou Mbuenge

It was obviously between the two sevens I’ve given out as to who was my man of the match. Dunne did have a solid game overall, but I just didn’t feel right giving him man of the match after his involvement in the second goal. 

Mbuenge was one of our best players after coming on, both defensively and going forward – so I’m putting him down as my first man of the match off the bench. Not a mind-blowing performance, but I do think Mbuenge deserves some praise after this one. He also technically kept a clean sheet.

With most looking pretty average, Mbuenge, Dunne and, in my view, Madsen, stood out as Rangers’ best players here. 

Donkey of the Day – Jonathan Varane

A slightly harsh one here but that flick on for the second goal gets the onion here. Could have given it to Nardi but I’ve given too many of these to keepers already – someone else has got to take one home. Not much he could do about it but it’s thrown off the entire defence (they were sleeping) and led to a silly goal. Unlucky but still my donkey.

Millwall star player – Femi Azeez

My one to watch once again being the best player on the pitch. It’s almost like football is easy to predict! Azeez was a nightmare from start to finish. An excellent run and control for his goal, though it should’ve been prevented. Then two crosses from the right-wing, the worse of the two leading to a goal. A deserved man of the match was awarded to Azeez for his performance. Not many complaints about that. 

Up Next: 

Championship Matchday 11: Swansea City (A)

Score Prediction: Swansea City 0-1 QPR

One to Watch: Gonçalo Franco

I’ll admit I’m not massively clued up on Swansea’s team – they’ve been pretty average so far this season, pretty much bang on where I expected them to be.

I wasn’t massively convinced by their transfer business though – upwards of £5 million on Adam Idah, who Celtic fans were happy to see go from what I could make out, and around the same on Zeidane Inoussa who doesn’t seem to have set the world alight either. 

Under Luke Williams, Swansea absolutely dominated Rangers on our last trip to South Wales, then, under new manager Alan Sheehan, took a much more direct approach, rather than the slow build that we saw at the Liberty. Whilst not hogging the ball as much, they still managed to beat us convincingly. 

Sheehan’s football, from what I’ve been able to gather, can be very closely compared to what Stephan has had our boys playing since our tactical switch – high-energy, transitional football, rather than just knocking it around aimlessly until a door opens like we did under Marti.

My unfamiliarity with Swansea’s squad and their playing style is why I’m finding it difficult to choose one to watch out of their bunch. Ben Cabango at the back has been a key player for the Swans but 10 goals conceded in 10 games, whilst amongst the better defensive records, isn’t exactly something to shout about. 

So I’m going to play it safe and go with one of their midfielders, Gonçalo Franco. Franco scored the third in Swansea’s 3-0 first half walkover on Boxing Day, and was generally one of the better players on the pitch.

The defensive midfielder has arguably been one of Swansea’s most important players so far this season and it’s a bit hit or miss this season on whether or not our midfield will decide to turn up on the day. 

Madsen has improved massively and been a key player this season but he and Varane still have off days and this was one of them, so they’ll have to be back to their best to compete in midfield with Franco, Cullen and Stamenic.

Swansea rank in the top 5 for average possession so I don’t expect us to see a lot of the ball, but we’ll need to be tighter in the middle to stop Cullen from finding the space to excel. 

Swansea are however, one of the lower ranking teams for goals scored, with their biggest threat coming in the form of Zan Vipotnik – a much more prolific Slovenian than the one we signed last summer, who will have a big physical presence (so don’t be surprised to see Cook in the side again).

Whoever does form the back line, will have to be switched on, ensuring that goals like the ones conceded at Bristol and at home to Millwall this weekend don’t happen. After all, it was these kinds of lapses in concentration that led to Swansea’s goals last time we visited.

It’ll be interesting to see how Stephan approaches this. Not only tactically but in terms of team selection. He’s got a full squad to choose from – I can’t remember the last time we were able to say that?

With an efficient, possessive team like Swansea, we may have to rely on counter attacks, but I back our attacking players to get something out of this, and our defenders to keep them quiet. I’m backing the boys to win 1-0. Burrell with the goal.

Championship Gameweek 11 Predictions: 

5 results and 1 score correct this week. Happy with that. Most pleased with the Hull away win at Birmingham – their first home loss in 30 something games, predicted correctly by me. Cov remain unbeaten, Boro are still just a point behind them. Stoke remain 3rd – we, once again, could have been joint on points with them with a win. 

Marti continues a good run at Leicester – their last loss coming over two months ago. Saturday’s opponents Derby are yet to win a game, they’re hanging around the bottom and at dangerous risk of falling behind, along with Eustace’s former club Blackburn. The city of Sheffield still shares the bottom two spots. 

• Blackburn 0-1 Sheffield United
• Derby County 1-1 Norwich City
• Hull City 1-1 Leicester City
• Ipswich Town 2-1 Charlton Athletic
• Millwall 2-0 Stoke City
• Portsmouth 0-2 Coventry City
• Preston North End 1-0 Birmingham City
• Bristol City 1-0 Southampton
• Watford 1-2 West Bromwich Albion
• Wrexham 1-2 Oxford United
• Sheffield Wednesday 0-2 Middlesbrough

A frustrating loss, but not one to get caught up on. Millwall are a good side, we’re not a bad one either. We competed from start to finish but lost out due to silly defending and wasteful attacking. Unbeaten run over, and a huge opportunity missed (once again) but it’s early days. Plenty of things to be positive about. See you after Derby. 

You R’s.

It Doesn’t Always Have to be Pretty

Championship Matchday 9: Bristol City (A)

Strangely, Ashton Gate is one of the few stadiums we always manage to come away from with something. Not in my case though – I’ve been twice and seen us lose 2-1 each time. So I’ll stay away from this one for the foreseeable. Firestick should suffice. 

As was the case last year, I wasn’t feeling very lucky this time out, especially after our collaboration with Oxford on Wednesday to demonstrate exactly how the sport shouldn’t be played. 

Going into this one without Amadou Mbuenge raised concerns about the lack of pace in our back line against a fast, intense, attacking side like Bristol City. But when it was announced that Rhys Norrington-Davies had picked up a knock, whilst nervous about his defensive ability, I was excited to see Esquerdinha back in the line-up. 

It could go wrong, but a young, skillful, attacking full-back could also suit a game like this. And suit it he did. One of our better players on the day, Esquerdinha was one that stood out amongst a pretty below-average team performance.

The back four, shakier than they were in the week, did an okay job, but they’ll (Esquerdinha included) be counting their lucky stars that they came away from this with just the one conceded. 

City posed a threat early on and, at 15 minutes gone, when they carried the ball from their own half towards our penalty box, it looked like we were in for a long day. A nice passing move which went, with ease, through our midfield and then our defence, fell to Twine 7 yards out – a gift that he somehow managed to send into row Z.

Outside of this chance, Rangers were competing. It wasn’t pretty, we were by no means the better side, but we were in the game. 

There were a few chances our way – Saito popping a couple of shots off, both of which were smashed into a Bristol defender – but it was pretty unconvincing from both teams. The better opportunities fell to the home side, and after half an hour, Mark Sykes, unchallenged by Esquerdinha, overhit a cross that our defence were utterly convinced had gone out of play. 

Whether or not it had, we don’t play at a level where you get fifteen different angles, so we’ll never know. But the Lino didn’t think it had, and whilst half our team had stopped to throw their arms in the air, Neto Borges, with not a single man within 15 yards of him, volleyed it straight back across the box, reaching an unmarked Emil Riis to head into the top corner.

There’s no point pointing fingers – neither the two creators, nor the goal-scorer were marked. Play to the whistle lads, it’s basic stuff. This goal was nice on the eye, but shouldn’t have been allowed to happen. Proper schoolboy defending from everyone. 

Our best chance of the half came from a Jimmy Dunne throw-in that Kone brought down and laid off quite nicely for Dembele, whose first-time shot on the bounce almost went out for a throw-in. 

A few minutes later Dembele played a hospital pass back to Dunne who couldn’t get to it (a quicker player may have been able to) and Bristol were on the counter. Madsen managed to get a tackle in, but Varane’s weak clearance fell straight to Zak Vyner who fancied himself from distance. Nothing came of it – another free header for the back row spectators.

The Robins continued to control the game into the second half and when Kone was booked for daring to even put a hand on the opposition player (commentator claimed there was a tug on the shirt – there wasn’t), they had a free kick in a very dangerous area. 

Mehmeti whipped it into the box but Varane was able to head it out. The resulting corner ended up falling to Randell on the edge of the box who volleyed it out of the ground. Another couple of chances wasted for the home side, after which the game slowly started to look in real danger of dying out. 

One thing you can’t do with this manager or this squad at the moment, is write us off before the subs have been made. Stephan, having given it 15 minutes of the second half, into the second half, decided it was time to turn to his bench, swapping Dembele and Saito for Vale and Smyth – the former bringing creativity and the latter (who scored here from the half-way line last season) bringing pace. 

One minute was all it took for these changes to take effect. When Esquerdinha played a beautiful long ball to the edge of the box, Dickie headed out wide to Vale (cheers Rob) and the sub put a nicely whipped cross in with his left foot. 

The cross didn’t reach an attacker, but the defence scrambled and it was retrieved in battle by Harvey on the edge of the box for a second chance, this time with his right, hitting a more powerful ball to reach Kone at the back post, who had to work quickly, bringing the ball down and striking at precisely the right moment, into the roof of the net. 

We were back in it. A three-game drought was over for King Kone, and he had his fourth goal in six starts. This was not an easy chance to finish – potentially the most impressive one he’s scored for us so far. With barely any time to think, Kone had to hit it, on the bounce, before it got away from him, demonstrating a real striker’s instinct. A good first touch, an even better strike. 

Bristol then responded with subs of their own, bringing on Sinclair Armstrong (we know how this ends) and Yu Hirakawa. Two quick players, one with a £2.5million sized point to prove, coming on with just over 20 minutes to play had me biting my nails. 

However, the equaliser had given Rangers a bit of life. Kone received the ball on the edge of our box, and started a promising counter attack, finding Burrell, who was gone before you could even read the shirt number of the man chasing him, and then catching up for the Jamaican to find him in a perfect position. Kone scuffed the shot and was visibly shocked – a huge chance to go in front and bag his first brace.

We had really gained some confidence. Only half a minute later, Dunne whipped a ball in to find Kone again, who the defenders had made sure to mark this time around, and he was unable to get a good angle, with his softly-hit first-time volley going wide. We could actually get something here. 

At this point, it could have gone either way, and my one to watch, Mehmeti, should have put his team back in front when he created a chance for himself with three defenders around him, but he ultimately lost balance and put his shot just wide of the post. A let-off for a slight lapse in concentration. 

It has to be said that for the next ten minutes, we were hanging on. When Esquerdinha misjudged a challenge and let the ball fly past him to McCrorie, he was quick to recover and stop the chance, at the cost of a corner. 

The corner reached Rob Atkinson at the front post who couldn’t shrug Kone off to get a better angle, and we were let off again, with his header going out for a goal kick. They kept coming at us however, and not long after, McCrorie put another good chance wide. 

A third change was made by Stephan with Kolli replacing Kone, bringing fresh legs and pace to cause late danger for City. It was good to see the youngster back in the side, and he played a vital role in what was to come.

Paul Smyth, driving forward through the middle, played it to Kolli on the edge of the box who knocked a quick first-time ball to Vale, who received it on the turn and passed it out wide to Dunne, who put a near-perfect cross in towards the back post. 

Smyth, the man who started the move, managed to leap and win a header as McCrorie preferred to fall onto the ground with his arms and legs in the air like a flipped cockroach, but the ref wasn’t fooled and Smyth’s header was hit perfectly into the far corner. 

That’s what happens when you don’t take your chances. You get punished. Bristol could have put this game to bed on several occasions but just couldn’t find the net.

I back this team going forward against anyone at the moment, they really do know where the net is. That wasn’t an easy chance either, especially for the shortest man on the pitch.

We just had to hang on now – a goal up, against the run of play away from home. This would be a huge way to sign off for the International break.

After going behind, the chances didn’t stop for the reds – Neto Borges had a shot which was blocked, and then in the 90th minute, we were let off once again when a long throw reached Yu at the back post who headed just over.  

6 minutes of added time had me nervous but by then our low-block had come into effect, and with Frey joining play to add some height and strength, we were able to see it out for 3 points. 

It’s cliche, but the most successful teams always manage to grind out results when the performances don’t justify them, and success always comes with a bit of luck. Especially in a 24-team division as chaotic and inescapable as ours. 

It’s too early to say what ‘success’ actually means for us, but 6 games unbeaten and sitting in the play-off spots going into the second break, is not bad going. When you look back to where we were even two months ago, to be in the top 6 is quite a shock – this time last season we had one win in nine.

Cool heads are needed. We are in unfamiliar territory and I’m sure the nose bleeds are in full effect, but it’s important to remember what’s to come. It’s a long old winter in English football, no matter what level you play at. That’s where the men are separated from the boys. 

Bar the nightmare first three, we’ve had a good start, but it’s been a nice run. Cov and Stoke have been the toughest opponents we’ve faced – one embarrassed us and the other, in fairness, we comfortably brushed aside. Bristol City was another test with the start they’ve had, and on another day, they probably win that game.

Looking at our next seven, we’re in for a tough run.  Millwall, Swansea, Derby, Ipswich, Southampton, Sheffield United, Hull – whilst these are all winnable games, more questions will be asked of us than the likes of Wrexham, Charlton, Oxford and Wednesday were able to put to us – but with a few faces returning from injuries, there’s no reason why we can’t pick up a decent amount of points. 

That’s failing to mention that there’s also Boro, West Brom and Leicester to play. I’m not raising any alarms, I’m very happy with where we are – but going into the break, it’s worth looking at what we’ve got ahead of us, and if we replicate a couple of our performances in the last six (arguably all of the last three), our luck may run out, and we will get punished. 

Rather than letting that concern me, I’m opting to enjoy it while it happens. 4 wins and 2 draws from our last 6, in the top 6 for the first time since 2022, it’s hard to not feel optimistic right now. It’s always nice to go into a break with a win – it’s even nicer to go into it without losing since before the last one. 

Okay, we aren’t world beaters, we have flaws, but you can’t complain when you’re consistently getting points on the board. When was the last time we had depth like this? When was the last time a manager was able to look at the bench and have genuine quality that could replace underperforming starters? And you’re telling me we have even more to add to it?

I’m really liking this squad. It’s an honest, hard-working bunch, every single one of whom has bought into the club. Look at every player’s socials after a win. They’re all buzzing, they’re all loving it. The scenes at full-time, the celebrations. It’s great. 

Let’s rate some players.

Player Ratings:

Paul Nardi – 6.5/10

Most of the missed chances from our opposition were either out wide or over the bar, so Nardi didn’t have much to do – no saves to make. Distribution was also dodgy. Not busy enough to mark up but not bad enough to mark down.  

Jimmy Dunne – 7/10

Dunne looked off the pace in the first half, was nowhere to be seen for the goal – until of course his hand was in the air shouting at the lino – and just generally struggled to cope with Borges and Mehmeti.

Massively improved in the second half, and his cross for the winner made up for it all, but defensively he didn’t have a great game. Regardless, Dunne has been crucial to our form since Cov away and is still one of the first names on the team sheet. 

Liam Morrison – 6.5/10

Not only one of four men who could take equal blame for the goal, but just generally a poor game. Some of the chances Bristol City were able to create were far too easy. Not a shocking performance, but one that, without luck on our side, could have ended a lot worse. 

Steve Cook – 6.5/10

The same goes for Cook. Neither performance was terrible, but some of the defending on show was shaky, and City were made to feel more comfortable than they should have been.

We did expect, on a big pitch, for our slower centre-half pairing to struggle against a quicker attack, and with all said and done, they didn’t embarrass themselves in the end. Cook has proven, especially on Wednesday night, that he still has something to offer to this team, and I’m happy for him. 

Esquerdinha – 7/10

Defensively better than previous appearances, but still has moments where he loses focus on his duties, particularly prominent for the goal where Sykes was able to put a cross in unchallenged. 

Played some lovely long balls, such as the one that led to our equaliser, and was crucial in offering some pace to our defence to support the other three who really lack it. Esquerdinha was, for me, the best performer of the back four on Saturday but still has plenty of room to improve. 

Jonathan Varane – 8/10

A warrior in midfield. Take Varane out of that side and this probably becomes a loss. I’ve said previously that he always has a mistake or a silly decision in him, and he still hasn’t managed to shake that habit – this time a clearance straight to a City attacker, but if you can look past those weekly slip ups, Jon really is the rock of this side. 

His strength is so important to us. I’ve never seen more players bounce off a midfielder than Varane, he is so hard to dispossess and in a duel, I back him against anyone. Varane was also crucial in the air on Saturday, winning 3/3 aerial duels. 

Nicolas Madsen – 7.5/10

A continuation of Madsen’s spectacular form. He and Varane have managed to form a great pair in the middle, making them arguably our two most important players. Their absence was clear on Wednesday and I have little confidence that we would have got the win here without them.

Aside from his positioning, new-found bravery and work-rate, one thing that’s highly noticeable about Madsen’s transformation is his vocalism. Madsen seems to be far more confident in himself, and his teammates are benefitting from it. He’s not afraid to dish out orders, gee his men up or command his teammates. 

Madsen remains top of the pile for ball recoveries AND chances created for QPR, and made the most tackles of both sides in this fixture. A real turnaround from the big Dane, one of the players of the season so far. 

Kader Dembele – 5/10

It’s not clicking for Kaddie at the moment. Our best player in pre-season, Dembele then looked sharp in our opener against Preston. But since the confidence killing run of Watford and Cov, he hasn’t been able to impact the team.

It must be said that in some of these games, Dembele has looked okay – he looked sharp coming off the bench at Wrexham and was, if it means anything, our best player at Cov. The 22 year-old has shown in other games, glimpses of what he can offer, with some decent crosses from both dead balls and open play, but his physicality, defensive work and overall presence isn’t enough to win us games. 

He’s mostly good on the ball, and gets himself into good areas, but often takes too many touches, is too weak to beat his man or is wasteful with his passing. To add to this, he offers absolutely no help to his defence. Dembele wasn’t on it today, and with everyone fit, he’s at serious risk of falling way down the pecking order. 

Koki Saito – 6/10

A quiet game for our new Japan international. A couple of decent runs and dribbles, but all in all not very impactful. Had two shots in the first half then we didn’t really hear from him again. Also lacked the defensive work that he usually at least mucks in with. 

Rumarn Burrell – 7/10

I have just really, really enjoyed this signing so far. Have I made that clear yet? Not mentioned him much in the match review, because ultimately his relentless hard work went unrewarded, but this was a typical Burrell performance. Running, battling, running some more, getting forward, running again, getting stuck in, running even more – he just doesn’t stop. 

First touch and final ball could do with some work but he should have had an assist when he found Kone on the edge of the box who scuffed his shot. I hope he picks up some goal contribution numbers in games to come, he deserves it. Absolutely crucial player. 

Richard Kone – 8/10

4 goals in 6 starts as a second striker. That’s not bad that, is it? Kone suits this role with his hold up play, physicality and positional awareness, but with everyone fit, I’d like to see him dispatched as a 9. It’s a big selection headache, as Kone sitting behind Burrell works very well, but as our main goalscorer, it just makes sense for him to play as an out and out striker when we have creative players like Saito, Chair, Poku and Dembele to work behind him. 

For now though, this is working. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Kone did have two or three chances to add more than just the one to his tally, but was either covered by a defender or hit a poor shot. The one he did put away though, was not easy. A real striker’s goal, in a crowded box with very little thinking time. Instinctive, powerful and clinical. 

Substitutes:

• Harvey Vale (65) – 7/10 – Changed the game. His work for the equaliser, and even his involvement in the winner, were more than Dembele has managed in his last four games – that’s not a dig, it’s just an unfortunate fact. A two-footed creative player like Vale will shine for us. I guess I was wrong about his best position being an 8 (we still haven’t seen it), as he’s been outstanding at right-wing in all but two or three of his appearances so far.
• Paul Smyth (65) – 7/10 – He just loves Ashton Gate. Started the move and finished off the winner. Not much more needs to be said. Was an ineffective sub at Wednesday, was wasteful against Oxford, but redeemed it all with that leap and header. Outstanding goal. 
• Rayan Kolli (83) – 7/10 – A bit pointless giving a rating for the ten minutes he played but I feel he genuinely did impact the game – his involvement in the winner was small but crucial, and he just generally looked hungry (I’m not surprised with the lack of minutes he’s been getting recently). I’m just glad Stephan hasn’t forgotten about him. 
• Michael Frey (90) – N/A

Man of the Match – Jonathan Varane 

Despite it not being the prettiest performance, there were actually a few candidates for man of the match. Madsen won the fan vote, and I’ve seen shouts for Burrell, Esquerdinha and Kone. For me though, it was our rock in midfield. 

Varane was everywhere. Held his own in midfield, battled for every ball, won his duels, and was just brutal. Going forward was a bit dodgy, with several misplaced passes and long balls, but his work-rate, defensive work and ground covered made up for all of it. Probably not the most obvious shout, but for me, we don’t win that game without Varane sitting in the middle and doing the dirty work. Immense performance. 

Donkey of the Day – Jimmy Dunne, Liam Morrison, Steve Cook and Esquerdinha 

The first ever joint donkey. I can’t pick one defender who’s more to blame for that goal than the other. Every single one switched off. Esquerdinha absent for the first cross, Dunne absent for the second, and the two central boys stationary for the header. All four are taking this one home. PLAY TO THE WHISTLE!

Bristol City Star Player – Neto Borges

It’s hard to pick a standout for the home side with the amount of chances they wasted. McRorie was heavily involved, Adam Randell had a lot of control in the midfield (not at all a criticism of Nico and Jona) and the back three, forgetting that they let the shortest man on the pitch score a header, had a solid game. 

The player who caused us the most problems though, was probably Borges – who, at least in the first half, had Jimmy Dunne re-thinking his permanent shift to right-back. That cross on the volley, even if it had gone out of play, which landed on an unmarked 6 ft 3 striker’s head was seriously impressive. Shocking defending, avoidable goal, etc. etc., but you have to admire it. 

It doesn’t always need to be pretty. Some concerns about the performances in our last three are understandable. But the fact that, when it isn’t working, we have the resources to chop and change where necessary, is such a positive. 

Stephan has a better, deeper squad than Marti had, there’s no doubt about it – but his adaptability has proved to be a massive improvement on the stubbornness of his predecessor. 

Cifuentes – granted, often because he would turn to his bench to find Alfie Lloyd, Lucas Anderson, Elijah Dixon-Bonner, Harrison Ashby or whatever academy player had been promoted to the bench that week – was not so willing to swap out some of his bigger players when it wasn’t working. 

When you look at our team now, particularly going forward – Saito, Vale, Dembele, Kone, Burrell, Smyth, Frey – when someone isn’t playing up to standard, the options are there, and every one of them seems hungry. 

When we return from the slog that is non-tournament England football, one of our marquee signings, Kwame Poku is set to return – that’s an exciting addition to the squad. On top of that, we have our longest serving player and number 10, Ilias Chair. That’s a pretty insane level of attacking depth. 

Bring on the tougher games. These are exciting times.

Up Next:

Championship Matchday 10: Millwall (H)

Score Prediction: QPR 1-1 Millwall

One to Watch: Femi Azeez

It’s a local lad to look out for this time. Azeez grew up in Ruislip, and began his career with very brief spells at Wealdstone and Hanwell Town before Reading found him. Millwall picked him up last season after Reading failed to return to the championship, and he had a decent first season in South London, scoring 4 and assisting 5. 

Scoring and assisting in their 3-0 win over West Brom over the weekend, I’m hoping that the week off takes some momentum away from him. Azeez does tend to go quiet on occasion but his skill and pace will definitely startle RND or whoever he ends up facing. 

Femi is also one of those players that loves a screamer. He did it for Reading and has done it for Millwall a number of times. His goal this weekend – bringing a long ball down on the counter attack, cutting in on his left, and curling it top bins from distance – is a prime example of that. 

Millwall have quite a decent side – Left-back Zak Sturge has impressed so far this term, he completes a back four that, taking away their home thrashings at the hands of the top 2, have only conceded 5 so far. Billy Mitchell commands the midfield well, and we know what Luongo is capable of.

It’s Azeez that worries me though, we don’t historically fend well against a left-footed talisman – Morgan Whittaker, B*rry B*nnan, etc. So our defence will need to be aware of the threat he poses.

It is at home where Millwall’s form has let them down this season – they’re currently unbeaten on the road. We’re also catching them at a pretty bad time, on the back of a comfortable beating of the Baggies, but QPR go into this game a point above, hoping to continue a run of 6 games without a loss. I think it’ll become 7, but with just a point, rather than three.

Championship Gameweek 10 Predictions:

This was arguably my best week, with three score lines bang on – I’m most happy about predicting Preston to beat Charlton 2-0, the other two; Watford 2-1 Oxford and Blackburn 1-1 Stoke, were more predictable. No one would’ve backed Pompey against Boro, and Millwall’s turnover of West Brom was also a shock. 

I’m not sure what I was smoking when I went for a Norwich away win at Portman Road (in my defence they hadn’t lost that derby for 15 years going into this one) as Norwich continued their pretty horrendous form and got a spanking. 

Sheffield United make it 8 losses out of 9, they’ll be in real trouble if they don’t start getting some wins after the break, and Cov remain unbeaten at the top of the table, with a goal difference of 20. 27 scored, 7 conceded. We’re 9 games in. This is a super team. 

Here are my predictions for the first weekend back:

• Middlesbrough 1-1 Ipswich Town
• Oxford United 1-0 Derby County
• Southampton 2-1 Swansea City
• Birmingham City 1-2 Hull City
• Charlton Athletic 1-1 Sheffield Wednesday
• Coventry City 3-1 Blackburn Rovers
• Norwich City 1-1 Bristol City
• Sheffield United 2-0 Watford
• Stoke City 2-1 Wrexham
• West Bromwich Albion 2-2 Preston North End
• Leicester City 2-1 Portsmouth 

See you after Millwall.

You R’s.

Rotation, Rotation, Rotation

Championship Matchday 8 – Oxford United (H)

The annual stink-off between QPR and Oxford United at Loftus Road took place on Wednesday night. This time it was only the visitors aiming to justify their spot in the division, with QPR playing for a potential 3rd place spot (or the points equivalent). Neutral Sky Sports viewers without access to Champions League football are probably scratching their heads as to why they’ve been forced to watch this fixture for the second year running. 

With 3 games in 7 days – the first of several repetitions of that schedule – rotation was expected. Varane was hooked at half time on Saturday, so it was clear that Hayden was due his first start since returning. Dembele looked semi-threatening at Hillsborough, so Stephan opted for him over Saito, and Duracell Bunny Rumarn Burrell was due a recharge, so Michael Frey was plonked up top with Kone. 

What I, and probably most, didn’t expect, was to see Sam Field and Steve Cook back in the fold. With Madsen in the form of his life and the Mbuenge-Morrison partnership materialising nicely, this felt like a bit too much chopping and changing. However, remembering that it was a Fieldy brace which saved us from falling asleep the last time this lot visited, I was willing to listen. 

Comparing the quality of Wednesday’s opponents with Saturday’s (ironically the former comfortably beating the latter just two games ago), I was happy for this to be the game where a few fringe players got their opportunities, with a reversion back to our strongest selection on the weekend. Not complacency, just pragmatism. 

To give you an idea of the quality on show, if you watch the YouTube highlights (even the extended ones), the first of them doesn’t come until after 27 minutes of football, where Dembele’s best work of the half in finding Frey with a perfectly weighted pass, was wasted by the striker’s eagerness leaving him off-side. A good potential chance wasted.

Sam Field was chaotic as ever, with Hayden struggling to impact the game outside of his sideways play. Brannagan and De Keersmaecker – neither of whom looking spectacular – were able to make pretty easy work of the midfield and it was played through with little resistance, especially on the counter. 

That’s where Oxford provided the most danger – getting back up the pitch after our wasteful forward play landed the ball back at their feet, and getting shots off, most of which from long distance, which is exactly what I warned about in my preview last week. The back four did their job, keeping them at bay, but the midfield issues which were so prominent in our opening 3 fixtures looked to have returned – I think we know what, or who, the common denominator here is. 

We can count ourselves lucky that Przemlyslaw Placheta was just as ineffective as his last appearance in W12. Based on the few times I’ve seen this man play, it’s a mystery how he hasn’t dropped down to League One since arriving in England. He and his left-sided counterpart, Filip Krastev, could barely put a decent cross in and had two wayward shots apiece, whilst Will Lankshear and Nik Prelec didn’t even touch the ball 60 times between them.  

In terms of our own attack, Dembele was wasteful in possession, giving the ball away a few times, didn’t battle, and took too long to get shots off – often chopping and taking too many touches. The one time he did get one off, he drilled it past the post – not marginally either. Vale wasn’t much better, but at least he did his bit defensively. 

Richard Kone, once again positionally near-perfect, did all the right things – making the right runs, holding the ball up, linking up with those around him, driving at defenders, showing in the box – but the service just didn’t come for him, and he was unable to have a single shot. 

Michi Frey, in his first start of the season, was poor. He had a powerful shot from distance which did trouble Jamie Cumming in the net but it proved to be too central. As far as I’m aware, this was the only save he had to make in 90 minutes. 

Frey was also nowhere to be seen for a couple of first half instances where the ball was put into the box, with Kone’s cross into a dangerous area immediately coming to mind. Other than a Steve Cook shot over the bar, there wasn’t much else from anyone worth remembering in this half.

After the break, Dembele almost left the pitch with a parting gift when he put a cracking cross into Kone who headered wide, probably the striker’s biggest chance to get his goal. I’ve mentioned the lack of service that came his way but it has to be said that he probably should do better there. 

Stephan waited till the hour to make his changes this time out, with Madsen, Burrell and Saito replacing Field, Dembele and Frey. For the first ten minutes that these three were on the pitch, we looked a different side – dare I say, pretty electric – but Oxford defended well and we couldn’t make the most of what chances we were able to create. 

Madsen once again looked sharp –  an instant upgrade on Fieldy, both on the ball and off it. He put himself about, and opened the game up. Madsen also put a number of decent corners in that we failed to capitalise on. Burrell was a good option off the bench, but again, couldn’t break down Oxford’s back line. Saito was a breath of fresh air – an injection of energy into the game that was really, really needed. 

Steve Cook decided to have a go at being a right-winger for thirty seconds, when Mbuenge played a ball across to him from his own half, where he drilled a cross, on the half-volley, into a dangerous area of the box but ultimately couldn’t find Kone. After Oxford failed to clear their lines, Cookie got a second attempt at it and this time did find Kone for a one touch lay off to Hayden, who found Vale, only for his 20-yard shot to deflect wide. 

Due to our own wastefulness, made worse by Oxford’s frustratingly-low block, this energy didn’t take long to wear off, and the game was back to its sluggish nature. I’d say it was around the 70 minute mark where I accepted we weren’t going to see a goal in this one. 

Paul Smyth has his critics. Plenty of them. I’ve always been of the opinion that off the bench, this man is such a good asset to have. In an almost similar way to Burrell, what he lacks in ability, he makes up for in pace, energy and effort. So when Smyth was chucked on (this time on the wing rather than centre-forward) I was hopeful that Jack Currie and Co. would struggle to cope.

To a certain extent, they did. Smyth was running at them, getting into dangerous areas (though often found out of position) and winning fouls. Whilst he’s always a good fresh pair of legs, as is quite often the case with Smyth, the end product let us down.

A well created chance was squandered when he failed to see Kone in enough space to land a helicopter, and instead hit an aimless ball straight at the first man. He pulls that back and we move up to 14 points. An insanely obvious option – he had more than enough time to see it, stop for a pint and play it. 

One man I haven’t mentioned so far is Rhys Norrington-Davies. Another almost flawless defensive performance from the Welshman, whose hard work would go unnoticed on the surface – but he was once again all over the pitch, only Dunne and Currie touching the ball more. 

There’s still the obvious room for improvement when it comes to Rhys’ end product and final ball, but his work rate is phenomenal and, giving Gobby Rowett a shove after the 51-year old got in his face, has put him even higher in Rs fans’ estimations than he was already. 

The rest of the defensive department can also hold their heads high – Cook, Dunne and Mbuenge were all solid, but RND’s relentless drive and energy put him a slight level above. Mbuenge, going into this game, was only allowed one more yellow card before being handed a suspension. Of course he got his final strike on Wednesday and this now begs the question as to who starts on Saturday. 

A back four of Jimmy Dunne, Steve Cook, Liam Morrison and Rhys Norrington-Davies, will get absolutely burnt for pace against Mehmeti, Twine and Yu Hirakawa, so don’t be surprised to see a Rangers low-block on Saturday, in a desperate attempt to keep our unbeaten run going.

Oh, sorry, did you think we were done? 

There were 5 minutes added on at the end of this game, but the ref must’ve missed the handbags that were occurring on the touchline after the incident mentioned above, and failed to add on any more than 40 extra seconds, so really, it was 2 and a half minutes. 

Oxford could have won it with 10 seconds to go when De Keersmaecker put a free-kick into the box and Michael Helik headed wide – From the R block, it looked like that was it. Nardi glued to his line, free header, that should have been a banker. My heart sank. Huge let off. 

The plan was to have both Wednesday‘s and Saturday’s games in the same issue, hence both being previewed in my last issue. But with how much I’ve managed to waffle about a 0-0 draw, I think it’s best to review the two separately. 

That’s the second of three in quick succession, and the most winnable one has slipped through our fingers. We failed to take another opportunity to climb the table, because that’s what we do. But it’s football – and if that Oxford side can win at Ashton Gate, then we are more than capable. 

A dull game, between a heavily changed Rangers side and a nasty Rowett one who made it very difficult for us. Time to do some (briefer than normal) ratings.  

Player Ratings: 

Paul Nardi – 6/10:

Wasn’t tested once by the Yellows. Distribution was poor as usual, and he stuck to his line for the few occasions that Oxford did get balls into the box. Second Clean sheet of the season – helped by four strong defensive performances in front of him. 

Jimmy Dunne – 7/10

Aerial dominance? Tick. Pocketed his winger? Tick. Strong in the tackle? Tick. Textbook Jimmy performance yet again, let down by his forward play. 

Amadou Mbuenge – 7/10

Bar a slip or two, a couple of dodgy touches, and getting himself suspended, another decent performance, injecting pace into our defence and playing some nice long balls. We will struggle without him on Saturday. 

Steve Cook – 7.5/10

This is the Steve Cook we know and love. That’s why he was captain last season. Proper defensive performance. Tried his best to help out the attack, putting balls in the box and having shots of his own, but defensively, Cook made a statement that he’s still got something to prove. That’s what we want to see after not getting a certain centre-half in the window.

Rhys Norrington-Davies – 7.5/10

I really, really don’t understand why Sheffield United fans were so negative about this man and so desperate to get him out of their squad. He’s been arguably our best player since arriving, whilst they sit bottom. Their loss, I’d take him on a permanent at this rate. Proper left-back.

Sam Field – 6/10

Better on the ball than usual, but still way too absent and just left a gaping hole for Oxford’s midfield to stroll through. Field has been so important to us but he’s fallen off a cliff this year, not quite sure what’s happened there. 

Isaac Hayden – 6/10

Not as reliable as his previous appearances, you usually know what you’re getting with Hayden – a cool head who can pass the ball competently. He was a bit off on Wednesday, but it’s what you expect when he’s paired up with someone who’s forgotten what level of football he’s supposed to be playing at. Not that I’m blaming Field for Hayden’s performance – it was sub-par from the 30 year-old but nothing problematic. I still back him to do well in a stronger pairing. 

Harvey Vale – 6.5/10

Quiet game for Vale. Tracked back and linked up with RND, but just didn’t create enough or provide enough service for Frey or Kone, I can’t see him starting at Ashton Gate.

Kader Dembele – 6/10

I really don’t know what to think about Dembele anymore. Sometimes when you see him on the ball, he looks technically a level above, but more often than not it’s pretty ineffective. I think his physicality really lets his footballing ability down and it’s a real shame. He is capable of providing some real threats and we saw glimpses of it both in this game and at Hillsborough, but he just isn’t impactful enough to warrant a starting position. 

Michael Frey – 5.5/10

Pretty poor performance from the big man. Looked sharp-ish at the start and I’m sure he’s more annoyed than anyone about getting caught off-side, but after his long-range shot on target in the first half, I couldn’t really tell you anything that Frey added to this game.

Richard Kone – 6.5/10

We have to remember what we’re dealing with here. This man was playing step 5 two years ago. You can see it from his touch sometimes, but this is by no means someone who is out of his depth. You can look at his ratings or stats over the last three games, or write him off for not scoring in 3, but if you watch him you can see that this is a striker who knows his role. He knows where to be and he what to do. Smyth pulls that chance back to him and he gets his fourth QPR goal. Kone is doing just fine.

Substitutes:

• Nicolas Madsen – 7/10 – Changed the game, closed a gap in midfield and opened up the play. Put some very good crosses in.
• Koki Saito – 6.5/10 – Brought some energy to the game and made some very good runs. Caused problems for defenders but couldn’t get that end result.
• Rumarn Burrell – 6/10 – Looked sharp as ever, but was unable to break down Oxford’s back line. Had a couple of chances but nothing clear cut. 
• Paul Smyth – 5.5/10  – Still a useful player to have off the bench, especially for winning fouls and frustrating the opponent, but on the ball, very frustrating. Don’t want to keep going on about that chance at the end but it’s really simple stuff for a professional winger. Not good enough at all. 
• Jonathan Varane – N/A – Only played 10 minutes, but looked strong in that short period, despite a pretty pathetic ball over the top in an attempt to find Saito for a huge late opportunity. 

Man of the Match – Rhys Norrington-Davies 

This was a toss-up between RND and Steve Cook. Both had exceptional games but the left-back edges it for me – he was everywhere. If he could improve on his final ball he’d be one of the best left-backs in the league. Defensively, he’s levels and levels above any left-back we’ve had in recent years. so impressed with this signing so far. Passionate, hard-working and very solid. 

The fact that Sheffield United fans all knew that this man was capable of being one of the best in the league, yet decided to write him off this season after one game at centre-half, is pretty confusing but I’m not complaining. Hopefully a deal can be agreed for his permanent signature in the summer. 

Oxford United Star Player – Sam Long

With the way Oxford set up, it was always going to be a defender who stood out. Their attack was pretty useless, even if their midfield did overrun ours for the majority, at least until Madsen came on. 

There were two stand out candidates for Oxford  – Sam Long and Jack Currie. The latter put in a solid defensive performance from left-back, with Dembele, Vale and Smyth all struggling to get the better of him, but was pretty poor going forward – 0/4 accurate crosses tells you enough about that. 

Sam Long however, was Oxford’s best player by some distance, doing a good job of marking Richard Kone for the most part. Putting up good numbers for both aerial and Ground duels (86% and 100% respectively), Long, with his partner Helik, formed an absolute brick wall and it’s not a surprise they managed to keep a clean sheet. Those two have the potential to be one of the better centre-half duos in the division. 

Rangers had 9 corners, on top of the 8 crosses whipped in from open play, but Long and his team-mates were able to deal with them comfortably, giving us very little chance of getting on the end of any of them. Sam Long commanded his defence well and I can’t help but feel that without him on the pitch, we would have got the 3 points. 

Oxford have become a typical Gary Rowett side, tough, nasty, and physical. Cameron Brannagan seems to have bought into that philosophy along with his back four – it’s unclear how they walked away without a single booking, but they played for a draw and that’s what they got. A fair result. 

Up Next:

Championship Matchday 9: Bristol City (A) 

As mentioned, I’ve already previewed the Bristol game in my last issue, so check that out. I also predicted the midweek fixtures, correctly calling a draw between Birmingham and Sheffield Wednesday, getting four other results correct –  though I didn’t quite expect Millwall to lose as badly as they did. Coventry are absolutely flying. Oxford climb out of the bottom three with this result with Blackburn dropping into it, Norwich continue to disappoint but it’s still early days and still tight everywhere you look in the table. 

See you after Bristol City.

You R’s.

He Who Shall Not Be Named..

Championship Matchday 8: Sheffield Wednesday (A)

When will I learn?

Despite our recent record against this lot, I audaciously envisaged us turning up to Hillsborough and tearing them apart – going for a 4-1 win, the scoreline in our last victory over the Owls. 

As it played out, 1-1 was probably a fair result – neither side showed enough to come away with 3 points. Consequently, this dull fixture was quite tough to write about. 

Our first, early chance came from a cross put in by Rhys Norrington-Davies, which Rumarn Burrell leaped at to force a tough save from Hogarth. A strong start that fizzled out as the half went on. Despite a lot of hoof-ball, possession swung our way, as did the best chances. 

The biggest of said chances came when Mbuenge picked the ball up on the half way line and found Vale, who nicely knocked it to Burrell in acres of space. He took one touch and threaded it through to Kone, who, 9 times out of 10, I’d back to score here.

To be fair, Iorfa did very well to close him down, and Weaver was there to block the far-post option, forcing him to go to the keeper’s left, which made for an easy save. Still, I feel he could have, and would have done better on another day.

It was Kone who then brought down Amass to give away a free kick on the left hand side. Then, who else would step up other than star man B*rry B*nnan?He put in a decent cross, but one that should have been dealt with. 

That is, of course, forgetting that we have one-punch-man in goal, who once again failed to successfully claim a cross, jumping with both fists in the air, missing the ball, allowing Iorfa to effectively header into an open net. Not that we’d been much the better side, but you can’t help but feel that this had killed us, again.

We were pretty all over the place from here on out, with Wednesday finding a rhythm and threatening on a few occasions. First Amass, then Palmer, smelling blood and testing Nardi’s reflexes, keeping us on the back foot for the remainder of the half.

One thing I’ve noticed about Stephan is that he’s not afraid to remove his best players. If you’re having a stinker, you’re off. Not that there were any noticeably weak performances – we just needed changes at the break. Three were made, and I’ll admit, I wasn’t sure on them all.

Vale had to come off – but I couldn’t help but feel a quick, little Northern-Irish winger would have been more suited to the long-ball strategy. As it happens, Smyth did come on towards the end (as a centre-forward) and was ineffective, and Dembele (who did come on at half-time) actually looked sharp – so that shows why I’m not a football manager. 

Hayden and Frey were the other two to come on. Hayden, despite joining the game earlier than expected, I understood, but Frey was never going to suit this game. He did okay, but taking off our fastest attacker for a big target man was the wrong decision at 1-0 down, especially against a team who were going to do everything they could to frustrate us and shut us out. Their well-organised back three were very unlikely to be fazed by Michi. 

The second half did start much better, with RND and Saito linking up on the left, and the latter’s shot resulting in a corner. Madsen put a floating ball towards the back-post which reached Kone, whose header was blocked by a hand – not the clearest of handballs, but a handball nonetheless, although plenty of refs let that slide. Madsen obviously stepped up, and sighs of relief were heard as we were level again – maybe we were about to step up a gear?

That’s not how the rest of the game panned out, with Wednesday, who need every point they can get, making it hard for us. We did get forward on more occasions than the home side, coming close a few times – notably Dembele brushing the post and Kone firing a huge chance over the bar – and we just couldn’t break them down.

RND was much, much better going forward and caused Wednesday a lot of trouble down the left-hand side – he was given man of the match by the club. He certainly did well, but scroll down to find out who I picked ahead of him. 

The lack of quality from both sides, plus Wednesday making it hard, defending well, whilst doing everything they can to frustrate us – going down, winning free kicks (they won A LOT of free kicks, particularly in their own half) and wasting time, probably made this a fair result. I didn’t come away annoyed about the draw (although, without one error we may have got more) and we should be happy to remain unbeaten in four games.

Let’s rate the men in Pink and Black.

Player Ratings:

Paul Nardi – 5.5/10

It’s becoming a weekly occurrence now. At this level, it‘s no good being a good shot-stopper (which I believe both our keepers are) if you’re going to make weekly mistakes which cost us points (which both our keepers also do). Nardi got away with one last week, he didn’t this time. 

Nardi showcased his shot-stopping ability a few times here but just continues to really let us down when it comes to crosses into the box, of which there were many – mostly coming from danger man B*rry B*nnan. 

Aside from the mistake for the goal, Nardi’s distribution, which looked to have improved last week, was back to its worst – A lot of hoofing, hitting, and hoping. Not entirely his choice – this was down to our tactics, but his execution was mostly poor. Players had to chase his kicks, often unsuccessfully.  

Jimmy Dunne – 7.5/10

A textbook Dunne performance. 6/6 aerial duels won, saving us with a handful of important clearances, and getting forward, offering help down that right-hand side for the midfield when in possession. Deserved a clean sheet and arguably an assist for Morrison’s headed chance. 

Dunne and RND were kept the busiest, with Palmer and Amass both providing threats on their respective wings, but Dunne had the added pressure of B*nnan who appeared frequently on the left-hand side and provided most of his service from there. 

Jimmy’s pace (or lack of) is probably his biggest downfall, and he was slow, but ultimately he was able to cope and show us why he’s our captain. 

Amadou Mbuenge – 7/10

Decent performance again today, some crucial interceptions and recoveries to keep us in the game. I love how Mbuenge drives forward, starts attacking moves and does everything he can to avoid the sideways pass. 

Mbuenge’s bravery going forward isn’t always a positive – he did give the ball away on a few occasions with dodgy passes or reckless decisions, but I still feel he did well. When you have three defenders who each lack a yard or two of pace, behind a double pivot of almost equally slow midfielders, having someone like Mbuenge who can run for days, and quickly, is absolutely crucial. 

Much better in the air than usual, as well. Not too many negatives from Mbuenge’s performance, and would have had a second clean sheet if not for a keeper mistake. 

Liam Morrison – 7/10

Mr Reliable was, well, just that again. Defensively solid, and good on the ball. 92% pass accuracy – the highest of any player on the pitch. Good in the air and just generally hard to beat. I say it every week now but Liam and Amadou have really gelled and formed a superb partnership. 

Morrison should have scored, with a header from 3 yards out that somehow didn’t even hit the target. A huge opportunity missed to continue a winning run. I predicted a Morrison goal last week, too. So unlucky. 

Rhys Norrington-Davies – 7.5/10

Our second best player. Liam Palmer was an outlet for Wednesday from start to finish and RND dealt with him comfortably. Much better on the ball, Rhys touched it more than anyone else on the pitch. Still got a few dodgy passes in him, but reliable defensively – both in the air and at his feet. 

Though RND may have been slightly shaky at Wrexham and again last week, he was vital in this game. Best defender amongst both sides, but also much, much better going forward. Caused Wednesday all sorts of problems.

Jonathan Varane – 6.5/10

I never thought I’d see the day where, in a midfield two of Madsen and Varane, the former was the better player. Varane wasn’t bad in the first half, and I’m sure he’ll be disappointed to have been hooked so early on – but we have a game on Wednesday and then another on Saturday, so I’m glad he’s been kept in one piece.

Varane was fine on the ball, his passing to feet was fine, and he did his defensive duties well. This game didn’t suit him, though. The long-ball plan doesn’t always work to his strengths and his own long-range distribution was poor. 

His substitution was mostly a tactical one with a pinch of fitness-based precautions and it paid off, with Hayden taking over comfortably and Madsen putting in a strong 98-minute performance. 

Nicolas Madsen – 8/10

Believe me, I am buzzing to be writing this section. I’ve probably been Madsen’s biggest critic, both on this page and away from it, and I’m happy to have finally been forced to eat my words. They don’t taste very good.

Madsen was our second-best player last week, and our best one this week. Never did I foresee that he would be holding his own against a midfield of which, whilst surrounded either side by two poor performers, Bannan has had his flag planted in the middle for years now. 

Madsen was doing what a player of his abilities should be doing. Collecting the ball from his defenders, turning, looking up and finding an attacking option. He did that very well, and also got stuck in defensively. 

At 6 ft 4, it’s nice to see Madsen finally use his height to his advantage – he actually put himself about in the air. Winning 2/2 aerial duels, Madsen also made some tackles and blocks and just had much more of a presence than his previous performances. 

The big Dane has clearly been doing his off the ball homework and digging away at it on the training ground. Madsen was everywhere – his final ball was weaker than usual but we know how effective it can be. I’m sure there was very little doubt over whether or not he’d score that penalty, either.

Koki Saito – 6/10

Frustrating one. First half, we barely used him. Whether this was down to our hoof-ball tactics, his own positioning, defenders doubling down, or just his teammates failing to find him, I’m not too sure. But Saito was not involved enough until the second half. 

Then, as soon as Saito was brought into the game, we won a corner, and subsequently a penalty. Saito did have a few shots blocked after this, however he was eventually phased out of the game again and was left frustrated by the Iorfa and Palmer duo that did well to lock him out of the game, causing him to give three free kicks away (one for a handball).

Harvey Vale – 5.5/10

A significant drop off from his previous two performances – barely involved. We’ve been playing direct football for a while now, but Vale has been able to benefit by being one of our biggest outlets when playing to feet. There wasn’t enough of that here though. Too much booting it forward for Burrell to chase, or trying (mostly unsuccessfully) to find Kone. Vale didn’t really feature.

If you’re going to play long balls for wingers/attackers to run onto, you need someone with a bit more pace than Harvey Vale. It wasn’t a game for him, and he was understandably hooked at half time. 

Rumarn Burrell – 6/10

I actually think Burrell should have stayed on for the second half. Despite playing some meagre passes, and having very few touches of the ball, Burrell did his best to chase what were, for the majority, pretty crap, hopeful long balls. 

Burrell also put it on a plate for Kone who squandered probably our best chance of the game – his biggest highlight before being subbed off at half-time. That change can probably be put down to precautions for next week as well, but I can’t help but feel that Burrell could have grown into this game and offered more than Frey despite a pretty fruitless first-half showing.

Richard Kone – 5.5/10

Bad day at the office for the new front-man. Should have scored in the first half, and was denied by a handball at the start of the second. Besides that, he was pretty poor – smashing a very big chance over the bar near the end.

I feel Kone was too isolated, particularly after Burrell’s departure, and whilst still involved, just didn’t have the presence he’s had in every other game so far.

When he did get on the ball he looked okay, but in front of goal was ineffective. First poor performance since joining, and you know what? It’s Sheffield Wednesday. So it’s expected. Hopefully he’s back to his normal self on Wednesday night.

Substitutes:

As Stephan made three half-time subs this week, these players will have sections as long as they would have had they started the game, rather than my usual bullet point format. 

Isaac Hayden – 7/10 

His best game since re-joining, not that there’s much competition – he’s not played as many minutes in any other games so far, but don’t be surprised if he starts on Wednesday night. Came in for Varane and provided a cool, experienced head (Cliche, I know) which was needed to help Madsen deal with B*nnan. 

Really crucial defensive performance – some huge tackles, interceptions and clearances, and also useful in the air, whilst also trying his best to play forward. Hayden’s passing range goes under the radar but his Premier League experience (Yes I know he was out on loan for most of his time at Newcastle) really shows on occasions. Good use of the subs’ bench.

Michael Frey – 6/10 

Didn’t agree with this substitution. I get it, he’s big and strong, and won a few headers – his first touch is good, too, allowing him to hold the ball up very well. In that sense, the long- ball game suits him. But Frey has never been good on big pitches. All of his best performances have been at home, or away at the smaller stadiums. 

Kone could have done a lot more to support him and play off him, so it’s a shame that he picked this game to play poorly, but expecting Frey to run onto long-balls or create something on a bigger pitch, is just a waste of time. Frey wasn’t poor, he did what he could, but this was the wrong change. Burrell should have stayed on longer if you ask me.

Kader Dembele – 6.5/10

Vale had to come off but I wasn’t convinced this was a game for Dembele either. He did a better job of it than the man he replaced though, getting stuck in defensively despite his size, and creating some chances, having four shots of his own (Vale didn’t have any), one of which beating the post by millimetres. 

His delivery was poor, however, and consisted of a rubbish free kick from the deep left, a couple of poor long balls, and some weak crosses. Dembele, like Saito, also committed a handful of silly, frustrating niggly fouls which killed momentum and allowed Wednesday to settle. Definitely provided some threat though, and is another one who I wouldn’t be surprised to see start on Wednesday night.

Paul Smyth – 5.5/10 

Thought that he might have more of an impact than he did. Brought on up front to replace Kone rather than out wide, Smyth was ineffective and pretty poor on the ball (in the 3 times he did get on it).

Steve Cook – N/A

Man of the Match – Nicolas Madsen

I said last week that if he keeps playing the way he did, it will come. And it has. Finally, Madsen gets his highly esteemed Ellerslie Echo man of the match. He was everywhere today. The only man who covered more ground (backed up by absolutely no stats, purely my own observation) was B*rry B*nnan. 

I don’t want to sound like a broken record, but I’ve always seen his potential, his technical ability is clear to see. It was always his off the ball work, which was really, really poor. 

He has really improved on that in these last two games. The first against one of the in-form teams in the division, and the second against our biggest bogey team, containing our biggest tormentor since I’ve been following the club. On a day where we looked pretty dull, and had very few strong performers, Madsen stood out amongst the rest. 

I pray that this is a turning point in his QPR career. If he plays like this for the rest of his time here, not only will it be a short-lived spell but he will go down as one of the better players we’ve had in recent years. 

Dropping deep, making himself an option, tackling, heading, intercepting, blocking, – all the buzzwords for a central midfielder – he did all of these – the things we’ve been saying he should be doing, but hasn’t.

Madsen also linked up well with Varane, then Hayden. So, fair play, Nico. Long may it continue. Please, for your own sake, and ours, keep this up. You’re capable of being such a good player. 

Donkey of the Day – Paul Nardi

Does anything need to be said? Almost unable to laugh about this one. A really, really frustrating way to throw points away, not that we were deserving of 3 in fairness. We responded well in the second half, but Nardi, please, work on your box commanding. You could be such a good keeper. 

Sheffield Wednesday star player – B*rry B*nnan

There’s a reason I’m censoring his name. This man is Voldemort for QPR fans. This isn’t one of those ‘he only turns up when he plays us’ kind of things – he is clearly a very good player and it’s not just the Rs who have been traumatised by this man. The issue is, it doesn’t matter how much better I believe our team to be than Wednesday’s, which, most of the time, is the case – if B*nnan is in the XI, we won’t be winning. 

He’s so good at this level. Somehow he manages to be everywhere at once. He’ll force a save from a shot and then appear out of nowhere to stop your counter attack on the edge of his own box. We’ve had so many different midfield combinations over the last 5ish years and they’ve all been terrorised by him. 

Surprisingly agile, good with both feet (mainly his left) with a taste for goal, particularly screamers, I struggle to see what this man can’t do. I genuinely don’t think I’m exaggerating here by saying it surprises me that he’s never had even a slight sniff of Premier League football. The bloke’s played in League One for a large chunk of his career for Christ’s sake. 

B*nnan was deeper than usual, covering a sort of left-defensive area for half of the game and providing constant threat from set-pieces as well as open play. Dunne did fairly well but it wasn’t just him that had to face him, and it wasn’t just him who had to deal with his crosses.

He ran us ragged and was given man of the match by FotMob, unsurprisingly so. Every time we play Wednesday it’s the same. He runs the show. Not much more to say. 

No other real performers from our opponents, Max Lowe had a decent game, he and Iorfa made it tough for our attackers and also provided danger from set-pieces, but nothing that our back line couldn’t deal with (the same can’t be said for the guy behind them with the gloves on).

Up Next: 

Championship Matchday 8 – Oxford United (H)

Score Prediction: QPR 2-0 Oxford United

One to Watch: Brian De Keersmaecker

I quite like Oxford’s team on paper. I’m unsure why they’ve had such a poor start to the season. Is it Rowett? Is it that it’s been a tough run? The three best opponents they’ve faced, they’ve actually done well – a 2-2 draw against Cov, the same score against Leicester, and a 3-1 win at Bristol City. Losing to Hull and now struggling Sheffield United are where U’s fans have probably been most disappointed.

There’s a few players I could’ve gone with for my one to watch – I’ve always been a fan of Cameron Brannagan but felt it would be boring to pick him. Michael Helik and Sam Long form a strong centre-half duo, but I’m going with their man of the match from Ashton Gate, Brian De Keersmaecker.

It’ll be an interesting match up between the Belgian and Nicolas Madsen – Madsen the more offensive of the two and De Keersmaecker preferring the deeper areas of midfield. 

The more defensively minded midfielder (who’s 4 inches shorter) is more agile, can read a game well and will have a massive presence on Wednesday night no doubt, so Madsen and Varane/Hayden – whoever Stephan goes with, will have to be at their best to compete with him and Brannagan. 

Oxford’s place in the table, in my view, is not reflective of how they’ve been playing. They’ve competed against some of the best teams in the league, scored a decent amount of goals, but just haven’t been able to get enough points on the board. 

I can see a comfortable Rangers win, but it won’t be too easy for us. I’m excited to see what team Stephan picks, there are a few players – Dembele, Hayden, possibly Frey, who deserve a start and might well get a shout, and I think our attack will be too much for Oxford. Man for man, we are the better side and I reckon it’ll be our first 3 points under the lights this season. 

Championship Matchday 9: Bristol City (A) 

Score Prediction: Bristol City 2-1 QPR

One to Watch: Anis Mehmeti

This will be a tough one. 4th in the league, the Robins have only lost one game all season – their surprising 3-1 loss at home to our Wednesday night opponents. City have been ruthless in front of goal so far, scoring 13 goals in 7 games. Scott Twine has been on some good form, and I’m a fan of striker Emil Riis who signed from Plymouth in the summer – he’s scored 3 in 7 so far. 

But the player who always impresses me the most when I watch this Bristol City side is Anis Mehmeti, possibly because of his similarities to a certain little Moroccan at our own club, only slightly more direct and better at finishing. 

Mehmeti finished last season with 12 goals in all competitions, but lacks in chance creation, only registering one assist. In fact, neither him or Twine are the most creative attacking midfielders, with goalscoring being their strongest assets. That’s why our midfield need to ensure they’re given as little space as possible, stopping them from firing from distance. 

The Albanian is a left-sided attacking player who can cut in on his right and do some real damage, proved by his goal against Oxford United last week – smashing it from long-range into the far corner, hitting the under-side of the bar. Mehmeti is the exact kind of footballer I enjoy watching and was quite troublesome on our last trip to Ashton Gate. 

I was surprised by Bristol City’s top 6 finish last season and thought that losing Liam Manning would knock them back down a few places, but Struber has them playing even better so far, and they’ve been one of my favourite teams to watch – intense attacking football, not shy of goals. 

We will struggle, but I back this defence not to repeat what happened at Cov, and with JCS possibly back in the side by then, we could be even stronger. However, I think the home side will edge this one, ending our (hopefully still by then) unbeaten run. 

Championship Gameweek 8 (midweek) Predictions:

Two rounds of fixtures to predict this week. 3 scores correct this week, and 1 result. An improvement! Sheffield United got their first win, away at Oxford. Birmingham continued a pretty underwhelming start to the season, whilst Blackburn got a surprising thumping at the hands of Charlton – with the home side climbing up to 7th. Boro and Cov continued their unbeaten starts, whilst Derby got sucked closer to the drop. Here’s my midweek predictions, followed by my weekend shouts.

• Birmingham City 1-1 Sheffield Wednesday 
• Blackburn Rovers 0-1 Swansea City
• Bristol City 1-2 Ipswich Town
• Hull City 2-1 Preston North End
• Leicester City 2-1 Wrexham
• Middlesbrough 3-0 Stoke City
• Sheffield United 1-1 Southampton
• Derby County 2-2 Charlton Athletic
• Millwall 1-2 Coventry City
• Norwich City 1-2 West Bromwich Albion
• Portsmouth 2-0 Watford 

Championship Gameweek 9 Predictions:

• Wrexham 1-2 Birmingham City
• Blackburn Rovers 1-1 Stoke City
• Hull City 0-1 Sheffield United
• Sheffield Wednesday 0-2 Coventry City
• Derby County 1-3 Southampton 
• Millwall 0-1 West Bromwich Albion
• Portsmouth 0-1 Middlesbrough 
• Preston North End 2-0 Charlton Athletic
• Swansea City 1-0 Leicester City
• Watford 2-1 Oxford United 
• Ipswich Town 0-1 Norwich City

An underwhelming yet positive result, continuing a much needed run of good, optimistic results, which I can see continuing in the week but coming to an end on Saturday. That’s Hillsborough out the way, anyway. Just the one more visit to W12 for that little balding Scottish man, I hope. Death, taxes and B*rry B*nnan. See you next week.

You R’s.

Three on the Bounce

Championship Matchday 6: Stoke City (H)

I love attacking football. 

Fluid, passing football is a joy to watch. Watching top players knock it about is fascinating. I can appreciate possession football, understand the importance of keeping the ball and I do enjoy seeing us progress through the middle when it happens. But at the end of the day, I go to the football to see goals. I want to be entertained, I want to win games. 

When, during pre-season, it was clear we hadn’t sorted our submissive midfield set-up even under new management, alarm bells were raised about our midfielders, namely Sam Field and Nico Madsen’s aptitude at this level. It’s confusing to be a team that likes to play out from the back whilst also avoiding the middle of the park like it’s made of lava. 

Then, going into the season, being held to a point at home to relegation favourites Preston (who are actually doing pretty well), getting dominated at Watford and then whatever you want to call what happened at Cov, these problems seemed to be even worse than we imagined.

Even after pulling our socks up, winning two on the trot through direct, attacking football with limited possession, I was cautious about getting too excited, worried that against the more established championship sides (like Cov, and this weekend’s opponents Stoke) we might struggle again. This game was to be the first test since our tactical shift and turn-around in form, and it was one that we passed with flying colours. 

Stoke went into this game with 4 wins from 5, unbeaten on the road and sitting 2nd behind high-flying Middlesbrough. Their shocking record in London consisted of just one win in the last 11 years. Can you guess which London venue those 3 points were picked up from?

Despite being cautious, I knew we wouldn’t embarrass ourselves, we’d got into a flow and found an identity. But I’ve not hidden my discomfort with the Madsen-Varane double pivot. I expected another midfield stroll from the opposition where our defenders were overworked and we relied on counter-attacks to get anything out of the game. 

Stoke opted for the Arteta, Russell Martin, Thomasn Tuchel (with England) style of playing not to lose, rather than to win. The absolute embodiment of everything I hate about football. Slow, dull, aimless passing around your own half, with the occasional drive forward to remind the fans that actually there is still a game on. Genuinely amazed that a team with as much quality as theirs would step onto a pitch as small as Loftus Road’s and try to play football like that. I also didn’t expect it from Mark Robins.

From the very start this proved to be the wrong approach for the Potters. Less than 4 minutes in, Morrison, high up the pitch for some reason, robbed Lewis Baker allowing Kone to put it on a plate for Vale who should have done better with the shot. A bright start from Rangers that continued for the entire first half and, despite seeing far less of the ball as the visitors, who hogged it and tried their best to stop it from crossing the half-way line, we looked the much more dangerous side. 

A few other chances followed – one which came 2 minutes later, starting with a bouncing yet semi-successful one-two between Varane and Burrell, which ended up back at the feet of Rigo, but not for long as it was cleverly won back by Saito, who fired a long-range, low-driven shot, which unfortunately wasn’t a challenge for Johansson. This would not be the last time that Stoke would hear from the little man.

Kone also came close, cutting in from the right and firing wide – a chance which he pretty much created from nothing, nicking the ball from my best mate Ben Pearson (more on him in the second half)  who somehow didn’t clock the big striker over his shoulder. 

Saito had another chance early on after the break, this time forcing Johansson to parry it, and Vale was unable to finish the rebound. Then, it looked like we were about to go behind when Jimmy Dunne got run ragged by Sorba Thomas who put in a perfect delivery for Manhoef, but his header relievingly went over the bar. Let off. 

Saito continued to terrorise, chasing down and battling Tchamadeu, then nicking the ball from Lawal, and winning a corner. Madsen put a pretty poor delivery in but Stoke failed to clear their lines, and the ball eventually came to Kone who laid it off for Madsen on the edge of the box, whose shot floated over the bar. 

My favourite chance of the game came not long after this when Saito, Madsen and Kone linked up beautifully and knocked it around like a training drill, and Vale put a curling shot towards the top left corner, our fourth shot on target. We were getting closer.

Not long after this, the trusty counter-attack nearly came to our rescue when Mbuenge hoofed it forwards for Kone to play a brilliant first time ball across the box to Burrell, but Johansson once again was positioned well and couldn’t be beat. It was just a case of when, now. 

In my opinion, and the opinions of every Stoke fan, we were lucky not to be cut down to 10 men. Mbuenge went on one of his wild runs forward and went into Ben Pearson’s shin with his studs up. Definitely one of those that look worse in the screenshot and slow motion but still a red for me. It wasn’t even given as a foul.

But guess what? I couldn’t care less. Pearson is one of the dirtiest players in the league, I’ve seen him hurt our players on countless occasions and quite frankly I have zero sympathy. He eventually lost his head and subsequently got subbed off. Cheerio. 

There were 75 minutes gone when we finally managed to break the deadlock. Saito again being the key driving force, taking on his fellow countryman Seko, and finding Baker in the box who gifted it to Vale. The finish though, composed and satisfying to watch. Top bins. Over the moon for Vale, and over the moon for this team. Finally we were, deservedly, in front.

Stoke most definitely should have equalised, but didn’t, with two chances that were put on a plate for them from defensive errors. The later and more potentially disastrous one, a flap from Nardi from which Cresswell is probably scratching his head at how Morrison cleared his resulting finish. The other, a mistake from the hero where his pass out to Madsen instead reached Cissé who bottled the chance. 

In fairness to Stephan, I understand why only one change was made. Hayden coming on was the right one too, albeit a bit early. Maybe a Smyth, or even a Steve Cook could’ve cameoed, but amazingly our players are now fit enough to see a game out against a top side. They all deserved to stay on, to be fair, and I can appreciate not wanting to risk rocking the boat and throwing the lead away. I trusted the 11 that were on the pitch to see the game out.

In the end, we just about got over the line. Those two hiccups nearly put a dampener on what, in my view, was our best performance under Stephan so far. A bit of fortune and a ref who swung slightly in our favour also gave us the nudge and we came away with our third straight win. I’m not exaggerating when I say that of the three, this was our most impressive. The standard of opponent, the clean sheet, the character, it just really felt like we might have built something. 

The best thing about our side and the football we’re playing is, even if the strikers aren’t scoring, we have enough attacking quality and depth that chances will still come, and goals will still be scored. So, even on a quiet day for our new front 2, we can be confident that Saito, Vale, or whoever else we eventually decide to sub on when the time comes, will be able to do the business. This will be huge when the midweek games start popping up (from next week).

If this is us with Chair and Poku injured, Dembele, Smyth, Kolli or even Morgan not getting a sniff, and Frey only just coming back to fitness, imagine how dangerous we will be when everyone’s available? We are one of only 5 clubs in the 92 to have scored in every game so far. This is what I love about football. Getting forward. Having a go. Scoring goals. Yeah, we could work on a few things in terms of keeping the ball and having a tighter midfield unit, but it’s goals that win you games after all.

Player Ratings:

Paul Nardi – 7/10

There are still the usual issues with Nardi. Coming off his line, his ability with his feet, but I have to give him a decent rating after keeping our first clean sheet of the season.

27% long ball accuracy and 36% passing accuracy don’t exactly inspire confidence on paper, but this was actually an improvement on his distribution, and there were one or two nice moves from the back that he was involved in. 

When a cross comes into the box, though – I just don’t ever feel confident that he will claim it and this showed in the last minute for his punch straight down to Cresswell. Nardi didn’t make a save all game, which is more of a testament to how little threat Stoke provided, rather than Nardi’s performance.

Jimmy Dunne – 7.5/10

Another solid defensive performance from the skipper, putting up great defensive numbers – 100% tackle success and 4 out of 6 aerial duels won. Dunne still struggles against wingers with pace and allowed Thomas to get the better of him on a couple of occasions. He also let Cresswell get one or two crosses in, but this is a left-back who once got 8 assists in a premier league season. 

These crosses ultimately came to nothing, and I’m sure Dunne will be delighted with the clean sheet. Every week he makes me feel the need to apologise for my rant after Cov. I’m so glad he’s captain.

Amadou Mbuenge – 7.5/10

Battled Mubama out of the game. Defensively solid and positionally spot on. I do think he was lucky to play the last 30 mins or so after that challenge – that would’ve changed the game completely had he seen red, but it’s football, the ref didn’t give it, and he had a solid game. 

I have been saying since Preston that his recklessness is going to end up getting himself, or someone else, hurt and he’s going to either injure or suspend himself. He got away with one here, but I won’t have a go at him for leaving one in on Ben Pearson.

Liam Morrison – 8/10

Again. Improves every week. Best defender on the pitch. Good on the ball, present in the air, and saved our arses on a number of occasions. That goal line clearance at the end is one that wins you a game. Morrison is a proper, proper centre-half, he’s so crucial to us and that showed in this game. We wouldn’t have 3 points without him. 

There was one slip-up, with the pass out to Madsen that went straight to Cissé, but was ultimately let off as he fired over the bar.

Rhys Norrington-Davies – 7/10

This man has proven to be a smart bit of business so far. So solid defensively. Reliable, brave and intelligent. He does get burnt for pace – this was present against Wrexham and it was present here against Manhoef, who did get the better of him once or twice, notably for his chance where he broke free of RND and headered an easy chance over the bar. 

RND also still struggles going forward, misplacing passes and losing the ball, but he does make up for this with his defensive output. If he can work on his final ball he will be an unreal left-back, even if he lacks a yard of pace.

Jonathan Varane – 7.5/10

If Varane had played the whole game, he’d have been a contender for man of the match. Another vital performance from this man. A warrior in midfield who has improved going forward so much this season. 

6/8 ground duels won, 1/1 aerial duels, but the best stat of his game is that he completed the most dribbles of the game (2/2). His biggest issue when he first came to the club was that he never turned or looked up the pitch. That problem is almost non-existent now and he’s turned himself into one of the best midfielders in the league. 

Varane does have a mistake in him almost every week, through making silly decisions, which is a shame, and there were one or two here, but I’m not going to let that mark him anywhere below 7.5.

The possession stats are misleading, Madsen and Varane ran the show. Whilst we still don’t play through them as a first option, we actually looked better in midfield today – something I’ve been waiting to say for over a year. More to come of this, please!

Nicolas Madsen – 8/10

There were a few occasions towards the end of last season where Madsen looked to have improved. Some were convinced he’d turned a page but going into this season he reverted to his old self. I have been very clear with my criticisms of Madsen; good with his feet and a final ball that can be so effective. It’s the off the ball work that ruined it all.

This was undoubtedly his best game in a Rangers shirt, bar none. Madsen deserves his flowers here, he didn’t hide, he made an effort to tackle and recover the ball, and just generally looked so much better off the ball. On it, he showed us what we all thought he was capable of.

Dictating play, pinging passes about, and creating chances. Madsen was our best midfielder and he definitely made a very strong case for the double pivot that I’ve been skeptical about – I think after this game, Stephan will be sticking with it for the foreseeable. 

Madsen and Varane (then Hayden for the last 30) completely dominated Stoke’s midfield of Pearson, Baker and Rigo, regardless of any possession stats you may shove in my face. We had less of the ball, but were way, way more efficient with it.

I’ve seen a few younger heads on twitter say that Madsen is owed an apology or that his critics have been proven wrong. I’m not getting involved in childish point-scoring but there is nothing to apologise for – Madsen has not been good enough, but today, he showed what he can do, showed that on his day he can be one of our best players and I am genuinely over the moon for him. I want to see this from him every week.

I would have given Madsen an 8.5 or higher but there were two men on the pitch who I thought stood out even more than the Dane. These are up next.

Harvey Vale – 8.5/10

Last week’s man of the match took his confidence into this game and continued his form. He had his first shot on target 4 minutes in, albeit a weak one, and was a danger for the whole game. 

I said during pre-season that Vale’s left foot is something to watch out for and today was the first time we’ve really seen it in a competitive game. You can tell it’s something he works on – curling it into the top corner with his left. He scored one in the friendly against Stevenage and had a shot at this from outside of the box in the second half here but ultimately didn’t put enough power on it, but my word, for the goal, he couldn’t have hit it any better.

A goal very similar to Zamora’s play-off winner – Saito put the ball into an area, and the Stoke defender hit a crap clearance that found Vale who hit it top bins first time. For this one though, there were defenders that could have got in the way, and he had to put some accuracy on it – I don’t believe there was a better way he could have hit it. A composed first time shot with his left foot into the top corner, great technique. Exquisite. 

Vale went under the radar this summer because he was signed in January. But if he had been signed this window just gone, people would be praising the club a lot more for getting him in. I thought it would take him a while to settle, but he’s become an important player for us way sooner than I anticipated. 

3 shots, all on target, contributing to the defence with some recoveries, clearances and tackles, including one in a dangerous area which was followed by the final whistle. Vale was absolutely crucial and we would’ve settled for a point without him.

Koki Saito – 8.5/10

Saito was good last season. This season however, he’s gone up a whole level. He was absolutely immense here. Not only having three shots (two on target), Saito is proving to be really difficult for defenders, running at them and gaining more and more confidence to take them on.

Saito is so effective in the half space and brings something to our side that not many teams have, and every opposition he faces struggles to know how to deal with him. His work for the goal, getting past Seko with ease and then knocking it into a dangerous area, cannot go unstated. 

It’s a shame he won’t be credited with an assist after creating the chance. He deserved a goal from this game so to not even come away with an assist is frustrating. However, Saito’s work rate and dynamism was just unbelievable today, he was unstoppable. Best player on the pitch by a country mile. 

Richard Kone – 7/10

Kone’s movement continues to stand out, this is a striker who understands his role and knows how to impact the team. Creating a chance for himself in the first half that went wide, and then playing a lovely first time ball across the box in the second half for Burrell, were his two main highlights. It’s so positive to have a striker as confident and intelligent as he is, whilst also having that finishing instinct. 

Whilst not getting on the scoresheet, Kone once again was doing everything right, testing Stoke’s defence, it’s just a shame he couldn’t test the keeper. 7/10 for a goalless performance for a striker ain’t bad, is it?

Rumarn Burrell – 7/10

Not as effective as the previous two wins. I said in my preview that Lawal is probably one of the few centre-halves in the division that can deal with Burrell’s pace. This was sort of the case, but it wasn’t just Lawal – Burrell didn’t seem as much of a nightmare for Stoke’s defence as he has been for other teams – expected against a side who’d only conceded 3 going into this game. 

He still played an important role, though. Maybe could have done better to put away the chance that Kone created for him, but against the best keeper in the league, you can’t be too harsh. I’m doubtful that he deserved a yellow card for his foul on the keeper, either. A completely unavoidable challenge in my opinion. 

Substitutions:

• Isaac Hayden – 6.5/10 – last week, I thought we left it too late to bring him on. This time out, I felt it was too early. I’m not sure why Varane was hooked on the hour mark at 0-0, but Hayden did a good job and was decent in that double pivot as I’d expected him to be (though wasn’t quite as good as Varane). This was the only change of the game.

Man of the Match – Koki Saito

You’ll notice that Saito and Vale both have the same rating. That’s because I couldn’t mark either of them down, they both deserved an 8.5, but had Saito bagged, he’d have had a 9. Only one can take the MOTM home, and for me that’s Koki. Sorry Harv, you aren’t getting two in a row here.

Saito genuinely looked unplayable. I’m starting to seriously think that his ceiling might be quite a bit higher than this level. His issues last season were his end product and his lightweightness. Well, he’s showcased his improvements in both these areas in his first 3 games. 

He’s shooting more, he’s taking on more defenders, and his guarding of the ball whilst dribbling has improved. His shoulder barge to shrug off Tatsuki Seko, his ball into a dangerous area, he’s shown in one move there how much he has improved – not that he was particularly poor in the first place. 

A deserved MOTM in my opinion, closely followed by Vale, and an honourable mention for Madsen. If the latter continues to play like this, I’m sure it’ll come for him. Those three definitely are the stand outs, amongst 11 strong performances. 

Donkey of the Day – Paul Nardi

Only two contenders this week after a nearly flawless performance. Morrison’s dodgy pass from the back and Nardi’s near assist to Aaron Cresswell. The goalkeeper’s flap undoubtedly takes this week’s donkey home. 

Claiming crosses has always been an issue with Nardi, and he doesn’t seem to have improved in this area. It’s the right decision to come out and punch it, so there is that. Just so, so poorly executed. Nearly threw away 90 minutes of hard work from the whole side. I hope he bought Morrison’s drinks for the night. 

Summary:

We won 3-1 twice in a row, but this win was my favourite. This one felt the best. The performance, the brutal attack, the quality on show. The scenes at the end, the togetherness. Even the players posting on socials in the evening. Small things like that, it goes a long way. A certain former player who dyed his hair blue and wore a hooped vest under his shirt with his name on the back reckons we should reel it in. Sod that. Enjoy it. 

Who knows where this could end up? Yeah, we’ve been here before and been disappointed, on several occasions. Yeah, we can’t get ahead of ourselves, but what’s the point in having moments like these if you can’t enjoy them? I’m really starting to get a good feeling from this team, which is mental considering where we were a month ago. Well done to all. Let’s keep going.

Stoke star player: Viktor Johansson

If this had been 0-0, Stoke’s keeper would’ve undoubtedly been awarded man of the match. Without him, we’re looking at 2 or 3 to nil rather than one. 6 saves, most of them pretty impressive, we really struggled to beat him and it took a brilliantly finished goal from Vale to finally do it. 

Johansson was tested on numerous occasions and did seriously well to keep the score as low as it was. Undoubtedly the best goalkeeper in the league, I imagine he’ll be in the Premier League with or without Stoke next season.

Up Next: 

Championship Matchday 7: Sheffield Wednesday (A)

Score prediction: Sheffield Wednesday 1-4 QPR

One to Watch: Barry Bannan

Is there a bigger bogey team in recent years for QPR than this lot? Rangers could be reigning Prem champions, and Wednesday on the verge of League 2 relegation, and they’d still beat us. And even in the 2035/36 season, you can bet that Barry Bannan will still be on the scoresheet. 

We happen to be playing Wednesday off the back of an away win at Fratton Park. Wonderful. Can’t wait. Bannan scored, too. This should be fun! Our last trip to Hillsborough, we scraped a point with one of the best goals you’ll ever see from Alfie Lloyd. Our last win here came in 2019. 

Ignoring that, I’m going to go big here. I’m confident and going to back us. Surely if there’s a time to break this spell it’s now. 3 wins in a row, Wednesday struggling down the bottom, likely fan protests on the day. If we don’t come away with 3 points I’ll be astounded. That’s if the game isn’t abandoned, of course.

I’ve already mentioned my one to watch. There isn’t really anyone else worthy of it. Jamal Lowe maybe, or even Liam Palmer. I won’t pretend to be overly familiar with any of their other players. Bannan is obviously the biggest threat, and he LOVES playing QPR. 

Not much needs to be said about Bannan. He absolutely runs the show every time he comes to Loftus Road and he does the same at home. Despite looking like a 50 year old plumber who smokes 20 a day he is in my opinion one of the best players in the league. I do genuinely enjoy watching him when it’s not against us. 

A surprisingly quick ball-carrying midfielder who plays deep but prefers attacking midfield, he’s not afraid of a tackle, and knows how to chip in with goals. He loves a screamer and I can think of two or three that he’s scored against us. If you’re somehow unfamiliar with Barry Bannan, just watch the highlights from this weekend and you’ll see what I mean. A clever free kick goal, sums him up perfectly. 

I’m not really worried about anything else. Call me arrogant, naive, whatever. Their squad just doesn’t concern me. Their players (the ones who remain) always show a lot of fight and character and that’s played an important part in keeping them in the division, but I just don’t think it’ll be enough with the quality we have, especially whilst we’re this full of confidence. 

Against Charlton we took our chances against the run of play and scored 3. At Wrexham we were unlucky not to have one or two more. This time, I can see us finally hitting four. Kone brace, Burrell and Morrison with one each. A Bannan goal is customary. 

Championship Gameweek 7 Predictions:

Just one correct result this week, not a single score. It’s getting harder and harder every week. 6 losses out of 6 is pretty incredible for Sheffield United, and Southampton have continued their poor start under Will Still, losing 3-1 at Hull. 

Oxford and Wrexham both picked up away wins against good opposition, and Preston continued their impressive start to the season. Blackburn and Ipswich was abandoned with 15 minutes to go, with Rovers 1-0 up against 10 men. You’d be fuming,  wouldn’t you? Watford and Millwall play Monday night.

Anyway, here’s next week’s predictions:

• Coventry City 2-2 Birmingham City
• Swansea City 1-1 Millwall
• Wrexham 1-0 Derby County
• Charlton Athletic 0-2 Blackburn Rovers
• Ipswich Town 1-1 Portsmouth
• Oxford United 2-1 Sheffield United
• Preston North End 1-1 Bristol City
• Southampton 0-2 Middlesbrough 
• Stoke City 1-1 Norwich City
• Watford 2-1 Hull City

Another good weekend, moving up the table. Let’s keep this momentum going, and make it four in a row. See you next week after a trip to Hillsborough. 

You R’s.

3 Points Away..

Championship Matchday 5 – Wrexham (A)

Just under 1.3k R’s fans were able to get their hands on Disney Land tickets this weekend and I was one of those lucky souls. I think I, potentially along with many others, completely overestimated Wrexham going into this game. After predicting a 1-1 draw I put my Rangers hat back on and thought we actually may lose this one. 

I thought £33 million spent this summer would surely have them competing. It still might, but so far I’m not actually convinced by their squad. Conor Coady is the biggest name in there, record signing Nathan Broadhead didn’t start due to a brief period out injured, and if I’m honest I barely recognise any of the rest of their team. I’m not sure where the money has gone?

Upon seeing the lineup I was excited about the prospect of a front 2. This set-up has become very unpopular in modern football, but I love it. I absolutely love a strike partnership. I wanted to see it with Frey and Dykes, we didn’t really properly get that, I then wanted to see it with Frey and Celar, or even Frey and Kolli – these were rarities too. 

Finally, we have strikers that the manager trusts enough to start together. It looked to me like a 4-2-2-2 with a double pivot, Saito and Vale as wide/central attacking players, and the two new strikers in front. It doesn’t take a genius to see that Burrell and Kone could end up being a very successful partnership, with Burrell’s pace, work rate and athleticism, and Kone’s killer instinct. The two of them certainly justified themselves here.

From very early on, QPR were getting forward a lot. Burrell and Vale were causing problems for the Wrexham defence, mainly on the right-hand side. Saito managed a couple of shots on target and we looked sharp. For the first 20ish minutes, Wrexham were in the game, but it seemed that if a goal was to come, it was going to be us. 

After 24 minutes, Jimmy Dunne had the ball in the net, but was, probably rightly, flagged offside. From here on out, it was only a matter of time before we got in front. It was the 32nd minute where a goal mouth scramble which involved Saito, Kone and Burrell, was finished off by Conor Coady, and Rangers were finally in front. A terrible goal, but a deserved one.

There was almost an instant response from Wrexham, when Ryan Hardie hit a Van Persie-esque left footed volley (you could maybe call it a half volley)  that went millimetres wide. A slight let off from what would’ve been an unreal goal. 

43 minutes gone, Nardi finds Morrison, who plays the ball to Vale, who plays a lovely flick to Madsen. Madsen does very well, knowing that he has bags of space, turns and plays a brilliant through ball to Kone with just one touch. Kone, up against Conor Coady, takes two lovely touches to get into a good position, then absolutely leathers it home, off the bar into the top corner, and shushes the home fans.

Best goal of the season so far, best goal we’ve seen from a striker for god knows how long, and one that my twitter feed has been absolutely inundated with. I’ve watched it back at least 50 times and it’ll probably be another 50 by the time I get this out. 3 in 4 for Kone, 2-0 Rangers – a win away?

It went a bit quiet after the break. Wrexham found some life and challenged Nardi on quite a few occasions. The direct football had worked so far but we were still getting overrun in midfield (this is still an issue that we can’t ignore). Changes were needed. Hayden was needed to slow the game down. I’m not sure why it was left so late. 

Keiffer Moore has been a superb signing so far and was Wrexham’s best player by far. I’m not sure why Kone was left to mark him from a corner and not Jimmy Dunne or RND but nevertheless, Moore made easy work of a header to make it 2-1. Were we about to throw this away?

Wrexham had a few chances after this, including a header at the back-post, heroically stopped by Dunne. But 8 minutes after letting them back into the game, Dunne hoofed the ball up the pitch. At this point I thought here we go, 15 minutes of sitting back and booting it up to Kone and Burrell. Wrexham were going to dominate. 

But then, Burrell got further and further up the pitch, closer and closer to the ball, and the away end got louder and louder, as we thought, hang on, is he getting to that? He did get to it. And Coady didn’t even get a chance to contemplate what was happening before he was in Burrell’s rear view mirror.

Even with a heavy touch, he managed to get a shot off and chip the keeper (who should have been off his line earlier, but to be fair, no one in that stadium expected Burrell to be in this position) and the ball was in the net for 3-1. An extremely satisfying goal that had the place rocking. Absolutely delighted for Burrell to get his first goal, thoroughly deserved, and hopefully many more to come. 

The first substitutions weren’t made until the 72nd minute, and I wasn’t sure they were the right ones. RND off for Esquerdinha who we know isn’t the most defensive left-back, and Dembele on for Saito, which is a good swap, but I wanted a cool head (Hayden) to help see the game out.

Dembele justified his addition to the game though, running the Wrexham defence down and linking up with Vale, Kone and the midfield. He looked sharp, suggesting to me that maybe he’s most effective off the bench?

It looked as though Dembele had his first goal of the season and Ranger’s fourth of the day when Hayden played a splitting ball through to him and he coolly lobbed the keeper, but was denied by the post. A real shame and would’ve been the cherry on the cake.

Nardi then also made a great save towards the end to keep the score as it was, followed by two defensive blocks, but I can’t help but feel we could or should have scored four or five. We were queuing up towards the end. 

A great team performance, particularly from the front four, and a very solid defensive display where they were kept busy enough. It was against a poorly performing side, but crucial points on the board. 

Player Ratings:

Paul Nardi – 7.5/10

It’s a shame to hear about Joe Walsh’s injury but, without sounding muggy, it’s good to have Nardi back in the XI. The same issues are present with the Frenchman – he still refuses to leave his line and it did show itself on a few occasions in this game. It’s such a hindrance on not only his individual quality but our defensive structure as a whole. 

That being said, Nardi did have a good game. Kieffer Moore was always going to score a header, it’s what he does (I said this in my last issue) and so you can’t blame Paul for the goal for which the Welshman was left unmarked. 

As poor as Wrexham were, they did get forward and created a number of chances, testing Nardi with some of them. Nardi made 6 saves and was our star player on FotMob. A strong performance from the number 1 but, as I said, there’s still that lack of box-commanding that holds him back. 

Jimmy Dunne – 7.5/10

A shaky-ish performance at points from the skipper, but probably our best defender on the day. Wrexham are a big side and as one of only two or three aerially adept players in our squad, it was always going to be a struggle, so, whilst he won 4 of them, he did lose a few aerial duels. Not enough to mark him down, but worth pointing out. Dunne was also better on the ball, despite a few dodgy passes which are pretty much a common occurrence with Jimmy (sorry). 

A great assist for Burrell, though. Whether or not he knew what was to come from that, or whether he foresaw him turning into the flash and making a goal out of pretty much nothing, is a question for another day. The captain comes away with an assist though, and if intentional, a superb one. 

Liam Morrison – 7.5/10 

This man improves every game (forgetting Watford and Cov) and it’s a pleasure to watch his development. A solid defensive performance, let down by a couple of dodgy passes and a goal conceded, but a strong performance and a display of his importance to this side.

Amadou Mbuenge – 7.5/10

Some very important blocks and tackles from this man to keep Wrexham out and keep us in front. I really, really like the partnership of Mbuenge and Morrison. It’s very solid and physically competitive, and that showed here. Again, let down by a set-piece goal conceded, but formed a good wall with Morrison.

Rhys Norrington-Davies – 6.5/10

This feels slightly harsh but I did feel that RND was one of our weak points in this game. Didn’t do anything outrageously bad, but was a drop off from his debut two weeks ago. Most (not all) of Wrexham’s threats came down our left hand side and he was struggling to deal with Ryan Longman (who didn’t really offer much anyway).

Norrington-Davies was the first to come off, along with Koki Saito. It’s difficult, as our other left-back isn’t very strong defensively, so it’s understandable why it was left till the 72nd minute to make this change.

RND will struggle against the pacier wingers in this division, and I do worry about it against someone with a better end product. 

Nicolas Madsen – 6.5/10

Hear. Me. Out. This isn’t an agenda. I want Madsen to succeed. I really, really do. I see his technical ability, I see the potential in his passing range, I see how he CAN be beneficial to this team. But he just isn’t. Madsen was better today, yes. He did well for his assist for Kone, yes. He’s clearly one of the best we have with his feet. But it’s just not enough. 

Before you pile on, with screenshots of his FotMob and SofaScore ratings, calling me clueless and negative, just watch the full 90 back. Don’t watch the highlights. Watch Madsen off the ball. Watch him when we are in build-up and looking for an option. Watch him in any game so far this season where the ball makes its way through the middle of the park. Nine times out of ten he won’t be where he’s supposed to be. 

There’s no need for me to be too negative, we won, and Madsen got a nice assist. I’m just being cautious and pointing out that the midfield is still an issue, and Varane keeps having to do two players’ jobs. It’s not fair on him, and it kills us, and against a better opposition, we will struggle big time.

It’s difficult with Saito, Dembele and Vale all fit but whilst Chair and Poku are out, If we want to keep Madsen in our plans, I think it’s worth trying him in the 10 again rather than in this double pivot. I just think, whilst overly defensive, Hayden and Varane would provide much more stability in the middle. Failing that, throw Morgan, or even Vale in there. 

I’m just not a fan of the Varane and Madsen pairing.We got away with it against Charlton and Wrexham – two promoted teams – but it won’t work further into the season. 

Jonathan Varane – 7/10 

It shows the standards that we hold Varane to in saying this was one of his weaker performances, at a 7/10. By no means was he poor – the best midfielder on the pitch. Just made a few silly decisions – dodgy turns and giving the ball away in dangerous areas. It’s also become harder for him to showcase his ability with this more direct approach that we’ve switched to.

As much as our midfield gets walked through, when called upon, Varane still manages to command his area, and succeed in his role, protecting his defence as much as possible, despite mostly being left to do it alone. 

Varane also gets involved in the attack, and going forward (in the final third), this is actually where he and Madsen do link up fairly well. This nearly came in handy for a chance where Jon’s shot from outside the box just lacked the power needed to beat the keeper.

Overall, Varane remains arguably our most important player, but without the support of a ball-carrying midfielder who will always be an option for him, we won’t see his full potential, and we will continue to lose every midfield battle.

Koki Saito – 7.5/10

We are visibly a better team with Koki in the side. His directness and skill cause nightmares for defenders who often struggle to deal with him. Saito was a major threat in the first half, driving towards the box and creating chances, including his powerful right-footed shot which forced a corner-producing save. 

Saito was still a threat going into the second half but in the 5/10 minutes before his substitution it was clear that he was getting tired, and wasn’t able to break through. Hooking him was a good decision, and Dembele is not a bad player to be able to bring on. 

Another good performance from Saito, solidifying his place in the team, justifying his return and making this attacking selection dilemma even more difficult for Stephan. I don’t envy him.

Harvey Vale – 8.5/10 

Superb from this man today. From the very start he was our most dangerous player, causing problems down the right wing and creating chances. He didn’t stop running, taking people on or trying to create. The link up play between himself, Saito, Kone and Burrell was special. 

Lovely pass to Madsen for him to set up Kone, and deserved an assist or two. I’ve said that I’d like to see Vale in the 8. I still would, but out on the right he has impressed me massively these last two games. 

It’ll be interesting to see what Stephan decides to do with Vale when Poku and Chair are back in the squad. 

Richard Kone – 8/10

I felt 12 years old again singing the ‘ole ole ole’ chant that we used to sing for Cissé. It’s a relief to have someone new deserving of that song. After all, he is the first player to score 3 in his first 4 since the Frenchman. 

From kick off Kone was trouble for Wrexham, with a presence in and around the box. His hold up play wasn’t as good as it was against Charlton, a few dodgy first touches, but I had very little doubt that he’d score in this game. 

And what a goal it was. Two clever touches to get the ball away from the defender, and then absolutely hammered home. Some strike. I’m convinced none of our other strikers, in the last 10 years since Austin’s prime, score that.

Celar and Dykes smash it over the bar. Lloyd and Kelman scuff it or hit it straight at the keeper. That’s if any of them actually find themselves in that position in the first place. 

What I love about Kone is that you can tell he’s come from Non-League. He hasn’t got the best first touch in the world, he’s not massively skilful, he can be scrappy, and you can see he hasn’t grown up playing in academies. Yet he still knows how to be a striker. Where to run, where to position himself, how to f*cking hit the ball. Proper, Charlie Austin style centre forward. No nonsense. 

Kone was the man tasked with marking Kieffer Moore (I’m not sure why) when he headed Wrexham back into the game, so for that reason he gets a slightly lower rating, but this was another strong performance from our new front man.

4 games, 3 goals. What a start to life as a QPR player. Long may it continue.

Rumarn Burrell – 8/10

The biggest challenger for Vale’s MOTM. The intensity, pace and unpredictability that Burrell brings is such a positive that’s brought a new element to our game. I’m not sure even he knows what he’s going to do with the ball sometimes, and that’s not a criticism at all.

Burrell did flunk a few chances in the first half, a few scuffed final balls and shots that let down his hard work and constant battling. He made up for this with his superb work for the 3rd goal of course, and was definitely one of the two best players on the pitch. 

I’m very happy to see a front 2 of these lads going forward, if it can work with our squad (which I’m not sure it can with everyone fit) and if not, if it’s possible off the bench, do it. That’s what I want to see. Don’t give the opposition’s defence a minute to breathe. 

Substitutes:

• Kader Dembele – 7/10 – Had more energy about him than usual, got very unlucky not to get that killer 4th goal, but was a good, effective substitute who caused Wrexham problems.
• Esquerdinha – 5.5/10 – Left our left side exposed a number of times through not being where he should have been. Didn’t do much going forward either. 
• Michael Frey – 5.5/10 – Looked sharp, fit and hungry, but has to get marked down for that effort at goal. 
• Isaac Hayden – 6.5/10 – Should have been on way earlier, but played 90 minutes for Jamaica in the week. Nearly got a lovely assist for a fourth. 
• Sam Field – N/A – Not sure he touched the ball in the 10 minutes he played

Man of the Match – Harvey Vale

Vale is one of those reliable players who doesn’t need to do anything spectacular, just does what he’s there to do, and puts a shift in. Saying that, he was the best player on the pitch by a long way and I’m happy that he’s earned himself a place in the starting lineup. 

This was a much more exciting performance than his Charlton one, where he looked decent but very reserved. He seemed to have a bit more oomph about him here, expressing himself and taking more risks. You can see that he is trying everything he can to create, and I’m sure the assists will continue to come, it’s a wonder how he didn’t get one here. 

From the very start Vale was our biggest outlet – I still think sometimes his decision making and end product could do with some work but I have no doubt that it’ll come. This is his first championship season and I’ve seen enough so far to feel as though he’s good enough for this level.

His versatility will be so important to us further down the line, too. Right-wing, 8, 10, even supposedly left-back. A very good player, who’s solidified his spot in the team. 

Donkey of the Day – Michi Frey

I was buzzing for the return of Frey. One of my favourite players in this current group. He didn’t play badly when he came on, got stuck in and looked sharp. However, the first thing that came to my mind when thinking about who to give donkey, was his long range effort that was so wide it probably breached the border.

He had someone in a perfectly good space on his right – I think it was Dembele but I’m not 100%, and it obviously hasn’t been put in any highlights to confirm. That probably would’ve led to a 4th. 

Either way, the excitement of both his own return and the 3-1 lead definitely got to Michi’s head and he wanted a piece of the action. Don’t blame him, but you can’t hide from that, a laughably bad attempt at goal. Good to see him back anyway. 

Wrexham star player – Kieffer Moore

Moore always grabs a goal against Rangers, but aside from that predictable event, he was causing problems for us for most of the game. FotMob actually have him down as man of the match, which I think is bizarre considering some of our individual performances, but he did have a good game. We struggled to deal with him and he was probably Wrexham’s only outstanding player on the day. Another easy call for my one to watch, who spoke for himself.

Up Next:

Championship Matchday 8 – Stoke City (H)

Score Prediction – QPR 1-2 Stoke

One to Watch: Bosun Lawal

I’m a big admirer of Sorba Thomas. He’s another who made a big leap up the pyramid, coming from non-league straight to the championship. Okay, he was at Boreham Wood, not quite an Athletic Newham level of Non-League but still a big jump.  

2 goals and 3 assists so far this season would be enough to justify naming him here, but Thomas has always failed to worry me when I’ve seen him at Loftus Road. That’s the only reason I’ve not got him as my one to watch. That and the fact that there is another player who has stood out more than him, particularly in their win against Birmingham this weekend. 

That’s Bosun Lawal. Man of the match this week, and scorer of the winner. Despite scoring a header, and putting up good defensive and aerial numbers, this centre-half isn’t a threat for the reasons you’d expect me to be worried about. At just 5 ft 10, aerial duels aren’t necessarily a strong point of his.

Lawal is a ball playing defender who likes to get forward and contribute when in possession. In that sense, a similar profile to Amadou Mbuenge and Ronnie Edwards. This isn’t to say he lacks physicality either. The young Irishman definitely puts himself about. He could potentially transition into midfield at some point. 

This kind of ball-playing defender will cause issues for us if he drives forward and adds another body in the middle of the park. Our boys struggle to deal with a midfield 2 or 3 enough as it is, so with an extra man pushing forward and offering an extra option, we could get completely overrun. 

We definitely need to watch out for Lawal, I just see him causing real issues for our midfield and even our defence. He also may be one of the only centre-backs in the division who might be able to cope with Burrell’s electric pace. An all-rounder.

I think we will struggle against one of the most in-form teams in the division. Stoke’s only loss so far has been a 1-0 loss to West Brom, and I think they’re definitely one of the top sides this season. Don’t be surprised if they are still challenging for automatics in May. 

We won’t embarrass ourselves. Now that we’ve got a couple of wins under our belt and we have a bit of confidence, I think we will compete. But Mark Robins has Stoke playing very well. Whilst dangerous in attack (they probably could’ve had 3 or 4 against Birmingham), they’re also a disciplined side who we will struggle to break down. This won’t be an easy one. A marginal 2-1 loss, probably Kone to grab another goal. 

Championship Matchay 6 Predictions:

Another slip-up as I forgot to make a prediction for the South-Coast derby this week. I wouldn’t have gone 0-0 anyway. 3 results correct this week, no scores. Poor. 

Sheffield United got obliterated on Friday night at Portman Road. That’s Selles gone, a shame, I felt he had real potential as a manager. Ipswich look bloody good. They will probably win the league now they’ve got into their flow.

No wild results this week, Boro dropping points at Preston was a surprise but Stoke beating Birmingham isn’t as much of a shock as I’m sure Sky will make it out to be.

The two Sheffield clubs make up the bottom two, joined by Oxford United in 22nd, who I don’t think will stay down there.

Here’s my score predictions for Matchday 6:

• Middlesbrough 1-1 West Bromwich Albion
• Birmingham City 1-1 Swansea City 
• Leicester City 2-2 Coventry City
• Blackburn Rovers 0-2 Ipswich Town
• Derby Country 2-1 Preston North End
• Hull City 0-1 Southampton 
• Norwich City 3-0 Wrexham 
• Portsmouth 4-0 Sheffield Wednesday 
• Sheffield United 2-0 Charlton Athletic
• Bristol City 3-2 Oxford United
• Millwall 2-2 Watford

Two wins on the trot. First away win. 7 points on the board. Things are looking better. We still have problems. We still have players coming back from injury. We still have some adaptation to do. But we are in a much better position than we were at this point last year. Let’s see how the next few months go. Bring on Stoke. 

You R’s

The Season Starts Here

Last summer was an interesting one. Lots of new exciting talent was brought in – some of which have worked out, some not so much, and some that missed a large chunk of the season through injury. More money was spent last summer on certain players than hindsight would have liked but you can’t get them all right. 

After a loose flirt with relegation followed by a managerial departure, this window was always going to be even more important. Not only building on last season’s squad, filling in the gaps where we looked weaker than others, but choosing the right man to take over from a manager who was held in such high regard that his name was heard ringing round the stadium when we sat bottom of the table. 

Of course there were loads of names floating about, but Julian Stephan was the man who got the job and I think most fans were happy with that. The first ever French manager of Queens Park Rangers was given a warm welcome and has been backed in the market more than any manager since Jimmy-Floyd Hasselbaink (I think), partly enabled by the Eze sell-on (who knew?!) and some very impressive business by the club, selling players like Sinclair Armstrong (last season) and Charlie Kelman who hadn’t renewed but brought in significant fees despite poor goal-scoring numbers. 

I’m going off of what I see on Transfermarkt for any info on transfer fees etc. so forgive me if they aren’t entirely accurate, I’m not massively interested in transfer fees as long as we are spending money we have and not repeating mistakes from the past. 

Without further ado, here’s a round-up of our summer transfer window going into the 2025/26 season, breaking it down into positions and rating each signing out of 10 if possible, though for some it’s too early to tell. 

Defenders:

As much of a drama that the position has caused so far this season, no new goalkeepers have been brought in. Murphy Cooper was loaned out to Barnsley and is already making a name for himself there, and is arguably better than both of the first team options we currently have.

Amadou Mbuenge – 8/10

The first signing of the Julian Stephan era was Amadou Mbuenge, one that there were a few whispers about, but not a high profile move. I’m sure Reading fans will be gutted to be losing such a huge dressing room figure on a free transfer, and I’m so glad we were quick to swoop in and get him.  

Looking at our current defence, he gets in easily. It has to be an Mbuenge and Morrison partnership every week, until – yes I’m going to say it – until Clarke-Salter is back. Mbuenge jumps for every header, though not always successful – watching his debut against Preston I did notice the timing of his jumps were often slightly off, and I could see him injuring either someone else or himself, or completely mistiming a header and giving away a goal. This happened against Charlton, when he let a pretty pathetic volley bounce over his head, but we’ll forgive him for that because he’s been class so far. 

Aside from his love for a tackle and a header, he also loves to drive forward with the ball. Confidence with the ball at your feet is always a bonus with centre-halves, and surprisingly rare at this level of professional football. 

What also makes Mbuenge such a positive signing is his influence on the team and his presence in the dressing room. Loved by Reading fans, he’s already warmed to the Loftus Road crowd after just two home games. A loud, bubbly character whose positive energy radiates through the club whenever he’s involved. Just look at him at full time after Charlton on Saturday. Definitely one of my favourites for a while. 

Kealey Adamson – 5.5/10?

The Mbuenge signing was followed the next day by the announcement of Australian right-back Kealey Adamson. I would have this down as a ‘too early to tell’ (hence the question mark) but as he was a first team signing – aged 22, much older than some of the fresher, development projects that have arrived, I feel a rating is necessary.

It’s a tough one. Personally, this one confuses me. We have no idea if he’s any good or not. I wasn’t impressed when I saw him in Pre-Season, but he was playing left-back. He’s had a few very short cameos so far this season but, if I can speak boldly, the manager doesn’t seem to rate him. 

It’s always going to be tough to get in ahead of Jimmy Dunne but even Mbuenge is trusted ahead of him at right-back. I’m not writing him off, I just have very little to go off for this signing – he’s only played a season in the A-League, and no one had heard of him when he arrived. I can’t say whether this is definitively a good or bad signing, I just find it strange that he doesn’t seem to be getting any game time – not even at Plymouth in the cup. But it’s early days, we can’t make judgements just yet. 

Tylon Smith – Too early to tell

When you sign the U20 AFCON Player of the Tournament it’s always going to intrigue you a bit. Smith has signed as a DS (Development Squad) player but I have a feeling that we may see him in the first team sooner than we may have initially thought. 

After impressing against Plymouth in a back line made up of kids, I don’t think it’ll be long before the 20 year-old South African is given a chance to get some league minutes. A loan would be a smart move – it would be great to see him get some experience in league two (or even one) but he does seem a bit skinny, so will need to beef up a bit to be a championship centre half. 

It’s still too early to tell with this one. One impressive debut (a game in which we threw away a 2 goal lead) is not enough to warrant a rating just yet, but don’t be surprised if/when the injuries start stacking up over winter, and Smith is rushed into first-team football. If that does happen, I think he backs himself enough, and will impress. That’s just a hunch though.

Tim Akindileni – Too early to tell

Another one for the future. Signing at just 17 (It’s his 18th birthday as I write this), I think we’ve missed a trick not loaning him out, even if to a non-league side. I understand that the point in the DS is to develop players closely at the club, but playing first team football will only accelerate his progression.

I think Stephan rates him – He was highly rated at Aberdeen, and played quite a few times for us in pre-season. He looks quite comfortable for his age. Being 6 foot 4 and left-footed both also make him a valuable asset for the future – and a potential heir to Clarke-Salter. 

Rhys Norrington-Davies – 7/10

Left-back was a top priority this window, arguably second after a new striker. Letting Kenneth Paal go was probably the correct decision but this slot became even more of an issue when Ziyad Larkeche tore his ACL. We went into our third game of the new season with Esquerdinha as our only first team left-back. 

I trust that the club were aware of how important this was, and that the reason it didn’t get done promptly was because they wanted to get the right one in rather than panic-buy. This is, in a way, supported by the fact that we only ended up loaning one in rather than signing a permanent one. 

No-one is under the impression that Norrington-Davies was our first choice. Sheffield United fans were happy to see him go by the looks of it, but he was used as a centre half most recently from what I can gather. There was a lot of talk about his proneness to injury – We signed Harvey Vale with a broken back so nothing is new to us. 

I was actually happy with the signing. An experienced left-back at this level who’s played in the Premier League for Sheffield United. Not going to move mountains but fills a hole, and what a massive, gaping hole it was. If he doesn’t perform, he goes back to Brammall Lane next season, and we potentially get someone else in January. If he does, we could look at a permanent move for a player who’s massively out of favour at his parent club. The right move for a club who have rushed and overpaid for signings in the past.

RND performed well on his debut, too. A strong traditional left-back who could work on his attacking output and passing but is definitely good enough for this level. Good competition for Esquerdinha and useful for the games where the youngster may not do so well. Can also cover at CB if absolutely needed.

Midfielders:

During Pre-season, with Jonathan Varane injured, we saw just how paper-thin we are in midfield. Sam Field has been having a nightmare of it lately – a great servant to the club, but he’s getting found out massively. If you’ve read just one of my write-ups you know what I think of Nicolas Madsen. Kieran Morgan is a very promising talent but he needs support.

Harvey Vale, who really should be included in this piece (but isn’t because we signed him with a broken back last season), could be the ball-playing 8 that we desperately need, and I hope he is, but it hasn’t happened yet.

We need someone to sit next to/in front of Varane and progress the ball – we get absolutely steamrolled in midfield and have been for a while now. So it’s a shame that we didn’t get one in this window. If Vale isn’t the answer then we could struggle. 

Isaac Hayden – 8/10 

One redeeming factor is that we’ve managed to bring this man back to the club. If it means a double pivot of Varane and Hayden, then so be it. I don’t care how similar their profiles are – they’re both of starting quality, both miles better than Field and Madsen, and I’d feel much more comfortable. I’m sure the back line would too. 

He’s not the most exciting player, he lacks one or two yards of pace, he’s not the messiah, he has his own downfalls. But Hayden’s experience, leadership qualities and cool-head are much needed in a squad full of fresh talent from the lower leagues, and from abroad. There’s also the technical side – he can actually kick a ball. 

After being made a free agent, it was just such an obvious signing. I didn’t think we’d do it if I’m honest, because I know he’s comfortably on a 5 figure weekly wage, but the club obviously saw the sense in getting it done.

I’m over the moon about it. He was only here for half a season before, but he loved it and was desperate to come back. He brought the type of quality/experience we needed back then and need even more so now. Also playing an important role in Pompey’s survival last season, he’s a very strong signing, possibly top 3 most important of all this summer.

Jaylan Pearman – Too early to tell

This signing was half-known last season when a pre-transfer agreement was revealed on twitter for another Australian youth international. Pearman was brought over from the same club as Daniel Bennie – Perth Glory, but has only played for them 12 times. So it really is too early to form much of an opinion on him. 

Part of the U20 Australian team that won the Asian cup in the summer, Pearman scored in the semi-final. From clips I’ve seen of him, he’s not shy about having a go at goal. He joins the long list of attacking midfielders at the club.

We did see glimpses of him in pre-season, as well as at Plymouth in the cup, where most of his game was spent watching the ball either fly past him down the wings towards our box, or launched over his head from our own defenders towards our attackers. He was a bit slow, but it’s harsh to judge him on this game, where essentially 9 kids were told to just go out and enjoy it. 

I think Pearman is another one who needs a loan, I don’t think playing against academy sides week in week out is going to do much to prepare him for the first team. Ultimately 12 professional games of football, and those being in Australia, are not enough to go off. Time will tell.

Isak Alemayehu – Too early to tell

There was a quick turnover with this one. The rumours came out a day or two before the deadline and it was announced late on the day. From what I can gather so far (checking his stats on FotMob and watching a YouTube compilation), he’s a 6 or an 8 who likes to get forward with the ball, is strong with it at his feet, and likes to get stuck in – with good tackling and interception numbers. 

At 18 years old, Alemayehu has 4 games in Europe under his belt – one of which being against Chelsea, where he scored. That’s a good start. All in all, we won’t know about this one for a while – who knows, he might be another Kieran Morgan who breaks into the team out of nowhere. 

Attackers:

Our absolute top priority was always going to be a goalscorer. Zan Celar getting the number 9 shirt only to be loaned out weeks later was a strange one, especially with our sights on one of the players I’m about to talk about. I’m a big fan of Michael Frey but he isn’t enough to be your primary striker, and he’s been out with a long-term injury anyway.

 Lloyd going out on loan, and Kelman going to Charlton, meant that we had room for one or two new strikers, potentially even three if circumstances allowed for it. 

We also needed wingers. On both sides, too. I love Paul Smyth, can’t stand the hate he gets, but he’s a super-sub. He’s not a starter (even if he started on Saturday and was one of our best players). Dembele can’t seem to stay fit, and he’s better in the 10 anyway, and Rayan Kolli had fitness issues of his own going into this season.

The club delivered.

Kwame Poku – 8/10

£900k for one of the most wanted players in League One is a steal whichever way you look at it. Us and Charlton seem to have both gone down the ‘league-one super team’ route with our transfer strategies, but I honestly think we’ve got the better options. 

Poku was reportedly wanted by Birmingham, Rangers and about 20 other clubs. The best winger in league one last season – 12 goals and 8 assists in just 27 matches, and a spot in the team of the season, it’s hard to argue against that being an unbelievable signing. 

He comes with his own fitness issues, and of course, hobbled off on his debut, and won’t be back till after the international break. But, with a bit more size on him than our other attacking midfielders, I hope he’s more physically up to it. He linked up well with Dembele against Preston and looked sharp enough in pre-season. I think he’ll fit in well and make the step-up. 

Koki Saito – 8/10

I was gutted when Saito wasn’t made permanent. After the Poku signing though, and seeing how well Dembele was playing in pre-season, I didn’t think this position was much of a priority, and I wasn’t sure about the price tag. 

I was wrong. I’m not sure what we ended up paying for the lad, but I know the initial asking price was £5 million. Was it £3 million plus add ons in the end? I’m not sure, I keep seeing different figures everywhere I look. But whatever it was, he was worth it. 

Bringing Saito back was one of the best decisions of the summer, proven by his excellent second debut. It’s so good to have him back. Not only such a nice fella, with a great attitude who makes everyone smile, but also a brilliantly talented footballer, whose profile and dribbling style I feel is something that the championship is not used to. 

Both footed, agile, fast, with a powerful shot, he’s just such a dangerous player and I’m so excited to see him link up with Poku and Kone. Right now, with everyone fit, having to drop one of Chair, Saito, Poku, Dembele and Kone to make up the front four, I’m afraid my choice is Dembele. But bloody hell, what a bunch of options that is. 

Rumarn Burrell – 7/10

This is definitely one of my favourite bits of business for a while. Just for the sheer unexpected nature of it. No one saw it coming. Not even an ITK tweet. No one had heard of him, mind, but were quick to watch clips of him at Burton and read up on him. The reaction to this signing was mostly positive and he’s had a good reception from the fans. 

He wasn’t the main striker that we needed, we knew that. But he brought something we lacked heavily – pace. Also, his work rate is one of the best in the squad, second only to Paul Smyth. He hasn’t scored yet, but got a nice assist against Charlton and will be very good to have off the bench as the season unfolds. 

I think Burrell could be a dangerous player for us and one that will only get better and better. And, if it doesn’t work out, then so what? There was a transfer fee (I think it was around £1 million?), but he wasn’t a high-profile signing, not much hype or pressure on him, just an honest, hard-working footballer who got a championship move and will give it his all. Good business. 

Richard Kone – 9/10

Saved the best till last. This was the one. The one we’ve been after. The one that defines the season. The potential Charlie Austin replacement, 10 years later. We’ve lacked a proper number 9 for so, so long. Forgive me if I sound like I’m getting ahead of myself. 

Conor Washington, Seb Polter, Jordan Hugill, Lyndon Dykes,  Zan Celar. So many disappointments. The closest thing we’ve had in that time was Nakhi Wells and it breaks my heart to talk about him. 

Have we finally got our man? It’s certainly looked that way so far. Had some nice touches on his debut, holds the ball up well and has a presence in the box. Scored what I thought was a decent goal in the embarrassment at Cov. Then, on his home debut, was my man of the match and scored the killer third. 2 in 3. Promising start. 

The story – from the homeless World Cup, to Non-League, to League One, now he’s our man. Les Ferdinand, Charlie Austin. Two of the best to ever wear the shirt – both started in Non-League. It just feels like a good one, doesn’t it? 

The fee? Somewhere around £3 million plus add-ons. Phenomenal business. I don’t know what it is that’s attracting these players to Loftus Road over some of the more lucrative options but whatever it is it’s working. I really hope he’s the 15+ goal guy. The guy who knows what he’s doing, where to put himself, where the goal is, how to score at this level. 

If this doesn’t work out, I don’t know what will.

Departures:

You know it’s a good window when you’re not particularly upset about anyone you’ve lost. Some good business has been done this summer and we haven’t really lost anyone too important. Here’s a brief rundown of who’s departed the club, with a rating out of 10 for their time here:

Kenneth Paal – 7/10

When Paal first signed under Beale, I genuinely believed he was one of the best left-backs in the league. His form obviously fell off and he never really hit those highs again, but I’ve always felt the criticism has been a bit exaggerated for Ken. 

The one thing that always wound me up about Paal was his corners. I’m not sure I ever saw him beat the first man. No idea why he took them for so long, it was a painful old time, feeling that we may never score from one again. He did chip in with goals every now and then though, and I’m pretty sure at one point, he was our top scorer. 

As much as I rated him more than the average R’s fan, he definitely became too much of a liability towards the end of his spell. One game that sticks out is the Burnley thumping in the last home game of last season. No one was good that day, but Paal was an absolute handicap that day and it was pretty clear his time at the club was up. 

Jack Colback – 7/10

I didn’t appreciate Colback’s importance until towards the end of his spell. When he first arrived, I thought it was a good depth signing, bringing some valuable experience which could help keep us in this division. However, off the ball I saw him as a walking red card. 

I rated Colback as a player, he rarely had a bad performance in a Rangers shirt. There was just something about him that didn’t feel very QPR to me. Looking back, I was harsh – his spell was pretty decent (when he was fit) and I’m not sure letting him go was the right decision.

With a ball-playing number 8 being as much as a priority as it is now, I’m confused why the club didn’t see Colback as a good option that was staring us in the face. Maybe he wanted a longer deal than we were prepared to give, I’m not sure. But I’d definitely have him in this team. The perfect middle ground between Varane and Field. Knows how to tackle, can pass the ball, and can get it forward – even scores a few goals. For whatever reason, an agreement wasn’t reached, and Colback now becomes a free agent. 

Morgan Fox – 6/10

Foxy really was a depth signing. One of the first to be brought in under Ainsworth, Fox was signed as a back-up centre half who could also cover at left-back. Not an exciting player by any stretch, but reliable whilst everyone else filled up the treatment room. 

I won’t pretend I was a huge fan of his, but there was a time when he genuinely was one of our most reliable players. There was just always that feeling that a mistake would come. To be fair to him, this only happened on a few occasions, notably Pompey at home, where he almost single-handedly gave them their first win of the season. 

Fox’s departure didn’t help when it came to having experienced heads in the squad. I highlighted this when everyone was complaining about no experience being subbed on at Plymouth – what experience?? Anyway, we’ve now upgraded in the form of Rhys Norrington-Davies. Whilst 5 years younger and less reliable with fitness, he’s played at higher levels, with better players and at one point was one of the best left-backs in the division. 

Charlie Kelman – 2/10

Usually, when you have a player out on loan who finishes the season as top scorer one division below you, there’d be little doubt of them getting into the side in some capacity. On paper it might’ve looked to outsiders like we had our new striker without having to scan the market. After all, Kelman actually outscored Kone last season. 23 goals in one season can’t be a fluke can it?

Kelman never really got a proper shout at QPR, I definitely agree with that. But what some people fail to realise is that he was loaned out four times before he hit form last season. Across those four spells he managed 11 goals in 70 league games. 

Hats off to him for finding form – I’m happy for him, and I was willing to give him a chance. However, if he didn’t want to be at the club then selling was the right move. I don’t blame him, I don’t think he was treated the best by QPR, so fair play for wanting a fresh start. 

Getting the fee we did (£3 million plus add-ons) for a striker with a year left on his deal, with zero championship goals in 23 appearances (mostly off the bench) is top business. Kelman has also failed to hit the ground running at Charlton, being demoted to the bench. So it looks so far like we’ve got the good end of the deal here.

 Lucas Andersen – 6/10

Andersen was one of the January signings under Marti who contributed to our safety. The Dane got off to a flyer with a great assist for Frey against Norwich as they both came off the bench to make their debuts. 

Due to his age, we knew he wasn’t quick, but what he lacked in agility he made up for in skill and ability. I couldn’t stand his looping corners, but he could pass the ball, cross it, and was comfortable with his feet. His part in that 4-0 annihilation of Leeds was just such a pleasure to watch. 

I don’t know what he did in the summer, but he was way off it last season. Scoring our first goal of the season, it looked as though he may continue where he left off. As it turned out, he’d lost yards and yards of pace. His sharpness was gone, and he really struggled. 

There was at least, a good farewell for Anderson. Scoring an absolute thunderc*nt at Preston to keep us in the division for another year. I’ve seen him linked with various championship clubs so I hope he gets a move and is cherished there as much as he was during his short time in West London.

Taylor Richards – 1/10

Such a shame. One of those ones where off the field matters have affected his career and deemed his potential wasted. A really tough time in his personal life contributed to some problems, partly around his attitude, which meant that not even a loan could save his career. 

He made his way into the team in pre-season and scored in our first friendly, so we thought maybe he might actually have a chance, but it wasn’t to be. Still a young lad and I hope he stays in the game and is able to make a career at some level.

Out on loan:

• Zan Celar – Fortuna Dusseldorf 
• Alfie Lloyd – Leyton Orient
• Hevertton Santos – Gil Vicente
• Alfie Tuck – Hampton and Richmond Borough
• Murphy Cooper – Barnsley

Returning from loan:

• Harrison Ashby – Newcastle United
• Yang Min-Hyeok – Tottenham Hotspur (now on loan at Portsmouth)
• Ronnie Edwards – Southampton

Alfie Lloyd will be looking to make a name for himself in League One whilst Alfie Tuck will be gaining valuable first team experience in Non-League. I’m not sure either of them are championship standard but of the 2, Tuck is the more likely one. Cooper would get into our starting 11 right now. Santos doesn’t seem to have a future at Loftus Road, and Celar will probably be hoping to leave permanently next summer too. Good luck to them all. 

More additions were made to the development squad – Kobbie Agbude, Kaleb Dyke and Alex Wilkie have all joined. There were also some close-ones that we didn’t get over the line. One of these, Pepe Meissa Ba, was almost confirmed until a failed medical. The collapse of this deal seems to have pissed Schalke off quite a bit – it looks as if Kone became available and we did a U-turn on the deal last minute. 

Ronnie Edwards was reportedly keen to return, but I was never confident on that deal happening, Southampton were always going to ask for a big fee. It’s a shame as he’s now 4th/5th down the pecking order there and would’ve been one of the first names on our team sheet. Who knows, maybe we’ll get our man one day in the future. 

This did highlight one issue with QPR fans, though – the ITKs. I get it, everyone wants to show off to their mates about how much inside knowledge they may or may not have (usually the latter), but most are smart enough to know when something confidential shouldn’t be spread on twitter. 

It really winds me up when the club are clearly trying to keep a move under wraps and then some kn*bhead on twitter starts tweeting double eye emojis and acting as though they’re at the negotiation table. This is not going to help a deal to progress. It alerts competition and hinders your chances of getting a smooth negotiation done.

As for the Edwards deal – I’m not convinced by the idea that ITKs were to blame for this one. Nothing really confidential was revealed. As far as I made out, it was said that the player wanted to come to the club – obvious as he doesn’t want to be 5th choice centre half, and QPR were in talks – of course we were, he was our best player for half of last season, and that Southampton were asking for a significant transfer fee – well, yeah, why wouldn’t they?

This was one of those ones that was unlikely from the start, it would’ve taken a miracle to get it done. If a deal supposedly collapsed because of a few tweets, then it probably was never very likely in the first place. The ITKs do get on my nerves though. Apart from one, maybe two that go about it the right way, wait till the right time and are usually correct. 

That wraps up QPR’s summer 2025 transfer window. Every window is important but this one definitely felt bigger than others, just like last summer. We’ve further built on a new-ish group and hopefully thrown together a competitive squad. We now go into the break with 4 points from 4 games. Not time to panic yet. Players coming back from injury, new signings settling in, new manager sussing the league out –  it might all start to come together when we return.

Overall, based on the players we’ve seen leave, the money we’ve made, including the bonus Eze money, and the players we’ve brought in, I’d give this window a 7/10.

We’ve spent big money, so these new boys need to deliver. If they don’t work out, we could be in trouble. There were a few gaps that didn’t get filled, arguably two new midfielders were needed, another centre-half, possibly even a keeper. However, we’ve got enough quality, and there’s always January. Let’s get behind them.

See you at Wrexham.

You R’s

Are We Back?

Championship Matchday 4 – Charlton (H)

Confession. I didn’t make this one. Sky moved it forward to 12:30 so I was busy elsewhere, and spent most of the game watching on a dodgy stream on my phone whilst the Elizabeth Line sat still on the tracks for more than 25 minutes. I did get to see most of the main moments, though, and saw just about enough to be able to write about it. What a one to miss that was!

We were promised changes ahead of this game and we did see some. New Left-back Rhys Norrington-Davies was put straight into the starting XI, Field was dropped, meaning Varane made his first home start of the season, next to Madsen. Mbuenge was put back in his natural position next to Morrison.

Harvey Vale started out on the right, but shifted into the 10 as the game progressed. Joe Walsh kept his spot – we’ll get to him later. Kone made his first start and Paul Smyth was kept on the left wing for Dembele to play in his best role (10). Charlton matched our 4231 formation, with the same lineup that lost at home to Leicester last week, keeping Kelman on the bench, who came on at 68 minutes for goal-scorer Rob Apter. 

A strong start, with an intense press that led to a big chance very early on, with Kone and Dembele linking up in the box but Kaddie’s weak bounced effort ultimately being no trouble.

It only took us 8 minutes to get in front, though, when Vale picked up the ball on the right wing and put in what initially didn’t look like anything special of a ball, but Kone had the excellent vision to dummy it for Smyth to put away. A near reenactment of Liverpool’s winner at St James’ Park on Monday, not quite the same finish though – I did think Kaminski probably could, or should have stopped it. It must also be mentioned that Walsh started this move, with a great throw out to Dembele who passed it onto Vale.

The momentum dropped off after going ahead, and we were desperate for the half time whistle. Charlton dominated in midfield, and we sat back and let them have total control of the game. It became very direct and route one from us for the remainder, with the best chance coming when Paul Smyth cleverly won a foul on the edge of the box and Madsen forced a save from the free kick.

Miles Leaburn hit the bar and we were lucky to still be in front. We did almost go into the break 2-0 up though, with Madsen putting a great diagonal ball into Dunne who headered it across to Vale, hitting the post from his own header, followed by the half time whistle. 

Many of us probably expected Dembele to be the one to come off at half time (I did anyway) but it was goal-scorer Paul Smyth who made way for Rayan Kolli, who was a fitting replacement and had a good outing. However, the midfield domination continued and Charlton equalised early on in the second half. 

Two men were at fault for this goal. Mbuenge, and of course Joe Walsh. Tyreece Campbell whipped in a ball to Rob Apter who hit it first time, with a weak volley that bounced over Mbuenge’s failed jump and was watched into the net by a confused Joe Walsh. Honestly baffling how this found its way in, but it was coming, and Charlton deserved a goal.

It looked for the next 30 mins like we were going to throw this game away. Walsh pulled off a great save at his near post to stop the Addicks going in front, and it was becoming more likely that we might lose. We weren’t peppered with chances and shots, but it was a lot of ball chasing and had Charlton shown a bit more quality in their final ball/end product, it could’ve been a lot worse. We started to slowly make our way back in, with Morrison hitting an overhead kick over the bar, but it was left to Stephan to turn this one back around.

The substitutions. They absolutely changed this game. Saito, on at 59 minutes, looked sharper than our lads have in every game so far, and he didn’t play a minute of pre-season. Burrell and Esquerdinha also brought some energy in the 68th minute and helped massively in wearing Charlton down. 

It was the Brazilian who won the ball back for Koki to receive and run at the Charlton defence, doing a lovely step over to get onto his left foot and slot it past Kaminski. An unreal goal against the run of play and one that instantly shut down any criticism/questions about his permanent signing.

That’s the level of quality we’ve been after. It’s why we were keen to make him permanent. We knew he didn’t put up standout numbers last season, but we could see the quality and we knew he would start reaping the rewards. The few goals he did score on loan last season were all top notch, and I’m just glad we’ve got him back, even if I didn’t initially see him as a priority. More than happy to be proven wrong on that front. I can’t speak enough about how happy I am that he’s already off the mark again.

Charlton hadn’t given up, also reverting to a route one style, launching balls forward. But Rangers had sussed this out, sat back and couldn’t be broken down. Still chasing an equaliser, Charlton launched another ball into our area. After a few headers back and forth, Esquerdinha picked the ball up just outside our own box and started the move again for the third, playing a ball to a dangerous area in the middle of the park, for Burrell to flick it on with what looked like a backheel, and Kone, composed, slotted it past the keeper from just outside the box. A proper striker’s goal, and one that we’ve been looking for for so, so many years at Loftus Road. 

Finally, 3 points. Sometimes wins like this make you wonder why we were even worried in the first place. We’re unbeaten at home after all! What was the score at Coventry again? 

There were a lot of weak points and I think we all know we can’t get carried away with it all. For instance, I said going into this game that Charlton’s midfield didn’t worry me, and bar Conor Coventry, it still doesn’t, so for us to be dominated so heavily in possession by a side whose own manager confessed to their lack of quality, is definitely something that needs looking at. 

We showed adaptation, and knew that we weren’t going to win this game with a keep-ball approach. So we threw tactics out the window and went full counter-attacking mode. Sometimes, that is all that’s needed, and it really, really paid off here. Maybe that’s what we need to revert to to get some points on the board. If it works, it works, and if it gets us over the line, so be it, but there are two reasons why this may create issues further down the line. 

The first is that R’s fans don’t expect that type of football, and we want to see quality in our playing style, we want attractive, fluid football. I’m still unable to actually put a label on the style that Marti had us playing, I’m not sure what it was, but it was a damn sight better than the football we played before him. No one enjoyed Ainsworth ball, that style of play belongs in Sunday league, not the second tier of English football –  so we don’t want to see its return. Stephan, like Marti, is a tactical manager, and he’ll obviously want to play attractive football once we are more confident. 

With players like Chair, Poku, Dembele, Saito, Varane, Morgan, Vale – we want to see their technical ability used to its fullest, we want to see their quality, we want to know that when it comes down to it, we have the players to compete with any team in this league, rather than just sitting back and launching it. These players have been crying out for a proper centre forward to put their chances away, so let’s hope that Kone can be that guy. It’s looking good so far.

The other issue is that, whilst it works in the short run while our manager and young squad suss out this league, we can’t get too cocky, as it won’t be long before teams start to sit back and shut us out. Being forced to change to this game plan against a newly promoted side does ring some alarm bells. Not to be a downer on what was a fantastic result, but it does.

Essentially the point here is that we can’t rely on counter attacks to win every game. I’m sure Stephan knows this and will be working on improving the quality we show on the ball. It doesn’t look like a new number 8 will be brought in, which is alarming. We need to make sure the ones we have right now can improve. 

That’s my one caution from this. Other than that, enjoy the win, enjoy those scenes at the end. The atmosphere looked immense. I’m fuming that I wasn’t a part of it. I’ve watched the videos back a few times. That’s what we want to see. More of that. Let’s get into the player ratings for this one. 

Player Ratings:

Joe Walsh – 6.5/10

I said I’d get to him. Sadly his best performance so far was ruined by a stupidly gifted goal. A great, quick long throw to start the move for the first goal and a cracking save at his near post to keep us in front were his two main highlights.

Charlton didn’t test him much other than this, but yeah, the goal. You have to be saving that. He watched it go past him and bounce slowly into the net. There was zero power on the shot. Yeah Mbuenge should’ve done much, much better but the keeper is supposed to be that last line of defence, and he wasn’t. It was embarrassing. 

As I wasn’t there, this isn’t something I can speak about from experience. But chants of ‘we want our Nardi back’ are not helping any situation at all. I didn’t hear it, I don’t know how loud it was, but I’m sure it was just a small minority.

I can acknowledge that Walsh has not advertised himself as a championship goalkeeper, and I haven’t hidden my personal preference towards Paul Nardi (who has his own downfalls) – but he’s 24, is playing his first season as a first choice at this level, and has worked damn hard to get there. So who does that help? It’s not on, and I don’t agree with it. 

Jimmy Dunne – 7.5/10

Much better from the captain today. I must admit I feel I went a tad harsh on him after Coventry (can you blame me?!) but he redeemed himself in this one. Back to his usual self, getting forward and winning headers in key areas. Did a pretty good job of coping with Tyreece Campbell, apart from the cross for the equaliser (the target of which should have been dealt with). Did give the ball away a few times. Sofacore had him down as our third best player, probably fair. 

Amadou Mbuenge – 6.5/10

This man has fast become a fans’ favourite, which I expected from speaking to Reading fans about him. Picking up the ball and dribbling through half the Charlton team, nearly reaching their box, had a hint of Ronnie Edwards about it –  a lot less disciplined, but faster, bold and brave. The geezer is nuts.

Leading the celebrations with Kone at the end, it’s impossible not to like him. However, I have to shave off a point for his part in Apter’s goal, it was a poorly timed jump that didn’t help Walsh at all. 

Liam Morrison – 7/10

Sofascore had Morrison as our lowest rated player, which I think is harsh. This is probably due to the fact that he only won 4 out of 11 of his aerial duels, but I can look past that, as in every other sense he was pretty fine. Not a stand out performance, but not a poor one either. I’ve only got him higher than Amadou because of the goal. 

Rhys Norrington-Davies – 7/10

One of the first things I saw when I managed to get my stream to work was RND giving the ball away. A pass accuracy of 55% is pretty poor, but as a traditional left-back, it was a solid debut for our new loanee. I think this will turn out to be a good signing, he just needs to improve on the ball, and work on his passing. 

Jonathan Varane – 7/10

A typically solid Varane performance. Still overrun in midfield for a big chunk of the game. It’s hard for a holding midfielder to play much of a role in the ‘hoof-ball’ that we saw in this game, but he certainly wasn’t poor. Still a crucial player and showed his quality. Paired up well with Madsen at points, but I’m still not convinced  – speaking of, he’s up next. 

Nicolas Madsen – 6.5/10 

A lot of people have been talking about how good Madsen was, and credit where it’s due, it was a lot better from him, especially in the first half. The direct approach suited him, as he was able to play some impressive long balls, one of them creating the chance that Vale nearly put away at the end of the first half.

However, he went back to default mode when the going got tough. He played a huge part in allowing Charlton’s midfield dominance, hiding and generally not being a massive help to Varane or the back four. 

I’m sorry, but a double pivot of Varane and Madsen just isn’t something I feel overly positive about. I’d rather Vale sit there, or even have two sixes of Varane and Hayden. He’s great at playing diagonal balls, through balls and set pieces, but he just doesn’t do enough of the hard work off the ball that you want from a number 8, or a 6, whatever you’d call his position in this game. 

Harvey Vale – 7/10

I’ve seen Vale’s performance described as ‘mediocre’ or ‘average’ from what I’ve read. I understand where these shouts are coming from, but sometimes a performance like that is what you need. Doing the simple things right, not doing anything particularly spectacular, but doing what is asked of you and contributing to the game positively.

Vale also played in two positions where I don’t believe he’s strongest – starting on the right wing and then moving into the 10. Stephan said that he has spoken to him about how he wants to utilise him – as a ball-carrying 8. So it’s confusing that he then went against this.

I think Vale had a good game, not just getting an assist, albeit a pretty average ball which was made to look a lot better by Kone’s dummy, but also hitting the post from a header, nearly putting us 2-0 up. He definitely showed signs of being a useful player, but went a bit quiet in the second half.

Karamoko Dembele – 6.5/10

I have to admit I wasn’t impressed with Dembele in this game. He was involved in the first goal, and had a big chance in the first few minutes at 0-0, but he probably should’ve had a better go at it. Overall, I just don’t think he was too involved here. 61% pass accuracy and only 25 touches of the ball.

I just don’t think there’s much to say about his performance. I still think he’s got bags of ability, clearly, I just worry about his ability to impact games when we’re up against it. His physicality has been a worry of mine for a while, and I think it’s what’s holding him back from being a top, top player in this league. I was surprised he didn’t get subbed off at half time, he was pretty ineffective. 

Paul Smyth – 8/10 

If this man had stayed on for the second half, he would have been my man of the match. He brought energy, danger and did not stop running. His best performance since Watford at home last season. At times it was almost like a 442 with him and Kone up top together. If Smyth wasn’t on the pitch, it would’ve been easy work for Charlton. Personally I think he got a bit lucky with his finish for the goal, but who cares? He put us 1-0 up and was one of our best players. Silenced a lot of people. 

Richard Kone – 8.5/10

Vital, vital signing. Really showed us what he can bring to this side, and absolutely put our previous number 9s to shame. His hold up play has been standout since he arrived, and it was brilliant again here. His dummy for Smyth’s goal demonstrated he has a football brain – the vision to be able to do that cannot be understated. 

Then, for his own goal, not much needs to be said. Burrell brilliantly put it on a plate for him but he still had work to do, bags of space, he could’ve easily messed up (and certain men we’ve been watching as of late definitely would have) but he kept his composure, and slotted it home. A great way to round up an impressive last half an hour. 

Substitutions:

• Rayan Kolli – 7/10 – Looked sharp, dangerous and a lot better than he did at Cov. 
• Koki Saito – 8/10 – Wouldn’t have won without him, changed the game, brought life to it. Great goal, showed exactly why we brought him back. 
• Esquerdinha – 8/10 – Assisted Koki’s goal, and found Burrell to assist the second. Another great sub who brought life to the game. I really like this lad so far, just needs to work on his defensive duties. 
• Rumarn Burrell – 8/10 – Immense work rate. I’ve hardly seen a bad word said about this man since he signed. Really good cameo and a superb assist for the 3rd.
• Isaac Hayden – 6.5/10 – Came on for a tired Varane and only touched the ball once. Didn’t have much to do due to the end to end nature of the game. Good to see him back.

A great way to finish off a quite horrible month of football, and sign off for the first international break. We need to remember not to get carried away, or start talking about play-off pushes and how good our team will be once everyone’s fit. A good win, against a poor, newly promoted side that made hard work of it. A lot of work still to be done, but lovely to get that first win under our belts, and as I said – unbeaten at home!

Man of the Match – Richard Kone

As mentioned, I would have given Smythy MOTM but he only played 45 minutes – Kone was brilliant from start to finish and I’m just so excited to have what looks like a proper striker for once. I won’t get ahead of myself as it’s only his 3rd game but 2 in 3 for the new lad (1 start) is not a bad way to mark your step up to the championship. 

Donkey of the Day – Joe Walsh

It feels really bad to be giving Walsh donkey for the third time already this season. It was between him and Mbuenge, both for the same goal, and I don’t want to seem like I’m letting Mbuenge off lightly for what was an embarrassing attempt at a header, but that was so poor from Walsh.

He has to get donkey for that – the ball bounced so slowly into the net it’s a joke. Like I said, it wasn’t a terrible performance from him but you want to be confident with who you have between the posts and things like that just don’t help. 

Up Next:

Championship Matchday 5 – Wrexham (A)

Score Prediction: Wrexham 1-1 QPR

One To Watch: Keiffer Moore

This will be a tricky one. There was such a high demand (and such a low allocation) for this away day that you were required to have 3,000 loyalty points for the first release. I don’t remember the last time that was the case, but it’s now sold out so I’m expecting a good one. We returned from our last trip to the raceground with a 2-0 win. When was that? 2004. So, not much history to go off for this fixture.

As expected, Wrexham have made statements in the transfer window about their intentions to compete in this league, Conor Coady, Nathan Broadhead, Josh Windass, Ben Sheaf, Keiffer Moore, and a bunch of others.

A very high scoring start to the season – 7 goals conceded and 10 scored, as well as a 3-3 draw with Hull in the cup (winning on penalties). QPR have conceded 11 and scored 6. For some reason I can’t see either side keeping a clean sheet here. 

Keiffer Moore is on 3 in 4 so far this season – you might call it a comeback after a pretty poor season at Sheffield United. The big Welshman has bagged 3 times against us in his career, so I fully expect him to get another here, considering the form he’s in. Probably a header, either that or a defensive error leading to an easy tap in.

Moore is the kind of sh*thouse big lad that always does well against the R’s, and I think our back four will struggle physically against him. 

Aside from that, I think our teams are quite evenly matched. I would say we have the better quality but they definitely beat us physically, plus, they look to be a better gelled team, with a gaffer that’s been with them since Non League. With the momentum of back to back promotions also behind them, they will be filled with more confidence, so we will have to battle for this. I think we’ll scrape a draw.

Championship Matchday 5 Predictions:

2 scores, 3 results correct this week. I’m getting further off every time. Sheffield United make it 4 for 4 (losses) so far, and Boro stay top. Bristol City, Coventry and West Brom all also remain unbeaten.

Aside from Boro, Stoke and Bristol City are the two sides I’ve been most impressed with this season, I wasn’t expecting the Robins to be even better than last season after losing Liam Manning, but they’ve been scarily good, and Stoke are flying after a strong window.

Marti’s Leicester got a good win on Friday night against Tom Brady’s superstars and seem to be picking up a run of form. Week off now to reflect on the past few weeks of football – here’s my predictions for the first fixtures back.

• Ipswich Town 1-0 Sheffield United
• Charlton Athletic 2-2 Millwall
• Oxford United 0-1 Leicester City
• Preston North End 0-2 Middlesbrough 
• Coventry City 3-2 Norwich City
• Sheffield Wednesday 1-3 Bristol City
• Stoke City 1-1 Birmingham City
• Swansea City 2-0 Hull City
• Watford 2-2 Blackburn Rovers
• West Bromwich Albion 2-0 Derby County

As always, thanks for reading. See you in mid September after the break. 

You R’s.