Ellerslie Echo

Slowly Coming Together?

As the first team return from their Girona/Perpignon pre-season tour, there are mixed feelings about the state of the squad as the season daunts us. Keeping the match reviews as brief as possible, as they’re only friendlies, here’s a write-up on what we’ve seen so far. 

Before they set off, two elevens containing a mix of new signings, young blood and familiar faces, cruised past a mediocre Stevenage side in a behind-closed-doors friendly at Heston. As everyone says, you can’t read too much into pre-season games. Especially for what was effectively a kick about against a mid-table league one side. But there were definitely some positives.

Kaider Dembele was the stand out player in the first half, scoring two and assisting two (if you count winning a free kick as an assist), and a surprise run-out for Taylor Richard’s saw him finish off a well-worked move from the former, for the third of 4 first half goals.

This half also saw an actual QPR player score an actual free kick – the first I can remember since Sunderland away 3 years ago (both being scored by Ilias Chair).

The second half allowed us to get our first glimpse of Harvey Vale in a QPR shirt, and he definitely piqued my interest, providing what we’ve been missing for a while, and linking the midfield with the attack and driving forward with the ball, something that, personally, Ilias Chair has always been good at, but perhaps with a bit more command on the ball, and probably a better quality end product to polish it off. His left foot looks sublime.

This brief introduction, which was rewarded with a long-ish range curler into the top corner near the end, definitely had me excited for what the 21 year old has to offer, reinforcing my hunch that he will be a very important player for us this season.

The group then set off for Girona for a training camp which would include a friendly against second division Spanish side, Castellon. The less said about this game the better- the highlight (in my opinion) probably being that it saw us debut a new pink and black away kit, welcomed by mixed-acclaim.

Their left winger, Brian Cipenga (who got 3 goals and 1 assist in the Spanish second division last season) made an example out of poor Daniel Bennie at right wing back, but it wasn’t just the young Aussie in the firing line, the entire back 5, Joe Walsh, and the midfield had obviously not adapted to the Spanish heat and each had melt downs of their own.

Our attackers weren’t any better, and it was two very poor halves from both XIs. I won’t pretend I was glued to my laptop screen for this one, but I’m not sure we managed a shot on target the entire game. But, as is always the case, when we win a pre-season game, it seems we have undone 11 years of mediocrity and are eyeing up a promotion charge, and when we lose, it doesn’t matter as it’s only a friendly. This fickle see-saw between melt-downs and exaggerated buzz was, therefore, to be slammed back the other way if we were to produce an improved performance against mid-table Ligue 1 side Toulouse.

I’m not sure what Stephan had them doing for the remainder of their time in Girona besides Go Karting and a handful of short, one-to-one daily round-up vlogs that seemed like something that a 20 year old would send their nan on WhatsApp while backpacking in Australia to let her know they’re having a good time, but, to everyone’s surprise, not excluding what seemed like two hundred odd fans that made the trip to the next game’s destination in Perpignan, the boys actually managed to fight off an unpleasant, niggling bunch in what turned out to be quite a tasty clash, and come away with a 2-1 win after being shushed at 1-0 down in the first half (in a friendly by the way).

I was watching this one on a dodgy stream in the pub, the quality of which made the kit clash look like we were playing against ourselves, so between that and the beers that were being brought to my table, it became difficult to take note of anything that was going on.

Therefore my review of this run-out is based on very little. At 1-0 down I made a ‘joke’ to my mates about Paul Smyth’s inability to register assists and Zan Celar’s non-existent scoring record. So you can imagine who chopped inside and put in the cross for new Skipper Jimmy Dunne’s leveller, and who else put away the penalty to put us in front.

A good response to an embarrassing result 6 days prior, which encompassed strong performances from all. As mentioned previously, I watched limited minutes but from what I did see, I was impressed by Paul Smyth, thought Poku looked hungry and exciting when he came on, and it was clear they were determined to improve where they fell short in the 6-0 thumping, as we looked much more structured, and defensively solid. I think with the current bunch, a back four definitely works better than the 5 we tested in Spain. But with a few signings, this could easily change.

Based on what we’ve seen and heard so far, here is my take on the current squad and our new additions, and where I think we need to improve going into the season. I will try and keep this section as streamlined as possible, as it’s easy to waffle on about what we think of the squad and how the season might pan out.

New signings:

As I said before and will probably say again, I really, really like the look of Harvey Vale. He will be important to us this season if he stays fit, and I think he will become a starter. It will be interesting to see where Stephan places him, whether it will be as an 8, as an attacker or deeper in midfield, but based on what we’ve seen so far, I’d like to see him as a ball carrying midfielder who will pick up the ball from Varane or Field, and either give the ball to our attackers or drive forward himself. Definitely keep your eyes peeled on this one – an exciting prospect. Not much needs to be said about the signing of Kwame Poku, a player whose signature we reportedly fended off a wealth of clubs to snatch up, and one of the stand out players in league one. There is very little doubt that Poku will bring numbers and entertainment to our squad, and I’m intrigued to see what the gaffer plans to do with him, Dembele and Chair, all three being technically gifted attacking players whose preferred position is the 10. 

I also very much like the look of Amadou Mbuenge, a strong defender who became a fan favourite at Reading, and will hopefully make us less susceptible to the bullying we allowed ourselves to endure on our own turf on many occasions last season. The Kealey Adamson signing is an interesting one – personally I’m yet to be convinced by the A-League invasion that seems to be occurring, but I’d love for him, Pearman and Bennie to all work out. We’ve seen very little of him so far so we can only hope we’ve somehow managed to find the Australian answer to Alexander-Arnold from under everyone else’s noses.

Current Squad:

In terms of attack, we have got ourselves in a strange situation. I’m unsure what’s going on with Rayan Kolli and no one seems to be able to tell me whether he will be playing for us next season or not, but I am a big fan and think he could be a super player for us. I also am a big lover of Michael Frey, whose ability to run the amount he does for someone of his build fascinates me. He shows flashes of being a very good finisher, and in the right system and given the right chances, can chip in with quite a few goals.

Zan Celar had a horrific start to life in West London but he started to show glimpses after his brace away at Cardiff before picking up a season-ending injury, so there’s still a chance he will come good. Then we have Charlie Kelman, who is a confusing one. Some would say he hasn’t been given enough of a chance for QPR, some would say the opposite, but as Clive from LoftForWords said on his appearance on Gabe Sutton’s Deep-Dive, if we had just signed the best winger in league one and the top scorer in League one in a single window, we would be pretty excited. So I would like to see him given a chance, but there is the obvious issue of his contract, which he reportedly doesn’t want to renew, and you’d not be in the wrong to suggest that cashing in on him whilst we can would be a good idea.

I also hold similar views to Clive on Alfie Lloyd, where I love the bloke and want to see him succeed, but in all honesty, don’t see a level of quality anywhere near the Championship. With these attacking options, it’s impossible to predict how it’ll go, but one thing is for sure, they will be given good service. Chair, Poku, Dembele, Vale and even Smyth are showing signs of being very dangerous players that we already know can create plenty of chances and chip in with goals from time to time.

Our midfield is one that always confuses me. We have quality but always seem to be completely overrun and avoid playing through it entirely. Jonathan Varane improved massively in the second half of last season and will be a crucial decider of our fortune this season, so fingers crossed that he is back soon to command the midfield and fill the gaps that he left in our two matches on tour. Sam Field’s importance can’t be understated, and where he lacks in technical ability he makes up for in grit, and we are undoubtedly a better team with him on the pitch. We’re yet to hear about Jack Colback, but he could definitely be of use if he does decide to renew, and of course, Harvey Vale is definitely an option that Stephan should be looking at in this area of the park.

We were never going to sign Ronnie Edwards on a permanent, nor were we going to replace him. I can’t imagine him being at Southampton for too long, he is the best loan signing I’ve seen at Loftus Road in my lifetime. However we have managed to make a defensive signing in Mbuenge, and he looks to have settled in – I think a big proportion of us would like to see a partnership of him and Liam Morrison.

We know the importance of Steve Cook and Jake Clarke-Salter, but their fitness is, as usual, up in the air. If rumours are true then we will be letting Paul Nardi go, which would be a shame for me, as I am of the view that he is a key reason that we are still playing Championship football, and based on pre-season, no one could blame you for raising questions about Joe Walsh’s ability to fill his gloves.

An area that does concern me the most, is our full-backs. After letting Kenneth Paal go, its currently between 18 year old Esquerdinha and Ziyad Larkeche as to who starts at left back, and, whilst I’ve heard a lot of positives about Esquerdinha, it could be a risky move if we put faith entirely in those two options.

At right back, you could argue we are stronger – I’ve said all I’m able to say about Kealey Adamson, and there is always this part of me that fears that Jimmy Dunne’s spell as the Irish Cafu will come to an end and he will start getting exposed. So far though, he’s shown no signs of slipping up, and being given the arm band would have only filled him with more confidence. 

Pre-season so far has been mostly positive, and the lads have managed to restore the excitement for the season that they temporarily squashed in one blip of a friendly. The important things are that the new signings look promising, the team showed a bit of togetherness to redeem themselves after disappointment, and we look to be forming a squad that is definitely capable of causing some surprises this season, but it’s QPR, so we can only wait and see.

Tune in after our next round of pre-season fixtures back in the UK, where maybe we will have more signings to discuss, and morale will either be on a high or back in crisis mode after hosting some team from Hounslow at Loftus Road.