The lowdown on QPR 1 West Brom 3 – Former Fulham loanee’s hat-trick condemns R’s to Championship opening day defeat
QPR made a disappointing start to the new Championship season as they were beaten 3-1 by West Brom at Loftus Road on Saturday.
Here is the lowdown on the match.
THE LINE-UPS
QPR: Nardi, Dunne, Cook. Clarke-Salter, Paal, Andersen, Field, Colback (Varane 71), Smyth (Bennie 84), Celar (Frey 71), Kolli (Lloyd 57). Subs not used: Walsh, Dykes, Morrison, Dixon-Bonner, Santos
West Brom: Palmer, Furlong, Bartley, Ajayi, Heggem (Frabotta 85), Mowatt, Swift, Molumby (Diakite 76), Fellows (Dobbin 80), Maja (Cole 76), Grant. Subs not used: Wildsmith, Taylor, Heard, Faal, Hall
SNAPSHOT OF THE GAME
Former Fulham loanee Josh Maja enjoyed his return to west London as he scored three well-taken goals to see off QPR.
Rangers started brightly and took the lead when Lucas Andersen headed in a delightful cross from youngster Rayan Kolli.
The visitors were back level when Maja headed in before the break and he did similar after the interval when Kenneth Paal allowed Albion winger Tom Fellows to cross.
Maja sealed the points for West Brom when a cross deflected into his path and allowed him to finish from close range.
TACTICAL APPROACH
QPR started aggressively, pressing from the front as they did so well in their good run of form at the end of last season.
However, once Maja had equalised it was as though West Brom worked out how to play through the Rangers midfield and they took control of the game.
This was never more obvious than down the flanks, as after Jimmy Dunne had allowed Torbjorn Heggem to cross for the first goal, Paal was beaten far too easily by Fellows for the second and he then had similar joy against Alfie Lloyd for the third.
Defensive stability has been the bedrock of Marti Cifuentes’ success at Loftus Road and he’ll be searching for ways to put things right in time for next weekend’s trip to Sheffield United.
STAR MAN
Rayan Kolli – Assist for the goal was superb and he looked Rangers most dangerous attacker before being forced off with a knock.
BEST MOMENT
Andersen’s goal felt as though it arrived at the perfect time to give QPR’s season lift-off but it proved a false dawn. There wasn’t much else for the Rangers faithful to enjoy.
MOAN OF THE MATCH
QPR’s set-pieces. After falling behind, Rangers best bet of getting anything from the match seemed to be getting the ball into the West Brom penalty area as regularly as possible.
There were times when they got into threatening positions but so often a defender would put his body on the line and give away a corner.
QPR ended up having 12 corners on the day, and a number of free-kicks in promising positions, but they were unable to work anything from them that genuinely tested Alex Palmer in the visiting goal.
A TALKING POINT DOWN THE PUB
The lack of defensive resolve may seem unfamiliar for Cifuentes’ QPR but a dearth of ingenuity in attack has often held them back throughout his reign.
With Ilias Chair still unavailable, the creative burden fell on Andersen, and although he had his moments, it was wishful thinking to believe he could take apart a side as well-drilled as Carlos Corberan’s West Brom all by himself.
Rangers struggled to trouble the visiting defence after taking the lead, and it was only when Michael Frey was introduced that they started to upset them.
QPR look set to bolster their attacking ranks before the transfer window closes, and with debutant striker Zan Celar registering just 15 touches during his time on the pitch, both he and Cifuentes will be hoping new signings arrive sooner rather than later.
WHAT THE BOSS HAD TO SAY
“I’m not very satisfied about the performance. Checking the stats we probably had more chances but the boxes made a big difference.
“It is a good reality check. Something that I’ve been talking about in the last few weeks, [is that] this league is very challenging and even though we ended last season in a good way it is not going to help us win any games this season.”
PICTURES: ROB AVIS