The lowdown on QPR 4 Derby County 0 – Rangers breathe new life into play-off hopes with clinical display

 QPR boosted their hopes of making the Championship play-offs with an impressive victory against Derby County on Friday night.

Here is the lowdown on the match.

THE LINE-UPS

QPR: Nardi, Dunne, Cook (Morrison 83), Edwards, Paal, Varane, Field (Morgan 63), Min-Hyeok (Smyth 63), Chair (Madsen 73), Saito, Frey (Lloyd 73). Subs not used: Walsh, Ashby, Fox, Colback.

Derby: Zetterstrom, Nyambe, Clarke, Langas, Elder, Adams (Armstrong 85), Osborn (Goudmijn 67), Harness, Mendez-Laing (Jackson 67), Salvesen (Barkhuizen 46, Yates. Subs not used: Vickers, Rooney, Forsyth, Thompson, Allen.

SNAPSHOT OF THE GAME

QPR moved within three points of the top-six by comfortably beating Derby on Friday night. Despite a slow start to the game, Rangers took the lead thanks to some excellent work by Ilias Chair. The attacker pressured Ebou Adams from a Derby throw-in to win back possession before lashing a shot into the far corner of the net from the edge of the box as the ball broke loose. QPR improved after taking the lead and were two goals ahead by the interval as Koki Saito produced a composed finish when Derby goalkeeper Jacob Zetterstrom palmed a Chair cross in his direction. Chair swept home a pullback from Tottenham loanee Yang Min-Hyeok in the second half to make sure of the points before a Kenneth Paal free-kick was headed in by defender Ronnie Edwards to add some extra gloss to the scoreline.

TACTICAL APPROACH

Marti Cifuentes has moved Chair into a more central number 10 position in recent games and it worked to spectacular effect against Derby, who were playing their first game under former QPR assistant coach John Eustace. Chair combined brilliantly with Koki Saito on the left wing and was far more involved in the game than he had been at times earlier in the season when he was stationed in a wide position.

Despite the scoreline this was by no means a perfect Rangers performance. With Kieran Morgan dropped to the bench, they made hard work of playing through midfield in the first half with Paal inverting from left-back into midfield to no great effect. However, the ability of Saito and Min-Hyeok to win second balls made playing long to Michael Frey an effective tactic and once QPR had scored the first goal they grew in confidence and took charge of the game.

South Korean youngster Min-Hyeok was making his first Rangers start after arriving on loan from Spurs in January and was a lively presence. He was at times erratic in possession but always willing to take on defenders. His perfect pass for Chair’s second goal capped a promising display.

STAR MAN

Ilias Chair. It has been a difficult season for QPR’s talisman, disrupted by two significant injuries and fluctuations in form that have understandably followed. He has looked more patient in possession since returning from his latest absence, clearly helped by the team’s improved performances. However, switching his position clearly makes Rangers a more threatening attacking side and could be the key to a play-off push being maintained into the Spring.

BEST MOMENT

The touch before Saito’s finish. Although Derby goalkeeper Zetterstrom presented Saito with a clear sight of goal after failing to deal with a Chair cross, rather than simply lash the ball towards an open net, the Japanese attacker took a wonderfully composed touch to remove any would-be defenders from the game and almost ensure a certain goal. It is exactly the sort of elegant play that has made Saito such a popular player in W12 but does raise the question as to how he has only managed to score two league goals this season.

MOAN OF THE MATCH

Why couldn’t some of these goals gone in during recent matches? Despite scoring four goals in a game for the first time this season, QPR registered an xG (expected goals) total of just 0.88. The contest was probably tighter than the final scoreline suggested but recent games have gone against Rangers in the opposite direction. Performances against Sheffield Wednesday, Millwall and Coventry were all perfectly adequate but yielded zero points as fortune went against QPR. If they are to be in the mix for a top six place in May, then they will need more nights like this along the way.

A TALKING POINT DOWN THE PUB

Who does Cifuentes leave out of the team? It feels a long time ago now that the QPR bench was packed with players from the development squad, leaving Marti Cifuentes with few options to change games as his side languished in the relegation zone. Rangers are still without a number of first-teamers including Kader Dembele, Jake Clarke-Salter and Zan Celar, but the QPR boss now seems to have so many selection dilemmas all over the pitch. Morgan was unfortunate to find himself on the bench in this one but so was Jonathan Varane in the midweek defeat at Coventry. Steve Cook and Ronnie Edwards have struck up a good relationship in the centre of defence but Liam Morrison was excellent before he got injured. It is still hard to know which of Cifuentes’ strikers best suit each game. It is a great problem for the Catalan to have as the season run-in approaches.

WHAT THE BOSS HAD TO SAY

“I liked a lot of things. First of all, the mentality to bounce back from a disappointing result in the last game. I liked the fact that even though we didn’t start the game well [we improved] – we knew it would be a difficult start to the game because of a new manager [for Derby] and we didn’t know what to expect. I think the commitment – even the guys who didn’t come on today were so committed – this togetherness and this feeling that we were angry after the last game and wanted the three points was very important.”

PICTURES: ROB AVIS