Something about a Valentine’s Day massacre – Report Sunday, 16th Feb 2025 13:29 by Clive Whittingham QPR cut loose for their biggest win of the season on Valentine’s night, thrashing hapless Derby County 4-0 at Loftus Road. John Eustace must have a bloody nice house in Derby, that’s all I can say. The surprise decision from the former QPR coach to abandon play-off-bound Blackburn for Peterborough-bound Derby cast Friday night’s meeting at Loftus Road into some degree of doubt. Derby at home is as near to a shoo-in as the Championship offers its members – just one away win all season for the Rams and a recent run of seven consecutive league defeats putting paid to Paul Warne’s Pride Park reign. With star centre back pairing Eiran Cashin and Curtis Nelson respectively sold and killed, you’d do well not to beat these in their present state. The presence of a new manager in the dugout creates uncertainty though. New tactics, new shape, new approach? Will all that work we did on opposition prep be thrown to the wind? Had some of the County players tired of a man in a bobble hat ordering channel balls while shouting “be the best version of yourself”? Would they be keen to impress the new man? And, never mind all that, at 287 appearances right back Ryan Nyambe came into this just four shy of the all time Championship record for games without a goal. Surely QPR would struggle to resist one of their generous charitable donations there? Rangers had, of course, lost the first meeting between the sides. The 2-0 defeat in the East Midlands in October, in which Cashin and Nelson crawled all over their opposition and the midfield was comprehensively dominated by Ebou Adams, rather came to typify the R’s approach to the first half of the season which quickly blew out to one win in 17 games. That loss part of a run of 13 games without a win that must have come close to costing Marti Cifuentes his job. The second goal, scored within mere seconds of the first as Kenneth Paal and Nicolas Madsen played ‘after you Claude’ with the kick off, something of a nadir for this team. The R’s have arrested that slide and climbed into midtable with a run of nine wins from the next 16 games, a sequence so positive it’s had some fans pitching an outside chance of a play-off push. Come on now, we’ve all had a drink etc etc. The run started in gritty, grimy fashion, with hard fought victories on minimal possession. At Cardiff and Bristol City, and at home to Oxford, QPR were every bit as retched as they’d been previously but, having stuffed up the midfield with some hard running coagulant and sat a good pair of centre backs on top of a shot stopping goalkeeper, they were able to build results and confidence. More recently, against Preston, Watford and Luton, the performances have improved and Cifuentes has felt emboldened to take one of those midfield dogs back to the pound in exchange for Ilias Chair back in the ‘ten’ role behind Rainier Wolfcastle and in between two fleet-footed wingers. That brought a fine performance worthy of a far bigger win than the 2-1 it ended up with against Blackburn, but there was late heartbreak at Coventry on Tuesday night when the hosts won 1-0 with the final kick/head of the game. Playing loads of midget tens behind a striker in a high press is part of what got us into a state this season in the first place. Another part of that was painfully slow build up from the back. Centre backs on the ball, walking very, very slowly forwards, waiting for an option to open up ahead while an opposition got themselves set back in shape, stood there, watched and laughed at us. For the first quarter hour here those same spidey senses were tingling. Steve Cook and Ronnie Edwards doing exactly that resulted only in the Southampton loanee getting absolutely crunched after two minutes, and Cook having to sweep in with two big recovery challenges after the ball had been given away. Yang Min-Hyeok, making his first start, went rolling around looking for a free kick. Jonathan Varane kicked the ball straight out. This was how you lost these games at the start of the season, and this was the opposition you did it against. A couple of things happened to kick start what would turn out to be a brilliant evening. The first is the now traditional mid-half break for a non-existent injury so everybody can come across to the touchline for a bit of a chit chat. Honestly, we may as well make football four quarters now because modern managers have brought it in by stealth anyway. Why go through this whole palaver of pretending somebody is hurt? We’ll never know what was said in the Rangers huddle but they were much more purposeful on their press and direct with the ball after that. The second was a beautiful opening goal. Turns out, if you do press Derby a bit, they’re absolute dog shit. Nyambe chucked a bouncing bomb across the face of his own box and wished Adams good luck. Cheers mate. Chair swopped in to win and receive back from Michi Frey and then on the swivel, 20 yards from goal, hit a perfectly struck ball that arced around Zetterström and into the far side netting for 1-0. Sensational. Chair’s first goal since the final day of last season, 21 games without one his longest career drought. This was some way to quench that thirst. A sumptuous strike. You’d have been forgiven a dose of Stendhal Syndrome after that – struck dumb by beauty after spending so long surrounded by the banal.
There were scares to come, it would be wrong to pretend there weren’t. Ebou Adams volleyed over from the edge of the box when a fraction of a second more might have let the ball drop enough to find the target. Roidy Mendez-Laing, who’d left the coat hanger in his shirt again, struck a shot unmarked in the penalty box which Kenneth Paal deflected past Jean Paul Goalkeeper and wide. After half time Jerry Yates contrived to screw wide of an open goal after a Goudmijn free kick was diverted his way, then when he did find the net from Marcus Harness’ cross he was rightly flagged offside. Nardi would finish up with just one save to make for his eighth clean sheet of the season, just before the hour denying Marcus Harness (who’s still stuck on one goal for Derby, against us, natch). Rangers, though, relaxed into something approaching a swagger. When Michi Frey is turning on a bouncing ball 30 yards from goal and coming within a whisker of finding the top corner you know things are going well. The Hyeok-Chair-Saito combination tortured the visitors. Time and again they’d shift it right to left through those three until Derby ran out of players, or had only Ryan Nyambe left which was as good as running out of players. One such move ended with Chair’s low cross badly fumbled by Zetterström into the path of Saito who showed excellent composure and a slick touch to move the ball out the way of the stricken goalkeeper and give him a free path to the top corner for his second goal of the season and first on this ground. A more popular goalscorer you’d struggle to find, and that cool awareness to widen the angle for himself rather than just thrash it straight back at the keeper was pure class and very un-Championship like.
The Japanese winger had another deflected wide immediately after Min-Hyeok had jinked and tricked his way through a ragged defence – Steve Cook headed that corner just wide. From quiet beginnings this was blossoming into a fine display. So, so happy. You? It was pretty clear a third goal would finish Derby off entirely, and that their defence wasn’t overly bothered about stopping that from happening. When you’re losing headers to Koki Saito I doubt your commitment to Sparkle Motion. Pitt The Elder - great prime minister, terrible full back - comprehensively bested in the air by Saito straight after half time setting Min-Hyeok away for a touch as silky as a gigolo’s compliment and perfect cut back for Chair to sweep into the roof of the net first time with power and precision. A proper goal like what proper football teams score. Eat that and tell me you’re still hungry. Two contrasting goals from the Moroccan here, both things of beauty in their own right. Saito had his arms in the air before Chair had even drawn his foot back. This, now, a confident side, all together in their aims, particularly at home where it’s seven wins from eight played.
We didn’t need a fourth, but then who really needs anything? We were in want territory now and I wanted it. Mendez-Laing took to fouling Min-Hyeok by way of stopping him wreaking more havoc. Great plan, if you’re ready and willing to defend the set piece that results. Matt Clarke Wasn’t and when Kenneth Paal, whose delivery was much derided at Coventry on Tuesday, got the cross right it wasn’t a particularly difficult task for Handsome Ronnie Edwards to glance in his first goal for the club at the near post. The holiday romance continues with a Valentine’s Day gift. Don’t be catching feelings now. Never fall in love with loan players. Four nil. Four nil indeed. Swoon. That a 21st different scorers now – like Katie Price’s house on Father’s Day. Albeit including 'own goals', it's the most since 20 different scorers in 2017/18 and the last time we had 21 was in 2013/14 which was the most since the R’s entered the league in 1920. Come on Steve Cook, just one for you needed now. Four goals from five shots on target, QPR were clinical, and scored at great times – puncturing Derby’s reasonably promising start, stamping down on their throat immediately after that, killing any hope of a second half comeback straight away, then a bit of blue for the dads just to make it a really fun night. Going down a bumpy hillside, in my hippy hat. I was in danger of having a nice time.
The excitement and entertainment came with the ball. Min-Hyeok and Saito, either side of Chair, joyous. But, bar that first 15 minutes, Rangers also pressed effectively out of possession in a 4-1-4-1 formation. Derby didn’t get a minute’s peace in their own half and, on the occasions they did escape, Jonathan Varane did a wonderful sweeping job between the lines behind. Ben Osborn, harassed, let one run under his foot into touch and bowed his head. The fear has been that as we open up through the middle more will we start getting picked off as we had in the autumn. Here it worked as it was supposed to. A poor opponent, no doubt, but had we played like that after Varane had stepped off the bench against a more adept Coventry side on Tuesday I doubt we’d have lost that game. A spate of substitutions rather killed the momentum – must be bloody confident of a win if we’re putting Madsen back in that midfield (not you, Ashby). Frey, whether he’s playing well or not, is a real focal point at the top end of this team and we miss him immediately once he’s gone with no real equivalent on our bench (to be fair, I’m not sure there is a Michi Frey equivalent anywhere in the game/world). It also robbed Ilias Chair of his chance of a first professional hat trick. Having been replaced he could only watch from the bench as, ten minutes from time, one of the new arrivals, Paul Smyth, cut exactly the same ball back as Min-Hyeok had earlier only this time there was nobody there to convert. I’m surprised Illy didn’t sprint on from the sideline and belt it in regardless to be honest, it was absolutely plum where he’d been standing all night. You could sense his irritation from F Block. This the first time Rangers had ever faced the same opposition manager two home games in a row with different teams and if Eustace had learned anything form Chair’s excellent display against Blackburn last time out then it didn’t really show here. A clear and obvious man of the match, his work out of possession as well as in typified by a first half 60-yard sprint back into his own half to cover a situation where Rangers had been caught with too many men the wrong side of the ball. One in the eye for his recent critics and clear signs that he’s recovering from the two injuries which destroyed his form and fitness for the first half of the season. This was a biggest win against Derby since Dave Sexton’s team beat them 5-1 in 1975 and here were QPR swashbuckling and sweeping an opponent aside led by a maverick goalscoring ten once again. More please. More like this. For Derby, and Eustace, a biggest defeat in four years. More pressingly, a tough spring ahead. You couldn’t pick a positive, or a single part of the team that was functioning properly. Some decline from their effective, forceful display against us in the first game. They won’t stay up like this. Everything must change, and it must change quickly. Perhaps Eustace could enquire about the vacant managerial post at Blackburn? For QPR, a Valentine’s Day foursome, their first win on this day since 1987, but a surprising amount of sniffyness about the performance on the message board. Oooh, I’ve seen better 4-0 wins. Alright, princess. I struggle to wrap my head around not being able to enjoy a victory this comprehensive, Friday night, under the lights at Loftus Road, whole weekend stretching out ahead, four points off the play-offs, seven wins in eight home games. Particularly given how that first meeting, and first half of the season, went. If you are that way minded though, chucking a six or seven out of ten performance in there and winning the game 4-0 anyway is the sign of a good team. Links >>> Photo Gallery >>> Ratings and Reports >>> Message Board Match Thread QPR: Nardi 6; Dunne 6, Cook 6 (Morrison 83, -), Edwards 7, Paal 6; Varane 7, Field 6 (Morgan 63, 6); Min-Hyeok 7 (Smyth 63, 6), Chair 8 (Madsen 73, 5), Saito 8; Frey 6 (Lloyd 73, 5) Subs not used: Ashby, Colback, Fox, Walsh Goals: Chair 21 (assisted Frey), 57 (assisted Min-Hyeok), Saito 35 (assisted Chair), Edwards 66 (assisted Paal) Derby: Zetterström 4; Nyambe 3, Langas 4, Clarke 3, Elder 3; Adams 4 (Armstrong 85, -), Osborn 4 (Goudmijn 67, 4); Mendez-Laing 5 (Jackson 67, 4), Yates 3, Harness 4; Salvesen 4 (Barkhuizen 46, 4) Subs not used: Allen, Forsyth, Rooney, Thompson, Vickers Yellow Cards: Mendez-Laing 65 (foul), Jackson 90+4 (foul) QPR Star Man – Ilias Chair 8 Back to his best on both sides of the ball. Referee – David Webb (Durham) 7 Nothing tor referee really in this wholly uncompetitive game but left well alone and let it flow. Only QPR’s second win in 17 appointments with this official. Attendance 16,591 (1,200 Derby approx.) If you enjoy LoftforWords, please consider supporting the site through a subscription to our Patreon or tip us via our PayPal account loftforwords@yahoo.co.uk. Pictures - Ian Randall Photography Please report offensive, libellous or inappropriate posts by using the links provided.
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