QPR continued their recent Championship recovery and rediscovered the finishing touch which eluded them at Vicarage Road, beating Watford 3-1 at the second time of asking on New Year’s Day at Loftus Road.
For Queens Park Rangers, a Christmas of yellows and golds, reds and greens. Watford and Norwich, then Norwich and Watford. And points - eight from those four games and could so easily have been 12.
It can feel fragile to the faithful. When Watford pulled a goal back soon after half time it set up a torturous 35 minutes at 2-1 I’m genuinely not sure I would have been able to sit through. Even as late in the day as the 84th minute, when Giorgi Chakvetadze’s towering inswinger was bundled into the back of the QPR net but generously disallowed for a foul on Paul Nardi, it felt like a game that could still squirm out of Rangers’ control. Bayo heads a great chance past the post at the end of the first half. Baah takes the skin off the ball and the paint off the post with a thunderbastard so severe it rebounds back into the upper tier of the South Africa Road Stand for a QPR throw. Can’t say I’ve ever seen that happen before. Wouldn’t want them to score now. Wouldn’t want them to score now. Wouldn’t want them to score now. A 2-0, and then 3-1 lead at home, and we still can’t relax and just have a nice time.
It's a feeling that extrapolates out to the season as a whole. QPR have moved off into midtable, now seven points clear of the drop zone and separated from our beloved 16th only on the lesser-used head-to-head record with Preston. Yet the brief suggestion Jimmy Dunne had dislocated his shoulder just before half time saw the entire world fall out of my arse. Imagine adding Dunne, in fine form and fabulous here once more, to an injury list that already includes Steve Cook and Liam Morrison. You’d need more than dreamy Peterborough graduate Ronnie Edwards, signed on the morning of this game from Southampton, in those circumstances.
The recovery, though, is real. That gap to third bottom Cardiff has been built through a December in which only league leaders Leeds (17) have taken more points than QPR (14). From no home wins in the first nine, Rangers have now won four in a row at Loftus Road for the first time since Ian Holloway’s team beat Cardiff, Barnsley, Wigan and Rotherham back-to-back in 2017. We worry because we’re fanatics, because we’re fatalistic, because we’ve been burned before, and because this time last week the team’s Boxing Day offering at Swansea was similar to the steamer Bill Werbeniuk used curl into the S-bend of his downstairs khazi the day after the traditional Christmas roast. That aberration was, however, QPR’s only defeat from the last ten games. They’ve won five of those, and this was the second time in that sequence they’ve scored three times in a game having not managed that all season prior.
There was far less chance of Marti Cifuentes’ team messing up this opportunity than it probably felt like at the time. For two reasons…
The first was the opposition. I have never seen a team as big and physical as this Watford outfit with so little heart. Seventh in the league, outstanding at home, recognisable names on paper and formidable to look at in the flesh, but soft as warmed up dog shit in practice and easily got at. Just two away wins all season, one of those as far back as opening day, and it was quickly easy to see why. Rangers were able to walk through a midfield missing Imran Louza at will. My mum, who hates football in general and QPR in particular, was more interested in QPR v Watford on New Year’s Day than Moussa Sissoko was. Listed conservatively at 6ft 2ins tall and in excess of 14 stone, the vastly experienced 35-year-old, who has 71 caps for France, was comprehensively dominated and out played by 18-year old Kieran Morgan, who has made nine senior starts in his entire life and is built like a chicken stick. The travelling Watford fans jeered ironically when Tom Cleverley quietly hooked his former teammate just after the hour.
Sissoko was not alone. Watford’s is a giant back three which concedes from crosses. The sizeable three-man centre back combination contrived to concede three shamefully basic goals. Ryan Porteous, whose Euros you’ll recall lasted only as long as one attempt on the life of Ilkay Gundogan, gave away the free kick which led to the first goal, hesitated in intercepting Kieran Morgan’s low cut back once Kenneth Paal had played him in past a sleeping and half-arsed Tom Ince, and then screamed at everybody else around him for their part in the fiasco. This the 11th goal Watford have conceded in the first ten minutes of games this season – one in each of the last four games. Porteous, for whom self-reflection seemingly doth not come easy, has been on the pitch for all of those and spent the rest of the game chucking his arms about and screaming at the referee. Matty Pollock, son of legend, spent his afternoon mostly killing Watford’s attacking set pieces by committing obvious, daft fouls. When it came to his own box, he was harsh beasted into the ground by Jimmy Dunne for the second QPR goal. Between them, Chilean Francisco Sierralta enjoyed weird diplomatic immunity from referee Steve Martin to crack through the back of Michael Fray and later Rayan Kolli however often he liked without a card but was far more interested in doing that and getting involved in off-the-ball nonsense with Frey than he was actually defending – central midfielder Sam Field afforded a free header from six yards out for Rangers’ third. That the second time in as many games the Hornets have got back into the contest with a goal of their own only to concede again immediately.
Behind them goalkeeper Dananananananana Bachmann was, much like Norwich’s Angus Gunn before him, keen to get involved in everything except goalkeeping. He rolled around, bitched and moaned, and demanded the trainer bring some moist towels when Paul Smyth shoulder pushed him off an early bit of pisballing about by way of warning not to take liberties like that. He got nowhere near Michael Frey’s first, which was sidefooted in straight down the middle of the goal. He was then booked for a bout of dissent and histrionics in the wake of the second, scored from a cross six yards out with him flapping about like Christ in a crucifix shop.
Only the Georgian Chakvetadze, a thoughtful and purposeful attacking presence who rarely wasted a ball or pass and threatened the goal every time he had the ball, can hold his head up from this performance. When Edo Kayembe was summoned from the bench to try and stem the midfield bleed he was booked within four minutes of coming on for abusing the linesman.
Watford were a talky team, with lots of things to say. QPR were a doing team, interested only in getting on with things. The other reason Rangers deserved to win this game was because they were good.
Michi the Carpathian is unconventional when fit, and certainly a long way short of that at the moment. He was walking a red card tightrope by the time he was subbed for Rayan Kolli in the second half. And his push and pull with Porteous which resulted in the free kick for the first goal could easily have been given the other way. But Frey’s muscular, uncompromising forward play was too much for any of the three visiting centre backs to cope with. Like watching Year 8s try to wrestle with a vintage traction engine. HE IS VIGO, you are like the buzzing of flies to him. His movement and positioning, as it often is in the box, spot on for a training ground first teed up by Paal’s quick thinking and the perfect turn and cut back from young Morgan - rewarded with an angry scream and a lot of pointing.
Morgan, on both sides of possession, was again super impressive for his age and experience. He passes positively, creatively, forwards. You suspect that’s why Cifuentes likes him, having desperately needed that for his Cruyffian ideals from the moment he walked through the door. The desperation has led him to an 18-year-old, who apparently spent much of his time at Spurs as a centre half (not with that facial hair I’m afraid sweetheart), and the rewards are flowing fast. Out of his depth in a dire team performance at Swansea, Morgan has been superb in the games with Preston, Norwich away and again here. Out of possession, my God that boy covers some ground. We’ll need to be careful, there will be dips and tough moments, overuse is a danger and rest will need to be carefully timed (Jack Colback’s long overdue comeback off the bench here will help). For now, what a find we’ve potentially got there.
Jimmy Dunne gave another momentous performance leading the defence, and team, from centre back. Dunne won every header, kicked every ball, made every 50/50 his. He makes it personal and then wins. You want to know why QPR won and Watford lost here? It’s because we had players and personalities like that, and they didn’t. For the second goal Pollock had a grab and a nibble at Dunne on the edge of the box in the first phase of play, but Dunne shrugged it aside, span off into space, got up good and early over the top of his man, and then powered both Pollock into the ground and the ball into the net. The image of the day undoubtedly Dunne standing triumphantly over the top of his beaten opponent, arms aloft, mocking the victim. An Irish Russell Crowe. Are you not entertained? Is this not why you are here? How many more creative ways are QPR going to discover to torment the Pollock family?
Dunne now three goals in seven games, a menace in opposition boxes, and Chair, quietly feeling his way back to form and fitness, with an assist for the last two of those.
Dunne arguably wasn’t even the man of the match. Paul Smyth’s energy and effectiveness without the ball has long made him a Cifuentes favourite even when the supporters had doubts. Now the Northern Ireland international is adding significant numbers to bely his reputation for poor decision making and final ball in the opposition third. He was absolutely terrific here, a persistent pest, piling up and down the right side all afternoon. Hassling free kicks, throw ins and errors out of less committed, concentrated and focused opponents. Cleverley sent on both Kaymebe and Ebosele to try and make a dent down Smyth’s side, and both ended up getting booked in a strop. Smyth meanwhile got to the byline and delivered perfectly for Field’s flying header into the top corner which sealed the deal. A nice assist, another skidding off the slip and slide just out of Koki Saito’s reach shortly after, and off to the darts for a well-earned night out. Possibly his best ever performance for QPR across two spells, and part of a rich personal vein of form.
Even the goal Watford did score was a result of Rangers flying too close to the sun with both Smyth and Ashby charging forwards together on an overlap looking for another goal. One slightly misplaced pass, a rebound which flew back into exactly the space you didn’t want (where Ashby had vacated) and the Watford player you’d least like to see (Chakvetadze). Paal would eventually deflect Baah’s shot past the helpless Nardi for 2-1. Harsh on both Ashby and Paal who’ve copped criticism recently but were both better here. Ashby a notable back post block amidst a late scramble. The defence subsequently calmed by a strong half hour cameo by returning Jake Clarke-Salter.
All of us soothed, meanwhile, by that Field third. It’s why I didn’t mind the manner of the Watford goal as much as some. Perhaps a little cavalier I’ll grant you, but two nil up with most of a half left why not go forwards for a third and kill the game off? Varane showed why he's never scored a goal in his life with a woeful finish from an offside position after Smyth had a shot blocked on the line. Field went through on goal without ever seeming to realise it and botched a shot of his own. Whenever QPR went forward they looked like they would score, and sure enough as soon as they had conceded they just went and got another one. It was there for the taking, and Rangers are getting better at doing exactly that.
You don’t win many games losing midfield, and Morgan, Field and Varane strolled through whatever that was in black yesterday. It took me back to the 4-1 defeat here to Middlesbrough, and what we said about QPR that night. That the game of Nicolas Madsen’s infamous zero tackles and zero interceptions in 90 minutes of central midfield play stat. Against Watford, Morgan, Field and Varane won 17 tackles, interceptions and clearances between them with three fouls on top of that (Sissoko one tackle, no interceptions by the way).
After Boro I said: "I don’t care if you’ve got injuries, playing a good side, bit low on confidence, new players settling in… give a shit. You can run around, and you can tackle people. You can tackle people. Two go to press, rest don’t bother, Middlesbrough stroll round and through. Yardage given up freely – 50, 60, 70 yards right down the middle of the field, eaten up in one or two unchallenged passes, over and over and over again.”
We’re running now. We’re running, we’re tackling, we’re winning headers. You can talk about game models and systems and data analytics and everything you like. You have to run to win at football. When you don't it looks like us against Middlesbrough, and Watford in this game.
The results aren't necessarily turning because we’re playing particularly well, although I thought we were good here and against Preston, or because we’re suddenly a good side, which I don’t think we are. Rangers are getting better results, greater rewards, because they’re willing to do the hard graft. You’ve got people like Frey, Field, Varane putting a shift in, you’ve got Dunne, Smyth and Morgan particularly outstanding across those hard yards, you’ve got Ashby and Paal slogging up and down the wing. We run now. We tackle, we kick, we head. We block up the middle of the pitch. We’re a bit nasty. We wind teams up a bit.
I know what I hate, and I don’t hate this.
Links >>> Ratings and Reports >>> Message Board Match Thread
QPR: Nardi 6; Ashby 6, Dunne 8, Fox 6 (Clarke-Salter 62, 7), Paal 6; Morgan 7 (Madsen 77, 5), Varane 6, Field 7 (Colback 90+1, -); Smyth 8, Frey 7 (Kolli 63, 5), Chair 6 (Saito 77, 6)
Subs not used: Dixon-Bonner, Bennie, Lloyd, Walsh
Goals: Frey 5 (assisted Morgan), Dunne 37 (assisted Chair), Field 56 (assisted Smyth)
Yellow Cards: Frey 31 (foul), Fox 47 (foul), Field 83 (foul), Smyth 86 (foul)
Watford: Bachmann 4; Porteous 4, Sierralta 4, Pollock 4; Ngakia 5, Sissoko 4 (Kayembe 66, 4), Ince 4 (Vata 66, 5), Larouci 5 (Ebosele 66, 5); Baah 6, Chakvetadze 7, Bayo 5
Subs not used: Andrews, Bond, Dwomoh, Jebbison, Morris, Ogbonna
Goals: Paal og 50 (assisted Baah)
Yellow Cards: Bachmann 38 (dissent), Kayembe 70 (dissent), Chakvetadze 82 (foul), Ebosele 89 (foul)
QPR Star Man – Paul Smyth 8 A straight fight between Smyth and the in form Jimmy Dunne. We’ve leaned towards Smyth, because he’s been playing well for a few weeks without as much recognition as Dunne has (deservedly) been getting, and the persistent criticism of his final ball/shot/decision making is melting away with a great assist. One of, if not the, best performance he’s put in for QPR.
Referee – Steve Martin (Beverley Hills) 5 Only ever loosely in control. Inconsistent in decision making and cards – I genuinely think Sierralta could have shot somebody and not seen yellow. Difficult game though in his defence. All sorts of needle and niggle going on all over the pitch, a lot of off the ball stuff, horrible conditions on the sort of day you could drown by looking up for too long. He wasn’t egregiously or offensively bad. Just a very Championship referee.
Attendance – 17,268 (1,800 Watford approx.) From no Silver Lining in six months to four blasts in four home games, the first time Rangers have won four on the spin at Loftus Road since Ian Holloway’s side did so in 2017.
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.