QPR 2:0 Barnsley
Gavin Mahon. Adam Bolder. Gareth Ainsworth. Chris Barker. Simon Walton. Marc Nygaard. Daniel Nardiello. Zesh Rehman. Stefan Moore. Jake Cole. Sampsa Timoska.
That’s 11 players. That’s a team. That’s some of the names that didn’t make the bench.
It’s astonishing how things change so quickly!
I thought we did a really good job defensively and we played and went about the match in the right manner. When you’ve got so many new people playing together, the best way usually to start is to get them organised and knowing who is supposed to do what, particularly defensively.
In the first half, we did that really well. The players let Barnsley have the ball and let them knock around at the back. As soon as they came into our half however, they were unable to unlock the door as we held our shape well and did a great job of covering the angles to make it hard for Barnsley to find the right type of ball.
When you do that, you need to be patient. We let them run around a bit and quite often we forced them into an unforced error, due to a poor pass or poor control when receiving a pass, simply because Barnsley ran out of ideas. When it was right to go for that counter attack, we often chose it well.
It was an interesting match. There was a lot of new talent on show and several players making their home debuts. The performance had a little bit of “get to know you” as well, there’s no doubt about that.
I didn’t quite think having Akos wide left and Rowan wide right really worked on the day but I wouldn’t think that it’s not useful. I was really pleased about the protection the full-backs got, it was a marked improvement over how we were doing in this area earlier in the season. It wasn’t just these two doing that either, the central midfielders often shifted across to cover as well which was pleasing to see.
Onto the individuals.
Damien Delaney looked really good. He looked like he knew what he was doing and I liked when he chose to either get rid of the ball or take his time to retain possession and choose the right pass. He also demonstrated his ability to tackle precisely and looked pretty comfortable. I liked what I saw although I suspect we may also see him playing centre-half from time-to-time too.
Matthew Connolly has a lot of technique. Once or twice he took a difficult ball down with a graceful touch, which you don’t often see in full-backs or even centre-backs and ultimately I think he’ll end up in the centre as his career progresses.
I didn’t think Rowan had his best game but that was more to do with us not really getting him on the ball enough and you could say the same for Akos. He still played a major part in both goals though and I was delighted with his first goal at Loftus Road this season. Breathtaking!
He was better in the second half when he drifted inside to pick up the ball, particularly around the centre circle and he ran with it really well. More of that please. He’s just so good to watch and so dangerous when he gets into that position on the ball.
Dexter, hmm, well, I’m not too happy with his game right now but I think he still made some gradual progress in this match. We’re using him in a different way than we did last season and he’s got to find the right adjustment. He still doesn’t quite look sharp enough.
Martin Rowlands got better as the game went on and really deserved to score what would have been a wonderful goal after that mazy run. He could have placed it just before he rounded the keeper, but had he rounded him and slotted it in, it’d have been all the more sweeter.
I really like Fitz Hall already. He’s commanding in the sense that he’s got the right balance in terms of his physical attributes to be a towering and strong centre-half, but with enough pace too. He was vocal out there as well, getting us organised and talking to the defence and midfielders all the time. Great signing and I suspect will be a very important player for us in the final stages of the season.
We went about the game in the right manner. When you’ve got so many new players, it’s much easier to start organised and in shape than it is to be totally free-flowing. It was a solid and professional showing in that regard and surely can only get better with time.
