QPR v Middlesbrough 2 - 2 Full Time (10th on 24 points)

Mitrovic will open his Xmas present early
QPR defence in a couple of weeks

Well this was the game we we reasserted ourselves and showed we could perform - except we did not! Both teams played a back 5 when off the ball and a back 3 when on it, using the wings well. In midfield it was usually messy and confusing as the Rs tried far too many short passes (as Boro closed them down), so the ball was whizzing about a lot but there was precious little conversion into decent play. Up front we saw the difference in style as Boro relied upon muscle and aggression (especially Assombalonga) to close down our defence; whereas Wells and occasional attackers Chair & Eze looked towards skill. Given the number of players absent form the Boro side they linked up their play well, and it was no surprise when a particularly flowing move resulted in our leaky defence watching the ball in the net. Luckily that was declared offside, but within a minute or so there was no such straws to be grasped and it was 0-1! Boro fans got noisier and the Rs fans then progressed through the match as if they were attending a funeral. (Why go along, pay your entrance fee, and then sit there in near silence as your chosen team plays?)

Courtesy of two contrasting goals, from Wells & Hall, we were somehow 2-1 up at half Time; and you would have expected us to go on an win 4-2 or similar. Sadly, this is QPR we are talking about, and they let Boro threaten them all over the pitch. Balls into their goal area were cleared correctly, unlike the mad scambles that were often evident at our end. In attack, with 30 mins to go, Chair and Amos went (neither looked tired of was playing badly); but Warburton did not call on BOS to replace one of them - instead it was Hugill (fair enough) and Scowen (presumably to strengthen the leaky defence). So we were trying to consolidate our slender lead, rather than keep going forward? I have no idea, as Scowen was in line with Hugill as an excellent low crossed ball went past them, and Wells was tracking back to defend at times.... Yet again, Hugill missed a couple of sitters, but he did add another (needed) dimension to forward balls. Then there was their second goal, a real howler of a back pass into danger. If you have nowhere forward or sideways to pass the ball, and you do not know what is happening behind you, then never, ever pass back into the goal area to leave your goalie high & dry! Kick it out!! Assombalonga could not believe his luck.... This was a classic case of trying to maintain possession at all costs, rather than risk your coach's wrath and get rid of it!

Who shined? Well nobody really. Who was poor? Well I have to cite Kane (so easy to get round), Manning for the back-pass, Ball (purely for beating himself up over the odd errors, rather than focusing upon his good play, and stupid fouling), Eze for largely taking the day off, Lumley for still not learning how to kick the ball out and looking so nervy when passing it around, and both Hall & Cameron for a poor job of defending. It gets worrying when I find myself asking 'Where is Barbet?'.... A real shame for Hall as his goal was a lovely header...

Onto the substitutions, you can sort of understand why Warburton went for Hugill & Scowen, but why not take off Eze and bring on BOS instead? Something was needed to change the dynamics, and it was not going to come from better defending, so a winger may have made all the difference. Instead we never used that third sub. Onto Hall as captain: Is he the sort of captain we needed against Boro? I did not see any evidence of him cajoling the side when a step-up in performance was needed or vocally organising the defence. (I am not saying Leistner does either, I am just saying I saw no evidence of it.) If I was Warburton for the day I would give it to Dominic Ball. He will still direct players and shout at them, and I get the impression that he is like Josh Scowen in that he 'punches well above his weight' in terms of tackling.

Anyway, as has already been mentioned above by others, this was a game that we should have won; and the fact we did not does indicate there should be no more talk of battling in the Play-Offs or a Top Ten finish. We will not be relegated but we will not cover ourselves in glory whilst we use barn doors flapping in the wind to stop strikers from scoring against us!

Post Middlesbrough Stats

The defeat against Middlesbrough drops us down another place to 10th

We are now more than a win - 4 points - outside the top 6 as things start to take shape a bit more.

We are without a win in our last 4 games - picking up just 2 points out of the last 12 available.

QPR are the only side in the football league yet to keep a clean sheet - our last clean sheet was against Swansea in April

We have also now conceded at least 2 goals in each of the last 8 games, quite extraordinary really.

3 of our next 4 games after the international break are against the teams currently 7th, 5th and 2nd. Tough.

Geoff Cameron is suspended for our next match against Fulham after collecting his 5th yellow of the season



Toni Leistner was absent for the first time in 12 matches.

Joe Lumley returned to the team after missing the last 6 matches

Lee Wallace made his home QPR debut and is of course yet to be on the winning side.

Nahki Wells has now got 9 goals this season (8 league, 1 cup) matching his total from last season in just 1/3 of the time

we need a big mean defender like gorkss in january 
but i also think its the way we play that causes the errors we keep making 
we look nervous at the back and its what is ultimately dropping us down the table
too many teams have found us out and seen how easy we are to break down 
warburton needs to change the way we play end of story as we are simply not good enough in defence 
to play the ball out to attacking midfielders on a regular basis without making errors
all teams need to do is press us and wait for the mistakes,its too easy 
a heavy defeat to fulham and it will start to look worrying as we could drop like a lead balloon 

Just watched the game and whilst it was a bit of a school boy error from Wells he isn't the first in this team to make a mistake.

I accept that even with Leistner and Barbet in central defence we struggle but my issue is with Warburton who again played Cameron and Wallace as a central defenders. Cameron isn't a central defender and is a liability in that position. He is sloppy in defence and has now picked up another yellow that means he misses Fulham. Wallace isnt a central defender and is still lacking match fitness but did ok.

Apparently Masterson is a central defender who is match fit but doesnt get a game, surely he can't be as poor as Cameron as a Central Defender and if he is worse then why did Warburton sign him?

Good to see Lumley back but his confidence is shot and Warburton has turned a decent goalkeeper into a nervous wreck.

Chair should have been rested several weeks ago and apart from his pass for Wells goal I thought he never troubled Boro.

As things stand I wouldn't have a problem with Hugill playing in central defence because he is a big hefty lump that defends from the front and regularly clears over our opponents cross bar.

Thank goodness that Eze is still playing well albeit in patches.

This a comment i saw earlier and i totally agree that maybe we should have a more direct approach from now on 
At least try it out and see if we can keep a clean sheet 


It is little surprise, therefore, that QPR invite pressure onto themselves, and the only natural end result is goals conceded.



As a result, Warburton has to focus on simplifying things, at least for the defenders when on the ball. Going back to basics is necessary, and he shouldn’t be afraid to play more directly considering he has Jordan Hugill up-front, who has averaged 3.3 aerial duels won per game.



Alterations are needed if QPR are to get back to winning ways, and an adjustment of putting less focus on retaining possession at all times could prove beneficial.