Another disappointing performance at Loftus Road, where the R’s still haven’t won this season. As is our wont, we didn’t really start playing until we went a goal down in the 34th minute, at which point we really started motoring and scored the equaliser six minutes later. But we took our foot off the gas in the second half and were lucky not to concede again. Millwall, playing a different style of football to us, had 16 shots to our seven and an xG of 1.91 to our 0.67.
Martí Cifuentes returned to a more conventional starting eleven after Tuesday night’s cup game. Paul Nardi was back in goal in place of Joe Walsh and Jimmy Dunne reclaimed his position at right back, replacing Harrison Ashby. Jake Clark-Salter returned at centre back, which meant Sam Field could move up the pitch to his usual position, replacing Elijah Dixon-Bonner. Nicholas Madsen took over defensive midfield duties from Jonathan Varane, with Koki Saito moving into his position on the left hand side of the attacking trio. Finally, Michy Frey was back up front in place of Zan Celar. That meant Martí lined them up in a 4-2-3-1 formation as follows: Nardi in goal; Dunne, Steve Cook, Clarke-Salter and Kenneth Paal in the back line; Field and Madsen in defensive midfield; Saito, Lucas Andersen and Karamoko Dembélé as the attacking trio; and Frey leading the line.
We were second best from the get-go, with Millwall doing a good job of not letting us play our game. It can take our players a while to get into gear and that never really happened here in spite of having the lion’s share of possession in both halves, save for the six-minute period between Millwall’s goal and our equaliser. Even the most reliable members of our squad, like Steve Cook, kept making unforced errors, which the visitors were quick to pounce on, and we squandered most of the chances we created.
Their goal resulted from an attack on our left flank in the 34th minute, with the Lions taking advantage of the fact that Kenneth Paal was out of position – although, to be fair, he had clearly been told to play as more of a winger than a left back, with Clarke-Salter covering for him as and when. Having penetrated our defence, Macaulay Langstaff cut the ball back across our goal to Duncan Whatmore, who buried it in the right-hand corner.
At which point, we sprung into life. Our goal came from a lung-busting run from Dembélé in the 40th minute, who gathered the ball in our half, travelled with it for 50 yards, passed it forward to Frey, who then struck through the keeper’s legs and into the back of the net. Nice goal, well taken. That’s four for Frey so far this season in all competitions.
But after that bit of magic, we reverted to type in the second half. The visitors had eight shots to our two, two of them on target, drawing good saves from Nardi. Paul Smyth came on for Saito in the 60th minute, but Andersen, who had a poor game, remained in the No.10 position instead of being replaced by Dembélé. Nine minutes later, Andersen was replaced with Varane, at which point Dembélé did take up CAM duties, with Alfie Lloyd taking over from Madsen on the left. But it still didn’t quite click for us, not helped by the referee stopping the game every time it looked as though we might get into our rhythm. The closest we came to scoring was when a long-range cross from Paal found Dunne on the far post. The Irishman got his header on target and had the keeper beaten, but it was cleared off the line by a Millwall defender.
One of the puzzling things about the way Martí has them playing is that we spend far too much time playing it out from the back, with Cook or Clarke-Salter passing it out to the midfielders, who then pass it back to them, and so on, ad infinitum. It feels like possession for possession’s sake and I don’t recall us scoring once this season from this kind of slow build-up. Our strengths are in counter-attacking and set pieces, so why don’t we focus on that instead of this arsing about in front of our opponents? Frustrating.
We’re still midtable and, to be fair, we’ve only lost once in the league this season. But it would be nice to win at home ocasionally. Next up is Blackburn away. Let’s hope we express ourselves better at Ewood Park. One positive sign is that Ilias Chair is back in training and came out to applaud the fans at the end. Please God let him be on the bench next time. We need him.
You can watch the highlights on Sky Sports here.
Oh dear. How will you face Rod Liddle on Monday?