Well, that was an anti-climax. QPR faced off against Huddersfield at Loftus Road in today’s early kick-off in what had been described as the most important game for years, not just this season. A victory would have seen us leapfrog the Terriers and escape the relegation zone, while a defeat would have left us six points from safety. Yet, predictably, it ended up 1-1, leaving the relative positions of the teams unchanged.
The pre-match build up was pretty epic, partly, I suspect, because this was being shown on Sky Sports. Not only did the club issue everyone with free scarves, meaning the stadium was a sea of blue-and-white (see above), but our latest signing was unveiled just before kick off – Swiss striker Michael Frey. That’s been in the works for a few days, but it was a relief to discover that the new CEO and Martí Cifuentes got it over the line.
The 29 year-old was at Antwerp, where he scored 24 goals in the 2021-22 season and 10 last season. He was loaned to Schalke this season, where he hasn’t made a single appearance, being surplus to requirements. QPR hasn’t disclosed how much it paid for him or how long his contract is, but he’s a welcome addition to the squad. Let’s hope he’s on the bench for next week’s clash against Blackburn.
Cifuentes fielded the same team against Huddersfield as he had against Millwall, which meant we lined up as follows in a 4-2-3-1 formation: Asmir Begovic in goal; Reggie Cannon, Jake Clarke-Salter, Steve Cook and Kenneth Paal in defence; Jack Colback and Sam Field in midfield; Ilias Chair, Lyndon Dykes and Chris Willock in front of them; and Sinclair Armstrong leading the line.
It was clear from the get-go that this group of players weren’t going to be nearly as effective today as they had been against the Lions, possibly because the Terriers flooded the midfield and shut down most of our attempts to move the ball beyond the halfway line. Instead of playing it out from the back, our defenders kept trying to put balls over the top, most of which were intercepted. (According to FotMob, only 30% of our long balls were accurate.) The switch in style was partly because Reggie Cannon, who likes running with the ball, picked up an injury in the 11th minute and had to be replaced by the less versatile Aaron Drew. To be fair to Drew, he had an okay game, cutting out most of the attacks down the left hand side.
Another difference was that Willock and Dykes weren’t as sharp as they were last week and it was no great surprise when they both got the hook in the 61st minute, replaced by Elija Dixon-Bonner and Paul Smyth. Sinclair Armstrong was threatening at times, running at defenders and muscling them off the ball when they tried to dispossess him, but didn’t get much service and never looked like scoring.
It was a scrappy, ugly game, not helped by referee Stephen Martin, a fussbudget of the first order. Every time a player fell over he blew for a foul and carded five of ours for what looked like very soft challenges. Twice, by my reckoning, he blew his whistle late when we had the ball in the final third, almost as if he was determined to frustrate us, and I lost count of the number of times he piss-balled about, ordering players to take free kicks and throws from exactly where he wanted, rather than a foot or two either side. He seemed extremely pleased with himself, as illustrated by his habit of sprinting back into the centre of the pitch from the box at full pelt, as if he wanted everyone to know what peak physical conditions he’s in.
It was honours even at half-time, although the visitors looked more likely to score – their xG in the first half was 0.5 to our 0.09 and they had three shots to our two. The closest they came was in the 40th minute, when a flowing move ended with a shot that looked certain to go in had Clarke-Salter not blocked it at full stretch. For my money, the 26 year-old defender was our best player.
We seemed strangely lackadaisical in the first half, not making the effort you’d expect in such a crucial fixture, and I hoped Cifuentes’ half-time talk would gee the players up. But the Terriers came out of the traps faster than us and looked even more likely to score in the second half than they had in the first. We kept conceding corners – seven in the last 45 minutes – which seemed rash, given how poor we are at defending them. Indeed, they almost scored from one in the 47th minute.
We got a little better after the first two substitutions, and Dixon-Bonner had a shot in the 75th minute that was just wide of the right-hand post. Jack Colback had a shot in the 86th minute, but it was straight at the keeper – and he didn’t spill it, as the Millwall keeper had, setting up Armstrong for his 85th minute tap-in.
The visitors’ goal came immediately afterwards – from a free kick, rather than a corner, but we defended it poorly. Having said that, many of the people sitting in that part of the pitch thought it was offside and, judging from the picture below, it could very well have been. Still, it was with the run of play and felt pretty inevitable. Their xG in the second half was 1.47 compared to our 0.27, and they had 10 shots to our five.
With only four minutes left of normal time, I thought it was game over and, by extension, season over for the R’s. But there were seven minutes of added time, giving us a chance to get back into it, and, God help me, we did.
The goal came from an attack in the 96th minute. After we were unable to fashion a chance, the ball was passed back to Chair who crossed it to the far post, where it was met by Paal who volleyed into the roof of the net with his thigh. I don’t think I’ve ever experienced such limbs in R block – from despair to hope in the bat of an eyelid.
For the remaining few minutes we looked like we might score again, with our best chance coming from a Smyth long throw in the 98th minute. Alas, it wasn’t to be.
I’d gone into this game hoping for three points, but by the end was happy we got anything out of it, given that Huddersfield were the better side. We’re still in it – just – and, who knows, the addition of a striker might be just enough to keep us up.
I’m off to Blackburn next week, hoping we can capitalise on the Blue and Whites’ bad run of form – they’re winless in seven. But to manage that we’ll need to play a lot better that we did today.