Wait... We’re Decent?!?

A review of the first half of QPR’s 25-26 season

Celebrating Kieran Morgan’s last-minute winner against Birmingham with my dad and my brother

Well, as I’m writing this on Christmas Eve, we are almost halfway through the season. Our game on Boxing Day against Portsmouth on the road will take us to that halfway mark, and we are sitting pretty in 7th place. If you’d asked me at the start of the season whether I’d take being 7th at Christmas, just one point off the play-offs, I would’ve bitten your hand off. So I have to say I’m very pleased with where we are in the table, and I think any presents I receive tomorrow will pale in comparison to the gift that QPR has given me. For once, I’ve actually enjoyed watching us this season.

As with all things QPR-related, it hasn’t been smooth sailing. It was only the second game I’d watched all season when my father and I made the fateful decision to go and see us play Coventry at the CBS Arena. After 66 minutes, we found ourselves 7–0 down, and as I sat watching my beloved R’s get absolutely pummelled by ex-Chelsea legend Frank Lampard, I thought… what am I doing here? Is it really worth devoting my entire Saturday to watching 11 random men, who have no idea that I even exist, kick a ball around a patch of grass? Well, I’m glad to say it absolutely is worth it, and I feel guilty that I even for one second doubted my devotion to QPR.

A recent uptick in form, which has seen us win five of our last seven games, has made for spectacular viewing. The highlight was a home win against Birmingham. In classic QPR fashion, we conceded a late equaliser to the Blues after being totally dominant for 90 minutes. I thought that was surely it and we’d pissed two points up the wall. However, miraculously, an absolute pile-driver from academy graduate Kieran Morgan saw the R’s take all three points in the 90+6th minute. It was a completely alien feeling to me, as those kinds of moments just don’t seem to be on the cards for a QPR fan. But this team finally took me to heights and feelings of ecstasy that I don’t think I’ve ever felt before. The celebrations following that goal were some of the best 15 minutes of my life, and as I’m writing this I recognise that it sounds a little sad – but hey, that’s the life of a football fan. Especially one who supports a club like QPR. It’s amazing to think that one single goal caused me so much joy. It makes me wonder whether a fan who supports a team like Man City can ever reach those same highs when they regularly score five goals a game.

Another great moment came only last Saturday, when we beat newly relegated Leicester City 4–1, with an especially impressive first half that saw us four goals to the good. That was some of the best football I’ve ever seen us play, and this whole wave of optimism and confidence I feel in the team almost feels unnatural. All the football I’ve watched over the past 10 years has taught me that it’s the hope that kills you, and that you should be eternally pessimistic lest you allow yourself a shred of optimism that makes the next loss even more painful. But with this group of players, I can’t help but feel this way – and they haven’t been letting me down. As I said, all of this feels very alien to me. All the bad memories of bottling promotion pushes and getting consistently battered at home are gnawing at my optimism. But I’m glad to say that, as of right now, I’m still confident that this squad can keep the winning groove going.

We owe a lot of our success to our new manager, Julién Stephan. I wrote an article at the start of the season saying we should feel confident in him due to his pedigree and success in France, and I’m very relieved to see that this optimism wasn’t misplaced. We’ve played some exciting football this season, scoring 32 goals in the Championship – the sixth most in the division. This success isn’t exclusively down to Stephan, as new signings Richard Kone and Rumarn Burrell have formed a lethal partnership up top. They have 18 goals and assists between them, which dwarfs the tally of our strikers last season. They’ve been crucial to our success, and keeping them fit is an absolute must.

All that being said, we haven’t been perfect. We’re 7th in the table, so there are obviously things to improve on. The most obvious position we need to address is goalkeeper. We started the season with Joe Walsh in net. He’d been a promising youngster for a few seasons, making impressive appearances in cup competitions, and was finally given his shot at regular first-team football. Unfortunately, he didn’t live up to expectations. He made error after error, and he was in goal for the Coventry shellacking, making just one save all game. He was eventually dropped in favour of last year’s number one, Paul Nardi. The Frenchman was definitely an upgrade on Walsh; however, he also left a lot to be desired. His inability to claim crosses proved costly on a number of occasions, and he too was dropped.

This time, it was 37-year-old Championship journeyman Ben Hamer who took his place. We’d only signed him as an emergency stop gap because Walsh had picked up an injury, which left us with just one fit first-team goalkeeper. However, due to how poor our other options had been, he earned his chance in the starting XI. He has been, by far, our best keeper this season. But with his age and the fact that his contract expires in January, I think picking up another goalkeeper in the January window would be a wise decision.

Still, it’s been mostly good this season, and I think we can give the play-offs a real shot. The Premier League certainly seems to be the goal for Christian Nourry, and the players clearly believe they can make it. From my perspective, I think we’re still some way off the Premier League, but if we have a good January window, I don’t see why we can’t at least make the play-offs. It’s a trip to Fratton Park next for some Boxing Day football, and I’ll of course be going – because how else should anyone ever spend Boxing Day other than watching football?

Happy Christmas, folks, and COME ON YOU R’SSSSSS!

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Toby Young here, Charlie’s dad. I’m trying to encourage 17 year-old Charlie to take on more of the match reporting duties on this site because: (a) he’s better at it than me; and (b) he wants to be a sports writer and this is a great way to learn. Can I therefore ask you to become a premium subscriber? It only costs £3.50/month or £20/year. I’m not intending to paywall the match reports for the time being, but the previous seasons reports are behind a paywall so becoming a premium subscriber will give you access to the entire archive. Any money that comes in will go directly to Charlie to encourage him to keep going. Thanks in advance and merry Christmas.