FAN’S VIEW: 24/25 – No.22: QPR AWAY

So no.22 is QPR not Argyle thanks to Darragh. I keep looking at the BBC league tables for current form and we’re consistently in the bottom three or four. Before this encounter reading up from the bottom of the form table over the last six games, points gained were Hull none, Stoke and Derby three then us with four. Given that it’s not always the same teams worse than us I’m amazed we’ve still avoided being in the bottom three all season but it goes without saying that we’ve got to start picking up more wins than we’ve been doing thus far. The feeling I’d got about our visit to Loftus Road wasn’t one of optimism. To be honest I was quite fearful. Rangers have hit some form. Won two and drawn two of their last four games and not conceded in the last three. What I’ve seen of them on TV they’ve looked decent.  

QUEENS PARK RANGERS 2 OXFORD UNITED 0

Journey up decent enough. Parking excellent. Plenty of street parking for free after 5 o’clock. London Pride in the Crown and Sceptre was perfection. Have paid a lot more for beer in Oxford. Only brewed two miles away, mind. For the record I only had three halves as I had walking football the following day and didn’t want to let the side down. Good London boozer is the C&S but there was a downside – no room inside so we had to sit outside in the “garden” which is a covered area where smoking is allowed. Definitely affected my breathing in a bad way and a day later don’t think I’ve quite got over it.

Amazingly I got the seat allocated on my ticket. Stewards were checking which section as fans were entering the stand which was the correct thing to do as some areas had a restricted view and prices paid were not uniform. I’d paid the highest price and was three rows from the front. If I’d sat down though I too would have had a restricted view. This is not the best ground by any stretch of the imagination from which to watch a football match and the concourse is so narrow it’s more 1970s than 2020s. But hey, we don’t want total sanitisation of football do we? Or perhaps we do as we get older. I’m getting there.

For the bit about the actual game in some FVs I sometimes have to go home and have a good think about what I’m going to say. Other times it just forms in my head throughout the game and on the return journey based on the discussions that take place. This was mostly a case of the latter.

In the first half my thinking was this is not a Championship level football match. In a perverse kind of way I was quite happy with that because I didn’t think QPR were anywhere near as good as I thought they were going to be. That increased our chances of getting something from the match. Not that we’d looked the least bit like winning.

In the second half my thinking was that these really are two very poor teams but we are worse than they are. Then 30 seconds later they scored.

That came after we’d lost the ball in a congested area midway in our own half. We got the first ball in away but the home side immediately won possession and worked it back down that flank. Paul Smyth beat Przemyslaw Placheta and got a high cross in from the by-line. It was good wing play. Rayan Kolli jumped not only between Elliott Moore and Peter Kioso but with better timing and higher than our two defenders. His header was volleyed in by Sam Field.

That was in the 53^rd minute and a quarter of an hour later Field got his second meaning he’d scored 22% of his QPR league goals against us. This was his 139^th league start for them. It came after a mistake from Kioso who was easily robbed.

This performance from us was error ridden. Rangers made errors too but we made more. Two behind we were never going to get back into it. It is hard to see where the next goal is going to come from let alone the next win.

At times we just could not control the ball. It doesn’t have to ping off a foot that far and it becomes the oppositions at this level even when playing teams that are nowhere near the best in the league. On this occasion it wasn’t just the players that many of us have concluded are not up to it but also our better players too. Possibly a confidence thing but it becomes a hard downward spiral to break out of.

It must be dispiriting all round when what we’re attempting to do isn’t working and we don’t appear to have the players to be able to try something different. It’s the now very old story of endeavouring to play out from the back but not being good enough to do it at this level. We just can’t get out. Much more likely to get caught than get forward with passing football. We can’t find the space and don’t have the technique or movement to get through the lines and anywhere near enemy territory very often. 

We had 60% possession but only four shots and only one of those was on target. QPR had 11 shots four of which were on target. They also had more touches in our box than we had in theirs, 20-13.

So we can’t play out but nor can we go long because we don’t have the players for that. A bigger lad up front with physical presence? Will Goodwin? He wasn’t even on the bench. Is he injured again? When Jamie Cumming does kick long it is most effective when he aims for Greg Leigh out wide somewhere near the half way line. Our number 22 usually wins the header but then what? Nothing comes of it and we don’t retain the ball.

I think just about our entire fan base thinks we need a better strike force. Mark Harris sadly not of the standard required? And I’ve tried to big up Dane Scarlett as a finisher but he didn’t look quick enough or strong enough. In their defence the question must be asked, what service are they getting?

A big worry for me is that I’ve kept saying when x or y comes back we’ll be much improved but then it hasn’t proven so. Kioso here was very poor. First game back so fingers crossed he improves from here. I’ve banged on a bit about Matt Phillips. He didn’t set the world alight did he? But I still thought there were moments when he showed he still has something and could be an asset. Over hit crosses though. Sums us up at present, if we do one good thing then a bit of sub-standard play is likely to negate it.

There were times when there was a collective groan in the stand near me when things went wrong. I contributed to that. There were words spoken of individuals being crap and I may have contributed to that but I didn’t notice any loud audible shouted abuse at individuals. I did though detect some movement towards Phillips being scapegoated which I think would be very unfair.

The team need our support now more than ever. It’s hard though, it works two ways. Chicken and egg. Give the fans something to get excited about, to believe in. We know we’re a very small fish in the Championship pool but just two points from nine away games is dispiriting for supporters and players alike.

Placheta, who we’ve not seen much of yet, looked off the pace. Idris El Mizouni was nothing much. And back to returning players making a difference – Kyle Edwards at last. He had half an hour and initially looked like he had something about him, but then faded. Understandably? Another case of fingers crossed. Could he spark something or will he slip neatly into the current norm which is at best mediocrity?

Cameron Brannagan getting booked early on didn’t help the cause. Massive congratulations to Cam for this his 300^th appearance for the club. He’s one who possibly more than some of the others will want to put matters right. That comment is not criticism of these “others” it is just a statement of how much Cam is OUFC in 2024/25.

It is clearly getting to him and his team mates though. For the first time in years I saw arguing. Between Cam and the other CB, Ciaron Brown. Not good but it is because they care deeply. That wasn’t the only time. I think Brown was involved with someone else too. I don’t know what the issues actually were or if a solution has been, or even needs to be, found for games going forward.

I have to say that Brown was one of our best performers and save for being beaten in the air for the first goal our captain wasn’t bad either.

On a positive note on a very dark night we never actually got overrun by sheer power or were given the run around by Championship level skill. It was our bloody mistakes and having no attacking threat whatsoever that rightly saw us get beaten.

And yet once again – and it really is hard to believe – we are still not in the bottom three and with the form table moving on a game with a drop off and an addition Hull, Cardiff, Stoke and Derby are still worse than us but our last win was six games ago. That won’t feature in the next update.

Hull have got a new manager. Ruben Selles is quite highly thought of and apparently there has been a noticeable improvement in the Tigers even if they’ve only got one point so far from his two games in charge. Three worse teams than us come the end of the season? Mick Phelan has been appointed as Wayne Rooney’s assistant at Plymouth who have lost their last three games. Cardiff’s form looks awful but they did manage two away draws in November. Pompey have got eight points from their last four matches. 

I’m struggling, I really am. But hey, let’s try and inject a bit of positivity. The teams in the four places immediately above us in the table all have 21 points which is three more than we do. But each of those teams, our opponents here, Stoke, Derby and Coventry have played a game more than us. To state the blatantly obvious, games in hand aren’t much use if points are not picked up.

Sheffield Wednesday have recently beaten Derby and Hull which is helpful. Losing to us on Saturday would be even more helpful. I’m telling myself that (most of) our players are a lot better than they’ve been showing and if they were to get back to somewhere near their very best that would be very helpful too. So lads something to cheer about please.

Best bit of Wednesday night? Seeing my great nephew run out as the Oxford United mascot. Such a shame the game was one to forget.