| Derby County 0 v 0 Stoke City EFL Championship Saturday, 3rd May 2025 Kick-off 12:30 |  |
Rangers read the room, finish on a high at Sunderland - Report Monday, 5th May 2025 22:57 by Clive Whittingham Three away wins in a row for the first time since 2022 - hit the ramp, turned over in the air, landed on both wheels, pulled over and said what were you worried about? In a week where those in charge at QPR have happily played out their latest psychodrama in the press, the players had at least read the room. The people who care about this club the most, but have the least control over its backwards decision making, were owed something. The longest trip of the season, for a game with nothing riding on it, kicking off Saturday breakfast time, at the end of a thoroughly embarrassing week for the club and a slog of a season… Sing bitch. And sing they did. A good performance from the team and first away win against a side in the top half of the table all season. Fourth placed play-off bound Sunderland repelled at one end by a defence led superbly by Ronnie Edwards and Jimmy Dunne, and dominated the other way by a midfield in which Jonathan Varane and Nicolas Madsen both had their best games for the club. While you expect that of Dunne, and certainly Edwards whose second half charge into midfield and resulting possession concession was at least some welcome confirmation he is human after all and not some bionic boy grown in a lab, quite a lot of what happened on Saturday was a day for the anti-heroes. Varane’s sudden willingness to turn and both play and run forwards with the ball made him the outstanding player on the pitch, wholly dominant against Chris Rigg, Dan Neil and Jobe Bellingham through the Sunderland midfield – three of the best young players in the country right now all being tipped for bigger, better, more lucrative things. Such a shame Varane’s first half slalom past three opponents and into the penalty area resulted only in a dragged cross shot to nobody. He really deserved a goal here, and was a clear man of the match regardless. Madsen was involved. That may sound damning with faint praise but so many of the problems with him are caused by him departing from the game going on around him and just hanging out in the deep left of the field looking frightened. The passing was there, up around the 90% accuracy mark, and he was quite creative in what he did continuing the recent trend for assists and chance creation. But, most of all, with and without the ball, he was involved. More touches than Ashby, Chair, Frey, Dembele, Colback. Still no tackles, baby steps, but better on both sides of the ball. And Harrison Ashby, right at the end of his loan spell, suggesting he’s possibly been misused. His brain’s propensity to write cheques his ability can’t cash make him something of a liability at full back in your last line of defence. As a winger – which the haircut and tattoos really have always suggested was more his scene – that self confidence becomes a virtue. He was quick and direct here, certainly quicker than I’d realised previously, and had the comfortable beating of Cirkin all afternoon. The opening goal came early, and involved all three. Varane springing the midfield, Dembele playing Ashby in on the overlap, a cross cut back into space and runners rather than, as so often, just hacked into the general vicinity. Madsen arrived late in the box, took a perfect first touch, then lashed home with the second as Patterson took a seat in goal. Madsen now involved in four goals in his last six appearances for (scored one, assisted three). This was a lot better. We might be getting somewhere with him.
Sunderland were a very strange watch. They have mirrored our 2013/14 campaign under Harry Redknapp by setting off at an early lick, putting huge distance between them and the chasing play-off pack, but not being able to sustain the pace at the top of a table which, for the first time, is topped by two different sides with 100 points. They, like us, have known it’s the play-offs for sometime and they, like us, have used that time to basically phone in their performances. Who can forget going to Blackburn on a Tuesday night with Luke Young playing his first game for two years at centre half? Momentum didn’t matter to Rangers then, with Charlie Austin doing the business in the semi-final against Wigan and Bobby Z’s 89th sealing the deal at Wembley against Derby, but then that is always likely to happen if you’ve got an £84m wage bill and QPR were fortunate across all three games. Sunderland do not have advantages like that and will need to play a whole lot better than this to even get through Coventry in the semi-finals. The Mackems go in on a run of five straight defeats, with their best player Enzo Le Fee oddly marooned out wide rather than involved in the middle. Not even stationed on the side they go to most – Patrick Roberts spent the afternoon butchering chances and crosses on the opposite flank. There was some threat, let’s not exaggerate and pretend we battered them all afternoon. Joe Walsh, given a welcome outing in goal in this dead rubber for only his second ever Championship game, improvised a near post stop from Mayenda after seven minutes, got down well to meet Luke O’Nien’s effort after 12, then later dived full length to repel a header from Dan Ballard after he and fellow sub Watson had initially got in each other’s way under a back post set piece when both had a free header to score. So, could easily have drawn, or even won. Still, an odd watch. Felt like a team being stubbornly crowbarred into the manager’s shape from which he will not be moved: Jobe Bellingham a sofa in a bathroom as defensive midfield, Le Fee a winger while Chris Rigg plays ten, Mayenda as a lone striker while Isidor sits on the bench. Much of their attacking plan seemed to be based on tossing set plays high over the box while angelic shithouse O’Nien wedgied Jack Colback’s shorts up his arse and then heaved himself to the ground as soon as the ball was delivered giving the crowd the chance to scream for a penalty. Belgian motorway basic. Jobbing lower league referee Anthony Backhouse clung to this glorified pre-season friendly with his fingernails through some thoroughly odd decision making, but even he wasn’t buying those antics. O’Nien was later booked for catching Michi Frey with a stray arm – great plan Bart, Michi Frey is twice the player when he’s angry and subsequently made himself a pain in the arse the home team absolutely did not need in their lives for the final half hour. I'm starting to think we should employ somebody to give that guy a slap in the tunnel before we go out each week. I get O’Nien, I like O’Nien, I wish O’Nien (or his non-union Mexican equivalent) played for QPR, but much of his input on Saturday was dense as a dying sun, totally needless and, more importantly, significantly harmful to his team’s chances of getting a result from the game. Still, got his likes and funnies on Instagram though. The steps we take to avoid our fate are the ones that lead us to it. Sunderland have deliberately played this situation a certain way. Fascinated to see how their attempt to fire up their engines from a stone-cold start goes against a very good-looking Coventry side. First leg away from home. Backhouse, meanwhile, summed up by a second half passage of play where QPR had a player down injured so Harrison Ashby deliberately fouled an opponent to get the game stopped only for the referee to inexplicably wave play on through a foul both teams wanted awarding. Sunderland (rather understandably) lost their minds and Bellingham absolutely cleaned Dunne out on the touchline with a horrible tackle for which he didn’t even receive a yellow card. Backhouse started his year sending Jack Colback off for dissent at Bramall Lane and has had a difficult season at this level, culminating in the nonsense late penalty at Middlesbrough v Plymouth a fortnight ago. He gave a bizarre performance here, and frankly if you can’t keep control of this game, in these circumstances, I’m not sure you’re in the right league. Or job. Colback, meanwhile, was given the welcome you’d expect at the club he walked out on for free to join Newcastle. Playing an unorthodox left back role his give away on the hour, and then getting caught under the subsequent cross while Roberts headed wide at the back post when he should surely have hit the target, blotted an otherwise clean copy book. He sat down after an hour, possibly needing some more sun lotion, and if his performative long walk to the dugout was the last of his time at QPR then - with some notably high profile exceptions - he’s done a sound job for us. The decision to put Morgan Fox on for him rather than development squad left back Esquerdinha, and later Lucas Andersen for Karamoko Dembele rather than Emmerson Sutton, felt like Kevin Betsy pitching for this job rather more than he’s made out in interviews where he insists he doesn’t want it. Hmmmm. Or, perhaps, he also recognised the importance of getting a win on the board for those who gathered in the gods and sang their hearts out throughout despite the club behaving as it has this week. Rayan Kolli did make it on from the bench and, following the theme of Madsen, Varane and Ashby, showed some qualities that I haven’t previously seen from him. His work rate and tracking back in defence, his recoveries from difficult situations, and ability to carry the ball away from danger and win free kicks and possession for his team was very impressive here. One sliding tackle on the edge of his own area late in the piece felt like something of a goal saver. If we’re looking for positives for next season, that development of his game was certainly one from the weekend. We’re not a good enough, strong enough, powerful enough team to carry luxury players, you’ve got to run, tackle, earn your right to play. He showed he can play a part in that here. Sadly, the negative is his half time introduction was sparked by a fourth injury of the season for Ilias Chair, who went down a minute before half time like he’d been shot in his ankle with nobody around him. That usually screams Achilles injury which would really put the tin hat on a season in which QPR’s usual ever present has been crocked throughout by various problems. He did wander about a bit and try to carry on for stoppage time which one would hope means it’s not too bad, though even that does raise questions about what on earth we’re doing when it’s the meaningless last game of the season, your best player is down in apparent agony, and you’ve already had once incident this year where he tried to come back on against Middlesbrough with a knee injury and was subsequently out for weeks. Just get him off for goodness’ sake. The club’s well-stocked “performance” department concluded their shambolic season with yet another muscle injury – Karamoko Dembele pulled up with a hamstring problem after chasing a through ball. We cannot have this much of our wage bill parked in the stands with injuries like this next season. That element of our operation needs serious attention. Serious attention from Heston, not from Dubai. You can’t come over high and mighty with the manager going after other jobs while letting your mate work from the other side of the world on Zoom because he wanted to take a job with the Brooklyn Nets. If I’d wanted to, I could have steamed into the team a little bit here as well. QPR love these end of season dead rubbers. Pressure off, knock it about in our penalty area a bit, Ashby flying up the line, Varane looking the complete midfielder, Madsen doing bits and pieces. Fun in the sun. When we actually need it, in the dog days of winter, nowhere to be seen. The mentality isn’t there. Ian Holloway lost his last game in charge at Leeds in 2018 but since then QPR have won at Sunderland, Coventry, Stoke, Swansea, Stoke, Sheff Wed and drawn at West Brom in their final away games across the last seven seasons. Only one of those games had anything on it. Take the pressure off and we look quite a nice team. But nice teams don’t tend to do well in this league. I’m not going to though. We’ve had some right twats play for our club through recent years, and this lot don’t look or feel like that to me. The team has issues all over the park - it lacks pace, it lacks height, it lacks physicality, it lacks strikers. That’s not the players’ fault. They’re failed, as we are failed, by the people who put this team together. On the whole, bar perhaps Boro away and Burnley at home, I’ve felt like they always cared about what they were doing, tried their best and were a tight group together. It’s got good leadership, fronted by Steve Cook. I’m grateful they seemed to recognise that Saturday was not a day to phone in a 3-0 defeat, and I enjoyed watching them play as they did. Much of the performance and attitude was typified by Jimmy Dunne, as he personifies and exemplifies much of what is good and I do like about this team. Seven tackles won, one interception, 13 clearances, one blocked shot and a clean sheet. If you don’t watch the stats, let me tell you, those are big numbers. Ronnie Edwards was outstanding, his maraud across to cover Liam Morrison with a tackle that shook the foundations of the stadium in the second half part of another immaculate performance. That guy will be in the England squad three years from now. His numbers? Two tackles, no interceptions, nine clearances, one block. Liam Morrison? Two tackles, four interceptions, seven clearances, one block. Jimmy Dunne, at right back, off the charts again. And you’re letting that guy walk away? You should be signing that guy up into testimonial territory. If this is his farewell appearance, what a way to play in it. Typical of the man, much appreciated by us fans, but apparently not enough by the people running our club. I was perplexed before, and then you watch him play like this and I just… I don’t know, it’s been 50 games, maybe I am finally speechless (and both regular readers cheered).
I don’t like kicking QPR, you know that? I’d love to sit here every week and write solid gold smut about our wonderful, successful, professional club. Whenever I write a match preview like the one I did on Friday it brings me out in hives. Am I right? Will the other supporters agree with me? Is it over the top? Is there another way to look at this? What if I’m wrong? The soul-searching and the back and forth and the living in my own head that takes place. I just wanted to write flowery match reports. I didn’t want to get involved in the politics. I didn’t want to be reading and analysing sets of accounts. I showed that match preview to people who’d been at the kit sponsor event last week. During Friday’s interminable delays up to Sunderland I passed the laptop round the train and asked people “be honest, is this on the mark or not?” The overwhelming consensus was even that didn’t hit hard enough. What is going on at the moment is not good enough, and it needs calling out. I do it for you guys. It’s all about you. And, on Saturday at least, the team did the same. Have a great summer everybody. Links >>> Ratings and Reports >>> Message Board Match Thread Sunderland: Patterson 6; Hume 6, Mephem 6 (Ballard 60, 7), O’Nien 4, Cirkin 5; Bellingham 6, Neil 5 (Watson 75, 5); Roberts 4, Rigg 5 (Isidor 75, 6), Le Fee 5; Mayenda 5 Subs not used: Samed, Aleksic, Browne, Hjelde, Jones, Moore Yellow Cards: Neil 29 (foul), O’Nien 55 (foul) QPR: Walsh 7; Dunne 8, Morrison 7, Edwards 8, Colback 6 (Fox 62, 6); Chair 6 (Kolli 46, 7), Varane 8, Madsen 7 (Morgan 90+3, -), Ashby 7; Dembele 6 (Andersen 73, 6); Frey 7 Subs not used: Bennie, Esquerdinha, Murphy, Shepperd, Sutton Goals: Madsen 5 (assisted Ashby) Yellow Cards: Madsen 74 (foul), Frey 90 (persistent fouling) QPR Star Man – Jonathan Varane 8 THAT is the midfielder he can be, and we need him to be. He sticks in 25+ performances like that in next season and we’ll be talking serious wedge. Referee – Anthony Backhouse (Carlisle) 5 If you can’t keep control of this game, I’m not sure you’re at the right level. Attendance – TBC (981 QPR) A shame there aren’t solid figures kicking around for this at print time because I do think that was a formidable, statement effort from the QPR fans and they deserve a lot more than the club has given them this season. There should be many learnings to take away from a year where the recruitment was botched, the sport science and injury treatment was a catastrophe, the relationship with the manager was obviously wrong from the start, and we’ve dissolved into this public politics and back biting scenario we’re now seeing play out. One of those learnings should certainly be around how Christian Nourry and the club communicate with this fanbase. Every time you hide a contract length, undisclose a transfer fee, refuse to say what Koki Saito’s “option” actually is, refuse to put the manager up for interview, appear solo at the fans forum and use 90% pre-submitted and vetted questions, say you’ll provide a forum with the coaching staff and then don’t bother… your excuse is you’re doing it for “competitive advantage” but you’re actually giving up one of the only competitive advantages you have over the other sides in this league. You're pissing off and ostracising a loyal support base, that has supported you, your manager and your team through tough times, without a word or song of protest along the way. They turned up on Saturday and sung for you regardless, in the bloody Arctic Circle. Treat them with more respect. Trust them more. Be more open and transparent. Be less controlling, less paranoid. It’ll come back to you in spades. And these people will give you so much more time. If you enjoy LoftforWords, please consider supporting the site through a subscription to our Patreon or tip us via our PayPal account loftforwords@yahoo.co.uk. Pictures - Reuters Connect Please report offensive, libellous or inappropriate posts by using the links provided.
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