Home and awayer Jamie Perry breathes fire across the wheatfields of his keyboard trying to summarise the righteous anger of a football supporter trapped in a “project”.

I’ve thought long and hard all week about how I was going to start this report. Going through all the different scenarios in my head about what might happen, what storylines could emerge.

I eventually settled on picking out any lessons learned from the abysmal first half at Watford. Maybe a funny little anecdote about the lessons I’ve learned following QPR over the years. But, then, also… fuck that.

The performance that Rangers put in at whatever Frank Lampard’s Coventry City are calling their ground these days on Saturday was nothing short of a disgrace.

Shipping seven goals while barely laying a glove on the Sky Blues, who didn’t seem to ever really need to get out of third gear, was a brutal watch many of the QPR fans who did turn up couldn’t stick beyond half time.

Never mind lessons learned, any good from the second half performance at Vicarage Road was immediately tossed out the window.

As has been the case so often, the pre-match team news was shaped by which of our “favourite players” would not be making the trip. Ilias Chair? That’s our secret word for the day. Injured in training, apparently. What, exactly, are they doing in these training sessions?

I’d be very surprised if we can survive another two wins in 17 to start this season, and to be honest even that is looking optimistic at the moment. Yes in 7/8 months’ time we might have a full squad available and go flying through the final games of the season, like we did in 23/24, but is that really worth it if you’re always playing catch up?

Nevertheless, this team should’ve been good enough not to get done for seven, even without Illy. Captain Jimmy Dunne returning to the side at right-back felt like it should’ve been a huge boost, and it allowed scorer of last week’s thunder bastard Kieran Morgan to move back into his natural position in the middle of the park. Julien Stéphan, like Marti Cifuentes before him, seems to have swiftly wised up to stodging it up and playing a three-man midfield. Jonathan Varane came back into a starting berth alongside Morgan and Sam Field. Nicolas Madsen was quietly ushered out the back, told to sit in the corner and think about what he'd done.

Esquerdinha also came back into the side. Raw, but an actual real life left-back to play left-back. Not sure what Amadou Mbengue has done to be dropped ahead of Steve Cook but to be honest I was actually slightly hopeful at kick-off - not of winning, but at least making a game of it.

Realisation began almost immediately. Coventry took one look at this attempt to bulk up the midfield, laughed and set about playing through and around it. Through it and around it and over it and back through it. Then the large women again. Doubling up on one wing, tripling up on Esquerdinha’s side. The dinner bell had been rung. The queue was long and hungry. Coventry scored their first after 12 minutes. Everybody was surprised it took this long.

Three minutes… Jack Rudoni’s hassling of Dunne and Morgan on the wing created a couple of crossing opportunities, both of which were only half cleared, and eventually the ball fell to Brandon Thomas- Asante who teed up Victor Torp for a free shot on the edge of the area that was blocked. Rudoni was then the tormenter again as he dragged Sam Field into deep water and drowned him before continuing down the left and attempting a low cross which was blocked for a corner. Hmmmmmm.

Liam Kitching carried the ball out of defence into midfield and played it straight through the centre into Torp’s feet . Van Ewijk, in acres of space down the R’s left, pulled a low cross back to Haji Wright who had ghosted in from the other wing to slide in under Joe Walsh. Excuse the brevity, we’ve a lot to get through.

If you thought that goal was amateur hour well just you wait. At this point maybe just try and take a bit of sting out the game, kick someone, make it niggly. They are storming all over you. What you certainly don’t do is cross the ball right across your own penalty area straight to an unmarked Coventry player. What harm can come?

Point of contention klaxon. Watford’s second goal last weekend came from a panicked attempt at playing out from the back. Here it was again. The same mistakes being made over and over again. I don’t want to watch Tony Pulis football. However, every time we tried to open up and be a bit more expansive under Cifuentes we got punished. He knew it. This team does not have the ability, nor personnel, to successfully build from the back. From our own goal kick: Cook to Walsh, Walsh to Dunne, Dunne to Morgan, Morgan to Jack Rudoni…. Oh fuck!! And that’s 2-0.

On the rare occasions Rangers did try to venture forward it quickly fizzled out. Dembele spent most of the game getting pushed from pillar to post, before then cramping up. Again. If Kevin Betsy’s looking for an individual development plan it might potentially include a)gym and b) weights. To be fair, the tiny Scotsman stole the ball from Liam Kitching and knocked it through to Burrell to provide some semblance of hope. Sadly, the former Burton striker took too long, tried to cut back and allowed the same defender who had lost the ball to get back to recover. Rangers then finally had a shot of their own after a full 25 minutes when Esquerdinha robbed the ball after the Coventry keeper had bowled it out and tried his luck from 25 yards. The ball flew harmlessly wide.

This of course proved to be a false dawn. It was 3-0 within seconds. Again a move that started with QPR playing out from their own goal kick. Tell me again about your game model? They did at least manage to get the ball all the way to Dembele this time, but he was easily shrugged off the ball by Matt Grimes. Whoever could have foreseen… Grimes took a couple of unchallenged strides into midfield and played a ball right through the heart to the game’s outstanding player Rudoni on the edge of the box. The former Huddersfield midfielder squared up Steve Cook, knocked the ball past and fired into the top corner with the ball getting a sight nick off Cook’s outstretched toe. Terrific.

Rudoni of course one of Andy Belk’s main targets when he was playing down the road at Wimbledon. The Hoops, as they have done so many times, allowed him to go elsewhere. A midfielder that not only gets up to support his team in attack but also scores goals, his nine last year would make him some sort of deity in W12. Prayed to by people in times of great strife and suffering and here he is running a pork sword right through the away team’s hopes and dreams.

It only took a further two minutes for goal number… it says here four.

Rangers tried to launch what I believe is called an attack down the right, which ended with Jimmy Dunne caught in possession in the home final third and a long ball down the field from Grimes towards Wright. He not only managed to get to the ball first but then turn, get between Morrison and Varane and get onto the end of his own flick on and poke it for Rudoni to latch onto. The home team’s number five played a simple ball in behind Cook - who took a good four to five business days to react to what was happening - and Esquerdinha, for Thomas- Asante to run onto. Not content with it all being so easy the Ghanian international took it into the box, waited for Cook to catch up, turned him and then laid the ball off for Wright to wrong-foot Walsh and get his second of the game. Piss take. This is unforgiveable stuff.

It was five before half time. Let that sink in. It was five before half time. A long goal kick (imagine). Asante more committed and alert than Field to win the initial header against a man double his size. Don’t worry about it. Swiftly the ball was worked to Rudoni (again) just outside the box who curled the a shot around both Cook and Dunne and into the bottom corner. Shelling peas. Ritual humiliation. Not good enough. Not good enough by far.

If you thought the away end was angry at Watford last week, that was nothing compared to this. Abuse rained down from the stands from the second goal onwards and by this point the 1,800 who had braved the journey to sample one of Coventry’s four Wetherspoons (Four Jeremy etc. etc) had dispersed to at most half of that. The home fans, on the other hand, were loving life. Coventry had announced prior to the game they had finally secured a purchase of this ground, for so long a millstone round their neck but now something of a cauldron. One club heading one direction, one heading another.

QPR made it to half time without conceding a sixth. Congratulations. Prize from the middle shelf. Van Ewijk was completely unmarked for a volley just before the break that probably should have brought up the half dozen and what was left of the away end all down to the bar en masse to try and drink away the memory of what they had just seen. Not since 2004 at Leeds has a QPR team conceded five in the first half, and that team had won seven in a row before that and scored the first goal that day – this team won’t be doing either of those things.

Stephan’s answer to the first half massacre? Well, let’s see now. New messiah Richard Kone (sometimes maybe good) and Nicolas Madsen ??????? (sometimes maybe shit). Mercy killed in their place, Kieran Morgan and Esquerdinha… ? Sam Field to left-back. I just… I… Like trying to stick the Titanic back together with a tube of Prit Stick. To be fair the R’s midfielder had spent so much time on the left trying to provide cover for the Brazilian full-back that he may as well have a go himself. Speechless. Speechless. It’s not right, this.

The reset and rejuvenated act two of Les Clusterfuckables lasted barely 90 seconds. A slick move down the left ended with Jay Da Silva chipping a nothing ball to the front post. Liam Morrison’s clearing header was poor, and when Madsen tried to help it on his way with his first touch he only succeeded in looping it up and over Jimmy Dunne who managed to miss the header and loose Ephraim Mason- Clark all at the same time. The Coventry winger was now free in the box with the ball at his feet laid it off to Torp who hit a shot across Walsh that the young keeper really should have saved but didn’t.

Barring one incident where Rudoni slipped Wright in behind a static Cook (I probably wouldn’t be challenging any fans to a race on Twitter anytime soon Steve) and Walsh finally made a save of some sort, Tory Frank’s team mercifully took their foot of the gas. It would have been thick double figures without.

After a bit of ambling about there was a seventh Cov goal. Because why wouldn’t there be a seventh Cov goal? Let’s be honest, they deserved it, we deserved it. A returned corner was again cleared only as far as a Sky Blue shirt on the edge of the box, this time it was sub Raphael Rodrigues who played back to Torp to curl a shot up and around Walsh and into the top corner. Look fair enough it’s a great goal, but as for the sixth I think the goalkeeper should be keeping that out.

I don’t like piling in on Joe Walsh because it feels like kicking a puppy. He’s trapped in a political situation not of his ow making. But if you don’t think Nardi saves at least two of these goals then I think you’re lying to yourself.

I guess you could call this a point of contention. The stat that’s making the rounds on EFL twitter is that Coventry scored seven goals from just 1.26 xg yesterday. Yes, some of that is due to some extraordinarily good finishing, but a big part of it is down to Walsh. Whatever you think of QPR attempting to play out from the back with these players, and I’ve made it very clear here I think its akin to attempted suicide, if you are going to try it you need a goalkeeper that is adept in it. We live in a footballing world where the European Champions have binned off one of the best goalkeepers in the world for one who is better with the ball at his feet and QPR appear to have decided to do the complete opposite without so much of an explanation as to why or who’s decision it is. Is it Stephan’s decision to drop Nardi for Walsh?

Rangers of course did score somehow. In second- half injury time a cheap give away of a free-kick was floated over for Morrison to head back across and there was Kone to poke home his first in our colours. This of course celebrated in jest by the remaining few in the away end like we had won the Champions League. Get those cigar smoking memes out again lads. Honestly, I just felt a bit sorry for the bloke. He’s worked his way all the way up from homelessness to get a chance in the Championship and we’ve dropped him into this bin- fire for him to score his first goal at the end of this debacle. QPR Tweeted “Kone heads home” to which the best reply was “don’t blame him”.

It was him, Mbengue and Smyth who were the first across immediately after the full- time whistle to apologise as well. Three players who came on as subs, this isn’t their fault, and it was them who stood there and took the immediate ire of the travelling faithful.

A bit later on the rest of the players made their way over and there were words to be had with both Steve Cook and Rayan Kolli. I’ve been told by somebody who was on the frontline of that Kolli discussion that it was very civil, Kolli listened to the frustrations that the fans had and was very apologetic. Why was it a 20- year old that came over and had that discussion with the fans? Where’s the captain in all of this? I adore Jimmy Dunne, but he should be the first over to chat with us, I genuinely believe he loves this club so where was he?

Even more pressing still where was the “manager”? I can tell you where he was - Stephan stood at the back of his group of players and then was straight down the tunnel without even a hand up in apology at the time. He did eventually issue an apology in his post- match and promised that the Charlton game would not be like this. To be fair I think he might be spot on, play like this and we could be looking at even worse. Eight, Nine maybe double figures. The spectre of Charlie Kelman looms large. This game could’ve been anything Coventry had wanted it to be if they hadn’t of chilled out a bit.

The Frenchman is the first head coach since Jimmy- Floyd Hasselbaink to have failed to win any of his first four competitive games as Hoops manager. Hasselbaink of course had a six-goal deficit loss of his own with a 6-0 at home to Newcastle, but it was the last time that QPR shipped seven when Schteve McClaren took his side to the Hawthorns also for a 7-1 thrashing that came to mind. Rangers did level out a bit and stayed up that season of course but it was only secured after Schteve was given his marching orders and sent back to his hair island.

The main question I heard asked by R’s fans after was where do we go from here? Is there anywhere to go from here? In the last seven years QPR have shipped six goals on two different occasions and now seven on two different occasions. This goes far beyond the manager, it’s ingrained in our psyche.

Twitter and the message boards are alight today with questions over where the decisions are coming from and who’s responsible for this. Two seasons ago on this very ground Christian Nourry and Lee Hoos were all billy big bollocks coming into the away end shaking hands, posing for pictures, that was no surprise at the time we had stayed up in spectacular circumstances under a popular manager and had just beaten Leeds 4-0 to stop them getting promoted no less. Everything was rosy. Also, unsurprisingly there was none of that yesterday neither of them anywhere in sight.

The problem is, as Clive has stated repeatedly, if you sack a popular manager who had done wonders to keep us up twice in a petty vindictive way then you’ve got to start the following season well. This is probably about as bad a start as you can get.

The aforementioned game model which was peddled repeatedly at the fans forum is all well and good but how does it account for a result like this? What’s the contingency plan? If you think that’s sign Koki Saito and this will all be forgiven then you’ve got another thing coming.

I love Saito, I’ll be the first one to start singing about the samba rhythm is he does come back, but this side is desperately crying out for a number eight that can dominate a game. Look at the difference in Cov’s midfield three compared to ours. What I would give for a player like Matt Grimes in our team. Jimmy Dunne spoke in his post- match about this being a team under construction, but what if the foundations have all the structural integrity of one of Elon Musk’s rockets.

Nourry has made a big deal about Stephan just being a cog in a wider QPR machine, about each department having its own responsibilities, but we’re four matches in and we’ve got a team that can only last 60 minutes before it’s dead – and it isn’t much good before that. If you’re on the Karamoke Dembele cramp sweepstake this week’s winning minute was 80. Like clockwork, at the same point of every game, give or take a minute. And what did he contribute yesterday?

If you tell the world the head coach is just a cog in the machine so you can take the credit for any successes, then you’ve also got to take responsibility if that machine backfires and blows up in your face. If Nourry and co don’t start owning up to their mistakes and put in place a team and back room that can stand and thrive with the rigours and challenges this division throws at you, then the answer of where we go from here is simple. League One.

Links >>> Ratings and Reports >>> Message Board Match Thread

Coventry Rushworth N/A, Van Ewijk 7, Thomas 7, Kitching 6, Da Silva 6 (Brau 6), Torp 8, Grimes 8 (Allen 79, -), Mason- Clark 7 (Rodrigues 6), Rudoni 8, Thomas- Asante 8 (Kesler- Hayden 6), Wright 8 (Simms N/A)

Subs not used: Andrews, Bidwell, Obikwu, Wilson

Goals: All together now: Wright 12 (assisted Van Ewijk), 37 (Assisted Thomas- Asante), Thomas- Asante 23 (assisted Rudoni), Rudoni 35 (assisted Grimes), 43 (assisted Thomas- Asante), Torp 47 (assisted Mason- Clark), 66 (assisted Rodrigues)

Yellow Cards: Kitching 90 (foul)

QPR: Walsh 1; Dunne 1 (Mbengue 3), Morrison 2, Cook 1, Esquerdinha 1 (Kone 4); Varane 2 (Adamson 2), Field 2, Morgan 1 (Madsen 2); Dembele 1, Kolli 2 (Smyth 3), Burrell 2

Subs not used: Akindelini, Bennie, Nardi, Vale

Goal: Kone 90+1 (assisted Morrison)

Yellow Cards: Dunne 28 (foul)

QPR Star Man N/A

Referee: Adam Herczeg (Durham) 6 No contest to referee.

Attendance: 29,015 (1847 QPR) Failing to sell out an away end in August at a ground we’ve routinely taken twice that number to is a canary in the coal mine of this support base. These people were told Plymouth didn’t matter and they were “old farts” for caring what happened down there. It does matter. It absolutely does matter. It is, indeed, a long way back to London when we’re shit.

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Pictures - Reuters Connect

Royboy48 added 22:30 - Aug 26 And then we're presented with three excellent signings ... Almost like a sedative, Valium fir the football soul Say what you like about Nourry, he's become good at firefighting; three signings to douse the flames of our legitimate outrage Trouble is, like all pain killers, it will soon wear off when Kelman sticks one past Walsh on Saturday
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