Opposition Preview - QPR (Home)

Blog written by ad_wilkin
Published: 28th December 2023 14:15

We’re now fully into the second half of fixtures and Town have now played every team coming up in this second. It’s yet another game in the festive period following the visit of Leicester and this time it is Queens Park Rangers who make the visit to Portman Road.

The pile-up of festive fixtures have meant that there has been a lot to cram in and not a lot of time to write these so this one and Stoke could both be fairly short.

<h1>Previous Fixture Recap (QPR 0-1 Ipswich)</h1>

The trip to Loftus Road at the start of this season was the first of Town’s many battling, clinical 1-0 victories courtesy of a smart Conor Chaplin finish. Town had 62% of the ball, making 488 passes but you couldn’t say it was a one-way game. QPR always looked a threat on the counterattack.

Sinclair Armstrong was a man on a mission charging round the pitch, roughing up defenders and hitting the post following some excellent work. His performance in that game has put him at the top of the January transfer targets for some Town fans citing his similarities to George Hirst.

However, he’s still a very raw prospect. Since that game against Town, he has failed to add to the goal he scored in the previous game against Cardiff and has been in and out of the QPR side.

The match on that day was settled by a classic Chaplin finish as he was the first to a loose ball after his initial shot was blocked to stab home past Asmir Begovic.

<h1>What’s Changed?</h1>

The biggest change for the R’s is in the dugout. Gone is ‘Mr Rock and Roll’ Gareth Ainsworth whose post-match press conference bordered on a David Brent impression after Town came to visit. The former Wycombe manager oversaw just five wins and four draws in his 28 games in charge and his departure was inevitable.

Replacing him is Marti Cifuentes, a more progressive thinking manager who cut his teeth in management in his home country Spain (at Rubi, Sant Andreu and Hospitalet) before taking to the Nordics with spells at Sandefjord – Norway, AaB – Denmark and Hammarby IF – Sweden, who he took into the Europa Conference League.

Also gone is the 3-4-3 formation with a switch to 4-3-3 and a more flat back four being used in recent games.

When these teams first faced off, QPR were also in a bit of an injury crisis and have a more filled roster this time round. Defenders Jimmy Dunne and Jake Clarke-Salter are fit again, as is big Scottish target man Lyndon Dykes. He’s part of the reason Sinclair Armstrong hasn’t got as much playing time.

Another addition that was made post the initial fixture was the signing of Reggie Cannon on a free transfer to provide depth at right-back. The American, who has spent time at FC Dallas and Boavista, has made six starts since joining.

Since Cifuentes has joined QPR have definitely experienced the new manage bounce, only losing one of his first seven games (three wins – Stoke, Preston and Hull and three draws – Rotherham, Bristol City and Plymouth the other results).

However, that start took a serious blow with a 2-1 defeat to fellow relegation battlers Sheffield Wednesday and despite an improved performance they also went down 1-0 to Southampton.

Boxing Day they faced a relegation six-pointer and for the second time in recent weeks they lost to a team in and around them with the short trip to Millwall resulting in a 2-0 defeat.

It doesn’t look like Cifuentes has properly settled on formation or personnel as of yet with a lot of rotation over the last three games making it hard to call who could start this one but the stats show a marked improvement in a lot of areas compared to the Ainsworth tenure.

<h1>Players to Watch</h1>

QPR’s Ilias Chair was a player who I thought could make a difference the last time these sides met but he was fairly quiet apart from an audacious attempt to lob Vaclav Hladky from the halfway line that the Town keeper rushed back to tip over his bar.

However, with the return to full fitness of Chris Willock, he’s started to rediscover the form that made him one of the standout players in the Championship in recently seasons.

He’s contributed two goals and two assists in his last seven games and has started to exert his influence on matches a lot more with the 0-0 draw against Plymouth a particular standout with Chair playing more progressive passes and achieving more progressive carries than any other game this season.

It’s worth noting that he played that game as a standard number 10 rather than on the left wing, which is where he’s spent the majority of the season and often ends up on the periphery.

Willock did start against Town in the first match, but he’d just returned from injury and only made it through 46 minutes. Coming into this one he’s now very much fit and firing.

He has three goals and an assist in his last six games and has been given the freedom by Cifuentes to do what he does best, get on the ball and dribble and take people on.

Against Preston, he attempted to dribble past players nine times and was successful in four of those. With this new lease of life, he’ll certainly prove to be a handful for Town’s defenders.

<h1>The Teams</h1>

For Town, this is yet another game in a hectic Christmas schedule and on paper an easier task than the two previous ones against promotion contenders.

However, with QPR fighting for survival and putting in a battling display against Town last time out, it will be anything but an easy game. The rotation aspect also makes picking the team more of a stab in the dark than anything.

Vaclav Hladky is still an easy choice; he’s maybe not quite been in the same form as the start of the season but made a smart stop against Leicester and is still incredibly comfortable on the ball to help Town play out from the back.

Harry Clarke is excelling at right-back and can’t shoulder any blame for Stephy Mavididi’s goal on Boxing Day, in my opinion. His athleticism, especially at home, helps Town get up the pitch and create chances down that right hand side.

In recent times, Kieran McKenna seems to be doing a lot of right centre-back swapping and as much as I’ve predicted a Luke Woolfenden- Axel Tuanzebe combo, he’s not done it yet! I think Tuanzebe will rotate back in for this one but alongside Cameron Burgess with Leif Davis continuing at left-back.

With Sam Morsy picking up a suspension for an after-match incident at Middlesbrough, it looks likely that the midfield will consist of Massimo Luongo in a deeper role and Jack Taylor, who looked sharp against Leeds.

The three in behind will likely rotate again with Nathan Broadhead almost certainly coming back in. I’d also like to see Omari Hutchinson given a chance in this one with Chaplin in the middle.

The enforced loss of George Hirst also blunts Wes Burns's effectiveness a bit as there will be no one to whip crosses in to, so hopefully we can see some nice Hutchinson and Freddie Ladapo link-up play after the latter looked at it and seized his chance in the brief spell he had on the pitch against Leicester.

As mentioned, for QPR it’s hard to call as Cifuentes has been experimenting and rotating. Formation-wise, I’m going to base it on the Plymouth and Hull games where the R’s had relative success and predict a 4-2-3-1.

Begovic’s form has slipped in goal and against Millwall he was culpable for not claiming a corner, which allowed the Lions to tap into an empty net but keepers rarely get changed, so you’d imagine he’ll continue to start in this one.

Cannon has featured in most of Cifuentes's games but has occasionally dropped out for Osman Kakay. Kakay started against Town in the previous fixture, he also game in against Millwall on Boxing Day, so Cannon is likely to rotate back in for this one.

In central defence Dunne and Clarke-Salter have been paired together for the last three games and are forming a partnership.

Given the run of games, it is possible that Steve Cook drops back in but I'm going for a consistent pairing. Ziayd Larkeche has dipped in and out of the left-back position but it’s likely that Kenneth Paal, who has been another one of QPR’s better performers this season and has scored three goals so far gets a start.

He was deployed in a three-man midfield against Millwall, which was a bit of a surprise, but I can’t see that experiment continuing for this one.

In midfield, Sam Field is nailed-on for his defensive abilities and Andre Dozzell has regularly been starting in there with him.

When Cifuentes has wanted to pack this midfield he’s gone for youngster Elijah Dixon-Bonner in there as well, but I don’t think that will be the case for this one.

If they’re looking to match Town up, the front three could be Paul Smyth providing width on the right, Chair in his favoured central number ten role and Chris Willock coming in off of the left-hand side.

As mentioned previously, Dykes is back and has been starting up top more often than not. With games coming thick and fast and given his performance in the match against Town the first time round, I have a suspicion that Sinclair Armstrong could be handed another start in this one.

<h1>Action Areas</h1>

The long ball, battling football that was commonplace under Ainsworth is gone. Cifuentes likes his team to play with the ball with the number of long passes under his stewardship decreasing and the number of short and medium ones increasing.

This more possession-based football, although easier on the eye, is a style that Town enjoy playing against. It’s the tough battling midfields that they tend to come unstuck against.

Even with Morsy missing, Luongo and Taylor will be very hopeful to win that midfield battle and shut off the supply to the likes of Chair and Willock.

The other change that Cifuentes has made to the team is how high they press, the low block of Ainsworth has gone and they now press much higher up the pitch.

Again, against weaker teams this can be effective and create more chances by winning the ball high up the pitch. It’s exactly what Town do to the opposition but again this could play into the Blues' hands as they will back themselves to play around the press and create openings for their forward players.

With Ladapo starting up front, playing little triangles and getting runners in behind will be important to break down QPR. I think this game is perfect for Hutchinson for that reason and I can see him linking up with Ladapo. It wouldn’t surprise me if one or both of them ended up on the scoresheet.

With a tough couple of games against promotion contenders navigated with just a point to show, this game takes even more significance. There are no easy games in this league, but I think the change of manager and the form of the opposition could actually play into Town’s hands. Portman Road has been a fortress and performance levels are always higher than away games.

The only issue is potentially fatigue but Town have a far superior squad depth than QPR so I think this one could be a relatively easy with. I’m going for a 3-0 win for Town with a fired up Ladapo scoring at least one.

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