It was all going so well, without really threatening the Coventry goal QPR were on top just lacking a cutting edge going forward. We had a massive amount of the ball and Coventry were not challenging when they eventually got the ball. Then on 39 minutes Bright Osayi-Samuel gets brought down in the box, a clear penalty and another chance for Lyndon Dykes to rocket the ball into the back of the net. Which he emphatically does, two penalties from Dykes two nets damaged within a inch of their lives. Don Goodman on commentary for Sky pondered if a keeper should simply stand up against a Dykes penalty. I for one can’t think of any reason why a goalkeeper would want to do that, unless they would like to have their hands blown away by the sheer power of the strike.
Unfortunately for QPR fans that is where the good stuff ends. As I said we were in control for much of the first half but we never went at Coventry, there was way too much sideways and backwards passing. Bright danced his way through a few players but the shot was straight at the keeper, apart from that and the penalty no real chances were created.
Chair had a poor game out on the left, I can’t recall him pressing forward at all instead passing back to Wallace at every opportunity. Wallace would then pass to Barbet who passed to Dickie. I believe it’s called recycling the ball, I think it’s rubbish and the worst part of our game. I’ve said it before but we let the defenders and the goalkeeper have way too much of the ball. No one from the midfield demanded the ball Amos, Cameron and Carroll were all individually non existent at times. On the right it was slightly better BOS looked much more enthusiastic and with Kakay behind him I think that has potential for a decent partnership.
However not long after the penalty our defensive frailties were being highlighted once more. Wallace for some unknown reason decided to move away from his man and float around at the front post. The ball was then crossed to the back post for Godden to head down and into the net. Lumley tried to get across but failed to keep the ball out, he will be blamed by some fans for this goal and probably could have done better. But it was Wallace a man with so much experience who should receive the blame for this goal.
Coventry clearly took heart from this goal as in the second half they came out all guns blazing and on 50 minutes had the lead. The lively O’Hare burst into the box benefiting from a deflection and after a neat touch passed the ball past Lumley and into the net. Again our defence at fault, Wallace and Carroll couldn’t shut out the very impressive Dabo who managed to get a ball into the box. It deflected of Barbet’s legs which wrong footed Dickie and let O’Hare in. Again just very sloppy and lacklustre defending from the R’s. Wallace is way too slow to be playing left back at this point in his career, he will be lucky to start next week.
Warburton eventually brought Smyth on who’s positive energy changed the game ever so slightly, his first involvement was a long ball for Chair to chase onto. I thought in the limited time he had he played well. However him Thomas and Ball were simply not given enough time to affect the game by Warburton, and this is something that I feel he does too often. QPR eventually got at Coventry at bit more which lead to a two corners. At the second of these corners Barbet turned into prime Zidane and volleyed in his first goal for the club. Never has such a quality goal come out of nowhere, Coventry’s turn to defend poorly.
At this point with 15 minutes of regulation time remaining we just needed to keep it tight. Perhaps we could have even nicked a third goal. But instead we conceded 5 minutes from time to give Coventry their first win back in the championship. The warning signs were definitely there, Coventry missed two good chances and then it was third time lucky. Yet again poor marking in the box followed by Barbet failing to jump high enough to win the ball. Have a look at the highlights he barely gets off the ground, and with that the game was gone.
This performance was really disappointing, the lack of creativity something we were so good at last year was seriously disappointing. The defence leaves a lot to be desired, Dickie was never gonna sort out problems over night. It is very apparent now that we got lucky against Forrest, we must tighten up at the back somehow. Also Warburton should change the staring 11 next week, at the very least I would give Niko Hamalainen a go if Manning isn’t signing the new deal. Not that he will fix our problems overnight but I just think a more mobile left back is crucial. Tonight I expect the doom-mongers to be out in force, relegation predictions a plenty. Hopefully next week we’re back to winning ways and promotion predictions.
Written by Alex Bullamore