QPR's unbeaten start to the season stops at game five as old foe Middlesbrough win for the sixth meeting in a row, albeit in a closer and more keenly contested game than the last few here - Tom Morgan was on LFW duty.

Ahhhh Middlesbrough, my old nemesis. It's always you, always bringing me back down to earth, and sometimes six feet under.

If I cast my mind back to the last time I’ve seen QPR actually beat this enormous Teesside team, I’d be in 2022 again, watching Honest Mick “get this thing going” at the cost of Chris Willock’s hamstrings. The years since have seen us regularly bested by this opponent with its monstrous midfield consisting of regular guests of the show Riley McGree and Aidan Morris. No more Hayden Hackney nor Morgan Whittaker? Never mind, we’ll have Sebastian Berhalter and Will Lankshear look after you instead. Welcome to the required level.

I’ve had enough of them. I’ve seen enough of your dystopian Teesside walk between the station and the stadium, with your fck off lake and fck off Temenos net and your Hunger Games district aesthetic and your nice, attractive, dominant football. Like an urban and beer-fuelled episode of Come Dine With Me, now we have the utmost (dis)pleasure of extending you the invitation to come and enjoy the hospitality of West London – how do you like £43 pound tickets and a lack of leg-room?

There can be no denial that this is a very good squad. The modern Middlesbrough somehow contrived to avoid promotion last season, spending 200 days in the automatic spots yet ending up in the playoff clusterfuck which saw them lose the semi-final and make the final anyway (hat tip to the Southampton Secret Service), and then lose that too. Thought that’s the sort of thing only we could do. So, welcome back to Loftus Road. In their last three visits to West London, Boro have ten goals (QPR scored one, and even that was the ever prolific OG), while claiming several unsuspecting victims at the same time: Hevertton Santos, the aforementioned last remnants of Chris Willock’s legs, my final year university television set, and often the entire collective patience of the QPR support.

Maybe this time would be different? As good a start to the season as we’ve had since 2013/14, first four games unbeaten, scoring, creating chances at will (and missing them at an equally prolific rate), certainly as strong a squad as we’ve had for a long time. This is a first proper test of the season, you’re not fighting boxcar hobos anymore Simpson, we’re moving up to the extra premium car washes.

With a crowd buoyed by the impressive victory against Cardiff on Wednesday, mustering up a spirited rendition of our post-match victory song before kick-off, it felt primed to harness this momentum and go again. Put those blue and whi… sorry, black hoops on and make them wish they were back home. This could be a side reeling from the heartbreak/earthquake/ ballache that was the end of last season, let’s compound that.

QPR predictably rotated the squad after midweek win. Dennis Cirkin came in at left-back for the Terrific Lamptey, both of whom continue to have their minutes managed. Ronnie Edwards moved back into the six role in midfield next to Harvey Vale, with Glen Kamara dropping to the bench and Jake Clarke-Salter rekindling his centre-back partnership with Jimmy Dunne. Kwame Poku returned to the left-hand side after being absent in midweek, while Paul Smyth came in for Koki Saito on the right. Ilias Chair, a late sub against Cardiff, would sit in the 10 behind loan striker Richard Kone, who also returned to the side.

Their opponents, having been exceedingly active in the summer transfer window, fielded a side that looked very different to (and much stronger than for my money) the team pipped to promotion by a last-minute Oli McBurnie goal in May. That probably felt worse than having your bollocks docked, so you can understand the dramatic changes. You’d be scouring far and wide to find a better keeper at this level than Radek Vitek, and you probably won’t be seeing a bigger back three than that of the ever-excellent Adilson Malanda, new recruit and Tottenham escapee Ashley Phillips and former Clermont Foot charge Neto Borges. The Hackney-shaped hole has been filled by Kyle Joseph, who evidently felt exceedingly bad about the play-off final that he has departed the victorious Hull and offered his services to the conquered Boro. Ever-reliable Alan Browne has been replaced by soccer superstar Sebastian Berhalter from Vancouver Whitecaps. Don’t worry, Morris and McGree are still here, operating the midfield, flanked either side by Max Arfsten and Callum Brittain. Former Oxford loanee and fellow Tottenham-shitshow escapee Ten Mill Will (thanks, Jamie) is the new starting striker.

The visitors immediately looked a stronger side than what we’d faced up to this point, with Malanda and Phillips more than happy to demand the ball and either spray Hollywood diagonal passes to Britain and Arfsten over the park or look inside to find the ever-mobile McGree and Morris in pockets of space.

Lankshear was consistently looking to get in behind, and almost dispatched his first opportunity after two minutes, but fortunately scuffed his shot wide. That said, the sides were equally matched in the first ten minutes of the match. The long-ball from centre-back to wide midfielder seemed to be the vogue, and Smyth found himself the recipient of one such pass from Dunne later after four minutes, then playing the ball onto Chair for his usual cut inside and ball into the box headed over by Vale. Boro were nevertheless dominating the ball, and not long after this, Chair chose a particularly unfortunate opportunity to signal to the bench that his race was run, indicating towards his calf and sitting down on the turf (groan), as Aidan Morris in front of him had possession. Morris immediately threaded a pass through the Chair-shaped hole in the midfield to McGree in space, who turned and rifled an effort towards goal from outside the box which was held by Charles.

So then, the first setback of the new-look squad-management regime, yet a familiar casualty. I hope for Chair’s sake that this isn’t as disastrous as it has been in previous years, just as he’d begun to play regularly. This time it looked like a calf pull, and we wait to see how long he will be sidelined for. Koki Saito was hailed from the bench to replace him in the ‘ten’ role, an unusual position for the Japanese winger, but one that he worked at diligently.

The Boro pressure continued, and on 18 minutes Clarke-Salter was called upon to deal with a ball in from the right from the impressive Callum Britain after he’d been picked out by Malanda’s latest diagonal pass. The Boro right-midfielder had been frequently probing at QPR’s left hand side, and it was in this way that the opening goal was eventually scored after 20 minutes. Berhalter, receiving the ball inside the home side’s half, floated a ball over to Britain on the right hand side who, despite a heavy/ miscontrolled touch in front of Paul Smyth, won the ensuing 50/50 with the Northern Irishman and sent in a powerful ball along the ground and across the goal beyond the outstretched Charles for Lankshear to tuck in at the far post - five goals in five games for him now. Raised arms for offside from Edwards and Smyth ignored by the officials.

It could have got a lot worse very quickly for the Rs, as the team in black came under increased pressure from their visitors. Almost immediately after the restart another ball over the top had to be smothered by Charles. The interplay of the visiting midfield was quicker, more decisive and more tenacious; a rare Rangers’ attack on 37 minutes was immediately shut down, with Saito dispossessed by Morris, and the out-of-sorts Kone outmuscled and tackled by Phillips. From this, McGree could take up possession of the ball inside his own half, turn and immediately send another pearl of a lofted pass in behind to Lankshear who this time was forced wide by Clarke-Salter, and his eventual shot scuffed towards Charles. The QPR striker had previously gone down on 31 minutes clutching his knee, and despite his attempts to play on regardless, could no longer continue.

Watching Kone begin this season has been very difficult. His knee problem continues to plague and haunt him, to the extent that his performances even when upright and forward-facing look heavy and beleaguered. As a result, he is unable to utilise his tremendous physical ability that we have all witnessed: while Burrell rats and hounds, Kone batters and bruises (Charlton H, Coventry H, Preston A, come to mind). This is the opportunity for the performance department to really demonstrate its improvements from last season. His fitness needs to be properly supervised, his recovery clearly marked and his gametime managed, as at the moment he looks a player devoid of confidence and rather leaden footed.

Rumarn Burrell was introduced in his stead to the delight of the QPR fans, and the Jamaican’s mobility and industry up front coincided with a perceivable shift in momentum, showing inside on 43 minutes, getting a hold of the ball and immediately taking on both Malanda and Phillips outside the box, undone only by an unlucky spin of the ball through to the goalkeeper. The last chance of the half fell to Lankshear, once more released through on goal this time by Berhalter with a perfectly weighted ball over the top in additional time, but this time the striker’s prodded effort was swatted away by the onrushing QPR keeper, who then pumped the ball clear towards us in the Ellerslie Road stand.

Halftime arrived at an ideal moment for Stéphan’s side, second best in the game up to this point, no real threat to speak of, being played through at will in the midfield despite the best efforts of the improved Harvey Vale and Ronnie Edwards. I was very interested to see what QPR’s coach would say to his team, what changes he would make with two subs already spent, how he would shift the momentum of this game and bring us back into this contest. Whatever he did say must’ve worked, whether he channelled Neil Warnock or John Sitton we will never know, but the increased impetus of the Rangers players after the restart was evident to see.

Suddenly fullbacks and wingers on both sides were getting forward and into the space behind the Boro back line. Mbengue was driving inside on the right and scuffing a shot towards the keeper on 47 minutes. Poku’s deflected shot a few minutes later drew a more difficult save from Vitek, and Cirkin met the rebound - having made a terrific block at the other end moments before to deny a certain goal - with a thumping effort which Vitek did well to keep out. Moments later the Czech was once more forced into action, turning away Burrell’s volley at the near post from Paul Smyth’s cross in from the left. Smyth himself continued to ask questions down that side, and forced a near post save on 54 minutes. This was much, much better.

Will Lankshear, a recurrent migraine in the first half, prodding, poking and constantly finding space in behind, could no longer get near the ball, and was beasted by Jimmy Dunne all the way up to his eventual withdrawal on 55 minutes. Seconds before this change he’d been visibly unwilling to compete with the Irishman for a ball in the centre of the park as Rangers rallied. But Dunne wasn’t in a mood to give his replacement and familiar foe Tommy Conway any sort of preferential treatment, immediately hunting him down the left hand flank and devouring the former Bristol City man.

This echoed a much wider resurgence. Suddenly Saito was finding space between the Boro midfield and defence, picked out on one occasion by Charles on 57 minutes and drifting forwards before firing a shot wide of the left post. Malanda, personifying the calm dominance of the Boro defence in the first half, was forced to haul Burrell to the ground and receive a yellow card, having been absolutely skinned by the Rs’ talisman on the left-wing. The resulting freekick, played short to Saito on the edge of the box, was fired high and wide. The QPR number 16 threatened again on 65’. Cirkin’s interception next to the dugouts bobbled beyond both centre-backs, and the Jamaican, released into the clear space in behind that he loves so much (meep meep), was pursued by the onrushing Neto Borges, who with Vitek managed to force Burrell just wide enough to as to agonisingly prevent a clear shot on goal.

Although much more in the game, the Rs didn’t entirely stifle their opponents. The Teessiders gradually grew back into things, and really should have killed it off entirely just after the hour, when Mbengue’s underhit pass from a QPR corner was seized upon by Callum Britain, who immediately played Conway through on goal, by himself, with the entire stadium at his mercy. On he strode, galloping towards the away end, just the keeper to beat, setting his sights upon the bottom right hand corner, easier to score than to miss, but out came Pierce Charles, deflecting the ball with the toenails of his outstretched left leg onto the post and behind for a corner. A great save, but one that he shouldn’t have had any chance with, and Rangers were exceedingly lucky to escape that one. Mbengue owes his keeper a large drink.

On 67 minutes the Rs made their final changes: Kamara, Madsen and Lamptey were summoned from the bench to play the final 25 minutes in line with their fitness management to replace Poku, Clarke-Salter and Cirkin respectively.

On QPR battled and toiled after that equalising goal. Corners, relentless corners, first Chair, then Saito, then Vale, then Madsen none really troubled the Boro goal. With Vale now operating on the right again, he was well positioned on 77’ to receive a recycled ball at the inside the box from Kamara, and curl a delightful shot towards the top left hand corner of the goal which crashed against the upright with Vitek beaten and was then cleared by Berhalter. I apologise to those around me in T block for the strangled, exasperated noise I made when that ball came back. It felt like that was the closest we’d come, that we wouldn’t quite find the all-important goal, no matter how much we tried. Lamptey, found on the edge of the box by Kamara in the 87th minute, fired narrowly over the bar.

Boro, for their part, began engaging in gamesmanship to curb the Hoops’ momentum. A series of farcical ‘injuries’ seemed to plague our opponents. On 82 minutes, Conway was unable to decide whether he’d hurt his head or his foot, followed shortly by Berhalter, who had to come off. The referee seemed to be in an indulgent mood and even rewarded them with six minutes of additional time which felt exceedingly generous to the away side. Andy Madley presumably absent for all those summer meetings about clamping down on This Sort Of Thing.

It just felt like despite our best efforts, the ball wouldn’t fall correctly, and that it wasn’t our day. As the full-time whistle sounded, we had to accept our first defeat of the season.

As we left the stadium, my initial feelings of frustration and exasperation were gradually soothed by the comparison to previous performances against this side (and also by my partner’s stunned realisation that she had just bumped into Louis Theroux). Just last March we’d been thoroughly pulverised by the same opponents, now Boro fans and manager alike have been quick to highlight the importance of this win, a battling win against a tough side, and that is certainly a positive to draw from the game. We played very well in that second half, certainly put a very strong promotion-contending side on the backfoot, and were unlucky on a few occasions not to find the back of the net. It signifies the progress we have made in just one year under Stéphan, who attested in his post match interview to just how “close” we are, which I’m happy at this stage to agree with.
A loss is still a loss, and squad rotation will be a recurrent theme in the weeks to come. The strategy is of course to facilitate and protect players such as Lamptey, Cirkin and Kamara who have not had a pre-season. The fitness of these players may prove to be the difference between another season rotting in 15th and making genuine progress up the table. Players like Burrell, comfortably our most dangerous forward at the moment, also need to be managed to avoid being run into the ground as we saw last season. Him not starting this match, after playing 90 minutes against Blackburn, 90 against Cardiff, would have been precisely for this reason. Yet he has had to play another 70 here because of Kone’s injury.

Thanks to the merciful broadcasting itinerary of Sky ‘for the fans’ Sports, we all have to play five games in a fortnight. It would be impossible to get these players back up to speed and then have them play close to 180 minutes in four days. At this early stage, I feel there is simply nothing to gain from running players into the ground when we are halfway through a five-game two-week period. The most encouraging sign for me is that we are still able to play at such a high level even when the squad is rotated, and this is entirely due to the depth of the current squad. Stéphan has suggested Madsen, Kamara, Cirkin and Lamptey will all be ready to play a full 90 after the international break two weeks from now, which is promising, but in the meantime we await the Frenchman’s forthcoming instalments of rotation roulette for Charlton, West Brom and Preston.

With no Kone and Chair it appears Burrell will feature heavily, (or can we get a Ouija board to track down the spectre of Jordan Obikwu/Rayan Kolli?), and Vale will presumably adopt a more central midfield role. These are questions for Stéphan to ponder, but, for the moment, I’m pretty relaxed. If we can maintain the level we’ve been attaining these first few weeks of the season and the second half of this game, there is nothing to prevent this team from pushing beyond the nosebleed territory of a 12th placed finish.

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

QPR: Charles 7; Mbengue 5, Dunne 6, Clarke-Salter 5 (Kamara 67, 6), Cirkin 6 (Lamptey 67, 6); Smyth 6, Edwards 6, Vale 6, Chair – (Saito 14, 5); Kone 5 (Burrell 39, 7), Poku 5 (Madsen 67, 5)

Subs not used: Ward, Varane, Adamson, Lloyd

Yellow cards: Kamara 90 + 6 (foul)

Middlesbrough: Vitek 7; Phillips 7 (Ayling 72, 6), Malanda 6, Neto Borges 6, Brittain 7; Arfsten 6 (Jones 71, 6), Berhalter 7 (Pukštas 84, -); Morris 7, McGree 7 (Conway 55, 5), Joseph 6 ; Lankshear 7 (Peart-Harris 55, 5)
Subs not used: Brynn, Castledine, Cozier-Duberry, Strelec

Goals: Lankshear 20 (assisted Brittain)

Yellow cards: Malanda 58, (foul), Brittain 76, (foul)

QPR Star Man – Rumarn Burrell: A game of two halves (yawn), many of these players had a poor first half and a greatly improved second. Dunne was much more influential in the second 45, Charles was solid all game, but Burrell made a clear difference when he came on up front in place of the ailing Richard Kone, and began to give the defence something to think about, which coincided with a general shift in QPR’s momentum. His keeping fit is imperative to our attack going forwards.

Referee – Andy Madley 6 I thought he was fine. The adherence to the gamesmanship was tough to watch, and I think 6 additional minutes at the end was incredibly stingy, but I was also pretty worked up by that point. Thought there was a pretty clear foul on Conway down the left by Jimmy Dunne which he waved on but otherwise the referee had a decent game.

Attendance – 17,007 (1,750 Boro approx.)

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Pictures - Reuters Connect

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