As the game moved deep into injury time at Loftus Road on Sunday, Queens Park Rangers were moments away from failing to score in four consecutive home games.

Fortunately for Neil Warnock's side, up stepped the Premier League's record own-goal scorer, Aston Villa's Richard Dunne, to make it 1-1 and send QPR fans home a little happier on an otherwise frustrating afternoon in the late summer sunshine.

It is not as if Rangers have been playing badly - they romped to a resounding victory at Wolves last weekend.

Yet, despite a couple of disputed penalty appeals and some decent saves from Villa keeper Shay Given, there are indications that for all the spending under new owner Tony Fernandes, Rangers are still short where it counts most - goals.

As with the goalless draw against Newcastle almost a fortnight ago, the team as a whole was off-target with its shooting, with striker Jay Bothroyd guilty of missing several opportunities. It increasingly looks an issue they have to address.





Individual lapses aside, the performance also called into question whether the five-man midfield preferred by Warnock, and a key component in their promotion from the Championship last season, remains the best option at home in the Premier League

The central tenet of a 4-2-3-1 formation, or variations thereof, is that the lone striker is well supported both in terms of build-up play and goals.

QPR currently operate with a forward three of Shaun Wright-Phillips, Adel Taarabt and Joey Barton behind Bothroyd, with Shaun Derry and Alejandro Faurlin the more defensive midfielders.

There has been some success already with new signings Barton and Wright-Phillips often switching sides and offering contrasting options.

Wright-Phillips, in particular, looked lively on his debut against Newcastle and, in the opening period on Sunday, forced the Villa rearguard to defend deep by making clever runs infield from the left flank where Faurlin picked him out on several occasions.

Barton, on the other hand, is prone to sit deeper and use his range of passing, usually from the right side, while Taarabt is given a free role.

As the Moroccan showed in the first half by skipping past Stiliyan Petrov and curling a delightful shot against the post, Taarabt is never far away from conjuring up a piece of magic.

But his lack of defensive nous goes some way to explaining why Warnock has Faurlin and Derry to back him up in central areas. The Football League player of the year scored 19 times last season, but is yet to get off the mark in the Premier League.

Wright-Phillips, Taarabt and Barton are all accomplished players, but the problem for Warnock is that their strengths lie in creating chances for others. It is also open to question whether Bothroyd on his own is the right man to take advantage of those opportunities.





Between them, those front four have scored once in the Premier League this season - and Wright-Phillips is the only one to have hit double figures in the top flight, some seven seasons ago.

"Against Aston Villa, QPR were missing a spark in the box, a goal threat that they never had," said Alan Shearer on Match of the Day 2.

"They got into penalty area on numerous occasions but they did not deliver. I didn't think they were going to score but they had a lot of luck with the goal in the end."

DJ Campbell has looked lively since he came back from a virus and, until he can spend again January, Warnock might consider using two strikers in home games, depending on the opposition.

The other option is to revisit whether both Derry and Faurlin are always needed as defensive shields.

Barton has made a decent start to life in the capital, but he could operate more centrally and still drift wide to execute the type of passes Andy Carroll thrived on during their time together at Newcastle.

His dead ball delivery is needed less at QPR, where Taarabt is quick to take charge as soon as a free-kick is awarded.

In fact, the moment when five Rangers players found themselves arguing over who would take the first central free-kick highlighted the problem Warnock's side face.

They do not lack creators, but an architect always needs a builder to provide the finishing touches.

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