Let’s take a deeper look at the Hoops and how they might try to defeat us on Saturday.

Since Mark Warburton came to Loftus Road, QPR’s form has been on an upward trajectory. The R’s have impressed most neutrals with their mixture of style and substance. However, they fell to a heavy defeat on Wednesday to leave them next door to Rovers in the table.

Rangers currently sit 11th in the Championship table, having won 5 of their 10 matches so far this season. They have lost four as well so they are carrying a little bit of a win or bust reputation into this clash.

Predicted Lineup

We think that QPR should lineup as below:

Playing Style

Warburton has always been well known for putting together teams that like to play enterprising, possession-based attacking football.

When compared to their opponents in Championship matches this season QPR have had consistently more possession (55% vs 45%) and fired off more shots per 90 minutes (13.8 vs 9.6) so that possession-based attacking style has seemed to have transferred over into this QPR team quite quickly. However, that shot count is mitigated somewhat by the lack of accuracy of the QPR output. Only 26% of those shots have ended up on target. This suggests that either the finishing has been nowhere near good enough, or, perhaps more likely, that a significant percentage of these shots are being taken from unadvantageous positions i.e. long-range efforts.

Overall, Rangers have benefitted from the high shot count by scoring almost a goal and a half per 90 minutes on average, a figure which is a close match to their xG rating of 1.41. However, they have managed to concede 1.7 goals per 90 minutes, despite wyscout’s xG model calculating that it should actually be around 1.29. So based purely on performances so far, based upon wyscout’s data it would be fair to suggest that QPR have been a shade unlucky.

Results v Performances

I decided to look into slightly more depth in this issue. Instead of just relying on wyscout data I have consulted both Infogol and Ben Mayhew’s experimental 361 site to find out if QPR’s performances were better than their results so far this season.

Interestingly, the models used showed very different answers. Infogol rated QPR as the team that should 13th, rather than 11th, but experimental 361 had them at 9th. In each case, however, Rovers are right next door to the Super Hoops. It seems that no matter whether we take results on face value, or look down at the statistics, these two sides are difficult to split.

Most Recent Match

QPR played on Wednesday at the Cardiff City Stadium and came out battered and bruised after a 3-0 win to the home side. This followed a 2-0 reverse at home to West Brom. Rovers have played both sides and did better than QPR did in both fixtures, albeit we played West Brom away and Cardiff at home.

As can be seen by the graphic below, though the score at face value against Cardiff was very poor, the performance wasn’t as bad as the scoreline may suggest.

If the Rs had gotten to half-time without conceding that second goal then things could have looked very different. They were possibly unlucky not to score a goal themselves given the number of shots they had in the match also.

Nevertheless, it is now a potentially worrying five goals conceded without reply in the league for Warburton’s men. A stat they will quickly want to improve upon on Saturday.

Individual Stars

QPR’s #1 talent is undoubtedly Eberechi Eze. He has missed only 52 minutes of league action so far, which demonstrates how important he is to the way that Mark Warburton wants to play.

Eze is surely destined to play at a much higher level, probably the Premier League, and probably quite soon. He currently has a whoscored.com rating of 7.4 which is wildly impressive. This has been generated through some excellent performances, scoring three goals and assisting two so far this season.

It’s not just his goal contribution that sets Eze apart. The creative midfielder, who is only 21, has a pass completion rate of over 90% and is also a wizard dribbler. He can play all across the forward line but QPR will be looking for him to threaten the very heart of the Rovers’ box to try and create something special.

The only other players with ratings over 7 from whoscored.com are Ryan Manning, the defender, and Nakhi Wells.

Wells and Jordan Hugill were both brought into Loftus Road this summer to add goalscoring threat to the creativity of Eze and Ilias Chair, who is another one to watch in midfield, especially if he starts. Both Wells and Hugill have started excellently with five goals each and if all four of those players get onto the pitch at the same time then it could be a difficult afternoon for the Rovers defence.

However, if QPR do try and control the ball going forward with multiple flair players then there will be some chances on the counter-attack for Rovers. Historically, though, we have struggled on the counter-attack, failing to get a goal or even a shot away on most occasions. Mowbray has seemed aware of this shortcoming in the side and has used quicker players to carry the ball away and intelligence to know what to do with the key ball.

Conclusion

QPR have dangerous players and a clear philosophy to their football. They have the same season goals as us and have shown that they are very much capable of taking care of business at Loftus Road.

But it’s a worry for them that they haven’t now scored in two full games, albeit instead two of the better sides in the league.

Rovers will need to cover off a lot of options when we are out of possession and quick in transition to capitalise on any errors.

I think Rovers may have a good time against a team who may be susceptible to a high press and making individual errors.

My prediction is that Rovers will take the lead but QPR will come back strong, then hopefully we would be able to control the game and celebrate another Championship win.

Read our words with LoftForWords here.

Featured Image Credit: qpr.co.uk

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