View from the Dug-Out - Doncaster Rovers 2 QPR 0

Posted On 23/11/2009 at at 17:12 by Alistair Kleebauer  

Jim Magilton, unsurprisingly, wasn't an entirely happy man on Saturday evening after watching his side lose their fourth game of the season and fall behind pace-setters WBA and Newcastle (who have the opportunity to put further distance on the chasing pack when they play Preston North End tonight).


The team's defensive performance took the brunt of the manager's criticism following the game. With one clean sheet in 11 games, it's clearly an area of the team which needs some examination. Though QPR haven't shipped a large number of goals at any stage this season, their inability to completely shut up shop, especially on the road, is preventing them from grinding out the wins and draws which could guarantee a play-off spot.

The manager said, "We fell asleep for the first goal, I was very disappointed with both goals - they were really, really poor.

"We were probably the architects of our downfall today, we didn't defend properly."

Whilst acknowledging that he wouldn't be too hard on the team as they have performed well for him for large chunks of this season, Magilton is refreshingly honest in the wake of a poor result or performance (take the win over Accrington Stanley in the Carling Cup after which he still publicly roasted his team). After this set-back, he was similarly forthright, admitting that the performance was lethargic and that the team played "like they'd had two weeks off." Most damningly, he said, " we looked like we had lads who had been reading nice things about themselves."

Amidst the cacophony of praise following their good run of results, it was clear that the expectations were getting ramped up as QPR, for the first time since Flavio Briatore's arrival, started to look like genuine promotion candidates. It must have been a new feeling for most of the side and the big challenge was how they would respond, how they would play on days when the world and his wife expected them to win. A few of those challenges, particularly on Saturday, have now not been met. The manager accepted as much by implying that some of his team assumed they were too good to lose.

Of course, he remained upbeat about the team's chances though, saying this week ahead would be a big one for the club and he anticipated that they would rise to the challenge of playing Coventry City on Saturday. Again, it's another "must-win, cannot fail" match and the fact that we're talking about the team needing to bounce back after such a good start to the season seems faintly ridiculous. That is the pressure that comes at the top-end of the table though and the manager and players will surely be pleased to accept it.

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