Hoop Dreams - QPR FC

I missed the first day of the season, something I was far from happy about and so only had the goals to go on in judging the Hoops' 4-0 win over Barnsley, which by all accounts wasn't as one-sided as the scoreline suggested. But it was fair to say that I had fairly high expectations for their performance on Tuesday night, built both on the start to this league campaign and the general improvements seen under Neil Warnock at the end of last season.

But amazingly (and perhaps it's cup competitions that bring this out of Rangers), they really were pretty shocking. In fact, it recalled the poor home display against Accrington Stanley in the same competition last season, when players looked confused, were often remonstrating with each other and the stadium was soul-crushingly quiet except for the odd howl of pain when another attack dwindled to nothing.

At least against Stanley the team somehow managed to labour through to the desired result; though I'd say Port Vale provided a sterner test with some brisk attacking moves of their own, it was still hard to contemplate how a team supposedly with promotion to the Premiership on their mind was so quick to capitulate and so lacking in ideas to get back in this game.

It's too early in the season to start singling out individuals, something every one says before immediately doing exactly the opposite, so I will actually be honest and say that you can pick out some poor performers from Tuesday night.

Fitz Hall, supposedly capable of playing in the Premiership, looked slow and cumbersome and injected an element of panic to the back-four which was all too reminiscent of his outings last season. Sadly, two of the other weak links were both new signings, though that does mean they should be afforded a degree of doubt which Hall is quickly using up. Shaun Derry struggled to get a grip on the pace of the match and to influence it in any meaningful way while Leon Clarke up front wasted his one good opportunity and then cut an increasingly frustrated figure for the 45 minutes he had to suffer, though the level of service to him was miserable. Even Paddy Kenny was having a tough time at the back as he struggled to deal with the frequent Vale shots on a wet surface.

Plus points? Jamie Mackie looked lively and had enough confidence, spirit and willingness to attack players to indicate that he could be an important player for Rangers this season. I also thought another new player Bradley Orr looked fairly assured at left-back and confident going forward and if memory serves correct, he was largely blameless for the defensive lapses though I could be wrong.

Apart from that, there was little else to take from a thoroughly miserable night, except the notion that the manager can't wave a magic wand and disappear away all the problems which have suffocated QPR for the last couple of seasons at least. If early defeats in the cup are the trade-off for improved performances in the league, most Rangers fans would take the deal in a heartbeat, but football rarely allows such simple trade-offs and the journey to Sheffield United this weekend has now been provided an extra layer of tension, as if it needed any more in the first place.