QPR 1(0)-1(2) Millwall

Another season begins and, in spite of everything, it’s impossible not to feel a smidgen of optimism. We’ve had ample opportunity to rebuild since Martí Cifuentes’s first season in charge and not only do we now have two decent strikers (Richard Kone and Rumarn Burrell), but Christian Noury and the Director of Recruitment did what was asked of them over the summer and strengthened the squad in key positions, bringing in two keepers (Pierce Charles and Callum Ward), a left back (Boy Kempner), a right back (Tariq Lamptey) and an experienced midfielder (Glen Kamara). In addition, we have some players coming back from loan, at least one of whom (Alfie Lloyd), looks to have improved – and some players coming up from the development squad – Philip Sanyaolu, Isak Alemayehu, Jaylan Pearlman and 16 year-old Leon Scarlett – who, if they get some game time and realise their potential, could be the equivalent of new signings. Finally, we have several players who underperformed last season who may come good – Ilias Chair, Koki Saito, Karamoko Dembélé and Kwame Poku – and a striker who still hasn’t made his debut (Justin Obikwu). A lot depends on whether we can avoid the glut of injuries which bedevilled Julien Stéphan’s first term.

In part due to those injuries, our performance last season was disappointing. We finished 15th for the second year running – the exact same position, but with two more points from 16 wins – having only won six of the last 25. The 3-0 defeat at Ipswich on the last day, which confirmed the Tractor Boys’ promotion, was our fourth loss in a row. Going in to this season, we have a better chance of getting into the play-offs because the number of qualifying teams has been increased from four to six, but last season we finished 11 points behind Derby in eighth place, so perhaps we shouldn’t get our hopes up. A top 10 finish should probably be the summit of our ambitions.

Stéphan said he’d put out the best team available for this cup game against Millwall and he was as good as his word. Charles was preferred to Ward between the sticks; Amadou Mbengue came in at right back, with Jimmy Dunne, Ronnie Edwards and Kempner completing the back four; Nicolas Madsen and Harvey Vale were in midfield; Chair occupied the number 10 spot, with Paul Smyth to his left and Burrell to his right; and Kone led the line. It was a much stronger team than we fielded against Plymouth in our Caraboa Cup opener last season, a game we contrived to lose 3-2, having gone two-nil up. Millwall, too, put out a strong team, although their ranks were more depleted by injuries than ours. Given QPR’s dismal record in tournaments, it seemed a hostage to fortune to have renamed the family stand the ‘Go-Out Loftus Stand’ over the summer. (“Why ‘Go Out’? Cos that’s what we do.”)

It was a scrappy start from both sides, although I thought we shaded the opening 10 minutes, pressing well and forcing a corner. Mbengue had an early sight of goal in the fourth minute as a result of that corner, latching onto a poor clearance, but his shot drifted wide – a reminder that his crossing and finishing still need work. Smyth won a foul on the edge of the box in the seventh minute, although Chair wasted the resulting free kick, and for a spell we looked the sharper, better-drilled team, moving the ball through the lines with real tempo. But as the half wore on Millwall began to find pockets of space in behind our advancing full backs, particularly down our right, working several half-chances from long throws and knockdowns without testing Charles. Their first shot didn’t arrive until the 31st minute, and it went well wide. Smyth kept misfiring in the final third and Burrell, playing on the right, looked short of match sharpness. It was goalless at the break, with neither side having managed a shot on target. We had an xG of 0.23 to their 0.01 and five shots to their one.

The pattern continued after the restart, with QPR the better side for long stretches without managing to convert any of our chances. We had a decent spell in the 49th minute after some good approach play, with a chance eventually falling to Mbengue that clipped the near post – though he looked to have strayed offside in the build-up. Smyth won another corner in the 52nd minute and Kempner met it with a header from close range that looked destined for the net, only to be hacked off the line. Two minutes later Chair sent Kone clean through with a lovely ball over the top, but the Millwall keeper got there a fraction before the Ivorian could apply the finish.

And then, against the run of play, we conceded. Charles, making his debut following his loan move from Manchester City, came for a cross from the left in the 54th minute, caught it, spilled it, and could only watch as Luke Cundle tapped it home from close range. One-nil to the Lions, and about as miserable a start as you could imagine for the young keeper. His distribution is miles better than Joe Walsh’s and he’s good with his feet. But judging from this mistake, he’s no better at coming for crosses than Paul Nardi.

Stéphan responded with a double change in the 62nd minute, sending on Kwame Poku for Burrell and Jonathan Varane for Madsen. Millwall had a corner and a free header in the 65th minute that sailed harmlessly over, and Chair went agonisingly close to an equaliser a minute later, finding himself one-on-one with Lukas Jensen, the Millwall keeper, but seeing his effort saved, with nobody quick enough to react to the loose ball. Both he and Burrell, when presented with clear sights of goal in this game, seemed to lack confidence – a theme, sadly, of QPR’s finishing all afternoon. Alfie Lloyd replaced Kone up front in the 70th minute and won a corner of his own three minutes later, getting a foot to Vale’s delivery, but without enough behind it to trouble Jensen. Two more changes followed in the 79th minute, Kealey Adamson on for Mbengue and Koki Saito on for Smyth, as Stéphan searched for an equaliser.

Millwall enjoyed a good spell in the 84th minute, running at our back line repeatedly without cutting us open, and it looked as though the Lions would see the game out. But Chair, who’d had a frustrating afternoon, put Lloyd in behind in the 86th minute; the youngster couldn’t quite get his feet set to shoot but did enough to win a corner. From that corner in the 87th minute, we finally got our goal – a header from Jimmy Dunne that was deflected in off Millwall defender Mark Sykes for an own goal.

At this point, with Stéphen having taken off all our penalty takers, QPR needed to get another, but it wasn’t to be. Varane, on since the hour mark, had a good cameo, making some decent tackles and mostly playing it forward, and there was a huge goalmouth scramble in the 90th minute with the ball almost bundled over the line for a winner. Four minutes of stoppage time weren’t enough for us to get a goal, so it went to penalties.

We lost the coin toss, meaning the shoot-out was taken in front of the travelling Millwall support at the school end – not ideal, particularly as the visiting fans had been goading Charles at every opportunity since his error. Jake Cooper stepped up first for the visitors and beat Charles; Chair, first up for us, saw his effort saved by Jensen. Sykes, restoring some personal pride after his own goal, scored Millwall’s second; Vale’s penalty was saved. Charles then produced a save of his own, but Saito’s spot kick was also repelled by Jensen. Charles denied Tairyk Arconte with a second save to keep us in it, but Poku’s penalty – our fourth – went the same way as the rest, and that was that: Millwall through on penalties, having needed only two successful kicks because we couldn’t convert a single one. It’s the first time in 16 shootouts in the club’s history that QPR have failed to score, another unwanted record.

Overall, it wasn’t a terrible performance and on a different day we might have emerged the victors. Across the 90 we had 11 shots to Millwall’s five, three on target to their two, an xG of 0.96 to their 1.16, and 56% of the possession. Our defensive back line was solid and, when given an opportunity to burst forward, Mbengue and Kempner created some chances. Madsen and Vale did a decent job of progressing the ball from inside our half, particularly Madsen, and Varane proved to be a pretty effective like-for-like replacement. Our front four, by contrast, were disappointing, particularly Burrell, who didn’t look comfortable playing on the right, and Kone, who was largely anonymous. We were more dangerous when they were replaced by Lloyd and Poku, although not dangerous enough. If this had been another pre-season warm-up game, I wouldn’t be too disappointed, but losing our opening fixture of the Carabou Cup for the second season in a row – and in such a humiliating way – was pretty gutting. Roll on our first league game, which is against Portsmouth at Fratton Park next Saturday.

You can watch the highlights on Sky Sports here.