Queens Park Rangers v Stoke City

hoops
Columnist
BEN SUMMER
‘R’ GENERATION WRITER BEN SUMMER
DISCUSSES THE LATEST GOINGS-ON IN W12
It’s just our luck that a moment like Seny
Dieng’s penalty save should be followed by
a drab 1-0 loss in the rain.
Swansea could have at least done us the
favour of letting us sing about Super Sen for
a few more minutes before flattening the
atmosphere in the away end.
It felt like we’d be in for a fun one in South
Wales in the first few minutes, with Rangers
keeping the ball and getting it into the box. It
didn’t last very long.
Some players who were at the top of their
game against Hull looked leggy and a yard late
to everything a few days later. Others didn’t
get into the game at all.
You can give Swansea credit for their shape,
which meant there was rarely, if ever a simple
pass forward for Rob Dickie and Jimmy
Dunne to make.
You can lay blame on our midfield for generally
lacking the bite and composure required to
dominate for most of the 90 minutes.
You can lament our bad luck with a couple of
chances, especially a late ball flashing across
the box, where the narrative could have
changed – and one hell of a smash and grab it
would have been.
Usually the metaphorical image of a floodlight
sputtering and dying is delivered from on high
in the most convenient moment to mock a
despondent home team. When it happened
at the Liberty, it somehow still felt aimed at
us; they’re Swansea City, they’ll sing in the
dark, and we’ll sit there and listen.
Personally I’m planning on drawing zero actual
conclusions from the game. We’re now into
a month which is lighter on fixtures, and next
time a dreaded seven or eight-game month
rears its head, here’s hoping we’ve got Luke
Amos, Taylor Richards and Jake Clarke-Salter
to pick from.
Players like Sinclair Armstrong, Tyler Roberts
and Albert Adomah who usually make a
good case for themselves off the bench
didn’t really get a proper chance to do that at
Swansea, but Tim Iroegbunam had a couple
of moments that make me feel confident
about him as an option.
When Mick Beale gave his post-match
interview after the Hull game, I was absolutely
delighted for him. There was a man, only
seven games into his managerial career,
not just sounding measured and clever, but
sounding like he was growing in confidence
along with his squad. Identity takes time to
establish, and it was seeping more into the
squad game by game.
Swansea was a hiccup in this process. I really
feel for the QPR fans – a great number – who
travelled up from London. From a slightly
shorter train journey home to Cardiff, it feels like
it was a pretty poor way to spend a hangover,
but it won’t have me feeling low for very long.
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