Man Utd ease to victory at QPR

QPR 0 Manchester United 2  

Neil Warnock spent much of the summer warning that his team would suffer the odd thrashing in the Premier League, and after barely a minute of this match it seemed likely they would be demolished.  

Fortunately for the QPR manager, Manchester United’s superiority was not reflected in the final scoreline, although the need for Warnock to sign reinforcements during the January transfer window was again underlined.

Wayne Rooney’s early header and Michael Carrick’s right-footed shot gave the visitors a comfortable win on their first trip to Loftus Road since Eric Cantona’s 98th-minute equaliser nudged the R’s towards relegation from the top flight in 1996.

Rangers’ defending has been shoddy in recent weeks even with their first-choice centre-back pairing and although Anton Ferdinand has at times been culpable, his absence through injury against the champions was always likely to prove costly.

And it took United only 53 seconds to go ahead. Rooney nodded the ball out to Antonio Valencia and then sauntered in the box to head home the Ecuadorian’s cross.

United continued to have the upper hand and almost went further ahead when Jonny Evans headed against the bar after Radek Cerny failed to claim Nani’s left-wing corner.

Cerny, given the nod ahead of the fit-again Paddy Kenny, made amends by producing two good saves before the break.

The Czech keeper raced from his line to thwart Phil Jones, who had been put through by Rooney, before pulling off a fine instinctive stop to deny Valencia.

But he probably should have kept out the shot from Carrick, whose goal 10 minutes into the second half came after the England midfielder got away from Alejandro Faurlin and ran towards the edge of the penalty area before trying his luck.

Warnock made a double substitution on 65 minutes in a bid to breath some life into his side, bringing on DJ Campbell and Adel Taarabt.

But United continued to dominate and they hit the woodwork again when Jones fired against the post after receiving Nani’s pass.

Rangers’ shortcomings at both ends of the pitch were evident, but had Jay Bothroyd done better with two first-half opportunities United would have had to move out of third gear.

Bothroyd blazed over after Jamie Mackie pulled the ball back for him and also missed the target when trying to blast in the rebound after Heidar Helguson’s shot had been blocked by keeper David De Gea.

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