QPR’s dismal second half of the season reached a new low as they were beaten at home by second-from-bottom Bolton. Here’s how we rated each Rangers player in the 2-1 defeat.
There wasn’t a great deal more Lumley could have done to prevent either of the Bolton goals and, but for his smart stop to thwart Andrew Taylor, the visitors might have increased their lead earlier.
Going forward, Rangel’s sharp crossing was a welcome addition to the home side’s attacking options, but he looked understandably rusty and withdrawing him after an hour was – eventually! – the right call.
The Rangers centre-back, who limped off with a knock early in the second half, had generally looked uncomfortable against Josh Magennis, allowing the Bolton forward to evade him on more than one occasion.
Communication at the back seemed to be lacking and Lynch was one of the chief culprits, giving the ball away too often – as well as standing and watching when Will Buckley crashed a shot against the crossbar.
Although Bidwell frequently got forward, his delivery into the box was inconsistent and he also wasted a couple of decent openings after the break, rifling the second of those over from close range.
Forced into a deeper role just in front of the back four, Luongo put in some important challenges but his creative abilities were largely stunted, apart from a low shot to test Remi Matthews in the closing stages.
The crowd’s reaction to Wszolek’s apparent substitution was a good indication of his contribution to the game – although, unfortunately, he supplied his best crosses when Matt Smith was still sitting on the bench.
Unlucky with a shot that grazed the post in the first half, Scowen made a series of darting runs in support of the front line. But his failure to get in a challenge on Sammy Ameobi led to Bolton’s second goal.
Rangers’ stand-in captain dominated midfield during the opening half-hour, but his careless pass resulted in Buckley putting Bolton in front and he faded somewhat during the second period.
The only real positive was the pace and trickery of Osayi-Samuel, which caused Bolton plenty of problems and created opportunities for Freeman and Bidwell, but all too often he had little support.
Although Hemed won a couple of early flick-ons to release team-mates, his performance was generally flat and he headed his only chance off-target before making way for Nahki Wells late on.
Replacing Hall early in the second half, the German headed Freeman’s corner over the bar soon afterwards, but he proved effective at bringing the ball out of defence as Rangers chased the game.
The centre-forward, who came on for Rangel with half an hour casinoplay remaining, set up one opportunity for Wells but Rangers’ failure to play to his obvious strengths rendered him fairly ineffective.
Two scoring chances came to Wells during his 20-minute run-out, forcing a save from Matthews with the first and then spinning away from his marker to bury the second into the far corner of the net.
Click here to subscribe to West London Sport’s YouTube channel
This post was last modified on 27/11/2019