QPR restarted their season with a terrible display against Barnsley. Here's how we rated each Rangers player in the 1-0 defeat.
There wasn’t a great deal the Rangers keeper could do about Barnsley’s winner – and he didn’t have much to do for the remainder of the game either. His attempts to launch counter-attacks met with limited success.
Although the veteran right-back’s stamina and commitment to the cause is never in question, the accuracy of his passing can be – and an awful lot of balls went astray on this occasion.
Slow to react as Elliot Simoes burst through to put Barnsley in front, the young defender struggled at times and almost doubled the visitors’ lead when he headed against the bar just before the interval.
Rangers’ new captain looked solid in the air and made some important challenges, especially one to deny Jacob Brown in the first half. He also wasn’t too far away with one of their best chances – a 25-yard free-kick that dipped over.
Manning remains unconvincing as an orthodox left-back. A series of balls down the flank caught him out and, as is usually the case, he looked better when going forward to link up with Ebere Eze.
While Ball put in plenty of robust challenges, his passing was less than pinpoint – particularly when he wasted a good chance to release Bright Osayi-Samuel – and he was withdrawn after an hour.
The on-loan Spurs midfielder appeared to have regressed towards the general pattern he displayed at the start of his QPR career – looking lightweight and off the pace. No great surprise that he was subbed at half-time.
Having lost the ball in the build-up to the Barnsley goal, the winger struggled generally to impose himself on the game, with the visitors frequently doubling up to stifle his attacking threat.
QPR manager Mark Warburton: "As a team we let ourselves down today. Even when you’re playing below your best you’ve got to take your chances."
While Chair displayed plenty of energy and intent, there was rarely much of an end product. With that said, he did force a goal-line clearance from Mads Andersen just after the hour.
Audacious enough to dribble across his own penalty area at one point, Eze posed more of a danger as the game progressed. But he was off target with one of QPR’s best opportunities, thumping over the bar midway through the second half.
Visibly frustrated at not seeing more of the ball, Hugill failed to hold it up effectively when it did come his way and also fluffed two good chances – a header from Manning’s free-kick and a late one-on-one with keeper Jack Walton.
Introduced as a half-time replacement for Amos, the winger sparked an improvement with his pace and industry on the left, as well as tracking back to snuff out a Barnsley counter-attack late on.
Having replaced Ball for the final half-hour, Wallace brought more experience and bustle at left-back and got forward to try and support Rangers’ ultimately fruitless pursuit of the equaliser.