Three players QPR really need to step up after the international break
With 21 points on the board after 16 matches, QPR went into this month’s international break having fared better than many expected so far this season.
Some players have taken their game up a level. What Rangers could do with now is others following suit. Here are three players in particular the onus is likely to be on to prove their worth in the coming weeks and months.
Jordan Cousins
The midfield trio of Josh Scowen, Massimo Luongo and Luke Freeman have been excellent so far this season and are crucial to how QPR play, but there will inevitably be times when at least one of them will have to be replaced.
Cousins could therefore have an important role to play this season and his recent appearances, albeit in a wide position, were handy as they mean he ought to be match fit for the game against Aston Villa on 18 November, which Luongo is almost certain to miss.
Luongo is currently with the Australia squad for World Cup qualifying play-off matches against Honduras and is due back in London the day before the Villa game. That leaves Cousins in line for a chance to show what he can do in his preferred position.
His first season at the club was disappointing and, although just 23 and still developing, Cousins’ transfer fee and experience means he isn’t in the bracket of signings who were always expected to need time and patience at Championship level. Rangers need more from him.
Joel Lynch
Another player whose pedigree means more was expected of him in the shorter term, Lynch has been a major disappointment so far. He has looked more comfortable in the middle of a back three and Rangers will hope his improved form continues, especially while Grant Hall, Nedum Onuoha and James Perch remain sidelined.
Yeni Ngbakoto
Despite speculation he hasn’t settled, the Frenchman seems happy in London and is a popular figure around the club. Now, after 15 months at Loftus Road, he needs to prove on the pitch that his signing from Metz was a sound investment. Rangers have other options but none are quite in the mould of Ngbakoto, who has a lot to offer if he can find some form.
