Today was a good day to be at Loftus Road, it was one of those rare occasions when I came home with nails on the end of my fingers. At no stage did I feel that we were likely to concede.
The back four were excellent. But was it a back four? When we were in possession, Onuoha got far more forward than usual when playing as a right back, and did well for a nice change when doing so. No semblance of a rabbit in the headlights from captain Nedum today. This effectively had us playing in a 3-5-2 formation with Perch, Angella and Hall holding the fort with Henry sitting tight just in front of them. As we were playing with four centre backs it was a good tactic. This was also the case when Perch went forward when Onuoha would drop to the right side of the three. The Brum had trouble breaking through our fortress and lacked the guile to exploit the wide areas to try and create anything of note. When they did try the defence held firm and tackled or intercepted with fine aplomb. Especially Perch who had his best game for us and was my man-of-the-match, although to be honest it could of been seven other outfield players. Chery, Hoilett, Polter, Angella, Henry, Hall, Onuoha or Llungo. Which would tell you that this was a good team performance and not about individuals.
The game didn't have the chances that we created against Ipswich when we last won, but that was probably down to our crosses hitting the first defender all too often. If anything we played in a style more reminiscent of how Fulham approached us two weeks ago. The passing was crisper with nice little triangles of play and there was more of an assertiveness to our all-round game. There was also a lot of fluidity when going forward. It was sometimes difficult to see who was playing where as players constantly swapped roles and the gaps that were left were filled by someone else. For instance there was one occasion when Lluongo had to go wide with the ball to the left of their penalty box and Henry stepped up with Phillips dropping in alongside him so that we kept our shape. I noticed our players showing this awareness quite often throughout the game. Polter being the lynchpin was probably the only constant as he held the ball up well and brought the others into play. He never stopped trying and ran the hard yards for every single one of the 97 minutes.
In summary it was a very good team performance. It wasn't spectacular as I may have inadvertently indicated, but it was an enjoyable game that bodes well for the future if we can continue to play in the manner we did. I think that's all we've been crying out for.