QPR boss makes damning Portsmouth statement after Loftus Road annihilation
QPR boss Julien Stephan has made an embarrassing statement for Pompey fans to hear, after his side ripped the Blues to shreds in the Championship at Loftus Road.
Julien Stephan admitted his QPR team have played better this season after obliterating Pompey.
The Hoops boss saluted his ‘clinical’ side as they put John Mousinho’s side to the sword, amid a scandalous Blues collapse at Loftus Road.
QPR took woeful Pompey apart, as they gifted the home side their goals amid some shocking mistakes and collective defensive weakness.
It’s the first time the Londoners had seen three players score twice for 65 years, as Rayan Kolli, Paul Smyth and Richard Kone all helped themselves to doubles.
Yet Stephan admitted his side have produced better displays this term, in an embarrassing statement for Pompey to hear.
He said: ‘It’s a good win. But it’s not the end of the season – just a win. A good win and it’s a special win because it’s a clinical one.
‘If I sum up the game in one word, I want to say: clinical. We were a clinical team.
‘It was not our best performance this season collectively. No. But it was probably our most clinical of the season.
‘With our first three shots we scored three goals and that changed the game completely.
‘Offensively we scored three goals and that changed completely the balance of power and our confidence.
‘We needed to keep pushing in the second half, and when we scored the fourth one it killed the game and we then had more space, and that’s how we got the penalty for the fifth one, and scored the sixth one.
‘It’s a perfect afternoon for us because we score goals and take confidence from the game.
‘The players deserve a rest and then we focus on the Watford game.
‘It’s not the end of the season. We still have seven games to play and it’s really important to continue to push, win more points and finish in the highest position possible.’
QPR boss Stephan salutes goalscorers
Stephan saluted his goalscorers with Smyth enduring a death threat and online abuse this year, while Richard Kone also hit a double after five games without a goal.
He added: ‘Paul’s in good form, he’s moving well and is physically okay.
‘He’s positive and the two goals he scored are two fantastic goals. The first one is a great finish and the second one is a fantastic collective goal. Top, top move and top, top run.
‘Ask all the players, in the Championship it’s so tough and so difficult. It’s so hard physically and mentally to repeat every three or four days.
‘You can sometimes drop, so it’s most important to keep the confidence of the club and to stay focussed on the process.
‘We will have some good moments and some bad moments, but we need to stay positive, correct what we need to correct and push the players in the right way.
‘Richard Kone scored two goals after not scoring for a long time, that’s perfect for his confidence. He’s really important.
‘(Rayan) Kolli scored two goals also, two top goals, so it’s a collective win.’