Swansea City slumped to a 4-0 defeat away at Championship leaders QPR this afternoon as Brendan Rodgers’ side got their festive period off to the worst possible start.
Alan Tate and Clint Hill were both sent off after 19 minutes for different reasons. Tate’s foul saw the first red card shown, before Clint Hill evened the sides up to 10 vs 10 seconds later after showing his frustration towards Swansea’s vice-captain. Tate’s dismissal was unfortunate for Nathan Dyer as he replaced by Neil Taylor give us a 4-4-1 formation for the remaining 71 minutes.
This happened four minutes after QPR got the breakthrough, thanks to some clever work from starman Adel Taraabt. The skilful midfielder beat Allen and Monk on the edge of the box before laying the ball off to Mackie who fired a low drive into the bottom corner from 19 yards. The Swans defence concentrated too much on trying (and failing) to defend against Taraabt but they failed to mark Mackie who had the time and space to give Rangers a deserved lead.
Joe Allen missed a great chance to put the scores level again after an excellent pass from Kemy Agustien but the 20 year-old failed to hit the target after going through on goal.
Taraabt was the stand-out performer throughout the 90 minutes and he went close to scoring himself mid-way through the first half, but De Vries did well to palm away his free-kick.
With 6 minutes remaining of the opening 45, De Vries had a lucky escape when he failed to deal with an outswinging cross, but luckily a QPR player was unable to take advantage at the far post.
Adel Taraabt, who had somehow yet to get on the scoresheet, almost created a second goal for Warnock’s team. An awful pass back to the half-way line from the Swans gave the Moroccan a chance to break away down the left flank. Again, the Swans defence smothered him which meant there was plenty of space on the opposite wing. Taraabt was able to lay off another chance by a low shot went just wide of the far post.
Rodgers’ men had no idea how to handle the skilful Taraabt and the Swans had a second half to forget as Adel bagged a brace, and he could easily have got a hatrick if it wasn’t some superb saves from De Vries who helped to keep the score down.
QPR’s second goal came on the hour mark and Ashley Williams was fortunate to still be on the pitch after conceding a penalty. Taraabt worked his magic again and as he tried to cut inside, the Welsh international brought him down with a clumsy challenge. A clear penalty and a lucky yellow card for the 26 year-old. Helguson simply passed the ball into the corner of the net as De Vries dived the wrong way.
2-0 and cruising, and things just got worse for the Swans at Loftus Road.
Taraabt then finally got a goal of his own and creating the first two for his team. He picked up Helguson’s header from around 25 yards out and raced forward before the ball in with his weaker left foot. The low went under the Dutch keeper which he would have been disappointed about but there was little he could to get down quick enough to keep out the powerful shot.
He then went close to making it 4-0, and considering the mood he was in today, you would have betted big money for him to find the net. De Vries could only parry a low shot straight towards the Morrocan, but his side-footed attempt saw another good save from the goalkeeper.
He got his second and QPR’s fourth 4 minutes late with stunning shot to round off an emphatic victory. From 25 yards he sent a curling shot goalwards that De Vries could only get his fingertips to as it flew into the far corner.
The Swans simply couldn’t cope with the sheer quality of Taraabt and we failed to setup in a way to combat such a major individual threat as his.
Our poor run of form and lacklustre performances continue but it’s still not a concern for manager Brendan Rodgers. He really needs to see his side respond from this and get out of this bad patch as soon as possible as there’s other teams who are picking up more points and are looking to take our place in the play-offs.
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