'I’m just baffled' - The QPR situation for Julien Stephan right now | OneFootball

FLW's QPR Fan Pundit Louis Muir has launched a defence of manager Julien Stephan amid heavy criticism.

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more...

Queens Park Rangers have taken some heavy beatings this season and another of them came recently as the R’s succumbed to a 5-0 annihilation at the hands of Southampton at St Mary’s down on the south coast.

QPR are sliding down towards the middle of the pack once again in the Championship, having flirted with the prospect of a push for the top six and the play-off places but been far too fallible and inconsistent for that in reality.

It has led to fairly strong criticism of manager Julien Stephan from QPR supporters, with the Frenchman being blamed for a perceived underperformance by the west Londoners this season.

The former Stade Rennais manager, who replaced Marti Cifuentes last summer, is in charge of a very impressive squad in terms of the talent and quality of young players at Loftus Road but he has been significantly undermined by the amount of injuries they have had throughout this campaign.

Julien Stephan criticism is too harsh at QPR

QPR have a good squad and they have some really exciting talents but the amount of injuries that have hampered their campaign thus far have been relatively extraordinary.

It is for that reason that FLW’s QPR Fan Pundit Louis Moir believes that the criticism of Stephan has been too harsh of late and that he has generally done a good job this season.

Louis says: “I’m just baffled that Stephan is getting as much criticism as he is.

“Yes, we got really well beaten at Southampton. We got really, really well beaten away at Coventry right at the start of the season. We’ve had a few iffy results.

“But, he got us in touching distance of the play-offs all season long essentially and every club has injuries but our injuries have been so severe it has literally killed our season.

“It has derailed us at moments where we’re think we’re going to push on and then bang, another injury, another injury. Key players. Your top goal scorer gets injured, the keeper crisis.

“None of the ‘keepers at the club are good enough, swapping between the three all season. What are you meant to do there?

“Jake Clarke-Salter, arguably your best defender, out injured.

“We’ve had key injuries to the attacking players. (Kwame) Poku, haven’t seen him, (Karamoko) Dembele gets a big injury, (Ilias) Chair is out for ages. The list just goes on and on.

“I think it’s really harsh that Stephan is getting so much criticism because, like I say, he’s come in, his first season in the Championship, ever managing in England, I think a few weeks ago, not right now because I do think we should be in or just outside of the top six, but a few weeks ago everyone would have taken the position we were in.

“Quite simply, injuries have just absolutely ruined us this season.

“Away from home, he hasn’t got everything spot on – far from it. Certain performances have not been good enough. We probably haven’t set up in the right way.

“You look at any team, you take away the players that we’ve not had at our disposal then it’s going to affect you big time.

“To be as close to the top six as we have been in recent weeks has shown he has adapted to the players we have got fit. We’ve beaten top of the league, we’ve beaten teams like Hull away.

“I think Stephan is getting unfair criticism and, quite frankly, it is all on next season now when everyone is hopefully fit and we could look forward to that and push on even more.”

Next season could be big for QPR

As Louis outlines, injuries to key attackers such as Poku, Chair and Dembele have been immensely frustrating and that is because the prospect of having those players all playing together is a tantalising one.

Alongside the likes of Richard Kone and Rumarn Burrell, as well as Harvey Vale and Nicolas Madsen, there is a collection of high quality players in the final third for the R’s and there will be a belief that if things click for them then they can be real challengers for promotion back to the Premier League.

It is perhaps already too late for this season but that may be no bad thing because, after a year of everyone getting their feet under the table for this new project led by Stephan, a second season together could see the irritating and recurring creases ironed out.

It will also players to rediscover their full match fitness and form to attack the division next year – and QPR supporters should remain excited about the short-to-medium-term future, despite widespread frustration with Stephan and the all too often woeful performance.