Julien Stephan told how he can fix 'unsettling' QPR issue - one R's star 'must improve' | OneFootball

FLW's QPR fan pundit has been discussing the R's issues in defence so far this season.

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…

QPR have endured a frustrating start to the 2025/26 Championship season.

Julien Stephan's opening few months in charge at Loftus Road has been a real mixed bag, both in the way of performances and results.

The R's sit 13th in the table after as many games, with five wins, three draws and five defeats to their name, with consistency proving to be a big issue for the Hoops so far this term.

A big reason for that has been their leaky defence, with Stephan's side shipping 21 goals ahead of their Wednesday night clash with Southampton, a tally which is more than the likes of Norwich City (20) and the Saints (19) have conceded.

Indeed, only Sheffield United (1.8) and Sheffield Wednesday (1.9) are conceding more goals per game on average than QPR (1.6) so far this season, as per FotMob.

The latest evidence of the issues at the back came in QPR's latest game, when Ipswich Town put them to the sword by the tune of four goals to one.

We asked our QPR fan pundit, Louis Moir: 'The four goals shipped to Ipswich now takes QPR's conceded tally to 21: that's more than Norwich and Southampton, and only two fewer than Sheffield United. How big of a concern is the amount of goals being conceded, and what's the fix?'

Louis said: "I don't think the amount of goals we've conceded is necessarily a concern to be worried about, because yes, it shouldn't have happened and it's poor, but seven goals at Coventry and four against Ipswich - that's 11 goals on its own from two games.

"Yes it happened, and it's no good saying 'if that didn't happen it would be better'; if, buts and maybes, but if we reduced the goals in those games, our goal difference and goals conceded would be much better.

"So, I don't think it's a massive concern, I just think the mistakes have been what's sort of been the biggest contributing factor to that.

"Coventry, we literally just handed them goals. Ipswich as well you could say the same. To concede two free-kicks; the exact same goal twice, the position of the goalkeeper and the wall, the lead up to both goals, the stupid fouls - handing goals to the opposition.

"You even look at goals where (Paul) Nardi has been at fault. He never comes out of his box. It happened at Sheffield Wednesday, it's happened in home games.

"These are the errors that need to be cut out, because if we do that, then we're obviously going to concede a fewer number of goals than we are."

Nardi has kept three clean sheets from nine Championship appearances so far this season, with his current save percentage of 67.7 per cent ranking him in the bottom 40 percentile of second tier goalkeepers ahead of the midweek action - per FotMob.

"It's unsettling" - Julien Stephan told how he can fix QPR's defensive problems

Heading into their meeting with Southampton on Wednesday, QPR have won just one of their last four league games, with the other three ending in defeat.

In an attempt to try and improve their fortunes, Stephan has been consistently tinkering with his starting XI's, and particularly in defence.

Indeed, since Steve Cook and Liam Morrison started as the centre-back pairing vs Millwall four games ago, there has been a different starting pair in each of their last three games.

So, is this chopping and changing of his rearguard creating more problems than its fixing for Stephan and his side? Our QPR fan pundit seems to think so...

"I think the fix has got to be being more consistent at the back. I think that comes with team selection," Louis continued.

"We can't keep swapping out (Amadou) Mbengue and then having (Steve) Cook-(Liam) Morrison, Mbengue-Morrison, and then Mbengue-Cook: it's unsettling.

"I think the back four, in my opinion, has to be Jimmy Dunne, Morrison, Mbengue and (Rhys) Norrington-Davies as that flat back four, because that has a lot of balance to it and we need to just stop changing, because that's obviously going to unsettle the team.

"How are you meant to get consistent as a squad if you keep rotating players all the time? Yes, every now and then, but you need your first XI as best as it can be on a consistent basis, as much as possible.

"So, I think that's the fix, and cutting out the stupid errors, and just being a lot more aware at the back. With Nardi as well, he needs to really, really improve on his positioning for certain goals and his lack of ability - which is costing us - where he fails to come out and command his box."

With some favourable clashes against the likes of Southampton, Sheffield United, Blackburn Rovers and Norwich City respectively over the next few weeks, QPR could be smelling plenty of points in the near future.

However, that may rely on Stephan finding his best starting combinations at the back, and if players like Nardi can step up and iron out mistakes that are costing the R's from being in serious play-off contention.