QPR player situation debated - 'he's not up to the level' under Julien Stephan | OneFootball

The QPR man hasn't featured as much as usual under Stephan

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...

Sam Field’s importance at QPR has been debated after playing a lesser role for the club this season.

Julien Stephan’s side have experienced a mixed start to the 2025/26 Championship campaign and find themselves 16th in the table after 15 matches.

However, Rangers are just six points away from the play-off places, which highlights just how compact the division has been this term and how crucial getting three points on the board consistently will be come May.

QPR picked up just a single point from their first three matches, a run which included a humbling 7-1 defeat against Coventry City, but bounced back to win four and lose none of their next six matches.

However, Stephan’s outfit scored one point in their final four games before the international break, which undid a lot of their early-season progress.

Sam Field’s QPR significance debated amid lesser role this season

QPR entered the campaign with a lot of positivity, due to the fresh nature of their squad following the past few summer transfer windows.

Players such as Richard Kone, Kwame Poku and Karamoko Dembélé were set to wow the Loftus Road crowd regularly, further contributing to push up towards the division’s top six.

Whilst that attack hasn’t been as potent as some supporters may have hoped, one consistently strong area of Stephan’s team has been the midfield duo of Jonathan Varane and Nicolas Madsen.

This pairing has been deployed in the majority of QPR’s matches thus far and have performed strongly as a whole, which has led to fewer minutes for operators such as Sam Field.

The 27-year-old decrease in minutes has been a topic of debate among the club’s supporters, but Football League World’s QPR fan pundit, Louis Moir, believes that Stephan has been making the correct decisions so far when it comes to his midfield.

“Sam Field is someone who divides the fan base a lot,” stated Louis. “He’s been at the club for a good few years now and was always sort a starter, but now this season he's become a bit of a bit part player.

“You’ve got some fans saying he may deserve to play a lot more than what he has and then you've got some fans saying he's not good enough, and it's clearly the right decision not to play him.

“He's a good player to have around, but he's not up to starting now and I think because we've been so used to playing him over the last few years, we needed a change in there. He just lacks that ability to be creative and dynamic in midfield.

“I think it's the right decision that he's not been involved as much this season. He’s a good player to bring on, a good player to potentially start in certain games, but definitely not up to the level if you want to be a good, attacking side.”

Sam Field will struggle to break back into the QPR starting 11

Field has been a strong, dependable player for QPR over the years since joining on an initial loan deal from West Brom in 2021, and still has a place in Stephan’s squad.

However, the French manager has looked to deploy an attacking, forward-thinking system at Loftus Road, which Varane and Madsen are better suited to carry out.

The 27-year-old still has his specific strengths over the other two and may be used in matches where Rangers need to take a more cautious approach to proceedings, but that may not be the role he wants to play consistently at a pivotal point in his career.

Field will struggle to dislodge the pairing of Varane and Madsen, who have looked to be strong this season and may have to pursue a move elsewhere to get back to featuring week in, week out.