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da 888： This article is part of Football FanCast’s Off the Bench series, which places in-game managerial decisions and squad selections under FFC’s microscope.
QPR enjoyed arguably their best first-half performance of the campaign against Luton last time out, finding themselves 3-0 up after just 28 minutes thanks to a wonder-strike from Eberechi Eze and a double from Nakhi Wells.
Mark Warburton’s side – lining up in a 5-3-2 formation – completely dominated newly-promoted Luton in the first-half, taking a 3-1 scoreline into the dressing room at the break with life looking comfortable.
However, the second half was not as simple, and there was a glaring change that Warburton should’ve made to ease the pressure on his side.
Snapshot
With his side quickly under the cosh as Luton made it 3-2 in the 48th-minute, Luton piled the pressure on in search of an equaliser – which they nearly got until Yoann Barbet got a crucial tackle in, much to some R’s supporters’ delight.
The Londoners managed to hang on and get a third successive win under their belts, although you can’t help but think things would have been easier had Geoff Cameron come onto the field.
Why should he have come on?
In fairness to Warburton, he did realise that Dominic Ball was struggling on his own in a defensive-midfield position during the second half, and consequently subbed Luke Amos onto the pitch for Todd Kane.
However, he used his two other substitutions on attacking players – Marc Pugh and Jan Mlakar.
With the tide of the game clearly much changed from the first-half rout, QPR needed to batten down the hatches and get as many defensive-minded players on the field as possible rather than introducing more attackers, which is why Cameron would’ve been the perfect man to introduce to play alongside Amos and Ball, shielding the back four.
The former Stoke man and 55-cap USA international – who has four starts in the league so far this term – is a physical presence standing at 6 foot 3 and a player who surely would have helped screen the back four.
Instead, Warburton went for more goals rather than conserving what he had, and you could argue that the former Rangers boss got lucky with that approach.