QPR youngster told to go ‘pedal to the metal’ by Holloway

Ian Holloway has warned that Eberechi Eze will need to work on the defensive side of his game if he is to establish himself as a first-team player under him at QPR.

The teenager made his senior debut in Saturday’s FA Cup defeat against Blackburn and looked bright before going off with an Achilles injury during the first half.

Holloway regards Eze as a number 10 – an area the manager believes Rangers are overloaded.

And with Tjaronn Chery having agreed a move to China, Holloway is keen to introduce a more workmanlike approach in which certain players, including Eze, will have to adapt.

“I like his talent – he can produce all sorts of things. But what I’ve got to do is get him in the right blend and balance,” Holloway explained.

“Again, he’s a number 10. There’s no such position in my world; you have to learn how to defend, and if you are a number 10 and the ball goes to a (opposition) centre-half you’ve got to go and press it, and he didn’t get that right.

“He’s trained (with the first team) a couple of times and I’ve thought ‘wow. He has got unbelievable ability, it’s just about whether can he produce it out here.”

Eze, 18, was signed in the summer after leaving Holloway’s former club Millwall.

He has impressed for Rangers’ development side this season and the club recently extended his contract.

Holloway said: “Millwall let him go, being a number 10, and he’s got a lot to learn defensively, but going forward he’s got all sorts of ability.

“I’ve got to teach him the game, because you cannot be a luxury. Mr Chery cannot be a luxury who takes set-plays and gets us things.

“In the Championship you’ve got to have everybody doing a shift, pedal to the metal.”