Stephan annoyed by QPR’s first-half display

Julien Stephan admitted QPR were punished for a lousy first-half display at Watford.

Rangers were beaten 2-1 at Vicarage Road and are still waiting for their first win since the Frenchman took over as head coach.

Kieran Morgan gave them hope with a thumping strike in first-half stoppage time after Luca Kjerrumgaard had scored twice for the Hornets.

The visitors were better after the interval but were unable to find an equaliser – new signing Richard Kone went close – and ultimately paid the price for conceding two sloppy goals in the space of four first-half minutes.

“We played two completely different halves,” Stephan said.

“The first half was too poor – tactically, (in terms of) intensity, with the ball and without the ball, it was too poor.

“The second half was very good, with more intensity and ability to press the opponent, to recover the ball higher up the pitch, use the ball well and create danger. It was completely different.

“I was very disappointed at half-time because this is not the way we want to play. It’s hard to imagine getting a good result when you only start after 45 minutes.

“We had to fix some problems. Tactically we had to fix a problem with the first line because if we are not able to press well against a back three then it’s easy for them to use the wing-back and easy for them to cross into the box and create danger.

“That was one of the worst problems we had in the first half and we fixed that very well in the second half, so it was completely different.

“If we fix the problem tactically (then) we need to have more intensity, so I was a little bit angry at half-time with the intensity of the first half.

“The players honestly did very well in the second half. We want to play like this and I hope will be able to do so quickly.”

Stephan also admitted he was surprised by Watford starting with a back three rather than the 4-3-3 formation he had been expecting to face.

“Probably it’s also my fault I didn’t prepare the players well enough for the first half,” he said.

“They changed – they played with a back three – and we didn’t imagine that before the game.

“But when we saw the teamsheets we spoke with the players just before the kick-off that it was a possible back three.”