Stephan praises QPR players – but Kemper injury looks ‘a bad one’

Julien Stephan praised his QPR side after they began their Championship season with a 3-1 win against Portsmouth.

Rangers came from behind at Fratton Park, where the fit-again Ilias Chair scored twice.

Head coach Stephan admitted there is still plenty of room for improvement – they came under pressure late on and at times looked shaky – but overall it was an excellent start to the campaign by the R’s.

He said: “I have to be demanding with them, and we can speak about the last 10 or 15 minutes – probably we have to improve on some things – but in general I want to be positive after this game, because I think we did a good one, with maturity and quality.”

Rangers had to make a change after just 20 minutes, when Boy Kemper’s debut was cut short, and later Amadou Mbengue went off because of an injury.

Stephan, already without Nicolas Madsen, deployed Ronnie Edwards in midfield and then had to switch him to right-back after Mbengue’s withdrawal.

There is a concern for Kemper, with Stephan describing the Dutch left-back’s injury as “a bad one to his ankle”.

“We had to change the back four and that’s not easy, but the players did very well with this,” said Stephan.

“Ronnie, usually centre-back, started in midfield and ended the game at right-back.

“The mindset of these players is that they are able to sacrifice themselves for their team-mates, for the shirt and values of QPR.”

Portsmouth boss John Mousinho said: “It was a really strange game. We were in complete control for the first 25 minutes and took a deserved lead.

“Mentally we must have taken our foot off the gas. After we scored we seemed to fall apart.”