We look back on that game when the swans seriously introduced themselves on a higher level under the guidance of Michael Laudrup. New signing, one Miguel Pérez Cuesta already considered a gamble, even though he had scored fifteen goals from midfield the previous season for Rayo Vallecano. This was the day the swans humiliated the R’s.
National reports were in awe of the swans, BBC
Michu and Nathan Dyer both scored twice to help Michael Laudrup get off to a dream start as Swansea boss with a thumping victory over QPR. A disastrous defensive display by Rangers began when Rob Green could not stop Michu's speculative 25-yard shot.
Alistair Mann BBC Match of the Day commentator
"What an afternoon for Michael Laudrup - the day belongs to him. With the Olympics in mind, could there have been a smoother baton change from Brendan Rodgers?"
Swansea hit the bar twice before Michu curled home his second after the break.
QPR crumbled completely by the end, with Nathan Dyer scoring twice in quick succession before Scott Sinclair completed the rout with a low finish. The Welsh side put on a passing performance reminiscent of their best form under previous boss Brendan Rodgers, in what will go down as a perfect Premier League bow for their new Danish manager. The result would have been particularly sweet for Swansea fans, with Laudrup’s new team.
For QPR fans, the day was a horrific case of deja vu as they saw their side collapse to a comprehensive opening-day defeat against Bolton at Loftus Road last August.
Things were meant to be different this time, with Rangers boss Mark Hughes fielding a raft of summer signings and promising there would be no repeat of last season's relegation struggle, which his side only just survived. But a new-look Rangers kicked off the new campaign with the same sort of defending that haunted their first season back in the top flight, starting with Green's gaffe eight minutes into his debut. The former West Ham keeper got his hand to Michu's low first-time effort from the edge of the area but could only help it into the bottom corner. Swansea had failed to score in five of their previous six visits to Loftus Road.
The Swans had never before scored four times away from home in the top-flight. Michu was the top-scoring midfielder in La Liga last season, netting 15 goals for Rayo Vallecano. The hosts initially responded well and were only denied an immediate equaliser by a superb reaction stop from Michel Vorm to keep out Jamie Mackie's close-range effort, Adel Taarabt's pass having ricocheted into his path. Another QPR new-boy Junior Hoilett cut in from the left-hand side to fire a rasping shot wide before Vorm pushed away a fierce Taarabt effort that was heading for the bottom corner. Swansea were undoubtedly on the back foot as half-time approached but their travelling supporters saw signs of what was to come when Chico and then Michu hit the bar from corners.
Eight minutes into the second half, Rangers were again found wanting at the back when Wayne Routledge broke forward and set up Michu to expertly bend the ball into the top corner. Another counter-attack saw Routledge tee up Dyer to make it 3-0 and the home defence was nowhere to be seen when Dyer met a lobbed pass from substitute Kemy Agustien to make it four.
By now, Laudrup was assured of a victory in his first competitive game in charge, but Sinclair added further gloss with his late strike. The former Chelsea winger, who has rejected a new contract and appears set to leave the Swans, came off the bench to smash a low shot past the beleaguered Green from the edge of the area.
The Evening Standard reported
Brendan Rodgers was a tough act to follow at Swansea, but Michael Laudrup won't be too worried about that this evening. The Dane's first experience of English football was, he said, something he could not even have dreamt about as his Swansea City side inflicted a defeat of nightmarish proportions on Queens Park Rangers, and the fans who had travelled from South Wales were so delighted by their team's performance that their celebrations at news of defeat at West Bromwich Albion for Rodgers' Liverpool side were almost muted by comparison.
Laudrup's new signings all excelled, and in Michu, a £2 million arrival from Madrid club Rayo Vallecano, he appears to have unearthed a gem at a budget price. Fifteen goals from midfield in La Liga last season hinted at his potential, but two strikes, one lucky, one sublime — were only part of the story. He played the game at his pace, strolling through his Premier League debut while QPR buzzed around at many times the speed but to almost negligible effect.
Elsewhere, two players managed by Laudrup at Real Mallorca also impressed. Jonathan de Guzman, on a season-long loan from Villarreal, directed operations in midfield and delivered a series of dangerous set plays, while Chico Flores, £2 million from Genoa, was a calm presence in defence. Not a bad haul for £4 million? "Sometimes it's about knowing people, but it's also about them knowing the football we'll play here," Laudrup said. "Especially in Spain there are huge economic problems so you can get a lot of quality for reasonable amounts right now.
"You have to look at the personality as well. They are all players who played in smaller teams in Spain, so they are used to playing for smaller clubs but they have the personality to do it. But of course it's easy to speak about it today because one of them scored two goals and we won. We know that bad days, bad weeks and even bad months will come and we have to use what this has given us in the future. As a small team that's important."
For QPR, it was an unexpected and unwelcome echo of last season, when they lost 4-0 at home to Bolton Wanderers on the opening day. They would point out that they survived and Bolton went down, but after signing eight new players in the summer, Mark Hughes, the manager, must have been concerned at how little the Premier League experience he emphasised had counted.
The former West Ham goalkeeper Robert Green, especially, will want to forget the opening goal, almost a reprise of his notorious blunder in England's 1-1 draw with the United States at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. In Rustenburg he fumbled Clint Dempsey's shot, yesterday he dived over a half-hit effort from Michu in the eighth minute after Wayne Routledge's advance had been halted by a tackle from Clint Hill. Rangers could have levelled within minutes, but when Jamie Mackie's shot squirmed past Michael Vorm, Flores calmly stopped it on the goalline before clearing, and after that Swansea dominated. Flores headed against the crossbar from de Guzman's corner after 40 minutes, then Green punched another corner out to Michu, only for his snap shot from six yards to hit the same section of woodwork.
But the languid midfield man would not be denied and after 53 minutes he doubled Swansea's lead with an early goal-of-the-season contender. Routledge surged down the left and Michu met his low diagonal pass first time 18 yards out, his left foot swerving the ball around Green before Fabio could challenge. Rangers' discipline evaporated, and Routledge created the third after 63 minutes, profiting from Michu's interception of Fabio's pass to charge forward and set up Nathan Dyer, who beat Green from 20 yards. Dyer then made it 4-0 from a few yards closer after substitute Kemy Agustien had opened the Rangers defence with a simple lofted pass. And there was still time for Scott Sinclair, who has declined to sign a new contract to net a fifth with another low shot.
Laudrup had promised that Swansea would get the ball forward faster this season, and the fourth goal especially was almost route one. "After we conceded the first goal we played into Swansea's hands," said Hughes. "They are able to control possession and invite teams on to them and it was perfect for their game plan. If you are gung-ho at Premier League level, you get picked off. Maybe it's good it has come now and we're under no illusions that it is going to be a difficult league this year."
What a game and for us the finest season the club ever had.