It’s got such a great traffic system, you know. The Westway, that is. Or at least it did have. Under the glow of those yellow lights, there was once something rather impressive about the journey into west London. Today, however, there was driving rain and precious little to suggest Swansea City were a competent football team at any Championship level.

The opening fifteen minutes of this game saw Swansea City create three opportunities to score, with their hosts doing likewise. The difference was that the R’s took theirs, as Richard Kone grabbed a remarkable fifteen-minute hat-trick. His goals came in the second, ninth and fifteenth minutes, the third from the penalty spot. It was reportedly the fastest hat-trick from kick-off in England’s top four divisions since comparable records began in 2004/05. Quite an achievement for Kone, although Swansea’s defending made his afternoon considerably easier than it should have been. The Swans laboured over their chances, and from there the game rapidly slipped away. By half-time, the contest was effectively over. To say Swansea’s defending was shocking would be an understatement. Nearly everything that came into the penalty area caused problems, and on the stroke of half-time the same scenario unfolded again, with QPR going 4-0 up. Swansea had conceded just eight goals in their previous eleven Championship matches. Here, they had shipped four in forty-five minutes. Quite extraordinary.

The whole thing was illiterate in a footballing sense, as a stunned Swansea side huffed and puffed their way through the worst half of football we have witnessed since the demolition at Norwich City under Luke Williams. The passing was horrendous, and the weakness displayed by players such as Elijah Just and Melker Widell was schoolboy stuff. Loose passes, no direction and precious little leadership on the pitch barely scratched the surface of what was wrong. On that subject, skipper Ben Cabango completely lost his way, offering little encouragement or evidence of the leadership required to drag his side out of the mess they had created.

The Swans were sliced open time and time again, and when Jimmy Dunne headed home the hosts’ fourth goal in first-half stoppage time, following a delivery from Harvey Vale, the complete disarray in the penalty area and some poor goalkeeping from Lawrence Vigouroux summed up an utterly miserable forty-five minutes. Swansea’s defending down the flanks was poor at best, while the overloads in midfield repeatedly caught them out. QPR simply showed far more endeavour. If a team cannot complete straightforward passes, particularly when its midfield appears to possess a complete lack of awareness in possession, then it is going to lose football matches. It really is that simple.

The complete lack of purpose in Swansea’s play continued throughout the opening ten minutes of the second period. There was no energy, no determination on the ball, just that seemingly faultless but ultimately pointless passing we have witnessed so many times before. When the Swans did finally show a little spirit, a Widell cross from the left was comfortably defended. Marko Stamenić appeared to be looking for a yellow card and duly received one. Soon afterwards, he seemed equally eager to collect a second. Unfortunately for the New Zealander, today was not his day, either on the ball or off it. Swansea continued to enjoy possession, but their decision-making at crucial moments was shocking. Ball retention is all well and good, but without control, composure or any genuine attacking purpose, it becomes an entirely pointless exercise.

After fifteen minutes of a slow and mundane second half, Swansea had offered absolutely nothing to suggest they might even restore a little respectability to the final score. The R’s seemed perfectly content to stand off the ball and watch their visitors blunder their way through one ineffective cross after another, usually with just one Swansea player in the penalty area. Whatever plan Vítor Matos had devised at half-time was either nonexistent or so poorly executed that it made no difference whatsoever. There was no energy, no imagination and seemingly no understanding of how to trouble the QPR defence. The home side merely toyed with Swansea, even when the visitors had possession in dangerous areas.

Matos had made two changes at half-time, with Jay Fulton replacing the disappointing Elijah Just and Jenson Seelt coming on for Stephen Welsh. Around the sixty-third minute, Eom Ji-sung and Gonçalo Franco were introduced for Joseph Opoku and Marko Stamenić respectively. Žan Vipotnik subsequently replaced Adam Idah in the seventy-second minute. None of it made any meaningful difference to Swansea’s attacking threat. Serious questions must now be asked about Just’s ability to influence games at Championship level when something more than tidy possession is required. With Stamenić and Widell both enduring poor afternoons, and precious little coming from the flanks, this was precisely the area of the pitch where Swansea needed creativity, strength and some genuine attacking intelligence. Stephen Eustáquio was out there too, but even his presence did little to change the direction of the contest.

Changes most certainly should have been made as soon as Matos witnessed the collapse of his side during the first half. Instead, he persisted with the same mundane approach until the interval. When the R’s did venture forward, possibly out of sheer boredom at watching the team in black repeatedly fluff their lines, they still looked dangerous. With fifteen minutes remaining, a thoroughly drenched Matos stood in front of his dugout looking somewhat confused by what was unfolding before him. He was witnessing a team playing football no better than some of the worst examples seen under Russell Martin. Low-tempo, confused football from players who appeared oblivious to the need for effort, urgency or coordination.

Whenever Swansea did reach the penalty area, they overcomplicated matters, seemingly determined to turn even the simplest opportunity into another exercise in frustration. Meanwhile, a jubilant Loftus Road applauded its substitutions through the driving rain. Close to two thousand Swansea supporters remained throughout, although perhaps a few understandably slipped away. Ultimately, it will be their assessment of this performance that carries the greatest weight. They travelled, paid their money and endured an afternoon that offered absolutely nothing in return.

Matos can say whatever he likes afterwards, but this was a completely mismanaged performance, an exercise in uninspiring, nonsensical football that offered nothing beyond negativity. He now has another week to put things right, or perhaps this wonderful start to the season will prove to be just that: a wonderful start and little more. Today, Swansea were a team operating at an alarmingly low tempo, with no inspiration, no urgency and precious little understanding of how to impose themselves on an opponent.

There was just enough time for a fifth goal, once again at the wrong end, as Jimmy Dunne grabbed his second of the afternoon in the eighty-fifth minute. It was another miserable moment in an afternoon littered with them. The goal itself looked questionable, but frankly, this Swansea side deserved absolutely nothing from the afternoon. That does not mean the head coach should be written off. Matos deserves some room to respond, despite suffering his heaviest defeat since arriving last November. There is a team in there somewhere, and the opening weeks of the campaign have demonstrated that much. But genuine winners, even on their worst days, do not simply collapse in this manner. They fight, they organise, they communicate and, above all, they refuse to accept humiliation without a response.

The players must shoulder their share of the responsibility, but the head coach cannot escape scrutiny either. When a team is being dismantled so comprehensively, there has to be a reaction from somewhere. From the touchline, from the captain, from the experienced players or simply from those wearing the shirt. Today, there was next to nothing.

The most concerning aspect of this defeat wasn’t simply the five goals conceded, although that alone is bad enough. It was the manner in which Swansea surrendered control, confidence and any semblance of a competitive edge. QPR were sharper, stronger, quicker in thought and far more committed to the task in front of them. The Swans, by comparison, looked like a collection of individuals waiting for somebody else to take responsibility. At this level, that is a dangerous place to find yourself.

There will be defeats over a forty-six-game Championship season. There will be afternoons when nothing goes right and opponents take full advantage. But there is a considerable difference between losing a football match and surrendering it. Swansea City did the latter today, and the travelling support deserved considerably better.

Matos has earned some credit for the start his side have made, and one disastrous afternoon should not erase that. However, it should serve as a very loud warning. The Championship has a habit of exposing weaknesses, and today QPR exposed just about every one Swansea possessed. The response now has to come from the training ground, from the dressing room and, most importantly, on the pitch.

Today, Swansea City acquiesced far too much. Some would say it was coming. It isn’t good enough. Not by a long way. And after all that the Swans remain second in the league !

⚽️ QPR: Pierce Charles, Kealey Adamson, Jimmy Dunne (captain), Ronnie Edwards, Paul Smyth (Rayan Kalli 72), Bay Kemper (Dennis Cirkin 80), Kwame Poku (Karamoko Dembele 72), Glen Kamara, Harvey Vale (Koki Saito 73), Richard Kone, Jonathan Varane.

Unused Substitutes: Calum Ward, Liam Morrison, Dennis Cirkin, Isak Alemayehu, Justin Obikwu, Leon Scarlett.

⚽️ Swans : Lawrence Vigouroux 5 Filip Lissah 5 Ben Cabango (c),4 Stephen Welsh 6 (Jenson Seelt 46), 6 Josh Tymon 5 Marko Stamenic 4 (Goncalo Franco 64) 6 Stephen Eustaquio 3 Elijah Just 3 (Jay Fulton 46) 7 Joseph Opoku 6 (Jisung Eom 63) 5 Melker Widell 5 Adam Idah 6 (Zan Vipotnik 74) 4

Unused Substitutes: Andy Fisher, Jeremy Monga, Tiago Parente, Ross Stewart.

⚽️ Ref: Samuel Allison 6/10. At the start he looked like he wanted to be the centre of attention but gradually calmed down.

Attendance:

Photographs per disclosure at the foot of the report