Lucas Andersen’s first QPR start: Dropping in, pressing high and moving well
Lucas Andersen has made a promising start to his Queens Park Rangers career, with two assists in his first three games helping Marti Cifuentes’ side to four valuable points as they try to avoid relegation from the Championship.
Perhaps it should be no surprise that it has taken little time for Andersen to show his quality. He has played Champions League football for Ajax, yet recent injury issues, combined with the fact he hadn’t played a competitive game since the start of November, initially suggested it would take time for the Danish international to adjust to the Championship.
However, in setting up the winning goal for Ilias Chair against Bristol City at Ashton Gate on Saturday, Andersen produced his most significant QPR moment yet in what was an overall performance to provide hope that he can be the catalyst for a survival charge.
Andersen in possession
It is what Andersen can do with the ball that surely prompted Cifuentes to push to reunite with the midfielder he worked alongside in Denmark. He took just ten minutes to show his quality on his debut against Norwich, coming off the bench to set up Michael Frey’s equaliser in the 2–2 draw.
His first two appearances had come as a substitute when QPR were trailing, meaning we were always likely to see different elements of his skillset in this first start against Bristol City.
Another interesting personnel change from Cifuentes was to bring Jimmy Dunne back into the starting line-up. This initially made it seem that the Spaniard might have moved away from his preferred 4–3–3 formation, but Dunne ended up replacing Reggie Cannon like-for-like as a right back.
Dunne had a good game overall, but his presence also changed Rangers’ approach.
This was best seen at goal kicks; QPR still played short from them, but Dunne was pushed high up the pitch to offer a potential out ball due to his aerial ability.
Despite this, QPR were still comfortable playing through right-sided centre-back Steve Cook, and this was in no small part thanks to Andersen.
You can see below that Andersen dropped into a nominal right-back position at times when QPR tried to build attacks. Occupying the space left by Dunne pushing forward, this ended up being an effective way for Rangers to progress the ball.
He doesn’t receive the ball in the instance above, with Cook opting for a longer pass in the direction of Dunne, but the way in which the defender continued to push high at goal kicks and Andersen continued to drop in seems like early proof of Cifuentes’ confidence in getting the midfielder on the ball in deeper areas.
Andersen’s fluid positioning made it hard for Bristol City’s left winger (Sam Bell before he was replaced by Harry Cornick on 26 minutes), to know where to follow him.
Andersen’s more central positioning here allows him to receive the ball from Cook before laying a pass into the path of Isaac Hayden to break the first line of the Bristol City press.
It was not only spaces in deeper areas that Andersen occupied effectively though. From a starting position as the right-sided central midfielder of the three, he regularly made runs that would see him go beyond the QPR forward line.
This is something we have not seen a lot of from QPR’s central midfielders this season. Joe Hodge’s debut goal against Blackburn stood out because of how different it looked to the movements we had previously seen from players in his position.
Andersen made these sort of movements for fun against Bristol City though, and it is shown clearly in the only goal of the game.
Having already drifted into the wide right channel a couple of times, usually getting wider and beyond Willock in the process, Andersen does the same when Willock collects possession following a Hayden turnover.
Andersen’s movement creates space for Willock to carry the ball forward. Rob Dickie (black arrow) cannot commit to moving forward to close down Willock as it could allow a pass to be played into the central space behind him, leaving either Andersen or Lyndon Dykes a clear run at goal.
Andersen’s vision and technical ability was shown in his cross for Frey against Norwich, and what he produces for Chair here is every bit as good.
In his post-match interview with the club website, he praised the movement of Dykes for opening up the space for him to find Chair on the edge of the box, yet this a further indication of what seems to be Andersen’s ability to see goal-scoring situations as they develop.
He ends up finding the perfect low pass for Chair to run on to and slot beyond Max O’Leary in the Bristol City goal.
Andersen was not restricted to remaining on the right though. Throughout Cifuentes’ reign so far, we have seen Willock and Chair regularly pop up on the ‘wrong’ side of the pitch compared to the one on which they nominally start the game.
This has allowed them to combine effectively at times. It is clear they enjoy playing with each other thanks to their shared technical ability, and in Andersen they may well have found someone to make their partnership a triumvirate.
This was best shown in the second half.
Chair comes over from the left to receive possession, and Andersen and Willock are immediately available as passing options.
Chair lays the ball off to Andersen before spinning in behind and making a run down the line.
Andersen lays it into his path, Chair picks out Sam Field in the box, and Andersen ends up standing still on the edge of the box while everyone else is moving to create room for a shot at goal.
It is another situation we have not really seen that much of from QPR’s central midfielders under Cifuentes, with the emphasis on attacking play resting heavily on the shoulders of Chair, Willock, and of late, Sinclair Armstrong.
Andersen out of possession
As much as Andersen’s involvement in the goal was vital to QPR securing this much-needed win, his performance out of possession was also an important factor that contributed to the victory.
Of late, we have increasingly seen Cifuentes allow the central midfielders either side of the central holding player to move higher up when the opposition have the ball in their own half.
This has made the effective 4–5–1 defensive shape that the head coach prefers more aggressive, helping QPR disrupt opposition moves further up the pitch.
The screenshots below show that while QPR maintained the 4–5–1 when Bristol City had the ball in their half, Andersen was able to spring forward as soon as the ball was played back to a defender.
We can see a similar situation below:
With Field the other side of Hayden, there did appear to be an emphasis on Andersen pushing forward to join Dykes. This rarely opened up gaps down the right-hand side though, with Willock putting in a good defensive shift to cover the space behind Andersen along with Hayden.
Something that stood out that we have perhaps not seen before from Cifuentes’ QPR was a willingness to allow Andersen to break from the 4–5–1 shape and move over to the left of the pitch to help pen Bristol City in when they had possession against the touchline.
It will be interesting to see over the coming games whether this is something of an evolution in how QPR operate without the ball.
Andersen got through almost 70 minutes before being replaced — not long after he had dropped to the floor through what seemed to be tiredness.
Next weekend’s crucial encounter with struggling Rotherham will likely be a very different game, against an opponent that is going to be far more direct in possession.
This may even mean that it is not a game best suited to Andersen’s qualities, and Cifuentes now has the options available to him to pick his team on an opponent by opponent basis.
However, all of the signs from Andersen’s first start in English football suggest he will be a valuable asset for QPR in what remains of this season.
