QPR 0-1 Brighton: 5 things we learnt from Loftus Road

Fabian Hurzeler took charge of the Albion on English soil in front of supporters for the first time at Loftus Road where it finished QPR 0-1 Brighton.

It was a pretty dull game all things considered. QPR supporters had packed out their ground for their previous home friendly against Spurs. The visit of Brighton did not quite catch the imagination of the locals in the same way with the stadium half-empty.

3,000 or so intrigued Albion fans were there and in good voice at the start. As the game meandered boringly on, however, the main talking point seemed to be how long it took to buy a beer.

Liquid refreshment was very much needed to make the football enjoyable. Aside from the queues, here are five things we learnt from QPR 0-1 Brighton.

The Championship is better than the J-League

Nine goals scored in two games against Kashima Antlers and Tokyo Verdy had Brighton fans giddy with excitement over the potent attacking football already being displayed under Fabian Hurzeler.

QRR though proved a sterner test than either J-League side. The Albion’s only goal came from the penalty spot, Danny Welbeck converting after Yankubu Minteh was pushed over in the box by Jack Colback eight minutes into the second half.

Some Albion fans have expressed concern over the laboured manner in which Brighton overcame a “weak” Championship side. And whilst QPR did struggle to get out of their half at times and offered little threat going forward, that does a disservice to the hosts.

QPR improved massively after appointing Marti Cifuentes as manager at the end of October having looked doomed to relegation after a dismal opening three months of the 2023-24 campaign.

In a division as open as the Championship always is, they could be dark horses for a playoff place going into the new season.

QPR 0-1 Brighton proved the Championship is a much higher standard than the J-League. And Brighton needed that step up in class in terms of opponents, having faced the Antlers and Verdy for commercial reasons rather than football.

Will the Albion come to regret organising a pre-season schedule in which only two games are against decent opposition? Or is selling 10,000 baseball caps in Tokyo an acceptable price to pay for risking going into the new campaign undercooked?

Albion pressing impressive

In his post-match comments, Hurzeler seemed to imply the aim at Loftus Road was to focus on keeping a clean sheet and the way he wants the Albion to press.

“We worked very well against the ball. There was not a clear chance for our opponent and that was our goal for this game,” said Hurzeler.

“That we worked together, that we worked out of a compactness, that we have clear press signals. That we defend to score.”

“I think out of the compactness we had some chances and with the ball there were some good things, bad things.”

So effective was the Albion’s press in QPR 0-1 Brighton that the hosts were barely able to get out of their half at times.

And it was ultimately aggressively pressing high up the pitch that earned the Seagulls their penalty. Minteh stole the ball on the edge of the QPR box before advancing into the area and being sent to ground.

Whether trying to win possession off a team like Manchester City on the edge of their box is quite so effective remains to be seen. Or even Villarreal, who the Albion host at the Amex next weekend.

Carlos Baleba is going to be a superstar

We already know this from the glimpses of potential he offered last season, but it seems worth reiterating again – Carlos Baleba is going to be a superstar.

His skillset seems to be particularly well suited to the way Fabian Hurzeler plays. He has the athleticism to press and his ball carrying ability means he can help Brighton get into dangerous areas.

Baleba also brings versatility, something we know Hurzeler likes based on his use of a defensive midfielder as one of his three centre backs at St Pauli.

Many assumed that if Hurzeler were to use the same formation and tactics which took St Pauli to the Bundesliga 2 title, it would be new signing Matts Wieffer fulfilling the position at Brighton.

Baleba though has started two of Hurzeler’s three games so far as part of the Albion back line. If Baleba is trusted in such a vital role once the competitive stuff gets underway, he could be the breakout star of 2024-25 and see Chelsea pay £375 million for his services next summer.

Matts Wieffer needs time to adapt to English football

QPR 0-1 Brighton saw Wieffer make his first appearance in an Albion shirt following his £25 million from Feyenoord.

He looked a little surprised by the pace of the game, which some Brighton fans have called concerning given it was a laboured pre-season friendly.

The intensity will go up one, two, three notches when the Seagulls step out at Goodison Park to face Everton in a fortnight.

Wieffer though has never played outside of the Netherlands before. The speed at which the Premier League plays makes English football almost unique.

Particularly compared to the Eredivisie, which partly explains why so many players signed from the Netherlands never repeat their Dutch form in England. See Jahanbakhsh, Alireza.

That is not to say Wieffer is going to go down the same path as Jahanbakhsh or even DJ Jurgen Locadia. Just that he will need time and patience to adapt to English football – especially having missed most of pre-season so far injured.

Pascal Gross has a song

Pascal Gross established himself as arguably the greatest Brighton player over seven seasons with the Albion. Yet in all that time he never really had a song of any note.

Guess what happens at the first game after he leaves the Amex? He gets a song. Sung whilst he is now living 400 miles away in Dortmund. Fantastic work.