For Queens Park Rangers, going from Mick Beale to Gareth Ainsworth may feel like an afternoon of French cinema followed by a Michael Bay marathon. From a cultured, modern, possession-based approach to an uber-direct, up-and-at-’em style that would not have looked out of place on the mud-bath pitches of the mid-1990s.
But, almost like Sean Dyche at Burnley, that ‘old-school’ tag does Ainsworth a disservice. Does he really stick like a limpet to a rock to that alleged ‘long-ball’ approach? Or was that merely the means of getting the best out of a Wycombe side who punched well above their weight on a shoestring budget?
Give him a more talented squad, and more financial freedom, can Ainsworth preside over a style that is more Mick Beale and less Mike Bassett?
Gareth Ainsworth is the new QPR manager
“If I was to sign (former Wycombe targetman Adebayo) Akinfenwa, I think the fans could expect a certain style of play!” Ainsworth tells the QPR website following his unveiling this week.
“I think you cut your cloth accordingly to what you’ve got. There are different ways to play the game. At times, we probably had to go a little more direct at Wycombe – but it paid dividends. What I’ve learned along the way are different ways of playing and different ways to adapt.
“If anyone wants to watch our last 10 goals at Wycombe on the internet, go and have a look and tell me how many are direct!”
Outstanding displays from Anis Mehmeti, Gareth McCleary and Lewis Wing under Ainsworth at Adams Park – three highly technical attacking talents – suggest that Chris Willock, Ilias Chair and co are not destined to spend the next few months watching whiplash-inducing hoofs fly overhead. Ainsworth has evolved as time has gone on, a la Dyche did at Turf Moor.
‘We’ve seen a shift’
“From League Two to the Championship, the building blocks were attritional football. It was ‘caveman football’ basically; get it long, get it up to the big man, be incredibly solid, be the best set-piece team in the league,” EFL expert George Elek tells the Not The Top 20 podcast.
“But I think we’ve seen a shift in the last two years. We’ve seen more technically-gifted players brought in (at Wycombe), and given more creative responsibility. And the football has been better for it. It’s not as attritional as it used to be, they play through the lines a lot more.
“We’ve already seen that Gareth Ainsworth is adept at creative an effective side who aren’t just solid at the back, getting the ball long, or look to get balls into the box. We are now seeing an evolution of that.”
Yes, Ainsworth’s Wycombe averaged the fifth-lowest possession numbers in League One this season, and still prefer to get the ball forward with as few touches as possible. A stark contrast to Beale’s more patient approach. But if Ainsworth can do with Willock and Chair what he did with McCleary, Wing and Mehmeti (now at Bristol City) there is no reason why his QPR team cannot be both highly-effective and aesthetically-pleasing.
Chair and Willock will be key to Ainsworth’s hopes of success
The rockabilly gaffer has utilised a three-man backline at times but set up Wycombe more often than not in a 4-2-3-1 formation this season. In Brandon Hanlon and Wolves loanee Chem Campbell – taking over from Mehmeti – Ainsworth used two quick, direct widemen either side of a physical number nine in Sam Vokes (playing the Akinfenwa role).
David Wheeler often started as the most attacking of the central trio; the hard-working Josh Scowen giving both Wheeler and Lewis Wing the freedom to join the attack. Wing, despite a deep-lying role on paper, has eight goals this term; 2022/23 the most prolific campaign of his EFL career.
Stefan Johansen, two goals and six assists this term, is perhaps the best suited to that box-to-box role, with Sam Field (QPR’s most prolific tackler) putting out fires in behind. Chair, the diminutive, 5ft 2ins Moroccan with a penchant for the spectacular, is likely to retain his role in the centre, with Willock drifting in from the flanks. Do not be surprised to see 19-year-old Sinclair Armstrong become a key player under Ainsworth too; his speed and directness helping turn defence into attack via quick transitions.
In Lyndon Dykes, meanwhile, QPR have a 6ft-something, battering ram of a number nine who looks tailor-made for Ainsworth. With the Scot out of action for the ‘foreseeable future’, however, that role is likely to fall into Chris Martin’s lap instead; the 34-year-old veteran brought in from Bristol City in January.
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