Team Focus: Hill & Dunne Crucial To QPR's Defensive Solidity

Given that they finished rock bottom of the Premier League last season, few would have envisioned Queens Park Rangers to have lost just once at this stage of the new season. The R’s have begun the campaign in blistering form, winning 8 of their opening 13 Championship fixtures and reaffirming their promotion credentials.

More importantly, QPR have conceded just 6 goals in England’s second tier thus far, a return that is bettered only by Southampton (3) and Tottenham (5) of the 92 teams in the top 4 divisions. Following a turbulent campaign in the Premier League under the stewardship of first Mark Hughes and then Harry Redknapp, the west London side have recovered remarkably well and, at the time of writing, are just 4 points off top spot, despite a run of 3 games without victory.

While the stars that arrived over the last 12 months, Stéphane Mbia, Esteban Granero and Loïc Remy, to name 3, have departed, the R’s continue to impress in the Championship. Much of that has been down to their resolute backline, with the team keeping 9 clean sheets in 13 league games this season, recently going an astonishing 836 minutes without conceding a goal between James Vaughan's strike in the 1-1 draw with Huddersfield at the beginning of August and Scott McDonald’s effort in the 2-2 draw with Millwall in October.

For a team that conceded 60 times last term, Redknapp’s priority for the summer was to bring in defensive reinforcements. Danny Simpson and Richard Dunne both arrived on free transfers, while Benoit Assou-Ekotto moved across London from Tottenham Hotspur on loan, and it's fair to say the club is reaping the rewards.

Experience has been the key to their league success thus far; with the average age of the back four in their last 4 league encounters - Simpson, Dunne, Hill and Assou-Ekotto - 31.4 years old. While many guffawed at the continuous use of Hill in the Premier League last season, the QPR captain has impressed this term with an average WhoScored rating of 7.45.

His displays has seen him awarded 3 WhoScored man of the match awards, with only Gary Mackenzie and Sam Vokes (both 6) picking up more in the Championship. While he’s started at left-back on 5 occasions this season, he's evidently Dunne's best partner in the middle of defence although his versatility has been of use.

The veteran defender is currently averaging 9.1 clearances per game for QPR, matching his statistically calculated style of play of ‘clears the ball out of defence often’, while Dunne has adoped a comparable defensive style to Hill, with the 34-year-old averaging 8.5 clearances per game. This ensures that when the R’s goal is threatened by the opposition, Hill and Dunne are both on hand to clear the ball away from danger by any means necessary.

Moreover, with the R's playing 533 accurate long balls this season, the most in the Championship, and Hill and Dunne accounting for 16.3% of this total, this indicates how the pairing are willing to directly move the ball from defence to the attack. This approach is a useful asset to the club when taking into account the pace of Shaun Wright-Phillips, Junior Hoilett and Andy Johnson.

This number of long balls doesn't necessarily reinforce QPR's WhoScored strength of 'counter attacks', but this facet will improve the chances of the west London side catching teams on the break, while the high figure of clearances per game will aid in facilitating this.

Efficient with the ball at their feet, both players are more capable when defending from any aerial bombardment. A WhoScored strength of QPR is ‘defending set pieces’ and it’s herein that both Hill and Dunne are excelling. The former is currently winning 4.6 headed battles per game, while the latter is averaging 3.6, indicating their dominance in the air.

Evidently, while the approach to defending isn’t necessarily the most pleasing on the eye, it is certainly effective as a means of ensuring the team are shipping as few a goals as possible. Having conceded an average of 10.4 shots per game, the fewest in the Championship, the style of play of both Hill and Dunne appears to be working in QPR’s favour.

With the free signing of USA international Oguchi Onyewu, the strength in depth of the R’s defence has improved significantly following the arrival of the highly experienced centre-back. Yet, with the form of both Hill and Dunne, the former Milan and Malaga centre-back will likely have to settle for a place on the bench for the time being.

The performances the duo are consistently churning out this season will significantly aid QPR in their promotion push. Defensively sound and able to instigate counter attacks from the back, it’s little wonder that Hill and Dunne are considered Redknapp’s starting centre-back pairing in an R’s side that are looking like they could return to the Premier League at the first opportunity.

Have Clint Hill and Richard Dunne proven they're deserving of being QPR's first choice centre-back pairing? Let us know in the comments below