Queens Park Rangers v Barnsley: Romal Palmer ready for Loftus Road repeat

The midfield player would be forgiven for pinching himself at his rapid progress since being handed a shock debut for the Reds in their game in West London on June 20 of last year – on the first weekend back after the first lockdown of 2020.

On that summer day, Barnsley triumphed 1-0 and followed up with a 3-1 victory during their surge to the play-off places last term. Not bad, considering that the Oakwell outfit had not previously won at Loftus Road since 1950.

Palmer now heads to QPR as a Championship player of growing stature, with his showing last weekend against Coventry bearing further testament to that.

He has come a long way.

Palmer said: “I made my debut there without the fans and it will be nice to savour the atmosphere there and hopefully we can quieten it down a little bit.

“It was a great day and hopefully we can do the same thing.

“A whole lot of confidence came for me that day, 100 per cent. I even remember not feeling nervous. I was just excited and proud and I felt like that just kicked me on and it was the start of being able to integrate into the first team.

“It was an amazing day and I hope for many more.”

Barnsley head south after a mixed week with a disappointing 1-0 home loss to Luton Town following on from a single-goal win over Coventry, again at Oakwell.

Given the fact that Markus Schopp is just three league matches into his Reds tenure and is in the process of tweaking the club’s playing style, Palmer believes that time is needed to establish a new way of playing.

He added: “After the game on Tuesday, I was speaking to a couple of their players and they were saying that they did not know what to expect and thought it might have been direct.

“It’s good to be off the cuff sometimes and to be able to play differently in certain situations. It’s about being able to do what we did last year and switch it around in certain areas and it will only benefit us.”