While this week hasn’t produced the results that the more extreme critics of Dean Smith may have been hoping for, nor have they done much to dispel the feeling that City are currently an upper mid-table team rather than genuine automatic promotion candidates.

Saturday’s win against Stoke was welcome and included 20 minutes of genuinely impressive attacking football which went some way to dim the memories of the turgid 70 minutes that had gone before.

The introduction of Todd Cantwell, Marcelino Nunez and Gabby Sara gave City a degree of hunger that had been conspicuously absent as a poor Stoke side were shown a level of respect that their toothless football did not deserve.

Nevertheless, the win was ultimately more important than the performance and gave hope that that final flourish could be carried into Wednesday’s game against a much tougher opponent, and so it proved in the opening 20 minutes when City could well have been two goals ahead but for the excellence of Seny Dieng in the visitors’ goal.

However, as the game went on a well-drilled QPR were not only able to keep City at bay but also create goal threats of their own, with Angus Gunn having to continue his impressive form as the Hoops started to cause problems on the break.

In fairness, it was a much more entertaining game to watch than Saturday’s, but that will be of little consolation to the home fans who saw another two points slip away and the gap to the top of the table widen. Carrow Road is certainly not the fortress that Dean Smith said he wanted it to be at the start of the season.

Worryingly, there were once again plenty of empty seats, although the roadworks that are causing night time closures on the A47 and the fact that the game was televised will have contributed to that, but absent fans were also a noticeable factor on Saturday too, and that must be a concern for the club, especially with season ticket renewals not too far away.

City certainly didn’t play badly, but they did, once QPR had settled into a low block, play exceedingly slowly, and the frustration in the stands was palpable at one move in the second half when they completed nearly 20 passes without once crossing the halfway line.

While I appreciate the value of keeping possession, it has to have an end product and all too often the ball was played between the back four and goalkeeper while the visitors simply sat back, safe in the knowledge that with 10 outfield players available to deal with six they were unlikely to give up space in dangerous areas.

Liam Gibbs and Isaac Hayden tried to offer a link between defence and attack, but Hayden is not an adventurous passer and Gibbs had a rather profligate evening on the ball, with too many misplaced passes.

Consequently, with the left-footed Sara looking uncomfortable on the right wing it was largely left up to Aaron Ramsey, who had been outstanding against Stoke, and Cantwell to provide an attacking spark and while they both worked manfully to do so they were well marshalled by a team that had clearly done their homework.

Even so, it was somewhat surprising that Cantwell was withdrawn just at a point where the game was becoming more open and his ability to run at defenders might have been more effective.

The only way for City to get out of the current rut is to display greater bravery in possession, but at the moment players seem to be afraid of making a mistake, and while it could be argued that that’s down to a run of poor results and criticism from the fans, the reality is that not that much has changed from the early part of the season, other than the results that have been obtained.