The natives are restless down The Bush and it is easy to see why.

Matchday six in the Premier League became the sixth game without a win for a QPR side that at times looked imperious, but for the vast majority of this battle of styles looked clueless.

The criticism of Mark Hughes is starting to look increasingly justified - particularly for appearing to miss the obvious threats.

Last week, it was the dual threat of Gareth Bale and Aaron Lennon that was obviously what we needed to guard against. Both were instrumental in our demise.

On Monday night, a similar threat was always going to come from the wings - and a regular bombardment of the penalty area.

And so it came to pass when, just three minutes in, Ricardo Vaz Te skipped round Clint Hill (who should never play full-back again) and the ball was whipped in, half-cleared then looped to the back post for Matt Jarvis to nod home from half a yard past a startled Julio Cesar.

The second was every bit as painful. A corner. A panic. A half clearance. A man free on the back post to volley in his first of the season from point blank range. It looked, and was, a shambles.

In the second half there were glimpses of the side that gave Tottenham a footballing lesson in the first half at White Hart Lane, but all proved too little too late - particularly after indiscipline reared its ugly head once more.

While West Ham were deservedly shown a record eight cards - mainly for timewasting, QPR were shown just three cards by the over-excited Mark Clattenburg. Unfortunately, one of them was red. Samba Diakite regressed to his 33-minute debut against Fulham last year, this time managing just 20 minutes before two rash challenges saw him exit stage left. One can only assume that that is his 'one for the season'.

Hughes was forced to bring Diakite on to add a little beef to a middle four (average height 5'9") that was being bullied by the Irons. Playmaker Alejandro Faurlin (the tallest at 6'1") was looking shell-shocked from the brutal dominance of Kevin Nolan, Mark Noble, James Collins and Mohamed Diame (average height 6'1"). Park Ji-Sung was replaced by Diakite after an indifferent game, while Adel Taarabt came on for Shaun Wright-Phillips - who may find himself warming the bench on Saturday.

Their arrival spirited a revival. But a soft yellow for pulling back Vaz Te on the halfway line was compounded when Diakite clattered into Guy Demel in no-man's land, ending any hope of a fightback.

Diakite's evening was in stark contrast to Taarabt who punctuated his return to first-team action for the first time since the opening drubbing by Swansea with a wonder strike little more than a minute after his arrival.

Even so, West Ham continued to time waste and deservedly picked up a Premier League record eight yellows for their cynicism. Djibril Cisse came close a couple of times in the receding minutes, while Esteban Granero - a rare spark of light in the middle of the park - should have grabbed the equaliser with a drive. As time ticked on, Faurlin smacked an effort from 30 yards, but it was never going to beat Jussi Jaaskelainen.

The Malian's indiscipline aside, most of the post-match focus is on the performance of a defence that is starting to cost us winnable games. But here I can sympathise with Hughes.

Because there is a stark fact that escapes most people when talking about the difficulties that Hughes has had with marshalling a porous defence this season: just once has he been able to pick the same back four in consecutive league matches.

The game? Chelsea. The result? Clean sheet.

And I'm pretty sure he has never been able to pick what he regards as his strongest back four - which, for the record, I believe is Jose Bosingwa - Anton Ferdinand - Stephane Mbia - Fabio da Silva.

With Kieron Dyer now rumoured to be injured, the amount of defenders Hughes has in the physio room is five - Ferdinand, Bosingwa, Fabio and Traore the others. I make that three out of his first-choice unavailable.

It is also 20% of his playing staff and, with Andy Johnson also out long-term, the board's decision to build a squad with strength in depth has been the right one.

After all, our defence at the same stage last season highlights just how much progress has been made. It included Fitz Hall and Luke Young.

" Perhaps for those fans leaving Loftus Road last night with thoughts of a new manager in their minds there is a salutary lesson from Hughes's alma mater.

In December 1989 Manchester United fans, bloodied by a mid-table finish the year before and frustrated that all a glut of high-paid expensive fresh blood got them was a 5-1 drubbing to bitter rivals, Manchester City, unfurled a banner at Old Trafford.

It read: "Three years of excuses and it's still crap...ta-ra Fergie."

Whatever happened to that banner, I wonder?

Follow Sean Smith on Twitter @seanshorn

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