‘No problem’ with Clarke-Salter, says QPR boss
Julien Stephan has insisted that Jake Clarke-Salter remains on course for a first-team return despite the QPR defender going off 11 minutes into his comeback game.
Clarke-Salter, sidelined since undergoing hip surgery in January, started for Rangers’ development side in a match against Swansea but was soon withdrawn after feeling some discomfort.
West London Sport revealed on Wednesday that a scan had shown nothing of note and that, despite the apparent setback, he was expected to continue training as normal.
And this was subsequently confirmed by head coach Stephan after the goalless draw at home to Oxford United.
“Just a precaution. No problem with him,” Stephan said.
“He will restart training sessions very quickly. I don’t know whether it will be at the end of this week or the beginning of next week, but no problem.”
Stephan stood by the decision to make five changes to QPR’s starting line-up against Oxford.
It was the second of three matches they will play in the space of a week and Stephan insisted changes were therefore necessary.
“It was important for me to involve different players, with three games in one week,” he said.
“It’s just the beginning of the season and we need to do the season with 17, 18, 19, 20 players – not only 11.
“It was our plan to put fresh players at the beginning. If we always play with the same starting 11 I think in two months we will have these players completely dying, probably.
“So if we want a good season, we need more players playing during the season.”
