QPR struggled, admits frustrated Cifuentes

Marti Cifuentes admitted QPR’s performance against Swansea was simply not good enough.

Rangers were beaten 2-1 at Loftus Road, where they failed to muster a shot on target until substitute Karamoko Dembele pulled a goal back in the second half.

Boss Cifuentes took some consolation from his team’s late flurry, youngster Emmerson Sutton coming on for his senior debut and the impact of Rangers’ other substitutes, but admitted it was otherwise a day to forget.

“Until minute 65, I didn’t like what I saw,” the Spaniard said.

“Credit to the guys showing resilience and a mentality to try to push and get something from the game.

“That push, even if I felt it was more about emotion than creating clear chances, we had the capacity to make them suffer a bit.

“The way we competed until the last second of the game is the positive today for me, together with Emmerson Sutton’s debut at the bench’s impact.

“I would say those are the three positives. The first 65 minutes, no-one can be about it. That was below what we expect.

“Sometimes the opposition are just better than you, and they were better.

“They were aggressive in the way they pressed. We struggled with how to find solutions to this.

“But it has been tough because of all the injuries we have had. We have been missing key players.”

Cifuentes had to make a last-minute change to his side after Jonathan Varane, who was named in the starting line-up, suffered an apparent thigh strain during the pre-match warm-up so was replaced in the team by Morgan Fox – whose own goal pur Swansea ahead.

It continued a horrible trend of Rangers losing players to non-contact, muscular injuries.

An exasperated Cifuentes said: “Today in the warm-up Jonathan something feels something muscular. What else? What else?!”

Asked if the injuries were merely bad luck or an issue which needed to be addressed, Cifuentes said: “Generally in life I don’t believe in luck or bad luck.

“Obviously there is nothing you can do about Sam Field getting a tackle – that’s part of the game.

“Perhaps we need to review other areas. Definitely I think we are going to do that internally.

“It’s the first time in my career I’ve experienced something like this (so many injuries) and definitely, as in all areas, we need to improve.”

Meanwhile, Koki Saito, who suffered a dislocated shoulder during Friday’s win at Preston, will see a specialist in order to establish whether he must have surgery.