Madsen injury ‘a crucial moment’, Stephan says after QPR thrashing

Julien Stephan felt Nicolas Madsen going off was a “crucial moment” in QPR’s 5-0 drubbing at Southampton.

Rangers, whose season has been blighted by injury problems, were one down when their key midfielder suffered a hamstring injury.

“We have been in a good moment and when Nico has his injury it’s a crucial moment for us,” said Stephan.

“During 15 minutes after conceding the first goal, we had a good reaction – a very good collective reaction.

“I felt on the bench that it was possible to come back and create something collectively. But when we lost Nico it changed completely the momentum and we suffered more.”

Head coach Stephan said he took “full responsibility” for the result, apologised to fans, insisted the performance was “not the real face of QPR” and that they “will react” and “play with hunger and pride” against Sheffield United on Saturday.

He also admitted his changes in the second half were made because the game was obviously lost.

Stephan said: “In the second half it was more a question of management and thinking about the next one – how we give some minutes for some players and some rest for other players and think about the next one.”