Queens Park Rangers manager Marti Cifuentes has shares his verdict on Leeds United after his side’s defeat at Elland Road.
QPR are now without a win in 11 matches after their 2-0 loss at the hands of Leeds, in what is a very difficult moment for Cifuentes’ team.
The away side were without several key players including Ilias Chair, Karamoko Dembele and Jack Colback, and in truth, never looked like hurting Leeds.
On another day, Leeds could quite easily have won by a more comfortable margin, particularly after the impressive Jayden Bogle opened the scoring early on.
However, it wasn’t until the 95th minute that QPR were finally put to bed as Joel Piroe finally showed the composure Leeds needed to find that second goal.
Cifuentes shares his verdict on ‘very good’ Leeds
QPR had just 31 per cent possession and four shots during the 90 minutes at Elland Road, but that sort of performance isn’t how they’ve always looked under Cifuentes.
In the penultimate game of last season, QPR inflicted Leeds’ worst defeat of the Farke era by all but ending their automatic promotion hopes with a 4-0 win.
However, they certainly looked a far cry from that evening, and speaking post-match, Cifuentes has admitted QPR simply had to be ‘perfect’ if they were to get anywhere near matching a ‘very good’ Leeds team.
He said: “Definitely Leeds were the better team in the game. We tried to compete at the highest level we could. We knew that Leeds is a very good team.
“They have the capacity to build very well with two centre halves and two midfielders dropping deep, and then full backs really high and a lot of players in the pockets, we knew about their capacity in the build up.
“And we knew that we had to do almost the perfect defensive game out of possession, and then use our chances.
“It is true that when we arrived to the last third, when you have got situations like the few that we got today, you need to have a high level of accuracy if you want to get something from a game like today.
“I am sad for the guys because we are in a very difficult trend but we played against a very good team.”
Farke makes prediction about QPR after Leeds win
Cifuentes showed the quality he has a manager by how he took QPR from the depths of despair to a very comfortable finish last season.
Despite being in a tough situation right now, Farke has backed Cifuentes to turn things around and guide QPR to finish much higher in the table than where they are now.
He told his press-conference: “Everyone expects us to win. It’s not easy. We had to be on it. Electrifying first half. Took a deserved lead. Goal of the season given offside. Fantastic goal. If they are in doubt a flag always goes up.
“Second half, central players have to carry all the burden because of the injuries. Had to adapt our style and not give chances away. QPR struggling with injuries, but they will finish in a better position than they are. Gave just two wide free-kicks away.”
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