Cifuentes appears to have doubts about his future as QPR boss
Marti Cifuentes appeared to have doubts about his future after a 1-1 draw with Stoke left QPR still bottom of the Championship and without a home win this season.
Cifuentes remains popular with fans after keeping the club up last season and has previously been bullish about having the support of the Rangers hierarchy, who, led by chief executive Christian Nourry, presided over an overhaul of the squad during the summer.
But the head coach’s tone seemed somewhat different after the game at Loftus Road.
He said: “The club knows very well, since the summer, that there are areas I think we need to improve.
“From there, I’m going to work to the best of my capacity to make sure that this club is at the level that I think it can be and that I think it deserves, because this club has amazing potential.
“I’m here as a coach trying to do my best. And there are other things that someone else has to decide.
“I’m not sure that I’ve ever seen a team bottom of the table, 11 or 12 games without a win, and the manager goes out and everyone is singing and supporting the way the fans did.
“This is something that will be in my heart all my life – all of my life. I feel amazing support from the players and fans.
“Everywhere I have been as a manager I achieved the target the club asked me to achieve. If now someone thinks there is a manager or a coaching problem, it’s not my call.”
Asked if he felt he had the support of his bosses, Cifuentes said: “I think that’s a question you should ask them, not me.”
Ben Gibson’s own goal gifted Rangers an equaliser after Tom Cannon had put Stoke ahead – and Zan Celar had missed a first-half penalty.
Despite Celar having failed to score since his arrival from Swiss outfit Lugano, and fellow summer signing Nicolas Madsen having scored all 13 of the spot-kicks he has taken during his senior career, it was the Slovenian striker who stepped up – and dragged his kick wide of the target.
Letting Celar take the penalty seemed like a desperate attempt to help him finally register a goal, but Cifuentes defended the move.
“We have three takers and this is based not only on their history as penalty takers in their careers but the way we practice the penalties,” said Cifuentes, who also indicated that the decision was ultimately taken by the players themselves.
“Zan is an excellent penalty taker and you could see that in Switzerland, Italy and for the national team. Both him and Nico, as long as they are on the pitch they are the takers.
“Now it is very easy to say (it was the wrong decision). But for a striker, in the moment that he is, it’s very important to score a goal.
“For me what is important is to have the courage to take a penalty in the situation where he is, because he knows he is a striker that has not scored, but to have the courage to take the penalty he has all my confidence and that is the way I support my players.
“If you’re not a good player you are not a top scorer in the Swiss league and you don’t play for the national team.
“Obviously now he is in a difficult moment and as a manager what I need to do is help him, because for me he is the best striker in the world along with Alfie (Lloyd) and Michy (Michael Frey). They are the three best strikers in the world for me.”
Rangers face a vital game away to fellow strugglers Cardiff City, who are currently five points clear of them, in midweek.
The pressure has been increased by the failure to get the win which would have taken the R’s above second-from-bottom Portsmouth, whose match against Blackburn was postponed.
And Cifuentes admitted: “It was difficult for me to address the players after the game. What can I tell them? I feel that they are doing 100% of what they can do.
“They are trying and working really hard and it has not been enough. The reality of the table is what it is and today once again we were not able to get the win.
“But I see a team that is committed, a team that is working really hard, and I’m going to work as hard as I can.”
