Cifuentes defiant after woeful QPR defeat

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Marti Cifuentes admitted he understood the frustration among QPR fans following a chastening home defeat against Middlesbrough – but insisted he remains “100% confident” he can turn things around.

Rangers remain second from bottom of the Championship table and without a home win this season.

And many of the home fans made their discontent clear during and after the 4-1 loss to Boro at Loftus Road.

“It’s normal and it’s fair when you don’t win football games,” said Cifuentes.

“Hopefully they see a team that is trying their best. Hopefully they see a team that is honest in the way that we approach the games.

“Unfortunately so far it has not been enough, so I think that it is fair that they are not happy at the moment. No-one is. I’m not happy and the players are not happy.

“The only solution is to stay together. That was the main key of our success last season in a very difficult situation.

“This season will be the same in the sense that we will need everyone. Hopefully we can start getting the wins we need and the mood will change.”

The head coach added: “I’m 100% confident. I’ve been in situations like this all my career and I’ve always succeeded.

“If someone expected that this would be an easy season then I think that was wrong. I said many times during the summer that expectations should be realistic.”

The result was a major setback after improved performances in recent draws against Coventry, Burnley and Sunderland.

Two Boro goals in the space of four first-half minutes did much of the damage.

“It’s difficult to explain because every game is different,” Cifuentes said.

“We had big expectations after three games where we got points and the performances were getting better and better.

“I would say that today we got some good minutes against a very good team – I would say that Middlesbrough is a very good team that is underperforming.

“At 2-0 they had only two shots and two goals. They’ve got the quality to finish.

“That’s the way it is in this league. It’s very disappointing, today’s result, but we need to look forward and we need to quickly change the dynamic.

“We know that once you get that victory you can then start to capitalise and change the dynamic very quickly.”