Cifuentes ready for crucial spell for struggling QPR

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Marti Cifuentes admits the next two games are of huge importance to QPR.

A poor run of results has dragged Rangers back towards the Championship relegation zone.


They face a vital home match against Cardiff City next weekend, followed by a midweek visit to Oxford United.

Both those teams are struggling against the drop and failing to beat at least one of them would leave the R’s in real danger.

And head coach Cifuentes has appealed to Rangers fans to play their part in helping the team arrest their slump.

“I hope the fans, who have been excellent, will understand how massive the game is against Cardiff next week,” he said.

“The team is struggling at the moment – check the results and that’s the reality. So we need to do this together.

“I know that they (the fans) will be there, but I need to make sure everyone knows how important the next couple of weeks are.”

Saturday’s 3-1 loss at Stoke means Rangers, who are seven points above the bottom three, having gone six matches without a win – a run which has included five defeats – and have lost eight of their past 11 games.

“My focus is to make sure that the next game is a much better performance,” Cifuentes said.

“We need to make sure we understand how important the next couple of weeks is for us.

“How well those guys have done to put ourselves in the situation we are at this moment of the season despite all the adversity we went through in the last 10 or eight months, but the reality is that we can’t feel sorry for ourselves and the competition is ruthless.

“We need to make sure that we get back on track, that we get points again as soon as possible, because the main goal (avoiding relegation) is not achieved yet.”

Prior to QPR’s deterioration, an excellent run had lifted them well clear of the relegation battle, even suggesting a push towards the play-offs could be on.

It seemed at that stage that Championship survival was in the bag.

But Cifuentes insisted: “If someone thinks this way then I can tell him he is wrong – and I have been saying this for the last two or three months.

“Even two months ago, when I was asked about the play-offs, I said that this league is very ruthless and we need to make sure that we keep our standards. We need to stick together.”