Critchley excited to link up with Chair and expects ‘selection headache’

QPR boss Neil Critchley believes Ilias Chair’s involvement in Morocco’s World Cup third-fourth play-off match with Croatia will have done him the world of good ahead of his return to west London.

Chair became only the fifth QPR player to feature in a World Cup fixture when he was introduced at half-time in the Atlas Lions’ 2-1 defeat, having watched from the sidelines as Morocco became the first African side to reach the semi-finals of the World Cup.

The 25-year-old’s long-awaited appearance saw him follow in the footsteps of Alan McDonald, Terry Fenwick, Paul Parker and Yun Suk-young, and Critchley is looking forward to working with him when he checks in at Heston this week.

“I’m delighted for Ilias. He loves to play football and I’m sure it was a very special moment for him,” Critchley said.

“Players want to play and I although I am yet to meet Ilias, it’s obvious to see that he is someone who loves to play football and he will feel relieved to have got some minutes under his belt at a World Cup.

“We will be pleased to have him back and we may also have one or two back and I may have a selection headache for the Cardiff game.

“But we have a lot of games over the Christmas period there are a lot of games and it will be nice for some of the other players play if they get the opportunity.”

Critchley got his reign off to the perfect start with a deserved 1-0 win over Preston in freezing conditions and said he was thrilled to back on the sidelines having been out of the game since Steven Gerrard’s sacking by Aston Villa.

“I loved it. It’s special to be back in football, you miss it when you are not around it,” he said.

“When you are standing on the touchline it’s a good feeling and we’ve managed to get a good three points.

“But it’s just a start and we now need to go to Cardiff and back that up.”