McClaren says coaching duo deserve credit for QPR turnaround

Steve McClaren says John Eustace and Matt Gardiner deserve much of the credit for QPR’s improvement.

Assistant manager Eustace and coach Gardiner arrived from non-League Kidderminster after McClaren took over as Rangers boss in the summer.

The new regime made an appalling start, losing their first four league games – a run which included a 7-1 hammering at West Brom.

But since that four-game stumble, Rangers have lost just two of their subsequent 11 league matches and Friday’s victory over Aston Villa was their third win in a row.

McClaren’s side have also kept four clean sheets during five-match unbeaten run – a far cry from the disastrous opening to the season.

He puts the resurgence largely down to the loan signings of strikers Nahki Wells and Tomer Hemed and midfielder Geoff Cameron.

But McClaren says Eustace and Gardiner have also influenced the team’s defending and set-pieces.

“Wherever you go you’ve got to build from the back and you’ve got to be hard to beat,” McClaren said.

“You can’t be open and concede goals. We were doing that in the first four games so we had to change and had to adapt.

“The signings have been beneficial for us. I think Geoff Cameron in front of that back four has been immense and Nahki Wells and Tomer Hemed have given us a threat.

“But there’s also the work the players have done on the training field and the work that Matt Gardiner and John Eustace have been doing in terms of organisation – and set plays are vital.”

Meanwhile, Rangers are assessing a hamstring injury Cameron picked up against Villa.