Warburton: QPR were too soft in derby defeat
Mark Warburton accused his QPR side of showing Fulham too much respect after a second-half collapse saw them go down 4-1 at Craven Cottage.
Lyndon Dykes’ equaliser saw Rangers enjoy their best spell of the game, having been on the back foot for much of the first half.
However, two goals in four minutes put the match out of their reach before Jordy de Wijs deflected an Antonee Robinson shot past Seny Dieng deep into injury time.
“I thought there was a bit of softness about us in the first half, the basics of duels we didn’t do well enough,” Rangers boss Warburton said.
“You can play all the nice football you like, but you have to do the basics right.
“In the first half that was summed up by the goal. Mitrovic is a talented forward but he has time to bring it down in the box and finish. That can’t happen.
“Seny then made a very good save and we could have been two down.
“We wanted an aggressive change at half-time and Lyndon came on and scored a good goal and I thought we were in the ascendancy and could have taken that position forward and maximised it.
“But we have to recognise, we can’t be soft, can’t give away a goal of that nature for the second.
“People say that was an outstanding header, but we had three versus one in the box.
“That can’t happen. It changed the momentum of the match. It was a really poor third goal and the fourth is a deflection which can happen.
“But I felt we had a softness about us in periods of the game, which is unlike us.
“When we are good we have to take the plaudits but today there were too many basic errors.”
Warburton defended the decision not to start with Dykes, who scored the winner for Scotland in midweek against the Faroe Islands.
Rangers looked much better following his introduction in place of the struggling Dom Ball at half-time.
“Dom was a tactical move – he was on a yellow card and Stefan (Johansen) got a late one and we wanted to be more on the front foot,” Warburton said.
“Lyndon has two massive games this week – two 90-minute performances – and you have to look after these players.
“We have seven games in 21 days. I need to make sure I use the players as well as I can.
“It’s easy to say I should have played him for an hour and brought him off. He came on and did a good job but we didn’t maximise it when it was 1-1.”
18/10/2021 @ 10:12 am
Crap, crap and yet more crap – and that just the manager talking.
17/10/2021 @ 8:55 am
Dread to think how many more fouls and yellow cards would have been picked up if we hadn’t been too soft and respectful. This Manager does talk rubbish at times instead of concentrating on certain individuals who he brought in and are not good enough at this level.
16/10/2021 @ 10:06 pm
I disagree with the previous comment. Fundamentally the financial relative riches of Fulham (ex premier league with parashoot payments) was clear to see – just look at the bench. That being said, yes I think we were too cautious and timid in the first half. Bringing on Dykes coinciding with a mentality change to be on the front foot was exciting and brought a deserved equalizer… However, a magnificent header from Mitrovic (Superstar at championship level…anonymous at premier league) seemed to knock the stuffing out…and it was backwards and chasing from there on. Not so disheartened. TBH The premier league to Championship differential is so great that I see West Brom, Fulham (despite their shock defeat to Coventry) walking away with automatic places… question is with a strong Bournemouth is there any chance for anyone else? I think yes…. QPR can make the playoffs
16/10/2021 @ 9:33 pm
Dieng must be dropped.We need a decent goalkeeper .That is the must for a goodbye team.
16/10/2021 @ 7:06 pm
Someone needs to take a long hard look at their performances. Simply not good enough for this league let alone thinking about finishing in the top 6. If this is the standard we would finish in the bottom 6 of the Conference.