Dan Evans’ takeaways from QPR’s 2-1 defeat to Sheffield Wednesday – Cifuentes’ subs finally fail to have the desired impact in late collapse

QPR missed the chance to move out of the Championship relegation zone after falling to a late 2-1 loss to Sheffield Wednesday.

Here are Dan Evans’ takeaways from the game at Hillsborough.

Cifuentes finally makes a substitution that doesn’t work

So far in his short tenure as QPR head coach, Marti Cifuentes has impressed with his ability to change matches through his use of the substitutes’ bench.

Chris Willock came on to score and help earn Cifuentes his first win against Stoke before Ilias Chair was brought off the bench to provide a pair of assists in the victory at Preston that followed.

Even changes that have less directly impacted the score line have impressed, with alterations at full back and centre back seeming unconventional but ultimately helping the new Rangers boss to 12 points from his first seven games in charge.

However, at Hillsborough on Saturday, Cifuentes’ substitutions did not make QPR better and arguably even contributed to their late collapse.

The half-time introduction of Willock and Lyndon Dykes did little to add any greater threat in attack, but it was the decision to bring on Steve Cook and change to a back five that proved costly.

Sheffield Wednesday had fashioned just one shot on target before Cook was brought on for midfielder Andre Dozzell in the 83^rd minute, and the change seemed to signal QPR were planning to try and defend their way to victory.

Cifuentes said afterwards that he had not wanted his team to drop so deep to try and hold on to their lead, but just three minutes after that change the QPR backline was camped in its own penalty area as Bailey Cadamarteri lashed home an equaliser from the edge of the box.

The extra body in defence did not help Rangers hang on to a point either, with Ashley Fletcher allowed to head against the post from inside the box in the 94^th minute before Anthony Musaba turned in the winning goal.

Set-piece uncertainty emerges again

Wednesday’s late winner arrived after a corner was only cleared as far as Barry Bannan, who crossed back into the box to allow chaos to ensue.

Cifuentes considered this conceding from a set piece in his post-match analysis, and deadball situations had looked like the home side’s only way of threatening Rangers for much of the game.

Jake Clarke-Salter and Jimmy Dunne both made important clearances from first-half corners, but in the second half, a wicked Will Vaulks delivery looked as though it had drawn the home side level.

The delivery from Vaulks arced over Asmir Begovic and may well have crossed the line despite Clarke-Salter’s attempt to clear, but referee Andy Davies blew for a generous foul as Callum Paterson tangled with Begovic.

QPR massively struggled to defend dead balls in Cifuentes’ first game at Rotherham, with forward Georgie Kelly netting an equaliser from a free kick, and Stoke’s Ryan Mmaee also scored against them at Loftus Road after they failed to clear a corner.

It is an issue that seems to have been resolved since, yet these problems against a physical Sheffield Wednesday side will give Cifuentes plenty to think about.

Strong left side continues to catch the eye

In last week’s 0-0 draw with Plymouth at Loftus Road, it was clear to see that the visitors were desperate to channel QPR’s attacks down their right-hand side.

Before defender Dan Scarr was sent off midway through the first half, Argyle over-committed players to QPR’s left flank to limit the influence of Willock, Chair and left-back Kenneth Paal.

Even after the red card, Plymouth found a way to man-mark Chair with three players at times, yet Rangers’ most dangerous unit briefly found space to thrive in this game at Hillsborough.

Chair reverted to a wide position with Willock left out in favour of Dozzell on the left side of central midfield.

This brought the best out of the technical midfielder, and he combined well with both Chair and Paal on a couple of occasions in QPR’s best spell in the lead-up to the Bambo Diaby own goal that gave them the lead.

Although Wednesday became increasingly direct and aggressive as they tried to find a way back into the game in the second half, moving Dozzell over to the other side when Willock came on at half-time seemed to contribute to Rangers losing control of midfield.

Frustrating rotation could provide long-term benefits

Cifuentes is yet to name an unchanged starting eleven from one game to the next in his first eight games as QPR head coach.

Although injuries and suspensions have partly contributed to this, he has made it clear that utilising his squad is a major part of his approach to management.

This has caused frustration at times. It was suggested that Cifuentes had found his ‘best team’ for the 2-0 win against Hull, yet three changes were made for the game against Plymouth that followed, and that turned out to be a frustrating goalless draw against a side with 10 men for over an hour.

Rather than revert to the team that played against Hull for the trip to Hillsborough, Cifuentes made five changes from the Plymouth game.

This included a first start for Sinclair Armstrong under the new head coach and the return of Elijah Dixon-Bonner to the line-up after featuring from the bench in the three games beforehand.

Cifuentes explained afterwards that he had intended to use Armstrong’s pace to exploit Wednesday’s high defensive line, yet the 20-year-old was taken off at half-time to try and help QPR take greater control of the game.

Some may argue that Rangers would have even more points under Cifuentes if he stuck with the players that are deemed his best, yet he would surely counter by pointing out that keeping individuals fresh has contributed to his positive start.

There is always likely to be more frustration with a rotation policy following a defeat, but the only senior players QPR currently have unavailable through injury are Jack Colback, Albert Adomah and Morgan Fox ahead of a run of four games in just 10 days starting with next weekend’s fixture against Southampton.