Marti Cifuentes praises QPR’s ‘best performance’ in Sunderland draw
Rangers matched the Championship leaders throughout but were unable to make the most of a Jobe Bellingham red card on the hour mark and push for a first home win of the season.
Cifuentes’ side remain in the relegation zone and are two points from safety ahead of games against Middlesbrough and Leeds later this week.
“I am aware we are not here to draw football games, we are here to win no matter how,” said the Catalan. “But I am aware that the better we play, the more chances we will have to win games.
“Today’s performance is a step in the right direction. The resilience, the mental strength that the guys are showing to overcome a lot of small things that you don’t see behind the scenes, but are not easy, and these are guys still competing at the level they do.
“I give a lot of value to the way the guys are approaching the situation.
“Today was perhaps our best performance of the season. We are missing the reality of scoring these goals and wining these football games. That’s what I need to look at until we get the results that we need.”
A lengthy injury list meant Cifuentes had to field something of a makeshift side against Sunderland.
Midfielder Sam Field was selected at centre-back and loanee Harrison Ashby started at left-back despite naturally being a right-sided player.
Rangers competed well with Regis Le Bris’ side though, as striker Zan Celar missed two great opportunities to secure a first win since the end of August.
Celar has now gone 16 games without finding the net for QPR since signing in the summer from Swiss side FC Lugano.
“He’s working to get to the level he knows he can get to,” said Cifuentes when asked about the Slovenian international.
“He knows he’s having to adapt to a different league, different competition, different way of playing. Today he took some steps in the right directions compared to the last few games.
“We’re going to keep supporting him. I always say the same, for me the players that we have are the best in the world and I need to help him, I need to make sure we give him the right scenarios to show his qualities.
“He got a shot today that was close to being a goal and then the question wouldn’t be about the situation that he missed, but how important the goal he scored was.
“I am aware about these things. We just need to improve as a team and help him get the scoring chances that we know he can convert.
“Over time, players go through this process of showing they can adapt, they can compete and deliver in a difficult league.”