Four takeaways from QPR’s 2-1 defeat to Cardiff City – Loftus Road loses patience as Cifuentes’ squad depth exposed

QPR remain four points from safety in the Championship after they were beaten 2-1 by Cardiff City on New Year’s Day.

Here are Dan Evans’ takeaways from Loftus Road.

Rangers’ thin squad exposed

Marti Cifuentes’ rotation policy looked like it might help to steer QPR through the festive period with minimal injury problems.

For the trip to promotion-chasing Ipswich on Friday, Jack Colback and Morgan Fox were the only first-team regulars who missed out on the matchday squad.

Although Fox returned to action against Cardiff, Cifuentes was without Steve Cook, Ilias Chair and Chris Willock after all were forced off with injuries at Portman Road.

The QPR boss suggested that all three could return for next weekend’s FA Cup third round tie against Bournemouth, but their absence was apparent on New Year’s Day.

Cook and Jake Clarke-Salter have established themselves as the most effective centre-back pairing in the squad, keeping clean sheets in both of the games they have started alongside each other.

However, it was further up the pitch that the lack of depth in the QPR squad was exposed.

Cifuentes was forced to start with Paul Smyth on the right wing and the out-of-position Ziyad Larkeche on the left.

Although Smyth notched his first home goal of the season to level the game in the second half, Larkeche was hauled off at half-time as QPR struggled to create chances before the interval.

Rangers had just one shot in the first half, and it came from a 43rd-minute Kenneth Paal free kick.

Chair and Willock have either scored or assisted seven of the 11 goals that QPR have scored since Cifuentes took charge in October, and the lack of quality alternatives in the squad has never been clearer than it was against Cardiff.

Set-piece problems continue

QPR have only conceded 11 goals in Cifuentes’ 12 games, a record that the Spaniard himself said he was satisfied with after the Cardiff defeat.

However, he admitted that the fact that seven of these goals have come from set-pieces is “unacceptable”.

Cardiff are the top scorers in the Championship from dead-ball situations, and they always looked likely to punish QPR from them on Monday.

They took the lead in the first half when Dimitris Goutas escaped the attentions of Larkeche and towered above Jimmy Dunne to meet a corner.

The Welsh side then re-took the lead in the second period when Perry Ng nodded home from another corner after Asmir Begovic has misjudged the flight of the ball.

Ng’s winner was eerily similar to the second goal that Millwall scored against Rangers on Boxing Day, and it is clear that set-piece defending is costing the team points at the moment.

Cifuentes has stated on more than one occasion that his previous teams have been good at defending set-pieces during his time in Scandinavia and Spain, suggesting he does not believe there is an issue with the way he is setting the team up.

With more time on the training pitch at Heston now that the hectic festive period is over, improvements are expected in the coming weeks.

Loftus Road loses patience

All of Cifuentes’ first five home games as QPR boss have been soundtracked by choruses of the Loftus Road faithful’s new song about him enjoying Estrella beer and Spanish paella.

The disappointment of recent results combined with a sluggish start against Cardiff meant it was a quiet afternoon in W12 for the most part though.

The ground did start rocking in the period after Smyth pulled Rangers level but otherwise it was a deflating start to the year on and off the pitch.

The underwhelming performance from the home side was greeted with boos at both half-time and full-time.

The away end at the Den on Boxing Day was not shy in letting the QPR players know what they thought of their performance, but this was the first time Loftus Road has seemed fed up during Cifuentes’ time in charge.

The 41-year-old took the crowd’s reaction as a positive in his post-match assessment, suggesting it showed the fans care about the team and want to see improvement.

With four more home games now on the agenda before January comes to a close, Cifuentes will know that his team will need to start performing better if that is the last he is to hear of their frustration.

Promising Kolli cameo disrupted by injury

Positives were hard to come by as QPR made it six games without a win and further weakened their chances of avoiding relegation.

A rare bright spark was the impact that 18-year-old Rayan Kolli had from the bench.

Kolli came on to replace Larkeche on the left wing at half-time and wasted little time in causing problems for Cardiff right back Ng.

The Algerian youth international showed flashes of quality on the ball as well as plenty of tenacity when he went about winning it back.

His best moment came just seven minutes after being introduced, as his pinpoint curling cross picked out Smyth at the back post to equalise.

That was the only ‘big chance’ that QPR created throughout the 90 minutes and was also Kolli’s first assist in senior football.

A worry for Cifuentes will be that the promising youngster was forced off with an injury in the final 10 minutes of the game having already missed the best part of two months earlier in the season.

PICTURES: ROB AVIS