‘I have mixed feelings’ – QPR boss Cifuentes provides assessment of unbeaten run
A spectacular Paul Smyth goal earned Rangers a 1-1 draw at Bristol City on Saturday in a game that was largely dominated by the home side.
Having been bottom of the league table as recently as late November, Rangers are now 18th in the standings ahead of the festive period.
He said: “I have mixed feelings. I think we had a fantastic performance against Norwich. A mixed performance against Oxford in the first half, [it was] better in the first 30 minutes of second half.
“Today, the last 20 minutes were a bit better but the way we started the game… I cannot be blind because we got a point.
“Despite an excellent goal from a set-piece [conceded to Bristol City], in open play we didn’t concede.
“It says a lot about the mentality [of the players]. But the reality is that football is so ruthless that we need to keep competing, and hopefully everybody inside the club understands that.
“Now we look at the table and look at the results and might think it’s gonna be fine, ‘Marti is fantastic’. We need help, we need to keep improving and we’re gonna have a bad trend again, hopefully not as bad as it was in the beginning of the season but we need to keep improving as a club.
“Otherwise, I’m not satisfied about having the expression we had today here, I’m not satisfied about the amount of injuries we have and I’m not satisfied about things we need to improve. And now an important moment of the season comes and we need to keep improving.”
Cifuentes welcomed back Michy Frey and Kenneth Paal to his matchday squad at Ashton Gate after both missed recent games through injury.
However, he is still without a number of first-team players including Jake Clarke-Salter, Jack Colback, Kader Dembele and Zan Celar.
The Catalan was forced to call upon youngsters Rayan Kolli, Alfie Lloyd and Daniel Bennie once again against Bristol City, but was coy about whether new additions to the squad were likely in the January transfer window.
“It has never been my main focus,” Cifuentes said. “I always say the same, I try to get the best of the players I have. For me the 20ish we have here are the best in the world.
“If there is opportunity to improve then we are going to try to do it, but most important thing is the way we work with them.”