QPR boss Cifuentes highlights Saito improvement and provides assessment of Tottenham loanee Yang
The Japanese attacker was signed on loan from Belgian SK Lommel last summer but only scored his first Rangers goals in recent wins against Hull City and Derby County.
However, Cifuentes was keen to point to other aspects of Saito’s game that have impressed him.
“There’s always an adaptation process for all the players,” he explained. “I said months ago that it is always unpredictable. Sometimes it takes one week sometimes it can take one year.
“With Koki, since day one, he looked up to the pace of the game. And then it was some more tactical things that he had to learn about the way of playing and the league itself but he’s showing he’s a very good player in the last third.
“He has this trademark about the one-v-one on the edge of the box that is very difficult to stop and now he has been growing in other areas of the game. He’s defending well, he is reliable when we are building up. He is playing at a high level.”
The 4-0 victory against Derby on Friday night also saw Tottenham loanee Yang Min-Hyeok make his first QPR start since arriving in January.
The winger marked the occasion by assisting Ilias Chair’s second goal as Rangers moved within three points of the play-off places.
“He did well,” said Cifuentes. “We felt that [Paul] Smyth was playing a lot of minutes in the last games and since Yang came in he’s been getting minutes in the second half of games but showing a lot of good things in training.
“We felt that it was a good opportunity for Yang to see what he can give to the team, and I think he did really well. With the third goal he showed great quality with the assist.”
PICTURE: ROB AVIS