QPR boss Martí Cifuentes offers spiky view on thing Sheffield...

Martí Cifuentes, the manager of Queens Park Rangers, provided a biassed assessment of Sheffield Wednesday’s

winning strategy after his team lost 2-0 at Loftus Road on Saturday.

In a hard-fought match, the Owls earned a well-earned three points thanks to goals from Callum Paterson and

Michael Smith in the second half. QPR had more than 60% of the ball going into the match, had won five straight

home games, but produced few chances and finished with only two shots on goal compared to Wednesday’s five and

a pitiful xG of just 0.39.

After a slow start to the season, the Spaniard spoke pensively about the end of a run that brought them within four

points of the play-off spots. However, he was frustrated by what he perceived to be persistent fouling by Wednesday

that he believed referee Sam Allison had not penalised. During the game, Wednesday committed 16 fouls compared

to QPR’s 10.

According to Cifuentes, “the first goal was a game changer.” “We knew that in a game like this, where there were few

opportunities and many interruptions, we struck the crossbar and had the rebound with Illy (Ilias Chair).” Every

time we defeated our man, it was always a free kick. Building our attacking, fluid style was not an easy task. It was

challenging to construct, and there were numerous disruptions.

“He and Allison spoke about the matter, but everything is fine. Every referee is respected by me. Their work is quite

difficult.

Within the league, Cifuentes and Owls manager Danny Röhl are highly regarded for their work since joining the

Championship the previous season. They both managed to pull off incredible survival feats and move their teams

into the top half of the table this time around. They are both relatively unknown foreign coaches.

Röhl seems to have the wood over the QPR man at current, however, winning three and drawing the other in

matches played between their two sides. Reminded of that record, Cifuentes was dead-panned when he said: “I am

not good enough. I need to keep working, keep learning.

“They are difficult games. We really wanted it today, but I’m not sure how many times we were fouled or how many

times we beat the guy and it was a free kick with nothing happening. Playing more quickly and figuring out different

ways to unlock items in games like this are crucial to us.

QPR boss Martí Cifuentes offers spiky view on thing Sheffield Wednesday did ‘every time’