Queens Park Rangers boss Marti Cifuentes is looking to rotate his squad in order to give the club the best chance of preserving their Championship status this season.
Fresh off of the back of a huge win over relegation rivals Birmingham City on Good Friday, the R’s are quickly back in action, travelling to Swansea City on Easter Monday. With two games in such quick succession, rotation in the squad is no doubt needed, and it is something that Cifuentes has already eluded to.
Jimmy Dunne would be the hero for QPR on Good Friday with an added time screamer giving the R’s all three points at Loftus Road. It would be a come from behind victory for the hosts with Juninho Bacuna opening the scoring in the 62nd minute for Birmingham. Steve Cook would equalise just three minutes later and it looked like the spoils would be shared prior to the aforementioned Dunne’s late strike sending fans into a state of euphoria.
As a result of that win, QPR now sit in 18th, going four points clear of the relegation zone in the process. They’re arguably one of the most in-form teams down at the bottom of the table, losing just one of their last six.
Their focus does however quickly shift to the game against Swansea City on Monday and as much as they can reminisce about Friday’s late win, they must be prepared for the task at hand. The Swans have been in a similar vein of form recently, likewise losing just one of their last six and do represent a tricky assignment for Cifuentes side.
With such a quick turnaround, changes can be expected for the R’s, especially with the number of important games coming up. In an interview with West London Sport, Cifuentes would go onto say:
“We will probably need to rotate.”
“It’s not just the Swansea game – we’re aware that we have Sheffield Wednesday and also Plymouth. It’s three games in a row that are very, very important for us.
“I believe there are some players who didn’t play (against Birmingham) that can contribute. So it might be that we make some changes and adjustments.”
The manager would also give an update on Isaac Hayden, who would leave the field with a knock on Friday.
“He’s been doing really well. He’s got a small shoulder issue and the medical team worked to make sure that he could play.
“Then he picked up a bit of a knock – a bad-position landing. And he got a yellow card and we didn’t want to take a risk.
“He showed big character to play that game with probably a lot of pain. Hopefully he’s going to be good, and the medical team told me that he should be ready.”
Writer’s View
There have been substantial improvements seen at the club since the Spaniard took charge in late October and they’re certainly a team who are going in the right direction at the minute. A win on Monday would all but seal their Championship status next season, something that few fans would’ve probably thought prior to Cifuentes’ arrival.
As mentioned by the manager, rotation is needed, especially with the games coming thick and fast at this point in the season. QPR, if able to stay up this year, have got something to build on and could really improve next season with Cifuentes at the helm. The focus does however need to be on the present, something that the manager will be telling his players.