EFL boss issues stinging blast on players with substitution jibe as winless run extends to six
03/29/2025 04:59 PM
Marti Cifuentes was not a happy man following Queens Park Rangers’ 3-1 loss to Stoke in the Championship.
QPR found themselves 2-0 down at half-time away from home, and it was quickly three after the break before Min-Hyeok Yang's late consolation.
The result extended the Hoops’ winless run to six games, and with five of those being defeats, they're now experiencing the worst run of form in the second tier, joint with Blackburn.
Speaking to talkSPORT after the loss, the Spanish coach didn't hold back on his side, and said: "Yeah it was a really bad performance, Stoke were better than us and that's it.
"I think we started poorly and the rest of the first half was poor, the reaction that we were looking for in the second half was definitely too late."
Cifuentes made three substitutions at half-time in an attempt to wrestle the game back, but went on to claim he'd have liked to swap the whole team.
"Yeah probably if I had 11 changes I would've done it as well," he said.
"But we were late by 70 minutes onto the pitch today and it's very disappointing because we knew how important this game was and how desperate Stoke would be and credit to them, I think they had a very good performance."
The result is a big one for Stoke, who are just four points from the Championship relegation zone under former long-term Coventry manager Mark Robins.
QPR are now just three points further ahead in 15th, having spent much of the season mid-table.
Both teams have ambitions of a Premier League return, with QPR's last top flight campaign in 2014/15, while Stoke spent 2008-2018 as regulars.
Yet neither side have even been close since, with QPR's best effort a ninth-place finish in 2021, while Stoke have never finished higher than 14th since being relegated to the second-tier.
Stoke have been through a staggering 14 managers in that time, including five caretakers, but with Robins, they're hoping for some long term stability, like he showed at Coventry.
Speaking post-match, the 55-year-old remarked: "There are seven games left now and I want us to go and win as many games as we possibly can, and it's there for us.
"It's about building those performances and not resting on laurels, not looking round at anything else and making sure we focus on us.
"We look at our opponent, our next opponent which is Preston, and we want to go and deliver a really good away performance.
"The most I'm proud of today is the fact that they've gone out and put out a really good performance.
"That was a solid performance – for about 65 minutes it was really good.
"We got on top in the game early, we gave them headaches all over the place, particularly down our right-hand side but also down the left-hand side and down the middle.
"There was a focus with (Sam) Gallagher and with Bakes [Lewis Baker], and then behind that we were really aggressive."
Turning away from relegation, the top of the table saw a switch in leaders this weekend.
Sheffield United won 3-1 at home to Coventry on Friday night, and with Leeds drawing against Swansea, they were leapfrogged in the table by Chris Wilder's side.
