MARTI Cifuentes said his Queens Park Rangers side didn’t play the way he wanted them to in their 1-1 draw against Millwall at Loftus Road last Saturday.
Duncan Watmore gave the Lions the lead in the 34th minute before Michael Frey equalised six minutes later.
Millwall had a glorious chance to win the game late on when George Honeyman somehow failed to make good contact with the ball in front of an open goal from Romain Esse’s low cross.
QPR are fourteenth in the Championship table with seven points from six games.
“We are frustrated,” Cifuentes said. “I don’t think we played a great football game, not according to the way I want to play, the standard I want us to play at.
“It was difficult for some moments during the game, we got our moments as well of course but we need to improve.
“I know it is not easy, every game is different and even though Millwall are not as high in the table as they would like, they have been creating a lot of chances in their games and perhaps deserve to have more than they have got.
“I knew it would be a difficult game if we were not able to impose our style and, unfortunately, in the first half we played very slow.
“We got better in this part in the second half but it was difficult for us to put the ball on the ground and play our game.”
Cifuentes added: “Perhaps today is one of those days where I look back and maybe last season we could have lost this game.
“I think the team is having this resilience, this work ethic, and this is part of football as well.
“When things are not going your way, you need to be able to compete as well as you can.
“It is going to be a good game for us to learn from.”
Frey has scored four goals in seven games in all competitions this season, directly earning his side four points in the league.
“Michi had a very good game in a very difficult match,” Cifuentes said.
“I am satisfied with his job, not only for the goal which was an excellent finish, but as well the work he did as a target. He did really well.”
Goalkeeper Paul Nardi was pleased with how the R’s stood up to Millwall’s physical challenge.
“The feeling is always a disappointment to do a draw at home, we want always to win. There was a space to win so a little bit disappointed,” Nardi said.
“But at the end we can also lose this game, so a strange feeling.
“We knew before the game there would be a lot of crosses, a lot of set-pieces. But the guys did very well in the defensive set-pieces. We had to be ready in every moment because they can cross from 30, 40, 50 metres. The plan was good for this.”
QPR travel to Blackburn Rovers for an early 12.30pm kick-off on Saturday.
The R’s now have a week to prepare for next weekend’s trip to Blackburn following three games in seven days, something Cifuentes is grateful for.
“It has been a tough week but this is nothing new in the Championship,” he said. “We are going to try now to recover a bit and then we are going to go again.
“We need to prepare. We know Blackburn are playing good football and we need to be aware that we need to be much better than we were today if we want to get some points up there.”
