McClaren confident performances will lead to results despite FA Cup defeat

Steve McClaren was incredibly proud of his Queens Park Rangers players performance despite the defeat to Watford in the fifth round of the FA Cup and feel his team can use this as a trigger for an upturn in league results.

Rangers dominated much of the ball and created much the better opportunities under the lights at Loftus Road but failed to take their chances with Javi Gracia’s side clinical when presented with the opportunity to score.

Speaking in his post-match press conference, former England manager McClaren was positive about his teams next run of fixtures when asked if the performance will breed confidence amongst the players.

“I said to the players yesterday, we’re that close to turning it around and from our performances getting wins because we’ve been very very unlucky this week,” he said.

“But the harder you work, the luckier you get and we’ve got to keep working, keep that attitude, keep that spirit, keep that heart, keep playing.

“We’ve got West Brom, Middlesbrough and Leeds the next three games, not easy, but we want to create a team here that the fans can be proud of and I think the fans were tonight, I certainly was.”

QPR currently sit 18th in the Championship with those next three opponents all sitting in the top six currently. The performance will leave the home fans confident their players can produce against quality opposition although fixture congestion may start to take a toll on the Rangers squad.

McClaren named an unchanged side for the Watford fixture from the one that lost to the Championship’s most inform team in Bristol City, with the FA Cup fixture their third in six days.

The R’s boss noted this when asked whether having a game so soon in the shape of West Brom on Tuesday night can help his team bounce back quickly from a disappointing defeat.

“I’d like a few more days rest cause that’s the third game in six days and we’ve more or less kept the same team. They keep coming out keep performing so we’ll have a couple days breather, recover and then plan for West Brom on Tuesday.

“They come thick and fast, look I don’t mind as long as they perform that’s the key thing its the process, its the performance and that gets results and it will get us results as long as we play like that.”

Despite being ten points clear of the Championship drop-zone, McClaren will be keen to pick up points to secure QPR’s second division status next season, this after they had shown early promise of a promotion push.