Lee Hoos and the QPR hierarchy must be prepared to give Marti Cifuentes time.
The 41-year-old was formerly involved in Spanish football before taking on a number of positions in Scandinavia, most notably as manager of Swedish team Hammarby, who made it to Europe the previous campaign.
Thus, Cifuentes comes with a respectable background, but since he hasn’t played English football, there are clear risks associated with this decision.
Marti Cifuentes will alter QPR’s method of play.
Nevertheless, Cifuentes’ largest challenge may be adapting his style of play to a team that was accustomed to a particular strategy under Ainsworth.
Unquestionably, the former Wycombe coach promoted a direct approach, and the players will have worked in the manner that Ainsworth desired over the entire preseason and the first few months of the season.
Now, in Cifuentes, the R’s have brought in a coach who has completely different footballing principles, as he wants a short, passing style.
Of course, if it works, the fans will be delighted, but the reality is that QPR is in a desperate situation. They have lost ten of 14 games, and they’re already six points from safety, so they need results quickly, and that’s the issue facing Cifuentes.
The R’s hierarchy should be aware of that, and it means they need to give a bit of leeway to Cifuentes as he gets his ideas across.
Clearly, this is a move that has been made with the long term in mind, and most fans will be pleased that the club has decided to go down this route.
While it didn’t end well, it felt like Mark Warburton had laid down foundations that put QPR in a decent place. Then Mick Beale took that on and enjoyed a brilliant start before jumping ship to join Rangers.
Yet, the Ainsworth appointment didn’t fit. It seemed as though CEO Lee Hoos and other key figures abandoned the principles of the past few years, instead targeting Ainsworth because he had been a popular former player and had overachieved with Wycombe.
Nevertheless, his appointment didn’t follow the path of Warburton and Beale, but Cifuentes does feel like he shares an idea with those two on how the game should be played.
But, as mentioned, this could quite easily get worse before it gets better, and it would be unfair to demand immediate success from Cifuentes considering the changes he plans to make.
That’s not to suggest it won’t be difficult; in fact, you might argue that QPR’s best players, like Chris Willock and Ilias Chair, will fit in much better with the new manager, who will undoubtedly set up a system that will let them thrive.
The key takeaway, though, is that QPR’s decision-makers must be willing to give Cifuentes some time to develop a long-term project that will help the team succeed after a very trying time.
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