“Football is about achieving, not deserving” – Marti Cifuentes’ reign at QPR already feels a million miles away from Gareth Ainsworth’s tactics.

To say it has been a tumultuous year at Loftus Road would be an incredible understatement.

 

 

Now on their fourth manager in twelve months, both QPR’s board and fans alike will be hoping, if not praying, that the Marti Cifuentes era will lift them out of the rut they find themselves in.

So far, after his opening four games in charge, it’s clear Cifuentes style is much more suited to the QPR players at his disposal than his predecessor, Gareth Ainsworth.

In fact, his possession-based approach and pressing tactics are reminiscent of the Michael Beale blueprint and, to a lesser extent, Neil Critchley’s set-up.

On his side’s adaptation to his (new) style, Cifuentes said: “I see a team that is trying to have a clear identity.

“How they want to play out from the back, how the players are having the courage to ask for the ball and pass to each other, trust each other, press high—I think that identity is starting to show up.”

This brand of football is in stark contrast to that of Ainsworth’s; where Cifuentes encourages players to take risks and build up from the back, Ainsworth employs a more direct approach with long balls and low possession.

His style was, without question, severely disliked and questioned by Hoops fans, and with just one home win during his short-lived reign, they had good reason to be frustrated.

As a player, Ainsworth was a cult hero at the club, and there was a mutual respect and understanding for someone who had struggled with injuries and regular football until his move to W12.

Between 2003 and 2008, Ainsworth enjoyed some of his best days of his playing career at QPR, winning promotion in his first season before a number of seasons in the Championship.

But to understand his subsequent career as a manager, it’s hard not to look at the influence of those he played under.

At Cambridge United and Preston North End, Ainsworth played under John Beck, a manager renowned for long-ball tactics with a strong emphasis on teamwork and some off-the-wall quirks (including cold water for away team showers) in order to maximise home advantage.

From Preston, Ainsworth followed Beck to Lincoln, where the winger would pick up personal accolades of the club’s Player of the Year twice as well as a spot in the PFA’s 1996–97 Third Division Team of the Year.