the best teams’ QPR boss Marti Cifuentes reveals keys to victory against Bristol City@

The visitors’ ability to play through the Robins press was crucial to their success even if Bristol City was unable to break through the QPR defense.

In his team’s 1-0 victory over Bristol City, QPR head coach Marti Cifuentes explained his tactical strategy, emphasizing that getting past the Robins’ intense press was essential to taking the three points at Ashton Gate.

Liam Manning’s team put on a lackluster display, with Ilias Chair scoring the lone goal in spite of a week of positive outcomes. Both last Tuesday’s resounding 3-1 victory over Southampton and their 2-1 victory away to Middlesbrough on the road stopped Saints’ 25-game winning streak. The Robins demonstrated their exceptional pressing skills in both contests.

A succession of missed kicks forward were forced by Asmir Begovic as City’s front four of Nahki Wells, Jason Knight, Anis Mehmeti, and Sam Bell had QPR hemmed in their defensive third at points during the first half, especially in the early going. The visitors were unable to play out.

However, as the game went on, they were able to advance thanks to full-back Jimmy Dunne’s positioning higher up the field and Isaac Hayden’s ability to find space in the midfield.

“Bristol is a very good team with a clear identity. They are very good on counter pressing, on pressing high,” Cifuentes said. “They beat Southampton showing the quality they have, one of the best teams in the league Southampton, I’m sure that they are pushing for the playoffs because they are a very good side.

“On the build-up, we changed a little bit for this game because I think that Bristol is one of the best teams, if not the best in the league, when it comes to high press and counter press.”

Due to usual right-back Reggie Cannon’s illness, Cifuentes was forced to change his backline, substituting Dunne for the American. That alteration to the prearranged game plan, which the R’s boss and his team had planned on the week before, gave the Hoops a crucial win in their struggle for survival.

We constructed in a somewhat different manner… Jimmy offered us the advantage of drawing attention to ourselves so we could win the duels up top on the field, Cifuentes continued.

And most of the time, it is what we observed. We could just activate Isaac in a different way since he was the spare, and I believe we performed fairly well. Additionally, we had to locate specific zones when we got the ball in order to advance higher and faster on the field, which I believe we did.

After making some adjustments at halftime, QPR created more opportunities in the second half than in the first, with shots on target from Chris Willock, Lucas Anderson, and Michael Frey. During the intermission, a modest Cifuentes elaborated on his tactical adjustments.

“We won, therefore I won’t accept the credit right now. Our style of play is centered around countering intense pressure, and we have a variety of strategies for doing so. In the first half, there were a few instances where it was evident that we had a spare player available.

“Football is about space, and if they don’t give you space to play between lines or through them, that means that there is some space at the top and some space in behind,” I often tell teams who play against very aggressively. Football is about making the most use of your time and space to benefit your team.

As City came back out at the break, it was obvious they would need to play more on the front foot after going a goal down just minutes before the half-time whistle.

They were now more vulnerable than they had been during the previous phase, which Cifuentes attempted to take advantage of.

If Max O’Leary hadn’t made six saves over the course of the ninety minutes and successfully cleaned up when needed, QPR might have increased their lead. “Obviously, after taking the lead, Bristol had to risk a bit more in the second half as well, but I think… over the second half we should have scored a second even a third goal,” Cifuentes continued.