Winless in their last four, the latest defeat being away at League One Fleetwood Town in the FA Cup, it’s been a frustrating start to Neil Critchley’s reign as QPR boss.
Sitting 12th in the Championship table, the Hoops can claim some form of comfort in the fact that despite their mid-table position they are just three points off the Play-Off places.
With just under half the season still to go, a charge for a top-six finish is not out of the question while this month’s January transfer window could also bring much-needed arrivals to help the cause.
Yet perhaps QPR’s biggest improvement can come from within – a change in attitude to make the squad, the entire club even, adopt a more resilient and stronger mindset.
Part of QPR’s problems over the last few years has been a lack of consistency and a general indifference to results – seeing the side spectacularly lurch from sublimely good to supremely bad with not much middle ground, often playing the percentages to try to maximise points.
Having previously worked under Jurgen Klopp as an Academy coach, it’s clear Critchley believes QPR need a dose of the ‘mentality monsters’ approach that much of Liverpool’s success over the past seven years has been based on.
Whatever the opponent and occasion, Klopp’s Liverpool will go out to win every game with this never-say-die approach seeing the side constantly fight back to claim important points and victories from losing positions.
After high-flying Sheffield United grabbed a 96th-minute equaliser recently, the adoption of this ‘mentality monster’ mantra was clear for all to see as Critchley shot down claims his side should be happy with a point.
“Why would I have taken a draw before the game? It’s a mentality we’ve got to change,” Critchley told reporters post-match.
“I want us to go and try to win every game, home or away – it doesn’t matter who we are playing against.
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“Form, circumstance – it doesn’t matter and there wasn’t any hangover from our 3-0 defeat the other night (against Luton) and that’s because of our mindset and mentality and that’s what I want to instil in our players.”
Critchley is clearly determined not to just settle and if QPR cannot beat their rivals with quality, then implementing a winning system based on belief could be the 44-year-old’s most important early contribution to the club.
And it’s not an unfamiliar concept either – the late winner to come from behind against Reading and the 3-2 victory at Watford after allowing them back into the game twice shows there is already a hidden tenacity within this side.
Of course, new signings with an already winning-mentality instilled will help and Critchley has confessed he knows what is needed in terms of personnel.
Speaking exclusively to London Football Scene, Critchley said: “I’ve had thoughts as to the areas in which we need to improve to become better – we’ve got to be better at both ends of the football pitch.
“If you want to be at the top, you’ve got to be a high scoring team or have one of the meanest defences – we have neither.”
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Having scored 14 goals for Swansea during the 2020-21 campaign, Jamal Lowe will certainly help with the former following his arrival from AFC Bournemouth on loan for the remainder of the season.
However, until there is a definite shift in the club’s overall mentality, QPR will likely be stuck in a rut of mediocrity for years to come, regardless of any new arrivals that may come through the Loftus Road doors.