Marti Cifuentes's compliments to 'underperforming' Middlesbrough as he names 'brilliant' player

Marti Cifuentes labelled goalkeeper Seny Dieng 'brilliant' as he paid compliments to Middlesbrough overall following Boro's 4-1 win at at Loftus Road.

The QPR boss was naturally disappointed to lose as his side's wait for a home win this season was extended thanks to goals from Riley McGree, Tommy Conway, Emmanuel Latte Lath and Dan Barlaser. But it was far from as comfortable as the scoreline makes it suggest.

Two-nil up at the break, Boro's sloppy play out from the back in the second half offered in the hosts encouragement, which resulted in an Anfernee Dijksteel own goal to keep the game alive before Latte Lath and Barlaser made vital contributions from the bench.

Offering his summary of the game, Cifuentes said: “It is a game that we started slow. In the first 30 minutes nothing much happened for either side, I would say. Then within five minutes, we concede two goals that we should defend much better.

"We reacted really well after that and brought three good saves out of the goalkeeper in a situation where we knew scoring one goal would give us some help. Unfortunately, their keeper was brilliant. At half-time, we spoke about how scoring the next goal would give us a chance though.

"We put more and more pressure on them in the second half, got the first goal, but then have to take more and more risk to get the second. They bring a very, very good player off the bench who cost £4m and punish us on the counter. It’s a situation we knew could happen as we have to risk to get back into the match. After this, it’s kind of over. All the goals we conceded were disappointing and we have to defend better."

An important victory for Boro, it moved them up to seventh in the Championship table ahead of Wednesday evening's games. They've ultimately been too consistent so far this season, with Cifuentes describing it as 'underperforming' as he praised the strenth of Boro.

“We had big expectations after three games in which, we not only took points, but performances were getting better and better," the R's boss said after recent draws with Coventry, Burnley and Leeds]. In this one, I still think we had some good moments against a very, very good team.

"I think Middlesbrough is a team that is underperforming as far as results are concerned. They are playing good football, doing a lot of good things and creating a lot of chances in their games. But they were not getting results. Today, they got that right.

"I think first half they only had two shots and two goals. They’ve got good quality and today they were able to finish actions. Of course, for us it’s very disappointing."

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