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MARK Warburton says QPR need to be smart with their game preparation, due to the short turnaround times between matches.
The R’s – who secured their third clean sheet of the season by drawing with Birmingham City in W12 on Saturday – head to Barnsley on Tuesday for their fourth fixture in just 10 days.
After the clash at Oakwell, Rangers will then face another three games in quick succession before the league season is paused for the November international break.
And manager Warburton insists that, in what are testing circumstances, he and his staff have multiple ways to best prepare his squad for games.
“The mood in the group is good,” Warburton told www.qpr.co.uk. “It is what it is at the moment and the schedule is the same for every team, so you have to put your heads down, work and embrace this period.
“It’s play-recover, play-recover. It’s light sessions on the pitch and off the pitch our analysis work in the classroom is now becoming even more important to supplement that.
“There are tired legs and everyone is in the same boat. One of the key factors, as I keep saying, is the randomness of the game. You can only hope that the injuries, the fatigue, the suspensions and this type of thing doesn’t impact you too badly.
“Right now, we are going to see a dip in quality across the league because the games are every three days and there is lots of traveling, too.
“It’s not a complaint but it is a recognition of the challenge that every team is grinding through right now.”
Rangers were without Tom Carroll, George Thomas and Luke Amos for Saturday’s draw with Birmingham and lost Lee Wallace to a first-half injury.
Warburton provided a fitness update ahead of the trip to Barnsley.
He said: “Tom is available for selection and will travel with the squad. Tom has done really well and against Preston was his first 90 minutes for 10 months so he deserves a lot of credit, as do the medical team.
“George is still injured and he’s not ready just yet and Luke is of course unavailable.
“Lee is being checked over and we have one or two other cuts and bruises, which is normal after a competitive game of football. You hope very much that the ice baths work well and that the physios can work their magic ahead of Tuesday’s game."
Last season, the R’s were beaten 5-3 at Barnsley. That’s a fixture that Warburton still remembers well but, of course, not for the right reasons.
“I lost more sleep over that away game than any other last season because we were so poor in our defending,” the manager said. “They scored an early goal, we equalised quickly through Luke Amos and we could have scored X-amount of goals but we were so open.
“We can’t do again that and hopefully you will have seen so far this season that a lot of work has been done to make us more defensively robust and we’ll need that against Barnsley this time, for sure.”
The Tykes are under new management following the recent appoint of Valerien Ismael. He started his reign by securing a 1-1 draw against high-flying Millwall at the weekend and Warburton expects his team to provide a tough test.
He said: “I don’t think the new manager will change too much. I think he’ll wait until the international break to put his handprint really on their team. He is comfortable in a 4-2-3-1, or with a three [at the back] and personally I think they will go with the three.
“He’ll come in and observe and no doubt they will provide us with a difficult challenge. Barnsley attack openly but they give you chances as well. We have to be resolute defensively but exploit any opportunities that come along for us.”
The R’s – who secured their third clean sheet of the season by drawing with Birmingham City in W12 on Saturday – head to Barnsley on Tuesday for their fourth fixture in just 10 days.
After the clash at Oakwell, Rangers will then face another three games in quick succession before the league season is paused for the November international break.
And manager Warburton insists that, in what are testing circumstances, he and his staff have multiple ways to best prepare his squad for games.
“The mood in the group is good,” Warburton told www.qpr.co.uk. “It is what it is at the moment and the schedule is the same for every team, so you have to put your heads down, work and embrace this period.
“It’s play-recover, play-recover. It’s light sessions on the pitch and off the pitch our analysis work in the classroom is now becoming even more important to supplement that.
“There are tired legs and everyone is in the same boat. One of the key factors, as I keep saying, is the randomness of the game. You can only hope that the injuries, the fatigue, the suspensions and this type of thing doesn’t impact you too badly.
“Right now, we are going to see a dip in quality across the league because the games are every three days and there is lots of traveling, too.
“It’s not a complaint but it is a recognition of the challenge that every team is grinding through right now.”
Rangers were without Tom Carroll, George Thomas and Luke Amos for Saturday’s draw with Birmingham and lost Lee Wallace to a first-half injury.
Warburton provided a fitness update ahead of the trip to Barnsley.
He said: “Tom is available for selection and will travel with the squad. Tom has done really well and against Preston was his first 90 minutes for 10 months so he deserves a lot of credit, as do the medical team.
“George is still injured and he’s not ready just yet and Luke is of course unavailable.
“Lee is being checked over and we have one or two other cuts and bruises, which is normal after a competitive game of football. You hope very much that the ice baths work well and that the physios can work their magic ahead of Tuesday’s game."
Last season, the R’s were beaten 5-3 at Barnsley. That’s a fixture that Warburton still remembers well but, of course, not for the right reasons.
“I lost more sleep over that away game than any other last season because we were so poor in our defending,” the manager said. “They scored an early goal, we equalised quickly through Luke Amos and we could have scored X-amount of goals but we were so open.
“We can’t do again that and hopefully you will have seen so far this season that a lot of work has been done to make us more defensively robust and we’ll need that against Barnsley this time, for sure.”
The Tykes are under new management following the recent appoint of Valerien Ismael. He started his reign by securing a 1-1 draw against high-flying Millwall at the weekend and Warburton expects his team to provide a tough test.
He said: “I don’t think the new manager will change too much. I think he’ll wait until the international break to put his handprint really on their team. He is comfortable in a 4-2-3-1, or with a three [at the back] and personally I think they will go with the three.
“He’ll come in and observe and no doubt they will provide us with a difficult challenge. Barnsley attack openly but they give you chances as well. We have to be resolute defensively but exploit any opportunities that come along for us.”
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