QPR boss Gareth Ainsworth plans “big changes” at the club following the end of a miserable season.
Rangers’ 2-0 loss to Bristol City was their 12th home defeat of the campaign and highlighted their shortcomings at both ends of the pitch.
“It just hits home and gives me more evidence of what I need to do in the summer,” said Ainsworth, who took over in February.
“There are big changes that need to happen here. We’ve got to have real, big changes here in the summer. I’m realising that more and more.
“You’ve got to be passionate. You’ve got to be crawling off that pitch at the end of the game. I was really expecting a bit more today.
“But I don’t want to let it get to me too much. I’ve got to sort my squad out and sort the changes out.
“I want a proper team that reflects the way I am, the way I manage, the way I want things done – and I aim to do that.
“I’m sure there will be a lot of comings and goings throughout the summer. I want to be in here sorting it out and I’ll do my best to do that.
“It’s going to be tough. But, given the chance and given the backing, I think I can bring the right characters in.”
Bristol City boss Nigel Pearson believes his club can challenge for the play-offs next season if they are able to bring players in.
Pearson said: “I think our fan base is quite excited about how this young team can move forward.
“Now we’ve got to get the additions right and see if we can shape the squad in a way that we can be competitive in the top half, looking to push on for the play-off places.
“There’s no point setting standards low or trying to be too safe with predictions. We’ve got to start delivering.
“The players are capable, but we need to win games like today that potentially could go either way.
“We’ve been involved in games this season where we really should pick points up and we’ve not. So I’m pleased today.
“I think it’s important that the players and staff come back refreshed and ready to really push on. It’s not about being happy with small progressions – it’s about trying to be successful.
“The future for the club will be bright for many years to come, which is good.”
Goals from Mark Sykes and Sam Bell gave the Robins victory at Loftus Road, where the home side struggled to create clear-cut chances and always looked vulnerable at the back.
City, who finished 14th, were fairly comfortable against Rangers, who were top in October but finished 20th, and would have finished below relegated Reading had the Berkshire club not been given a six-point deduction.
Pearson said: “That performance was just what we were trying to achieve today.
“They can be quite dangerous games when people might talk about there being not a lot on them.
“I’m sure they wanted to end on a positive note at home, and we wanted to maintain our standards in terms of our application.
“We did some really good things. The performance was good, with good energy, and it’s a good outcome.”
Real Madrid 0-4 Barcelona: Guijarro brace sets visitors up for Clasico glory
Patri Guijarro's first-half brace set Barcelona on their way to a thumping 4-0 win over rivals Real Madrid in Liga F on Saturday.
Claudia Pina and Alexia Putellas were also on target as Barcelona continued their perfect start to the season, extending their lead at the top of the table.
The visitors dominated from the off, as Guijarro broke the deadlock inside the fourth minute, tapping in from Putellas' flick-on from a corner.
Cata Coll was forced into a big save to deny Alba Redondo an equaliser shortly after, but Madrid's hope was soon dented as Guijarro picked out the bottom corner with a superb long-range strike for her second.
Pina strengthened their lead six minutes before the break, clinically slotting past Misa with her low strike.
Putellas added some more gloss to the scoreline with four minutes remaining of normal time, beating the Madrid keeper with a lovely dink to bring up her 199th goal for the club.
Barcelona have won all 10 of their games, and now sit eight points clear of Madrid, who suffered their first league defeat of the campaign.
Data Debrief: Total dominance
Madrid will have felt fairly confident coming into this game after a strong start to their season, but they once again failed to find a way past their Clasico rival.
Los Blancos have lost every single game they have played against Barcelona in all competitions, with this their 15th such meeting.
Barcelona smothered their attack early on, restricting their hosts to just one shot in the first half, while they had 10.
Indonesia 0-4 Japan: Visitors stay unbeaten with rout
Japan continued their unbeaten start to World Cup qualifying with a 4-0 victory over Indonesia on Friday.
Two goals from the visitors in either half were enough to seal the three points and get them back to winning ways after a stalemate with Australia last time out.
Ragnar Oratmangoen should have put Indonesia ahead, but he hesitated one-on-one with the goalkeeper, and Japan did not look back after that. They got a bit of fortune with their first goal, Justin Hubner deflecting a cross into his own net in the 35th minute.
Takumi Minamino got their second just before the break, finishing off a pacy counter-attack by darting onto the end of Kaoru Mitoma’s cross to sweep it past Maarten Paes.
While there was not much the goalkeeper could do with that one, he was at fault for the third as he gifted the ball to Hidemasa Morita, who coolly picked out the bottom corner just after the break.
Yukinari Sugawara came off the bench to round off the scoring in the 69th minute. He raced down the right wing and instead of looking to his options, he rifled it in from a tight angle at the near post.
Japan are up to 13 points after five games, sitting top of Group C, while Indonesia are bottom, still in search of their first win.
Data Debrief: Clinically done
For a team still chasing their first win, Japan are probably not high on the list of opponents they would want to face, and Indonesia were undone by their visitors.
Hajime Moriyasu's side created 0.79 expected goals (xG) to Indonesia's 0.72, while they only had four more shots than their hosts (12 compared to eight).
Japan took their chances, and though the win margin may look harsh, they were deserving of the three points, having dominated throughout the game.
Jamaica 0-1 United States: Pepi give visitors advantage in Nations League quarter-final
Ricardo Pepi's first-half strike gave the United States a 1-0 advantage over Jamaica after the first leg of their Concacaf Nations League quarter-final.
The hosts saw a penalty saved in the first half before their frustrations were compounded late on thanks to Mason Holgate's red card.
The USA had the lead just five minutes in – having smothered a Jamaica attack at one end, the visitors caught them out with a pacy counter-attack, with Pepi sweeping it into the back of the net.
Shortly after, Shamar Nicholson was brought down by Matt Turner when he tried to take it around him, but the goalkeeper made amends, diving low to his right to deny Demarai Gray from 12 yards.
In the second half, Holgate was denied a tap-in by Yunus Musah before Turner scrambled to stop Leon Bailey's corner from nestling into the net as Jamaica searched for an equaliser.
With 86 minutes on the clock, Holgate received a second yellow card in just over 10 minutes for dragging Brandon Vazquez back, meaning he will miss the return leg in Missouri on Monday.
Data Debrief: Hitting the mark
Pepi got the all-important goal on Thursday, and is the fourth player to score 12 goals for the USA before turning 22 years old, joining Landon Donovan, Jozy Altidore and Christian Pulisic.
But it was perhaps Turner who actually had the most vital interventions; he has now saved three of the eight penalties he's faced for the USA, including two against Jamaica.
Mauricio Pochettino also could not have asked for a better result from his first competitive game in charge of the Stars and Stripes as he became just the third full-time manager to win his first competitive away match, joining Bob Bradley (2008) and Steve Sampson (1996).
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
