QPR boss Julien Stephan defends making five changes for Oxford draw

QPR manager Julien Stephan defended his decision to rotate his line-up after they were held to a drab 0-0 draw at home against struggling Oxford in the Championship.

The visitors went into the game second from bottom but battled to a worthy point in a match of few chances, with QPR’s rhythm seemingly disrupted by five changes from Saturday’s draw with Sheffield Wednesday.

It meant the hosts missed the chance to climb into the top six, though their unbeaten run now stands at five league game since being thrashed 7-1 by Coventry in August.

“We wanted to put in fresh players,” said Stephan, who takes his team to Bristol City on Saturday. “We could see physically at the end of the game we were above them and finished very well.

“It’s part of a plan for the next games. We travel Friday, we play on Saturday. We have to deal with a lot of information. They (Bristol City) have one day more and play two games in a row at home.

“If we play always with the same 12 players then soon we will have these players completely dying. We need to have more players involved.”

The home side had the game’s only shot on target and it came in the first half, forward Michael Frey lashing the ball goalwards from 25 yards but seeing his effort saved and clung to by goalkeeper Jamie Cumming.

There were few other opportunities of note, Steve Cook coming as close as anybody when he lashed an ambitious strike narrowly over the crossbar just before half-time.

“It’s always a process to build something,” said Stephan, whose team are now 10th, a point outside the play-off places. “Confidence is so important for the players. We took 11 points in the last five weeks so that increases confidence. But I think we have a margin to improve our decisions in the last third.

“We had confidence, we managed to manage the game in the last 30 minutes. It was important for me to involve different players with three games in one week.

“In the second half we stayed dominant, stayed in their half. We had our chances to be honest but some of our decisions were not that good. That’s why we didn’t create.

“But five games unbeaten, 12 points. OK. It’s not perfect, but it’s OK.”

Oxford boss Gary Rowett reflected on a hard-earned point that moved his side out of the relegation zone on goal difference.

“Happy with the clean sheet,” he said. “Not super happy with our attacking moments but away from home on a tight pitch it’s aways a competitive game here. It’s a difficult place to come.

“We didn’t quite mange to connect the last little bit. We lacked that little bit of quality. I think both teams did in truth.”