Next QPR Manager: Frontrunner shares football ideology with Marti Cifuentes

QPR are yet to confirm who will be the club’s next manager as Marti Cifuentes remains on gardening leave but, should it be frontrunner Johannes Hoff Thorup, it may be a simple transition in playing style.

Cifuentes is yet to be officially relieved of his duties but was temporarily removed from his post before the final Championship game of the season against Sunderland. QPR are still to make an announcement on who will manage the club next season after the 42-year-old was linked with a move to West Brom.

Several candidates have been linked with the job at Loftus Road. Former Wolves boss Gary O’Neil and Tottenham Hotspur coach Ryan Mason were two early frontrunners but it is now ex Norwich City boss Thorup who is the leading candidate.

Former Norwich City manager remains QPR frontrunner

The 36-year-old was sacked by the Canaries in April after six defeats in eight, lasting fewer than 12 months at Carrow Road. Thorup is yet to return to work but is now a strong contender to take over from Cifuentes.

Should that happen, it may not see a huge tactical shift at Loftus Road. Cifuentes has been outspoken at his dislike for playing long balls from the back and that is something Thorup shares. When he first arrived in Sweden, Cifuentes labelled the popular long ball approach as something from the 1970s and something ‘extremely different from what I knew’.

When losing 2-1 to Portsmouth this year, Cifuentes also shared frustration with Pompey using that approach. He said: “We knew we were coming to play against a team that is extremely direct. It's all about long balls, about second balls. We had to match the intensity at the same time that we wanted to impose our style, putting the ball on the ground and trying to create. It was certainly very difficult.

“It’s a small pitch and we couldn't find the space to break through the pressure. Then the game became, especially during the first half, a lot of up and downs, second balls, not the kind of style that we would like to have. But the team, I think, competed well in the first half. “

QPR recruited Paul Nardi from Gent last summer to take over from Asmir Begovic and help Cifuentes’ style of playing out from the back. Risky at times, those tactics may have split QPR supporters but they can expect more of the same should Thorup be appointed at Loftus Road.

Johannes Hoff Thorup explains football ideology

The former Norwich City man laid out his football ideology ahead of facing Leeds United in January. Those quotes provide a snapshot of what QPR could expect from the frontrunner.

Thorup said: “I believe that, from my perspective, I don’t want a random game. I don’t want a 50/50 game. The way that we see it, the coaching staff, is that we want to avoid duels in the game and avoid situations where it’s down to a 50/50 duel. If we go direct on a goal kick we cannot control where the ball will drop down. We can control in which space it will end but we cannot control what will be the outcome of it because it will be a duel, a second ball, a third ball, that kind of situation.

“That’s an open game but also more random and a game where it’s difficult to gain more control. We want the control and we always see that the game starts with us being on the ball and trying to dominate. We train the decision making and sometimes we have to go direct, if we are really under pressure or the opposition invests a lot of players in pressing us, then probably there is a really good situation on the last line or even behind them and we should seek that one.

“The original thought is that we want a game that we can control and we want a game with less duels and a game that is less random, for us to control. That’s the reason why we do it. It’s a difficult thing to do and takes a lot of training, preparation and courage and personality of the players.”

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