Stephan's 'bigger picture' verdict on QPR loss to Saints

Notes from the boss :Picture by @YTJourno

Julien Stephan believes QPR turned in their best performance of the season despite slipping to a third successive defeat in Wednesday night's thrilling clash with Southampton.

The metrics were all good for the R's in the Bonfire night contest at Loftus Road, except the one that mattered most - the final scoreline.

But the boss took heart from a display in which his side had 60 per cent of the ball, fired 18 shots at goal to double the amount attempted by the opposition and finished up with an xG of 1.68 to Saints' 0.68 while forcing 12 corners.

Rangers laid siege to the Saints goal in the final 15 minutes and were so unlucky not to see that pressure translate into an equaliser against the Premier League dropouts as they fell to a 2-1 defeat.

"I think it was probably our best performance since the start of the season," said the Frenchman. "We played against a low back five and last time [away] against Derby we had difficulty to create some danger. It's a big, big improvement if I compare with the last game. This time, we did very good moves and had a lot of chances to score another goal.

"So, the result is one thing, the performance another thing and if I have to have a bigger picture view, I need to think about the performance because for me, if we continue to play like this, it's impossible that we won't have some good wins and many points in the future.

"When we had the good run, I always said it's just the beginning of the season and a long journey and we have to stay stable in the bad moments. I had some very positive words with them [the players] at the end of the game and it will push them to keep going, to continue to play like this, because this exactly the way we want to play.

"I'm disappointed with the result for the players and the fans because they deserved another thing today with the quality of the performance. I think the fans saw that the players gave everything. But we have to be clinical and that was not the case today."

Stephan added: "We are now in a bad moment [results wise] and I need to be realistic, because when you play a game like this, football is sometimes very hard and you don't have what you deserve.

"I feel very lucky to train these kind of guys because I trust a lot of them and they have a very good potential. We have some very young players and some of them played in League One last season. We know where we want to go and the way the players played today is a good way to continue to develop the project and develop the players."