City go in search of a third away win in the last four at Loftus Road on Saturday afternoon
Sergej Jakirovic says he’s not concerned about the prospect of losing Matt Crooks to a one-game suspension, with the influential Hull City midfielder sitting precariously on four yellow cards.
Crooks has so far got through games against Derby County and Portsmouth since he collected his fourth caution in the closing stages of the win at Norwich City on November 1.
The experienced performer heads to QPR on Saturday knowing that if he collects another caution, he’ll be forced to miss a game, unless he can survive through to the end of the visit of former club Middlesbrough on December 5, when the tally rises to 10.
“We don’t think about yellow cards,” Jakirovic said. “In this league, you have to kick someone properly so that you will get a yellow, in my opinion.
“We have solutions. Matt is playing very good. He’s played very well in the last games; he’s really powerful in the midfield. If he gets a yellow card, OK. One game he will stop and then come back again.”
City’s preparations for the visit to Loftus Road were impacted on Thursday by the snow that fell across East Yorkshire, with the Tigers’ training session cut short.
Despite that, Jakirovic’s charges will be ready and prepared for the task that awaits when they arrive in the capital, looking to maintain their fine form and return to winning ways away from home and that disappointed loss at Derby County last time out.
“On Monday, I asked Andy Dawson, ‘Does it ever snow here? ‘ and he told me, ‘No, never’ and then it’s snowing! I’m used to it. We have it in Zagreb, and in Kayseri, we had snow in April. I saw in training that some of the players were struggling with the icy pitch, so we cut the session short, but we got what we wanted from it.”
Rangers started the season well under Julien Stephan, but have found life difficult in recent weeks, with just one win from their last six games, and it’s been a real struggle at Loftus Road, with only two wins from seven.
Naturally, Jakirovic is taking nothing for granted against a side who have the capability of turning up and delivering a performance on any given day.
“They like to play football, it’s not just kicking the ball in front,” he said of Rangers. “God knows what will happen there, but they like to play, they have automation in their play, everything on the ground, so we have prepared something for them.
“When I watch the games, it seems like it’s a very small pitch, but it’s not so small or tight, it’s because of the tribune (stands) and everything, it seems. It’s a normal pitch, but the crowd is very close and it will be very interesting, it’s another experience, but my players have experience already. They played so many times there, so we have to play football, and I hope we will take something from this game.”
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