West Brom v QPR reaction

West Brom v QPR reaction

Published Oct. 6, 2012 3:15 p.m. ET

Mark Hughes insists he is the right man for QPR despite a fifth defeat in seven games at West Brom leaving them bottom in the Premier League.

Rangers went down 3-2 at The Hawthorns and have collected only two points out of a possible 21.

James Morrison, Zoltan Gera and Youssouf Mulumbu netted for the Baggies with Adel Taarabt and Esteban Granero on target for QPR, who trailed 2-0 and 3-1.

But Hughes is convinced QPR will revive their fortunes once they stop conceding sloppy goals early in games and see their injury list shorten.

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He said: "Am I still the right man? Oh yes, absolutely. We knew where we might possibly be at the beginning of the season because of the amount of changes we've made.

"We are disappointed because in a number of games we've played well and not got what we've deserved out of games.

"You've got to perform from start to finish because if you allow good teams, which West Brom are this year, any encouragement then they will take chances.

"We've got to give ourselves the chance to win games. It is disappointing because once again we have given ourselves too much to do.

"That's the second game running we've conceded two poor goals defensively from our point of view in that initial period.

"You can't afford to do that in the Premier League because you give yourself a mountain to climb."

Hughes added: "We are six or seven games into the new season, we've got a lot of new players and a lot of injuries which are not helping us.

"Once that settles down, people will see what we can produce and we've shown glimpses of that in almost every game.

"But we need to build performances and results."

Albion are lying fourth in the table after collecting 14 points from their opening seven games.

New manager Steve Clarke is unsurprised by the start but refusing to get carried away.

He said: "I've got to be honest, I'm not over-surprised. I'm delighted and obviously 14 points is a great return from the first seven games.

"But I'm not surprised. I knew we would be competitive in all the games we played.

"We don't get carried away with ourselves because we know what our primary objective is and we're firmly focused on that at the moment.

"It's to ensure another season in the Premier League. That's got to be the bottom line for the majority of clubs in the league."

Clarke felt Albion made harder work than they should have of securing a fourth successive home win - their best at the start to a season in the top flight since 1919.

He said: "It was probably harder than should have been. From 2-0 up we became a little bit too open.

"Defensively it was not a performance you would usually associate with us. But I think attacking-wise we played some fantastic football going forward.

"We created a lot of chances but it took us longer to close the game out than it should have done."

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