Conceding 12 games on the bounce, it is a small wonder the “Hoops” only won one of their first nine league matches. One that is not to blame for this is Morgan Fox as he only just returned to the team in the last match before the break.
“It was good to get back out there, especially after such a long time,” the Welsh defender tells Tribalfootball in an exclusive conversation. A trapped nerve required a small surgery to “release a bit of pressure”, adds Fox, who’s been back around the team for a few weeks.
“I completed the whole pre-season up to the last friendly against Reading. I had done six or seven weeks of work and worked quite hard over the summer as well to put myself in a position to get into the team. For that work to pretty much go to waste was frustrating.
“I was pretty immobile for a couple of weeks, lost all my fitness and then gradually got it back again. I pride myself on my fitness and my physical ability. I've always kept myself fit even over the summer, so hopefully that's done me good and the last few weeks have been really good hard work.”
Loftus not a nice place to play
Fox hopes to be back in front of the fans sooner rather than later, but of the 13 starts he made for QPR last season, no less than nine were away from home. The Welsh defender swears he loves playing at Loftus Road and puts the lack of game time down to another injury.
“I got injured early on in that season, when I went up for header. I got a little nudge and just landed awkwardly on my knee. Unfortunately, that put me out of action for a while. Then Marti Cifuentes came in as our new manager halfway through my rehab, which is tough, but he was really good with me.
“But my family also told me; 'we haven’t seen you play for ages!' No, I'm only joking, I do love playing at home because it's a tight stadium. When I played there in an away team, it's not a nice place to play. I think that's what we've got to get back to,” Fox says, thereby touching on a sore spot. QPR have yet to win a single game at home this season.
“I don't think we've achieved what we want to achieve, but I don't think there's reason to be concerned yet. There's a long way to go this season. I've been in the Championship for a couple of years now. There are so many games and it can turn so quickly. But we know we need to pick up.
“We’ve had a few close ones which we should have won. If they were wins as they should have been, we'd be sitting in a much better position. It's small things that we need to tweak and we've had a good period of work now over the break,” says Fox, dismissing the thought of frustration growing in the dressing room.
“No, I don’t think so. In the Championship, you're always in the fire and if I didn't enjoy being that, I would be in the wrong profession. I'm sure, I speak for the rest of the lads when I say, we can't wait to get back on the pitch.”
Happy working with the gaffer
There’ll be plenty of opportunity to get back on the pitch for Morgan Fox and his teammates, with three games coming in seven days. Win those and you’re suddenly in the best half of the table, which would be what QPR were aiming for this season after coming in 18th last season.
“Marti Cifuentes didn’t formulate any specific ambitions for the season other than to build on last season, where we finished really strong. He wants us to be a team with identity,” Fox says of the Spanish manager who took over from Gareth Ainsworth last season. And while the first nine games of the season haven’t brought the desired wins, Cifuentes only recently signed a new contract.
Having gone through five managers since 2022 it’s a rare sign of belief in the work being done on the pitch in this day and age in the EFL and they players were happy to see Cifuentes put pen to paper.
“Definitely. The players congratulated him, but he actually told us as we were going into the game. And credit to him, he just said; look, it is what it is, let's focus on the football side of it and then the rest takes care of itself. From a personal point of view, I've really enjoyed working with him and I'm glad that can continue,” says the former Charlton, Stoke and Sheffield Wednesday player, who is into his last year of his contract with Queens Park Rangers. There hasn’t been any contact about next season from the club yet, which isn’t a worry for Fox.
“When I look across the group, there's a lot of us into our final year but I've absolutely loved my time here so far and I’d absolutely like to stay. I'm settled here with my family. I love being a part of this club. From the top down, it's a really tight group and that includes everyone; the staff, the players, everything. I feel like I've still got a lot to give.“
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See also: Hoops and Dreams: Loftus Road Memories in association with CopyBet