John Eustace pulled no punches in his assessment of QPR’s defeat to Nottingham Forest as he called on the club hierarchy to put their money where their mouth is when the transfer window opens. 

The caretaker boss saw Rangers fall to their fourth loss in six games since he took temporary charge after the dismissal of Steve McClaren at the start of the month, going down 1-0. 

And despite the Hoops’ widely publicised financial issues - the fallout from the club’s £42 million FFP settlement with the EFL last year - Eustace believes that his playing staff are in dire need of a shot in the arm. 

“Going forward, when the club recruits players, we need to recruit winners,” he said. 

“It doesn’t matter how old they are – young or old – they have got to be used to winning, used to playing as a team and used to being together.

“The four points that we picked up were massive (after Rangers had beaten Swansea and drawn with Millwall), so that togetherness is there when it’s really needed but we need that week in, week out.”

The former Watford captain watched on as Nahki Wells failed to salvage a point from the spot as he saw an 86th-minute penalty saved by Forest keeper Costel Pantilimon after the visitors had taken a second-half lead through Karim Ansarifard.

And while he feels that Rangers’ performance merited something from the game, Eustace saw the result - QPR’s 11th home defeat in the league - as emblematic of an uninspiring campaign. 

“I’m disappointed,” he continued. “We certainly didn’t deserve to lose the game; we had some great chances again and we’ve got to be taking them.

“We don’t want to lose games and, to be honest, we are very fortunate that we are still in the league because we have been on a terrible run.

“The game summed our season up in many ways. We huffed and puffed and the attitude was good but we haven’t got that killer instinct.

“We’ve created a lot of chances all season and you can’t afford to not take them. All of these Championship clubs have got quality and that is where we have been lacking.”