Derby County were beaten 4-1 by QPR tonight at Loftus Road as the Rams injury problems continue to mount

John Eustace lamented the quality of Derby County's defending in tonight's defeat to QPR and says the players will be angry with their performance. Derby were beaten 4-1 at Loftus Road on a dismal night that kept them second from bottom in the Championship as a troubling start to the season continued.

The injury problems also increased with centre-back Sondre Langas having to limp off with a groin problem after just 10 minutes leaving the club with just one fit central defender. QPR took full advantage as goals from Alfie Lloyd, Nicolas Madsen, Harvey Vale and Paul Smyth put them in command with Lars-Jorgen Salvesen scoring a consolation.

The defending for all goals was miles off the level required and Eustace said: "The manner of the first goal we conceded was really poor.

"We need to be much better than that individually. In the first 20 minutes I felt quite comfortable with the shape and obviously losing Sondre Langas didn't help.

"We have to adjust things, and individually, we need to be better at defending the box. I'm never going to criticise any individual or any player. Collectively, we need to defend better from the front and need to be better at the back.

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"It's very evident that you lose a couple of tackles, or miss a duel, good teams will punish you, and the Championship's got top quality this year.

"If you don't defend properly, you're going to get punished. Obviously, it's very difficult, we've got a lot of injuries and at the moment, in crucial positions. I thought Saturday we were excellent and we made some real good strides forward.

"To go again tonight with the same team is something I'll look at that, maybe I didn't pick the right personnel, but we've got an opportunity now on Saturday to put things right."

Eustace revealed there was some "emotion" between the players in the dressing room after the game when asked if there had been frank exchanges.

Derby now face Stoke at the weekend as they look for a first home win of the season but no players are due to return from injury.

However, Eustace believes his players will want to put the record straight after their display in the capital.

"They're obviously down, but they're excited and ready to go on Saturday," he said. "We've let ourselves down tonight and, you know, in two days' time we get to go and play in front of 30,000 fans in the Championship to put things right.

"Generations are changing a little bit, but there was some emotion in there (dressing room), which is what we want to see.

"We've got an opportunity now on Saturday to put things right, and I know the group will be ready to do that.

"I don't think they need picking up. They'll be angry, and I think they'll be ready to go. When we've had a couple of disappointing results, previously, I think we've always bounced back."