Daniel Farke says basics cost Leeds United in poor start to 4-0 defeat at Queens Park Rangers

A 4-0 defeat at Queens Park Rangers means that by the time Leeds play their next and final game of the regular season – at home to Southampton – it could be impossible for them to win automatic promotion.

Wins at Hull City on Saturday and Coventry City on Tuesday will achieve that for Ipswich. If not, they have a last chance to garner the points they need at home to Huddersfield Town.

The result confirmed Leicester CIty's place in next season's Premier League.

Leeds have been poor since the March international break and this was a particularly anaemic performance in the opening stages in particular, when Ilias Chair and Lucas Andersen were given too much space to score.

They added two set-piece goals in the second half, scored by Lyndon Dykes and Sam Field.

"The first 20 minutes were decisive," commented Farke. "I quite often like to speak about tactical approach, what is important for our principles, how to open (up) an opponent, passing quality, whatever, but I think in the first 20 minutes we didn't do the basics – this mean to win duels, to be there with aggression on the pitch and invest in movements, we didn't show this enough in the first 20 minutes. QPR used this in an effective way to be 2-0 up.

"Then we woke and started to bring the game into their half but a side fighting against relegation, once they're 2-0 up in their own half stadium, of course it's difficult. They concentrated on being compact, defending really well. We had a few half-chances but it was difficult because we were chasing the first goal to come back into this game.

"They scored from two set pieces in the second half.

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"At 4-0 the game was done and we just had to concentrate on not conceding any more. Once you're 4-0 down you can't win anything any more so you just have to make sure it's not even more embarrassing.

"We were far away from our best. We were definitely not good enough to have the chance to win the points.

"The first 20 minutes and our behaviour with the two set pieces explained why we lost the game 4-0."

The win secured QPR's place in next season's Championship, taking a team out of the list of sides Huddersfield Town and Sheffield Wednesday can target in their own quests for safety.

"It was a fantastic way to close the circle against a very good side," said their manager, Marti Cifuentes.

"Tonight is going to be a long night for a lot of people, I guess.

"I enjoyed the start because it's something we've been working on a lot. Then second to see an identity in the team because we played against a very good football team."