MARK Warburton says his players are “angry” following last weekend’s defeat at Barnsley and keen to get back on track when they host Charlton this weekend.

After collecting seven points from Derby (a), Preston (h) and Birmingham (a), the R’s suffered a 5-3 loss at Oakwell, and Warburton admitted: “We gave a disappointing performance.

“The players are a very honest group and they will be the first to admit that. You can sometimes get away with having one or two players below par but we had a number of players who were below par on the day.

“I have been asked about changing shape – we never, we just played Ryan Manning in midfield. In general, we just had too many players on the day delivering sub-par performances.

“It was a demanding week in terms of three games in a week but those are the types of demands that the Championship throws at you.

“The players got back very early on Thursday morning from Birmingham and then on Friday we were travelling to Barnsley, but we had to deal with that.”

Victory at the Championship’s basement club would have taken Rangers to just one point outside the top six, and Warburton revealed: “The players are angry.

“They are a strong group, they set high standards and after three good results we let ourselves down at Barnsley, as a group of players and staff.

“They have professional pride and are keen to correct that.”

Warburton made two changes for the Barnsley clash from the side the beat Preston, and he explained that injury prevention is a major reason behind that.

“You are most injury prone when you are fatigued so we have to look after the players,” he said.

“We can’t afford to lose players for six-to-eight weeks, we haven’t got the depth of squad to do that so we have to try to look after certain players.”

The R’s face five games in 15 days over the festive period, and the gaffer added: “You have to always take one game at a time but appreciate that you have to plan for what is ahead.

“It is a demanding time for every club in the division.

“We have to hope that the random aspects go your way in terms of injuries and suspensions and that you can meet the demands of a very intense programme.”

Lee Bowyer’s men visit W12 on Saturday looking to end a run of ten games without victory after making a strong start to life in the Championship.

“I think Lee will be very frustrated that he lost a number of players to injury, and that can impact you,” Warburton said.

“The key aspect is the depth of your squad and you have seen when Charlton lose players like Cullen, Willliams, Taylor, and so on, it has really hit them.

“This season we have lost Barbet, earlier we lost Geoff Cameron, Grant Hall, and when the smaller squads like ours lose players it can be really hard hitting.

“That’s where the depths of the bigger budgets really come into play.”

The Addicks were second in the table after six games, and Warburton added: “They started the season tremendously well and I have always said that the promoted teams will shock the established Championship teams because they are used to winning, they have that winning mentality in their squad and that camaraderie.

“Injuries have hit them but Lee has done a magnificent job and they have quality in their squad, undoubtedly.

“We have to respect them, meet the challenge and be on the front foot ourselves.”

Yoann Barbet remains out while Liam Kelly has returned to full training.