Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink defended his team selection after QPR were hammered 6-0 by Newcastle in a totally one-sided game at Loftus Road.

Rangers were condemned to a club-record home league defeat by a Magpies side which dominated from start to finish.

Manager Hasselbaink switched to a 4-4-1-1 formation for the game, deploying James Perch on the right of midfield to try to deal with Newcastle’s attacking threat.

On a terrible night for Rangers, Perch was stretchered off in the 18th minute with what appeared to be a serious knee injury and was replaced by recent signing Paweł Wszołek, who came on for his debut.

Hasselbaink explained: “At the moment we have got a few new players. Pawel and a few others have come in and he has only trained with us a couple of times.

“We wanted a little bit more experience in that midfield and we know that Perch can play there.

“We also wanted a little bit more protection for the full-back with the quality Newcastle have with Matt Ritchie and Yoan Gouffran on the side.

“We needed that extra help and I think we were alright until Perchy went off. It was a big factor when he had to go off.”

It was QPR’s heaviest home loss since Arsenal beat them by the same scoreline in an FA Cup tie in 2001.

And could have been 7-0 – Christian Atsu hit the bar in the closing stages.

“Some honesty has been said in the dressing room. Of course you have to be honest and truthful with each other after that,” Hasselbaink said.

“But the main thing is that we are together and that we want to move on and put it right.”

The Dutchman added: “Newcastle are a good side and have a striker in Mitrovic who cost £15m, Shelvey cost £12m and Matt Ritchie £11m – and I could go on.

“But I don’t want to make excuses. There were things that happened out there that I wasn’t happy with.

“We were very stretched and it was easy for them to counter-attack us – and it’s very dangerous when they they are able to do that.

“It was easy for them to get in behind us when though we were playing deep.

“It’s hard to take, but I must say that Newcastle are a great team with big players and you could see that.”