FULL TIME: Queens Park Rangers 2-2 Manchester City
And that’s that! The end of a wonderful game. It’s a draw, probably a fair result on balance. A useful one for Rangers as they embark on their quest to haul themselves out of bother. Not a very good one for City, who are now eight points behind Chelsea. A great evening for Jose Mourinho and his men, though. Hart has the good grace to go up to Austin and explain what happened with that free kick in the first half. The two depart the scene on good terms. There’s nice. But it looks like it’s up to Southampton if we want ourselves a title race this season. Poor Manchester City Man!
Updated
90 min +3: City pass it around a lot, but a patient possession game is no good to them right now.
90 min +2: Aguero, looking for his hat-trick goal and the winner, has a dig from the edge of the D. It’s deflected out for a corner. Demichelis, hoping to make amends, meets the set piece with his head, but can only send the ball looping harmlessly towards Green, who takes the opportunity to faff around for a while, the clock very much on QPR’s side.
Updated
90 min +1: Milner grabs a yard down the left. He pulls the ball back for Toure, who opens his body up to sidefoot into the bottom right from the edge of the box. His effort is on target, but Barton slides in to block clear, a brilliant intervention.
90 min: There will be four added minutes.
89 min: Vargas reaches the byline down the right. He’s been magnificent, and wins a corner off Mangala. The set piece is whipped into the mixer, where Austin attempts to steer one into the top left. It flies well wide of the post.
87 min: QPR, mindful that they’d have grabbed a point before kick-off, are doing very well to keep City at arm’s length right now. They’re taking the pace out of the game as best they can.
85 min: QPR collectively fall asleep as Hart launches a goal kick. The ball bounces past Caulker down the inside-right channel and towards the area. Navas attempts to do an Aguero, nicking the ball past the keeper, but can connect with neither head nor toe. Green collects with a blow of the cheeks. That was a very close shave for Rangers.
GOAL!!! QPR 2-2 Manchester City (Aguero 83)
A long ball down the inside-left channel. Aguero’s got four men plus Green surrounding him. No matter! He takes a touch to the right, enters the area, then shuffles left. He’s shaken Green off, and lashes a shot into the left-hand side of the net! This is an astonishing game of football!
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81 min: Four chances in a minute for City. First Milner, eight yards out and level with the left-hand post, loops a header towards the top right. Green is beaten but Caulker heads off the line. Then Toure has a snapshot at the right-hand post. Saved! Then Milner has another effort, a shot from 12 yards, deflected wide left. And from the corner, Sagna sees a shot from the edge of the area fly wide left! Wow! QPR are hanging on here.
80 min: Well that goal has really got this game going again. Zamora is rudely manhandled to the ground, just to the right of the City D, as the pair contest a high ball. Zamora’s free kick is blootered straight into the wall, but bounces out to the Rangers right, where Barton beats the dismal Fernando with ease. He crosses deep, for Vargas, 12 yards out, level with the left-hand post. Vargas attempts a bicycle kick, and it’s a wonderful effort, creamed just wide of the left-hand post. What an effort!
78 min: City nearly get back into it immediately, Aguero beating Green to a loose ball down the inside-right channel and rounding the keeper on the outside. But he’s left with a tight angle, and though he gets the shot on target, Caulker is able to slide in and hack clear!
GOAL! QPR 2-1 Manchester City (Demichelis 76 og)
Vargas robs Fernando with ease by the centre circle. He slips a ball out to the right for Austin, who whips a majestic cross into the area for Zamora. But Zamora can’t connect, because Demichelis is in ahead of the striker, and inadvertently guides a dreadful header into the top left! QPR fans are delighted, as is Jose Mourinho!
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74 min: Milner replaces Nasri.
72 min: This game’s gone off the boil. To be fair, they couldn’t be expected to keep it up.
70 min: City are playing a slow possession-based game here. But it’s getting them nowhere fast.
68 min: Dzeko’s big night out hasn’t lasted long! He’s pulled a muscle, and is replaced by Lampard. Always remember to warm up properly, kids.
66 min: Barton curls a ball into the City box from a deep position on the right. Vargas, on the right-hand corner of the six-yard box, chests down brilliantly. But having killed the ball stone dead, he falls back as he shoots, sending a weak effort into the arms of Hart.
64 min: Dzeko comes on for Fernandinho.
63 min: Vargas has a lash from the right-hand edge of the City D. It’s a terrible shot, going miles wide left, but clangs into a startled Caulker and nearly rebounds into the top right! The ball flies just wide of the post. So close to the perfect fusion of pinball and comedy.
61 min: Barton, taking advantage of a Fernando slip, flicks a gorgeous ball round the corner and down the inside-left channel for Austin, who makes good for the area before firing one into the centre for Zamora. Zamora shapes to sidefoot home, but Mangala nips in to guide the ball out for a corner. The set piece is a nonsense.
59 min: City are enjoying a lot of possession now. They pass it around an awful lot for a few minutes. Sagna nearly carves out a chance to shoot on the edge of the box, then Fernandinho nearly releases Aguero down the inside-right with a glorious pitching wedge of a pass. Caulker gets his eyebrows on the ball to guide it back to Green.
57 min: It’s still tipping down at Loftus Road.
55 min: Fer robs a ponderous Sagna of the ball down the QPR left. Fer scampers off, and is pulled back by the errant full back. A no-brainer booking for a cynical challenge.
53 min: Vargas has the ball in the net, tapping a Zamora left-wing pass home from six yards. However, the pair were about five yards offside, and don’t even bother celebrating. They’d have required some chutzpah to claim that one.
52 min: Toure bombs down the right before whipping a low ball through the QPR box. Green having committed himself at the near post, he’s out of the way when the ball rolls across the face of goal. Aguero surely must slide in to poke home, but opts against making any sort of lunge whatsoever! Very strange. He scampers after the loose ball, but the chance to retrieve the situation is gone.
51 min: Barton slides in, and slides in hard, on Fernando. He’s lucky not to go in the book for that one, which was as clumsy as it gets.
50 min: And now, up the other end, Fer sees a shot from 20 yards deflected wide left of the goal by Demichelis, then from the resulting corner Caulker slaps a header wide right of the goal. This is magnificent entertainment!
47 min: What a start to the second half this is! First Austin and Zamora nearly tiki-taka their way down the middle, only for control to be lost the minute they enter the area. Then Nasri is sent dancing towards the byline down the left by Aguero. He fizzes a pass straight through the six-yard box; Toure, extending a telescopic leg, can’t attach it to the ball.
46 min: Navas is sent into space down the right. He fires a ball into the middle where Aguero nearly slides home. But he’s denied the chance to give City a perfect start to the half by Caulker, sliding in beside him.
And we're off again!
Before we start, to clear up the Hart free kick incident: anywhere else on the pitch, and that would have been an indirect free kick. But as this one was in the box, the ball wasn’t in play until it left the area, so a retake was the correct decision. The law is an ass sometimes. But there you have it. Anyway, the ball’s been set rolling by QPR, who have been forced into a chance. Sandro, who has a jiggered hamstring, has been replaced by ... former City hero Joey Barton. You may remember his little cameo at Eastlands on the day City won their first Premier League title. Has this match another controversial moment in it?
Half-time entertainment: City’s fans can afford to laugh about it now. But at the time it was terrible.
HALF TIME: QPR 1-1 Manchester City
And that’s that. What a half! Superb entertainment! Dreadful refereeing! What more do you want?
45 min +2: Vargas is booked for an out-of-control lunge on Toure. Then Nasri goes in the book for ... well, I’m not 100 percent sure. An earlier offfence? Or letting his mouth run away with him? He’s in the book, anyway.
45 min +1: Vargas hoofs the free kick straight into the City wall. Very poor.
45 min: Fernando climbs all over Austin, just outside the City D. This will be a free kick in a dangerous position, to be taken in the first of two added minutes, providing everyone pulls their finger out.
44 min: Two efforts from Austin within a minute, and two brilliant Hart saves. First Fernando miscontrols down the inside right, and the striker’s clear in the area! He batters a shot straight at the keeper, who nevertheless parries brilliantly. Then Fer crosses into the area from the left. Austin, rushing in, hammers goalwards, low and hard, but Hart smothers majestically. The striker’s offside on that second one, though.
42 min: A free kick flung into the Rangers box gives up half a chance for Mangala, 12 yards out. His header is weak and wide right. Up the other end, Zamora gives Sagna a helpful shove into the advertising hoardings. Sagna, upside down, becomes part of the medium and the message, his arse and legs clattering into it. Ooyah, oof.
40 min: Dunne crumps his studs into Nasri’s hip. He’s booked, and that could easily have been a red. The refereeing has been consistently inconsistent, if nothing else. Both sides now have legitimate grounds for complaint. It’s been quite a half of football in that respect.
39 min: A suggestion that Aguero was offside for the goal, too. To be honest, the decision was marginal, and forwards should be given the benefit of the doubt. But add to the fact that the ball brushed Aguero’s arm as he was turning Caulker inside out, and Rangers have every right to be livid. Anyway, we are where we are, and City are knocking it around a lot now, confidence restored.
38 min: Isla is booked for coming through the back of Aguero as the striker probes down the inside-left channel. This is a free kick just outside the area. Toure blasts a dreadful effort over the bar.
36 min: Nasri finds himself in a little space to the right of the Rangers box. He clips a ball inside for Aguero, who sends a strange bouncing bomb towards the top right. Green makes a song and dance of parrying round for a corner, which is cleared easily enough. City are beginning to get on top now.
34 min: Well that came against the run of play. Aguero nearly hits Rangers with a double whammy, racing across the front of the Rangers box, left to right, but takes too long in deciding whether to shoot or not. He eventually feeds Navas down the right. Navas pulls it back for Toure, who from 20 yards spoons a shot wide left of goal with the net gaping.
GOAL! QPR 1-1 Manchester City (Aguero 32)
Mangala rakes a high ball down the inside-left channel. Aguero, on the edge of the box, takes it down wonderfully, twists Caulker this way and that, and batters a low shot into the middle of the net past Green. A suggestion the ball might have brushed Aguero’s hand as he took it to the right of Caulker before turning back to the left and shooting - and it’s one Green makes vociferously - but City get the decision.
Updated
29 min: QPR have taken their foot off the gas a little, which is hardly surprising, they’ve been pressing like Arrigo Sacchi’s Milan, or Chelsea earlier this afternoon. City aren’t doing much with the extra time they’re being gifted on the ball. They’ve been as dismal as Rangers have been impressive.
26 min: Toure glides in from the right wing. As he reaches the edge of the box, he curls one towards the top left. It’s inches away from nestling in the corner of the net, a wonderful effort. But, the odd strange refereeing decision apart, nothing’s going right for City at the moment.
25 min: Vargas fizzes a high one into the area. It wheechs off the head of Clichy, and out for a corner on the right. Navas makes a powerful header to clear. Toure then shanks a long pass toward Aguero out of play, under no pressure whatsoever. Up field, Aguero does a little dance, the whole performance powered by steam. He’s not happy with the service he’s getting. He’s got a face on! Oo-er!
23 min: City are all over the shop here. Navas panics as Yun battles for a ball to the left of the City area, and concedes a free kick on the edge of the box. This is in a very dangerous position.
GOAL! QPR 1-0 Manchester City (Austin 21)
Vargas dances in from the right, beats a couple of lame challenges, and slides a ball into the box. Austin’s clear on goal! And he makes no mistake, firing low and hard, and into the bottom-left corner! I reckon he was marginally offside there, but if any team have earned the benefit of the doubt when it comes to refereeing decisions, it’s Rangers. And they deserve the lead on the balance of play. This is a highly impressive performance by Rangers so far, who weathered that early City storm and have been the better side by far!
Updated
19 min: Clichy avoided a booking back there, and now Nasri slides in late on Zamora. No yellow for that either. So when Sandro sees yellow for a late slide on Toure, you can imagine the reaction from the home support. City have enjoyed a lot of fortune so far. But never mind that, because ...
16 min: ... the ball’s cleared. Sandro, on the right-hand edge of the City D, hits a rising shot goalwards. It hits Sagna’s upper arm. Screams for a penalty, and you’ll have seen these given, but nothing’s going QPR’s way right now. That was rather like the Gerrard-Cahill incident in the Liverpool-Chelsea match earlier today. The defender’s arm was poking out a bit, but not so much that the referee could be 100 percent sure that it was a deliberate motion towards the ball. It probably was a spot kick, but it wasn’t so clear to be a ludicrous decision. That won’t stop QPR being very aggrieved right now.
15 min: Clichy slides in on Vargas. If he’d made contact, travelling at 983 mph on the slippery surface, Vargas was bouncing down Goldhawk Road on his buttocks. No booking. The weather’s saved him there. City clear the resulting free kick, swung in from the right, but the ball’s soon coming back at the champions. Sandro, down the inside-left channel, swings a ball towards the far post, where Zamora cushions a lay off for Austin, free on the penalty spot. He should score, but allows Hart to block a shot hit straight at him. Corner, from which ...
12 min: Toure slides a ball down the inside-left channel for Aguero, who takes a step into the area and drives low. Dunne comes across to block out for a corner, and the resulting set piece is a thundering non-event. The home support aren’t at all happy with Austin’s disallowed goal - the second disallowed goal, that is - and are booing accordingly. You can’t blame them.
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9 min: “A strong side by City, this.” And so, having said that, Austin powers a header into the net from the penalty spot, latching onto Vargas’s right-wing cross. A marvellous finish. However, he’s five yards offside. Then, astonishing scenes, as Hart takes the free kick. As he steps up to the ball, he accidentally toe-punts it with one clumsy boot before hacking it straight to Austin with the other. Austin is 25 yards from goal, level with the right-hand post, and creams a beauty into the bottom corner! But the referee, Hart having taken two touches, allows the City keeper to take the free kick again. Two goals disallowed in the space of 30 seconds! City can count themselves very fortunate not to be losing. That was as farcical as football gets!
Updated
7 min: Navas earns a corner off Yun down the right. QPR half clear the set piece, but Aguero, Navas and Sagna combine to launch a new phase of attack down the right wing. Sagna pulls the ball back from the byline for Toure, who blooters over the bar, hopelessly so, from the edge of the box. A strong start by City. this.
5 min: Aguero romps down the middle of the park, gliding a little bit from left to right. He’s got Navas free in acres down the right, but opts to shoot from 25 yards instead. The effort sails 25 yards over the bar. Another poor decision by Aguero, but on the other hand he’s looking very lively already, finding some dangerous positions.
4 min: Fernandinho flicks a ball down the inside-right channel for Aguero, who is free in the box. That kind of came out of nowhere, and Aguero looks shocked at being released on goal. So he pauses, fatally as far as the move is concerned. He allows Caulker to close him down. Aguero pulls one back for Nasri, rushing in, but the ball’s intercepted by Henry.
2 min: It’s all City during the opening exchanges. They’re passing it around the back quite a lot, getting a feel of the ball, and a sense of the conditions. Navas has attempted to break down the right a couple of times, to no avail.
And we're off!
It’s Remembrance Day tomorrow, and there’s a perfectly observed minute’s silence to honour the fallen. After that’s done, City get the ball rolling, kicking in the first half towards the BBC, sort of. Loftus Road is drenched, with the surface slippery and wet. A nice fast passing game, please, lads!
It’s a sell-out at Loftus Road this afternoon. I hope this old boy has a ticket ...
I like Manchester City Man. He’s cultivated a strong look. In these cynical times, there should be more fans like this. This, after all, is a much more attractive way of getting behind one’s team, rather than getting angry, effin’ and jeffin’, and calling half-cut journalists all sorts on Twitter. But what’s in Manchester City Man’s briefcase? I’m hoping it’s a large amount of money, arranged neatly into rows, in the 1970s game-show style. The pies and Bovril are on Manchester City Man!
Anyway, the teams are out. QPR are wearing their famous blue-and-white hoops, while Manchester City are forced to change into their third kit, a fetching purple number. It’s raining quite a lot. We’ll be off in a minute!
Cast and crew
Queens Park Rangers: Green, Isla, Caulker, Dunne, Yun, Vargas, Sandro, Henry, Fer, Austin, Zamora.
Subs: Hill, Phillips, Barton, McCarthy, Onuoha, Kranjcar, Hoilett.
Manchester City: Hart, Sagna, Demichelis, Mangala, Clichy, Fernandinho, Fernando, Jesus Navas, Toure, Nasri, Aguero.
Subs: Zabaleta, Milner, Dzeko, Caballero, Lampard, Jovetic, Boyata.
Referee: Mike Dean (Wirral)
Bobby Zamora returns for QPR, with Junior Hoilett dropping to the bench. Eliaquim Mangala replaces injured Manchester City captain Vincent Kompany, while Bacary Sagna, Fernandinho and Samir Nasri replace Pablo Zabaleta, Stevan Jovetic and James Milner.
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Money can’t buy you love, happiness, or even a fully functioning football team these days. QPR have been flinging the stuff around for a few years now, but have yet to establish themselves as major players. Too good for the Championship, not quite good enough for the Premier League, it’s a hell of a state to be in. But things might be finally looking up for the Rangers, if their last three results are anything to go by. They’ve lost two of those games, admittedly, but unluckily so, against Liverpool and Chelsea. Meanwhile Aston Villa were clinically dispatched just under a fortnight ago, in a performance of vim and vigour which suggested a little belief might be returning to Loftus Road.
As for City ... well. They’re the reigning champions, of course, so things could be a hell of a lot worse. But context and expectation is everything, and City are all over the shop at the moment. They’ve lost three of their last four games, the last defeat a humbling at home by CSKA Moscow which has all but scuppered their European Cup pretensions for another 12 months. Back home, they currently trail the Premier League leaders Chelsea by nine points, and given Jose Mourinho’s proclivity for winning titles from the front, can’t afford to slip any further behind. Retaining their title will begin to look like a pipe dream if they can’t register a confidence-replenishing win here tonight. Just their luck to find QPR regaining a little form, while theirs has gone out the window. This could be a fair old ding-dong battle. It’s on!
Kick off: 5.30pm.
What money can buy you: Diamond rings, my friend.
