Rangers secure deserved point against City
QPR 0 Manchester City 0
Bottom of the table they may be, but QPR are still alive and kicking – and still unbeaten in the league in 2013.
They had to absorb plenty of pressure against the champions, who went close when Pablo Zabaleta headed David Silva’s first-half cross against the bar.
Julio Cesar was also grateful to see Javi Garcia’s wind-assisted 35-yarder flash just wide as Manchester City continued to press.
Rangers, with Fabio on the right of midfield and Loic Remy making his home debut, struggled to create chances before a quick counter-attack brought Joe Hart into action six minutes before the break.
The England keeper raced from his line and produced a fine stop to deny Adel Taarabt after the Moroccan had skipped away from Gael Clichy.
Cesar then atoned for some shaky early moments by diving to his right to push away Gareth Barry’s shot.
He also did well to hold a low shot from Silva midway through the second half and a similar effort from James Milner.
QPR had a shout for a penalty ignored by referee Phil Dowd with 16 minutes remaining, when Remy went down under a challenge from Joleon Lescott near the edge of the box.
Cesar pulled off another good stop late on, blocking from Silva at point-blank range following substitute Edin Dzeko’s low cross.
And City also had an appeal for a penalty waved away after Nedum Onuoha’s challenge on Scott Sinclair.
QPR (4-1-4-1): Cesar; Onuoha, Nelsen, Hill, Traore; Derry; Fabio, Mbia (Faurlin 90), Granero (Park 89), Taarabt; Remy (Zamora 90).
Subs not used: Green, Ben Haim, Murphy, Bothroyd.
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29/01/2013 @ 11:53 pm
Hi Simon.
Let me say first of all that I think it’s an absolute disgrace that having spent so much money on so many players, QPR are regularly reduced to playing like some plucky lower-league team in the cup. In my view QPR fans should be mortified and angry about that and holding the chairman accountable for it, not chanting his name.
It’s also the case that I’m regularly accused of being negative towards Rangers or even anti-QPR, so I’m not some kind of blinkered cheerleader for them.
However, regardless of whether it ought to be the case, the fact is that QPR have two old blokes at the back and other players many wouldn’t consider to be Premier League quality. They dug in, did what they needed to do to get the point (and sure they rode their luck at times) and overall deserved to get that point for their defending and the good work of their keeper, who did his job while City’s forwards didn’t. In my view dominating a game and having most of the chances doesn’t necessarily mean deserving to win that game.
Had City scored, there’s no doubt their win would have been absolutely deserved. But they didn’t. Rangers worked hard to ensure they didn’t, so on that basis I feel their point was deserved even though I totally understand where you’re coming from.
Cheers.
David
29/01/2013 @ 11:13 pm
if you tell me that you deserved a point at West Ham, you must deserve to win the Premier League!!!!
29/01/2013 @ 11:03 pm
Guys, I have been a season ticket holder at City for 30 years. I have seen some average teams and some crap teams play for us. Tonight I saw a good City side make hard work of a team that had little fight and even less ideas. I have no gripe with QPR or their fans but the author of this post claims that QPR “deserved” a point. I contest that and say that they were lucky at best. You rarely got out of your half and apart from one breakaway moment, never looked threatening and were lucky to get away with a point.
I have had a couple of good days in the South Africa Road end, particularly the 3-4 in the league cup and I wish you all well but let’s be honest. Did you really deserve the point? To deserve a point you both teams should have battled well and had a few chances or they should have had a backs to the wall, throw everything on the line attitude. I didn’t see either from QPR. They looked like a very poor side without any ideas. If you had played a team off the park, would you still be saying that they deserved a point? Against MK Dons, QPR had a lot more shots and a lot more possession. I only saw the highlights but did QPR ‘deserve’ a replay? I assume, maybe wrongly, that they took their chances and you didn’t. Avoiding the sympathy for the underdog, how many left the ground thinking that you have been outplayed by a superior side? How many of you left tonight feeling that you had a great point and how many left thinking that we deserved that point?
29/01/2013 @ 10:31 pm
Simon you mug, QPR should’ve had a penalty, plus we missed a few chances.
What’s happened to City fans? Never used to be so quiet?
29/01/2013 @ 10:23 pm
Man City are ‘unlucky’ to be 5 points behind in the title race…’unlucky’ not to have beaten a resolute QPR and ‘unlucky’ probably not to win anything this season….come on u R’s….
29/01/2013 @ 10:02 pm
Simon, please, it is a deserved point. Harry Redknapp had a game plan, and the players executed it perfectly. I assume you are either a young fan who is a bit lively, or you know very little about football. Either way I am afraid it was a DESERVED point. Alright sausage?
29/01/2013 @ 9:56 pm
and on another point, neither side’s claims for penalties were justified. Lescott’s challenge was outside the box and Onouha made a perfectly good tackle. Maybe reporting on football matches isn’t your forte.
29/01/2013 @ 9:54 pm
“Rangers secure deserved point against City” – how did you arrive at that? They were played off the park for the entire 90 minutes and but for the woodwork, some fine saves and some poor finishing City would have strolled it. You could not complain it you had been beaten by 3 or 4 goals, so how do you “deserve” a point?? If we had played for another 5 hours, Rangers wouldn’t have scored! The word that you are looking for is LUCKY