Man City vs QPR Player Ratings

By ESPNSTAR.com staff

City camped outside the QPR penalty box from the start and made the pressure pay in the first half. The hosts opened the scoring after Pablo Zabaleta's parried shot by Paddy Kenny trickled into the net five minutes before the break. However, a Joleon Lescott error was pounced upon by Djibril Cisse, who made no mistake to equalise for QPR three minutes after the restart. 

Things then took a turn in City's favour in the 55th minute when Joey Barton was sent off for an inexplicable elbow on Carlos Tevez but QPR refused to stick to the script and pulled ahead after Jamie Mackie tucked in a diving header on the counter attack.

The men in blue resumed siege of their opponent's box but it all seemed to be in vain after QPR repelled wave after wave of City's attacks.

Just when all hope seemed to be over as they entered stoppage time still 2-1 behind, substitute Edin Dzeko headed home David Silva's corner kick to equalise before Sergio Aguero went on a bursting run to fire his side to victory.

Manchester City

Joe Hart - 5.5

Hart was literally a bystander throughout the game with QPR failing to muster a serious attacking effort other than the two goals. He could have done little after being exposed on the counter attack for both of QPR's goals, but it was certainly not the way Hart wanted to end this season.

Pablo Zabaleta - 7.5

Zabaleta constantly bombed down the right flank and provided the extra width for his side. His efforts came to fruit after he scored in the first half, toe-poking his powerful shot for Kenny to spill into the net. In the end, his attacking antics was to his side's cost when Traore went down that same flank on the counter attack to set up Mackie's goal.

Vincent Kompany - 5.5

Awarded the Player of the Season earlier this week, Kompany was confident going into the game and ended up having little to do as his team mates laid siege to QPR's box. Still, Kompany could and should have done better when challenging Traore en route to QPR's second goal.

Joleon Lescott - 5.5

Like Kompany, Lescott had little to do defensively but was culpable when called upon. It was his errant header that let Cisse through on goal for QPR to equalise, and Lescott misjudged the cross that Mackie eventually headed in as well.

Gael Clichy - 6

Clichy went down the left flank as he had little to do defensively but his delivery was poor throughout. Many crosses from him were wayward and frequently easily caught by Kenny.

Gareth Barry (Off 69') - 6

Played deeper in midfield, Barry did his job picking up the loose ball but lacked inventiveness going forward, choosing instead to leave the task to Toure, Silva and Nasri.

Yaya Toure (Off 44') - 7

Toure moved a step closer to proving that he's a man-machine. Despite sustaining a calf injury in the first half, Toure endured the pain and eventually set up the opening goal. 

Samir Nasri - 6

Nasri drifted down the left flank but lacked penetration, frequently bumping into the QPR defenders and sending wayward crosses into the box in hope of finding his team mate.

David Silva - 6.5

Silva frequently managed to break down the right for City and managed to find his team mates in the box, but his delivery from City's 19 corner kicks were disappointing - until the last one, where Dzeko headed to equalise for the home side.

Sergio Aguero - 8.5

He won the league for City with the last shot of the season after 90 long minutes of being literally squeezed out of the box by QPR's men. His high price tag is definitely justified - it's no easy feat coming up with an individual effort under enormous pressure with the league title at stake.

Carlos Tevez (Off 76') - 5.5

It's the same old story for Tevez - worked hard, ran around, but it didn't pay off. Tevez was guilty of wasting passes and poor finishing, failing to display the magical touch that earned him rave reviews in the first half.

Substitutes

Nigel De Jong (On 44') - 6

He came on in place of the injured Yaya Toure to shore up the midfield but failed to contribute anything in terms of attack despite City having majority of the possession.

Edin Dzeko (Off 69') - 7

Dzeko was brought on to add height and physicality to the front line and his presence eventually counted, popping up in stoppage time to equalise for City.

Mario Balotelli (On 76') - 6

He came on for the wasteful Tevez but couldn't do much in the little amount of time given.

QPR

Paddy Kenny - 7

Despite a horrible gaffe for Zabaleta's goal worthy of a 'Worst Save of the Season' title, Kenny redeemed himself with several superb saves to keep his side in the running until the very last minute.

Clint Hill - 7.5

Hill was maginificent in the box, winning almost every cross in and tamed the City strikers for 90 minutes, which is no easy feat in itself.

Taye Taiwo - 7

Taiwo had a difficult task at left back and was constantly having to mark different players with Zabaleta, Silva and Toure taking turns to run at him.

Anton Ferdinand - 7

The junior Ferdinand seemed determined to do his brother Rio a favour, stubbornly repelling City's attack and put in a few crucial blocks to deny Tevez.

Nedum Onouha - 7.5

The former Manchester City trainee proved to be one of their banes, smothering the duo of Clichy and Nasri with his physical approach.

Shaun Derry - 7.5

The veteran sat in front of the back four and was always quick to deny City's midfielders the time and space to build their attack up.

Joey Barton - 2.5

Barton was having an excellent game until he was sent of for an absolutely mindless off-the-ball challenge on Tevez and it wasn't helped that he continued to rage at everyone else after he was sent off, even managing to knee Aguero and headbutt Kompany. With his side's survival at stake, Barton let his team mates down as a captain and deserves to be sanctioned by the Premier League.

Shaun Wright-Phillips - 6

Wright-Phillips was almost a second full-back for QPR, tucking in with Taiwo to keep City at bay. He showed a cool head to delay time for his side, but it wasn't to be as City fought back.

Jamie Mackie - 7

He was QPR's best player on the attack even before he scored his side's second goal. Mackie played his part defensively and always provided an attacking outlet for his side. Credit to him, his diving header is one of the best of its kind that the Premier League has seen in recent times.

Djibril Cisse (Off 59') - 7

Coming into this game, Cisse was expected to do keep his record of either scoring or being sent off in every game and it was the former when he pounced on Lescott's botched header to equalise for his side. Cisse also contributed defensively for his side,

Bobby Zamora (Off 76') - 5

Zamora was virtually anonymous being isolated up front for his side - the only time he was noticed was when he put in a few rash challenges in midfield.

Substitutes

Armand Traore (On 59') - 7

He came on for Cisse and was steady defending down the left flank while always threatening City on the counter attack, sending in a sweet cross which was headed home by Mackie to give his side a temporary lead.

Jay Bothroyd (76') - 5.5

Bothroyd came on but failed to contribute anything of note.