They’ll be plenty of subplots tomorrow in what promises to be the most nerve wracking match in the last 40 years for Man City fans.  The biggest sub plot of all is that Queens Park Rangers manager Mark Hughes was dismissed by Man City a few years back and his dismissal was handled by Man City in a way that left a bad taste in Hughes’ mouth.   Now Hughes finds himself with the rather delicious irony that he can deny a rare championship to a Man City club that he believes treated him poorly.   More importantly QPR need exactly 1 point to avoid the disaster of relegation.

Anybody who believes that Man City will have an easy time tomorrow may have a surprise coming.  Look for QPR to play Italian style football, in other words a physical, defensive minded game that has a 0-0 tie as it’s goal.   QPR will be very conservative, using tactical fouls all game long to avoid any mismatches.   Hughes will play what I jokingly call the 0-0-10 formation, that is he will have his midfield and even his forwards focused on helping out on defense and consuming time.  QPR surely will play not to lose and this is an incredibly hard strategy to overcome.

Roberto Mancini’s troops must find a way to score early to put the pressure on QPR to attack.  Man City should have its hands full in what promises to be great match.  The longer this matches goes without a score, the more that the pressure will rain down upon the shoulders of Man City players.   Should be fun!