Leicester City 2 v 2 Middlesbrough
Report by Stuart Dawkins
The last-minute equaliser provided an uplifting finish to a match which had been anything but uplifting for City fans. The players deserve praise for sticking to their task until the very end, but in truth, that masked a poor performance by the team, who continue to face the prospect of a genuine relegation tussle unless they can find some echo of last season’s peaks.
Playing without Drinkwater was always going to be a challenge. Although even Drinkwater has been below his best – mis-placing passes which lead to opposition goals in each of the last two league matches. However, without him today, City simply looked to lack any real plan, a situation that needs to be resolved quickly as he will also miss the next two league matches.
There were maybe half a dozen moments in the entire match when City looked recognisable as defending Champions, but for the majority of the game they were out-fought by ‘boro, and for a long time seemed to have no discernible ideas except to play high balls towards a totally isolated Vardy.
The first ten minutes were fairly shapeless, with ‘boro looking more organised. After 13 minutes, the visitors broke quickly from midfield, moved the ball to the left wing where it was cut back to the edge of the box for Negredo to finish well. It was a well-worked goal, capitalising on just one of the many times during the match when ‘boro found a lot of space on the flanks.
Often this season, when City have gone behind it has galvanized them into better efforts. Today it seemed to have the opposite effect, for the next twenty minutes City seemed unable to string any passes together, they were slower to the ball in midfield and Vardy did not have a touch of the ball of any real sort for the first half hour.
But this is Leicester –and they are capable of passages of good football even in poor games. Mahrez, at last, managed to find some space on the right of the box to cross the ball and Okazaki attempted to score again from a bicycle kick – this time only hitting the bar. It was the first moment of any quality by the home team and, in truth, an equaliser would have been harsh on the visitors, who had been the better side.
A couple of minutes later City did, however, equalise – right out of the blue. ‘Boro cleared the ball to Simpson, who punted the ball back into a crowded box – and the referee blew for a penalty for a handball the vast majority in the stadium simply did not see. Mahrez duly stepped up and scored and City were back in the match!
For a few minutes, City looked threatening, although Vardy’s worrying lack of touch meant he did not convert a pass from Okazaki close to goal – the defender forcing a corner instead.
The second half brought little change and within 15 minutes of the re-start both Vardy and Mahrez had been substituted, replaced by Slimani and Musa. Vardy and Mahrez will, I am sure, bounce back from their below-par form in league games, but it is some way from last season’s dreamland to find that replacing both stars made City look a better side. There was still a lack of precision about the team’s play, but the high balls to Slimani at least found someone whose style of play is to hold the ball up, and Musa looked lively.
It was, therefore, a bit of a surprise when Middlesbrough took the lead again. It was just the kind of goal that Leicester scored so many times last season – a midfielder looking up and looping a high ball behind a slow defence, for the striker to chase, collect and score. Only instead of Drinkwater and Vardy, today it was Forshaw and Negredo – who left the City defence and keeper looking helpless.
Ranieri responded by bringing Gray on for Okazaki. ‘Boro, too, began to make substitutions, including removing Traoré – who had run rings around Fuchs during the second half in a way that I had not seen happen before to City’s stalwart Austrian.
City began to work hard, and there was more purpose about their play, but still few clear cut chances – Amartey’s 20 yard shot which flew just wide probably being the best.
The fourth official had signalled three minutes of added time. The referee had just booked the opposition keeper for time wasting and there was less than a minute to play when City won a throw in half way inside their opponents half. As so often, it was Fuch’s quick-thinking that made the difference – he ran most of the width of the pitch to receive the ball from Simpson’s throw, he then squeezed a low pass between the wall of ‘boro defenders where Morgan – of all people – controlled it, turned in one movement like a seasoned striker, prepared to shoot and then was brought down by a ‘boro defender. It was a clear penalty, but nonetheless a big decision for referee Anthony Taylor to make.
Slimani deserves great praise for coolly scoring from the spot, with virtually the last kick of the game – and City had somehow salvaged a point.
It was a poor game, with ‘boro clearly the better side.
There were moments when the home fans began to voice their discontent with the home team – something that has not happened for a very long time. That discontent was not strong – City fans hold the current team in too high esteem for that. The fans did not sound critical of their heroes, it was more exasperation and disappointment at the ineffectiveness of what those heroes were doing.
Nonetheless, as Ranieri emphasised in his post-match interview, the team did keep going all the way to the 94th minute and did salvage a point from a poor performance.
I don’t envy Ranieri’s job at the moment. Today’s team differed by only one player from the one that played fairly well against Bruges – and it would be harsh to blame the difference on that one change, as Amartey toiled away as much as anyone did. It was simply that, for some reason, City did not play as a unit today. From Zieler – whose kicking at times in the first half was quite dreadful – right through to Vardy, who did not achieve a touch on the ball in a scoring area the whole game.
City have gained just one point from three winnable fixtures, and their last three league goals have all been penalties. That 40 point target should still be very achievable, but it will need better performances than today to make it happen.
On a final. Positive, note – it was good to see Matty James on the bench after his many months of injury.
Leicester: Zieler, Simpson, Morgan, Huth, Fuchs, Mahrez, Amartey, King, Albrighton, Okazaki, Vardy. Substitutes: Hernández, Musa, James, Hamer, Schlupp, Slimani, Gray
Middlesbrough: Valdés, Barragán, Chambers, Gibson, Fabio, Traoré, de Roon, Clayton, Forshaw, Ramírez, Negredo Substitutes: Bernardo, Leadbitter, Fischer, Guzan, Stuani, Downing, Nsue
Attendance: 32,058
The views expressed in this report are the opinions of the Trust member nominated to file the report only and do not represent the views of the Foxes Trust organisation