Leicester City 0 – 3 Newcastle United
Post Match Analysis by Stuart Dawkins
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.
A week or so ago I saw a piece on the always readable Fosseway website which eloquently argued the case for taking a sabbatical from Leicester City for the rest of this season. I totally understood the logic.
And yet like many others, the rhythm of my life and my partner’s life is intrinsically bound up with football. International breaks leave no fixed points to anchor our weekend. An international break followed by an FA Cup Quarter Final break (why??) meant two weekends in a row. A no-contest away to Manchester City midweek was no good, who is going to traipse up to Manchester for that on a Wednesday evening? And then the wait until 8pm on a Monday too. We had not had a proper fix of football for three weeks. And so, of course, we went to see City play against Newcastle.
Many did not. I haven’t seen the King Power Stadium as empty for a league game in over a decade. What was the motivation for those who did attend – other than addictive behaviour? That’s not clear either. It’s only ten years since watching the West Ham game that signalled the start of the great escape – a match I routinely tout as being one of the most important in my 50-odd years of watching City play. This year, even a great escape-like run of wins would almost certainly not save the team from relegation, and I doubt anyone expected such a run to start against Newcastle.
There was little or no feeling of pre-match anticipation, either personally or in the ground. Here are my pre-match notes …
The team selection was unchanged. Newcastle wore their all-white kit. Harvey Barnes was in the visiting team and got an excellent reception from the home fans. The, in my view, totally redundant lightshow was eclipsed in beauty and drama by the unusual sight of the vapour trails of eight aircraft visible at the same time from my seat, maybe it was something about the atmosphere over the stadium? I counted eleven press photographers poised to take pictures of the goal that Newcastle would be attacking, I could not see any covering the goal at the other end of the pitch.
The photographers were nearly proved wrong. Vardy had a shot more or less on target after 12 seconds, which was tipped wide by the keeper. The City fans chanted “we had a shot” in mock amazement.
City passed the ball about a bit and then conceded essentially the same goal for the umpteenth time this season. A mid-fielder (in this case Ndidi but that is a detail) needlessly loses the ball near the half-way line. The opposition attack with a speed and purpose totally absent from City’s defence, the ball goes to the left wing, the winger is free to cross along the 6-yard line for an easy tap in, this time by Murphy. City are, yet again, behind after two minutes.
It was not long before the game ceased to be a contest. Vardy was dispossessed in the centre circle. Schär spotted that Hermansen was a good 40 yards from his goal and lofted a shot that looped in the air until hitting the crossbar. It was no surprise that a Newcastle player was the first to the rebound, Murphy tapping in another sitter.
The City players looked shell-shocked, yet again. I have some sympathy, some … not with repeatedly defending so raggedly match after match, but repeatedly seeing opponents convert chances so well so early in games must be completely dispiriting.
Another Newcastle chance ten minutes later had Barnes exploiting more space down the City left, this time his shot was well blocked by a defender, amidst great applause from the home and away fans for Barnes’ effort.
The few City fans who could be bothered to sing now started a chorus of “F**k off van Nistelrooy”. The gloom was momentarily lifted by a 70-yard run with the ball by El Khannouss, which led to a shot well saved.
Then as so often this dismal season, a sustained pattern of attacking play by City ended with a goal to the opposition. A good attack was smothered out near the opponent’s box … Newcastle broke in numbers and converted the resultant chance, Hermansen blocking the initial shot for Barnes to tap in the rebound. Just over 30 minutes gone and three-nil down.
As half-time approached, there was another incident that summed up Leicester’s season. Daka – who had not played that badly – carried the ball forwards and took a shot from distance. It cannoned of the inside of the far post and was surely going to score … but no, it then cannoned off the near post too and was cleared. A linesman’s offside flag count cast doubt on whether the goal would have stood … but it was not even a goal, just another might-have-been.
Van Nistelrooy’s half time changes brought one of the few cheers from home fans, with Mavididi and Buonanotte coming on for Kristiansen and Daka, and City moving to a back four.
The second half was like so many this season. The opposing manager taking the chance to rest players, the opposing team playing at training pace most of the time. City passing the ball about – but at three nil down there was no real likelihood of salvaging anything.
With fifteen minutes to go came the one moment of any real positiveness for the fast-dwindling home crowd. Justin and El Khannouss were replaced by Pereira – it is good to have him back again albeit too late to have an impact on the season – and by Jeremy Monga. Monga became, apparently, the second youngest player to appear in the Premier League; so young that League rules would not allow him to wear a shirt with a gambling sponsor’s logo, so his number 93 shirt was simply plain blue at the front.
City played well for the final fifteen minutes. To be fair to the players, only rarely this season have I seen them simply give up. This was not one of those times. Maybe knowing that scoring would prevent the eighth successive home defeat without a goal – the worst ever run in English League history – was a motivator.
Pereira harried, Vardy flicked a good header just wide, Monga did a couple of tricks. But the only unusual thing in this match was that City’s approach of throwing everyone forwards did not result – as it has so often – in their opponents getting a further, late goal.
It stayed three-nil. There were some boos at the final whistle, not many. By that time there were nearly as many delighted Geordie fans in the stadium as there were home supporters. There was some applause as a few of the home players approached the crowd. They had clearly tried, they had just not been nearly good enough, again.
So, we walked home having got our fix of football for the weekend. Yes, watching the second half of the Villa v Forest match on Sky TV had been infinitely more entertaining; even the dull Manchester derby was just about as interesting, but that’s what a minor football addiction is like.
There has only been twice this entire season when I felt the hope that normally surrounds a City team, and both were second halves against Spurs. The rest has been just a sorry downward momentum, players who are not quite good enough led by a manager who seems like a genuinely decent bloke, but who clearly has no idea how to handle the situation he took on.
And yes, we are going to Brighton. It is one of my favourite away grounds and a lovely place to visit. The match in the middle will be an interruption really. City have no real sporting objective left. It would be good for them to win a game, of course – good to even score a goal, although a home goal against Liverpool would be more useful, to break out of the “worst ever home run” streak.
And yes, we renewed our season tickets. I am not expecting next season to be much fun either, but at least, as the Newcastle fans delighted in pointing out, we can say hi to the Sunderland, actually one of the few grounds I have not visited. So, there, something to look forward to at last.
Leicester City: Hermansen, Thomas, Coady, Faes, Kristiansen, Soumaré, Ndidi, Justin, El Khannouss, Daka, Vardy. Subs: Ayew, Ricardo Pereira, Buonanotte, De Cordova-Reid, Mavididi, Monga, Okoli, Skipp, Stolarczyk
Newcastle United: Pope, Livramento, Burn, Schär, Trippier, Joelinton, Tonali, Bruno Guimarães, Barnes, Isak, Murphy. Subs: Dúbravka, Krafth, Longstaff, Miley, Neave, Osula, Ruddy, Targett, Wilson