City 1 Portsmouth 1
Match Report by Eddie Blount
Make no mistake about it, this Leicester team will not make the play-offs nor get anywhere near making them! Financially City and Pompey are at opposite ends of the spectrum; we are the division's biggest spenders and they are on the brink of bankruptcy yet even with home advantage and a crowd of 25 000 we finished up holding on for a draw.
A short time ago we faced a run of 4 very winnable matches – Peterborough, Ipswich and Portsmouth at home and Doncaster away. We have not managed to win any of them and taken a measly 3 points in the process. In every one of these games the opposition has looked the stronger. The result is that we are slipping ever further behind the front 6 and will face a long, hard winter, our worst fears eased only by the even poorer quality of a few teams at the very bottom.
How has this occurred? Simples! Sven, in motoring terms, inherited an old banger and sold off or scrapped most of the parts. He then bought a sturdy chassis and a flashy interior and added the few remaining parts from the banger. Unfortunately he forgot to buy an engine! No wonder the bloody car won’t do its job!
This match was an action replay of the previous two home games and the Donny match. We were out fought and out muscled in midfield and consequently rarely got into the opposition's box. The midfield created next to nothing and made the forwards look largely inept.
Nugent took his goal well and is clearly a trier; Schlupp was involved in all of the few good things we did going forwards but lacked support on the ball and Beckford needs no help when it comes to looking inept! One pass which must have set a new world record for being wide of its target was the only memorable moment of the game!
Equally as bad the inability of midfield to do a proper job of being a shield for the back four means that they come under increased pressure, (particularly when the full backs push on to compensate for the inadequacies of those in front of them) and start to make mistakes.
Nigel has only one priority in the transfer window and that is to buy two wide players and two central midfielders. If he wants to buy Sharp or Maynard and dump Beckford I'm fine with that.
The ongoing eclipse of Andy King saddens me but there is no room for sentiment. Wellens tries hard but lacks the pace and strength for the job. Abe was far and away the best of a very poor bunch, Dyer is not quite good enough at this level and Gallagher is……..Gallagher! If ever anyone is suited to American football (coming on as a kicker to do set pieces and going straight off) it's him!
It was totally apparent in this game that Pearson had instructed his players to get the ball forward quickly and to stop making 100 passes to gain 1 yard of ground, a tactic so beloved of dear old General Sven. Unfortunately the lack of movement of players in front of the back four makes it a nightmare for them and the ball simply comes straight back.
Mills has found an interesting solution! He punts the ball as far as he possibly can either for a throw-in or to the opposition player furthest away. He has done the Maths and calculated that we have more possession by giving the ball away – then being given it back by the other team – than by trying to keep it ourselves.
The detail of this eminently forgettable match won’t take long to describe. Nothing happened for 20 minutes causing the crowd's anxiety levels to rise sharply so they withdrew into their collective self and were out-noised by a sprinkling of Pompey fans who soon had something to shout about.
A long left wing cross found Portsmouth with men over at the far post where Futacs chested the ball down and fired unstoppably past Schmeichel. I can only presume that our defence had made a quick trip to Thailand.
Amazingly we were quick to respond, Gallagher's excellent free kick met with a towering header by Nugent which bulged the net before their keeper could move. Shortly afterwards Schmeichel made the first of two serious misjudgements of crosses, missed the ball completely and was relieved to see Halford's header cannon back off his far post. He contrived a repeat of this in the second half and this time the ball went just wide.
So all the real action took place in a five minute spell in the first half. The second half meandered along with the crowd lapsing ever more into a sullen stupour from which they were roused only when a couple of hundred Pompey fans rendered 'Play Up Pompey' to such effect that an obscene counter chant was devised.
And on the subject of obscenity ex-City player Joe Mattock (of Crown Court fame!) was roundly abused every time he touched the ball. Well, when the match is rubbish you have to find your pleasures where you can.
City: Schmeichel, Peltier, Mills, Bamba, Konchesky, Wellens (Danns 71), King, Gallagher, Abe, Schlupp (Dyer 86), Nugent (Beckford 71)
Portsmouth: Henderson, Ward, Pearce, Halford, Mattock, Mokoena, Lawrence, Mullins, Norris, Futacs, Kitson
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