Coventry 0 City 0 – Fri 18 August 2006

This was the first time I had seen City this season, having been caught out by it starting earlier than I expected, although I had seen most of the Luton game courtesy of a friend who taped it for me.  There were a couple of surprising starters (Hammond and Porter), although my neighbour told me the latter had done well in the Ipswich game.  Hume was again on the bench and I found it hard to believe that Hammond is more effective, even if he did score a few times in the pre-season friendlies. 

City started brightly and I was particularly impressed with Low, playing wide on the right; he was involved in a lot of the play and made some telling passes.  The defence looked reasonably solid and up to half-time City looked the more likely to score.  They faded away in the second half, though, and at times it looked as if Coventry would sneak a goal.  Had they not lost their best striker perhaps the result would have been different….

City had their chances and it would be interesting to see the stats from the television coverage; towards the end of the first half they were camped in the Coventry six-yard box, with several corners.  Perhaps the best opportunity came in the second half when Hume had a rasping shot pushed round the post for another corner; he was lively when he replaced Hammond just after the break, as might be expected from a player trying to win his place back in the starting line-up. 

Last season I often criticised both him and Fryatt (and others) for trying to go it alone when there was a team-mate in a better position and both were guilty of the same thing in this game.  However, had either of them scored I would be singing a different tune! 

There still needs to be some work done on getting the midfield to work more effectively; they were good in patches but too often Hughes and Johnson were no invisible, or passed straight to the opposition.  It is too soon to get gloomy but we need the midfield players to take games by the scruff of the neck and release the forwards more quickly.  

Fryatt ran offside too many times for comfort, although on at least one occasion the ruling was dubious.  Talking of which, the referee made some bizarre decisions and I was particularly disappointed to see him booking Porter for an innocuous challenge.  (Perhaps it’s because he is so tiny, but I have a soft spot for him!)

No doubt we should think of it as a point gained, but (as so often with City) it was very frustrating – this was a match they could, and should have won.  No one played particularly badly but some of the players appeared to be operating at less than full steam, and in this division we need everyone to play out of their skin for 90 minutes.  Let’s just hope we can hang on to our better players until the transfer window closes.

 Leicester: Henderson, Kenton (Stearman 74), McCarthy, Kisnorbo, Johansson, Low, Hughes, Johnson, Porter (Wesolowski 70), Fryatt, Hammond (Hume 57).
Subs Not Used: Logan, Maybury. Booked: Porter, McCarthy.

Coventry: Marshall, Whing, Heath, Ward, Hall, Birchall (El Idrissi 54), Hughes, Cameron, Doyle (Thornton 68), John, Hutchison (Adebola 64).
Subs Not Used: Page, Osbourne. Booked: Doyle, Whing.

 Att: 20,261.

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