City 2 Burnley 1
Report by Paul Weston
It was an apprehensive crowd that turned up to watch City play Burnley, who often had been a thorn in our side. Pearson rested Moore, who although learning fast, had been found wanting, particularly in yet another away defeat, this time against Wolves. St Ledger was brought into the centre alongside Morgan
James played instead of the injured King and Knockaert was selected instead of Dyer who had been particularly ineffective recently. Although a whole hearted player I wonder whether Dyer is up to Championship standard any more.
There were lots of options on the bench including Danns (for once).
City started brightly with good movement and it was clear that Burnley’s game plan was to defend for a draw and counter attack when possible. Typically Burnley scored from about the first time they crossed the half way line. In a fast break Patterson burst forward and from a great cut back Marney smashed it in and broke the goal in the process. Groan- 1-0 down after ten minutes and we were already on the back foot.
The crowd went rather quiet and nerves kicked in. City had lots of possession but there was little movement. We seemed so ponderous compared to the speed of the Burnley team.
Knockaert had a good left footed shot and Nugent grazed the bar with a long range effort. Generally we sent in too many high crosses, particularly from Konchesky and these were headed out with comfort by the tall Burnley defence. City often lost the ball too easily and this gave the opportunity to Burnley to break forward.
At half time City left the field to boos and we feared the worst.
Although there were no changes in personnel at half time Pearson changed the formation and brought Knockaert to a more central role in support of the front men. Something had to change and it made an immediate impact, although not perhaps as we expected.
City went ahead in a curious fashion. I cannot remember us ever scoring from a long throw. Burnley gave away a throw-in in near the corner flag by their own poor ball control. Marshall sent in a long throw to no one! The ball bounced up, Vardy controlled well and played it back to Nugent who shinned it into the goal, completely wrong footing the goalie. A classic way for Nugent to score his 100th goal!
It got better ten minutes later when Knockaert played in Vardy who shot on the turn, getting a deflection from a defender sending it looping over the goalie and off the bar into the net. Two messy goals but who cared!
Burnley then had to come forward and change their game plan. Waghorn and Dyer came on for Marshall and Vardy. City created lots more opportunities with much better movement, particularly from Knockaert and De Laet, and should have scored more but lack of composure continued to be a problem.
With City of course life is never straightforward. The match reached “squeaky bum time” and City managed to funnel back too much and to get into a panic in defence. Burnley hit the post and Vokes would have scored except for a magnificent save from Schmeichel, preventing an undeserved draw for Burnley
City played out time with Knockaert playing a blinder with multiple stepovers around the corner flag. He looks a real find and, as long as he does not get red carded for diving into tackles, really excites when going forward and joining up play.
So it was another home win, to relieve the relentless pressure on Nigel Pearson and push us up the table into a better position. Hull City, and Robert Koren in particular, will be a tougher match on Sunday. However, with Lady Luck back on our side and confidence boosted, it would be good to get another home win and get a run going at last. Who knows, with perhaps a more defensive and less open approach to away games in future, we can get into the top six!
City: Schmeichel, De Laet, Morgan, St. Ledger, Konchesky, Knockaert, Drinkwater, James, Marshall (Dyer 75), Nugent (Futacs 89), Vardy (Waghorn 75). Unused subs: Whitbread, Danns, Logan, Beckford.
Goals: Nugent 47, Vardy 57. Booked: Nugent, Knockaert, De Laet.
Burnley: Grant, Trippier, Edgar, Shackell, Mills (Wallace 75), Marney, Stock (Mee 61), McCann, Stanislas, Paterson (Vokes 61), Stewart. Unused subs: Jensen, O’Neill, Bartley, Hewitt.
Goals: Marney 10 Booked: Paterson
Attendance: 18,480 (323 away) Referee: Dean Whitestone (Northamptonshire)
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