City 1 Crystal Palace 2
Report by Kate Thompson
I was really hoping that City would beat the 100+ year-old record and record seven home wins on the bounce, but frankly they never looked like doing so. It was clear from the start that this was not the team we had got used to seeing, one playing attractive football but winning at the same time.
On Tuesday, they started quickly and deserved their early lead, but what did they do then? They took their foot (or should that be feet?) off the gas and allowed Brighton back into the game, so that we were hanging on at the end.
Against a well-organised Palace team, they started slowly and rarely showed any urgency or the lovely passing game we have been enjoying. It was a real throwback to last season, when I often complained about their lack of passion and urgency; however, as Pearson said in his post-match interview, they didn’t give up although most of the time were just huffing and puffing.
I am at a loss to understand why they appeared so lethargic, and I do not buy into the ‘playing three matches in a week’ excuse. They are supposed to be fit young men who may work hard in training, but cannot compare with amateur players who do a full-time job and still manage to play their hearts out at the weekend!
Rant over, I hope this is just an one-off and that we can get back to winning ways against Watford – not a team against whom we have enjoyed success in recent seasons, so a change is long overdue.
Pearson deserves credit for putting Matty James on in place of Dyer to change the make-up of the team, and I thought he had a reasonable game. Unfortunately, too many others were way below their best; the worst offender for me was Danny Drinkwater, a player I like and who has been playing well, but he was ineffective and often gave the ball to a Palace player, rather than a team-mate. He reminds me of Davie Gibson, who older fans will remember – when he had a good game, so did the team, and vice versa.
It is rather worrying that the last two goals have been scored by a midfielder, King, and that our strikers are failing to find the net. In the previous two games, Martyn Waghorn was the worst offender, but although Vardy looked back to his lively self, neither he or Nugent were able to score.
Nugent missed a good chance in the first half which he hit tamely at Speroni (who I am glad to see has lost his pony tail!). In the second half, one lovely flowing move should have resulted in a goal, but Vardy, who was in acres of space, was ignored and the chance was lost.
The crowd favourite, Anthony Knockaert, was ineffective and I think the time has come to give him a rest. He is entertaining but for me, does one too many tricks and then loses the ball; he needs to learn that an early cross is often much more effective than all the clever play in the world.
The first goal came from an ex-Leicester player, Damien Delaney, after Schmeichel had flapped at the ball. He tried to claim that he was impeded but it later became clear that he was, by Whitbread! This was in the 23rd minute and five minutes later it got worse, when Ramage scored with a thumping header from a corner.
At this time, it looked like City would do well to keep the score into single figures! The second half was much better, with Palace rarely threatening – but they didn’t need to when the City players were so unthreatening.
The referee soon became the fans’ hate figure but only one of the penalty claims had any validity, what looked like a deliberate handball on the line. I was particularly disappointed with Nugent, who blatantly dived; this is cheating, I’m afraid, and something that should be stamped out. The penalty claims aside, the referee did make some odd decisions, such as making Knockaert take a corner from the opposite side; it is often difficult to know which side is the right one.
So, all in all a disappointing day. Let’s hope it is just a blip, not the beginning of our accustomed slide into mid-table mediocrity. And I also hope that the players are not all going down with the virus that Vardy had.
Leicester: Schmeichel, Whitbread, Morgan, De Laet, Konchesky, Knockaert (Schlupp 77), Drinkwater (Marshall 63), King, Dyer (James 32), Vardy, Nugent, Subs not used: Logan, Waghorn, Moore, Futacs
Palace: Speroni, Ramage, Delaney, Ward, Parr, Bolasie, Dikgacoi, Garvan, Jedinak, Zaha (Moxey 90+3), Murray (Wilbraham 89) Subs not used: Price, Blake, Easter, O'Keefe, Moritz
Attendance: 23,646 Referee: Andy Haines
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