Leicester City 0 v 2 Nottingham Forest
Report by Stuart Dawkins
It all started very well. As often as you see it, the delivery of the ball by RAF helicopter, followed by the sounding of the Last Post prior to each Remembrance Day home game still provides a moving and strangely uplifting preface to a match. To add to the anticipation, it was City versus Forest, local rivals and two teams decked out in traditional Red v Blue, what could be better?
The first 10 minutes almost lived up to that anticipation: City looked sharp, with Shlupp getting plenty of the ball in the centre forward position and moving well. City had a shot before Forest had touched the ball; it looked like a continuation of business as usual for a confident home team.
Slowly, though, Forest got into the game – pressing City whenever they tried to build patiently from the back, and breaking up play in an increasingly congested midfield.
Knockaert seemed to be under instructions to roam at will, meaning that Liam Moore got an inordinate amount of the ball in attacking positions from his right-back position.
The Forest keeper look a little suspect on crosses – flapping at two or three without being punished for it. Nugent had a header tipped over the bar, and another he sent just over. On recent form, it would surely only be a matter of time before City took the lead?
No; instead, from one of their few attacking moves, Forest scored. It was the sort of goal City conceded far too often last season: a break down the right wing, a cross into the box and numerous City players failing to get a decent foot on the ball to clear it, instead it broke to Cox on the 6-yard line, who scored easily into an empty net.
Ten minutes later, Schmeichel pushed a powerful shot wide, and from the corner City could only head the ball weakly to an attacker in the box; another scramble ensued before Mackie scored with an equally easy short-range shot. Two-nil down at half time, despite Forest having had very little attacking play.
Halford replacing Lascelles for the visitors was the only half time change.
If City had come out for the second period as strongly as they have played in many matches this season, this could still have been a contest. Instead, the second half degenerated into a scrappy affair, showing many of the worst aspects of a local derby: petulant fouls, players squaring up to each other, players diving (unusually – mostly City players, with Dyer lucky not to be booked despite the referee twice waving away his theatrical penalty appeals).
City's main problem seemed to be a lack of the width which has served them so well this season. Knockaert was rarely on the wing and Dyer was having a very quiet game. It was clear that the game plan was simply not working, and Pearson made three substitutions around the hour mark. Vardy, Taylor-Fletcher and Hammond replacing Dyer, Schlupp and Knockaert. Forest, too, made a couple of changes: tightening things up by bringing on Lichaj and Henderson for Paterson and the lively Cox.
None of the three City subs played badly, but somehow the effect of the substitutions was to make City worse. There was little shape at all to their play, and even less width than before. Forest were winning the game comfortably without having to play particularly well.
City got an unexpected chance to score in the 70th minute, when awarded what looked a harsh penalty decision for a push in the back. Nugent strode up to take the kick and fired it well over the bar.
That was about it. City went close three times in the final five minutes, but to no effect. It was fitting for such a disjointed performance that two of those chances came from unlikely sources: a pin-point cross from Hammond (hardly a wide-man usually) headed over by Moore, and an excellent long range effort from Drinkwater tipped wide by the keeper. Taylor-Fletcher flicked a sharp chance just over the bar in the final minute, but Forest held on to win 2-0.
It was not a very good match, although I'm sure the enthusiastic Forest fans will – understandably – not mind that at all. The referee had a difficult job to control such a tetchy affair. Whilst he seemed a bit inconsistent regarding yellow cards, he probably did as well as could be expected.
With Burnley and QPR both drawing, the immediate impact on the table is not too bad, and it is to be hoped that this was just a 'bad day at the office' before City return to their organised, winning ways.
City: Schmeichel, Moore, Konchesky, Drinkwater, Wasilewski, Morgan, Knockaert, King, Schlupp, Nugent. Subs Hammond, James, Vardy. Hopper, Taylor-Fletcher, Miquel, Logan
Forest: Darlow, Jara, Cohen, Vaughan, Hobbs, Lascelles, Lansbury, Reid, Cox, Mackie, Paterson. Subs Lichaj, Chalobah, Henderson, Halford, Derbyshire, Majewski, de Vries
Attendance 30,416
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