WOLVES 0 LEICESTER CITY 0
Match Report by Paul Weston
City players had little time to draw breath after the positive performance against Fulham before another match loomed on the horizon – an away match against Wolves, a team we always seem to find difficulty in beating.
News on the injury front was more positive. Vardy was on the subs bench and, although Ndidi was on the way back to fitness, he was not risked for this game. Fofana, Castagne and Praet were notable absentees, otherwise Rodgers selected the same team that started against Fulham with Iheanacho up front and Perez on the wing. Choudhury kept his place after a decent performance against Fulham.
Wolves’ form had improved of late. We all expected a tight game and so it proved. City started with the bulk of possession and Wolves sprung on the counter-attack as if they were the away side. Wolves looked strong on the flanks. Netto was giving Ricardo a tough time but on the other wing Justin was keeping Traore under control, including blocking a shot which looked dangerous.
City had good spurts of inter passing with Maddison, Tielemans and Barnes prominent. Iheanacho was playing with confidence, always a good sign, and was linking up well. A move involving Barnes and Iheanacho nearly led to a goal in the 33rd minute but was blocked by last ditch defending. Early on Evans was booked for a poor challenge and one started to worry whether it was the sort of game that a second yellow and red card could decide the result.
Maddison had a shot that was well saved but otherwise City’s play was not that fluid. Justin and Ricardo had their hands full in defence so the support from the wings was intermittent. The half ended 0-0 with very few incidents. We hoped City would up their game in the second half.
After half-time Traore become more menacing and Choudhury gave Justin good support in closing him down. Ricardo started to get the measure of Netto to reduce the threat from the other wing.
Nevertheless Wolves started to dominate the game, especially in midfield, so in the 60th minute Rodgers brought on Vardy and Albrighton for Iheanacho and Perez to bring more life into City’s play. Soon after Barnes shot was well saved but then Schmeichel brought off a great save with his legs from Silva as City continued to look susceptible from corners as they had throughout the game.
As the match started to come to its conclusion City regained the initiative. Albrighton shot wide from a well-constructed move and we hoped for one more chance. It came in the 91st minute – a good move with Ricardo and Albrighton featuring led to a cross into the box where Vardy’s flicked header went agonisingly wide.
So the match ended 0-0 which was probably a fair result, although we could have snatched a win at the end. I suspect most City fans would have been reasonably happy with a draw although it did mean that an opportunity to gain more ground at the top of the table was lost.
Brendan Rodgers often used quote is “If you cannot win the game don’t lose it”. It was a game where no-one played badly but no-one really excelled. The team was not quite at its best but gained a point. Let’s move onto the Cup match against Brighton and then an easy game- Liverpool! Let’s hope that their goalkeeper is in benevolent form!
Wolves): Patricio; Dendoncker, Coady, Kilman; Semedo, Moutinho, Neves, Otto (Hoever, 46); Traore, Jose (Silva, 61), Neto (Gibbs-White, 88). Subs not used: Ruddy, Saiss, Richards, Lonwijk, Otasowie, Vitinha
Leicester: Schmeichel; Pereira, Evans, Soyuncu, Justin; Choudhury, Tielemans, Maddison; Perez (Albrighton, 61), Iheanacho (Vardy, 61), Barnes. Subs not used: Ward, Amartey, Fuchs, Thomas, Daley-Campbell, Mendy, Under
Referee: Martin Atkinson (Yorkshire)
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