LEICESTER CITY 1 CHELSEA 3
Match Report by Paul Weston
I apologise to all Foxes Trust readers, but I am going to have a moan….
Not so long ago I used to enjoy my drive from Suffolk to Leicester before a match. There was usually the eager anticipation of a good match, hopefully goals, often a victory and listening to the football chat on the radio made the anticipation the keener. For me that has all changed, and I expect many City fans feel the same. I drove to the match on Saturday with no hope whatsoever of a good result or good performance. I would be there but only because I will always be a City supporter. My faith in Rodgers and the players has been battered by the last three match performances in particular.
Whilst the result on paper against Arsenal was close City were completely outplayed and lost without a whimper. Was the team playing to instructions to sit back and let Arsenal have the majority of play? According to Rodgers the performance was too passive but we have heard this so many time before.
The Blackburn FA Cup match was very different. Rodgers team selection was flawed in my opinion if we were really serious about continuing a cup run. Soumare, Thomas and Amartey were brought in and had nightmare performances and Blackburn could have been 4-0 up in the first half. Only belatedly did Rodgers bring on Iheanacho (who has consistently scored in the FA Cup) for the ineffective Vardy. Guess what – Nacho scored and looked dangerous and nearly grabbed what would have been an undeserved equaliser in the last few minutes. Blackburn had been the better team.
And then we come to the Southampton match. Even in victory Southampton were a poor side but in my opinion their players scrapped for every ball to the end and deserved their win. Nacho should of course had a hat trick and Souttar should have scored but this was a golden opportunity missed. No-one in the team seemed to grab the game by the scruff of the neck and drive the team on. Defeat was too easily accepted.
It is looking real bleak and there seems much wrong at the club at present. Many players will be out of contract. Do they care if we are relegated which I believe is now a real threat? Finances are tight so we need to sell our talisman Maddison. I believe we are freefalling towards relegation and it could take years to re-build. I cannot help feeling sorry for Top but wonder what action his late father would have taken in the same circumstances. Somehow I doubt whether Rodgers would still be the manager.
There is no doubt that Rodgers seems to have the press eating out of his hand, still believing that he is a master tactician and improves players performances and it is all the club’s fault that he does not have the players of sufficient quality. If that is the case can someone explain why our style of play has gone backwards (and sideways!) and, on current performances, why so many players are out of form and devoid of confidence? Why do players make the safe pass instead of taking a risk in creating a move. Surely that responsibility rests with the manager and his coaching team. Perhaps the management team are too comfortable and know that, even if relegated and dismissed, they would be offered another top job, huge salary and a compensation package? Rewards for failure in football are bizarre.
And so to the match against a Chelsea team which had appeared to have turned the corner. Fofana and Chillwell, in particular, were two players who particularly wanted to play well. Daka was selected for the first time in ages, with Iheanacho in support. Barnes, Tete and Evans were on the bench
Rodgers team selection left us baffled. How could Amartey be selected in a back three after his jittery error-strewn performances?
Chelsea started off confidently without creating too much. In the 11th minute Chelsea won a corner which at first did not threaten danger. The ball was returned wide to Chilwell, the original corner taker, who was unmarked. He sent in a crisp first time shot which would have been saved by a goalie with fast reactions. Sadly Ward is not that good a goalie. He was beaten at his near post and it was 1-0 to Chelsea. It could have got worse when Felix was put through City’s fragile defensive line but the chipped shot beat Ward and came off the post. Soon afterwards KDH had a good shot from outside the penalty area and, with the aid of a slight deflection, came off the angle of post and crossbar with the goalie beaten. At least it was a shot on target from City- the first for several matches.
Felix then appeared to score their second after a slick passing move which carved through City’s defence yet again. It did not look offside but VAR came to City’s rescue and the goal was ruled out. Would this prove to be the turning point in the match? It seemed to wake up City players and the crowd urged them on. Second balls were fought for and tackles were made instead of sitting back. Ricardo won the ball from Felix on the right and slipped it to Daka with a cute back heel. In a flash he was away and scored with a fine shot just inside the post. There then followed about 15 minutes when City played with more tempo and aggression, and it looked like we would get to half-time 1-1 and in the ascendency. Sadly, our dozy defence allowed Fernandez to lob the ball over for Havertz to lift over a static Ward who had failed to anticipate. This was a sucker punch in the sixth minute of injury time and left the crowd deflated.
City tried to pick up the pace again in the second half but Chelsea looked determined. Ward actually made some smart saves. Rodgers made a triple substitution. Barnes, Soumare and Tete came on. Amartey, Mendy and Daka came off. Mendy had played pretty well up to that point. There seemed no point in replacing with the slow and ponderous Soumare.
City tried to force an equaliser but the new formation left gaps behind for Chelsea to exploit. Souttar had a shot kicked off the line and KDH fluffed his kick completely when presented with a great chance by Barnes. However, the inevitable happened when Chelsea raced forward and Kovatic scored with an acrobatic volley with his right foot.
Any chance of an unlikely City fightback was then eliminated when Faes received his marching orders after a second lunging challenge. City were down to 10 men and the game petered out to boos from the crowd. During the second half the Kop made its feeling known with “Brendan Rodgers- get out of our club” in addition to less savoury chants about Wesley Fofana.
Perhaps it was just as well that Rodgers did not appear on Match of the Day due to the furore after a certain tweet from Mr Lineker and his post-match comments were not that widely circulated. Apparently he said that “the players gave everything”- a comment we have heard many times before. I thought I would review this comment on a player by player basis after the match:
- Ward: A Premiership quality goalie should have saved at least one of Chelsea’s goals. Does not impose himself.
- Amartey: Nervous and inaccurate with the ball. Gives the defence and the crowd the jitters when in possession. Should have scored with a header.
- Faes: Jumps into tackles too quickly but gave his all. Needs tuition.
- Souttar: Struggling to make the step up from the Championship. Slow on the turn and gets out of position.
- Ricardo: still rusty after returning from injury but always tried positively to create something.
- Castagne: always tried hard but has lost some form and gets out of position.
- Mendy: worked hard in midfield against better quality players. Always seems that he is the Rodgers scapegoat.
- KDH: worked hard in midfield and never gave up but missed an absolute sitter.
- Maddison: was injured in second half which limited his input. Should he have been replaced? Always tried to make something happen as captain but also lost possession at times.
- Iheanacho: some good, some really bad as usual.
- Daka: a superbly taken goal should have given him confidence for the rest of the match but this seemed to evaporate, and he was substituted. We did not make the best use of his pace with our slow possession play and it is starting to look like that he is not the Vardy replacement we all hoped for.
- Tete: awful performance when brought on. Could not keep possession and created nothing. Looking like a bad loan signing after so much optimism after the first match.
- Barnes: created a golden chance for KDH but did not challenge the defence as much as he could have. Seems to be out of form and confidence.
- Vardy: might have scored with a flicked header but looks out of form and frustrated by what is going on around him.
- Evans: came on for last few minutes. Will he able to last a match and organise the defence in Faes’ absence? Too many injuries have disrupted his season.
As we drop closer to the bottom three when will it dawn on players and Rodgers that we are sleep walking towards relegation unless something drastically changes? We supporters deserve better fare than this.
Leicester: Ward; Amartey (Tete), Souttar, Faes; Ricardo Pereira, Dewsbury-Hall, Mendy (Soumare 66) Castagne; Maddison (Evans 90); Iheanacho (Vardy 76), Daka (Barnes,66). Subs (not used):, Ndidi, Praet, Iversen, Thomas,.
Chelsea: Arrizabalaga; Wesley Fofana (Badiashile 86), Koulibaly, Cucurella; Loftus-Cheek (Chalobah 72), Fernandez, Kovacic, Chilwell (Pulisic 72); Joao Felix (Gallagher 45); Havertz, Mudryk (Chukwuemeka 82). Subs (not used): Bettinelli, Zakaria, Ziyech, Madueke.
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