City 1 Barnsley 2
Report by Mike King
On a cold but sunny day, the Foxes hopefuls were seeking a good win against Barnsley, who had not won in 6, but after a surprising and welcome victory at Crystal Palace in the last league game, the Foxes fans were looking forward to back-to-back league wins for the first time in this disappointing season, closing the 5-point gap on the play-off positions, our only hope now for the dream of Premiership football next term.
With Bamba away on African Cup duty, Manager Nigel Pearson paired up skipper Mills with Tunchev, much to the delight of the crowd when his name was announced, Konchesky and Peltier at full backs, with the unlucky Kennedy, who had a 10/10 performance at the Palace, on the bench.
Playing a 4-3-3 system, with King, Wellens and Danns in mid-field, and Nugent partnered with Gallagher and Dyer up front, it was difficult to see where the goals to beat Barnsley would come from, but with a bench with 2 "want-aways" on it and only the lethargic Beckford, with Howard suspended, the striking options were, to say the least, limited. Was Billy Sharpe coming or was he staying at Doncaster? Despite agreement between the Clubs, it would appear he is staying put to play at a club looking at relegation and in front of crowds generally seen in Division 1. His family commitments seem to over-ride everything.
The game started with City attacking, with both Dyer and Gallagher out wide, but Barnsley gradually started their good passing game, so it was fairly even in the first 10 minutes. City then won a free-kick 25 yards when Dyer was upended out on the left, but Gallagher's curling strike around the wall was superbly saved by Barnsley's 'keeper Steele at full stretch low down, tipping the ball around the post for a corner.
But then after 12 minutes, a City attack broke down, the Barnsley defence cleared, the ball finding Vaz Te on the City right with Peltier marooned in the oppositions half. Mills did his best to hold up play, but Vaz Te found Drinkwater, who in turn accurately passed to Gray who calmly rolled the ball into the net past a diving Schmeichel. A simple goal in its execution, with the defence staring at each other as to who was to blame!
However, City's response was swift. One of Mills' long punts into the opposition's half actually found a City player, Dyer on the edge of the box, and despite 2 Barnsley defenders with him, he controlled the ball with his chest and slotted it home wide of Steele into the far corner of the net from 10 yards. Spurred on by the equaliser, City took the game to Barnsley and probably had their best spell of the game, with a Dyer run ending with his shot deflected wide.
Corners from Gallagher were very poor, often finding the first player, a Barnsley defender at the near post. Nugent was hardly in the game so went looking for the ball, and he was often found out wide on the left with no one in the middle, with Gallagher seemingly trying to work out the position where he was supposed to be playing.
With 10 minutes before the break, a carbon copy of Barnsley's first goal ended with them taking the lead, which eventually proved to be the winner. On City's right, Vaz Te received the ball wide, ran inside, stopped the ball for Drinkwater, whose cross into the danger area found the diving Gray who scored with a brave header. Yet again, any cross into the box seems to give the City defence problems and this needs sorting out on the training ground.
At the start of the second half, within 2 minutes the City defence was stretched, with Mills, not for the first time, contributing towards the City's defensive problems. A loose Mills pass found Vaz Te but thankfully Schmeichel was alert and avoided City going further behind. The game swung from end to end, with City having a lot of the ball on the edge of the Barnsley box, but there seemed a reluctance to shoot, but when they did, row Z was often found, with Danns, Konchesky, King and Gallagher all guilty.
The City mid-field were trying hard but King, Wellens and Danns could not create anything for the forwards and Nugent's head went down as he found it difficult to control the ball when played into him. A City equaliser nearly came as a ball into the 6 yard box was only half cleared to Tunchev, whose poor effort found Wellens who headed against the cross bar, the ball being cleared to safety.
Then the crowd all went up as a Wellens effort was deflected into the side netting for yet another corner that came to nothing. 9 corners, no threat. Why not let someone else other than Gallagher take a corner as he was clearly having an off day, perhaps a short one or Dyer or Konchesky curling one in with their left pegs?
With 15 minutes to go, Beckford replaced Gallagher, the cheers of the crowd more for Gallagher's departure than Beckford's arrival! Cruel! A through ball nearly put Beckford in straight away but the Barnsley defence were on top and intercepted and cleared, not with a big punt up field but Swansea-like, passing amongst themselves. They are not a bad team and have no real "Stars" and run on a very limited budget.
As City went all out for the equaliser, mainly with up and unders into the Barnsley box, with no Howard, the away team's defence dealt with everything thrown at them. With the mid-field pushing forward, inevitably the defence was left exposed. Both Done and Davies came close with Schmeichel making excellent saves and then at the end, Vaz Te, who was earlier yellow carded for diving, collected the ball just outside his own penalty area, ran over the half-way line, fooled Mills and Tunchev and as he ran on to the advancing Schmeichel, the keeper saved yet again.
As the final whistle blew, the Foxes faithful booed the players off the pitch, with only Schmeichel receiving the crowd's plaudits, a deserved MOM. A woeful performance by a disorganised team, with little leadership from their skipper and questions now being asked.
A colleague stated he felt sorry for the new owners, having spent all their money last summer on virtually a new team, but wait a minute, didn't they sack Sven when we were just outside the play-offs? Did Sven have a Plan 'B' many asked.
Now, has Pearson got a Plan 'A'? Half the team starting against Barnsley were in Pearson's original squads, and this reporter suggests the likes of King and Wellens seem stale and perhaps a new club would do their careers some good, with at least a couple of new faces brought in to get the players going again. Barnsley had 52% of the possession which says a lot about City being able to keep and use the ball. Too many passes fail to make their target.
The defence seem disorganised, their last clean sheet in the league was back in November against Blackpool. Mills at £5million needs to up his game to justify his large fee and Konchesky looks quality but has good and bad games, with Peltier again blowing hot and cold.
Rumours Beckford is going back to Leeds, no City fan would shed any tears but a quality striker or two are needed desperately. Sven had contacts to bring in loan players, doubt if Pearson has the same contacts and where is Michael Ball these days? Only Twitter reports of abuse surround him!
Next up is the Forest for an FA Cup replay and it will be interesting to see Pearson's starting line up. For the Foxes fans it is a must win game, if only to see Di Canio on the line in the next round. Then Southampton away, on Sky, next Monday, and if we don't up our game, remember the away game at Portsmouth on TV when we were trounced? Saying that we'll (hopefully) win!!! Keep the Faith.
Finally, the owners must invest now as soon reminders for next terms Season Ticket renewals will be going out and if performances and our league position do not improve fast then a lot of loyal supporters will be asking themselves in these difficult times is it worth another season's commitment to the cause?
City: Schmeichel, Peltier, Mills, Tunchev, Konchesky, Wellens, King, Danns, Dyer, Nugent, Gallagher (Beckford). Subs not used: Weale, Abe, St. Ledger, Kennedy.
Barnsley: Steele, Hassell, Foster, McNulty, McEverley, Drinkwater, Addison (Davies), Perkins, Gray, Vaz Te (Wiseman), Dagnall (Done). Subs not used: Preece, Edwards
Ref: G. Whitestone Crowd: 22,116
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