City 2 Wolves 1
Report by Stuart Dawkins
Do you remember how football used to be? We would watch the match at 3pm on Saturday, or maybe 7.45pm on Tuesday. Often, Leicester would pepper the other team's goal and sometimes take the lead. Then as the final minutes ticked away, the opposition would lay siege to City's penalty area and sneak an equalizer.
It's not like that at the moment …
City's matches against Wolves this season kicked off at 1.15pm on a Sunday and, 7.45pm on a Thursday: further clear evidence that the only audience who really matter to clubs is the audience watching at home on the sofa.
Also, more encouragingly, City seem now to have the knack of holding on and winning games which could easily have slipped away from them.
Pearson went back to his usual first team, after the unsuccessful selection experiments of the Huddersfield trip: Nugent and Wood were back up front, Drinkwater and Knockaert in midfield.
City started brightly, as they have most games this season. They fashioned five shots within the first ten minutes, but did not convert this advantage into goals. After 15 minutes Wolves had the best chance to score, when a poor Schmeichel punch led to a cross-shot which fizzed past the far post.
City seemed to be making more long-range shots than usual. This may have been chance, or it may reflect the team's detailed knowledge of Wolves keeper – Ikeme -who had a season at Leicester in 2010. He spilled one 20-yarder from Marshall after 20 minutes, but otherwise was not troubled.
The game had settled into an untidy midfield tussle when City managed to break the deadlock. Schmeichel caught a Wolves cross and quickly played a precise kick from hand which found Knockaert behind the Wolves defence in their own half. Knockaert carried the ball into the box, twisted and feinted to cross in a way that is becoming his trademark. Then, as most of the crowd (and probably most of the City players) were about to yell at him for holding the ball too long, he simply lobbed the ball over the keeper into the far corner.
It was yet another unique Knockaert goal – and yet not that unique: the run and feint and pause and shot was almost identical to an unsuccessful effort he made in the second minute of the match. On his day, Championship defences simply cannot handle Knockaert.
Wolves began to play better after the City goal, their wingers were lively and got in crosses which the City defence often did not deal with well. Overall, the first half was not of much quality, and City will have been pleased that it ended with them 1-0 up.
The second half was a more open affair, and Wolves were far better for much of it. In the 51st minute, City conceded possession in their own half – something which happened too often for comfort – and Sako hit a thunderbolt, low shot from 20 yards to equalize. Wolves went on to create more chances as City struggled to get any meaningful possession. Wes Morgan was performing well, but both Keane and De Laet made uncharacteristic defensive errors.
By the 69th minute, City had begun to settle; Pearson replaced Marshall with Dyer, and five minutes later City had re-taken the lead. They broke quickly from defence, Nugent carrying the ball out of his own half with four City attackers facing three Wolves defenders. He carried the ball to the edge of the box, cut to the left, then curled a perfectly-weighted right foot shot around Ikeme and inside the right-hand post.
For the remaining 20 minutes, Wolves had the edge as City defended more and more deeply, often setting their defensive line well inside their own penalty area. Pearson brought on Vardy (for Knockaert) as he had done against Middlesbrough; Vardy is a willing player and Pearson an excellent manager – but I must admit that I struggle to see Vardy as the solution to holding on to a lead.
Wolves were unlucky not to equalize in the last five minutes. They headed wide when unmarked in the six-yard box, then two minutes into stoppage time a shot from an unmarked striker in the box hit the outside of City's post – but City held on for the three points that guarantees second place in the table even after all of the weekend's games are finished.
Wolves passed the ball about well for much of the match – with Sako particularly lively – but like many teams in this division, they lacked composure in front of goal.
The old adage about Manchester United is that they win games even when they are not playing well; City (with it's own batch of former-United players) are doing precisely that at the moment. The team will be delighted with the win, but many of them will know that they were not at their best today.
Leicester: Schmeichel, De Laet, Morgan, Keane, Konchesky, Knockaert (Vardy 76), King, Drinkwater, Marshall (Dyer 69), Wood, Nugent (Waghorn 90 +1). Subs not used: Logan, Gallagher, Wellens, Futacs
Wolves: Ikeme, Foley, Batth, Berra, Ward, Doumbia (Davis 82), Henry (Edwards 81), O'Hara, Sako, Sigurdarson (Peszko 77), Ebanks-Blake. Subs not used: De Vries, Doyle, Margreitter, Cassidy
Attendance: 21,677 Referee: Robert Madley
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