CITY 0 MILLWALL 3
After the Watford match I was not sure what to expect. Whilst it was a win I thought City strolled through the Watford match in the second half and, against a better side, could have thrown it away. I wondered how Sven would tinker with the side but, no, amazingly he selected the same side for the game against Millwall. The sun shone and all we needed was a convincing display and three points to get us into the top six. How wrong could I be…?
I travel a round trip of nearly 200 miles to each “home game” and I don’t expect to win every time. In fact, when you are a Leicester City fan, any win is a bonus! However, what I do want is a bit of entertainment and to see that every player is giving of his best. Is that too much to ask?
I could write this report in football speak and say how the team was fully committed, showed passion, pride and gave 100 per cent. However, that would be totally wrong. This was a pathetic, spineless, lethargic, display by a collection of highly paid footballers who played most of the game at one pace, and then mostly sideways and backwards. It was a truly dreadful display with few exceptions.
Sven persisted with his formation of packing the midfield with holding players, relying on the full backs to support and give good crosses into the box. Konchesky, who never gave up throughout, saw a lot of the ball but his crosses were of poor quality.
There was a spate of corners and free kicks in the first half but City never looked threatening at all. The crowd became quiet and listless sensing that Millwall were not going to be a pushover. So, it was really no surprise when from a ball down the centre, a Millwall forward was brought down by Bamba in the box and a penalty resulted. It was hard to see from where I sat whether it was a foul. Schmeichel nearly saved the penalty but Henderson scored.
This woke up City a bit, with shots from Abe and Konchesky, but still the pace of City’s play was ponderous and tackling poor with no hunger to drive play forward. Johnson was so slow and the ball was never zipped through the middle or to the wings. There are no wingers in Svens formation so therefore all the balls have to be intricately threaded through the centre. Millwall had obviously done their homework and were always ready to break up play and intercept our passes.
There were three minutes of first half extra time left for City to sort themselves out for the second half. However, from yet another misplaced pass from Beckford, Millwall broke forward and Henderson scored again at the far post. Beckford’s reaction to his error was interesting- no admission of guilt whatsoever. In fact it did not look like he cared at all. The team was booed off the field.
Sven made, for him, a dramatic change at the start of the second half, bringing on Dyer and Vassell for Abe and Beckford. This injected much needed pace into the attack. However, Dyer’s crosses either were overhit or there was no one in the middle to benefit. There were a few incidents of note. Nugent hit the bar. Johnson blasted over and Dyer shot into the side netting.
However, it seemed that City was gradually running out of steam again and, from a corner, Millwall scored an easy goal when Henderson headed in unmarked. 3-0 down and the game was up. Fernandes came on for Johnson but it was too late to make any difference. The game meandered to a close, fans left early and the referee mercifully blew for time.
This team needs a good shake up and change of personnel and tactics after this match otherwise City will be well beaten at West Ham. This was a shambles of a performance.
City: Schmeichel, Peltier, St. Ledger, Bamba, Konchesky, Johnson (Fernandes 74), Abe (Dyer 46), Wellens, King, Nugent, Beckford (Vassell 46). Unused subs: Pantsil, Weale.
Booked: Bamba, Johnson, Nugent.
Millwall: Forde, Dunne, Robinson, Ward, Smith, Abdou, Feeney (Henry 75), Trotter, Howard, Henderson, Simpson (N'Guessan 78). Unused subs: Mildenhall, Mkandawire, Agyemang.
Goals: Henderson 36 pen, 45+3, 68.
Booked: Robinson
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