Leicester 1 Portsmouth 3 - Post Match Reactions

[davieG]

1. It was a friendly

2. It was about getting players match fit not playing them in their best positions

3. It was a friendly

So when will the left sided players get a chance to get fit?

[Cobbo]

So when will the left sided players get a chance to get fit?

Left sided players?

[davieG]

Left sided players?

sheehan, Mattock, Levi, Turner-Rowe,

They mmay not be everyone's first choice but I've yet to see Chambers perform better at left back than Mattock or Sheehan,

I can only assume that Allen has a definite, fit, experienced left back lined up and he's playing Chambers there to keep him fit and ready to play right back. Otherwise it's deja vu.

[Anish]

I haven't seen any friendlies so I can't comment on the performances, but if Allen starts with Chambers at LB and Wesolowski at RM next week I will be annoyed. We constantly criticised Levein and Kelly for playing players out of position (and justifiably so) so if Allen does this next week, and it doesn't pay off, he's leaving himself open to a slating.

The closer we get to the new season and the more I see the bizarre team selections (in my opinion) in these friendlies, the more concerned I get.

[Ryanside]

I went today. Definately for me, Stearman was the weakest link by far. Defence was poor and when he got forward his final ball was extremely poor every time. De Vries very good today, held up the ball well and generally nuscience for them.

Camblem made an instant impance when he came on, looks very usuful although looking forward to Fryatt playing since ive not seen him yet

[Dames]

Chambers showed such promise and experience at right-back, and I thought he was excellent in a couple of the earlier friendlies. I cannot understand why he is consistently pushed to left back when his replacement in the right back slot, Stearman, has never looked anything above average. A naturally right footed full back is being forced out to the left, and the opostition will gleefully take advantage of this. We have both Sheehan and Mattock that can play at left back, and I can't see why Levi has been unfairly (in my opinion) booted out of the squad.

Playing people out of position when we have good cover makes no sense to me, and it will cost us points if Allen continues to do it.

Hume and Clemence were quality today though

Or maybe people have realised he isn't that special.

He doesn't strike me as an Allen type player anyway with Passion and Commitment and all that.

Last season when he got marked, did he do anything about it ? No he just stood around doing nothing for large periods of time.

Wasn't it rumoured he was ready to lead a revolt last season because wortho made training harder ?

Tbh its this attitude thats probably kept him away from the first team.

He'll probably do one good thing or something that looks decent in a game or training and Thracian will hype it up so much it sounds like he's been tearing the defence apart all afternoon.

[Guest]

Ricky Sappleton is my new favourite player.

[Lineker's Left Foot]

give the guy a break! one home friendly and already people are knocking him. we dont have a full squad so some will need to cover, i dont mind players being tried in differeing positions.. friendlies are hte place to do the trying too... i remember walshie being tried up front and that worked out very well... some will work and some wont. but still nothing wrong with trying just so long as he learns from the trying too...

Too true !! And also we should give the players chance to gel - 12 signings (think it's 12) is a lot when all said and done !!

[Simi]

Weso on the right .

I couldn't make it to the game so I don't know how he played but surely this isn't where he wants to play Weso. With Newton on the bench this seems a bit strange, maybe he just wanted to push Weso to get him some match fitness.

Chambers at left back again, I've already seen him play there during pre-season and I really hope we can sort that position out by next Saturday

Looking back on all the teams from pre season I really can't see who is a clear starter in goal next week.

My Step Dad was fourth official yesterday and he said, if Allen carries on with his touchline antics he will find himself in the stands a lot next season!

[Wooly]

Christ, it was a friendly, Weso was playing on the right because Allen obviously felt he needed more match minutes, not because he will play there all next season. Chambers will clearly be starting on the right hand side (Stearman's dismal performance confirms this), but it's also obvious we're lacking cover & options on the left so it's better to give Chambers some game time there now rather than in league games, surely?

We'll have a new left back before the season starts (Stefanovic, Unsworth?). In goal Nielson will be our first choice, again he obviously feels Henderson needed some more game time and wanted another look at him before the season starts.

There are a couple of decisions to make before the Blackpool game - who to play with Hume, and if Mattock is injured, whether to play Chambers on the right & Sheehan on the left, or Chambers on the left & Stearman on the right. Assuming Mattock is fit, I'd bet a large sum the team will line up as Nielson; Chamers, McAuley, N'Gotty, Mattock; Newton, Kishishev, Clemence, Hayes; Hume, De Vries.

That also is assuming Kabei won't be fit/ready to be thrown straight in (in which case, he's RW instead of Newton).

[Toby or not Toby]

As long as you are not in the last few back rows,L1 is okay.

If you are in the last few back rows...MOVE!!!!!

Im on DD!? Whats that like?

[lildave3]

Ricky Sappleton is my new favourite player.

Join the queue

[Simi]

Christ, it was a friendly, Weso was playing on the right because Allen obviously felt he needed more match minutes, not because he will play there all next season. Chambers will clearly be starting on the right hand side (Stearman's dismal performance confirms this), but it's also obvious we're lacking cover & options on the left so it's better to give Chambers some game time there now rather than in league games, surely?

We'll have a new left back before the season starts (Stefanovic, Unsworth?). In goal Nielson will be our first choice, again he obviously feels Henderson needed some more game time and wanted another look at him before the season starts.

There are a couple of decisions to make before the Blackpool game - who to play with Hume, and if Mattock is injured, whether to play Chambers on the right & Sheehan on the left, or Chambers on the left & Stearman on the right. Assuming Mattock is fit, I'd bet a large sum the team will line up as Nielson; Chamers, McAuley, N'Gotty, Mattock; Newton, Kishishev, Clemence, Hayes; Hume, De Vries.

That also is assuming Kabei won't be fit/ready to be thrown straight in (in which case, he's RW instead of Newton).

In the first bit of your post you say it's clear that Chambers will play right back but then you go on to say a decision still needs to be made.

I honestly think we could end up seeing Chambers play at left back if we don't get somebody in this week.

[Toby or not Toby]

In the first bit of your post you say it's clear that Chambers will play right back but then you go on to say a decision still needs to be made.

I honestly think we could end up seeing Chambers play at left back if we don't get somebody in this week.

I would be disappointed to see him left back, we have spent money and we still insist on playing a right back at left back, it doesn't make sense! He is a more than capable right back in my opinion!

[Geo V]

Another pre-season friendly and we did chase about some good players for a while in the game which would have been great for fitness if not morale . Just like the wins in pre-season or the loss at Killie, its not worth over analyzing the performances because a number of factors need to be brought into the equation including the fact that we haven't yet played our best 11 in the same match and that the new players need some bedding in time to understand the little traits that each of there team mates has.

On the game, it was good that at times we created some decent chances and its obvious already, despite the starting line-up only being at 60-70% of what it will be against Blackpool, that we are vastly improved from last season. Some of the new boys look quality, especially Clem and N`Gotty and we have yet to see our two best purchases grace the team in any major way yet (Kaebi and DJ). As one who has had a pop at MDV in recent weeks due to his near 2 years away from the club on loan, I will hold my hands up and say I thought he was very good yesterday and looks in fantastic shape. Lets hope he can be an asset to us this season in one way or another but I`d still like to see MF be given a chance ahead of him if I am honest, mainly due to MF`s age and his potential to be a big part of this club for years.

The negative bits of pre-season for me thus far and yesterday being an example is that MA seems to mix and match some of his sides and we haven't been able to see our best team all playing together. I realize that most of it has been out of his hands as Kaebi and Kisnorbo were on International Duty and DJ signed late on and isn't as fit as the rest but would still have liked to see if the Hume/DJ partnership could work from the start. Maybe MA will do what many anticipate and stick with a target man upfront like most of the teams he has managed in the past which will at this stage give MDV the nod.

I cant wait for Blackpool to see how we set up but whatever happens, those who aren't up for it will get dropped and we should, in theory at least, have some hungry players waiting in the wings to come in and cement a place in the team.

[reynard]

Surely we should be fielding a squad looking close to what our first XI will be next season. They've had weeks to get fooking match fit, so surely this was about playing them in their best positions and building confidence as a team. If people are shunted around the field all the time it does no one any good and eradicates the point of having a friendly at this point in the season all together.

Completely agree.

for this match our starting line up should have been the one we will start with vs. Blackpool and if it was then the season looks potentially like another long one.

The left side both in defense and attack has to be sorted out. We need a left back.

goalkeeper looks uncertain who will play and none fill anyone with confidence. need a goalie to dominate his area and communicate with defense.

centre halves look exposed to pace and movement and we have little cover there. (please no one pretend Stearman can play there!)

too many average players in midfield. kishishev looks past it and offers little going forward maybe he should play right back? newton not consistent enough. clemence looks quality and imo Weso should start alongside him. left side of midfield is hopeless.

strikers Allen has a real dilemma here. though we created some chances yesterday we still don't look capable of scoring enough goals to get us into the top 6.

de Vries played well but how many will he score. cort doesn't look near the team. DJ still remain to be convinced he is a good buy. Hume playing well but tends to score in patches. Fryatt not enough pace.

ok so it was only a friendly but the worrying signs for me are that in pre season when we have come up against half decent opposition or better we look inadequate. lots of work to do and 3 signings of quality needed or i fear mid table mediocraty at best.

[teblin]

Disagree with you about kishichev, Looked like he could still get around the pitch.

Portmouth were a very good side, alot better than anyone we will play.

Newton has to play for me, but the left back is the problem if you have one position that is not right it can throw the whole balance of the team.

[city1993]

I felt we played well... I like the look of our central midfield... very dominant performance... we need a solid backline though... I'm sorry but Stearman and Chambers just didn't cut it today... they were always drifting away and not concentrating... my team for blackpool now after seeing that would be...

henderson

Kaebi

N'gotty

Mcauley

Mattock

Newton

Kishishev

Clemence

Hayes

Hume

De Vries

Bench:

Neilson

Stearman

Wesolowski

Campbell

Fryatt/Sappleton.

[Bryn]

Martin Allen has said nothing that to me sounds like he is set to play a team like that against Blackpool... on the contrary in fact. I feel that it was more about minutes... for example, he needs Wesolowski, Clemence and Kishishev fit, so he played one on the right wing in order to keep them all in contention.

[davieG]

Martin Allen has said nothing that to me sounds like he is set to play a team like that against Blackpool... on the contrary in fact. I feel that it was more about minutes... for example, he needs Wesolowski, Clemence and Kishishev fit, so he played one on the right wing in order to keep them all in contention.

Don't agree with that logic

Unless he plays those 3 he'll need somebody else to be fit who didn't play

[Ric Flair]

I haven't seen any friendlies so I can't comment on the performances, but if Allen starts with Chambers at LB and Wesolowski at RM next week I will be annoyed. We constantly criticised Levein and Kelly for playing players out of position (and justifiably so) so if Allen does this next week, and it doesn't pay off, he's leaving himself open to a slating.

The closer we get to the new season and the more I see the bizarre team selections (in my opinion) in these friendlies, the more concerned I get.

Haha, I have to agree.

It's only pre-season, so i'm not getting too worked up. But in the last friendly for the so called first team players, it was indeed another odd team selection. I cannot believe we are going in to the final week of pre-season without a quality left back and left midfielder bar Mattock, who's vastly in-experienced.

Allen has a massive week ahead of him. We played some decent football, but I still see some problems throughout the team. I don't see where the creativity is going to come from.

DJ Campbell looks a snip at £1.6 million as well. his finishing in the friendlies so far has been devastating. I can see him being a folk hero if he keeps that up.

[The People's Hero]

Having not been to the game, I'm not going to comment on the performance as such, but rather the line up. I think we have to assume now, after the various permutations on combinations of team selections we've seen that it is most likely that our left flank will be made up on non-specialists.

I don't really like that.

[Ric Flair]

Having not been to the game, I'm not going to comment on the performance as such, but rather the line up. I think we have to assume now, after the various permutations on combinations of team selections we've seen that it is most likely that our left flank will be made up on non-specialists.

I don't really like that.

There's no creativity either. Chambers and Kaebi down the right hand side will be dangerous at this level. But if Chambers has to fill in at left back, with Wesolowski also playing out wide then we are going to be devoid of any natural creativity and it will have to go long through the middle, which never works.

Potentially we're going to have 6 defenders in our starting line-up yet again. Hopefully, Allen can get a left back and creative left sided midfileder in this week.

Robinson had a blinder for Swansea on saturday, probably putting his price up.

[The People's Hero]

Robinson would hack it at this level I reckon - good player.

Bit disappointed to see McIndoe go to Bristol City too as thought he potentially could do a job down the flank - again might not be a genuine 'left winger' as such though.

[Ric Flair]

Robinson would hack it at this level I reckon - good player.

Bit disappointed to see McIndoe go to Bristol City too as thought he potentially could do a job down the flank - again might not be a genuine 'left winger' as such though.

I cannot believe that we're going in to the last week of pre-season with Joe Mattock as the only left sided player (we need 4) that's worth bothering with at this level.

I'm amazed.