Norwich v Leicester - Match ratings

[Simi]

I'm still trying to work out how Laczko got five for playing half a game and hardly getting a touch.

I didn't hear of him having a shot, making a decisive pass and some are complaining he didn't track back to help Mattock.

So come on those who were there, what the hell did he do?

Yes Thrac. You didn't HEAR. You've been in football long enough to know that the radio portrays a different game to that of the eye.

As for my ratings.

Alnwick - 7.5 - Lucky to finish match, bit lary with crosses.

Stearman - 7

McAuley - 7.5 *

N Gotty - 6.5

Mattock - 5 - Shafted by Holloway

Bori - 6.5

Oakley - 7

Weso - 6

Zsolt - 5

Hume - 6

Howard - 6.5.

Subs

Chambers - 6

Hayles -7

King - 6

[Lillehamring]

Who needs Ajax when you have Antalyaspor, Atlas and Aberystwyth Town?

i assume, you were thinking of teams begining with letters of the alphabet, maybe you already got them, but if not, for future reference: aalesund, aalborg (casinos old team) and aik gotteborg...

[Jonezy]

i assume, you were thinking of teams begining with letters of the alphabet, maybe you already got them, but if not, for future reference: aalesund, aalborg (casinos old team) and aik gotteborg...

Cant be that easy... There are AEK (Greece), Atalanta (Italy), AZ Alkmaar (Holland) and Arminia Bielefeld (Germany) as well.....

[Bert]

Cant be that easy... There are AEK (Greece), Atalanta (Italy), AZ Alkmaar (Holland) and Arminia Bielefeld (Germany) as well.....

Arsenal, Aston Villa, Acccrington Stanley, Aberdeen....

[Leicester Rule!]

i thought howard was good as well. he won at lot of ball in the air against doherty. however, sometimes some players didn't read the flick on. One prime example of when one player decided to gamble was Hayles, who got past Doherty and nearly scored. This was one of the only times a player gambled. I think it would be good to see DJ's pace along with Howard, both upfront. This could be a strong championship frontline.

[escape2victory]

Sat in the Norwich "snakepit" with an old mate from uni. Their fans were surprisingly very good and ours not very surprisingly were awful. We must be the most un original fans in Britain ! Anyway, the ratings:

Alnwick - 8

Stearman - 8

McAuley- 7

N'Gotty - 7

Mattock - 4 - Got roasted by Croft. His positioning was shocking also. Gave Croft about 20 yards everytime

Bori - 6 - Worked hard. Offered little going forward. Not necessarily his fault

Wesolowski - 4 - His lack of technique is frightening for a midfielder

Oakley - 6 - Game bypassed him a little, but was the only one who put his foot on the ball and had a look before passing

Laczko - 4 - Was a liability. Put it down to injury !

Hume - 5 - Congratulations. You are the most frustrating footballer ever to play for Leicester

Howard - 6 - Worked hard, won a few flick ons and some good hold up play in second half. No real support

Chambers - 6 - Kept Croft a little more subdued in the 2nd half

Hayles - 7 - Good effort, put himself about and made a nuisance of himself

King - 4 - Must be colourblind

[Thracian]

Interesting points there.

The main thing about Laczko was he was clearly un-fit, and because of this, he was always cautious, which meant everything he done was half-heartedly, even watching him shoot in the warm up you could see this.

Between you and Fez we've got to the bottom of it. Laczko wasn't fit and probably didn't deserve a rating of much more than 2/3 on his actual half-match performance because people made allowances for his lack of fitness and thought it was too early in his City careeer to be strictly honest.

Fair enough, I can live with that and have probably done the same for a game or so with new players. What I'm more unhappy about, and what I wanted to establish, was that, once again, a city manager has fielded a patently unfit player in our side.

It's imposssible to say what it cost us as a team but I've heard several say that the first half hammering handed out by Norwich was the worst we've taken this season.

We clearly improved second half with 11 contributing men but I still fail to understand why we keep doing this.

Hell we barely have a good enough side to compete with 11, let alone with 10 and that's being thankful that Wesolowski's lack of match fitness didn't show up any worse and King didn't have to perform for much longer which would probably have highlighted his own fitness shortcomings.

[Calum McDermott]

Alnwick - 7, made some good saves that kept us in the game, took quite a few crosses well, indecisive with his mixup with oakley.

Stearman - 6.5, Average performance, marked his man well, made some good tackles, didn't support Bori and Hume well enough.

N'Gotty - 5.5, shown why he is behind kisnorbo in the pecking order, made some clumsy challenges, nott as good in the air as kisnorbo, lacked pace.

McAuley - 6, Average performance, got beat in the air by Dublin almost every time, although he did mark him well.

Mattock - 7.5, Another good performance, he handled croft well, blocked a lot of crosses, made some good tackles, positioning was good, croft only beat him once or twice pout of many attempts.

Bori - 6.5, worked very hard, closed down well, must have been frustrating for him as we chose not to play it out wide, but when he did get it he didn't give it away.

Oakley - 6.5, looked like he missed clemence, he was almost working on his own in midfield, he made some nice passes and tryed to get some play going.

Wesolowski - 6, Some great challenges, however when he was on the ball he is simply not good enough, no creativity, no understanding with oakley.

Laczko - ?, Can't really give him a rating as he simply was not given the ball in attacking areas where he is best, i can think of one time when we were in their half he made a pass and then someone lost posseion, he did help back with mattock but his man didn't really get forward.

Hume - 7, when he had the ball in the first half he brought others into the game, exchanged passes with howard and played it to bori a few times, however in the 2nd half he was RM and out of position where he had no positive effect on the game.

Howard -7, Good performance considering he had not many decnt balls into him, worked hard, won his fair share of headers, some great control with his chest, good movement, i could see him frustrating with some of the poor passes played to him.

Hayles - 8, Excellent performance, made some good runs that caused the defence real problems, worked hard, looked good in front of goal, unlucky with his effort against the post, and one cleared of the line. If he was a little bit quicker he would of scored the chance scored of the line as he would of made better contact.

King -6, OK

Chambers - 7, good performance showed good stamina good tackles and blocks, positioning was good.

Dion Dublin - 10, OUSTANDING, won everything in the air, showed great control, brought others into the game, good hold up play, unlucky with his two efforts off the woodwork.

[Staf]

Alnwick 7

Stearman 7

Mattock 6

N'Gotty 5

McAuley 7

Bori 6

Oakley 6

Wesolowski 5

Zsolt 5

Hume 6

Howard 7

Chambers 7

Hayles 6

King 5

[Cat Burger]

Between you and Fez we've got to the bottom of it. Laczko wasn't fit and probably didn't deserve a rating of much more than 2/3 on his actual half-match performance because people made allowances for his lack of fitness and thought it was too early in his City careeer to be strictly honest.

Fair enough, I can live with that and have probably done the same for a game or so with new players. What I'm more unhappy about, and what I wanted to establish, was that, once again, a city manager has fielded a patently unfit player in our side.

It's imposssible to say what it cost us as a team but I've heard several say that the first half hammering handed out by Norwich was the worst we've taken this season.

We clearly improved second half with 11 contributing men but I still fail to understand why we keep doing this.

Hell we barely have a good enough side to compete with 11, let alone with 10 and that's being thankful that Wesolowski's lack of match fitness didn't show up any worse and King didn't have to perform for much longer which would probably have highlighted his own fitness shortcomings.

Why hell, who are you? Huck Finn?

[Bob666]

Between you and Fez we've got to the bottom of it. Laczko wasn't fit and probably didn't deserve a rating of much more than 2/3 on his actual half-match performance because people made allowances for his lack of fitness and thought it was too early in his City careeer to be strictly honest.

Fair enough, I can live with that and have probably done the same for a game or so with new players. What I'm more unhappy about, and what I wanted to establish, was that, once again, a city manager has fielded a patently unfit player in our side.

It's imposssible to say what it cost us as a team but I've heard several say that the first half hammering handed out by Norwich was the worst we've taken this season.

We clearly improved second half with 11 contributing men but I still fail to understand why we keep doing this.

Hell we barely have a good enough side to compete with 11, let alone with 10 and that's being thankful that Wesolowski's lack of match fitness didn't show up any worse and King didn't have to perform for much longer which would probably have highlighted his own fitness shortcomings.

Yesterday's match was the first time I'd seen the new debutants live. I was extremely disappointed with the Hungarians - particularly Lackzo. Having heard his debut last week on radio; he was clearly not match fit. I can't remember anything he contributed in the first half & I agree that he was playing too central. I felt sorry for Mattock as he was having to defend against Croft/Norwich No 16 on his own for most of first half. I felt as if we were playing with 9 men in the first half (minus the Hungarians). I didn't think Bori contributed much in the second half either.

I thought Oakley was solid but he didn't create too much. Howard was OK (but looked better at QPR) but seemed to be second best to Doherty most of the match. You'd have thought Howard was the vetran compared to Dublin.

Alnwick appeared less commanding on crosses than Fulop but at least he seemed to read the game well and reacted to most things in the box. He should have been sent off & luckily the linesman didn't see him telling the Norwich fans to f'off after he'd been booked.

Hayles came out with the most credit as he was trying to make things work up front. However, he showed his age trying to run for the ball when he almost got the winner - also hit the post & had more shots on goal than any other City player. I'd still prefer Hume up front with Howard although Hume was off his game again today.

Overall (as for most City matches), I was very optimistic & looking forward to seeing the improvements made to the team following Ollie's recent signings. I left the game depressed that, although we did well to hang on for a point, it was all abit too familar with City under the cosh & their approach play being mostly poor. Luckily Norwich tired in the 2nd half following their mid-week cup match. Hopefully, this was just an off day & things will improve as the new signings settle in & confidence rises, etc.

[Pen 3 veteran]

Yesterday's match was the first time I'd seen the new debutants live. I was extremely disappointed with the Hungarians - particularly Lackzo. Having heard his debut last week on radio; he was clearly not match fit. I can't remember anything he contributed in the first half & I agree that he was playing too central. I felt sorry for Mattock as he was having to defend against Croft/Norwich No 16 on his own for most of first half. I felt as if we were playing with 9 men in the first half (minus the Hungarians). I didn't think Bori contributed much in the second half either.

I thought Oakley was solid but he didn't create too much. Howard was OK (but looked better at QPR) but seemed to be second best to Doherty most of the match. You'd have thought Howard was the vetran compared to Dublin.

Alnwick appeared less commanding on crosses than Fulop but at least he seemed to read the game well and reacted to most things in the box. He should have been sent off & luckily the linesman didn't see him telling the Norwich fans to f'off after he'd been booked.

Hayles came out with the most credit as he was trying to make things work up front. However, he showed his age trying to run for the ball when he almost got the winner - also hit the post & had more shots on goal than any other City player. I'd still prefer Hume up front with Howard although Hume was off his game again today.

Overall (as for most City matches), I was very optimistic & looking forward to seeing the improvements made to the team following Ollie's recent signings. I left the game depressed that, although we did well to hang on for a point, it was all abit too familar with City under the cosh & their approach play being mostly poor. Luckily Norwich tired in the 2nd half following their mid-week cup match. Hopefully, this was just an off day & things will improve as the new signings settle in & confidence rises, etc.

It was my virgin experience too seeing the new signings, and agree with all you say. I was really disappointed with Lackzo. On the way t'game I'd been building my son with a vision of a skilful, young Hungarian, and he struck a few warm up shots in nicely, but where did he go when the game started! I understand from the forum he was not fully fit, but he seemed completely off the pace, lacking composure (there was 1 dreadful panicked mis kick that looked like it came off Victoria Park on a Sunday morning) and was heavy legged. There seemed to be no understanding with the other players in a basic football sense. Like you say, let's hope it was all due to fitness.

You're also right about poor Mattock's exposure. But why could n't the bench see that after 5 minutes and first few attacks. I'm sure you, like me were screaming everytime Croft stood on his own on our side of the pitch. No wonder Croft had a great game - after he got over wondering whether he had horrendous BO, he revelled in loads of space and time to put crosses in, and as his confidence grew he was taking our defenders on, and the N'wich pressure, hitting the crossbar, other chances lifted their good vocal support at that end.

Thought Howard showed good control and lay offs. We'll have to hope the midfield can start feeding him some decent chances, before he starts to wonder why he joined us.

Ah well, as I live in East Anglia now, have to put up with my work mates going on about "one of the most one sided games" they've seen. Hope we thrash them at the Wallkers in Feb.!

[Pen 3 veteran]

It was my virgin experience too seeing the new signings, and agree with all you say. I was really disappointed with Lackzo. On the way t'game I'd been building my son with a vision of a skilful, young Hungarian, and he struck a few warm up shots in nicely, but where did he go when the game started! I understand from the forum he was not fully fit, but he seemed completely off the pace, lacking composure (there was 1 dreadful panicked mis kick that looked like it came off Victoria Park on a Sunday morning) and was heavy legged. There seemed to be no understanding with the other players in a basic football sense. Like you say, let's hope it was all due to fitness.

You're also right about poor Mattock's exposure. But why could n't the bench see that after 5 minutes and first few attacks. I'm sure you, like me were screaming everytime Croft stood on his own on our side of the pitch. No wonder Croft had a great game - after he got over wondering whether he had horrendous BO, he revelled in loads of space and time to put crosses in, and as his confidence grew he was taking our defenders on, and the N'wich pressure, hitting the crossbar, other chances lifted their good vocal support at that end.

Thought Howard showed good control and lay offs. We'll have to hope the midfield can start feeding him some decent chances, before he starts to wonder why he joined us.

Ah well, as I live in East Anglia now, have to put up with my work mates going on about "one of the most one sided games" they've seen. Hope we thrash them at the Wallkers in Feb.!

Opps, sorry - we're not getting a new stadium - just my excitement at my first postings - yeah Sundays at that boring down here!

[Hullfox]

Between you and Fez we've got to the bottom of it. Laczko wasn't fit and probably didn't deserve a rating of much more than 2/3

But they both gave him 4.

If they have got to the bottom of it and scored him a 4, he deserves a rating of 4.

4.

[Calum McDermott]

Im not at all worried about laczko's performance as he hadn't trained all week and lacked abit of fitness. He didn't have the ball in any attacking positions, not his fault as we had virtually no possesion in the 1st half.

[MrCrowley]

King didn't have to perform for much longer which would probably have highlighted his own fitness shortcomings.

Gotta ask How does match fitness make a player give the ball away on a regular basis ??

[Thracian]

Gotta ask How does match fitness make a player give the ball away on a regular basis ??

Lots of reasons. And the added risk of that happening when an out-of-practice player is brought on for the last 13 minutes of a game with the opposition rampant makes me wonder at the purpose of it.

[Tommy G]

really hope i'm wrong, but i think norwich are going to p*ss on our fireworks sat'dy ;

got this horrible feeling we flattered to deceive a little against cov

How right was he...

[Pen 3 veteran]

How right was he...

Absolutely. But how surprising was it? We knew N'wich had lost at Bury on Tuesday so very likely would come out fired up against us, Dion playing against home town club and used the day to announce his retirement at end of season ( so he hits woodwoork twice against us and beats our big men to headers nearly all game; how fired up was he!). But within first 5 -10 mins they've already stormed down our left several times behind Mattock out of position with no midfield back tracking, their crowd get the scent, but Ollie does nothing till halftime. I didn't get it.

[Manwell Pablo]

I see the propaganda machine has been in full swing this weekend, and without even attending the game this week, fantastic.