Reserves at the Walkers

[StanSP]

DJCampbell, Gradel and O'Neill scored.Gradel was captain

Leicester City's Reserves once more were on the goal trail, overcoming Tranmere Rovers Reserves 4-1 at the Walkers Stadium this evening (Wednesday).

Goals from DJ Campbell (2), Max Gradel and Luke O'Neill were enough for the Foxes as their totesport.com cup campaign continues.

On looking Academy Director, Jon Rudkin, will no doubt be proud as a number of his young charges comfortably took to the field alongside the returning Steve Clemence in the City line-up.

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The match witnessed Max Gradel fulfil the unfamiliar role of captain on the night, a role that the young winger appeared to revel in with an all action performance in the City midfield.

A name more familiar to the captain's role, Steve Clemence, made more great strides towards full fitness completing 60 minutes on the night.

Following tonight's result City's reserves now have amassed a staggering 11 goals in just 4 games, with many of City's young hopefuls making their mark as they look to catch the eye of Nigel Pearson and his coaching staff.

[Unit]

hate to say it but surely we can't ignore d.j much longer, as much of a **** as he is, sounds like he might be a decent striker...

[Fez of Mahrez]

I don't think it's particularly "staggering" that we should put a few goals past Tranmere Reserves when we have a £1.6million striker in the team, but there you are.

Did Ajdarevic play left-back...??

[Bert]

I wonder how many people will call for DJ to be in the first team again.

[Thracian]

DJCampbell, Gradel and O'Neill scored.Gradel was captain

I wonder if DJ will "catch the eye".

Of the "staggering" 11 goals he must have scored about 7.

Our first team is absolutely desperate for a second striker.

DJ scored almost as freely in the Championship at he's done in our stiffs so it's not as if the step up in class would trouble him.

But still the boss makes do with CZ's instead of a diamond.

And do any of the journo's ever ask why?

[AjcW]

I don't think it's particularly "staggering" that we should put a few goals past Tranmere Reserves when we have a £1.6million striker in the team, but there you are.

Did Ajdarevic play left-back...??

I hear it was a 352

[Thracian]

hate to say it but surely we can't ignore d.j much longer, as much of a **** as he is, sounds like he might be a decent striker...

You wanna bet?

[StanSP]

I wonder how many people will call for DJ to be in the first team again.

Already had one tonight

[Daggers]

Dunno, got half way there and had a phone call that I had to go and attend to.

Did anyone make it?

You weren't talking to my wife by any chance? She loves to gas a bit too.

[Edmund]

Cambell scored again.

What a waste rotting in reserves, especially when he is better than a couple of the strikers who are in the match squad week in week out.

[leftsideoverhere]

Yeah, I got there. But what with a very talkative steward in front of me, two kids to police, Ian to chat to, and no teamsheet at all (and, of course, no names on the shirts), I don't feel well qualified to pass comment on a team of players I struggled to distinguish. I know they didn't play in the order listed on the OS, but beyond that I was struggling.

Campbell scored twice, and even though I hate him for what he said last season it is getting increasingly difficult to justify saying "let him rot in the reserves" when what he's doing in the reserves is not so much rotting as setting the team on fire. That said, he was also, of course, offside enough times to seriously piss off the handful of supporters. You can't argue with the statistics, and even though I want to, he was far too good for the game, the opposition and his own team mates. His second goal was a tap-in from eight inches, and he had enough time to check with the linesman that he wasn't off-side before touching it home, in a comedy moment that will live in the memory for a while. Tranmere's back line was so static (and so unlike a line as to make the description meaningless) that the linesman gave him the nod, and DJ nudged the ball home in a kind of embarrassed shuffle.

Max was captain, and seemed to really come out of himself as the game went on. He played a kind of right midfield, but only if you define that role as covering all of the pitch from six yard box to six yard box and from the right touchline to within a throw-in's width of the left one. He only stopped running to argue with Gerry Taggart about something in the second half. Anyone who's brave enough to do that is worth his place in the team against Coventry, I reckon.

Max scored a nice goal, but probably wasted three or four chances by shooting at their goalkeeper when he could have passed. He ran like a nutter and tackled enthusiastically, but if he didn't keep running into squads of defenders and losing the ball, he wouldn't need to. In short, he showed both why some people want him in the first team (talent, speed, commitment) and why some don't (sometimes his footballing brain just switches off). But his floated free kick from the right wing, curling in the air for what seemed like half an hour before it collided with Luke O'Neill's head at the far post for a third goal worthy of the Champions League games going on elsewhere, just made the argument for me. Like the MK Dons free kick, for a moment like that, I'd put Max in the team, even if it meant 89 minutes of watching him run up and down the wing like someone doing shuttle runs in a training session.

Other than that, the high points were Luke O'Neill, who looked assured at the back, and promising going forward (especially when climbing above Astrit to power home the third goal), and the return of Stephen Clemence for sixty-odd minutes. He's still a long way from first team fitness, I expect, but he was so comfortable in midfield, I can't really remember him being tackled. Fouled, yes, but not tackled. Astrit played in the back line (3 sometimes 4) for most of the game, until a switch round for the last twenty minutes, when we become much more attacking as a 4-4-2 with Astrit moving to left midfield and that combination brought us the last couple of goals. By then Tranmere looked a bit ragged - they got worse with each substitution, whereas we seemed to have new ideas and maintained the necessary level of quality.

A tall young ginger haired lad bossed the defence and looked solid. Tranmere had only one decent attacking move, from which they scored midway through the second half, but by then we were 2-0 up and we soon scored again, so it didn't dampen spirits much. And one of our substitutes, a young lad wearing the number 14, was tall, powerful and very effective going forward, creating crosses and shooting opportunities, and generally suggesting that the academy wasn't going to hold him for long. I wish I knew who these players were, though.

Sorry you missed it, Lou. The crowd was pathetic, only a few hundred, I guess, and although Ian and I looked around for you, and any other foxestalk crew, we didn't see any of you. I used to love 'Family Night Football' when I was a kid, and it would be great if the club could be persuaded to bring it back, and keep the reserve team running - and even actually enter it into a league competition, not just something as random as the 'totesport.com cup'. But they won't do that for 300 fans so something needs to change.

[CosbehFox]

I don't think it's particularly "staggering" that we should put a few goals past Tranmere Reserves when we have a £1.6million striker in the team, but there you are.

Did Ajdarevic play left-back...??

AA started at left back and played the last 15 on the left wing.

DJ was hardly in the game bar his goals. Gradel set up two and scrambled one in. The back four impressed me personally as no.14 who came on. The difference was generally the last bit of quality in the final third.

[Thracian]

Yeah, I got there. But what with a very talkative steward in front of me, two kids to police, Ian to chat to, and no teamsheet at all (and, of course, no names on the shirts), I don't feel well qualified to pass comment on a team of players I struggled to distinguish. I know they didn't play in the order listed on the OS, but beyond that I was struggling.

Campbell scored twice, and even though I hate him for what he said last season it is getting increasingly difficult to justify saying "let him rot in the reserves" when what he's doing in the reserves is not so much rotting as setting the team on fire. That said, he was also, of course, offside enough times to seriously piss off the handful of supporters. You can't argue with the statistics, and even though I want to, he was far too good for the game, the opposition and his own team mates. His second goal was a tap-in from eight inches, and he had enough time to check with the linesman that he wasn't off-side before touching it home, in a comedy moment that will live in the memory for a while. Tranmere's back line was so static (and so unlike a line as to make the description meaningless) that the linesman gave him the nod, and DJ nudged the ball home in a kind of embarrassed shuffle.

Max was captain, and seemed to really come out of himself as the game went on. He played a kind of right midfield, but only if you define that role as covering all of the pitch from six yard box to six yard box and from the right touchline to within a throw-in's width of the left one. He only stopped running to argue with Gerry Taggart about something in the second half. Anyone who's brave enough to do that is worth his place in the team against Coventry, I reckon.

Max scored a nice goal, but probably wasted three or four chances by shooting at their goalkeeper when he could have passed. He ran like a nutter and tackled enthusiastically, but if he didn't keep running into squads of defenders and losing the ball, he wouldn't need to. In short, he showed both why some people want him in the first team (talent, speed, commitment) and why some don't (sometimes his footballing brain just switches off). But his floated free kick from the right wing, curling in the air for what seemed like half an hour before it collided with Luke O'Neill's head at the far post for a third goal worthy of the Champions League games going on elsewhere, just made the argument for me. Like the MK Dons free kick, for a moment like that, I'd put Max in the team, even if it meant 89 minutes of watching him run up and down the wing like someone doing shuttle runs in a training session.

Other than that, the high points were Luke O'Neill, who looked assured at the back, and promising going forward (especially when climbing above Astrit to power home the third goal), and the return of Stephen Clemence for sixty-odd minutes. He's still a long way from first team fitness, I expect, but he was so comfortable in midfield, I can't really remember him being tackled. Fouled, yes, but not tackled. Astrit played in the back line (3 sometimes 4) for most of the game, until a switch round for the last twenty minutes, when we become much more attacking as a 4-4-2 with Astrit moving to left midfield and that combination brought us the last couple of goals. By then Tranmere looked a bit ragged - they got worse with each substitution, whereas we seemed to have new ideas and maintained the necessary level of quality.

A tall young ginger haired lad bossed the defence and looked solid. Tranmere had only one decent attacking move, from which they scored midway through the second half, but by then we were 2-0 up and we soon scored again, so it didn't dampen spirits much. And one of our substitutes, a young lad wearing the number 14, was tall, powerful and very effective going forward, creating crosses and shooting opportunities, and generally suggesting that the academy wasn't going to hold him for long. I wish I knew who these players were, though.

Sorry you missed it, Lou. The crowd was pathetic, only a few hundred, I guess, and although Ian and I looked around for you, and any other foxestalk crew, we didn't see any of you. I used to love 'Family Night Football' when I was a kid, and it would be great if the club could be persuaded to bring it back, and keep the reserve team running - and even actually enter it into a league competition, not just something as random as the 'totesport.com cup'. But they won't do that for 300 fans so something needs to change.

The tall ginger lad would have been Bolger the Academy's goals-a-week centre-back.

Gradel clearly continued to do what we've so needed in the first team - he made things happen.

Occasionally he mucks up big time but Gradel adds up to far more that is good than bad in that he never relents, taking setbacks in his stride until he finally scores or makes a goal.

Compare that with N'Guessan who runs into blind alleys, hardly sees a pass at all, gradually gets disheartened and disappears.

Or Adams who seems to huff and puff wiith varying degrees of promise but never quite makes anything happen.

[Guest]

The tall ginger lad would have been Bolger the Academy's goals-a-week centre-back.

Gradel clearly continued to do what we've so needed in the first team - he made things happen.

Occasionally he mucks up big time but Gradel adds up to far more that is good than bad in that he never relents, taking setbacks in his stride until he finally scores or makes a goal.

Compare that with N'Guessan who runs into blind alleys, hardly sees a pass at all, gradually gets disheartened and disappears.

Or Adams who seems to huff and puff wiith varying degrees of promise but never quite makes anything happen.

Conveniently forgot about that goal at Watford then?

[Sir Fynwy]

The tall ginger lad would have been Bolger the Academy's goals-a-week centre-back.

Gradel clearly continued to do what we've so needed in the first team - he made things happen.

Occasionally he mucks up big time but Gradel adds up to far more that is good than bad in that he never relents, taking setbacks in his stride until he finally scores or makes a goal.

Compare that with N'Guessan who runs into blind alleys, hardly sees a pass at all, gradually gets disheartened and disappears.

Or Adams who seems to huff and puff wiith varying degrees of promise but never quite makes anything happen.

How can you base an analysis of the team/squad on one report from a reserves game you didn't attend? For all you know the report could have been written by Max or DJ.

[lou]

Sorry you missed it, Lou. The crowd was pathetic, only a few hundred, I guess, and although Ian and I looked around for you, and any other foxestalk crew, we didn't see any of you. I used to love 'Family Night Football' when I was a kid, and it would be great if the club could be persuaded to bring it back, and keep the reserve team running - and even actually enter it into a league competition, not just something as random as the 'totesport.com cup'. But they won't do that for 300 fans so something needs to change.

Not as sorry as I was... I literally got to raw dykes and had to turn back Family stuff

[Rocky Dennis]

All this love for DJ makes me

Have you all forgotten that he does not want to play for this club??

[lou]

All this love for DJ makes me

Have you all forgotten that he does not want to play for this club??

scoring twice in a reserve fixture means sod all IMO.... in fact he should have had at least 4 considering his "worth"

[MPH]

we pay his wages by buying tickets.

he has said some very derogatory things about leicester city and our hard earned money deserves more respect than that.

he has burnt his bridges.

[Bert]

The tall ginger lad would have been Bolger the Academy's goals-a-week centre-back.

Gradel clearly continued to do what we've so needed in the first team - he made things happen.

Occasionally he mucks up big time but Gradel adds up to far more that is good than bad in that he never relents, taking setbacks in his stride until he finally scores or makes a goal.

Compare that with N'Guessan who runs into blind alleys, hardly sees a pass at all, gradually gets disheartened and disappears.

Or Adams who seems to huff and puff wiith varying degrees of promise but never quite makes anything happen.

Only you could make them comments after not seeing a game. Dear me.

Gradel "clearly continuing to do what we've so needed in the first team" was merely based on someone's opinion. If King or Porter had played and had a bad game, I've no doubt you would've rubbished that claim.

[Ford Super Sunday]

Can't say it was the most riveting game of football ever, didn't compare to the Riverside stadium the night before, that's for sure.

Leftside was right, not only did he have me and two kids, he also had a very old steward who seemed to have an anecdote for every month of every year of his time supporting Leicester, I decided to sit back and let Nick bare the brunt of the tales.

They did the job, simple as really. Weren't spectacular, and weren't particularly dominant, certainly deserved it, and when they pulled it back to 2-1 we seemed to kick on to get the extra two.

Mr. DJ wasn't brilliant, I thought the number 10 we were playing was better on the night than him. As said, he was caught offside a few times, and his second goal was clearly offside, everyone except the lino spotted it.

Maxi and Clem had average games. Clem showed dominance and experience at times, he'd go sliding in for a 50-50, when the Tranmere youngsters would wonder what the hell to do with an experience professional charging at you.

Gradel showed his quality, he and Astrist ran the game down the left flank in the first half, and both did well. Basically, the former first teamers shone, while all the others seemed to have pretty quiet games.

Can't complain though, only £3, though the attendance was a concern, if they took more than £1000 in gate recepits last night i'd be surprised. Here's hoping they make a bigger deal of it when we're at home again.

[CosbehFox]

Reserves at the Walkers won't work unless we start to play the likes of the Big 4's ressies sides or local teams. Tranmere's side was a practically a youth side. I though Clemence was very poor for an experienced pro but I'll give him the benefit of the doubt currently.

[leftsideoverhere]

How can you base an analysis of the team/squad on one report from a reserves game you didn't attend? For all you know the report could have been written by Max or DJ.

Yeah, it wasn't though. If I was DJ I wouldn't have said I hated him for what he said last season, and if I was Max I would have written it in French.

[Guest]

I've just noticed Bert's 'From' details under the avatar

[Edmund]

All this love for DJ makes me

Have you all forgotten that he does not want to play for this club??

It was a newspaper article which he probably said in the heat of the moment. Are we just going to remember him for that one comment. Don't be ridiculous. I couldn't give two iotas as long as he gives his best and bangs in goals.