Crystal Palace 3-2 Leicester City

[dandannieldanok]

Its great to see our team pass the ball along the ground but we needed to get the ball forward quicker. Too much of Morrison and Hobbs giving it back to each other while Palace got all their men behind the ball. Sousa did a good job in the 2nd half though. I thought we looked like we wanted to attack a lot more and changing to 4-3-3 obviously helped.

It's sad that worthwhile opinions such as this ^ from people who have actually seen the game go unnoticed, whereas Radio Leicester insist on giving airtime to complete utter dickwads saying "Sousa out blah blah blah" based purely on Ian Stringer's skewed opinion and their own general idiocy. Radio Leicester need to get their act together because 'sportstime' is a total farce and is fast becoming unlistenable, both during and after the game.

[davieG]

The 2nd half was spent singing EI EI EI O as we climbed from 24th to 15th

[moseeds]

No need to despair! Surely one of Leicester City's most technically accomplished games I have had the pleasure of seeing for a very very long time. The defence needs some more practice with the new marking system. The attack was phenomenal - the second half Palace barely got a sniff (albeit they did have the opportunity to hit their 4th!). In the first half I think city "hoofed" the ball about twice if that. Some great passing, interplays and intelligence shown. There seems to be more emphasis on flair and inviduality. I am hoping players like Dyer, King, Fryatt and DJ will flourish in this new setup. However players like Hobbs and Morrisson may need to add some more skills to their repertoire if they are to survive. The fans were superb today well done!

[davieG]

IT's a shame goals are the deciding factor

Stats

Possession 45/55

Attempts On 7/5

Attempts Off 2/5

Corners 0/12

Fouls 14/7

[unreachable]

I suggest you go back to my first post again and study it. Quite clearly I thought he played well last year as I said "I hope he gets back to how he was", that infers I thought he was/is good. Again from what I have seen he hasn't been the same player for a handful of games (can't comment on today yet). Could be loss of form or confidence but that's what it's looked like to me in the games I saw.

Since you are a moderator I think this post is perfectly reasonable and balanced. Telling people to get help is a little childish.

[mountsorrel fox]

OAKLEY???? What happaned to Wellens? Isn't it funny that when howar came on the game totally swung into our favour!!!

[Edmund]

IT's a shame goals are the deciding factor

Stats

Possession 45/55

Attempts On 7/5

Attempts Off 2/5

Corners 0/12

Fouls 14/7

It would be nice if Hobbs and Morrison could tally up a few from these like the O'neill days.

[leftsideoverhere]

It felt a bit odd to be saying it but we were unlucky to be three nil down at halftime. In total we hit the woodwork three times, and looked the better side for the first ten minutes and the whole of the second half.

First goal was down to our centre backs both expecting the other to sort it. No way would we have conceded a goal like that if Wayne Brown had still been playing, but unlike WB, Morro and Hobbs will get better with age.

Neilson did play his best game for us, and the cross for the first goal was a beaut from just in front of the travelling fans. He still got stick, of course, and looks slow getting back when we lose the ball. But he wasn't a disgrace.

Weale pulled off a couple of good saves, including a cracker in the second half. He's adjusted to the new style, passing the ball out from the back a lot, which works well, except when the backs panic and just pass it back to him. They'll get better at this, too, I think, but it shouldn't need DJ coming back to get the ball - our midfield need to get used to going back for the ball and then bringing it forward. Too often today, especially in the first half, we tried 'killer' passes when what was needed was give-and-go, short passing triangles and some more movement off the ball.

But if the second half is anything to go by, we will be entertaining to watch this season, and we'll do well against most teams in the division. Can't help thinking five goals and three woodwork incidents is good value for those Swansea fans who told us to take a book to games under Sousa.

The City fans were great on the whole, although the dickhead a few seats to my right seemed to call every city player on the pitch a useless ****er at least twice, in some cases before they'd even touched the ball. Honestly, why do people like that go to games? They can't possibly be enjoying themselves.

[Guest NGoloMode]

But if the second half is anything to go by, we will be entertaining to watch this season, and we'll do well against most teams in the division. Can't help thinking five goals and three woodwork incidents is good value for those Swansea fans who told us to take a book to games under Sousa.

Definitely. Although we lost I really enjoyed it tbh. Really good match.

[ousefox]

IT's a shame goals are the deciding factor

Stats

Possession 45/55

Attempts On 7/5

Attempts Off 2/5

Corners 0/12

Fouls 14/7

Can't believe they had no corners compared to our 12!

[FrankieADZ]

Seen the goals and I have to admit the goals we let in where a bit shocking but meh, but its all learning for Morrison.

hopefully a good performance in midweek and follow it on with a good showing against Boro:)

fingers crossed.

[Asherz]

lmao coz we loose 1 match everyone is going off at the manager looooooooooooooooool ffs did u expect us to win every match this season...?

it aint football manager were u screw the database and make leicester win every game

[marbelladave]

From this morning...

As i said earlier, they are the players who have done the most pre-season, so it is a reasonable shout for a starting XI. The odd thing is that Wellens has featured less often than Oakley, maybe Sousa does not fancy him or maybe he's carrying a knock...

Until we see how Sousa sets us up and wants us to play its difficult choosing a starting line up.

Two things worry me though,

With the transfer window still open and plenty of activity, both in and out rumoured, it could be at least a month before we can get to anything like a settled side/system in place, we could be well off the pace by then.

Also if Sousa plays 2 wingers and 2 men up, we could well be over run in midfield as regularly happened under Pearson, but then again maybe Sousa knows more about setting up the side than Pearson did.

We'll find out soon...

We allowed this to happen many times under Pearson, the penny finally dropped earlier this year when we switched to 4-3-3/4-5-1. Why on earth Sousa chose to play 4-4-2 with a flat midfield, God only knows...

Going forward we didn't look that bad at first, but as the half wore on we just kept putting the ball over the top, which was hopelessly ineffective. What decent attacks we did make came down the flanks.

Defensively we were awful, King and Oakley were outnumbered as Palace put 3, often 4 men up against them and just blew them away, there was no coverage in front of the back 4 so Morrison and Hobbs were hopelessly exposed.

The pair looked jittery throughout and Weale really did not seem to help, big problems at the heart of our defense...

For those of you not at the game, I will give my full view of the game later.

[Ozwin]

Great pic.

[moseeds]

Definitely. Although we lost I really enjoyed it tbh. Really good match.

Totally agree. Fantastic game of football and still smiling although we lost. Never gave up until the end and played with a bit style as well. I hope we can make it to the Premiership playing like this.

[wurmer]

Great pic.

Great performance today.

[KFS]

When he did that it sent chills down my back. Amazing moment.

[Rich Fox]

I know I'm going to get shouted at for saying this again, but once again, WEALE!!!

Their 3rd goal especially. Why did he not catch it?

But hey, I'm just going to get called a moron again or something for making this point, so.

Gd 2nd half showing though from the lads on a positive note!

You are right Weale aint that good makes good reflex saves but to many mistakes, bring Logan in for me.

[Bugg]

SOUSA OUT

This was a joke

[OutFoxing-Cov-Since1884]

Thank you everyone. I am glad that some fans on here don't shout down everyone's opinions on certain positions in our team.

I say, overall, especially after our second half showing, i think we could go one further than last season.

But I definately believe Chris either needs to be dropped to make him regain form, in favour of Conrad OR go out and splash some cash on a decent keeper who isn't getting games elsewhere.

2 names:

Adrian Basso @ Bristol City

Ross Turnbull @ Chelsea - MY TIP!!!

[Narborough_fox]

I'd just like Mike Stowell to sit down with Chris and work out what has gone wrong therefore letting Mike work on what's weakened his game.

[Stand UP...]

Could of been worse i guess, i was dreading a 3-1 loss but 3-2 looks a little better. We can only carry the 2nd half performance onto the 1st half next week...but for 2 halfs this time

[Guest Mickyblueeyes]

I'm actually up beat despite the result today.

Reading what some of those who went to the game have said I think we've got a lot to look forward to.

Hobbs and Morrison are kids despite their acheivements over the last 2 years. They'll take time to find their feet, I have no doubt about that. They've been asked to change there games, there way of thinking, and that may have an affect on their defensive abilities. With the support of the boss and the coaches i'm sure both of them will realise their roles and be back to what they were defensively and pick up those skills Paulo wants them to have.

Midfield does worry me a bit.The holding role in this form of football is massive, I dont think Oakley is the best man for the job but then with Moreno and Wellens we've got something to change it with. Andy King carried on the way he was last year getting on the end of a cross and scoring from midfield.Hoping he'l get to the magic 15 goals this year. Dyer seems to be getting rave reviews and from what I heard on another day he wouldve had a hatrick.Remember we were missing Gallagher, who I think we'll flourish in this system. I do hope we add a midfielder before the deadline.

Up front, we have the competition we require, maybe a loan signing will sure it up. A goal for Campbell, will do his confidence wonders. Howard sounded like he was 5 years younger. Having him available off the bench is going to be vital this year. Fryatt, we know he's a confidence player, a goal in the cup on tuesday, could be exactly what he needs.

We had three kids on the bench today when was the last we had a manger who has the fate to give kids who are showing potential to aide their development. Paulo will probably add to his squad, the lads will find there feet in this system. Still more than positive, hope we give him the time. Learning a new system takes time, it obviously takes extra effort, ofcourse the players would be tired after getting an almighty shock, doing everything they could to turn it around without neglecting the new philosophy.

Quite a few of the "favourites" lost today and I'm still confident we have what it takes to be in and around the top 8 this year.

[Corky]

At half-time I was sat there stunned, the defence went to pieces, the normally reliable defence. Morrison in particular looked very shaky. Going forward we looked bright all game, Dyer was impressive, but Fryatt held on to the ball for too long on occasions and the threat was blunted.

I was fearing a heavy beating at the break, but the players showed both personal and professional pride and took the game to Palace, pushing them back. I can only recall Weale having two saves to make in the second half. We got an excellent first goal, Neilson with a superb cross to King, and the second, after a fabulous ball by Howard to Campbell.

We had something to build on after the second half showing, but the first, especially defensively, was worrying. Sousa needs to work on that sharpish.

[Corky]

Our fans were very good today. Everyone pretty much stood up and created a decent noise. I'm not a massive fan of the "who gives a fuck?" song but it was loud and added to the atmosphere.

The supporters on the whole can take credit from today.