Middlesbrough

[leftsideoverhere]

The best nil-nil I've seen for a long while.

Everyone in a blue shirt played well today. Weale had almost nothing to do all afternoon, whereas their keeper was knackered by the end of the game. Hobbs was immense, headers, sliding tackles, great going forwards and back. Moreno, as others have said, looks class. Neilson - the recipient of boos remember even in the pre-season friendly - must have been laughing when sections of the kop opened up with "du,du,du,du, Robbie Nielson" but he deserved the praise, as he was a continual threat and also covered the flank well defensively. Bruno was his usual dependable self, but for once he was the least noticeable of the back four, not something I think I've ever said before.

I heard moans around me about us not playing wide enough, and about the fullbacks leaving their men when the ball was on the other flank, but I thought the strategy worked well, and we were able to smother their rare attacks.

The flowing football was just perfect for me. I don't agree with Davie G that we needed to get it forward more quickly - I think we had the right balance today: some attacks were swift, while others were measured and incremental. Either way we had the beating of Boro's midfield, and if it wasn't for the fact that they had quality centre backs to defend our (much-improved) corners and free kicks, we would have had a hatful of goals. Howard's curling drive in the second half was just beautiful, and DJ deserved a goal for his work-rate alone. Unlike certain other forwards still playing in the premier league beyond their best, DJ manages to combine work-rate with some touches of dazzling brilliance too, and he linked up with Howard very well.

The car radio nearly got smashed to pieces on the way home, listening to texts from idiots who'd not even been at the game saying that Oakley was crap, or that Fryatt should have been starting, or even that we need to sign Heskey to give us attacking options. Honestly, why are these people allowed on the radio?

Final thought - if Middlesborough are the favourites to win this league, we will do very well. If Boro do win the league I'll eat what's left of my season ticket. They had no ideas, no creativity, and relied on fouling and a very helpful ref just to sneak home with a point. It was a lot more than they deserved.

[leftsideoverhere]

personally i thought we did ok in parts but thought we were to narrow and played like the last 2 years by hitting it up to howard.

Sorry, but what fooking game were you watching? Every time Weale had the ball it was rolled out to Hobbs or a full-back, and the patient building from the back was a joy to watch. Boro had no answer to it, and seemed unable to cut out the passing today. We moved well without the ball, something I can't remember a Leicester side doing for several seasons, and the player on the ball always seemed to have options in front of him. Only in the last couple of minutes did we resort to the long ball, as the realisation sank in that the afternoon's effort was likely to not get its full reward.

[Heart-Shaped Fox]

Should have won, but least we kept a clean sheet.

Just hope we dont have lots of 0-0s due to not finding a way through.

[dave_the_fox]

Should have won, but least we kept a clean sheet.

Just hope we dont have lots of 0-0s due to not finding a way through.

Should have took a book!

[Guest ttfn]

Agreed. If we don't get a win under our belt soon we could be in real trouble.

Having said that I'm very much enjoying the football we're playing so at the moment I'm not too worried.

Absolutely my concern too. Both Burnley and Reading are both in the 'we'd take a point' category in my opinion.

[Stand UP...]

there defence looked ....HUGE...can not see boro conceding many this season

[buzzy]

Sorry, but what fooking game were you watching? Every time Weale had the ball it was rolled out to Hobbs or a full-back, and the patient building from the back was a joy to watch. Boro had no answer to it, and seemed unable to cut out the passing today. We moved well without the ball, something I can't remember a Leicester side doing for several seasons, and the player on the ball always seemed to have options in front of him. Only in the last couple of minutes did we resort to the long ball, as the realisation sank in that the afternoon's effort was likely to not get its full reward.

im talking about when the defence or midield when they had the ball . if you read what iput i as not slagging the performance off . do you agree that we were to narrow and not enough width when coming forward .

[Salieri]

Good game with no one playing badly, although Moreno was solid on the deck he hardly won a header all afternoon so I don't think he's the answer to CB having said That I see him eventually replacing Oakley as the holding midfielder not that Oakley had bad game. Thought Nelson was good and Lamey in his short début was an improvement in fact his first 3 passes he gave the ball away.

King was unlucky not to score and DJ really should have scored with his header.

We still need to break much quicker from defence.

Definitely agree with that, and i believe CM is his preferred position anyway. Moreno operating in a defensive midfield role with Wellens and in particular KIng given the license to get forward would be a pretty solid unit. Just need to find a partner for Hobbs out of Morrison, Vitor and ideally (if we can get him fit) Tunchev.

[Bettsj2]

Sorry, but what fooking game were you watching? Every time Weale had the ball it was rolled out to Hobbs or a full-back, and the patient building from the back was a joy to watch. Boro had no answer to it, and seemed unable to cut out the passing today. We moved well without the ball, something I can't remember a Leicester side doing for several seasons, and the player on the ball always seemed to have options in front of him. Only in the last couple of minutes did we resort to the long ball, as the realisation sank in that the afternoon's effort was likely to not get its full reward.

We were absolutely outstanding today. Defense, midfield and attack were all superb. Hobbs and Moreno look a great partnership, Nielson and Berner did everything right at full back, the midfield 3 combined excellently and Oakley looked like a new player!! The combination of Dyer, Howard and Campbell looked dangerous every time they got the ball. It's quite remarkable the difference in such a short space of time.

The set pieces were absolutely superb and i'm surprised that there is any critisism of them at all. Every time the ball came in from a corner it caused havoc.

On top of this Lamey looked bright when he came on and if Nielson keeps playing as he is then the battle for the right back spot could be very interesting.

I would like to see Sousa add another striker to the squad but apart from that I think we're looking quite good.

One final thing was the atmosphere at the game. I was sat in the middle of the east stand and for a change the mood was quite buoyant and people joined in the chanting more often than not. This I feel is in direct response to what's going on on the pitch. Since we moved into the Walkers, we've not had any managers that play attractive football and this hasnt helped the atmosphere but the football we were playing today really encouraged the crowd.

Cant think of any negatives for today at all. Absolutely loved it.

[The Doctor]

im talking about when the defence or midield when they had the ball . if you read what iput i as not slagging the performance off . do you agree that we were to narrow and not enough width when coming forward .

they didn't go long to howard all that often either. They mainly past it about themselves and advanced up the pitch.

And no we did have enough width when attacking. You look at the highlights for any of our attacks (set-pieces excluded) and you will see dyer & campbell moving out wide (unless they have the ball) and neilson + occasionally berner hugging the touchline. We just didn't utilise this width like we perhaps should have.

[leftsideoverhere]

im talking about when the defence or midield when they had the ball . if you read what iput i as not slagging the performance off . do you agree that we were to narrow and not enough width when coming forward .

You said we "played like last 2 years by hitting it up to Howard", which couldn't have been more wrong. We played the ball out from the back, on the floor, the way football is meant to be played, and Howard did more with his feet than his head, which was never the case in the last two seasons.

As for being too narrow, wasn't it the case that both Neilson and Bruno made a lot of runs foward in the wide channels? Dyer and Neilson spent a lot of time on overlapping runs and Campbell quite often picked the ball up wide before running into channels. For sure it wasn't a traditional 4-4-2 with two wide wingers, but for the players we have at the club I think we have found a good system, and I'm happy with the way the formation worked today.

[OutFoxing-Cov-Since1884]

Wasn't at todays match but it sounds as if we were playing the attractive football I for one have been longing to see at our club, having been an admirer of the way continental football has worked at some English clubs thus far, i.e. Arsenal & Liverpool.

Of course, we shall never be on their level of football, but if we carry on to play the way we did today (judging by what people have said) and what I saw the other week against Sunderland, especially in that 1st half, we will WIN this league! I have no doubts about that.

One final note too. Just to reassure some fans about fears of replicating success from last season, it took Sunderland 6 games the year they walked the Championship to win a match, Blackpool, who eventually went up last season, were no where at Christmas and neither were Hull the year they succeded.

Leagues aren't won and lost in the first 2 matches but THIS FOOTBALL, will do!

P.S. Looking forward to watching the highlights tonight!

[C-man]

As much as I've admired Neilsons courage and determination at the start of this season, in the long run we'll definitely need a right back with more potency going forward. Maybe that'll be Lamey.

I said numerous times last season, particularly after Derby at home, that it's a key position for City. I don't know whether it's the lack of quality we've had there in recent times but it seems to be one area in which we almost eternally have space in which to manoeuvre. We need to work out a way in which to exploit this.

[Father Ted]

Was I watching a different game to most of you today?

I thought that Moreno looked weak in that centre-half position, often being caught out of position and being very weak in the air. I feel that Michael Morrison would have been better suited in that position and feel that it is a real shame that Moreno has just come in, took possibly one of our most consistent performers of last season's position and in doing so pushed Tom Parkes further down the pecking order. I don't want to see Moreno at the back again, he may be worth having a look at in midfield.

I thought that our shape and tactics were quite poor, we were often exposed on the wings, often with no wingers as Dyer kept on drifting in mainly from the right (IMO, he should be on the left) and the 'other person' covering Bruno was non-existent, on another day we would have been heavily punished in this situation. The players looked lost at times and disorientated. I also feel that Sousa should have made a change earlier and that having 3 in the midfield isn't working with his philosophy. Can anybody also tell me why he took King off, one of our best chances of scoring or creating something, instead of Oakley or Wellens?

We also didn't make many clear-cut chances except for the header that hit the bar and King's 'offside' goal.

Positives though include the performance of Neilson, even though he made little nit-picky mistakes at times, he was generally good, got stuck in, crunched their player and even looked a threat going forward! Lamey also looked very capable so there is some good competition in that position.

I was also happy with the attitude and work rate of Campbell.

The FA's 'respect' for the refs campaign is also faultering. Do they really think that when 25,000 people, many of whom play football, see a refereeing display like that are going to respect the tossers? I don't think so.

Against Burnley I would go with:

Weale

Neilson, Morrison, Hobbs, Berner

Gallagher Wellens King Dyer

Howard Campbell

[Nickfosse]

Having been to see Leicester twice this week (Macc as well), I can honestly say that I haven't enjoyed watching us play as much for a very long time. Indeed I probably have to go back to my early Worthington/Weller/Birch days to reacll such panache.

Whilst our passing and movement wasn't quite as good as on Tuesday (due to higher quality defending - Wheater and their keeper were there best players which tells you plenty), I thought that there were times in the game when we absolutely battered them and more than deserved victory. It was great to see Hobbs back to the top-quality defender that we know he is and Moreno looks a fine acquisition, though I think better suited to defensive midfield. DJ had them on toast when he had the ball in space and Howard has been linking up play well.

I just hope everyone can stay patient as this new style develops. I'm a great believer that you end up with the points you deserve at the end of the season and that performance is the most important thing in the early stages.

We will always be grateful to NP for getting us out of the 3rd Div and getting us into the play-offs but I have to say that it was attritional football that often lacked imagination in the final 3rd.

I am thoroughly enjoying the way we are playing and am certain that the points will start to flow before too long. Besides our very best managers always have poorish starts!

Keep the faith!

PS Funniest bit of the day was walking by Main Door as the Thai boys turned up in Bentleys and Rollers with 6 ft female companions (3 stone wet through) with 4 inch heels looking like they had just come off the cat-walk.

It's sometimes a very strange experience being a Leicester fan, but good luck to them. Whatever the future I'm looking forward to watching us play this year.

[Guest]

Yes Father Ted, you clearly were at a different game.

Impressed again, not sure how we weren't winners by at least a couple of goals but a clean sheet is pleasing.

Great to have the real Hobbs back, MOTM for me. That tackle where Boyd, I think, was through and Weale was being pretty indecisive was fantastic.

DJ also very good, so close with that free kick and the header from a deft little cross from Dyer.

One way of telling how good we were today was how little Weale had to do. Moreno was solid and once again Neilson had a good game.

Boro can consider themselves very lucky to have one point from that, and to have had a full compliment of players for the duration. Favourites to go up? Don't make me laugh

[Bert]

Everytime Deej got the ball the Boro defenders were shitting their pants. His pace had them backing off all afternoon.

Howard - tidy job in the hold up role.

Pleasing performace.

Correct Rob.

To add to this I thought Boro were pretty decent at the back and whenever they lost the ball they were rapid in getting players back behind it, which is why we really failed to break them down, the both times we did we ended being on the end of one dubious, and a nailed on offside call.

Massive clean sheet, with no-one turning in a poor performance, I'd rather have a slow start than a sloppy finish....

[Thracian]

Perhaps we'll have some hope of building a proper football team under Sousa judging by today's performance.

Forgetting that we failed to score and are now five points off the pace after two games I was thoroughly encouraged.

Multi-pass one-touch football through and across the park, yes please. It obvious it'll take perhaps a couple of months to shape a really threatening side after Pearson's untimely departure but Sousa's made more progress with our football in weeks than we've previously made in several seasons. And it's the sort of football we'll need if we're ever to survive in the Premiership.

What with hitting the bar, having the ball in the net twice, and several other decent half chances we perhaps deserved more but this really looked like a team that knew what it was trying to do.

Yes, we still need more fitness and more imagination with corners and set-pieces. DJ needs closer support and a bit of work on his passing accuracy and Berner still needs to get fit and much more careful about getting caught in possession while he turns like a tanker, but otherwise, at least for an hour or so, this was a treat, spoiled only by the lack of goals.

[Nickfosse]

Was I watching a different game to most of you today?

I thought that Moreno looked weak in that centre-half position, often being caught out of position and being very weak in the air. I feel that Michael Morrison would have been better suited in that position and feel that it is a real shame that Moreno has just come in, took possibly one of our most consistent performers of last season's position and in doing so pushed Tom Parkes further down the pecking order. I don't want to see Moreno at the back again, he may be worth having a look at in midfield.

I thought that our shape and tactics were quite poor, we were often exposed on the wings, often with no wingers as Dyer kept on drifting in mainly from the right (IMO, he should be on the left) and the 'other person' covering Bruno was non-existent, on another day we would have been heavily punished in this situation. The players looked lost at times and disorientated. I also feel that Sousa should have made a change earlier and that having 3 in the midfield isn't working with his philosophy. Can anybody also tell me why he took King off, one of our best chances of scoring or creating something, instead of Oakley or Wellens?

We also didn't make many clear-cut chances except for the header that hit the bar and King's 'offside' goal.

Positives though include the performance of Neilson, even though he made little nit-picky mistakes at times, he was generally good, got stuck in, crunched their player and even looked a threat going forward! Lamey also looked very capable so there is some good competition in that position.

I was also happy with the attitude and work rate of Campbell.

The FA's 'respect' for the refs campaign is also faultering. Do they really think that when 25,000 people, many of whom play football, see a refereeing display like that are going to respect the tossers? I don't think so.

Against Burnley I would go with:

Weale

Neilson, Morrison, Hobbs, Berner

Gallagher Wellens King Dyer

Howard Campbell

I take it that you didn't see Morrison at Palce or when he came on against Macclesfield?

4 goals conceded while he was present against 0 today tells its own story.

If anything he was worse in the air than Moreno today (though I do think he is better suited to the def mid role.

What we need is for Vitor to be as good as his reveiw in the merc.

[OutFoxing-Cov-Since1884]

If anything he was worse in the air than Moreno today (though I do think he is better suited to the def mid role.

What we need is for Vitor to be as good as his reveiw in the merc.

Agree with both points here mate.

Moreno was bought/reported as in the Portuguese press at least, as a defensive midfielder, so therefore, if we could use him as the 'link' player so to speak, we will have a lot of teams on the backfoot this season.

Can't believe we are all agreeing (mostly) for once!

[Father Ted]

I take it that you didn't see Morrison at Palce or when he came on against Macclesfield?

4 goals conceded while he was present against 0 today tells its own story.

If anything he was worse in the air than Moreno today (though I do think he is better suited to the def mid role.

What we need is for Vitor to be as good as his reveiw in the merc.

Unfortunately I wasn't but having seen him for the last two seasons I know that Morrison is a very capable player at centre-back and right-back. Morrison is a threat at set-pieces and I feel that he has the quality to pick out long passes and to also possibly break forward.

I definitely think that Moreno should be in midfield though.

[AndyBrew]

A good performance for me, Neilsen seems a different player his quality of crossing was superb, just need him to be making more of them and I'm sure the goals will come. I've never been a dj fan but his performance and attitude today were 1st class and it's only a matter of time before he's scoring for fun!

We love you Leicester

[Donut]

Happy with the performace, certainly deserved to win, created numerous chances and plenty of positives.

There are a few things from today im not so sure about though

Havent read the rest of the posts so not sure whether people have been talking about these:

1) Moreno. Looks a very good player technically. However, im not sure we can persist with his as a centre back. Although he made a few crucial tackles today, from what i saw today his aerial ability was extremely poor. My understanding was that he was a central midfielder who could 'do a job' at centre back and i think teams could target his lack of ability in the air as a weakness

on the deck, he was fantastic playing the ball out from the back and had a great range of passing

2) The team set up with a 4-3-3. Obviously this provides little width and what little width we were creating was mainly created by Neilson. I thought there was a noticable lack of crosses into the box from open play, with our central midfielders and front 3 looking to play through the middle almost all the time. Is this a Sousa trait? i could see lots of teams packing the centre of midfield and stifling our approach and i think although we created a lot today, i think we need the versatility of being able to get the ball out wide.

I think at times today things got congested, and many times our boys were trying to thread a needle with their passing. This could prove to become difficult at some stage.

3) Sousa's looks to be to contain a lot, but there was an absence of pressure on the ball at times, and not much willingness to stop opposition crosses into the box. Getting bodies behind the ball is a defensive tactic, but surely they must be doing something productive by closing down the ball, particularly in wide areas

Just wondered what everyones thoughts were on these.

Despite these points, i thought the game on the whole was very good and we were easily the better team

[THEBIGJOHNSTEADER;]

I couldn't stop laughing at strachans trainers

[Nickfosse]

Unfortunately I wasn't but having seen him for the last two seasons I know that Morrison is a very capable player at centre-back and right-back. Morrison is a threat at set-pieces and I feel that he has the quality to pick out long passes and to also possibly break forward.

I definitely think that Moreno should be in midfield though.

I agree with you that Morrison is a decent right -back and I like him, but I think he is bit of a liability in Central defence in his present form.