MC Prussian Posted 3 January 2011 Posted 3 January 2011 We played really well today, should've scored at least one more. But either we failed to convert some great chances (sic!) or De Vries was in the way. Swansea had some decent passing play to offer, but apart from two long-range shots on goal and one that went in unfortunately, were neatly contained by a superb back four. Hobbs and Morrison were playing together the way they used to last season. Naughton had maybe one slip-up in the entire game, but was again a threat on both ends of the pitch. My MOTM award (and surely many other will agree) goes to Bruno Berner. I mean, you look at what working rate he put in today. The amount of tackles he won, the headers, the positioning, everything just clicked for our Swiss left-back. To top it all, scoring in your full comeback just made my day even better. He needs to stay and I hope both him and Sven-Göran Eriksson find a mutual agreement. Yes, he's probably not the fastest (anymore), but what he lacks in speed he makes up with sheer dedication and determination. What annoys me though is Eriksson's love for Gallagher, something I'll probably never understand. Yes, he won more headers today than in all of the past games this season, yes he assisted Bruno's goal from the corner, but once more, he just couldn't be arsed to move his arse around on the pitch. Gallagher, out of all the players, frustrates me most and that on a constant basis. He's a luxury item to have. He scores penalties, fair enough, but from open play? Maybe he's just fed up with being played on the wing - so I ask, why not playing Moussa instead? Oh, and Sven: Why only two substitutions and why after 80+ minutes played? Please keep up this winning streak, hopefully a series of positive results will see the Foxes regain the confidence they'd lost in the early stages of this Championship campaign. Concentrate on the league, take the FA Cup game as a bonus, work hard and get it done with a) an away win against a Preston side desperately trying to stay alive in this division b) a home win against Millwall (one word: REVENGE) c) an away win against a struggling Sheffield United d) a home win against Barnsley, because we always do well against them The schedule does work in our favour, I think. Now c'mon - you know you can do it! Wins are needed mainly because the teams around us in the table have the advantage of having played one, two or even three games less than us. If we want this momentum going in 2011, we can't afford to drop points so easily (e.g. the way we did in the first half of the season). We have a good keeper and a proper defense (I didn't miss Davies one bit today), now all the manager needs to focus on is getting the midfield playing together with more ease (Abe and Wellens were too playful today; King almost nowhere to be seen, but had two wonderful chances to extend our lead) and have them supply the striker(s) with good passes going forward.
Jackirius Posted 3 January 2011 Posted 3 January 2011 Be even easier if youhad a ticket I am setting off Friday night and walking if i can't find any other way of getting there. 1 day and 14 hours it will take, be worth it.
yorksfox Posted 3 January 2011 Posted 3 January 2011 No surprise that a 'Pearson style' defence has delivered over the last 2 games. Under Sousa, Morrison, Hobbs and Berner may not have looked brilliant but that was down to the style of play imposed upon the players. In the Championship teams need to shut up shop at the back and let the midfield / forwards worry about trying to emulate Barcelona. I really hope that Sven/ Fazackerley have learnt a few lessons over this Christmas / New Year period.
Foxblogger Posted 3 January 2011 Posted 3 January 2011 Both goals in the first half. When did that last happen? KEEP BERNER CAMPAIGN starts now! We got two in the first half at Portsmouth in the Carling Cup, but in the league we haven't managed it since we played Watford at the Walkers last April.
Bob Weasel Fox Posted 3 January 2011 Posted 3 January 2011 I hope Man City bring a strong team for the FA Cup match so we can see how close (or far) we are from a top prem club. Come on Leicester
Kent Posted 3 January 2011 Posted 3 January 2011 A good win (any win is good, right?), a very good 3 points and not a bad performance. I think our main aim was to stop Swansea playing rather than play our own game but it worked and we got the win. A lot of people are saying "only x points from playoffs" but like others have pointed out a lot of other teams do have at least a game in hand so it's not as rosy as it first looks. Having said that, we seem to be finding some form and long may it continue.
Dylan Posted 3 January 2011 Posted 3 January 2011 Fantastic Result. Bruno was solid. Centre-backs were solid enough- but communication with Weale needs to improve imo. Why's everyone on Abe's back; thought he had a decent game. Think Gallagher isn't the best- another poorish performance. Not very good in open play imo, and slows us down. Thought Dyer worked very hard, and had a decent game. Thought we were quite poor in the first half tbh, even though we did go in 2-1 up. They had most of the ball after they equalised, and we didn't pressure them at all, like they did to us. We did this in the second half and we looked much better, as they couldn't pass it around. Another 3 point though- the main thing Hope we don't go on and lose against Preston now, and kickstart their season. We always seem to beat the form teams, and lose against the poor ones.
Aylestone Fox Posted 3 January 2011 Posted 3 January 2011 Fantastic Result. Bruno was solid. Centre-backs were solid enough- but communication with Weale needs to improve imo. Why's everyone on Abe's back; thought he had a decent game. Think Gallagher isn't the best- another poorish performance. Not very good in open play imo, and slows us down. Thought Dyer worked very hard, and had a decent game. Thought we were quite poor in the first half tbh, even though we did go in 2-1 up. They had most of the ball after they equalised, and we didn't pressure them at all, like they did to us. We did this in the second half and we looked much better, as they couldn't pass it around. Another 3 point though- the main thing Hope we don't go on and lose against Preston now, and kickstart their season. We always seem to beat the form teams, and lose against the poor ones. Totally agree with you, Abe had a lot of ground to cover today with Wellens and King having poor/quiet games.
Thracian Posted 3 January 2011 Posted 3 January 2011 Well there's a lot of sarcasm in this thread already but the truth is that much of what the fans have been complaining about seems to have been addressed. Vassell has been moved to what many thought was his best position and what a huge difference that seems to have made because we have a man who can play the lone striker if necessary, can retain possession, can take a half-chance and can see what's going on around him enough to bring team-mates into play. For me, despite the contribution of Berner - which I'll come to - Vassell was far and away our man of the match. Decent goal - so close to a spectacular second, won so much his marker virtually gave up, and all in massive contrast to the donkey that was Bednar. With Dyer and Vassell in same team we'd got some real pace with which to ask questions of defenders and yet could play the ball on the ground right across the forward line. With those runners it meant midfield five - for 4-5-1 was our approach - had options and, finally we'd got 4/5ths of the Pearson defence and it all looked mostly sound again. How sound? Well they had three real chances as I remember. The goal, a second shot which went wide from a similar situation to the first and a break in the second half when Weale did brilliantly to come out so fast and crowd the man enough to get him to shoot wide. It wasn't the perfect storm of a performance by any means. First half we sat back too deep and allowed them to turn and pick their passes. Their goal and the second one that almost followed came from a startling failure to close down quickly. But second half we showed much more urgency and won far more of the first and second balls to the point where I really didn't see Swansea scoring and we might easily have plundered another, Vassell's shot and the save which resulted being quite spectacular and Kingy should have scored with a glancing first half header.. Berner has made a habit of scoring the odd goal and what a popular opener it was. But it also highlighted the greater danger we present with Hobbs/Morrison able to join the attack for corners. Gallagher, to his credit, varied his approach by clipping a couple of corners short but having Hobbs/Morrison/King/Berner getting in there was much more threatening than what we had previously and Berner added to that by bringng a solidity and consistency to the left-back area. Altogether while we had a slow start and conceded a disappointing goal it was a smashing result and one which confirms we should fear no-one at home. It was also victory for a system which seems to work well with our current players, most of whom put in a decent shift.
Fosse Boy Posted 3 January 2011 Posted 3 January 2011 Can't say fairer than a win against them. Was saying to a Palace mate the other day I'd be happy for Bruno to go to them as he's the kind of player who deserves first team football. Not a chance after today though, keep him here. Mozza sounds like he's off though...
scott_gunnell Posted 3 January 2011 Posted 3 January 2011 It says Leicester are in 12th place. However, if the teams below us win their games in hand (which probably won't happen but for now I will assume they will) our position is actually 16th. Sorry to be that guy everyone. E-I-E-I-E-I-O! OR ANOTHER WAY OF LOOKING AT IT. If you had lost the last 2 games you would be 19th . You should be buzzing at this result. I’m not sure a few months ago anyone would have put their money on beating the 2nd place team Sven is still fox trotting up the table.
reynard Posted 3 January 2011 Posted 3 January 2011 A good result against a fairly good side. Personally I think we weren't that good today though and had they have had a decent strike force the result may well have been different. There were many times when we simply gave them far too much time and space, often their players had 20/25 yards to run into and only the paucity of their forwards and their lack of movement meant they had no forward passes to make and so our central defenders had a pretty easy time of it. Berner had an excellent game and the back four on the whole did pretty well though Weale needs to communicate better with his centre halves. Naughton isn't playing as well as he was when he first arrived and was guilty of losing possession on more than one occassion. The midfield were largely anonymous. King had another of his typical perfomances where he dissapears for large periods of the game, Gallagher simply can't/won't put in a tackle worthy of the name and Abe was distinctly average at times. However, the good news is if we can play like that and continue to win then that bodes well for the second half of the season. Vassell looked very good playing through the middle and is looking better with each game.
I am Rod Hull Posted 3 January 2011 Posted 3 January 2011 Great win... two tough games with 6 points...
scott_gunnell Posted 3 January 2011 Posted 3 January 2011 How the heck are people of the RL phone in STILL so negative??? That chap from "Vale of Beaver" isn't a Sven fan he says. Wrong thread? (8 points from 2nd! ) Im not sure I will ever know why Sven is so hated by to many people in this country. Maybe becasue the English media built him up to be such a scum bag during his England time that some people are refusing to accept his ability. How is is possible that a Leicester fan is not a fan of Sven after changing things around in such a short space of time!!! Its funny really. Sven has always praised England in generel, the passion of our fans, our players, our league, and backed our national team all the way since he left the job in 2006. But yet he still gets hammered by people. The media now seem to have backed off him, lets hope some of the English people can back off him now too.
turkish14 Posted 3 January 2011 Posted 3 January 2011 City are 12 th but my concern is the games in hand other teams have on us The positive from this situation is maybe fatigue as most of the teams that have games in hand will probably be having a number of added midweek games.....thats my spin on it anyway!
scott_gunnell Posted 3 January 2011 Posted 3 January 2011 Oh, and Sven: Why only two substitutions and why after 80+ minutes played? 20 Major Trophies at club level in Europe.... I bet he could give you a good reason why my friend ;o)
sdb Posted 3 January 2011 Posted 3 January 2011 pardon my ignorance folks, but what's the deal with Naughton? Is he here till the end of the season? Don't recall hearing that but thought he'd have returned to Spurs now if not? Cheers x
Haydos Posted 3 January 2011 Posted 3 January 2011 First of all, great result today. We weren't great by any means but we put in a really disciplined performance in the second half and that is something we've been missing all season. I didn't see them against Hull but Hobbs and Morro looked very solid defensively, on the ground and in the air. The only concern with them is their passing ability. Passes were sometimes gifted away and others were just lofted forward aimlessly. This is another issue though and I don't particularly fancy it ruining my good mood at the mo. Naughton....hmmm....His defensive frailties show and a quieter game going forward. Berner on the other hand, more conservative but a VERY reassuring performance. An experienced head and it shows. Looked after his man all game and very rarely gave him a shout. Won his headers and good distribution Hope we can hang onto him even more now. Abe ran tirelessly today and after a game just 2 days ago I though he was fantastic without the ball. With the ball, another story but Wellens and Kingy put a foot on it. Swansea closed down well so hanging onto the ball was always going to be tricky. Similarly, Dyer chased well but was restricted with the ball, a quiet game for him. Gally on the other hand won more headers today and passed well. Reallllllly wish he'd plant his foot in the challenge a bit more. His pass, shot or dribble is often ruined because he's afraid of the effect of the challenge. Vassell caused many a problem for them today, often losing his marker, either coming short or getting in behing. Unlucky not to add a second with a great effort from 25 yards but De Vries was equal to it. Worked his socks off and please with the amount of minutes we got out of him over the last few days. All in all, good result against a team who were in 2nd before today. Can't really argue with that First time at the Walkers this season so hi to the fosse boys. Was just down the stairs and you're doing a good job. If I wasn't with the fam woulda come and said hi. Should be at the back of SK1/2 :sge:
Thracian Posted 3 January 2011 Posted 3 January 2011 Great win... two tough games with 6 points... Good psychologically that with it being the start of a new year and one being an away win. The win over a top side should also help build confidence. Nice too that the side was as settled as it could be.
Webbo Posted 3 January 2011 Posted 3 January 2011 pardon my ignorance folks, but what's the deal with Naughton? Is he here till the end of the season? Don't recall hearing that but thought he'd have returned to Spurs now if not? Cheers x According to Sven on RL tonight, nothing's been agreed yet. If he can stay, will Spurs allow him to be cup tied?
sdb Posted 3 January 2011 Posted 3 January 2011 According to Sven on RL tonight, nothing's been agreed yet. If he can stay, will Spurs allow him to be cup tied? OK cheers. So if an extension isn't agreed, that was his last game? Hope he stays of course.
Thracian Posted 3 January 2011 Posted 3 January 2011 20 Major Trophies at club level in Europe.... I bet he could give you a good reason why my friend ;o) 20 trophies doesn't stop anyone making a mistake but the reasons for the substitutions were obvious. Both players had run themselves to a standstill and Sven had every faith in Waghorn being able to maintain pressure on their last defenders and Oakley to play the closing down role he's perfectly familiar with. That he left the substitutions so late only emphasised how pleased he was. Sixty-five to 70 minutes is usually enough for either of em.
Finnegan Posted 3 January 2011 Posted 3 January 2011 We played really well today, ... are you having a giraffe? Two of the worst performances I've seen in a long while today and easily the most boring game of football. Two clumsy goals from set pieces and one deflected hit-and-hope. They were shit but at least they had reasonable ball retention for ninety odd minutes. Mostly aided by the fact we decided we didn't want to press anywhere on the pitch. Don't get me wrong, I'm delighted with three points, glad to see us stop a reasonable team getting any chances and I'm thrilled we've managed to score twice from a set piece. There's positives, sure. But beyond there? Jesus wept. Here's hoping we play with a bit more enthusiasm next week.
colbo68 Posted 3 January 2011 Posted 3 January 2011 Good day at the office I must agree - today was the most solid the team have looked under Sven. The performance took on a 'Pearsonesque' tone to it: goals from set-pieces, giving the opposition little time to play and limiting their chances to just a few. Whether this was due to the return of defensive-minded players, such as Bruno and Morrison, or whether the team is finally starting to develop a shape of its own..I'm not sure. What I am sure about was that it was so refreshing to see us keeping the ball on the floor and not relying on Howards misguided flick-ons. Well done Sven/Fazackerley today... the tactics were spot on...tell you what, how about forgetting all this talk about signing lots more loanees, keeping Bruno and Morrison and developing what we have already? now there's a thought....
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.