Boro post match

[Wymsey]

Burnley is now the 'do or die' match. I doubt the players have any confidence now, especially the defence when we score then the opposition do, considering the run they have had.

[peterborofox]

The point is, if we want to get promoted we need a good defence and a good attack. We haven't been good enough in either area this season, nor have we in others.

You're right, but the priority should always be the defence. The attack wasnt great last year but we made the PO's, a better attack last season and we could have got the top two.

QPR have the best defence and a good attack not outstanding but good. They know how to win 1-0 and 2-1 thats why.

[Brown Fox]

We went down that season for many reasons, shit refereeing constantly, manager changes, Holloways bizarre formations with Hume on the wing, and yes a poor atttack.

But my point was its easier to work on having a better attack than working on the defence. Nothing changed throughout that season, we were consistently poor up front.

Really you can't have one without the other. All good teams have a good defence and attack. Might sound obvious but it's true

[CupidStunt]

what a shame, score 3 away from home,and still only get a point

would have put us within 1 win of being in the playoffs

[Kitchandro]

You're right, but the priority should always be the defence. The attack wasnt great last year but we made the PO's, a better attack last season and we could have got the top two.

QPR have the best defence and a good attack not outstanding but good. They know how to win 1-0 and 2-1 thats why.

I know what you're saying, Pearson made us solid and organised first. It should be the priority. Although I think Sven has improved the defence it still suffers from A) not being settled, B) a couple of the personnel not being good enough and C) being attack mided instead of solid. Sven even put Ricardo in to help us going forward, despite the fact he's dodgy at catching the ball and other goalkeeping requirements.

We won't be a promotion side unless we have a striker who scores us around 20 goals a season though. I'm sure Taarabt is one of the league's top scorers. We haven't had one this season.

[peterborofox]

Really you can't have one without the other. All good teams have a good defence and attack. Might sound obvious but it's true

But the defence comes first.

Gorge Graham's Arsenal proved that, winning 1-0 all the time and winning the league.

[southdevonfox]

me?

and him .

[Little Foxy Lainey]

It's about time Sven took it on the chin for a change.He's been here for long enough now to mould his own team,which he's done.He has,however,become the new 'Tinker man'. The defence is a mess due to constant changes,meaning we must score 2 or 3 to win games.56 conceded tells its own story. I await comments such as 'Things were worse under Sousa' or 'What about our run after Xmas?' Sven had a good run against Donny,Barnsley,Derby & Sheff utd etc but done little against 'decent' sides.Rant over !!

[Thracian]

Really you can't have one without the other. All good teams have a good defence and attack. Might sound obvious but it's true

No. Good teams have a unit which moves backwards and forwards as one.

[iBleedLeicesterColours]

But the defence comes first.

Gorge Graham's Arsenal proved that, winning 1-0 all the time and winning the league.

You thought a guy in charge of Arsenal called Graham was gorgeous ..

Something you haven't told us ?

[FOXMAN2]

You thought a guy in charge of Arsenal called Graham was gorgeous ..

Something you haven't told us ?

I think we only had a draw because the Ref comes from TYNE -AND-Weir. Dont that make the game a Bit one sided to start with? Should never have been allowed, Anyone else agree?

[LCFCmatt]

Thank god Bruma can't play against burnley. Donkey.

[Wymsey]

Leading 3-1 in the second half and not winning the game just sums up the season we've had. Frustrating.

[ousefox]

Haven't read this thread yet, but all i can say is that today i witnessed the single most shocking refereeing performance i have ever seen. He was absolutely pathetic and completely inept. I honestly do not know how he is refereeing at such a high level and he totally ruined the game today, as well as ruining our small chance of getting to the playoff. Absolutely disgusted how a ref can single-handedly ruin a game. Shocking.

[MC Prussian]

Heyho, another piss-poor performance.

Only this time, by the referee.

You talking about a homer - look no further than Mr. Haines (Tyne & Wear) who made everything in his power to undermine the away side's efforts.

Yellow here, yellow there - as long as it hit a Leicester player (and preferrably a black one to be precise), all was fine in Li-La-Riversideland.

The first half was a farce on its own, an example of an idea to a comedy even the likes of Chaplin or Keaton would've dismissed from the start.

Two hands are needed to count the amount of times a man in blue was the target of the walking joke in black. 5 of those yellow cards, the second against Bruma excluded, were directed against 5 different, but all coloured Leicester players. Make of that what you want.

I can't recall another game where the referee was

a) that much out of his depth

b) that much in favour of one particular team and

c) this racist

It took the alleged authority figure 85 minutes (!!) to book a Boro player. Before that, countless dirty tackles and home team players grabbing our lot by the shirt.

And no whistle to be heard whatsoever.

This game's over now. There's no point in reporting this thick Northern twat to the FA, but if it'd do the world of football some good and restore the balance of fairness, how sweet that'd be.

Anyway, you think that a nice penalty save by Weale, who apart from this one fitting reflex was no better in controlling the box than Ricardo before him, and Yakubu's three goals would be the appropriate response to Haines' personal vendetta against our Nigerian on-loan striker (at least in the first half numerous ridiculous calls went against Ayiugbeni and he was rightfully complaining about the way he was let down, including a penalty call in the first half that should've been given).

Then Haines goes on to book Bruma twice (I thought it was dissent twice, which is not even slightly laughable) and Van Aanholt (?) on the left side for a clearly clean tackle in the first, plus a tiredless Vassell, who gave about a 150% today, for a similar tackle.

And as a Leicester fan you scratch your head and ask yourself: What just happened? Is this real?

As the starting line-up with Gallagher in the middle (wtf?) wasn't already surprising enough, two bloody mistakes by two "experienced" midfielders (a useless and clueless Oakley in the first and a silly Wellens in the second) cost us dear.

I still see no point at all in fielding Oakley, and even less so from the start.

I've stated a couple of times before that in his career, he's gotten to the point where he lasts for about 15, 20 minutes max during a game, then the battery's empty.

It beggars belief why he was allowed to do virtually sod all other than foolishly pass the ball around in the back for the full 96 minutes.

But this is the sort of thanks you get from a player who just had his contract extended by another year. Great gesture, Matt!

Then again, maybe the coach/club responsible should get some flowers as well for coming up with this ingenious plan to let him play in the first place.

Even with this bizarre formation, we played really, really well in the opening minutes of the game, dominated possession, passed the ball around smoothly, took the lead. I didn't miss King one single bit. We had set sail and moving in the right direction.

So one would think.

Then that former-captain-turned-liabilty-on-two-feet steps up the wrong way, gives the ball away, Boro, always second to the ball up to that point, equalize out of nowhere and the whole momentum's gone in one fellow swoop. Thanks ****ing much, Matt Oakley! But his and Wellens' error prove that it's not just the so-called "mercenaries" or loan players that like to **** up - a sad fact many Radio Leicester Phone-In regulars prefer to ignore on a weekly basis.

Wellens' slip-up was a bit unfortunate, as he failed to get a touch onto the ball - more a case of bad communication with the teammate who gave him the ball (can't recall who it was).

Bruma should part blame himself for his silly antics and he didn't seem to be overly confident in defense today, either. There were a couple of really scary scenes in the first when his passes went amiss and somebody else had to sweep up.

I thought Kamara had a great game - he strikes me as a speedy winger/striker with a brilliant touch and an equally good distribution.

6 minutes of time added on? You joking, Mr. Referee? For what? For failing to control the game yourself?

And speaking of humour gone horribly wrong: Dear Sven, why bringing on two late subs?

And why not replacing one of the red-endangered guys at half-time to minimize the risk of running into Haines' short-sighted vision???

To sum it all up, after today's performance I don't think we'll get promoted, alone make it to the playoffs, because

a) We shoot ourselves in our own foot too often still and

b) Some external forces just don't want us to go up

Plan for next season, enjoy the remaining seven games for what they really are - a nice playground for Sven to fool around with the starting eleven and conduct further experiments as to what matchday squad/players suit his system best.

The best bit for me was Kamara shaking Haines' hand when he got substituted.

THAT was a cracking gesture of sportsmanship and I hope it serves that c*nt of a referee well in his future "endeavours" - maybe he'll be able to spot the irony at one point in his life or forget about the illusion that money makes the world go round.

[The MayneFox]

Ive looked through. i was out so why was Bruma sent off for his "childish behaviour"? <_< . sorry ive you guys already posted it

[lcfc_jme]

Irrespective of the refereeing performance (which was apparently beyond shocking, by all accounts), to go 3-1 up and not see a game out is criminal. I did, however, know an equaliser was coming because in all honesty, it sounded like we were fortunate to have even be leading and could well have ended up being heavily beaten.

Defensively it sounded an absolute shambles and the 2 Chelsea loanees sounded as though they were beyond rubbish - Bruma especially.

Also, and I don't mean to turn this into another Weale vs Ricardo debate, but I don't care that Weale saved a penalty. Congratulations to him it's an impressive feat, but suprise suprise he also did his trademark crap-from-outside-the-box trick for their 2nd and was apparently at it again for the freekick which struck the post. According to Stringer, his throw-out just before their first goal was a ridiculous decision and put the defender under unnecessary pressure as well.

Next season, a solid and settled back 5 is vital from the outset - neither Weale nor Ricardo are good enough it seems and our constantly changing defensive 4 isn't, either. We need 4-4-2 with proper wingers.

[ousefox]

I don't even think anyone can come out with the 'should have defended a 3-1 lead' argument, the ref didn't want us to win, simple as.

We played well today, definitely deserved to win, the defence was a bit dodgy but our strikeforce and midfield played well. With a competent ref, we could have won that with ease. Still fuming.

[peterborofox]

I don't even think anyone can come out with the 'should have defended a 3-1 lead' argument, the ref didn't want us to win, simple as.

We played well today, definitely deserved to win, the defence was a bit dodgy but our strikeforce and midfield played well. With a competent ref, we could have won that with ease. Still fuming.

Maybe we its not just this game, its in general, we cant defend.

Especially set pieces and long baslls into the box. Conceded against Norwich from a set piece, should have conceded twice at Scunny from set pieces but cleared off the line/ref gave a foul, Pompey scored from a long throw.

Its almost like we dont work on these things.

[Nationwider]

Despite the ref, there is no way we should have lost that game against that team. 5-1 would have been a fair measure of the difference in quality between the two teams.

BUT, we screwed it up because of a lack of professionalism. Yes - the ref was piss-poor (I'd normally defend refs as they have a tough job, but this one was real 'homer'), but you've got to deal with it. Yak was very luck not to be carded a second time for dissent straight after the initial booking. Too many City shirts wagging fingers at each other and talking back at the officials - not focussed on seeing the game out. Bruma's first yellow was a tackle he didn't need to make; Vassell the same.

We lined up like we were playing for a 9-8 win. As good as we sometimes looked going forward, a better side than Boro would have ripped us to shreds. I can only assume that was a one-off formation without Abe or King? Gallagher in midfield is a no-no.

I thought Vassell played well today, as did Naughton. Kamara showed a keenness to run with the ball, but too often we played a pass too many or communication between players just broke down.

Sven needs to find a balance between fitting in obviously talented players, and the team actually having a backbone and some discipline - we look like the Harlem Globetrotters.

For the remaining 7 games, I'd go with the following team: A goalkeeper : Naughton, Berner : Any two from Bamba, Mee & Vitor (but please stick to them) : Wellens, Abe, King : Vassell, Yakubu, Kamara

[ousefox]

Vassell was a class act today, best player on the pitch by a country mile.

[Guest Mee-9]

Referee: Andy Haines (Tyne & Wear)

Enough said.

[Guy]

Erm...point gained? Down to 4 off play-offs. Teams above us in poor form. How is it game over?

Because as someone else said, they can't beat mid-lower table teams! We should've done to 'Boro and Pompey what we did to the Sheepshaggers, Derby on Sky not so long ago! To be anywhere near good enough to make the play offs you've got to at least do the teams who are well below you! That's now one point out of what should've been six if you include the Portsmouth debacle at home.....although we deserved to win that admittedly but for their keeper. As for our last league win against Scunny, even Stockport could get something from them at the moment!

[Wymsey]

Just saw the goals on S.S.News. All goals were good but Weale could've done better in keeping Emnes shot out. When the Yak scored his third the presenter said ''his celebration had been edited and now lets go to the next game'' Anyone know the reason why?

[Guest Mee-9]

Just saw the goals on S.S.News. All goals were good but Weale could've done better in keeping Emnes shot out. When the Yak scored his third the presenter said ''his celebration had been edited and now lets go to the next game'' Anyone know the reason why?

I thought he did some african dancing?