Walshy on Neil Lennon

[Clive Redman]

In his latest blog on the greatest eleven players he played alongside during his City career, Walshy selects Neil Lennon for the first midfield spot...

"I remember him and Muzzy did just as much work going back as they did going forward and it took a lot of pressure off the defence, so much so that a lot of the time any danger was cut out before it got to us.

"Lenny would never give the ball away and despite not score many goals for Leicester he was very effective with his distribution. He used to get people wound-up and everybody remembers that incident with Alan Shearer. Neil would get into people’s faces and force them right out of their comfort zone, setting the tone for how the team would press and close the opposition down.

"We tended to bypass the midfield a lot in those days but you always trusted that, if you gave Lenny the ball, he would keep it. I remember him most for tracking back and cutting things out, which he was amazing at. When he and Muzzy lost the ball, which wasn’t that often, they were the ones steaming back to cut out opposition attacks. Lenny’s workrate up and down the pitch and his determination to win the ball and keep it, made him so vital. Maybe I should’ve given him short passes a bit more, instead of just booting it! But, with the system we played, it was effective to mix it up with the more direct pass."

For more see...

http://www.soarmagazine.co.uk/2011/07/01/steve-walsh-blog-my-greatest-eleven-%e2%80%93-centre-midfield/

[Mike the Metal Ed]

Never seen a team's quality dissolve so quickly as they day T****r sold Lenny. He became a Celtic player on 9th December 2000 and City were 3rd in the Premier League, we finished in 13th and having picked up 19 points in the rest of the season which says it all.

[Bob Weasel Fox]

Best player (midfielder) i have EVER seen in a Leicester shirt without doubt, brilliant