Leicester City 1 - 0 Blackpool

[Bluetintedspecs]

Just back from the game, and celebrating the win.....

Firstly, Congratulations to NP, I thought his team selection was spot on and substitutions were the right ones at the right time. The team looked motivated and played with that new style that I'm loving - press hard and fast when not in possession and quick neat passing when they have.

Combined with a very obvious route one from Kasper to Vardy and I think we played really well.

The only concerns are the obvious ones about converting chances, but we keep creating them so lets hope that the strikers just hit form.

y

Vardy and Nugent were really good, forming a strong partnership and working their socks off defending from the front.

Schlupp looks a tidy left back and surely not the last time we're going to see him played there.

How on earth are people moaning about Beckford though - He tried his socks off today - looked like he was trying too hard - but nice touches, good effort and tracking back, just didn't get his shots away cleanly.

I was in the KOP today and one thing i did notice was how nervous ben Marshall looked before hitting the penalty - i really didn't think he was going to score it!!

Fab performance, nice to see us bounce back from Burton.

Nice to read that post Waller peace has broken out COYB

[cc_star]

To be fair Blackpool had their chances

Anyone else wonder how the FLS managed to make Blackpool look like they could really have got something from the game?

I thought we absolutely dominated them from 1st to last.

Yes, but they had a fraction of the number we created, and we did dominate the vast majority of the match. But the media love Holloway, so presenting the facts isn't high on the agenda.

In a nutshell

[Guest Bilo]

The FLS presenting the game as though Blackpool were our equals is no conspiracy, it makes for more exciting TV if they're showing 'end-to-end' or 'evenly matched' games rather than incredibly one-sided games.

[cc_star]

Not sure how people are defending Beckford's decisions, never-mind his woeful inabilty to pull off what he did decide to do.

Each time he got the ball, & subsequently made a poor decision of shooting over passing, or passing over holding the ball up, or shooting over stalling for time, they had a goal scoring opportunity each time they broke... It was that embarrassingly bad it was almost like he was playing for them.

Let's get realistic he's a ridiculous amount of money to be forking out every week for someone to keep the bench warm, because he ain't a patch on Vardy, and Nugent has a better all round game as far as the team is concerned and also links up in a forward partnership better. IMO it would be best for all concerned if we could get him off the books for 3 months and lets have a look at Fuctas or Hopper coming off the bench & use the savings on the ongoing outgoings to be able to get some loans in where we need them to strengthen better.

[breadandcheese]

I don't disagree with any of that summary ... apart from maybe the laying off to Nugent .... But isn't the fact that we are talking about this many things for a ten minute cameo appearance proof that he was putting himself about and getting in the right places? He had a great touch for the long ball over his shoulder into the box too .... shot was scuffed which was a shame though.

You're right about that. I just wonder whether he would have got in the right places if Blackpool hadn't thrown caution to the wind and really gone for it with their substitutions and formation change.

Beckford will score some important match winners for us, just today he wasn't sharp enough and made mistakes which are fine when we win 1-0 but the conversation would be completely different had fate dealt a different hand and the match ended 1-1.

[Captain...]

Yes, I remember us running the ball into the corner against Charlton in Holloway's day. We lost possession got caught on the rebound and lost the two points which would have saved us from relegation.

Beckford chose the right option. Another goal might be important come the end of the season. He just failed to weight the pass precisely enough. Not so surprising given his lack of competitive football and the fact that he'd sat so long on the bench.

Moore nearly gave a goal away too, Nugent perhaps denied us a goal, Vardy made decisions that didn't come off, Kasper miskicked a clearance straight to their midfielder ... there were mistakes everywhere - but the others had time to do good things which made amends.

Beckford didn't get that time but was still involved a lot and yes, he might have been trying too hard. If so, that's something for the manager to sort because honing players' confidence is part of his job.

Right now we have limited striking alternatives to Nugent and Vardy but, of the three or four we've got Beckford has by far the best goalscoring record. I see no sense in wasting that.

Not saying nobody else made mistakes, but that was a poor decision, even if it was a perfect pass to vardy, there is still no guarantee he would score and if he did it wouldn't change the result. With 30 seconds left you just run it into the corner add it is game over, why take the risk, this is what Pearson was talking about with decision making and some of the other mistakes, Konch just missed a header that lead to their first chance of the game, the offside when 4 on 1 ok it wasn't off side but why even give the lino something to think about, not just Beckford, but if they had scored after he failed to play in vardy he would have been slaughtered on here, and seeing as he is one of the most experienced in the squad he should have shown it and seen out the game.

[Richard]

"And that's another dreadful attempt by Beckford" was pretty common on the Commentry I was watching

[Thracian]

Not saying nobody else made mistakes, but that was a poor decision, even if it was a perfect pass to vardy, there is still no guarantee he would score and if he did it wouldn't change the result. With 30 seconds left you just run it into the corner add it is game over, why take the risk, this is what Pearson was talking about with decision making and some of the other mistakes, Konch just missed a header that lead to their first chance of the game, the offside when 4 on 1 ok it wasn't off side but why even give the lino something to think about, not just Beckford, but if they had scored after he failed to play in vardy he would have been slaughtered on here, and seeing as he is one of the most experienced in the squad he should have shown it and seen out the game.

Charlton did score when we ran the ball into the corner the season we were relegated so your argument just doesn't stand up and there's no way I'd ever advocate running the ball into any corner nor anything else that changed the flow of what my team was doing successfully..

I understood what happened today but generally speaking I don't like them conceding ground either in the closing stages. It just invites trouble and time after time the tactic fails.

I'd much prefer that we pressed the space and do our defending before attacks get dangerous. I accept that was perhaps not a realistic option today but, to his credit, Pearson still played with three strikers and made sure we posed a threat on the break...as Beckford demonstrated!

[Matt]

Played well and won. Impressed.

However and before people think i'm just moaning, slagging the team off, looking for things that are wrong - If it wasn't for getting let's say a dubious penalty, would we have scored? I doubt it, we are still struggling to convert those chances and on another day it would have been 0-0, maybe even lost - I hear they should have equalised and could have gone on to win in the last 10 minutes - simple fact of the matter is they didn't and we won 1-0 which is great, but i'm still worried we are not converting our chances.

Apart from that we played well, can't take much away from the lads apart from the not hitting the net of our own backs thing.

[Danno]

Played well and won. Impressed.

However and before people think i'm just moaning, slagging the team off, looking for things that are wrong - If it wasn't for getting let's say a dubious penalty, would we have scored? I doubt it, we are still struggling to convert those chances and on another day it would have been 0-0, maybe even lost - I hear they should have equalised and could have gone on to win in the last 10 minutes - simple fact of the matter is they didn't and we won 1-0 which is great, but i'm still worried we are not converting our chances.

Apart from that we played well, can't take much away from the lads apart from the not hitting the net of our own backs thing.

That's the problem with us, we don't seem to have any strikers who have a cutting edge up front. Take Blackburn for example, Gomes is a very experienced striker who gives them that cutting edge.

[Matt]

I remember saying something last year, or maybe it was the year before - Probably both and the years before that actually, because we always seem to have had this problem.

Anyway, we don't need any more strikers - We need goalscorers.

[Leicester_Loyal]

Yakubu is the only striker I felt comfortable with in the past few seasons, I always thought he'd convert his chances. I can't say the same about any of our other strikers, from this season or past ones.

[Danno]

Haha just seen all the tweets to Vardy from the Smackpool fans, dirty northern peasants.

[Captain...]

Charlton did score when we ran the ball into the corner the season we were relegated so your argument just doesn't stand up and there's no way I'd ever advocate running the ball into any corner nor anything else that changed the flow of what my team was doing successfully..

I understood what happened today but generally speaking I don't like them conceding ground either in the closing stages. It just invites trouble and time after time the tactic fails.

I'd much prefer that we pressed the space and do our defending before attacks get dangerous. I accept that was perhaps not a realistic option today but, to his credit, Pearson still played with three strikers and made sure we posed a threat on the break...as Beckford demonstrated!

I don't remember the charlton game, and normally I don't advocate running it to the corner, but with 30 seconds left and being under the cosh, it was the best option especially with vardy supporting, he doesn't have to stay there, but he could have got into a position to make a safe easy pass, and not concede possession cheaply.

Played well and won. Impressed.

However and before people think i'm just moaning, slagging the team off, looking for things that are wrong - If it wasn't for getting let's say a dubious penalty, would we have scored? I doubt it, we are still struggling to convert those chances and on another day it would have been 0-0, maybe even lost - I hear they should have equalised and could have gone on to win in the last 10 minutes - simple fact of the matter is they didn't and we won 1-0 which is great, but i'm still worried we are not converting our chances.

Apart from that we played well, can't take much away from the lads apart from the not hitting the net of our own backs thing.

We probably would have scored more if they didn't keep on bundling us over in the box and giving us offside incorrectly.

We will give somebody a right stuffing soon, hopefully wolves.

[Miquel The Work Geordie]

Been at work all day so only got to see glimpses of this on the TV earlier, just watched a record since coming home around midnight.

The spine of our team is ludicrously solid, King and Drinkwater have a steady understanding in midfield that shouldn't go unnoticed and Moore and Morgan were rocks. I've got a huge amount of time for Pearson but I'd concede I never thought I'd see the day when we played such excellent football on a consistent basis under his guidance. Hope he sticks to it because there's some serious talent in this side.

[nickelbyfox]

Not sure how people are defending Beckford's decisions, never-mind his woeful inabilty to pull off what he did decide to do.

Each time he got the ball, & subsequently made a poor decision of shooting over passing, or passing over holding the ball up, or shooting over stalling for time, they had a goal scoring opportunity each time they broke... It was that embarrassingly bad it was almost like he was playing for them.

Let's get realistic he's a ridiculous amount of money to be forking out every week for someone to keep the bench warm, because he ain't a patch on Vardy, and Nugent has a better all round game as far as the team is concerned and also links up in a forward partnership better. IMO it would be best for all concerned if we could get him off the books for 3 months and lets have a look at Fuctas or Hopper coming off the bench & use the savings on the ongoing outgoings to be able to get some loans in where we need them to strengthen better.

Honestly think you need to, well relax........

[Freeman's Wharfer]

Good, solid win.

Thought Vardy worked his socks off, again showed glimpses of not quite being up to the pace of this level but with his work rate he's always a threat. In the middle of the park King was fantastic, one of those performances that had we lost people would have labelled him anonymous but his interceptions, tackling and work rate were first class. Drinkwater was, as he has been this season, heavily involved in most things that we do. He needs to make sure that when he's involved as he is that he's spot on 99% of the time. We can't afford for so much of our play to go through one man if he's not using the ball correctly more often than not.

At the back Morgan was fantastic again. Pulls turns and flicks just as much as Bamba yet doesn't get the 'bombscare' tag somehow (not to say that he should do, I was always a huge Bamba fan). Moore for his age was outstanding again, especially when he was shifted to right back to contain Ince.

Found Nigel's substitutions a little baffling to say the least. Was praying that we got the result because had we not people would have been all over here slating him. Schlupp had a good cameo at left back and Knockaert showed the desire that you want. The desire that I must note that Lloyd Dyer hasn't showed of late. I've always liked Dyer and largely because you know that the simplest thing you'll get from him is 100% effort. Recently however he looks a little subdued and is not as whole-hearted as he has been. For someone as limited as he is in terms of ability, he can't afford to be found wanting on the effort side of things.

And finally we come to Beckford. Worked hard? Touch better? Unlucky? I'm running out of straws to give you to clutch at. The guy was terrible. As he has been in the main for his whole time here. Before he signed I thought he was a very good player, when he did sign I was delighted. But I'm judging him on what he's done in a blue shirt and in the cold hard light of day it's nothing. There's clearly a split between the pro and anti Beckford on here but it baffles me. Anyone who has judged him purely on what he's done for Leicester must consider him a massive failure. I firmly believe that those who are supporting him are doing so because of past glories before he came to this club. On a basic level, in the simplest of terms, the guy has delivered in no way shape or form since he came here. And I for one am gutted that the move to Huddersfield fell through. That he's given game time ahead of someonle like Schlupp, hell even Hopper or Panayiotou.

[foxfanazer]

I agree with this, he gets in to the postions but does very little with it this is the main problem and the fact that hes a passanger for the majority of the game. was unlucky not to score though but compare Dyer to Marshall today and thats why he needs to be used as a sub with either Schlupp or Knockeart in their.

Ooh original!!

[loAf]

Great result, first half didnt think Blackpool got a sniff, and we should have been 1-2 goals up, second half we came flying out the blocks, and deserved the goal (even if it was the softest of the 3 calls, dyers being stonewall peno for me). Was fuming bout kings goal being disallowed at the time, although looking at the replays it was going wide and nuge flicked it in, so was one of the only decent calls the officials made all day. Schlupp was very impressive at LB, stand outs for me were King, Marshal and Morgan, and for me id give King MOTM. To be fair everyone did well, Vardy, DD and Moore all played very well. Felt SSL and Konch were bit poor, although Konch got better as the game went on. Am disappointed at all the Beckford sniping, yes the shot from 3yrds out was piss poor, but he'd only just got on the pitch. He was onside for me in the 3on1, and if the whistle hadnt gone Im sure he would have buried it. He put himself about and even tracked back to try and close down Blackpool attackers (even if not particularly effective at it). Am convinced he will come good for us this year, and really dont wanna see him go. As for comments about the Pro gang basing judgement on his previous clubs, and not what hes done for us? I seem to remember him scoring 14-15 goals last year for us? Give the guy a break, ffs sometimes it just takes a while to clcik, I always remember Gerry Taggart being ****ing woeful the first year, everyone calling him a useless donkey (myself included), then his 2nd season it just clcicked, and he became half of one of the best CB pairings in the premiership that year.

COYB!

[Fox Ulike]

Beckford was deadful. I don't think there's any point trying to disguise this fact - because he needs to realise how poor his performance was.

It's not so much the honest mistakes he makes such as miskicking the ball wide from five yards out - but its his decision making, such as the 30 yard volley he tried when we were on the break. Which also dribbled harmlessly wide.

We were under the cosh at that point, and any team-player knows that you need to hold the ball up, wait for your team mates to come forward and so relieve the pressure on your defence. Instead, he instantly conceded possession back to Blackpool and allowed them to start another attack.

Beckford's reputation precedes him. But there seems to be a huge gap between Beckford's perceptions of his ability and contribution to the team, and the reality. Somebody needs to sit him down and explain it to him: he thinks he's a gifted superstar, everyone else thinks he's a liability. I'll tell him if no one else dares.

[reynard]

That was a very decent result against a very decent team. We dominated the first half for 30 minutes and then they came back into it and we were lucky when they hit the post and Kaspar made a great save.

We attacked well but actaully the number of clear cut chances we created were quite few.

We had better movement off the ball for much of the game but this still needs to improve especially when we try and pass the ball out of defence.

We need to keep the ball better and for longer. There are times when we seem to panic or run out of options and try for a killer pass which simply gives the ball back to the opposition.

We go long too often especially from the keeper.I don't recall us winnig a single header from this and basically just gave the ball back to them.

There were times especially towards the end of the first half when marshall was our only option for attack. I'm still not convinced about Dyer. He looks the best bet at the moment but his lack of ability with his right foot is a major disadvantage and his final ball is 80% of the time poor.

We had a lot of corners but really didn't look at all threatening from them. There's a lot to work on here.

We need to defend higher up the pitch towards the end of matches and learn how to maintain possession better at that period of the game. We invited them on to us and they nearly scored.

We are desperatley short of defensive cover at the moment. If Morgan gets injured then we are in the brown stuff. Maybe the next two weeks will resolve things but we don't really appear to have much cover in this area.

All said I thought the performance was good and it was an entertaining game played out by two sides who both wanted to win and played football to match.We were perhaps a bit firtunate to get the result but overall I genuinely thought we were marginally the better side. There's a lot to be encouraged by though the questions concerning the quality of the whole squad remain.

[Guest Col city fan]

I was one of those moaning about Beckford. I just felt he didn't do the simple things right.

When 1-0 up, try and hold the ball and look for the simple pass. Within the first few moments, he gave the ball away with a bad pass which allowed Blackpool to break and could have led to an equaliser. Secondly, the pass to Vardy was very poor and a basic skill he should have at this level. If he gets the pass right , we go 2 up. Third, the offside call was marginal, when he was put through, however it was 3 on 1 in our favour. The right thing to do in that situation is read it and see that you can drop a yard deeper as there is no way the defender would catch you anyway due to the relative positioning of the defender to you. Fourth, he should have crossed to Nugent when he was on the right side of the box instead of shooting.

I'm willing to believe that Beckford was desperate to get a goal, but I don't think it was his day. Maybe he's short of match sharpness.

Spot on

He looked to running around like Taz with zero composure.

[Ashley]

Schlupp impressed me at left back yesterday! Got a few things to learn but he could be a great utility player for us.

[Happy Fox]

It was probably Beckford's last game for us I expect him to go out on loan and we will bring in another forward.

[PegguyArphexad]

The result in many ways was more far more important than the performance yesterday. We got the result and certaintly in spells we got the performance too.

Wonderful to see King back to his best. As mentioned by many other posters notable performances by; Morgan, Schlupp, Moore, and Vardy.

For me it is now time for Beckford to head out on loan - free up the wages and then when the times right and we need some freshness in the team head up to the premier league for a loan.