Top of the league - Not anymore - Bristol post match

[Bluetintedspecs]

Not the performance of Tuesday night by quite a way IMO, but a very professional job on a team that flooded the midfield.Defence solid, King and Drinky (my MOM) bossed it,Lloydy looked threatening,Knocky is a creative gem, Vardy's turn n lay off to Nuge was sublime but he needs to learn to be a little more greedy though he's made step up and will get better I feel.Ben looks off his game at mo but we know what he can do when it returns. Nuge accomplished finish and brimming, well done NP and lads Quite liked look of Whitbread other than 1 mistake looked very accomplished and comfortable with ball.

[lestajigs]

Thats nothing to do with my opinion.

You said your sure of Cardiff not making the top 2, how can you be so sure?? Teams that poor and still win are a threat

[Grewks]

Today wasn't in any way an improvement on Tuesday, or one or two other performances either. As for cotnrolling the game perfectly that depends of what you choose to see and how high your expectations are.

Whitbread's nearly giving away an unnecessary goal towards the end had nothing to do with either control or perfection. But ignore it, why not!

And i don't see any merit in playing Marshall with the relationship problems he's been reported as having - especially if he's going to play as he is. I'd be more concerned with giving him time to sort his life out. As for comparing him to Waghorn and Futacs he's a totally different player competing for a totally different position in my view. If he'd done well you might at least have a case, but he didn;'t.

Your point about Adomah is interesting and one i referred too. I wouldn't say he ever ran our defence ragged but he was their only threat and our tactics negated him. But at the expense of our own momentum. I didn't think he warranted such privilege. Yes, he might have done something but for re-deploying Dyer but, equally, the evidence of the first 20 minutes suggested we could have overwhelmed them anyway.

As for the substitutions, that's what the bench is for...to cover for eventualities. I didn't see Bristol becoming an irrepressible attacking force because Konchesky and St Leger had to be replaced...not even with Whitbread's assistance!

I did not say that today was an improvement on tuesday, I said that today and tuesday were an improvement on previous performances earlier in the season and towards the end of last season.

As for whitbread , you are referring to one mistake which our back four made in the whole game, a sign of rustiness perhaps. He also played the ball to king who set up the second....but hey just ignore it why don't you?

I fully understand that Waghorn and futacs are totally different to marshall, and that is one of the points i was trying to make. You have often criticised pearson in the past for being one dimensional and playing a traditional 4-4-2, yet he changes to a 4-2-3-1 and you criticise the change, which made us more solid. Yes marshall wasn't great, but hindsight is a wonderful thing, and the fact that your criticism is that he did not perform greatly suggests that you would have made the same change.

As for Adomah not running us ragid, in the entire first half he was tackled only once by moore. He took him on time and time again and whipped in numerous crosses with both feet which looked dangerous, and even cut inside before shooting just wide. I am not criticising moore, i am just pointing out how Pearsons change in the second half silenced adomah.

I understand your needs of wanting to see leicester playing attractive attacking football, and have read the praise you gave for other performances such as the one at blackburn. But what was missing in that game, and the first half at charlton was the ability to control games and see them out professionally. We did that on tuesday and we did that today, that is a sign of progression whether you believe so or not.

[Thracian]

Thrac, it was one of them games. We cant be scintillating every game and the most pleasing thing is we weren't our best but we were still dominant and in control, unlike the team above us.

I don't mind us not being "scintillating" due to the quality of the opposition. But I do mind us voluntarily compromising our own ability when we've no need to. I want to see us dictating terms rather than having our whole approach compromised by our obsession with one modest opponent, especially when we don't have anyone else who's in the same class as Dyer as a fast-raiding winger.

[Guy]

Bristol were terrible. At no point in the game did they manage to even look half interested in making any attacking play. It just went left to their only half decent player but nothing happened.

Woeful.

Still, it's tinpot we played and tinpot we beat. Last season it wouldn't have been quite as comfortable. It's encouraging that we comfortably beat a team with a constant 11 behind the ball. A good third of the league contains teams like this outfit.

Yes, agreed! I wasn't at the game today but even so, your assessment of the majority of teams in the Championship is spot on and that's why we are keen to escape it in an upwardly direction to avoid watching mediocrity week in, week out! Even the bigger teams like Birmingham are not the force that they were last season while the likes of Bolton and Blackburn have had a bit of a culture shock following their relegation perhaps. Today's game against lower opposition in Bristol City was a classic example of the sort of games we have to win this time round, even when playing below par - that's if we are to make it back to the promised land after what will soon be a decade's absence from it.

Today's was possibly the sort of game we'd have only drawn last season (or even lost!), had we not established a comfortable two goal cushion to secure the three points - as opposed to something like a slender one goal lead or not even that last season! Teams like Bristol City and Millwall did the double over us last season when they had no right to on paper but they're going to come up against a brick wall this season if they think of us as there for the taking this time round! That's what cost us a play offs spot last season, if not outright promotion, our form against the teams below half way.

[whoareyaaa]

Not impressed at all today other than the first 20 minutes. We were purring until we scored and, after that, i just wished our tacticians had buggered off home and left the team to win the game in the style they could have done had they not been stifled on the altar of so-called professionalism.

First congratulations to the team for their fifth successive league win, for going briefly top of the table. to Nugent for his fifth goal of the season, to Vardy for an assist and to Kingy for delivering such an almost undefendable ball to the far post that it teased out an own goal by Foster.

Did Kasper have two shots to save all match? I can only remember one, such was our stranglehold on amost anything Bristol offered in attack.

Their one dangerman, left-winger Adomah was eventually completely neutralised by Moore's dogged peristence and the deployment of Dyer in a sort of midfield-based right-half position which virtually eliminated all supply.

But it also reduced our own flow so that the countless chances of the first 20 minutes were gradually reduced to a trickle and the game became a relatively slow-motion exercise in mostly going nowhere fast.

It was classic Pearsonisation, but with more competent players than in the past.

Not that Whitbread didn't almost contrive to give them a goal from nothing.

I'm quite sure there's some football to be seen from the bloke one day because surely no manager or scout could really get it so wrong about a player. But Whitbread had about five or six things to do in his short time on the pitch today and three of them were appalling.

He was certainly no better against Burton either so I just hope the club know an expert in miracle cures for St Leger before our next outing or Whitbread finally remembers what he's being paid for because, honestly, Bristol looked about as dangerous and ambitious as an arthritic amoeba wearing leaded boots and to have allowed them a goal would have been laughable.

Quite how much Leicester rely on Dyer for anything exciting down the flanks was emphasised by his exile to deep right midfield.

Earlier the "no end product" winger had completely outstripped the Bristol defence and fired an inch-perfect ball low across the visitors goalmouth where, once again, there was not a single predator waiting for the simple tap-in.

It was his third or fourth such cross of a season in which we should be greedy for goals but in fact we contrive to make the admirable Dyer look indifferent at times.

Dyer, well supported by Konchesky, continued to be a danger on the left and Nugent's eventual goal seemed inevitable. It was a probing pass and the striker made the most of it with his strength and no-how.

After that we became so cautious we wouldn't have created much at all against a good side - but Bristol weren't good and even with us narrowing the play to help em a bit, we still made a few chances that really should have been put away if we hadn't developed our own version of the Arsenal tendency...a desire to play one pass more than is necessary.

Even the otherwise exemplary and influential King joined in by denying himself two odds on chances of scoring at least once by giving a final ball to someone a few yards nearer than his own position perhaps 20 yards out! Why do that?

And Knockaert was just the same on another occasion when he wasn't disappointing with his final ball.

Then concentration started lapsing altogether and we started fooling around with our own version of football's silly season. Dyer fell over the ball when a goal looked possible, Marshall stared at a simple pass, ignored it and ran into a brickwall. Knockaert started playing poseur passes in deep midfield and Whitbread came on to add his own selection of errors.

Yes, Bristol were so bad that we did control the game throughout and we did make some genuine chances with our close passing but we had no real driving ambition, no ruthlessness and wasted a great opportunity to score about six.

I even left four minutes from the end of the official 90 minutes because it was clear we'd finished completely and were simply insulting the paying fans by playing out time when there was no reason on Earth why we shouldn't have gone for more goals.

More like so you could get on RL and moan.

United don't always play great football but they win matches and at the end of the every season they will be in the top 2 you can't expect us to play like Barcelona every match.

The results is what matters, leave the rest to NP.

[Bluetintedspecs]

Not impressed at all today other than the first 20 minutes. We were purring until we scored and, after that, i just wished our tacticians had buggered off home and left the team to win the game in the style they could have done had they not been stifled on the altar of so-called professionalism.

First congratulations to the team for their fifth successive league win, for going briefly top of the table. to Nugent for his fifth goal of the season, to Vardy for an assist and to Kingy for delivering such an almost undefendable ball to the far post that it teased out an own goal by Foster.

Did Kasper have two shots to save all match? I can only remember one, such was our stranglehold on amost anything Bristol offered in attack.

Their one dangerman, left-winger Adomah was eventually completely neutralised by Moore's dogged peristence and the deployment of Dyer in a sort of midfield-based right-half position which virtually eliminated all supply.

But it also reduced our own flow so that the countless chances of the first 20 minutes were gradually reduced to a trickle and the game became a relatively slow-motion exercise in mostly going nowhere fast.

It was classic Pearsonisation, but with more competent players than in the past.

Not that Whitbread didn't almost contrive to give them a goal from nothing.

I'm quite sure there's some football to be seen from the bloke one day because surely no manager or scout could really get it so wrong about a player. But Whitbread had about five or six things to do in his short time on the pitch today and three of them were appalling.

He was certainly no better against Burton either so I just hope the club know an expert in miracle cures for St Leger before our next outing or Whitbread finally remembers what he's being paid for because, honestly, Bristol looked about as dangerous and ambitious as an arthritic amoeba wearing leaded boots and to have allowed them a goal would have been laughable.

Quite how much Leicester rely on Dyer for anything exciting down the flanks was emphasised by his exile to deep right midfield.

Earlier the "no end product" winger had completely outstripped the Bristol defence and fired an inch-perfect ball low across the visitors goalmouth where, once again, there was not a single predator waiting for the simple tap-in.

It was his third or fourth such cross of a season in which we should be greedy for goals but in fact we contrive to make the admirable Dyer look indifferent at times.

Dyer, well supported by Konchesky, continued to be a danger on the left and Nugent's eventual goal seemed inevitable. It was a probing pass and the striker made the most of it with his strength and no-how.

After that we became so cautious we wouldn't have created much at all against a good side - but Bristol weren't good and even with us narrowing the play to help em a bit, we still made a few chances that really should have been put away if we hadn't developed our own version of the Arsenal tendency...a desire to play one pass more than is necessary.

Even the otherwise exemplary and influential King joined in by denying himself two odds on chances of scoring at least once by giving a final ball to someone a few yards nearer than his own position perhaps 20 yards out! Why do that?

And Knockaert was just the same on another occasion when he wasn't disappointing with his final ball.

Then concentration started lapsing altogether and we started fooling around with our own version of football's silly season. Dyer fell over the ball when a goal looked possible, Marshall stared at a simple pass, ignored it and ran into a brickwall. Knockaert started playing poseur passes in deep midfield and Whitbread came on to add his own selection of errors.

Yes, Bristol were so bad that we did control the game throughout and we did make some genuine chances with our close passing but we had no real driving ambition, no ruthlessness and wasted a great opportunity to score about six.

I even left four minutes from the end of the official 90 minutes because it was clear we'd finished completely and were simply insulting the paying fans by playing out time when there was no reason on Earth why we shouldn't have gone for more goals.

Shame on you

[Thracian]

a) I did not say that today was an improvement on tuesday, I said that today and tuesday were an improvement on previous performances earlier in the season and towards the end of last season.

b) As for whitbread , you are referring to one mistake which our back four made in the whole game, a sign of rustiness perhaps. He also played the ball to king who set up the second....but hey just ignore it why don't you?

c) I fully understand that Waghorn and futacs are totally different to marshall, and that is one of the points i was trying to make. You have often criticised pearson in the past for being one dimensional and playing a traditional 4-4-2, yet he changes to a 4-2-3-1 and you criticise the change, which made us more solid. Yes marshall wasn't great, but hindsight is a wonderful thing, and the fact that your criticism is that he did not perform greatly suggests that you would have made the same change.

d) As for Adomah not running us ragid, in the entire first half he was tackled only once by moore. He took him on time and time again and whipped in numerous crosses with both feet which looked dangerous, and even cut inside before shooting just wide. I am not criticising moore, i am just pointing out how Pearsons change in the second half silenced adomah.

e) I understand your needs of wanting to see leicester playing attractive attacking football, and have read the praise you gave for other performances such as the one at blackburn. But what was missing in that game, and the first half at charlton was the ability to control games and see them out professionally. We did that on tuesday and we did that today, that is a sign of progression whether you believe so or not.

There's some spirited argument there which I appreciate.

a) Everything's an improvement on last season. Tuesday was an excellent performance but I didn't much enjoy today's game and believe we could have buried Bristol out of sight.

b) Kingy pretty much dug that assist out for himself but credit to Whitbread if he supplied the pass to him. Not that it in any way negates his defensive lapses. Sadly, when it comes to defending, even one silly mistake can cost a game. Whitbread's made two in two now and the cushioned headers I mentioned just weren't up to standard. Rustiness, nervousness, who knows? But he sure needs to improve.

c) I don't remember being specifically critical of Pearson playing 4-4-2, only inasmuch as he didn't use proper wingers for the job or deploy them as proper wingers. I wouldn't have minded the Dyer redeployment if we'd had another fast and direct winger but we don't. Marshall has always seemed like a poor imitation to me. He's more of a central midfielder who can shoot on a good day. He doesn't have the pace, trickery or precision crossing to be a genuine winger. I accept your argument that the tactic negated Bristol and took almost all the threat off our defence, enabling us to saunter to a comfortable win. I just expect more of us and don't think Bristol were really good enough to deserve such caution. i go to football matches to be entertained - not to see 70 minutes that almost amount to a tactical stand-off.

d) There's no question Pearson's tactic worked. It just turned the game into a bore.

e) I don't think there was much missing at Blackburn or Palace that the taking of chances and kinder refereeing wouldn't have put right. Progression to me would be letting our own football dictate terms and spending more time making the most of things like free-kicks and corners. It would be about reducing unforced errors and having more players taking responsibility for shooting more often. It would be about having more players passing the ball more quickly and accurately instead of taking too many touches where it isn't necessary. It would be about getting players forward at all opportunities in the game instead of just when we're level or behind. It would be about getting someone to finally feed on the low balls across the penalty box which seem to be constantly wasted.

[Thracian]

Shame on you[/b]

Haha - it's a totally unnecessary feature of our team and one we'll get punished for, yet again, one day.

[Thracian]

More like so you could get on RL and moan.

United don't always play great football but they win matches and at the end of the every season they will be in the top 2 you can't expect us to play like Barcelona every match.

The results is what matters, leave the rest to NP.

Haha - I've never been on post-matchday Radio Leicester. And the way we play matters to me. If I watched football for the results I certainly wouldn't have watched Leicester for 55 years.

[Grewks]

There's some spirited argument there which I appreciate.

a) Everything's an improvement on last season. Tuesday was an excellent performance but I didn't much enjoy today's game and believe we could have buried Bristol out of sight.

b) Kingy pretty much dug that assist out for himself but credit to Whitbread if he supplied the pass to him. Not that it in any way negates his defensive lapses. Sadly, when it comes to defending, even one silly mistake can cost a game. Whitbread's made two in two now and the cushioned headers I mentioned just weren't up to standard. Rustiness, nervousness, who knows? But he sure needs to improve.

c) I don't remember being specifically critical of Pearson playing 4-4-2, only inasmuch as he didn't use proper wingers for the job or deploy them as proper wingers. I wouldn't have minded the Dyer redeployment if we'd had another fast and direct winger but we don't. Marshall has always seemed like a poor imitation to me. He's more of a central midfielder who can shoot on a good day. He doesn't have the pace, trickery or precision crossing to be a genuine winger. I accept your argument that the tactic negated Bristol and took almost all the threat off our defence, enabling us to saunter to a comfortable win. I just expect more of us and don't think Bristol were really good enough to deserve such caution. i go to football matches to be entertained - not to see 70 minutes that almost amount to a tactical stand-off.

d) There's no question Pearson's tactic worked. It just turned the game into a bore.

e) I don't think there was much missing at Blackburn or Palace that the taking of chances and kinder refereeing wouldn't have put right. Progression to me would be letting our own football dictate terms and spending more time making the most of things like free-kicks and corners. It would be about reducing unforced errors and having more players taking responsibility for shooting more often. It would be about having more players passing the ball more quickly and accurately instead of taking too many touches where it isn't necessary. It would be about getting players forward at all opportunities in the game instead of just when we're level or behind. It would be about getting someone to finally feed on the low balls across the penalty box which seem to be constantly wasted.

e) I would like to see Pearson strengthen the squad over the next couple of weeks in the loan market. I'm sure some bench warmers in the premier league/championship would like the chance to join us on loan to take advantage of some of the crosses you are referring too.

Marlon king isnt getting a look in under Lee Clark, and only from footballing reasons could be a decent loanee. Would much rather see him here than waggy. (footballing comments only please)

Then maybe try and loan in a versatile midfielder who can play across the midfield, or a defender if injuries occur/are worse than expected.

The best time for a team to strengthen is when they are getting positive results, as there is less pressure on the new players to make an immediate impact.

If we are in this same position by jan, wouldn't mind a punt on Adomah, looked very good over the last 2 seasons, and NP has shown interest in him before.

[Kitchandro]

There's some spirited argument there which I appreciate.

a) Everything's an improvement on last season. Tuesday was an excellent performance but I didn't much enjoy today's game and believe we could have buried Bristol out of sight.

b) Kingy pretty much dug that assist out for himself but credit to Whitbread if he supplied the pass to him. Not that it in any way negates his defensive lapses. Sadly, when it comes to defending, even one silly mistake can cost a game. Whitbread's made two in two now and the cushioned headers I mentioned just weren't up to standard. Rustiness, nervousness, who knows? But he sure needs to improve.

c) I don't remember being specifically critical of Pearson playing 4-4-2, only inasmuch as he didn't use proper wingers for the job or deploy them as proper wingers. I wouldn't have minded the Dyer redeployment if we'd had another fast and direct winger but we don't. Marshall has always seemed like a poor imitation to me. He's more of a central midfielder who can shoot on a good day. He doesn't have the pace, trickery or precision crossing to be a genuine winger. I accept your argument that the tactic negated Bristol and took almost all the threat off our defence, enabling us to saunter to a comfortable win. I just expect more of us and don't think Bristol were really good enough to deserve such caution. i go to football matches to be entertained - not to see 70 minutes that almost amount to a tactical stand-off.

I completely disagree with this. He has far more trickery than Dyer and his crossing is far more precise also. He's going through a run of bad form but in his time here I've seen many a quality cross, including several that weren't capitalised on against Blackpool and Blackburn.

I don't think he's quite suited to the system as he's not getting as much of the ball anymore, we're trying to play it through the middle. He hasn't looked as confident in recent games, for whatever reason, but to me he's certainly more of a wide player than a central one.

Dyer may be more of a conventional winger and he warrants his place in the team currently as he's fitting well into a good team. But he's never been consistently effective at this level, no matter how many times you put the words no end product in inverted commas it doesn't make it any less true. More often than not he really doesn't have it.

[5waller5]

e) I would like to see Pearson strengthen the squad over the next couple of weeks in the loan market. I'm sure some bench warmers in the premier league/championship would like the chance to join us on loan to take advantage of some of the crosses you are referring too.

Marlon king isnt getting a look in under Lee Clark, and only from footballing reasons could be a decent loanee. Would much rather see him here than waggy. (footballing comments only please)

Then maybe try and loan in a versatile midfielder who can play across the midfield, or a defender if injuries occur/are worse than expected.

The best time for a team to strengthen is when they are getting positive results, as there is less pressure on the new players to make an immediate impact.

If we are in this same position by jan, wouldn't mind a punt on Adomah, looked very good over the last 2 seasons, and NP has shown interest in him before.

I agree entirely and made the same point a few days ago - what better time to get a new starter settled than when we're flying .... and sooner or later our small squad is going to look very depleted .... the defence is the area i'd like to see some cover signed.

[The Year Of The Fox]

Dire atmosphere today. Embarrassing. It's like we've forgotten how to celebrate something good happening for once. Drinky was outstanding, thought King was poor.

Vardy just needs the confidence to hit it. 3 times today he bottled shooting from in the area or just outside it. Looked knackered and I would've took him off at HT I think

[Mark_w]

*

[5waller5]

Dire atmosphere today. Embarrassing. It's like we've forgotten how to celebrate something good happening for once. Drinky was outstanding, thought King was poor.

Vardy just needs the confidence to hit it. 3 times today he bottled shooting from in the area or just outside it. Looked knackered and I would've took him off at HT I think

I have a feeling NP agreed with you and just kept him on for 5 mins to check that they hadn't changed their tactics for five mins after half time.

[marbelladave]

Evening all,

Bloody awful drive home, got into the car and we were top of the league, by the time I got home we were down to 2nd, bugger....... Traffic was ok though.

Good win but, all in all a fairly sloppy performance I thought, decent enough for about 30 minutes then we eased right off. Switching Dyer to the right tightened us up quite considerably and the (enforced) substitutions disrupted our rhythm.

Despite the changes we were pretty solid, never looked like getting in trouble but against better sides, who knows......

Everyone played well enough, including the subs but Marshall, once again deployed on the left, looks out of sorts. Second half we lacked ambition and were perhaps a touch lethargic, given our all action style maybe this is not surprising after 6 games in less than 3 weeks.

[Bluetintedspecs]

Haha - it's a totally unnecessary feature of our team and one we'll get punished for, yet again, one day.

:PThrac I mainly read your posts and think they are well balanced, interesting and sometimes long enough to make my eyes bleed, however I do feel you are being a little over critical, Brizzle flooded midfield and made it akward, we still bossed it though and won with some to spare to retain our 100% home record and at the time go top! Sometimes you win ugly and a wins a win

[lestajigs]

Dire atmosphere today. Embarrassing. It's like we've forgotten how to celebrate something good happening for once. Drinky was outstanding, thought King was poor.

Vardy just needs the confidence to hit it. 3 times today he bottled shooting from in the area or just outside it. Looked knackered and I would've took him off at HT I think

Thought king was one of our better players tbf

[foxoffderby]

Drinkwater was the stand out player for me did the simple things well and was at the heart of everything. Also broke up their play very well.

Reminded me of Neil Lennon.

Big Wes the other. Does he ever have a bad game?

[I blame Wellens]

Jesus some of you need Prozac. We won 2-0. We are second in the league. Have a drink and celebrate. Stop over analysing performances. Yes if we are mid table fair enough. But can we just enjoy the moment. It hopefully will stay with us this season. Knocky thanks for the looking one way passing it the other stuff today. ENTERTAINMENT! Kingy and Drinky great partnership today. Wes and st ledge were class and Nugent you will always be my favourite. I always loved you Leicester but now I've fell back in love with you. For the first time today I even liked that sh*t black eye peas song. Yes tonight's gonna be a good night. For the first time iin god knows how many years... I feel...

... Leicester are back Leicester are back waho!

[Daggers]

I really wonder why some people go to watch football when it is clear they have piss-all appreciation for what they're watching.

This thread is a joke, at least the last few moaning pages of it.

Oh, and...

**** off you Welsh *****!

**** off you English *****!

[Thracian]

:PThrac I mainly read your posts and think they are well balanced, interesting and sometimes long enough to make my eyes bleed, however I do feel you are being a little over critical, Brizzle flooded midfield and made it akward, we still bossed it though and won with some to spare to retain our 100% home record and at the time go top! Sometimes you win ugly and a wins a win

i understand "winning ugly" well enough and it was never a requirement today. There was no reason to stop doing what we were doing in the first 20 minutes which was tearing Bristol to pieces.

The visiting fans must have been so relieved when we just protected what we had while showing decidedly limited ambition thereafter.

[Basingstoke Fox]

Dire atmosphere today. Embarrassing. It's like we've forgotten how to celebrate something good happening for once.

I was near the back of K today and thought that the first 20-30 minutes was great in terms of atmosphere. Better than most away games I've been to. But after we scored our first goal it just went dead until the last 20-30 minutes.

Was good when Knocky came over to celebrate the win though

[Bluetintedspecs]

i understand "winning ugly" well enough and it was never a requirement today. There was no reason to stop doing what we were doing in the first 20 minutes which was tearing Bristol to pieces.

The visiting fans must have been so relieved when we just protected what we had while showing decidedly limited ambition thereafter.

3 points, clean sheet, 2nd in league and after a needed break IMO better to come I'm sure ......enjoy mate!!!!!!