Leicester 1-2 Crystal Palace Post Match Thread

[surrifox]

Christ alive, how did the referee and the linesman miss that handball on the line?

Pathetic.

they have a player serving a suspension for doing it in the last game - he was sent off and a penalty awarded- obviously something they practice. Worked though - secured them the points.

[I blame Wellens]

They were better than us. They did their homework even without a manager. We were very predictable. We were outnumbered in midfield. Are passing and tempo unlike brum first half was very slow and predictable. OUR STRIKERS are simply not good enough at the moment. Vardy, while brave and tireless is just not physically strong or skilled enough at this level. Knocky behind a decent striker might not have worked yesterday but it was calling out to be tried.

Never mind going Watford let's start a new winning run lads, heads up!

[davieG]

[Number 6]

Well that was a waste of about £30.

We played shit today, too many players had off games, Knockaert, Nugent and Drinkwater were absolutely awful, Whitbread very poor as well, King did nothing, Vardy did nothing, De Laet was good going forward but lackadaisical at the back. The biggest problems though - we played crap as a team, lazy, poor movement off the ball, poor passing.

But worst of all Palace wanted it more than us. Like for example, how come the first time we attacked the ball in the box was in stopage time? Where was that desire for the previous 90 minutes? We took too long to really throw everything at them, for all our possession.

We started OK, should have been 2-0 up in fact but wasted 2 glorious chances, further adding fuel to the argument that we're not clinical enough up front and will need to dip into the transfer market. But after that, we just didn't show enough desire, we looked complacent and did not work hard enough as a team, whereas Palace did. In fairness, Nigel accepted we had too many players that weren't on it today, he did have a few digs at the ref which were fair but he admitted we got what we warranted today which was nothing.

But I can handle an off day, no need for panic stations there. But our fans should be fvcking ashamed again - I was stood in J today and was pleasantly surprised at how many were standing, but they were so pathetic vocally. L sounded like they were trying but near where I was it was dogshit. We're sitting top of the league and nobody is putting the effort in to join in with chants and create an atmosphere. They don't deserve to have a team top of the league, they deserve to support a shit relegation-fodder club.

Of course they were all fvcking laying into the ref at any opportunity, and they'd be the first to boo the team if we were midtable - but they aren't interested in being positive and getting behind the team.

It's no wonder I have only gone twice, and never in the East Stand since March, and I won't be going again for quite some time whilst we've got so many pathetic wankers supporting us. Palace fans weren't amazing today by any stretch but we made ourselves look really small time.

I'll be watching the Forest game on the TV.

Would these be the pathetic wankers who fork out a lot of money for a season ticket? Yeh let's get rid of them because they offer nothing to the club :rollseyes:

[Babylon]

It was our first REAL test, three sides I can see us really struggling against are Palace (as seen), Cardiff and it pains me to say but once they click Florrest.

Over the last few weeks we have performed well against Hull and Huddersfield, and gotten away with most of the other games, Bristol were genuinely rubbish but we were lucky to come out in one piece against Brighton.

Palace were just better than us, the damage was done early doors and then they just sat back and defended, we didn't have the playing staff to really hurt them and I would go as far as I think they will be right up there come the seasons end!

I am slightly worried about the next few games, a few players have yet to impress me and I think we need a few extra bodies bringing in, otherwise we ain't staying in the top 6 for long!

I think you are being harsh saying this was our first real test. When we played the likes of Blackpool, Blackburn, Hudderfield, Hull I think they were right up there. Wolves have shown they aren't the mugs people thought they were. Boro were doing well when we played them.

We've played more teams in the top half than anyone else in the top 11 teams. A few in the bottom half have played the same amount.

[Mark_w]

Would these be the pathetic wankers who fork out a lot of money for a season ticket? Yeh let's get rid of them because they offer nothing to the club :rollseyes:

Some of us pay for a season ticket, don't moan at the players when we lose our first game in god knows how long and do try to create an atmosphere.

[Corky]

Well, it was only one arm that stopped it.

[Guest Col city fan]

Think it was as much to do with 3/4 of our key players underperforming on the same day Col,time will tell, personally think it was just one of those days!

I dont think its as much about our players underperforming mate, as the opposition not letting our key players perform.

If there is one thing that will stop us getting an auto promotion spot its the lack of physical presence in the midfield.

I've said it before and will say it again, Andy King is a lovely player at this level, but get him in a quick, physical scrap with some big blokes and he'll lose out. Ive seen him do so in many many games during his time at City.

Yesterdays game reminded me a little of Millwall away last season (although we were worse against Millwall of course..). We were simply muscled out of the game in the centre of the park. Why do people think Knocky lost the ball so often? He was closed down immediately and was barged off the ball.

Lenny Lawrence is no mug..he's been around the game for ages and had a game plan to match ours.

Exactly like King Fox says, Wolves away was another good example of where their midfield bossed the game with Doumbia controlling the middle of the park due to his size, strength and ability to burst through tackles.

The lack of a beefy bloke in the centre still worries me and I'd hate for this to be one of the main reasons why we don't go up this season.

I'm not saying its an issue every game, but in certain games its clear to me that we need a bit more muscle.

[Happy Fox]

I dont think its as much about our players underperforming mate, as the opposition not letting our key players perform.

If there is one thing that will stop us getting an auto promotion spot its the lack of physical presence in the midfield.

I've said it before and will say it again, Andy King is a lovely player at this level, but get him in a quick, physical scrap with some big blokes and he'll lose out. Ive seen him do so in many many games during his time at City.

Yesterdays game reminded me a little of Millwall away last season (although we were worse against Millwall of course..). We were simply muscled out of the game in the centre of the park. Why do people think Knocky lost the ball so often? He was closed down immediately and was barged off the ball.

Lenny Lawrence is no mug..he's been around the game for ages and had a game plan to match ours.

Exactly like King Fox says, Wolves away was another good example of where their midfield bossed the game with Doumbia controlling the middle of the park due to his size, strength and ability to burst through tackles.

The lack of a beefy bloke in the centre still worries me and I'd hate for this to be one of the main reasons why we don't go up this season.

I'm not saying its an issue every game, but in certain games its clear to me that we need a bit more muscle.

I thought when James came on he provided although young and inexperienced I think he has that potential to be that midfielder that can dominate physically the opposition in the central midfield battle.

[_Fatboyslow_]

Are we really saying go old school ? Poor Officiating allows you to be knocked around, would it have been the same game if we had the officials from the Brighton game?

[Bluetintedspecs]

I dont think its as much about our players underperforming mate, as the opposition not letting our key players perform.

If there is one thing that will stop us getting an auto promotion spot its the lack of physical presence in the midfield.

I've said it before and will say it again, Andy King is a lovely player at this level, but get him in a quick, physical scrap with some big blokes and he'll lose out. Ive seen him do so in many many games during his time at City.

Yesterdays game reminded me a little of Millwall away last season (although we were worse against Millwall of course..). We were simply muscled out of the game in the centre of the park. Why do people think Knocky lost the ball so often? He was closed down immediately and was barged off the ball.

Lenny Lawrence is no mug..he's been around the game for ages and had a game plan to match ours.

Exactly like King Fox says, Wolves away was another good example of where their midfield bossed the game with Doumbia controlling the middle of the park due to his size, strength and ability to burst through tackles.

The lack of a beefy bloke in the centre still worries me and I'd hate for this to be one of the main reasons why we don't go up this season.

I'm not saying its an issue every game, but in certain games its clear to me that we need a bit more muscle.

Agree on outmuscled Col but I feel it was because Drinky (main reason) Kingy & Knocky all had off days by their very high standards this season! Drinky has bossed midfields with Kingy where we've been outnumbered and muscled.

[Guest Col city fan]

Agree on outmuscled Col but I feel it was because Drinky (main reason) Kingy & Knocky all had off days by their very high standards this season! Drinky has bossed midfields with Kingy where we've been outnumbered and muscled.

They have been great so far buddy.

However, is it me? (I could well be wrong) but don't we seem to be losing to the bigger, more physically strong teams? Wolves, Blackburn, now Palace all contain big units in the central areas.

Pearson seems to have gone for the smaller, quicker, fleet of foot midfielder. I can't knock him, it's paid dividends.

But don't forget, this division, in terms of big, strong guys is perhaps the toughest in the world?

All I'm saying, given our results, is maybe its wise to mix it up a little. I'd still like to see a taller, more beefy guy at the club to give us that option of bringing on in games where it's clear we are physically losing out. Or maybe to start him for games where the midfield battle will be the key one in terms of how the game is going to go.

It's all opinions mate. This is why I'd love to see Jay Emmanuel-Thomas at the club. Yesterday it was clear to anyone watching that we were completely overrun for approx 30 mins in the first half. Exactly like at Wolves. That's why we lost the game.

Finally, do you really think that Danny, King and Knocky all had 'off days' simultaneously? Why should they? I suggest it's because they were all made to.

[kingfox]

However, is it me? (I could well be wrong) but don't we seem to be losing to the bigger, more physically strong teams? Wolves, Blackburn, now Palace all contain big units in the

This is what I said yesterday as well, but you didn't really take any notice

You are totally right Col, totally right happened last season and has happened this season.

But we talked about all of this at the beginning of the season, so no point talking about it all over again.

[Guest Col city fan]

This is what I said yesterday as well, but you didn't really take any notice

You are totally right Col, totally right happened last season and has happened this season.

But we talked about all of this at the beginning of the season, so no point talking about it all over again.

I was pissed mi son....

[Bluetintedspecs]

They have been great so far buddy.

However, is it me? (I could well be wrong) but don't we seem to be losing to the bigger, more physically strong teams? Wolves, Blackburn, now Palace all contain big units in the central areas.

Pearson seems to have gone for the smaller, quicker, fleet of foot midfielder. I can't knock him, it's paid dividends.

But don't forget, this division, in terms of big, strong guys is perhaps the toughest in the world?

All I'm saying, given our results, is maybe its wise to mix it up a little. I'd still like to see a taller, more beefy guy at the club to give us that option of bringing on in games where it's clear we are physically losing out. Or maybe to start him for games where the midfield battle will be the key one in terms of how the game is going to go.

It's all opinions mate. This is why I'd love to see Jay Emmanuel-Thomas at the club. Yesterday it was clear to anyone watching that we were completely overrun for approx 30 mins in the first half. Exactly like at Wolves. That's why we lost the game.

Finally, do you really think that Danny, King and Knocky all had 'off days' simultaneously? Why should they? I suggest it's because they were all made to.

Yes mate, I don't disagree that sometimes you need that physical presence a la Viera (in size) would help, I think most games when our midfield are on form it's the opposition that will be worrying. James does look like option if we need to bolster but we'd already been caught cold by a very well set up Palace team at that point! And yes think back to the times yesterday that mainly Drinky and Knocky simply lost the ball or fvcked up fancy flicks or misplaced passes....they simply haven't been doing that in previous games IMO

[Number 6]

Some of us pay for a season ticket, don't moan at the players when we lose our first game in god knows how long and do try to create an atmosphere.

Absolutely, and that's great but you can't tell someone how to enjoy a football match. Some want to go and shout, others don't. I felt the earlier criticism was ott.

[kingfox]

I was pissed mi son....

You are totally right though mate, totally right.

Drinkwater, King and James have been fantastic this season, but when we have come up against the more physical midfields we have lost. We didn't really get dominated against Blackburn, we were very unlucky but they still had two defensive units in Etuhu and Murphy. While the first real game we struggled in was against Wolves, Doubmia was fantastic for them and made a real difference, while Henry got MOTM. As of yesterday, Drinkwater looked lost out there, never seen him struggle so bad, Jedinak and Dikgacoi were just too physical for Drinky and King. Jedinak is about 6ft2, while Dikgacoi is nearly 5ft11 but built like a brickhouse.

The games we have won, we have played against similar midfields to us, and just because Drinkwater, King and James have the better quality they got the upper hand, plus our home form has been very good.

Against Blackpool they had Tiago Gomes and Ferguson in the middle of the park, two players similar to Drinkwater who are quite small and are midfield generals. Hull have two central midfielders similar to us as well in Koren and Evans, Koren is our King, while Evans is our Drinkwater. Huddersfield with Clayton and Norwood exactly similar to ours.

But then we come up against the more physical teams and we lose, Crystal Palace were the first team to come to the King Power with proper physical defensive midfielders and we simply couldn't handle them.

A three man midfield helped yesterday, but Drinkwater was still poor when we reverted to it, while James and King looked good together but at times still got overpowered. It's in games like that a three man midfield may work, or the defensive midfielder we have mentioned loads of times may work, we don't need one in every game we play, but against the more physical sides, a defensive midfielder may work, because if we don't get one we will just keep on losing against the more physical sides in the division, it happened last season, and it has happened at the start of this one.

[Babylon]

Shock horror Col and King bringing up DM's after the first defeat in seven. The Blackburn game we bossed the midfield for almost the entire game, so bringing that game up is it ludicrous as it bared no resemblance to the Wolves or Palace game. You yourself admitted that we bossed the midfield in that game I believe.

So far we've played over half the teams in this league (13... 8 of which are top half). And only really struggled in midfield for two of them (one and a half if you take into account we bossed wolves second half).

[Happy Fox]

A striker to keep the ball and bring others into the game as well as score goals wouldn't go amiss ,maybe Futacs is the answer or maybe not. But surely we have to give the lad a chance at the very least he may well be dogshit but their must of been a reason we brought him in?

[ealingfox]

How far into the game was that handball?

[Kitchandro]

Absolutely, and that's great but you can't tell someone how to enjoy a football match. Some want to go and shout, others don't. I felt the earlier criticism was ott.

But the point is they shout at the ref plenty. The chants of 'w*nker, w*nker, w*nker' and some others were deafening, but there wasn't a peep out of them the rest of the time.

I moan about the players sometimes, I groan and stuff when we're playing terrible passes, losing possession etc, but at least I try to put in the effort to get behind them. These people just moan and don't sing.

Buying a season ticket may make you a good fan but not a good supporter. And I can't see why any bloke between 15-35 would enjoy a match more with a dead atmosphere. They've just got no passion, that's the problem.

They choose to stand where the atmosphere is supposed to be (and where it used to be, tbf, we've regressed badly over the last 2 seasons) yet they don't want to contribute? they'd rather us get vocally pelted by te away fans? In what way is that fun?

[kingfox]

Shock horror Col and King bringing up DM's after the first defeat in seven. The Blackburn game we bossed the midfield for almost the entire game, so bringing that game up is it ludicrous as it bared no resemblance to the Wolves or Palace game. You yourself admitted that we bossed the midfield in that game I believe.

So far we've played over half the teams in this league (13... 8 of which are top half). And only really struggled in midfield for two of them (one and a half if you take into account we bossed wolves second half).

But those teams as Col said had physical midfields Babylon, and we just happened to lose those games.

Like I said in my comment above yours, the majority of the teams we have played this season, have similar midfields to ours, and we have been able to boss those games; however when we have come up against Blackburn, Wolves and Crystal Palace, they all had big units in midfield.

Cardiff have done very well at home this season, but that's because they have goals in their side from all positions on the pitch near enough, they have centre backs in Hudson etc... who are always a danger from set pieces, they have goalscoring midfielders in Whittingham, Bellamy, Cowie, Smith, Noone etc... while Helguson and Mason will chip in with goals on a consistent basis.

Middlesbrough are third, our win against them was probably our best of the season so far, because they have real quality in midfield, McEachran is a great loan signing for them while they also have Leadbitter, Thomson and Haroun, Haroun is massive, while Thomson and Leadbitter are quite defensive, they have a real mix of physical, technical and attacking presence in their midfield. While Crystal Palace as we seen yesterday are up there for a reason, two great defensive midfielders, with two pacy wingers and a goalscorer in Murray. Blackburn have Etuhu and Murphy in midfield, which seem to be working again now, while Hull have a similar midfield to ours, but they can revert to Olofinjana when they come up against the more physical sides in the division.

It's just a coincidence that we seem to lose against the more physical sides in the division, we can't let it keep happening.

[Bluetintedspecs]

Shock horror Col and King bringing up DM's after the first defeat in seven. The Blackburn game we bossed the midfield for almost the entire game, so bringing that game up is it ludicrous as it bared no resemblance to the Wolves or Palace game. You yourself admitted that we bossed the midfield in that game I believe.

So far we've played over half the teams in this league (13... 8 of which are top half). And only really struggled in midfield for two of them (one and a half if you take into account we bossed wolves second half).

Exactly Babs, a few of the lads not at their best Drinky, King & Knocky and your engine room and creative hub are negated, we will boss more midfields than not IMO.

[Bluetintedspecs]

But those teams as Col said had physical midfields Babylon, and we just happened to lose those games.

Like I said in my comment above yours, the majority of the teams we have played this season, have similar midfields to ours, and we have been able to boss those games; however when we have come up against Blackburn, Wolves and Crystal Palace, they all had big units in midfield.

Cardiff have done very well at home this season, but that's because they have goals in their side from all positions on the pitch near enough, they have centre backs in Hudson etc... who are always a danger from set pieces, they have goalscoring midfielders in Whittingham, Bellamy, Cowie, Smith, Noone etc... while Helguson and Mason will chip in with goals on a consistent basis.

Middlesbrough are third, our win against them was probably our best of the season so far, because they have real quality in midfield, McEachran is a great loan signing for them while they also have Leadbitter, Thomson and Haroun, Haroun is massive, while Thomson and Leadbitter are quite defensive, they have a real mix of physical, technical and attacking presence in their midfield. While Crystal Palace as we seen yesterday are up there for a reason, two great defensive midfielders, with two pacy wingers and a goalscorer in Murray. Blackburn have Etuhu and Murphy in midfield, which seem to be working again now, while Hull have a similar midfield to ours, but they can revert to Olofinjana when they come up against the more physical sides in the division.

It's just a coincidence that we seem to lose against the more physical sides in the division, we can't let it keep happening.

Kingfox we have scored in every game and some key players had off days yesterday ...it happens! NP said the same and with all due respect i feel he knows a lot more about his players and football than ALL of us , let's not write them off after one home league defeat eh?

[ADK]

I think when we play wolves and palace in the return leg we should start with 3 central midfielders.