Post-Match City 0 - 1 Cardiff

[kingfox]

He may be injured or ill or something, it made more sense to have Moore there though as he can play across the back four.

Schlupp wasn't on the bench about two-three weeks ago either, then he was, but today he wasn't.

Schlupp isn't an out to out left-back though, even though he has done a pretty good job in that position in the past.

After today four new signings in my opinion, centre back, left-back, central midfielder and a striker.

Too many liabilities in our team, and unfortunately I don't think our back up is good enough in certain positions, other teams have much better.

[Jonaldinho]

Subbing Knockaert was one of the most bizarre decisions Nigel has ever made. It was the best game he's played for a while, is the player that's most likely to create something for us, and was then dragged off on 67 minutes. Why?? I could understand more if Futacs was brought on at least we'd have a chance to win one of the hundred long balls that we played, but instead Lingard came on who I'm yet to understand what he does. What's he good at? What is the point of him? Knockaert is a better player than him and wasn't looking particularly tired. Just...bizarre.

Apart from that, we created a lot of chances and really should've scored. Kasper didn't have a save to make. A new striker (Wood hopefully) is a must, along with a LB and a strong CM. King was probably Motm though, that clearance towards the end about 6 yards out was outstanding.

[leicesterisme]

Thought we played well today, certainly didn't deserve to come away with nothing that's for sure, don't know how we didn't score in the first 20 minutes!

One thing I will say is why did Whitbread constantly smash the bastard thing in the direction of Vardy and Nugent. It wasn't working and was never going to work against Hudson and Turner, they can deal with that all day long.

[Happy Fox]

Wasn't good at all, yes we had chances but we didn't take them, really need to do some major business in January, because this squad atm needs some impetus, and some new faces could reenergize our promotion push because as things stand we are stagnating.

[TrentFox]

If Jesse Lingard is the answer does anyone know what the question is?

Is it "what's the closest thing we've got to a fish out of water ?"

[shearfox]

Is it "what's the closest thing we've got to a fish out of water ?"

Lingard

[Mack]

Biggest kick in the nuts as a Foxes fan in recent times.

For me that was the Litmus test on our season and the bad news is rather than a ph 0 ruthless winning acid we're a ph 7 water of a team.

Pretty at times, but flatters to deceive all too often.

I know it's a broken record but WE NEED A ****ING STRIKER.

In addition we need to change things up in the centre of midfield, and that does'nt mean bringing in the non descript James.

IF I was the manager Beckford and Danns would be recalled immediately, but that's not going to happen so I guess we need to spend in the window.

Ideally we also need another defender, but the other two are the highest priority.

If we carry on like this we'll be lucky to get 6th place.

[inckley fox]

I want to defend Marshall and Lindgard on the grounds that they only had twenty minutes and the movement from the rest of the players was very poor at that time. Marshall has only played in half of our games and has scored four goals and got five assists, more than Dyer who is full of pace but achieves very little. In fact, more than ANYONE. De Laet looked tired and Konchesky was poor and both Marshall and Lindgard ended up covering for those. I think Moore and Schlupp should be considered as alternative full backs based on that showing.

I understood the substitutions, I felt it was the starting XI which lost us the game and I feel we're deluding ourselves if we don't accept there's a lack of physicality in the centre (today I felt Drinkwater was the guilty party), and that Vardy - in spite of his admirable work-rate - doesn't look like a 1m striker. NP gambled on him in the summer and it hasn't paid off yet.

There may well be other question marks about Pearson's summer signings. I don't share in the feeling that Knockaert was excellent today, though I wouldn't have taken him off. In fact, I don't think he's given us 45 minutes (let alone 90) since October. In addition James has failed to displace King - which was, I believe, the intention, De Laet looks promising but accident prone, Whitbread isn't suited to a passing game and Futacs is clearly not rated by the manager. I still think some of these will work out given time, but another blast of new faces - based on the last influx - might not be the answer.

I'd prefer one or two very carefully selected new signings and, in the more immediate future, a brave shake-up of the starting line-up. One of the main reasons for our partial success this season has been that Morgan and Drinkwater, as well Nugent, Waghorn, St. Ledger, have finally settled in.

Of course all this assumes the board will stick with Pearson. I think they should, but his line-up was poor, his team has been sussed, he sounded out of ideas yet again post-match and - most worryingly of all - that team looked lazy and dispirited in the second half.

[Fox92]

Very frustrated today, but that's why Cardiff are top of the league, then can win when they don't generally deserve it.

First of all, I expected, and wanted us, to be different from the team that lost to Millwall. Would have played Marshall ahead of Dyer. Which brings me around to todays game, Dyer isn't consistent enough and I don't rate Konchesky or Whitbread. I think the left side of our team is poor and the midfield not strong enough - Barnsley, Millwall were both stronger than us and today King and Drinkwater weren't strong enough, again.

Also, think Nige got his subs wrong. Yeah, I am a massive Nige fan but he took our best player off today (Knockaert) and I don't know why he didn't bring Futacs on, especially when we were lumping it long constantly, and not holding it up - which is obvious - because players like Waghorn, Nugent and Vardy are not players to hold the ball up, they cannot do that. I just think they will be so frustrated.

[Bert]

Team selection was wrong. Dyer has one good game and gets picked for the next 5/6 and then he manages another decent game and lives off it. Marshall should've started ahead of him.

The substitutions were baffling. Two were predictable and the other well I don't know what Pearson was thinking. In Lingards defence he looked ok when he was on the ball.

Richie De Laet is terrible. He was shocking today. Can't defend to save his life, and his end product is worse than Dyers when he's not running the ball too far in front of him. Too busy moaning at others when he made mistakes (countless times too) and very rarely sprints back.

Felt sorry for Vardy who was playing ok, unlucky not to score and created space with selfless running. He was better than Waghorn who was ineffective.

Again, when we went behind we reverted to long ball which is never any good against two big centre halves, or on a skiddy pitch when the ball is just going to zip away.

Knockaert was having one of his better games and I have no clue why he was dragged. King played well and was unlucky to not score, maybe he could've made a pass on two of his break away runs though.

I think the most frustrating part of the day is we've dominated again but seemed out of ideas when under pressure. There's no plan b. we've had enough chances to win the game.

It's ok saying we were unlucky, but how long can we live off that? Lets hope the new signings in January freshen things up.

[Bilbo]

Basically..

Played well for first 20 minutes, very attacking but no cutting edge. Then they scored, Konchesky should have put a foot in, and King and Drinky should have been tracking Bellendamy.

Then our heads went down and we looked flat for a while, until Vardy hit the bar with a good header.

Second half for the first 5 mins we were alright, but turned to hoofing it to no one in particular, absolutely dreadful. Schmeichels distribution was awful.

Cardiff were there to frustrate us and sit back and hit us on the break.

Subs were useless and I have no idea what Lingard offered us.

Must improve!!

Couldn't have put it better myself.

[Mark_w]

IF I was the manager Beckford and Danns would be recalled immediately.

If we carry on like this we'll be lucky to get 6th place.

Yeah, we need to revert to the players who did such a convincing job of getting us into the top six last year.

[Kitchandro]

If we'd have scored the first goal I'm sure it would have been a completely different story. And in fairness we were unlucky to be behind at half time, but we've said that too often. If you fail to capitalise when on top and defend like that, you get what you deserve.

Fair play to Cardiff, I can see why they're top of the league now. They're probably not as spectacular as we are when we've been at our best, but they are consistently solid and know how to win games. It's this sort of determination, consistency and professionalism that we are sadly lacking.

I felt they wanted it more than us today. We started well, but we are too easily disheartened. When they scored it took us until the end of the half to reach a good performance level again. For whatever reason, whether it be poor finishing or lack of guile, we weren't good enough to score a goal today. There were too many mistakes from our defenders, Wes had one of his poorest games for us and the rest weren't much better.

Pearson has to take a share of the blame again. I thought Wagorn coming on for Vardy was the right decision regardless of his injury, but taking Knocky off was the wrong one. Bringing on Marshall was fair enough but Knockaert despite his faults did look like one of the few who could do something today. King, on the other hand, just did not not work hard enough. People say he does his tracking back and the things people don't notice but this was just not true today. I watched him closely - he doesn't make himself available or ask for the ball when we're in possession, and he doesn't want to win a tackle enough. Furthermore, his tracking back is half-hearted and he doesn't bust a gut to get forward and support either when we need numbers. Yes, there are strengths to his game; he's good on the ball, on a good day (though not enough today) he's good at making interceptions, and he can score goals (which haven't been as forthcoming recently). There are some games where he just needs to be subbed, today was one of them.

Drinkwater could be dealt similar criticisms but he wants the ball more often. Dyer, once again, didn't show enough commitment to beating his man, though Cardiff were aware of his threat and made it difficult for him.

But the most baffling decision was bringing on Lingard and not Futacs. We lacked the guile to play through Cardiff and it was no surprise we tried a lot of long, hopeful, high balls. Of course, their centre backs were dealing with everything easily and none of our forward players really made much of anything. That being the case, why on earth would he bring Lingard on, who, for me, doesn't offer anything different. It's no disrespect to Lingard, he may well be a promising player, but today, Futacs was the sensible option. He could have troubled their defenders more, nobody else was going to make a difference. I'd rather have seen Schlupp on as an attacking threat. In fact, I wouldn't say we'd be worse off with him at left back. Konchesky hasn't impressed me since he's been back.

I said some of the players needed a kick up the arse and they still need one. They were too quick to give up today, the second half was very frustrating - plenty of possession but very littlem guile or guts. We seem reluctant to test the goalkeeper when we need a goal, despite the fact we troubled him with long range shots in the first half. Instead we pissed around with the ball and often slowed the tempo down, leading to less space, with no movement off the ball, leading to mistakes, leading to giving the ball away. Sometimes players need to grab the ball themselves and do something with it as an individual. And sometimes, players need to learn not to hold onto it for so long. Too often we did the wrong thing at the wrong time, decision making is poor. We surredndered possession so easily at times with basic errors and hopeful passes that were never going to work.

We are clearly not performing at the same level as we were when we went on that good run and were top of the league. It's clear we need to freshen things up with a couple of new players, but also some of our current ones need to ask themselves why their performance level has dipped. Have they got cocky? Are they not up for the fight? Are they weak mentally? Are they overrated?

We're in a slump now, and things need to change. There's no need to panic in terms of the play-oofs but the autos look a long way away now.

[fleckneymike]

12 points from 11 is not good.

[Bilbo]

Team selection was wrong. Dyer has one good game and gets picked for the next 5/6 and then he manages another decent game and lives off it. Marshall should've started ahead of him.

The substitutions were baffling. Two were predictable and the other well I don't know what Pearson was thinking. In Lingards defence he looked ok when he was on the ball.

Richie De Laet is terrible. He was shocking today. Can't defend to save his life, and his end product is worse than Dyers when he's not running the ball too far in front of him. Too busy moaning at others when he made mistakes (countless times too) and very rarely sprints back.

Felt sorry for Vardy who was playing ok, unlucky not to score and created space with selfless running. He was better than Waghorn who was ineffective.

Again, when we went behind we reverted to long ball which is never any good against two big centre halves, or on a skiddy pitch when the ball is just going to zip away.

Knockaert was having one of his better games and I have no clue why he was dragged. King played well and was unlucky to not score, maybe he could've made a pass on two of his break away runs though.

I think the most frustrating part of the day is we've dominated again but seemed out of ideas when under pressure. There's no plan b. we've had enough chances to win the game.

It's ok saying we were unlucky, but how long can we live off that? Lets hope the new signings in January freshen things up.

Marshall has been awful this season, does nothing when he comes on.

Vardy again looked out of his depth and got lost in the game.

De Laet was one of the stand out players for me. I don't think we were watching the same game.

[Mack]

Yeah, we need to revert to the players who did such a convincing job of getting us into the top six last year.

It's a squad game mate, and right now we could make use of both.

[Fox92]

Marshall has been awful this season, does nothing when he comes on.

Vardy again looked out of his depth and got lost in the game.

De Laet was one of the stand out players for me. I don't think we were watching the same game.

I'd personally say he has been as good as Dyer, who has had one or two decent games himself. It's hard coming on as a sub, and I think Marshall contributed more than Dyer today. Would have picked Marshall ahead of Dyer today anyway.

I think Beckford coming back would do no harm, either.

[Bert]

Marshall has been awful this season, does nothing when he comes on.

Vardy again looked out of his depth and got lost in the game.

De Laet was one of the stand out players for me. I don't think we were watching the same game.

He's produced more in terms of goals than Dyer.

What did De Laet that was good? Vardy came as close as anyone to scoring today. Nugent was just as lost as Vardy.

[Legend_in_blue]

I said at the season start that if Dyer starts games we won't get promoted. I'll stand by that.

And, despite some of our signings this season, Pearson will once again be labelled Nigel Predictable by myself unless he acts now to change things.

Three seasons on and we still fail to change a game by altering our style of play. Rigid 442 doesn't cut it.

Tactically inept is what Pearson is. Needs to change quickly.

We can play the football to get us out of this league, no question, but on a tactical level we are currently playing catchup.

[Mark_w]

12 points from 11 is not good.

37 from 23 is. Do the other 12 not count for some reason?

[Danno]

I was saying to my Dad i reckon Dyer has S.A.D. He's fooking awful in the winter but brilliant in the summer.

[_Fatboyslow_]

IF I was the manager Beckford and Danns would be recalled immediately, but that's not going to happen so I guess we need to spend in the window.

Well you are not,lord knows where we be if were.

And just what would recalling those two achive?

What is needed is quality players and neither of those are that.

[Fox92]

I was saying to my Dad i reckon Dyer has S.A.D. He's fooking awful in the winter but brilliant in the summer.

Not good enough, always thought this myself. A few good games, and then nothing more... Doesn't seem to look when crossing, and he is always inside providing nothing for Konchesky.

[fleckneymike]

37 from 23 is. Do the other 12 not count for some reason?

What, like cup goals?

It's the direction of travel which concerns me in terms of points and style of play?

[Bert]

What, like cup goals?

It's the direction of travel which concerns me in terms of points and style of play?

Everyone knows cup goals only count when it suits certain people's arguments.