Leicester City v Yeovil Town Post Match Thread 1 - 1

[cjslcfc]

Football for me is about moments like that equaliser - this season is delivering the magic time and time again and that is about the only scenario I can think of where I would possibly not be livid with a point at home to Yeovil.

 

In the bigger picture of the season, it's a massive two points dropped and we've actually opened up a title race - and if we make as many individual errors on Saturday as we have tonight and against Blackburn, then we can forget about making it 19 unbeaten.

 

We are going to need to seriously improve on Saturday. Burnley are taking apart everything in their path lately just like we were a week ago. Complacency totally crept in tonight for me. The amount of individual errors, misplaced passes and carelessness was horrendous.

 

But, for all of the frustration - you cannot knock the determination of this side for one second. Mahrez has seriously impressed me lately - but it was the other Frenchman who impressed me tonight. He was absolutely everywhere.

 

The work rate was phenomenal from both sides tonight.

 

Yeovil - I wonder if the fact they are the smallest club I have seen at this level clouds my view on them, but I really do think based on tonight it'll be cruel on them if they go down. They did a real job on us tonight but just couldn't hold out.

 

Despite being the top scorers in the league, we're actually still a very wasteful team in my opinion.

 

Agree with pretty much all of this. Top post.

[ozleicester]

It would be really appreciated (at least by me) if some one could provide a balanced run down of the match on the first page of the Post match thread for those of us unable to watch/hear the game.

 

FT is my first click on a Wed morning after a night game so it would be great if someone would put up a brief summation of the game, result,big moments etc.

 

Thanks to those who spend a little time putting their thoughts down.

[Des.]

It would be really appreciated (at least by me) if some one could provide a balanced run down of the match on the first page of the Post match thread for those of us unable to watch/hear the game.

 

FT is my first click on a Wed morning after a night game so it would be great if someone would put up a brief summation of the game, result,big moments etc.

 

Thanks to those who spend a little time putting their thoughts down.

Overall I would say our performance levels were not at their peak, you could sense a tiredness in the squad in my opinion. First half we could of actually been a few goals clear, Vardy gets through one on one but he basically passes the ball to the keeper, because he believes he was offside.

Wasilewski blocked a shot from Nugent I think, which was goal bound and Wes didn't connect with a header from a corner, when he should really of scored. But we caused the goal that they scored to be honest. Knockaert worked his balls off to keep possession on the left touchline, he passed to James and he lost the ball instantly. Yeovil broke and Drinkwater gave away the foul from which they scored the free kick, from that point on the game just became a really frustrating affair.

Second half we came out and within the first minute we caused them a little trouble but after that it went down hill. We constantly looked to play the long ball up top & with the height that Yeovil had, Nuge & Vardy had no chance. Schmeichel made a huge save from Miller at point blank range and that would of been game over. Our passing let us down a lot, we gave away the ball on multiple occasions, Drinkwater & Mahrez being the main culprits.

Dyer came on for Wasilweski, which was interesting & we were basically playing 3-4-3 at times. Wood & Phillips came on too but it didn't prove too much of an outlet, which was disappointing because for me, Wood should do a lot better aerially sometimes.

It was the final 10 minutes where we finally started to pepper them & slowly tire them out. Drinkwater & James both had wayward shots, couple of pea rollers from Knockaert & Mahrez too. Phillips had an amazing chance to score but scuffed his shot into the keepers hands. It looked like we were going to lose & in fairness to Yeovil they stuck to their guns, they frustrated us and forced us to play scrappy.

Then of course the main moment, we win a corner & up comes Kasper. They actually clear and Schlupp retrieves, he plays it to the back stick & Morgan knocks the ball on for Knockaert. Floated cross to the back post, Kasper rises like a gazelle bullets a header against the bar, it bounces down over the line & Wood knocks in the rebound.

Fans go crazy, bust up on the touchline & 26,000 fans go home relieved & some what frustrated. Overall we were lucky, but we showed resolve & still had enough in us to fight back for a point.

[EnglishOxide]

Im not having this 'the players were tired' excuse. We have had a quiet couple of months with 10 day breaks in between.

We were just poor tonight. You are going to get that sometimes throughout the season and many factors are the reason for that but tiredness isnt it.

Yeovil worked harder than us and put James and Drinkwater out of the game. The midfield only truly got on top when Knockaert came inside around 70mins.

But Yeovil are an athletic team and we couldnt make use of the space in behind when they did push up as they were quick too. Not once did Dyer, De Laet or Schluup successfully knock it round anyone. Yeovil deserve credit for defending superbly and limiting us to long shots tbf.

I fully expect Drinkwater and James to be back near to their best for Burnley. I hope Dyer comes back in place of Mahrez as although he looks good, he needs to be bedded into English football and his development need not be rushed. Hes not a guaranteed starter just yet.

We'll stick with Nugent i imagine but im starting to think him and/or Wood will be moved on at the end of the season to make way for a real top class striker or two for the Prem as we just aren't clinical enough at all.

[Des.]

Im not having this 'the players were tired' excuse. We have had a quiet couple of months with 10 day breaks in between.

We were just poor tonight. You are going to get that sometimes throughout the season and many factors are the reason for that but tiredness isnt it.

Yeovil worked harder than us and put James and Drinkwater out of the game. The midfield only truly got on top when Knockaert came inside around 70mins.

But Yeovil are an athletic team and we couldnt make use of the space in behind when they did push up as they were quick too. Not once did Dyer, De Laet or Schluup successfully knock it round anyone. Yeovil deserve credit for defending superbly and limiting us to long shots tbf.

I fully expect Drinkwater and James to be back near to their best for Burnley. I hope Dyer comes back in place of Mahrez as although he looks good, he needs to be bedded into English football and his development need not be rushed. Hes not a guaranteed starter just yet.

We'll stick with Nugent i imagine but im starting to think him and/or Wood will be moved on at the end of the season to make way for a real top class striker or two for the Prem as we just aren't clinical enough at all.

Maybe tired is the wrong word, they seemed a little off the pace at least to me. It might of been complacency or it could just of been down to Yeovil's gameplan.

[ozleicester]

Overall I would say our performance levels were not at their peak, you could sense a tiredness in the squad in my opinion. First half we could of actually been a few goals clear, Vardy gets through one on one but he basically passes the ball to the keeper, because he believes he was offside.

Wasilewski blocked a shot from Nugent I think, which was goal bound and Wes didn't connect with a header from a corner, when he should really of scored. But we caused the goal that they scored to be honest. Knockaert worked his balls off to keep possession on the left touchline, he passed to James and he lost the ball instantly. Yeovil broke and Drinkwater gave away the foul from which they scored the free kick, from that point on the game just became a really frustrating affair.

Second half we came out and within the first minute we caused them a little trouble but after that it went down hill. We constantly looked to play the long ball up top & with the height that Yeovil had, Nuge & Vardy had no chance. Schmeichel made a huge save from Miller at point blank range and that would of been game over. Our passing let us down a lot, we gave away the ball on multiple occasions, Drinkwater & Mahrez being the main culprits.

Dyer came on for Wasilweski, which was interesting & we were basically playing 3-4-3 at times. Wood & Phillips came on too but it didn't prove too much of an outlet, which was disappointing because for me, Wood should do a lot better aerially sometimes.

It was the final 10 minutes where we finally started to pepper them & slowly tire them out. Drinkwater & James both had wayward shots, couple of pea rollers from Knockaert & Mahrez too. Phillips had an amazing chance to score but scuffed his shot into the keepers hands. It looked like we were going to lose & in fairness to Yeovil they stuck to their guns, they frustrated us and forced us to play scrappy.

Then of course the main moment, we win a corner & up comes Kasper. They actually clear and Schlupp retrieves, he plays it to the back stick & Morgan knocks the ball on for Knockaert. Floated cross to the back post, Kasper rises like a gazelle bullets a header against the bar, it bounces down over the line & Wood knocks in the rebound.

Fans go crazy, bust up on the touchline & 26,000 fans go home relieved & some what frustrated. Overall we were lucky, but we showed resolve & still had enough in us to fight back for a point.

 

Brill, cheers 

[GingerrrFox]

Im not having this 'the players were tired' excuse. We have had a quiet couple of months with 10 day breaks in between.

We were just poor tonight. You are going to get that sometimes throughout the season and many factors are the reason for that but tiredness isnt it.

You honestly cannot believe that fatigue is not an issue with our past 2 performances. Take Danny Drinkwater for example he's played 90 minutes in our last 4 games. We've played 4 games in 14 days. It takes at least 48 hours to recover physiologically from the intensity of Championship football and that is assuming players don't pick up knocks and their recovery goes perfect with plenty of sleep and quality nutrition.

Central midfielders on average are covering distances of 13km and that is a comprised of sprints, multidirectional movements as well as jogging and walking. Going on those numbers in the last 14 days Drinkwater has totalled 52km in 360 minutes of football. It doesn't matter that we've had international breaks with 10 days between games when you have games coming thick and fast like we have in the next 10 days (Burnley, Wigan, Sheff Wednesday).

Drinkwater last season was a top player for us until fatigue set in and his form and confidence dropped drastically through fatigue which he openly admitted himself. Fatigue is such a hard thing to combat and the only way to do it is through squad rotation at sensible times. It's not the players fault that they are tired.

[CKB]

I'm obviously delighted in nicking a draw, i don't think i can say anything on tiredness, complacency, teams sussing us out, etc, etc till we go on a bad run... We have drew two games on the trot (not the end of the world people), lets see where we are after the Burnley, Wigan games....

Of course i'm not excusing the very poor performance tonight and parts at Blackburn but that is the Championship and we also have no devine right to beat teams 3-0 every week!

Sometimes things just don't go right on the day, players have iffy games and you move on, get it outta your system to hopefully rectify it the next game.. I'm not worried about any disastrous run of form yet...

[ozleicester]

Im not disputing the "tiredness" factor, but it does beg a couple of questions for me...

 

1) Most of the other teams we are playing are in the same boat, surely the effect is across all sides?

2) Given our last 15 minutes in the last two games, where we have piled on the pressure and upped the tempo, wouldnt that suggest that the players are in better shape then their opponents?

[EnglishOxide]

You honestly cannot believe that fatigue is not an issue with our past 2 performances. Take Danny Drinkwater for example he's played 90 minutes in our last 4 games. We've played 4 games in 14 days. It takes at least 48 hours to recover physiologically from the intensity of Championship football and that is assuming players don't pick up knocks and their recovery goes perfect with plenty of sleep and quality nutrition.

Central midfielders on average are covering distances of 13km and that is a comprised of sprints, multidirectional movements as well as jogging and walking. Going on those numbers in the last 14 days Drinkwater has totalled 52km in 360 minutes of football. It doesn't matter that we've had international breaks with 10 days between games when you have games coming thick and fast like we have in the next 10 days (Burnley, Wigan, Sheff Wednesday).

Drinkwater last season was a top player for us until fatigue set in and his form and confidence dropped drastically through fatigue which he openly admitted himself. Fatigue is such a hard thing to combat and the only way to do it is through squad rotation at sensible times. It's not the players fault that they are tired.

Marney and Jones have played 5 in the last 16 days for Burnley in the same formation as us and they are still going strong.

As the poster above said we continue to come on strong in the final minutes of games. That doesnt suggest fatigue to me.

Its an easy excuse for an all round off night. I think its better to say fair play to the opposition for working them hard and out battling them for large periods.

There were too many sloppy losses of posession from Drinkwater and James in this game. Its rare when they both play like that at the same time.

I agree it would be nice to rotate the midfield, but not when they are the best pairing and we are trying to win the title.

[maxwelld_]

We looked tied. Mahrez was poor as was drinky today. Need to get at least a point on Saturday but 3 would be the kick we need to close out this season and kick on

[Crinklyfox]

Dear Disappointment,

I didn't expect to see you last night, it's been ages since we last met at Brighton. I heard that you'd been hanging around Leeds with your mates Frustration and Misery.

I knew that you'd be round eventually so I shouldn't have been so surprised. To be honest I hadn't missed you, I've been getting to know Happiness and she's great. Still it was good to hear that you've settled into your new place in Nottingham so well, I hope that you can stay there for years to come. I know that you'd have liked to stay until the end of the Yeovil match but just had to get back to Nottingham.

You've been part of my life for a long time until this season, so I have to tell you that I've moved on now. I know that you'll be back at some time but don't make it soon. I intend to spend the summer with Happiness and three's a crowd. Enjoy life in Nottingham.

Yours sincerely,

Crinkly

[Jimothy]

Missed all the fun last night, as I was tucked up in bed with a bastard migraine. Can someone give me a quick rundown of what happened in the game, save me reading the whole match thread?

[foxfanazer]

On a positive note, I thought Wes had big Miller pretty much in his pocket, limiting him to just one decent shot.

I'm surprised at the criticism for RDL. Defensively he was much better tonight.

And things turned when Lloyd came on IMO. Suddenly we had pace again down the flank.

Finally, I like Schlupp. For me, he again was one of our best players.

The midfield today was the problem. They neither stopped Yeovil from charging through nor created anything for the strikers. James was ineffectual and Drinkwater's passing was abysmal.

Agree with all of this Col. I was shouting for Dyer to come on after about 20 minutes

Never got to grips with them in the middle and as you say Drinkwater's passing was really out of character. I also thought Mahrez was really frustrating tonight.

Credit to Yeovil though because I think they stifled our attacking threat really well.

[The Year Of The Fox]

Insane celebrations for the equaliser. I was standing on my seat at the very back. Lost my trainer whilst launching myself 3 rows in front.

I somehow ended up on the floor with my shin in absolute ruins.

I've never seen a swollen shin

[foxfanazer]

Insane celebrations for the equaliser. I was standing on my seat at the very back. Lost my trainer whilst launching myself 3 rows in front.

I somehow ended up on the floor with my shin in absolute ruins.

I've never seen a swollen shin

me too mate. I got my leg stuck in between the seat in front. Hurts now but totally worth it

[Callabinho]

Missed all the fun last night, as I was tucked up in bed with a bastard migraine. Can someone give me a quick rundown of what happened in the game, save me reading the whole match thread?

We were utterly useless and had to rely on Kasper to grab us a last gasp equaliser.

[kingcarr21]

What an equaliser. I was sat right behind the goal so was close to the action (Im the one with yellow shirt in the crowd in the replays  )

 

It was a very frustrating game. We couldnt play our normal game simply because Yeovil closed us down and defended brilliantly. They thoroughly deserved at least a point and credit to them and the managers tactics. I havent seen vardy marked out of a game like that all season. I was disappointed we didnt use Dyer enough when he came on he was alone on the left wing so many times. Drinkwater had a poor game.

 

Dont really agree with the tiredness excuses we simply came up against a strong willed Yeovil side with a game plan and they worked there socks off to break down our attacking play. It could of been so much different had we taken our chances but in the end the confidence in the lads will be sky high after kaspers magic. The celebrations were amazing.

 

I believe we will play better saturday as both teams will play a passing game and not park the bus. Should be an exciting encounter which both teams should be well up for.

 

If the worst does happen and we lose at Burnley its not the end of the world. The title is still in our own hands with having a game in hand which granted is Wigan away but no reason why we cant go there and get a result, and even if we finish the season in 2nd place yes it will be disappointing we didnt win the title but at least we dont have to go through the playoffs again.

 

Its not all doom and gloom so lets keep the faith and go into the burnley game full of high spirits and get behind the lads.

 

COYB

[body102]

We weren't the best last night but Yeovil deserve credit for the way they played .

 

Harping back to league 1 and the Max Gradel free kick at MK Dons , I think Kaspers goal has a  similiar bearing on us getting promotion as that one did and for that reason I am convinced we will be playing premier league football next season .

[reynard]

We were very poor last night and they did what they had to and frustrated us and were very unlucky not to win.

 

If we play like that for the rest of the season we will struggle to win many more games. There was little movement, we kept on playing long balls which Nugent and Vardy had no chance of winning. Mahrez was awful and James little better. Drinkwater played better as the game went on but was basically a one man midfield. Knockaert again showed a lot of energy but when was the last time he really produced anything more than running around a lot. This was like watching us at the end of last season with one major exception. Last season we would have lost. Somehow we managed to find an equaliser but with all respect to Yeovil that was a very poor result against a bang average team.

Yet again our set pieces were just useless. And Vardy, just play to the whistle, the attempt on goal in the first few minutes was pathetic unless he had basically stopped playing because he thought he had been given offside.

 

This wasn't really a one off though. We were poor against Blackpool but a piece of magic broke their spirit and we scored a couple of late goals. We weren't very good against Blackburn and last night rounded off three bad performances for me.

 

We are still a long way from the finishing line and last night underlined that automatic promotion still has to be won and is not a given. The midfield needs a change for Burnley. Mahrez could be a liability up there and should be used as a possible impact player from the bench. James looked tired as well.

 

It is in our hands but a massive improvement will be needed for the next two matches and to get us over the finish line.

[roblcfc84]

Whilst I was wholly disappointed last night, could this a more important result than it appears on the surface?

 

Firstly, and most obvious, it keeps the unbeaten run going and once again consolidates the team spirit going into a tricky period. Also the point buys us an additional game over QPR and ensures that we will remain level with Burnley whatever happens on Saturday.

More importantly I think it’s a stark reminder for the team that its far from over yet. No matter how well City prepare for each game, it is human nature to get ahead of yourselves when so far in front. It’s happened to Newcastle and Liverpool previously in Premier League. I suspect everyone at the club saw last night as an easier game than it turned out to be. Ultimately could be a good reminder there is much work still to be done.

Realistically, QPR and Burnley still have some tricky ties ahead and given with only 24 points available to QPR, and City still to play, I think two wins will be enough to see us over the line. In terms of the title, the Burnley game is massive and I have feeling a very "fire-up" Leicester side will turn out on Saturday.

[Ric Flair]

Not having this tired business, we've had a couple of breaks recently when others have played. I will accept us looking leggy after 5 games in 13 days but currently we've played 3 in 10 days. It's easy to look for excuses when we've not had it our own way but the fact is we've played two physical teams who have upset our style and we've struggled to negotiate that. If Nigel sticks with the same team and style then we must find a way. The good thing is the way Burnley play will raise our game too, we're at our best when pressing from the front.

[youglan]

4th ref on the touchline as reported gary johnson and shakes n mike stowell to the fa after the bust up on the touchline look likes nigel will be on the touchline again 

[Alf Bentley]

Surely football league can't give it to Kasper if the ref played on?

 

It might partly depend on what the ref says about why he played on (for about 2 seconds).

 

If he says that he played on because he'd decided that Kasper's header definitely hadn't crossed the line, unfortunately I think they'd be obliged to give it to Wood...and to put a black mark against the ref if, as I believe, the video stills show that Kasper's header was in.

 

Had the ref taken a final decision, though? In reality, if Yeovil had cleared it after Kasper's effort, all our players would have been protesting and the ref would have had to at least consult his linesman or risk looking very stupid. If the linesman didn't flag, presumably either he thought Kasper's effort wasn't in or he couldn't see...so no goal and a Lampard-style injustice?

 

If the authorities play it by the letter of the law, I'd expect Wood to be given the goal. If anyone has any common sense, the ref will say that he hadn't taken a final decision by the time Wood buried the rebound and the video stills will give it to Kasper. So, Wood's it is then! 

 

A classic moment in a classic season, though. Makes a deeply frustrating draw feel like a win. I hope that it makes the team feel even more invincible on Saturday, making a good result more likely. Saturday team selection will be interesting.

[Alf Bentley]

4th ref on the touchline as reported gary johnson and shakes n mike stowell to the fa after the bust up on the touchline look likes nigel will be on the touchline again 

 

What happened?