Leicester City

[Athers]

And I've just seen Athers comments on the corners

Soon there will be literally dozens of people sat in the Reebok Stadium thinking of me whenever we don't mark up or send another man over for the short one Then there'll be 1000s moaning about leaving a man up which is neither here nor there.

Think we'll be alright with it in future now we have a proper coach in charge, but the on-pitch lack of adapting to it surprised me. It would've been senseless to lose that way!

Stop talking Athers

[officer_dibble]

Annoyed at our sleepiness at short corners...oh athers beat me too it!

pratley was very good tonight...much better than andrews...maybe spearing for andrews? doesnt link with davo at all; which is a shame cos davo won everything.

lee just doesnt look comfortable to me.

this will take time...i very much doubt we will kick on to a top two this season.

[BWFC_Insane]

Annoyed at our sleepiness at short corners...oh athers beat me too it!

pratley was very good tonight...much better than andrews...maybe spearing for andrews? doesnt link with davo at all; which is a shame cos davo won everything.

lee just doesnt look comfortable to me.

this will take time...i very much doubt we will kick on to a top two this season.

Who doesnt link with Davies? Andrews? Andrews didn't move from in front of the back two......

[Leyther_Matt]

What annoyed me about the corners was we had eleven men back, yet nobody on either post nor closing down the short corner as previously mentioned.

Pratley got some undue stick tonight, his movement is very intelligent at times and at least he's always looking to get hold of the ball.

[Wandering Willy]

Battered first half, Boggers kept us in it. MOTM for me.

Better second half coinciding with Leicester playing a lot worse than in the first 45.

Zero pace upfront. KD won a few headers that he flicked on to nobody or a blue shirt. Game was crying out for a centre forward with pace who actually knows how to shoot (see Saturday) but Freedman failed to make the required subs which was disappointing, as was the starting line up.

A point at home that I feel could have been more with the right eleven out there.

[officer_dibble]

BWFCI - Pratley i meant. bad sentance that-im tired been up since 6.

pratley and davo didnt seem to click - point made through the best chance we had where davo nodded it behind pratleys run into the box.

[Ianmooreslovechild]

The fact Kevin Davies is still on the pitch shows that Dougie doesn't trust Sordell....

KD playing well and not tiring so why take him off?

because he isn't scoring goals.... Why people continue to make him out to be god is beyond me... he is a striker... strikers have to score goals... he hasn't scored so you bring on another striker.

Not God by any means. The point was he was playing effectively and combining well with Pratley and the others getting in around him.Sordell is a very different sort of player from the little we've seen of him.

Combining well but not scoring goals. Playing effectively (debatable) but not having a shot. The fact that people are now defending another decision to play K. Davies for 90 minutes by claiming that he worked well with Pratley of all people makes me worry that we'll see more of the same from the pair, rather than just Davies, on Saturday to no avail once more. No one is saying that Sordell can do what Davies does but the reverse is also true. But how about taking Pratley off for Sordell? Maybe Sordell's pace would have been a greater benefit in the last twenty minutes along with his striker's instinct.

I'm afraid your worry may become true. Pratley/KD combining sounded like our main threat tonight. Eagles,Mavis,CYL,Petrov didnt seem to be doing much. Course sordell might have come on and scored but the manager seemed to think it made sense to stick with a player who was looking likely to score. Seems quite reasonable to me.Had Ngog been available I'm sure he'd have been on after an hour.

I'd like to see sordell cos like everyone I've hardly seen anything of him except for some promising build up play and dodgy finishing in the olympics but there must be a reason why he's not getting picked.

I'm not really that bothered about defending anybody but the lad who seems to think the frontman of a 451 has to be scoring to justify selection is talking out of his behind. Remember we dont actually have any prolific strikers and if KD is creating openings but not scoring he is still doing his job.

[Ianmooreslovechild]

BWFCI - Pratley i meant. bad sentance that-im tired been up since 6.

pratley and davo didnt seem to click - point made through the best chance we had where davo nodded it behind pratleys run into the box.

Hmm the problem with radio commentary is you cant see the game! I had the impression KD was winning everything in the air and pratley was getting on the end of things.

[Wandering Willy]

Oh - and why did he play Petrov on the right wing?

[Prufrock]

It's a game of opinions. Been in the pub with lads who thought Leicester were great and we earned a good point.

Don't get me wrong, we'd have lost that under Coyle, the defence were excellent and resilient, but I didn't see much of the 'defend from the front', particularly the midfield. Knight and Mills were excellent. They had about a million corners and plenty of crosses and never really looked like scoring from one. That Knockeart is a shit Chris Eagles btw. Very lucky to be 0-0 at half time. Boggers to thank. Second half was an improvement. Not a great performance, but a clnea, clena, cle...we didn't concede. Take that however.

I thought they were shit too though. Nugent should have scored inside five minutes, but decided, despite having the freedom of the parish to blast it first time at Boggers. Never have two teams deserved more to score nil for me. And that was the bookies' favourites for 1st and 2nd!

Subs were shit. Petrov on the right and Eagles on the left! I can see how that might at least suit Eagles, but then when Afobe came on he went left too! Petrov only has one thing, crossing, and being on the right totally nullifies that. He's also a shithouse too. Awful ball to Ricketts and then bollocked Sam for not reading his own wankness!

And if Pratley had a good game....then Jesus. I can see the logic of sticking him in there for his energy to try to mask the pressure on the defence while we sort that out, and we're only conceding half a goal per game under Dougie, but it better not be long term! He's worth the entrance money alone for his comedy shitness. Should have been taken off once he'd been booked as he couldn't even really make tackles then.

Anyway, that sounds negative, mainly coz we did not play well, but a clean sheet and a point. Decent, if unspectacular.

[Prufrock]

[Re Boggers]Credit where it's due he was good tonight.

Stick a rating up on the match thread Pru?

Boggers: Made an absolute wordly up my end in the first half, and I'm told another one in the second. Also made plenty of saves you'd expect him to make, but crucially, knocked the ball wide or over rather than into the danger area. Caught plenty crosses and made one punch which was a bit weak but punching was the right decision. Best game he's had this season by far. 9/10

San Rarrets: A bit meh. Up against what I think is a typical winger in this divsion, really quick but a bit shit. Made a stupid tackle to get booked in the first half and was OK for the rest. Solid defensively, hesitant going forward. 6/10

Warnock: Robbo with talent. Very good defensively. OK going forward. Carrying a little bit of timber I think, but still did his running. 7/10

Mills: Bristol City Beckenbauer was not in attendance. Woeful on the ball, like, really shit. Also took advantage of a free one on Nugent after the ref had blown up to give him a kicking. History there perhaps? That said I'd rather have a centre half who could defend and not play than the other way around. They had endless crosses and corners and he and Zat were excellent. 8/10

Knight: Seemed to head it away roughly once a minute. Proper centre-half performance, but very lucky to not give away what looked a stonewall penalty in the first half that they oddly didn't seem to appeal for. Got none of the ball and a lot of the man. 8/10

Lee: At the heart of everything good we did first half, gave it away a lot, cheaply in the second. Hopefully just one of those nights where things don't come off. Good to see him at least involved. Looked like he probably should have scored first half. 6/10

Mavies: Tidy, moved it well, still not influential enough in the deeper role for me. We only really looked like scoring when he got forward, brought a really good save from Schmeichel. 7/10.

Andrews: Not sure why he is in over Spearing. Quietly efficient in front of the back four, but very ponderous in possession. One cracking interception towards the end. 6/10

Pratley: Well, he tries. Works hard, harries, even gets into good positions. Just a shame he has the first touch of a thing that has an appalling first touch. Doesn't pick himself, and I'm hoping he is in there to take pressure off the defence whilst they get sorted, but he just isn't a footballer. 6/10

Eagles: Quiet. A few flashes and shots from range. Tried to get at his fullback with mixed success. Still looks best behind the striker for me, and given the lack of goals they offer, we have to get him there. 6/10

KD: Worked hard, won most of his headers but given he isn't a goalscorer, and his support was from Pratters, we were always going to struggle to make many chances. Not terrible but not good either. 6/10

Subs: Petrov: He can do one thing, and one thing only, cross it. So.....stick him on the right. Genius. Lazy as always, and gave it away a lot followed by a rant at San Rarrets who was in no way at fault. He's a shithouse, but one with the ability to justify inclusion if played down the left! He did actually win a header at one point, the big girl, so that was good. 6/10

Afobe: Meh. Played wide left, didn't do a great deal. Typical of his time so far, at one point he beat their full back to cut inside before a heavy touch and a shot that was going out for a throw in until it hit an offside KD. 6/10

[SmokinFrazier]

I think it'll take a while for Freedman to find out our best system. It's easy for us to criticise the decision to play Petrov on the right and Eagles on the left, but Freedman is still finding things out. He may have seen that Coyle couldn't get it to work, which is what we've also seen, but that's not to say Freedman can't. He made a similar move in bringing Pratley in and despite our initial dismay at that, playing under Freedman seems to be a lot better for Pratley than it was under Coyle.

I really wish Freedman had a long pre-season to find out all these things. Unfortunately, he's been dropped in the deep end. He's got tough games coming quickly and no time to figure out what works best for us. For those reasons, I can't be too critical, even though I may think that some of the decision are odd. I'm happy to put faith in Freedman.

[DJBlu]

This was a hard fought point.

Let's not forget that Schmeichel had a good game too. This could have gone either way and was a fair result.

The fecking booing is getting boring now.

1 win 1 draw from 2 difficult games is a good return.

[Abdoulaye's Twin]

Question for those that get to matches regularly...

We all know Eagles is inconsistent but it strikes me from bits I see and what folk say on here, that when he plays behind the striker he almost always has a good game. When he plays on the wing he is a bit 50/50 as to whether he has a good game or not. Is this a fair assessment? If so, surely we need to play him off the striker more often?

[Andy Waller]

I've seen quite a few games under Coyle like this, where he made daft substitutions in key areas and we ended up losing.

A few of our players had off days, we didn't play well really, Leicester played pretty well, both keepers were superb and we ended up with a point.

What's wrong with that??

I can't understand what the booers (booees?) want?

Unless I've totally misunderstood the situation and they're Boers so they're unhappy about being under Imperial rule.

[officer_dibble]

When eagles plays well, we play well. I'd say he's our only goalscorer and most important player. So you build the team to suit him.

Pratleys in cos he chases and harries from the front. Understandable at home to cardiff/leicester when low on confidence. V Barnsley at home? lets go for it a bit more...

[thebish]

I can't understand what the booers (booees?) want?

Unless I've totally misunderstood the situation and they're Boers so they're unhappy about being under Imperial rule.

[Sponge]

I've seen quite a few games under Coyle like this, where he made daft substitutions in key areas and we ended up losing.

A few of our players had off days, we didn't play well really, Leicester played pretty well, both keepers were superb and we ended up with a point.

What's wrong with that??

I can't understand what the booers (booees?) want?

Unless I've totally misunderstood the situation and they're Boers so they're unhappy about being under Imperial rule.

Agree with that post. The people booing yesterday (and on Saturday!?) are an embarrassment to the club. Does my head in.

We had an off day against one of the better sides in the league, but still nicked a point. Good.

[BWFC_Insane]

To be fair, around me, there were a few moans and the odd booer, but most people were clapping them off at the end.

I think some fans are just unrealistic in that they expect a new manager to be able to come in, click his fingers and sort everything out at once. Its not his mess, not his fault that we've an unbalanced squad and that we're built around a 4-4-2 system that simply doesn't work for us, nor in general anymore.

I think that Pratley had a good game, so I'm not too sure where the criticism comes from. To be honest without his ability to press continuously we'd be fecked because KD certainly can't chase around as much anymore. Pratley is clearly a workhorse, and does lack real quality on the ball. But he makes this system work, he certainly should stay in for Blackpool away, not so sure when it comes round to playing "lesser" teams at home though, I think then there might be a case for Eagles in there behind the striker and Petrov back in the side.

Andrews is looking good in the holding role for me, and Dougie's deeper role for Mark Davies is inspired. Davies looks a new player. Always involved, keeping the ball moving, and crucially, playing from deep, which suits him. He's never IMO a "behind the striker" player and never will be.

KD had a good game last night, won a lot in the air.

To be honest, we'd have had a great chance of winning if either of LCY or Eagles had produced some quality. LCY looked like 2 games in a few days caught up with him and got a decent amount of the ball but did nowt with it, and Eagles had a stinker.

Dougie needs to work on our set pieces because the delivery was woeful, time and time again.

Oh and when defending corners we didn't put anyone on the posts. Do I not like that!

[Bruno3]

Agree with all of all Insane's comments. Hopefully the Bogdan baiters will f*ck off for a while at least after his superb performance last night and, as previously agree, the booers should have an assegai inserted.