Leicester City 1-2 Inter Milan – Match Report
Match Report Leicester suffered a defeat in their ‘glamour’ friendly versus Inter Milan. With the event being made a fiasco by the Italian club by cancelling then un-cancelling, the game never really made up for it all.
It was a cold and rainy night, we were wearing yellow, Inter only fielded a couple of players I have ever heard of, the stadium was silent and the game was dull overall. Not exactly what the club must have expected when they organised the game.
Less that 15,000 people tuned up for the game which proves that an awful lot of people were put off by Inter Milan’s faffing around and then leaving their star players at home. You know it’s a bad game and a bad atmosphere when the loudest noise in the stadium is the players shouting to one and other.
Levein chose to rest Maybury, McCarthy and Gudjonsson meanwhile Hughes, Douglas and Connolly were injured, this gave chances to players like Alan Sheehan.
City started brightly, the lively Momo Sylla crossed to Dion Dublin but his shot only managed to hit the side netting. Sylla and Dublin linked up well during the first 15 minutes, Dublin headed wide from a Sylla cross and a few minutes later Sylla dribbled into the area but instead of shooting he gave it to Dion…who gave it back to Sylla and the chance was wasted.
Danny Tiatto then came close with a long range effort after 13 minutes but the shot flew just over the bar.
Inter then came close in bizarre fashion, Sinisa Mihajlovic's corner nearly curved into the goal but it rattled the crossbar instead.
Jason Wlicox tested the Inter keeper Julio Cesar by letting rip with a superb strike but Cesar showed his agility by impressively pushing the ball away.
After 25 minutes came the break through, Choutos back-heel shocked the City defence and it fed through Santiago Solari to coolly slot the ball into the net.
Dion Dublin then came close again with another header but Cesar was equal to it.
Inter doubled their lead a few minutes later after good work from Greek international Giorgos Karagounis allowed Choutos to half volley the ball past a helpless Paul Henderson.
In the minutes leading up the half time both Johansson and Dublin came close with headers but both were saved by the impressive Cesar.
The second half started with Mark de Vries coming close, the giant of a player used his strength to get a shot in on goal but the ball rolled wide. He may look like a donkey and play like a donkey sometimes, but he causes defences problems.
New keeper Paul Henderson then saved magnificently from a long range effort, the ball looked to be going in but the former Bradford goalie pushed it wide.
Both sides then failed to create many opportunities causing many yawns around the ground. The game eventually got going but only due to a number of long range efforts that missed the target for both sides.
Little Levi Porter came on after 77 minutes and it took the tiny winger an awful long time to even touch the ball, when he eventually did it was met with a cheer from the Kop…this carried on throughout the rest of the game.
Then with a few minutes remaining a dubious penalty was awarded by ref Phil Dowd against Inter for pushing. O’Grady stepped up and put the ball to the keepers right to give City a consolation goal.
The national press have called the game an easy win for Inter, but that wasn’t the case at all. We had far more shots on goal and we would have had even more if it wasn’t for Mark de Vries who insisted on trying to dribble round every player.
Our back 4 of Sheehan, Johansson, Gerrbrand and Canero (remember him?) looked very strong, Gerrbrand in particular looked liked a very good defender.
In the middle Williams look very poor, he never tried to get into the game and his touch was shocking. Wilcox was just as poor but we expect that from him, Tiatto worked hard but his passing strayed at times, while Sylla looked like a player who will cause lots of problems for defences.
Upfront wasn’t good viewing, Dublin and de Vries should never ever play together as a partnership because they are too similar and too slow. Hopefully once Connolly is fit again and a new striker is brought in we won’t have to witness that ever again.
Overall some positive signs but we can’t judge too much as it was only a relaxed pre-season friendly.
Player Ratings
City: Henderson 7, Canero 7 (Porter 77), Sheehan 7 (Maybury 86), Gerrbrand 9, Johansson 8, Tiatto © 7, Sylla 8 (Stearman 66) , Williams 5, Dublin 5 (O'Grady 68), De Vries 6, Wilcox 6. Subs not used: McCarthy, Logan, Wright.
Inter: Cesar, Wome, Stankovic, Momente, Pizarro, Choutos, Solari, Mihajlovic, Ze Maria, Karagounis, Materazzi ©. Subs: Bindi, Arrieta, Giani, Fantario, Bonucci, Maa Boumsong, Favalli, Belaid, Semenzato.
