Post Match Leicester City 0 - 0 Nottingham Forest

[Profondo Rosso]

Last night we were doing exactly what we did under SGE earlier in the season: either a: pass it out to the wings and lob high balls into the box or b: pass it back to Schmeichel to lob a high ball forward.

Forest's defence just lapped it up all night.

When will we learn that playing high balls into Beckford and Nugent, strikers who are so poor in the air, is an incredibly pointless thing to do. Schmeichel's quick long balls to Beckford from GKs etc. are also a tactic which really doesn't work and seems to always end in us giving the ball back to the opposition.

Have to agree with Homer also, thought Drinkwater was poor last night. Constantly gave the ball away.

 

[H T B]

Under Sven we had about half a dozen opportunities where if we had won our game we'd have been in a play off position.
On all accounts we failed.
What makes people suddenly think we'd have made the step up with Sven, now?

It's like when certain players aren't in the team/squad, they become world beaters that would have turned a game around, where as previous appearances have shown that this is not the case!

 

[Profondo Rosso]

Under Sven we had about half a dozen opportunities where if we had won our game we'd have been in a play off position.
On all accounts we failed.
What makes people suddenly think we'd have made the step up with Sven, now?

It's like when certain players aren't in the team/squad, they become world beaters that would have turned a game around, where as previous appearances have shown that this is not the case!

Like homer I think we'd have probably been the same under SGE as we are now. However the football has certainly improved under Pearson and Pearson's football isn't even that amazing either.

Why SGE decided the change his style from last season where we played some of the best football I've ever seen Leicester play to the turgid one dimensional crap he served up at the beginning of this season was what I found most head scratching about his time here.

 

[FryattFox]

Last night we were doing exactly what we did under SGE earlier in the season: either a: pass it out to the wings and lob high balls into the box or b: pass it back to Schmeichel to lob a high ball forward.

Forest's defence just lapped it up all night.

When will we learn that playing high balls into Beckford and Nugent, strikers who are so poor in the air, is an incredibly pointless thing to do. Schmeichel's quick long balls to Beckford from GKs etc. are also a tactic which really doesn't work and seems to always end in us giving the ball back to the opposition.

Have to agree with Homer also, thought Drinkwater was poor last night. Constantly gave the ball away.

I said last night that we just get into their third, look up and appear completely clueless.

To an extent, I think it's a problem that a lot of teams face - teams will come to the KP and put 10 men behind the ball and play on the counter. Man Utd had the same problem for 40 minutes against Fulham on Monday. We just seem to lack any other ideas.

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results

 

[Babylon]

My bad, It was points away from the play offs then?

We were two points away after 13 games, we're now on 39 games and 4 points away. So Pearson has drifted two points over the space of double the amount of games Sven had.

 

[Profondo Rosso]

We averaged 1.46 points per game this season under SGE and averaged 1.48 points per game under NP.

Whether or not we'd have improved under SGE is all completely hypothetical and therefore a bit of a pointless debate, but we certainly don't sit worse off as camberwell suggests, if we are more points off the play-offs that's simply because we've played more games now as we've basically continued going along at exactly the same pace.

 

[Redditch Fox]

Why SGE decided the change his style from last season where we played some of the best football I've ever seen Leicester play to the turgid one dimensional crap he served up at the beginning of this season was what I found most head scratching about his time here.

Its simple. Last season we had a different complement of players - including some very talented if not entirely consistent loanees. To be fair to Sven he had to scramble for sufficient players to form a squad when he inevitably lost these players. We didn't have a settled squad last season that could seriously challenge last season and we have remained a work in progress this season. I think - without being entirely certain - that progress is being made. A lot depends now on whether we can hold on to the better players for next season. As I've said before we don't have any strikers on the books (Howard excluded for obvious reasons) that can provide the height & strength needed when we need to go route 1 (which almost all successful teams do when the need arises).

 

[Profondo Rosso]

Its simple. Last season we had a different complement of players - including some very talented if not entirely consistent loanees. To be fair to Sven he had to scramble for sufficient players to form a squad when he inevitably lost these players. We didn't have a settled squad last season that could seriously challenge last season and we have remained a work in progress this season. I think - without being entirely certain - that progress is being made. A lot depends now on whether we can hold on to the better players for next season. As I've said before we don't have any strikers on the books (Howard excluded for obvious reasons) that can provide the height & strength needed when we need to go route 1 (which almost all successful teams do when the need arises).

This is true Redditch. Said it before, but we don't have anyone like Yakubu here atm. Our style of play improved greatly when he was here and dropped off dramatically when he went. Don't know whether because he was such a presence or what our players got much more freedom to attack and we didn't have to rely on strikers who rely greatly on the service of others to come good as he could create things for himself or what, but we've never looked anywhere near the same side in terms of style of play since.

Same with Naughton I guess too, haven't had full-backs who could really attack the oposition as he could. Konchesky and Peltier always just cross high balls into the box which as said is pointless with our current attack and it's so predictable as well. Whereas Naughton could cut inside and even shoot (and he scored some real crackers) or play through balls or short passes in the box along the deck.

 

[The Old Fox]

I'm pretty certain we showed no signs of any consistency under Sven and never looked like cementing a position in the play offs under his tenure. I'd rather have Drinkwater and Morgan than Johnson and Ball any day, pretty good swap if you ask me.

Your final paragraph is just your expectation rather than anything that actually happened or even looked like happening under Sven.

Sven created a new team. He had so to do. The team was not given time to bed in, therefore, an opinion is all that one can offer. Even without re-enforcements in the January window, Sven's team would have benefited from the partnership which has built up between Nugent and Beckford and, whilst he may have lost a midfielder (Yuki Abe), I do not think that he would have lost three.

As to Drinkwater and Morgan being better than Johnson and Ball; it is true that they have been but, Johnson and Ball were signed as potentially more than these two. Signing a mass of players, as Sven did, some are bound to fail. I do not see either Drinkwater or Morgan developing beyond what they currently are; acceptable Championship players.

 

[indierich06]

Sven created a new team. He had so to do. The team was not given time to bed in, therefore, an opinion is all that one can offer. Even without re-enforcements in the January window, Sven's team would have benefited from the partnership which has built up between Nugent and Beckford and, whilst he may have lost a midfielder (Yuki Abe), I do not think that he would have lost three.

As to Drinkwater and Morgan being better than Johnson and Ball; it is true that they have been but, Johnson and Ball were signed as potentially more than these two. Signing a mass of players, as Sven did, some are bound to fail. I do not see either Drinkwater or Morgan developing beyond what they currently are; acceptable Championship players.

Yeah but some of Sven's signings haven't even been aceeptable Championship players - Paintsil, Ball, Johnson... His approach to signings was very scattergun and I think he would've have been better to get his key signings in during the summer and then make additions in January. You can't build a completely new side from scratch over one close season, it just doesn't work.

I'm not saying Pearson's perfect - far from it. But he's come and fianlly managed to stabilise the team by the looks of things and I'm convinced that we've now got a solid platform on which to build for next season. (EDIT: Plus, he's managed to get the best out of players who looked mediocre or poor under Sven's management, that's another positive for me.)

I know you're not convinced, but I think we'll see a marked improvement next season - all we need is a couple of key signings I reckon.

 

[The Old Fox]

I know you're not convinced, but I think we'll see a marked improvement next season - all we need is a couple of key signings I reckon.

I'll lay odds that we sign another lumpen centre half and a striker - no midfielder.

 

[TornadoShaunUK]

We played some great attacking football under Sven, pity about the slightly dismal defence. Under Pearson, the defence doesn't seem much better, and the attack.. well, it's no better either. Points wise, they are both about as bad as each other at the moment, so IMO you'd have to say there has been no improvement on the playing side. Pearson wasn't my first choice when we got him and to be honest I doubt he'd have been the Thai's either, no doubt they got some pushing in a particular direction by people within the club who had great things to say about Pearson's previous time here. That's not to say I think he's a bad manager though. Let's see what Pearson can do in January to boost the squad and with a full preseason behind him. I think the Thai's might have to be patient whatever happens as there isn't going to be a quick fix to getting in the Premier League.

Yesterday was typical of us and indeed I said as much before the Hull game, we'd do well against Hull and Blackpool and come up short against the poorer side. Look what happened.

 

[Miles Away]

Sven was still figuring out his best side when he got fired. I feel he would have got there eventually.

He would also have provided a level of consistency to the system we play, the players we play in it, the tactics, etc etc.

For better or worse when Sven was sacked we had to go through a massive adjustment period, during which the results were very poor. Had Sven stayed, instead of spending xmas shedding squad members, changing formations and implementing a new style of play we would have had a more settled side, and therefore more points.

This isn't a debate about whether Sven is better than Pearson, it's a debate about whether our position is better or worse than it would have been had Sven been retained.

And I still don't get the mentality that Sven signed a load of shit. Some of his signings have been pretty good.

 

[Kingy_85]

Since MON the only City Manager who has actually made a decent signing is NP.

Towards the end of the Cardiff playoff season I was so confident in his ability to find players I fully expected us to go up the following season.

 

[Miles Away]

Since MON the only City Manager who has actually made a decent signing is NP.

Really?

 

[LES Fox]

Yeah but some of Sven's signings haven't even been aceeptable Championship players - Paintsil, Ball, Johnson... His approach to signings was very scattergun and I think he would've have been better to get his key signings in during the summer and then make additions in January. You can't build a completely new side from scratch over one close season, it just doesn't work.

I'm not saying Pearson's perfect - far from it. But he's come and fianlly managed to stabilise the team by the looks of things and I'm convinced that we've now got a solid platform on which to build for next season. (EDIT: Plus, he's managed to get the best out of players who looked mediocre or poor under Sven's management, that's another positive for me.)

I know you're not convinced, but I think we'll see a marked improvement next season - all we need is a couple of key signings I reckon.

Agreed. Pearson has brought improved performances from some, Danns, Beckford, St Ledger and his preference on the old(er) guard when he first returned was understandable. But it's tick tock for these players now - Gallagher, Wellens, Dyer, Howard! -- if earlier rumours of a decent offer by Blackburn for Bamba are true we'd do well to take it. Our midfield has been week for a number of years, in fairness Pearson addressed this in January and I'm sure he'll do so again in the summer.

Even if Sven had not been fired then, he'd have been fired by now - he spent too much, too soon, and didn't get the results, what was more his signings didn't look considered he bought names not a system and paid the price. The sub-text in all his is the club made a loss of $15m last year and unless we cut back dramatically or get promotion in the next two seasons, it's looking ominous for the club.

 

[Waxed]

Really?

On a consistent basis I don't think that is too much of a far-fetched statement. You can probably count Pearson's bad signings on one hand in his whole span here - what of the rest?

He has proven himself to be one of the best managers at this level and I honestly believe that with some patience we can be right up there fighting next season. It's been horribly disjointed this year but there have been several factors that have not helped matters.

I was disappointed with Sven's departure at the time as I felt he probably would have turned things around but it's also fair to say that he left a lot to be desired at times. We do not have the quality of Yakubu to call upon this season and Peltier is no Naughton. But, for one reason or another, the defence is just as generous. I don't know why but it needs sorting.

Who is the man to do that? You only have to look at how good we were at the back in Pearson's first Championship season with us (and in League One), and a quick glance at Hull this season tells its own story. In January he made signings that fit the bill for this division, whatever you may think of Morgan.

Change is certainly not going to help matters and until we find some stability we'll continue in this horrible pattern of looking towards next season in February. Pearson is the right man for this job and he at least deserves the next year to prove that.

 

[The Old Fox]

On a consistent basis I don't think that is too much of a far-fetched statement. You can probably count Pearson's bad signings on one hand in his whole span here - what of the rest?

He has proven himself to be one of the best managers at this level and I honestly believe that with some patience we can be right up there fighting next season. It's been horribly disjointed this year but there have been several factors that have not helped matters.

I was disappointed with Sven's departure at the time as I felt he probably would have turned things around but it's also fair to say that he left a lot to be desired at times. We do not have the quality of Yakubu to call upon this season and Peltier is no Naughton. But, for one reason or another, the defence is just as generous. I don't know why but it needs sorting.

Who is the man to do that? You only have to look at how good we were at the back in Pearson's first Championship season with us (and in League One), and a quick glance at Hull this season tells its own story. In January he made signings that fit the bill for this division, whatever you may think of Morgan.

Change is certainly not going to help matters and until we find some stability we'll continue in this horrible pattern of looking towards next season in February. Pearson is the right man for this job and he at least deserves the next year to prove that.

With the exception of a couple of great loans (Cleverley and Davies) who are these superb signings, and where are they now? I would like Pearson to get next season; I think that he would fail and prove my point but, if it were my money that had gone into the club, I would not be pleased that the best that can be said is that we are, "Perhaps, no worse than we would have been without changing manager". I suspect that he too will receive the order of the elbow, and we can argue that Sven's hypothetical season would have been better than Pearson's (or vice versa!).

Of course, there is a worse alternative and King Power pulls the plug!

 

[TornadoShaunUK]

Since MON the only City Manager who has actually made a decent signing is NP.

Towards the end of the Cardiff playoff season I was so confident in his ability to find players I fully expected us to go up the following season.

You don't rate Danns, Schmeichel, Nugent, Beckford, Yakubu etc then. Sven signed some great players IMO..

 

[M17TT C]

Re Sven v Nigel - there may not be much to choose between the performance of the two managers but there certainly seems to be a lot more positivity and good feeling around the club now which is reflected in much better atmoshpehere's at the game.

Nothing worse the a shit match with a shit atmosphere but at least last night made up with a decent atmosphere and even if we might not be any closer to getting promoted, I a hell of a lot more inclined to get a season ticket again next year becuase of this and I'm sure others have noticed this too and can only be seen to be a positive direction that the club is moving in.