Post Match Peterborough 1 Leicester 0

[The Old Fox]

I wasn't one of those calling for Holloway's head but surely the reason for this situation being different is blindingly obvious?

I disagree. Both failed miserably, with someone else's squad. I take it that you think relegation to the first is more serious than failing to get promotion but, I would wager that this failure has cost the club more.

 

[gregs_y2k]

If it was as suggested on the radio commentary at the time then Beckford is a disgrace. You should always keep going until the final whistle.

If it isn't as suggested on the radio commentary at the time then I'm more than happy to listen to the explanation.

Why is it a disgrace? We needed to win, we were 1-0 down with seconds left on the clock. It's slightly unprofessional but how many on here haven't slowed their pace with 5 minutes left on the clock at work. As I said he busted his gut to chase back a couple of minutes earlier, it wasn't if he had been lazy and lacked any drive throughout the entire game. I think the fact that a player was absolutely knackered at the end of the match has been blown completely out of proportion and if Pearson was making a big deal about it on the touchline, I think it suggests he's starting to feel the pressure and is worried about his job.

 

[PEN3]

Alan Young's comments on Beckford were devastating. Not being at the match I do not know whether they were justified. There was also the accusation that he had missed a chance because he was afraid of being hurt.There may be some explanation. If so Beckford needs to speak publicly to defuse the situation. Otherwise there is the possibility of some Leicester fans booing a Leicester player.

Beckford didn't challenge for a header when the ball was crossed towards the far post. As far as I could see, it wasn't a gilt-edged opportunity and we ended up with a corner. Not sure that Beckford should be criticised for this.

 

[Durham Fox]

Vassell looked brilliant before his injury.

Did he? You're easily pleased. He looked average at best to me.

 

[LeeCovFox]

You are correct in saying that failing to win promotion has cost us more if you're looking at it in terms of raw figures. Although it wouldn't have cost so much if the owners hadn't thought that spunking millions about the place was the way to do it. There seems to be a lot of hero worship of the owners among Leicester fans but they won't go escaping responsibility forever.

If we are looking at performance on the pitch then I don't see how being mid-table in the second tier can be considered worse than relegation to the third. That's objectively incorrect. I'm not sure it's fair to say that Pearson has failed miserably with Eriksson's squad. We don't know what was said between the owners and Pearson before he agreed to return to the club. If the objective was promotion this season then he certainly has failed. Especially considering we have been in the top six during his time here and have gone backwards ever since.

But Pearson gets away with this for two reasons. Firstly, he may have failed with somebody else's squad, but we are higher in the league than we were when Eriksson was sacked which would suggest that he has done at least as well as Eriksson did with Eriksson's own squad. And secondly we know that given the opportunity Pearson has proven capable in the past of building a squad capable of challenging for promotion with far less money than is available under our current ownership. I'v heard some caveat that second point with the notion that we did so well that season due to our momentum from winning League One. I think that's nonsense. Norwich weren't promoted last season because they won League One the season before, and Southampton won't go up this season because of anything they did last season. They went up because their managers built squads strong enough to do so, just as Pearson built a squad good enough to finish fifth in 2010.

@The Old Fox

 

[spionfox]

I think the fact that a player was absolutely knackered at the end of the match has been blown completely out of proportion

Is that genuinely all it was then?

I really don't know - I wasn't there.

 

[spionfox]

Otherwise there is the possibility of some Leicester fans booing a Leicester player.

Not that that has ever happened before............

 

[Nottingham Fox]

A very depressing day. The formation doesn't work, Nugent must be seething with what he's been asked to do. Drinkwater and Marshall looked like lost kids in the playground at times. Bamba put a shift in but gave away endless free kicks. I thought Wes Morgan took some very big risks when he had the option to take a much easier option. Just like the Forest game, we'd not have scored if we were still playing now. Would be interesting to see how the game would have panned out if that **** of a ref had given the Beckford decision early on when he played a ridiculous advantage. Didn't see the Beckford incident at the end of the game, was too busy arguing with the ****ing coppers who wouldn't let me walk through the way I walked in.

Onwards and upwards

 

[Orifice]

Again, we seem to perform better against teams higher up the the league than ones below us. One positive is that there are even more teams that we can, perhaps, perform better against now.

 

[Redditch Fox]

Vassell looked brilliant before his injury.

Vassell was still sharp and dangerous over a few yards before his injury but I sense he is near the end of his career.

I think the club has a big problem. We don't want to have another manager turnover - but I'm sorry to say that Pearson is looking edgy and his man management is looking in doubt.

We didn't rally want to get into a big turnover of players either - but what do you do if you believe that the current squad isn't good enough and contains some 'bad apples'.

What isn't in doubt is that they have under-performed throughout the season. Clubs with minimal resources compared with Leicester have got far far more out of their players.

 

[gregs_y2k]

Is that genuinely all it was then?

I really don't know - I wasn't there.

I heard young and Stringer say that he'd ran the full length of the pitch a minute earlier to help defend.

 

[LeeCovFox]

Vassell was still sharp and dangerous over a few yards before his injury but I sense he is near the end of his career.

I think the club has a big problem. We don't want to have another manager turnover - but I'm sorry to say that Pearson is looking edgy and his man management is looking in doubt.

We didn't rally want to get into a big turnover of players either - but what do you do if you believe that the current squad isn't good enough and contains some 'bad apples'.

What isn't in doubt is that they have under-performed throughout the season. Clubs with minimal resources compared with Leicester have got far far more out of their players.

But have we underperformed? We have in the eyes of the supporters who were expecting a title challenge and were encouraged to expect as such by the local media, club owners and club management. But what about our players, either here or at previous clubs, suggests that they are doing anything other than performing as expected?

 

[Nottingham Fox]

Again, we seem to perform better against teams higher up the the league than ones below us. One positive is that there are even more teams that we can, perhaps, perform better against now.

No points from the next two games then :icon_sad:

 

[Profondo Rosso]

But have we underperformed? We have in the eyes of the supporters who were expecting a title challenge and were encouraged to expect as such by the local media, club owners and club management. But what about our players, either here or at previous clubs, suggests that they are doing anything other than performing as expected?

As usual, I agree, Lee, and I've been saying it since about September.

Once you start looking at the players' past histories you realise that maybe the players aren't underperforming, but are in fact just performing as they have in their past clubs and that the squad as a whole isn't really underperforming either, it's just a very average mid-table squad which is performing as a very average mid-table squad.

The fact people are going on about how good Vassell was says it all, they have lost perspective in all the pre-season hype about how good we actually are. People are hyping players as "proving themselves to be good enough this season" because they've had a few good matches, even though they've had just as many, if not more really poor matches.

Vassell in his 2 seasons for us, quite honestly, performed nowhere near as good as Waghorn did in 09/10 and Waghorn wasn't even particularly amazing in that season either.

 

[gregs_y2k]

As usual, I agree, Lee, and I've been saying it since about September.

Once you start looking at the players' past histories you realise that maybe the players aren't underperforming, but are in fact just performing as they have in their past clubs and that the squad as a whole isn't really underperforming either, it's just a very average mid-table squad which is performing as a very average mid-table squad.

The fact people are going on about how good Vassell was says it all, they have lost perspective in all the pre-season hype about what good player is. People are hyping players as "proving themselves to be good enough this season" because they've had a few good matches, even though they've had just as many, if not more really poor matches.

Wholesale changes in the summer and I guarantee we will not get promoted.

 

[Profondo Rosso]

Wholesale changes in the summer and I guarantee we will not get promoted.

I've already addressed that, gregs. I don't want to see us make them, but do you really think our owners will be happy to see us build over a 2 or 3 year period? Do you really think the majority fans who were promised promotion about 5 years ago by Mandaric aren't also starting to get sick of that and impatient now as well?

It's like I said earlier, the owners, the media and the fans, the players, the current manager and the previous 2 managers have all played their part in this mess.

 

[camberwell fox]

I am once again so disillusioned with city.

I get all excited at the prospect of a good season and once again we are woeful. I use the word woeful as I think this is accurate.

If we beat the so called mediocre teams but did ok or not so well against the top teams it all wouldn't appear so bloody annoying and frustrating. I feel our success against the teams above us has fuelled expectation. If we had done the reverse of this and beat the shite below us but not performed so we against the teams above expectation would not have risen.

Ps: PEARSON is not going to get us promoted next season if he is in charge.

 

[gregs_y2k]

I've already addressed that, gregs. I don't want to see us make them, but do you really think our owners will be happy to see us build over a 2 or 3 year period?

There's more than a decent enough base to build a promotion challenging team on. you only have to look at us 3 seasons ago, Norwich and Southampton to realise that you do not need an incredible squad to be promotion contenders. 3 or 4 of the right kind of signings and we can be more than capable of challenging for promotion.

Our defence is suspect yes, but having a solid and good defensive unit can often be about having time to be able to gel and organise. It is not necessarily a thing you can address mid season. If we have the summer to work on it there is a chance we could address this issue without making a single signing in that dept, although I do expect us to go into the market.

In midfield we do need a couple of positions addressing, I think however, if Vassell has not lost his pace, that he could definitely be utilised and give us variety and pace. He has been an excellent signing for us and anyone who thinks otherwise really has some explaining to do. We certainly need a central midfielder but I don't think there is too much that needs changing, especially with Drinkwater and Marshall now in.

Strikers, I would only go for 1 signing there as a replacement for Howard.

 

[Nottingham Fox]

Nearly half the division is above us so can we stop all this bollocks about playing better against the teams above us. We've only done the double over Southampton from the teams above us, if we had anything about us we'd win home and away.

I don't know the solution but if I did I'd be a football manager.

 

[gregs_y2k]

I am once again so disillusioned with city.

I get all excited at the prospect of a good season and once again we are woeful. I use the word woeful as I think this is accurate.

If we beat the so called mediocre teams but did ok or not so well against the top teams it all wouldn't appear so bloody annoying and frustrating. I feel our success against the teams above us has fuelled expectation. If we had done the reverse of this and beat the shite below us but not performed so we against the teams above expectation would not have risen.

Ps: PEARSON is not going to get us promoted next season if he is in charge.

Slipping up against the lower teams is not exactly a new thing for Leicester though is it? Has been an annoying truth for a huge amount of the time I remember being a supporter and my dad says the same since he started going in the 50's