Shockingly poor

[Fox Fan]

Today's game down at the new Den saw a Number of unacceptably poor performances from som members of the Leicester City squad!

Blake - well he shouldn't be asllowed anywhere near a football Pitch IMO (bring back hignett). Blake is lazy, poor on the ball, lacks skill and has so far been unable to pass the ball at all.

Willimas - He was pretty much anomyous for the enire match as he was aginst derby and im starting to wonder just what we've brought here. clearly Nalis and Williams is not a good midfeild combination (which was Ovious from the derby match so why leave it for another game Micky?)

Wilcox - How this man ever got in the England squad is beond me. He is truly shocking! Personally I wouldn't put him in Bromsgrove rovers squad. He lost the ball to often and his passing was woeful.

Stewrt - did not impress to day, did manage to do anything mentionable at all!

Keown/Dabizas - One of these two clearly elbowed a Milwall player in teh face inside the box, luckily the dopey ref missed it but it was an outragously stupid thing to do for a experianced professional.

Scowy - Milwall were just faster than him, whenver he got the ball they pounced on him and ultimatly this lead to him being out of the game.

Conelly - not exactly a great game, he seems to be unawre of the players arounf him and therefore it is massivly difficult to play a ball to anyone. Considering hes a proven goalscorer I would of expected him to of scorn in 3 games

However on a postive not:

Gudjonhson - look excellent and made the midfeild a beeter all round unit.

Gillespie - Alos looked good and meant that milwall had to pay more attention to the right wing

Trev - look a damn sight beteter than Blake!

 

[chrislcfc18]

Jimmy Hill eat your heart out. Come on its only the 3rd game of the season. We are bound to lose games so are you going to say this every time we do. Yes it was a disappointing display but as i said in a reply to another post that this one to forget about and look to the next league game to make amends. I do agree with you on one point and that Nalis and Williams shouldnt play together. Our team in the last few years has usually involved a midfield of a playmaker and a tenacious ball winner i.e Lennon/Izzet/Savage and McKinlay/Izzet. I think we should be looking at partnering Gudjonsen with either one of them.

 

[hob-fox]

it sounded a load of crap, we didn't get a chance on target until just after half time apparently??

 

[Fox Fan]

Yeah chris your dam right its only the 3rd game of the season and out of 3 we have only looked reasonalbly good in one (West ham). At this point im not too concerned because we have a few players to come back but i'm just telling you ehat i thought of todays performance which was utterly shite!

 

[chrislcfc18]

I thought it sounded quite poor too on the radio. Then i read the report on the official sight which sounded as though we played quite well and created good chances. Must have fell asleep through those :roll:

 

[Phil The Fox]

We were poor definitely and we created no chances for way too long

I dont agree with the comment re Williams completely, he does (usually) have the ability to pass and to see a player but it didnt gel yesterday

Blake - was woeful, should have been subbed off at ht
Wilcox - mostly awful, did make the occasional tackle but completely unable to pass

The worst thing was the complete disarray on the left side in the first half, both defence and mid-field. I assume others saw the shouting match between Dabizas and the rest of the defence on who was to blame for the goal?

Definitely a day to forget, several poor individual performances and a bad team performance too

Phil

(first post here btw)

 

[Redditch Fox]

Today's game down at the new Den saw a Number of unacceptably poor performances from som members of the Leicester City squad!


The result & performance is no big surprise given:

- two hard games in the previous 8 days

- Milwall following 2 defeats were always going to dig in for this one

- whatever we might like to think, Dennis Wise is not a prat when it comes to the nastier tactical side of the game

- a lot of people have built up slightly too high expectations for this season & gone overboard on rating the new signings

- when you take out three or four players - the squad is still thin & that's all we can afford e.g. no proven defensive cover available yesterday

- Micky has good excellent qualities but is prone to make some duff acquisitions - Wilcox is one example & Blake is only there for cover hopefully & Benji is flavour of the last 4 days but it really aint going to last etc.

- also Micky's teams seem to lack much self - discipline.

I still think we shall get into a cjallenging position -but Micky will no that any thought of this squad being viable in the Prem is just ridiculous. So everything here is short term & that's how it has to be.

 

[foxes1970]

Bar the west ham game we've flattered to decieve - it pains me to say that derby were the better team for the majority of the game against us - until micky made the triple changes - which brings me to the next point why start with the same line up as the derby game when we were obviously shite. start with gillespie, gudjonnson and tricky trev and rest/bin wilcox/stewart (with scowy moving over to the left - he may be poor but he's playing better than W & S), bench either nalis or williams (on form williams is on the bench can't seem to tackle to save his life) and as for blake leave on the team bus.

 

[highland fox]

Can't argue with the people who were actually there but it really is early days.If this happens in a months time then set the alarms bells ringing.This may be MA's wake up call i.e You can't play both Nalis and Williams,Blake isn't fit enough and when he is will he be good enough,the left needs completely revamping,what happens when Dublin can't play.For what it's worth the team I'd go with on Saturday is
Walkler
Canero
Heath(Keown if absent)
Dabizas
Tiatto
Gillespie
Gudjohnnson
Williams
Nalis
Connolly
Scowcroft

On bench
Lardy
Stearman
Gemmil
Wright
Stewart

Leave Blake out get him totally fit then see what he can do,The left wing is still a problem.I'd play Morris there if he is ever fit,failing that Makin(when available) left back and push Tiatto up to left wing.I did even consider Benjamin out on the left wing but I know that was a great goal against the sheep but I just can't put him in the side I've seen him fall over the ball or himself just once too often.

 

[fitz]

im sick of when i comment on how crap blake is that people say "he is not match fit".....what exactly do we have reserve football for? personally i think if MA can justify leaving him on the pitch while trev warms the bench does not give many people confidence. in all honesty trev is not the most gifted individual world football has seen, but he puts the effort in and unlike blake he jumps for the ball and runs about.

Joey G has came on in two matches i've seen and he seems to know how to put effort in, so i reckon him and nalis should be the midfield two....sod the lazy boy from trees.

 

[FOX MENTAL]

2 Main points from me:
1:Why have we let Guppy and Mckinly go for Wilkcox and ???
2:Why did Micky leave it so late to take Blake off who was crap

Team for the next game should be IMO:

Walker

Canero(if back)
Heath
Dabizas
Tiatto

Scowy
Gudjonsen
Williams / Lil
Benji

Wright
Connolly

 

[Keep the Faith]

Personally I think Williams is getting a rough ride, there were several people who stated in pre season that Williams needed a ball winner in midfield next to him. Until this happens i am afraid we wont see the best of him a la Izzet last season when Nalis played.

My team for Saturday would be

Walker

Canero
Heath (Keown if Heath not fit )
Dabizas
Tiatto

Gillespie
Williams
Gudjonsson
Scowcroft

Connolly
Benjamin

Subs

Pressman
Stewart
Keown ( or Stearman )
Wright
Gemmill

 

[Steven]

We were poor definitely and we created no chances for way too long

I dont agree with the comment re Williams completely, he does (usually) have the ability to pass and to see a player but it didnt gel yesterday

Blake - was woeful, should have been subbed off at ht
Wilcox - mostly awful, did make the occasional tackle but completely unable to pass

The worst thing was the complete disarray on the left side in the first half, both defence and mid-field. I assume others saw the shouting match between Dabizas and the rest of the defence on who was to blame for the goal?

Definitely a day to forget, several poor individual performances and a bad team performance too

Phil

(first post here btw)

Welcome Phil, sorry to see it is under such circumstances. :? :? :? :roll:

 

[highland fox]

I wasn't aware the reserve league had started but I maybe wrong. I'm not a fan of Blake but all I'm saying is let him get fit then feel free to slate him,I'm sure MA didn't have the intention of playing Blake now when he signed him but Dublin's suspension has forced his hand.Do you seriousley think Benjamin over 90 mins would be the answer?

 

[Keep the Faith]

I wasn't aware the reserve league had started but I maybe wrong. I'm not a fan of Blake but all I'm saying is let him get fit then feel free to slate him,I'm sure MA didn't have the intention of playing Blake now when he signed him but Dublin's suspension has forced his hand.Do you seriousley think Benjamin over 90 mins would be the answer?

Good point Dublin really bolloxed it up by getting sent off, MA admitted Blake wasnt fit give him a chance - remember Cottee was bobbins when we first signed him and it was similar circumstances.

As for Tricky he shows flashes of what he can do but over the last 4 years he hasnt really produced except for the last promotion season and that was only in patches, although until Blake can get fit he may well be the only answer.

 

[fitz]

blake may not be fit and will need to get some match practise, but is the league the best place to do that? we may be risking damaging our promotion chances if we are playing players who are far from fit in the starting line up, IMO players with less ability who are fit will be more use than blake who is probably at around 5% fully fit

 

[Joe_Fox]

1 Win, 1 Draw, 1 Loss

= 4pts

On this current form we will end up with about 61 points.

We need to up this projection sooner rather than later.

 

[Tony Elsby]

We were poor definitely and we created no chances for way too long

I dont agree with the comment re Williams completely, he does (usually) have the ability to pass and to see a player but it didnt gel yesterday
Blake - was woeful, should have been subbed off at ht
Wilcox - mostly awful, did make the occasional tackle but completely unable to pass

The worst thing was the complete disarray on the left side in the first half, both defence and mid-field. I assume others saw the shouting match between Dabizas and the rest of the defence on who was to blame for the goal?

Definitely a day to forget, several poor individual performances and a bad team performance too

Phil
irst post here btw)

You wonder if MA is nasty enough or cunning enough to really fulfill his apparent potential as a manager.

Notwithstanding the disciplinary problems of recent months and the latest sendings off Leicester seemed second best in every phase against Millwall. Being outplayed by superior footballers is one thing, being out-thought is bad news for a manager.

There seems an unjustified arrogance among City pundits. First there was the pre-season hype about how we were 'favourites' to go up (based on what evidence, I'd ask), second the assumption that West Ham were 'one of our biggest championsip rivals' (by what logic) and third City themselves seem so overconfident they select a team with so many ineffective journeymen we might have been playing 9 against 11 on any one day.

Why would a manager ever pick a player who was not fully fit to do his job. Firstly (unless injured) no self-respecting professional should ever let himself get into that state and secondly the remaining players have to carry the handicap.

Then there's tactics. If you don't have the personnel to play in a certain way (attacking down the left flank, for instance), then you have to devise tactics which do suit the strengths and weaknesses of your team. And you need to be clever enough to adjust those tactics whenever you wish.

Scowcroft, for example is a threat with his head but that threat is negated if he's away from the danger zone so why play him there?

If you're being overrun in midfield then why not play someone who does win the ball. Why wait til late in the second half of matches to fix the bloody obvious.

Cunning? Well, Wisey was dictating tactical terms for Millwall and, typically, winding a lot of players up. Once he got booked I would have delegated someone inconsequential to clatter him good and proper, provoke a reaction and accept both players would get sent off. Take him on at his own game. Leicester would have lost an unimportant player, Millwall would have lost their talisman and Leicester would have been halfway home.

That's not strictly ethical, I know, but a lot of what Wisey does isn't ethical (but he still gets away with it) and if Leicester are going to get men sent off every other match then it might as well be for a good reason. The alternate of course is to out-think him legitimately. Did we even start to think at Millwall?

Finally, all this masks the truth that no-one can surely say Leicester are looking a better footballing side then they were when Mickey took over.

Where are the keen, talented youngsters with a bit of pace, a bit of cheek, the special skills to compliment some solid experience? Is the Academy just a fanciful PR excercise or is it actually going to do City some good?

I ask because if there's not one or two Academy players who are good enough at 17/18 to do better than two or three in the side just now then the whole project should be abandoned to save costs or the club should get better scouts.

Anyone who believes City with this team and these tactics are going to win a championship is having some wonderful hallucinations. I remember reading a Leicester Mercury supplement about how good the Tigers were going to be at the beginning of last season - despit being without their Internationals - and that proved a load of rubbish too.

Lets get real at Leicester before there's too much damage done. Mickey should demand at least four good games out of five from every player selected (which means some should be banished to the sidelines already) and each player selected should be fit and show willing to do his job.

A manager should have no friends and show no favours when picking a team. I actually believe the way you win is important - you should want to win with the style of City in the early 60's - but the first and only real criterion for success is winning points.

Being in the bottom half of the table isn't terminal after three games but its where we deserve to be on the evidence so far - even a little flattering - and the sooner MA starts moulding a team with real authority the better.

It starts with players being fit. 'Oh they'll be no-one fitter than the Leicester lads' say insider pundits. And yet the evidence is clear. Some are fit but they're having to make up for others who appear not to be.

MA should set out his demands, let each individual know what his job is in various circumstances, and be ruthless with anyone who fails to deliver on a 75-80 per cent basis.

It may take time, even more than this season, but eventually (like Wenger as a good example) he will have players with the character to fulfill his and our ambitions.

The thing about Wenger is that he recognises what makes a good player, fits them into a method of play which emphasises their strengths and links all the various skills towards an effective outcome.

He doesn't play any passengers that I can see.

Of course he's at a higher lever but the principles should be the same in the Coca Cola League or the Senior League. They are principles which, if observed, make a genuinely successful manager.

 

[Joe_Fox]

Bloody marvellous that was, I'm knackered after reading that. Cheers though, cracking stuff.

 

[homer]

Interesting stuff

What concerns me most is the lack of depth in respect of the development of tactics

Dublin acts like a moron and gets himself sent off - our only Plan B is to lump the ball up to Scowcroft
Derby pass the ball around more than we expected - our only Plan B is to (you've guessed it) lump it up to Scowcroft
Millwall confound everyone and employ classic spoiling tactics - we have no Plan B at all and get overrun across the park

Hardly sophisticated planning is it ?

Good point too about the ruthlessness of some managers - I'm beginning to wonder if Micky has that at all in his armoury