Official Leicester City FC Thread

[HIF]

Leicester 4 Newcastle 0

A win, but against the worst team in the prem, still 4 goals and our first clean sheet in months is not to be sniffed at. YT re-found his class, Maddison was fantastic, Daka steped in and was better than Vards. But it all started very badly with Jonny evans going off injured in the first few minutes and with only an uncapped academy CB on the bench due to injury, covid and illness problems Brendan chose to move N'Didi back into central defence and bring Soumaré on. Thankfully it worked, N'didi may look very inexperienced at times but he's mobile and Cags actually stepped up vocally leading the back line, Thomas was back in for Bertrand and was obviously better but the difference was Youri back on form and in control of the midfield, Maddison bedazzling and Daka working like the star he is (with Barnes also terrorising defenders). Even at 2-0 up none of us were sure we wouldn't crumble but in the end it worked out okay and we're 8th in the league. amazing considering how badly we've played for most of this season.

Kasper 5.5
Castagne 7
Evans 3
Cags 7
Thomas 7.5
N'didi 7
Youri 8.5
KDH 7.5
Maddison 8
Barnes 7.5
Daka 8

Soumaré 6.5
Albrighton 7
McAteer 6

[HIF]

League Cup QF

Liverpool 3 Leicester 3

Ref was a corrupt cheat.

[HIF]

It's the next morning but I still can't tell you how depressed I feel with the match last night. I'm not knocking Liverpool, they played well but the reffing was abominable and harked back to so many days pre-VAR when big 6 teams got the benefit of calls time after time.

Morton's late high two legged tackle on Ricardo was atrocious and there is no doubt it was an immediate red card (that would have been 10 pool players on the pitch for 80 minutes. The Jota elbow in the face of Thomas was a deliberate act and is a red nowadays. the ref didn't even stop the game for Thomas head injury but let Liverpool attack down his flank into the box. Henderson made two bad tackles that would normally have been yellows and one of the CBs took albrighton out in the second half without even a foul being called. add onto that the 4 minutes ET in the first half (almost unheard of in English football) and the 6 minutes in the second half along with a number of non-calls from Madely and i'm infuriated and depressed with a headache thanks to last night.

As for the match Liverpool started a weakened side but brought on top players from the bench, Leicester started a strong but weakened side and were forced to bring on players out of position. Leicester tore into Liverpool and were 2 up in 13 minutes with a Vardy double. it was 3-1 at HT (Vardy hit the inside of the post to miss out on his hattrick) The Morton disgrace meant Ricardo had to be replaced at RB by a RW. Liverpool made good changes at HT and attacked without really troubling Kasper (who kicked out poorly to Liverpool players a few times) Then Cags (our only CB) went down injured and Brendan had to make changes - he made a tactical error in bringing of KDH who had been magnificent - he bought on Vestergaard (who had only been back 1 day) but also Bertrand to change to a back 5 (3 players out of position including a CM as CB, a LB as CB and a RW as RB). It meant we lost control of the midfield and from then on the pressure was relentless. Still it seemed we'd held out despite Rodgers taking off the dangerous Daka and replacing him with a just back out of sorts Iheanacho just before Vardy picked up a hammy (meaning he couldn't be replaced). We defended pretty well and still had a couple of chances (more shots on target than Pool) until deep into extended injury time when the CM playing as CB misjudged a ball and a couple of lucky deflections took it to Minamino who put it away. 3-3 and penalties. with Vardy injured our number 1 taker wasn't available but the other 4 scored (with only Vardy's replacement 19yo LB Thomas having his shot saved). 4-4 it went to sudden death and Bertrand shot weakly for a save.

Leicester out. 4 of Big 6 through and no comments from the media about the corrupt officiating.

Man City and Liverpool next up in the league, with a decimated defence and 4 players away for African nations cup. Some supporters expect at least 10 goals conceded. If that happens I hope we score 15.

Kasper 4 He talks better than he kicks, let us down, where's Ward?
Ricardo 5 he's now a RW, his defensive days are over and with that tackle his career was nearly over
N'didi 8 played out of position again but made some incredible plays
Cags 8 getting back to his best, then injured
thomas 8 apart from the penalty he had a very good game
Soumaré 5.5 back in because of injuries, wasn't bad but still slow to react defensively.
KDH 8 man was on fire - why take him off
Tielemans 6.5 not at his usual standard but all heart.
Madders 7.5 offensively superb but not in the game enough and slow on defence
Daka 8 the man is a threat, strange substitution
Vardy 8 two goals but injured and unable to take the all important penalty

Albrighton 7.5 the man is a legend, puts in hard work wherever he plays
Vestergaard 5.5 Not the level required but did okay
Bertrand 2 really a mistake to bring him on and a bigger mistake to sign him.
Iheanacho 3.5 not his night tonight, but a good penalty


Merry Christmas

[HIF]

Man city 6 Leicester 3

The first 25 minutes were a nightmare with no-one looking up for it and everyone looking like they didn't know their teammates, the rest of the match was a good watch. But BIG TEAM bias is back in force.

Leicester started the match with more injuries - Vardy and N'Didi on the bench but never going to play with hamstring trouble. Daka out for 3 weeks with a hammy and Ricardo with his broken leg - the one Morton got away with. This left us with a back 4 who have never played together ( possibly not even trained together) RW and RB CM at CB, Vestergaard back in and Thomas at LB. The midfield lacked a CDM but had 3 excellent players and then a new front 3 who had never played together either with Perez, Nacho and Lookman all coming in.

We looked terrible to start and were quickly 1 down as Sterling continually tore Albrighton to pieces down the right, then the killer when VAR deliberated a non call penalty for a long time and then overturned the on the pitch decision. Personally I don't think it was a penalty but even if it was, it certainly wasn't Clear and Obvious mistake, but we're Leicester and they are Man city. Hated Mahrez stepped up and it was 2-0 within less than 15 minutes another penalty and 4-0. a record league victory looked on the cards. Somehow we started to steady the ship and actually had 8 shots on target in the first half without scoring thanks to a couple of really good saves from Ederson, one very good save from a Maddison free kick in particular.

Second half Rodgers took the ineffective Perez off and brought on a partially fit Castagne to help out Albrighton and go 5 at the back. It worked well, we defended solidly and waited for our midfielders (well KDH mainly) to steal the ball. Slick passing then quickly had us scoring 3 wonderful goals and at 4-3 an amazing result looked on the cards. Nacho even got a quick Free kick from Madders that he cleverly hit at goal only for Ederson to make an outstanding stop. unfortunately Laporte got a goal from a corner to make it 5-3 and we had another couple of good chances but eventually fell 6-3 (including 2 corners and 2 penalties given up by Youri).

Liverpool who have rested for a week are up tomorrow so another heavy defeat looks to be on the cards.

Kasper 5 - a couple of good saves but also a couple of poor goals and a lack of leadership
Albrighton 4.5 - murdered by Sterling but stuck to his task, missed an open goal at 5-3
Amartey 7 - he has been the revelation of the season at the back for me
Vestergaard 6.5 - people will complain but he did well (especially considering he's our no 4/5 CB)
Thomas 6 - had problems with Mahrez and De Bruyne but played valiantly and still got forward to help the attackers
KDH 8 - a star is arriving before our eyes
Tielemans 5 - 2 penalties and an off day for him.
Maddison 8.5 - was probably the best player on the pitch on either team yesterday
Perez 4 - unnoticed
Lookman 8 - had a really good game all over the pitch
Nacho 7.5 - clearly not fit yet and started poorly with little energy but he knows a good pass and can score when needed.

Castagne 6.5 - came on and changed the flow of the match
Choudhury 6 - brought his physical presence and pressing on to finish the game as players ran out of steam.

[HIF]

FOXES NEVER QUIT

Leicester 1 Liverpool 0

So the well rested and almost complete squad of European powerhouse Liverpool came into Leicester looking to stay close to Man City at the top of the prem. Leicester had 9 players out injured, including most of their defenders, were playing 2 days after the 6-3 defeat to Man city and bringing in players who had just come out of covid isolation, they were starting another new back 4 with 2 CMs in at CB and we feared the worst. Brendan started with a diamond with Hamza getting only his second start of the year at the base. up front we started a two, Vardy back from the hamstring injury alongside Iheanacho back 3 days ago from covid.

Let's not kid ourselves, Liverpool were the better team and they probably deserved the win but they didn't match the effort and heart of the Foxes and paid for it. The biggest turning point in the match was the Salah penalty which was poorly taken and which Kasper saved. Suddenly Leicester fans believed that the luck of this year had changed and that we could do something. Hamza ran his little legs into the ground, Castagne covered the right flank and young Luke Thomas (a Leicester local and academy product) covered the left hampering the most inform striker in the world after 2 days previously keeping Mahrez quiet too. The 2 CMs played with their hearts at CB, occasionally being beaten technically but never being beaten spiritually. Dan Amartey has been a superhero this season. The CM has been used as a RB, RWB, CB in a 3 and now CB in a 2 and he has grown each match rising to the occasion. A player I feared seeing on the pitch at the beginning of the season has become our best available CB and a man deserving of an award. In midfield soumaré stil looked slow and gave away a few balls and Maddison was kept quiet but KDH (another local lad and academy product) was outstanding in both attack and defence, my personal Motm. And it must be said that Kasper after a series of poor games was truly magnificent yesterday with his best match of the season.

As Hamza and Nacho ran out of steam, Brendan brought them off and brought on Tielemans and Lookman (who had been very unlucky to be dropped after his Man city performance). It changed the game. Leicester went 4:3:3 they defended stoutly and patiently and then hit with control and skill on the break. Lookman started the goal scoring move linking with KDH who waited before sending the ball by to lookman who had skirted TAA and then taken 10 yards out of him. Receiving the ball Lookman beat 2 more before slotting the ball past allyson. 1-0

Then it was defend with heart, body and soul. And Leicester did. despite the 5 minutes extra time and Vardy with another hamstring problem but unable to be replaced, he soldiered on - which maybe bad news for the team with Daka out 3 weeks and Nacho on his was to the African Cup. The players were fatigued with two very draining games in the 2 days but in the end they held out and Leicester took their greatest victory of the season against the team that had unfairly knocked them out of the LC only 6 days earlier.

There can be NO Leicester fan on the planet who wasn't proud of his team and players.

Now it's a couple of days recovery before the Jan 1st match up next.

Kasper 8.5 saved a penalty and had the performance of his season
Castagne 8 Covered the right even when outnumbered
Amartey 9 his head and body were everywhere
N'Didi 7.5 gave up the penalty but never gave up the fight
Thomas 9 Kept the left quiet and Salah in his pocket
Soumaré 6 did some good things but also gave the ball up a lot and lacked the speed of thought and movement
Hamza 7.5 played his socks off
KDH 9.5 did everything you could ask - Move over Mason Mount
Maddison 6.5 a quiet game for him
Iheanacho 7.5 worked hard but tiredness got him
Vardy 8 Valiant and led from the front, I fear he'll be out with a hammy though

Lookman 9 game changer, great
Tielemans 6 looked tired
Albrighton 6.5 epitome of Leicester fighting spirit

Well done Brendan.

[HIF]

It makes me laugh when I hear Klopp and Tuchel complaining about lack of players and then fielding teams that have multi-million pound stars sitting on the bench. Leicester have just announced that Vardy will be out for 8 weeks, Jonny evans has just had surgery out 8 weeks and Ryan Bertrand to have surgery (no biggie).

This is the list of first team squad players available for Saturday after all our injuries and departed AFCON players (4):

Fit first team players for #LCFC (exc: GKs)

Vestergaard
Castagne
Thomas
Benkovic - hasn't played 1 minute in the last 2 seasons because he's ****.
Barnes
Tielemans
Maddison
Albrighton
Choudhury
Dewsbury-Hall
Soumare
Perez
Lookman

Still we can put out a team and a player on the bench which will still be good enough to beat Watford.

[HIF]

update

Thomas and Soumaré are also definitely out and KDH is a major doubt. Castagne hasn't trained but could be okay to play. We're down to 9 fit outfield players. Perhaps Kasper can play in defence and Ward in goal.

[HIF]

Heart, Spirit and Soul. this is football.

Leicester 4 Watford 1 FA Cup

Leicester were down to 8 fit outfield players with only the snail Vestergaard as a CB and no RB or LB available. In the end it didn't matter. Brendan Put albrighton at RB and made him captain, U23 Brunt got his Leicester debut starting at CDM before moving to LB at halftime with Daley campbell the starting LB (from the U23s) on a yellow and looking unlikely to finish the match. But more incredible was that CDM Hamza Choudhury moved into CB and was told by Rodgers that he was Leicester's Mascherano and the diminutive CM was told to use his speed to foil Watford's attacks. Danny Ward at last started between the sticks. The midfield was strong with Brunt joined by Tielemans and Maddison and the attack was strong and fast if unorthodox with Lookman up the middle, Barnes on the left and Perez on the right.

Leicester got off to a flyer with a beautiful penalty from Tielemans - giving him consecutive FA cup goals following the winner against Chelsea in last year's final. Vestergaard looked poor but Hamza was everywhere cleaning up everyone's mistakes (including his own) On attack albrighton was firing balls forward to Lookman and Barnes whose pace was electrifying. Our only problem was Campbell playing LB was being murdered and quickly got a yellow, Vestergaard was so slow and Perez inexistant. It didn't matter as lookman ended up with 1 goal and 2 assists, Barnsey and Albrighton rounded off the scoring. Brunt got better and better on his debut having a fine match and academy players McAteer, Madivadua getting a long time on the pitch. even 16 year old Will alves came on for his debut and playing about 15 minutes.

Great day in the world's greatest competition for Leicester and their fans.

Ward 6.5 - not much to do
Albrighton 8 - he is a real player
Choudhury 8.5 - made a couple of mistakes but also played heroically
Vestergaard 6 - slow but needed
Daley-Campbell 4.5 - had difficulties against a fast Watford wing
Brunt 7.5 - wonderful debut
Tielemans 7 - everywhere
Maddison 7.5 - must be back in England contention
Perez 4.5 - not up to much
Barnes 7 great goal
Lookman 8.5 involved in everything going forward

Madivadua 6.5 - one beuatiful play but a little slow thinking
McAteer 7 - will be one for the future
Alves 6 crowd loved his footwork.

[HIF]

Ah Leicester City, The football club that kills you to support them.

Leicester 2 Spuds 3

4 players at AFCON plus injuries to Vardy, Jonny Evans, Wes Fofana, Timmy Castagne, Ricardo Pererra amongst others was the bad news, good news returning from injury we had JJ, Cags, KDH, Harvey Barnes and Luke Thomas. Bad news we still couldn't put out a defence with defenders in it, worse news Brendan decided on a back 5 to try and mask that. What that actually did was mean Leicester sat back and was continually attacked by a Spurs team that looked very fragile at the back themselves. And with the poor defensive lineup put out that was never going to work. Or was it?

The first half saw Spurs having wave after wave of attack but with very little skill or precision. For the most part Leicester old Boy Harry Kane took shot after shot to try to increase his 16 goals from 17 appearances against us. Leicester only had a couple of attacks but clinically put the ball past Lloris with fast play and beautiful shooting from Patson Daka, however just before the HT break Kane managed to score from one of a multitude of shots so the teams went in level at the break.

In the second half Leicester attacked a little more and always looked dangerous, Maddison made it 2-1 and Barnes should have made it 3-1 as Spurs seemed to be petering out in what was really a disappointing effort against such a poor defence. I'd be embarrassed to have our defence in the 1st division tbh.

However football is football and Leicester are Leicester and Prem refs are ****. Bergwijn, who desperately wants to get away from Tottenham was introduced as a sub in the 79th minute and changed the game. The game was at 2-1 at 90 minutes and Jon Moss enjoying his starring onfield role decided that he'd like another 5 minutes on the pitch - even though the game had had hardly a stoppage throughout. With 30 seconds to play in the 5 minutes Berwijn threw himself to the floor untouched trying to get a penalty - he didn't but he did get a mouth full from the always over volatile Cags, Berwijn got up and gave a double handed push to Cags who went down. Surely a red card but no, yellow and continue the game. Kasper then had a goal kick with 20 seconds of injury time to play but instead of being wise he was stupid and allowed the ball to get to Spurs who passed to Bergwijn who scored a great goal. Kick off with 6 seconds to play, game over in a disappointing 2-2 draw? No. Youri Tielemans who had had a really poor game all evening, giving the ball away time after time and shooting (like Kane) from outside the box pointlessly at every opportunity decided he would pass the ball to spurs. Did moss whistle the end of the match? No. He let play continue for another 2 minutes until Berwijn got the ball and ran past the dinosaur known as Vestergaard to score a lovely goal past "when will he retire - never" Kasper and "I play on my ars" Cags.

2-3 Spurs

**** off is all I could think as the anger and depressing red mist descended.

Why oh Why do I support Leicester City and why oh why do I watch **** refs and football matches?

Till the weekend...

[HIF]

LCFC Half Season report - part 1

I think I’m a “reasonable” Leicester supporter. My pre-season thoughts were that we are top 8 team. I expected to be in a battle for a Europa league spot but I wouldn’t have been surprised if we missed out on one though I would have been disappointed to miss out on the conference league spot. I expected a QF place in the League Cup and the FA Cup but realised that we’d need some luck to make SF or the finals. I expected to finish second in the Europa league group and realistically expected no better than a last 16 spot whilst hoping to go much further.

Leicester seemed to have done well in the summer transfer window. We didn’t lose any important players, we freed up a little salary and we brought in and experienced 4th/5th CB, and experienced LB (who I didn’t like) A tall, classy looking box to box midfielder from the French champions and a young exciting striker from RB Leipzig, we didn’t get the RW we wanted but eventually got an on-loan LW with potential.

The season got off to the worst possible start when potentially our best young player who we all thought would become a superstar this year was needlessly crippled against Villarreal in the last pre-season match and we found out that he would be out for most of the season. From then on it just went downhill on the injury front. Particularly in the defensive department where we’ve been putting together makeshift defensive setups on a weekly basis, which has got to the stage where we’re playing 2 DCMs at CB and a winger at RB – until those 2 DCMs went of to AFCON.

Having said all that going into the last match before the midway stage I thought a win would still have us in the Europa league battle. We blew that though letting in 2 goals in the 5th to 7th minute of injury time and now I accept this season is about getting a unit together to keep us in the lower top half places of the league and building for next season , whilst giving the FA and Conference league cups a real go.


Let’s look at individual grades:

Goalkeepers:

Kasper 5 – To say I’m disappointed in Kasper will surprise some people outside of Leicester but I feel he’s holding back the defence and the team as a whole. He’s a long serving team player (probably because no-one is interesting in buying him) who has taken on the mantle of Captain this season. Let’s start with that – he isn’t a captain, he doesn’t know how to motivate, he blames players for his own mistakes and his sometimes, incredible saves cover up the glaring weaknesses in his game. Goalkeepers are no longer only about stopping the ball and sadly that is Kasper’s only strongpoint. His distribution is poor, his positioning is poor, his command of the area is non-existant and his inability to leave his line to catch/clear a ball has been one of our major problems this year. He’s played in 27 matches this season and Brendan needs to rest him or preferably sell him ASAP.

Ward 6 – only 3 appearances for a GK that is as good as he is, is ridiculous. He hasn’t even played in all the cup matches. He looked okay in the 3 matches he played but if he isn’t playing is that because he isn’t as good as he was. He had a great Euros and looked good for us in Cup runs last season. Play him or sell him Brendan.

Jakupovic ? – He has never been any good, he’s never used. We should already have got rid. Get rid. We have many young goalkeepers who can become the no.2 at Leicester especially if Brendan refuses to ever drop Kasper.

Right Backs:

Ricardo 5 – 12 apps, Ricardo was so good before his year long injury but he has never recovered. This season he returned and went down injured again several times, when he fit he is still a good attacking WB but his defensive capability is declining. I can’t see him getting back to his peak form but at only 28 that’s a hard thing to say. Personally I’d sell him this summer or even now if I could.

Timmy Castagne 7.5 – 21 apps, Timmy had that horrific face injury in the euros and like every defender in our team he has been in and out with injury throughout the first half of the season. When fit and playing he is outstanding both going forward and back but sadly he’s been injured and played out of position too much this season (RB, LB,CB). He’s presently out 8 or 9 weeks after surgery for a dead leg/thigh injury which has been bleeding out into his leg.

James Justin ? – he made his first appearance last night after 11 months out. He came on as sub and looked lively and wonderful reminding us that pre-injury he was the highlight of our early season last year and on the verge of an England call-up. Can he return or will he go down injured again at the club which seems to have problems with injuries to defenders? Only time will tell

Left Backs:

Ryan Bertrand 2 – 11 apps I never liked the signing but in pre-season he looked like he could be a golden ticket. Linking well with Barnes and delivering wonderful set piece plays. However the season started and Bertrand became Bertrand. He’s blagging a wage, hasn’t had more than 1 or 2 decent performances and many have been downright atrocious. Let him go on a free, right now, Brendan.

Luke Thomas 8 – 18 apps, one of the stars of the season so far. Another academy product born in the shire, he’s just turned 20 and he makes an odd mistake through lack of experience but I’d rather have him than Ben Chilwell who he replaced. He gives everything, links well down the left with Barnes or anyone else and works hard to get back and cover top players and his own poor defensive partners.

Vontae Daley Campbell 5 – 2 apps. Campbell has looked good at times when he has played but he has also made some big mistakes. He would never have expected to be in the matches and wouldn’t have been except for our injury list. A lad who is learning but not ready yet.

[HIF]

Part 2 CB and CDM

Centre Backs:

Wesley Fofana ? – Our great hope, our new star, crippled for the year in the final pre-season friendly by a pointless and petulant foul. Hasn’t played. Will he ever be as good as we thought he would?

Jonny Evans 4.5 – 15 apps 2 goals. His mark is not for his talent which is undoubted. He’s a great player with a great brain and Leicester have needed him, however even when he played we shipped goals like a sieve ships water. He missed the beginning of the season injured, tried to come back, re-injured, tried to come back, re-injured and now out for who knows how long. At 34 I think we have to accept that Jonny’s Leicester career is over. Sadly I don’t see him ever being fit enough to return and lead our back line and if he does then we’d better get a speedy cover in place. Thanks for the good times Jonny, enjoy your retirement.

Caglar Soyuncu 3.5 – 27 apps 1 goal. Cags came in and replaced Maguire and played better than Maguire, he looked really good last year as long as he had Jonny next to him to lead and manage but this year Caglar has been disastrous. I cannot believe the difference. He is a confidence player that needs a steady, wise head next to him because he is a rash, limited football brain in a good football body. Sadly this year he hasn’t had a good partner with him and we have paid badly. I thought I’d be happy with him in the team for the next few years but now I wouldn’t mind him being sold. It says it all when the 3 CMs who have played CB have all been better this season. Moe him on Brendan or at least bring in 2 or 3 new and better CBs if you want Leicester back in Europe.

Jannick Vestergaard 2.5 – 16 apps. He has a mark as high as that because I never believed he was anything but training fodder, bought in to give the team practice against a big CB for set pieces. I thought he’d be the 4th or 5th CB on the team and never play. Unfortunately he has and I can’t give him any excuses any more. He is so slow, especially when turning, that the ref adds on extra time at the end of the match for time wasting.

Filip Benkovic 0 – 0 apps When you are not good enough to get even 1 match at CB in our team this season you have to be seriously bad or dead. Benkovic has now been sold.

[b]Ben Nelson ?[/b] – 0 apps 7 times on the bench, 17 years old, not played. Throw him in now Brendan – if he’s worse than Vestergaard we may as well see it and let him go.

Sam Hughes ? – 0 apps injured all season, needs to breakthrough when he returns or at 24 the club will probably let him go. Looked good in the U23s.

Utility man:

Dan Amartey 8 – 16 apps , 1 goal. Dan has been the surprise of the season. He was out for about 2 years with injuries and brought back to the bench as cover for many positions. He started the season a little shakily but match by match he has grown in stature to become our best CB even though he is really a CM, he has also played at CB in a 2 and 3 and at RB and RWB. Became our best player in a couple of games before he left for AFCON. Surely he’ll be straight in to replace one of our useless CBs when he returns.

Midfield:

Wilfred N’Didi 8 – 20 apps 1 goal. He is one of the best CDMs in the world. He has been fantastic for us and has even grown into the CB position that he was forced to play because of our injuries and dross. He’s now away at AFCON - potential winner – and we miss him. No questions defensively, needs to work on or stop shooting and concentrate on attacking headers.

Boubakary Soumaré 5 – 24 apps. I keep telling myself that it takes time to adjust to the prem. Bouba came from French ligue 1 where he won the title last season. He’s tall and smooth and stylish and he looked like a rolls Royce when he arrived, however he hasn’t progressed, he thinks too slowly, he moves too slowly and he doesn’t put in the effort to get back when he knows the team needs him too. I shouldn’t give up on him so early but I think I have. Sell. We have midfielders that we can bring through from the academy.

Hamza Choudhury 6.5 – 7 apps It hurts me to mark him so low but he just hasn’t forced his way into the team so I can’t give him a higher mark. He has all the talent and really needed a loan away from Leicester for the second half of last season or the first half of this season (Newcastle mentioned both times) so that he could begin to flourish with N’Didi sitting in front of him in the squad. The amazing thing is that he has now got into the team and got good reviews starting at CB because of our injuries. He has heart, speed and intelligence but he doesn’t know the CB position so he sin’t going to be there for long. Still think he could be a future England Captain but the clock is ticking and I think he probably needs to live the team in order to fulfil his potential. Academy product and local lad I hope he makes it here.

Papy Mendy 4 – 1 app. not allowed to leave in the summer and then left out of the squad despite Benkovic never playing. Papy has been treated badly at Leicester, he’s a good player just not the player we need as he’s too small for our set up at DCM. Hopefully for him, he can find a team before the end of January and continue his career.

[Shaazzam]

lol, thanks for the detailed posts HIF
i did laugh my ass off that the next thing you say after the Spuds game recap is that you're "reasonable"
and i did laugh at the recap too... lol
tough game to say the least

[HIF]

lol, thanks for the detailed posts HIF
i did laugh my ass off that the next thing you say after the Spuds game recap is that you're "reasonable"
and i did laugh at the recap too... lol
tough game to say the least

We love football don't we? We get passionate about a group of people kicking a round object around on a piece of grass.

I like to write when the passion - whether that's anger, frustration or love - is flowing through my veins and I also found it cathartic but really I'm a reasonable, normal, boring human being.

I like all the posters on here, not that there are enough of us, and I sometimes worry that my rants will offend, but I think you are all passionate about football/sport and therefore can understand. I'm pretty sure Baph won't take offense and will wait for the Arsenal match against Leicester just in case I start to give his arch enemies a hard time.

We're just lucky that there are no Forest supporters on RealGM (well there maybe but who would ever admit to that?)

[HIF]

The pain continues

Leicester 1 Brighton 1

Leicester dropped another two points but at least it was to a team that played some lovely football. The first half was a lovely game to watch and Leicester had the better of the play even though our usual fantastic midfield was below par with some poor passing. The three attackers looked dangerous every time they got the ball and they are a real treat at the moment. we scored right at the beginning of the second half and then Brendan decided to go defensive. it was a terrible idea. To make it worse Brendan changed the formation to 5 at the back but instead of bringing on a CB he moved the RB to CB and brought on a RW at RB. This is fine if you are playing 3-5-2 and attacking but we weren't we were playing 5-3-2 which became 8-2-0 as the midfielders dropped right back onto the defending line. The undermanned defence then went from a good performance to having to suffer wave after wave of attack with no respite. It was obvious that Brighton would score - they did and then the panic set in and the defence started to fold. Thankfully Maupay wasn't having his best day and Leicester held out for a draw getting 1 point out of a possible 6 this week and dropping away from European contention. Brendan has to take the blame for this one again I'm afraid.

Kasper 7.5 - made a couple of great saves
JJ 7.5 wonderful to see him back. he could yet make the England team for the world cup.
Amartey 7 back from AFCON and did well
Cags 6 played well until the later stages went he went into panic mode and looked atrocious
Thomas 6.5 wonderful game until Lamptey came on, then it was survival mode
KDH 6 his poorest game for a while, passing not good
Tielemans 6 in a bit of a funk
Maddison 6 didn't see much of the ball
Lookman 8 terrorised the defence when he had the ball
Barnes 8 terrorised the defence when he had the ball
Daka 8 terrorised the defence when he had the ball and is a natural scorer

Albrighton 6 wrong player to be brought on in this situation
Soumaré 4 wrong player to be brought on in any situation.
Perez 5.5 only a few seconds on the pitch.

Forest in the cup next up. That's our Derby. please play the fighters.

[HIF]

When you think things can't get any worse. THEY DO.

Notts Forest 4 Leicester 1

You read that right. smashed by a lower league team who I hate more than any other (hate as in rival hate).

Leicester thoroughly deserved their loss. After a good attacking 20 minutes that looked as though we were on the way to a pleasant victory we allowed a goal and then fell to pieces. Most players were so poor, disorganised and didn't seem to realise what this derby meant to the fans. Brendan made poor decisions again and I can only hope he backs up his harsh words after the match with actions. Personally I'd drop half the players and replace them with youth team players who want to play hard for Leicester. Rodgers can go as well.

Shameful performance which was only beaten by a Leicester supporter who ran on the pitch and attacked a Forest player - hope the "supporter" gets imprisonment and also a group of Leicester yobs who thought it was clever to smash a nottingham bar front before the match. hope they get sentences too and banned for life from Football. Disgusting.

Ward 5 - made a few saves and kicked okay
JJ 3 - Started okay but was as much to blame as the rest of the defence for the collapse
Amartey 2 - gave away the second goal and that sunk us. Doesn't look around enough before making a pass when under pressure. Not a CB despite playing better than our CBs recently
Cags 1 - Time to drop him and sell him in the summer. He just can't work under pressure and needs someone to hold his hand at the back.
Thomas 3.5 - started brightly with some good attacking link play but was then overwhelmed by the rampaging Forest wings before pointlessly being moved into midfield.
N'Didi 4 - tried but failed
Tielemans 1 - Captain for the day and taken off very early. Poor, poor performance. Does he want to be at Leicester or has his head been turned. Nobody watching that would sign him.
Maddison 6 - worked hard despite being kicked to pieces, lost his calm a little but at least had a little passion.
Barnes 5 - looked good but fizzled out and strangely taken off very early
Lookman 5 - looked good for a few minutes then moved to LWB!!!! Went downhill from there.
Iheanacho 5.5 - scored a beauty but had little to work with and no pressure.

Ricardo 3 - brought on as first sub and it was a poor move
KDH 4.5 - should have started but it was all too late before he got on.
Daka 4.5 - should have started but it was all too late by the time he got on.

[LDNMagic90]

When you think things can't get any worse. THEY DO.

Notts Forest 4 Leicester 1

You read that right. smashed by a lower league team who I hate more than any other (hate as in rival hate).

Leicester thoroughly deserved their loss. After a good attacking 20 minutes that looked as though we were on the way to a pleasant victory we allowed a goal and then fell to pieces. Most players were so poor, disorganised and didn't seem to realise what this derby meant to the fans. Brendan made poor decisions again and I can only hope he backs up his harsh words after the match with actions. Personally I'd drop half the players and replace them with youth team players who want to play hard for Leicester. Rodgers can go as well.

Shameful performance which was only beaten by a Leicester supporter who ran on the pitch and attacked a Forest player - hope the "supporter" gets imprisonment and also a group of Leicester yobs who thought it was clever to smash a nottingham bar front before the match. hope they get sentences too and banned for life from Football. Disgusting.

Ward 5 - made a few saves and kicked okay
JJ 3 - Started okay but was as much to blame as the rest of the defence for the collapse
Amartey 2 - gave away the second goal and that sunk us. Doesn't look around enough before making a pass when under pressure. Not a CB despite playing better than our CBs recently
Cags 1 - Time to drop him and sell him in the summer. He just can't work under pressure and needs someone to hold his hand at the back.
Thomas 3.5 - started brightly with some good attacking link play but was then overwhelmed by the rampaging Forest wings before pointlessly being moved into midfield.
N'Didi 4 - tried but failed
Tielemans 1 - Captain for the day and taken off very early. Poor, poor performance. Does he want to be at Leicester or has his head been turned. Nobody watching that would sign him.
Maddison 6 - worked hard despite being kicked to pieces, lost his calm a little but at least had a little passion.
Barnes 5 - looked good but fizzled out and strangely taken off very early
Lookman 5 - looked good for a few minutes then moved to LWB!!!! Went downhill from there.
Iheanacho 5.5 - scored a beauty but had little to work with and no pressure.

Ricardo 3 - brought on as first sub and it was a poor move
KDH 4.5 - should have started but it was all too late before he got on.
Daka 4.5 - should have started but it was all too late by the time he got on.

You probably don't want to hear this, but I'm enjoying Nottingham Forest play recently and I hope they get promoted. I would be happy if Villa took a chance on Spence if possible.

Now with Leicester, I don't quite get what's been happening this season with you guys. It's been a very up and down season for Leicester, I might echo what you are saying about Rodgers getting sacked/leaving. I don't know what it is about him, but he bottles it a lot of the time. I think maybe the players are no longer checked in with his tactics, it's hard for managers these day's to have players buy into them for a long period of time sometimes a different voice but familiar tactics work.

[The_Brecht]

Rodgers has hit his ceiling again, I feel.

[HIF]

You may be right about Brendan but the players need to take blame themselves. They pocketed millions of pounds in wages last week and didn't put much effort into their work. We are lacking leaders, we have injuries to key players, but that (and the collapse against Spurs and the performance against Brighton) is simply unacceptable. Drop them and sell them. Play players who will at least put the work in.

[HIF]

Liverpool 2 Leicester 0

5 changes from the Forest game. Soyuncu, Tielemans and Barnes dropped. Thouroughly agree with the first two. No CB on the pitch.

The better team won, with 86 minutes gone we were only 1 down and so we were still in the game. It wouldn't have been fair if we'd got anything but that's another story. We showed some fight, we didn't collapse after the goal, we're in 12th and closer to relegation than top 4. Zero points is zero points.

Kasper 7.5 had his best match in a long time, probably because he just had to save shot after shot.
JJ 5.5 was solid but unable to get forward much
Amartey 7 clearly not a trained CB but he played well and prevented the score being worse, doesn't position naturally.
N'Didi 6 When your world class CDM is now your go to CB you have problems. He did well for a CM
Thomas 5.5 did his job
Soumaré 1.5 He has talent but he doesn't have anticipation. No speed of thought so defensively he puts us in the ****, good on the ball but too slow to play it forward.
KDH 6.5 he was back as a starter and put in a shift, a good shift.
Maddison 6.5 decent but unable to shine
Lookman 7 was good on the ball and is worth his place, not got the link with Daka yet.
Albrighton 5.5 Make worked his balls off as always, he was beaten on the dribble many times but he laso got back to at least battle for the ball
Daka 4 an unusually off night for him. Perhaps twice in 4 days is too much at the moment.

Iheanacho 4 doesn't have the speed for a 1 man frontline the way we play. Needs to be on with a speedy attacker
Tielemans 3.5 rightfully dropped, showed spirit when he came on but his game is off at the moment
Barnes 4.5 looked dangerous but didn't get the passes.

Rodgers: made some big calls, dropping "big" names, glad he stuck with a 4 at the back and not the dreaded 5, subs were right but they didn't shine.

On to the next

[Baseline81]

I'm curious, HIF, do you feel the players have tuned out Rodgers?