Back from the game - Leicester (H)

[KC Royal]

Bit of a strange game really, felt like we were the away side for large parts of it. Leicester were very good on the ball but vulnerable in defence, something we exploited on the break. From McD’s post-match comments it sounded as if this was the gameplan. I could certainly see why Leicester have conceded so many goals this season.

The 1st half was perhaps the strangest half I’ve seen, very average and yet we went 2-0 up without doing much at all. Leicester dominated the possession and should really have scored at least 1 and could have got another after those quick goals, although Kebe did also blaze a good chance over. The 2nd half was enjoyable though, we closed Leicester down better and were comfortably the better side. There was a good chance for Leicester which was fired over the bar when it should at least have been on target. But after that we could have added another 3 to the goal we did get in the 2nd half. Kebe put a shot wide after good work by Long and then blazed over again after beating the defence single-handedly. Harte also had a free-kick headed off the line.

Ratings

McCarthy 7 – Decent save in the first half and had a solid 2nd half.
Griffin 8 – Thought he had a quiet first half before stepping it up in the 2nd. Came racing forward to close down and win the ball out of nowhere just outside their box on one occasion, and then later beat his man before being hauled down just outside the box, which led to Harte’s free-kick being cleared off the line.
Mills 8 – Won his headers and made one vital goal saving block in the 1st half.
Zurab 8.5 – Just oozed class with his defending and composure on the ball. Carried the ball out of defence on a couple of occasions in the 2nd half losing the ball once.
Harte 7 – Quiet game but did have that free-kick cleared off the line.
Kebe 9 MOTM – During the Pompey game I thought he needed a goal to give him a confidence boost, and having scored since then he now looks back to his best. Other than the missed chances this was the perfect performance. Scored one, set up the 2nd and his great run led to the 3rd. He could easily have scored a hat-trick. Beat the defence single-handedly in another run which led to one of those missed chances plus he also did some good defensive work too. He’s simply unplayable on this form.
Karacan 6 – Thought the game largely passed him by in the first half but was better in the 2nd half.
Leigertwood 7 – Struggled to get to grips with Leicester in the 1st half but was better in the 2nd.
McAnuff 7.5 – The best performance I’ve seen from him for ages. Scored a good goal and created the chance Kebe blazed over in the 1st half with a low ball into him from the right.
Long 8 – Usual tireless work from Long. Set up the opening goal and Leicester just couldn’t cope with his pace throughout.
Manset 6 – Worked hard and won free-kicks but no goal threat. He may have picked up a knock after one of those fouls as never looked likely to last the full game. Impact sub is his role for the rest of the season now Noel is back.

Subs Hunt 7 – Simply offered the goal threat that Manset didn’t provide. Well taken goal, expect him to start next game.
HRK 6

[strap]

They had 6.

Bruma and Van Aanholt from Chelsea, Yakubu from Everton, Kamara from Fulham,Naughton from Spurs, Vitor from Benfica.

Maximum was 5 in a 16 man squad, it may have gone up to 6 in an 18 man but not sure.

EDIT: Appears it's still 5, so unless one of the listed has become a perm signing then they have broken those rules.

Vitor was "signed" from Benfica according to Soccerbase, if so they had 5 loanees starting, and none on the bench. Naughton/Bruma/Van Aanhot/Yakubu/Kamara.

However, Wikipedia and BBC sites do state that Vitor is on a season long loan from Benfica, so this will be interesting. Seeing as we won the match, I can't see any FL sanctions being applied that would be of benefit to us.

[Ian Royal]

Precident would be a fine and one point deducted if you look at Hereford & Torquay, I think it is. Maybe it was initially a season long loan that was converted into a perm signing in January, or European loans don't count (which sounds ridiculous to me).


Just watched the first half - saw most of the second half live on a t'internet feed.

I feel a bit sorry for Manset, it really wasn't his sort of game. He doesn't have the athleticism yet - and may never do - to get back and forth between filling in and chasing in midfield and supporting Long. Not a lot seemed to come off for him, though I fancy he might have buried one of Kebe's chances if the Kebster had left it for him when they were both queuing up.

Tactically good from McDermott, though I think we'd have been more comfortable with either Howard or Hunt starting in Manset's place. I think we'd have seen Leicester get fewer half chances and kept possession ourselves a bit better. But then maybe we wouldn't have been able to hit them on the break as much.

Leicester really were sluggish to get back and defence and left us acres of space to run into, especially with Van Aanholt being so involved going forward. Which is probably why Kebe had more going forward than McAnuff, and why Jobi seemed to drift in field and out to the right a lot.

There are no superlatives strong enough for Long since Derby. He's got 17 goals, is virtually in double figures for assists, has won half a dozen or more penalties and has otherwise been involved in creating a fair few other goals.

Kebe was frighteningly quick and skillful today, just needed a little more on the finishing.

I actually fancy us to do ok in the Prem if we were to go up. Our fitness is superb and McDermott's ability to set us up in a 4-2-3-1 will give us great options to hit teams on the break after soaking up pressure and we've already seen how easily the team can be switched to a 4-4-2 if needed late on.

[Victor Meldrew]

Great performance but what impressed me most was the number of critical blocks our players got in. It wasn't so much that Leicester were really poor with their shooting/finishing, it was more the fact that our players were so quick to close them down and threw their way in front of absolutely everything. On occasions there were two or more players doing that. Defending with such passion could be the critical difference that sees us to the promised land!

Thoroughly agree Blue.
On another day one or two might have been deflected but yesterday our central defenders threw their bodies in line and blocked 13 times according to my brother.
That was the platform for our attacking play mainly once again on the break which suits our style and according to Brian was the game plan.
A very enjoyable game against a team prepared to play.

[Victor Meldrew]

Precident would be a fine and one point deducted if you look at Hereford & Torquay, I think it is. Maybe it was initially a season long loan that was converted into a perm signing in January, or European loans don't count (which sounds ridiculous to me).


Just watched the first half - saw most of the second half live on a t'internet feed.

I feel a bit sorry for Manset, it really wasn't his sort of game. He doesn't have the athleticism yet - and may never do - to get back and forth between filling in and chasing in midfield and supporting Long. Not a lot seemed to come off for him, though I fancy he might have buried one of Kebe's chances if the Kebster had left it for him when they were both queuing up.

Tactically good from McDermott, though I think we'd have been more comfortable with either Howard or Hunt starting in Manset's place. I think we'd have seen Leicester get fewer half chances and kept possession ourselves a bit better. But then maybe we wouldn't have been able to hit them on the break as much.

Leicester really were sluggish to get back and defence and left us acres of space to run into, especially with Van Aanholt being so involved going forward. Which is probably why Kebe had more going forward than McAnuff, and why Jobi seemed to drift in field and out to the right a lot.

There are no superlatives strong enough for Long since Derby. He's got 17 goals, is virtually in double figures for assists, has won half a dozen or more penalties and has otherwise been involved in creating a fair few other goals.

Kebe was frighteningly quick and skillful today, just needed a little more on the finishing.

I actually fancy us to do ok in the Prem if we were to go up. Our fitness is superb and McDermott's ability to set us up in a 4-2-3-1 will give us great options to hit teams on the break after soaking up pressure and we've already seen how easily the team can be switched to a 4-4-2 if needed late on.

Ian,
Don't feel sorry for Manset-he played well and is so much more of a presence on the pitch than Church and some of his closing down was Longesque and something that neither Hunt nor Church do.

[bcubed]

And for everyone who was saying (around me anyway), that the ref was rubbish... thats a load of crap, he was strict at the start, set the tone for the game, played advantage well throughout the game.

Except at the end when he blew for a free kick when Long was through on goal. Horrendous non-use of the advantage, absolutely woeful. And I didn't see an apology afterwards, not that he has to but he should have at least acknowledged that he got it wrong. Long was clean through!!!

I thought he was pretty poor and gave all 50/50 calls to Leicester but that lack of advantage at the end was truly atrocious

[Snowball]

There were many things to like about this game (apart from the result)

Strikers and wingers are now making the runs and getting on the end of balls.
Long at Scunthorpe, Kebe's goal v Leicester...

The ENERGY, the sheer will-power and never-say-die of the team was amazing.
I lost count of the shots they charged down. This was a big win versus a very good
forward line.

I thought Manset looked a great prospect.

Jimmy had a great game but his misses were poor. The pattern of the game helped him look good
but he is so very, very exciting when in this mood. IMO he has had a fair number of less than
brilliant games but now seems to be hitting form. He's very much a confidence player, so to see
his confidence rising is brilliant. Hopefully he can score again at Leeds.

It looks like McD has given Kebe and McAnuff more room to play, cross-over, etc and I think that
makes them harder to mark.

Not sure I'd give Jimmy MoM. Thought Shane was awesome again.

Did he get one or two assists? The second one, I wasn't sure. Thought maybe it was the defenders toe sent it to Hunt
(but yet again the Hunt-Long combo scored)

Barring serious injury McCarthy is going to play for England IMO. He can only get better, and if he bulks up at 25-26-27
he will be a monster. If he plays the rest of the games this season and we W3 D1 I suspect we may get a good offer for him.

Elwood was "solid" but less obviously brilliant this last couple of games. Maybe carrying a knock?

The rest excellent and some of Harte's free-kicks lately have been superb

[Hoop Blah]

Agree with almost all of Snowballs post there!

It seemed pretty clear we were looking to absorb the Leicester pressure and hit them on the break. It's a bit of an odd tactic to play at home bug they moved the ball around better than anyone else we've seen at the Madejski this season so looks like we got that spot on.

We saw the best and worst of Kebe as well. He tore them apart at times and was without doubt our danger man playing the way we did. Some of his mistakes could've proved costly, and he almost let his head go down after his crazy 5/10 minutes at the start of the second half (McAnuff gave him a nice talking to at one point), but he got through. If he could find some consistency we'd have no chance of keeping him and he wouldn't be the enigma he is.

After 8 wins on the bounce and with confidence sky high this could be an incredible end to the season!

[brendywendy]

Not sure I'd give Jimmy MoM. Thought Shane was awesome again.

Did he get one or two assists? The second one, I wasn't sure. Thought maybe it was the defenders toe sent it to Hunt
(but yet again the Hunt-Long combo scored)

pffft


scored 1, pivotal in the other two, could have scored 5. gave leicester an absolutely torrid time for the whole game
MOM by a country mile.

[Tony Le Mesmer]

Not sure I'd give Jimmy MoM. Thought Shane was awesome again.

Did he get one or two assists? The second one, I wasn't sure. Thought maybe it was the defenders toe sent it to Hunt
(but yet again the Hunt-Long combo scored)

pffft


scored 1, pivotal in the other two, could have scored 5. gave leicester an absolutely torrid time for the whole game
MOM by a country mile.

As well as 3 attempts at getting on the Christmas bloopers video. Appalling finishing and also did his best to miss from 2 yards for the goal. Apart from that, MOTM.

[Z175]

Not sure I'd give Jimmy MoM. Thought Shane was awesome again.

Did he get one or two assists? The second one, I wasn't sure. Thought maybe it was the defenders toe sent it to Hunt
(but yet again the Hunt-Long combo scored)

pffft


scored 1, pivotal in the other two, could have scored 5. gave leicester an absolutely torrid time for the whole game
MOM by a country mile.

As well as 3 attempts at getting on the Christmas bloopers video. Appalling finishing and also did his best to miss from 2 yards for the goal. Apart from that, MOTM.

But Kebe made almost all of the chances himself. For Hunt's goal he picked up the ball in our half. He looks devastating right now and could easily score a goal a game like last season playing like that.

[Silver Fox]

If Sir Jimmy hadn't been playing we wouldn't have won* as our central midfield was second best all day

*I'm not for a second suggesting we'd of lost as not only were Zurab and to a lesser extent Mills and McCarthy immense all afternoon i doubt Leicester's ridiculously expensive front line would have scored by now if they were still out there

[Snowball]

Not sure I'd give Jimmy MoM. Thought Shane was awesome again.

Did he get one or two assists? The second one, I wasn't sure. Thought maybe it was the defenders toe sent it to Hunt
(but yet again the Hunt-Long combo scored)

pffft


scored 1, pivotal in the other two, could have scored 5. gave Leicester an absolutely torrid time for the whole game
MOM by a country mile.

Brendy I'm a huge fan of Jimmy's, but it was an "interesting game". Shane was often up front alone with 3-4 defenders
(Manset kept dropping too deep and Mac had to push him forward)...

We surrendered midfield and defended just outside the box, soaking up pressure and breaking. Long high up helped
to create the space between 25 yards and the half-way line, and that allowed Kebe or McAnuff to break INTO SPACE
which was the key difference IMO.

But Jimmy was fantastic, no question.

[Snowball]

But Kebe made almost all of the chances himself. For Hunt's goal he picked up the ball in our half. He looks devastating right now and could easily score a goal a game like last season playing like that.

Let's get it correct. Jimmy didn't score a goal at all from a chance he made.

His goal came from brilliant work by Long. He skied one that was laid on a plate for him. Missed a couple of others.

His good bits more than made up for his errors, but they were errors and could easily have cost us points.

[brendywendy]

pffft


scored 1, pivotal in the other two, could have scored 5. gave leicester an absolutely torrid time for the whole game
MOM by a country mile.

As well as 3 attempts at getting on the Christmas bloopers video. Appalling finishing and also did his best to miss from 2 yards for the goal. Apart from that, MOTM.

But Kebe made almost all of the chances himself. For Hunt's goal he picked up the ball in our half. He looks devastating right now and could easily score a goal a game like last season playing like that.

level with our box, then ran the length, and breadth of the field

[brendywendy]

Not sure I'd give Jimmy MoM. Thought Shane was awesome again.

Did he get one or two assists? The second one, I wasn't sure. Thought maybe it was the defenders toe sent it to Hunt
(but yet again the Hunt-Long combo scored)

pffft


scored 1, pivotal in the other two, could have scored 5. gave Leicester an absolutely torrid time for the whole game
MOM by a country mile.

Brendy I'm a huge fan of Jimmy's, but it was an "interesting game". Shane was often up front alone with 3-4 defenders
(Manset kept dropping too deep and Mac had to push him forward)...

We surrendered midfield and defended just outside the box, soaking up pressure and breaking. Long high up helped
to create the space between 25 yards and the half-way line, and that allowed Kebe or McAnuff to break INTO SPACE
which was the key difference IMO.

But Jimmy was fantastic, no question.

kebe was left alone up front more. while shane was defending set pieces.
shane had a decent game but whatever anyone says about missing a few chances, jimmy was MOTM.

without any doubt.

[Tony Le Mesmer]

But Kebe made almost all of the chances himself. For Hunt's goal he picked up the ball in our half. He looks devastating right now and could easily score a goal a game like last season playing like that.

Let's get it correct. Jimmy didn't score a goal at all from a chance he made.

His goal came from brilliant work by Long. He skied one that was laid on a plate for him. Missed a couple of others.

His good bits more than made up for his errors, but they were errors and could easily have cost us points.

A good summary. His performance was like a keeper making 3 World Class saves and then letting 2 in through his legs.

[brendywendy]

rubbish.
its like a footballing genius having a superb game, but just not being able to finish every chance he got.

[Silver Fox]

^that, brendy you're having an excellent moment of clarity on this point

Tony's analogy works better as 3 world class Banks 70 saves followed by a couple where he just palms them round the post, nothing spectacular but no harm done

[RobRoyal]

rubbish.
its like a footballing genius having a superb game, but just not being able to finish every chance he got.

Have to agree that Kebe was MotM. He may have squandered a few good chances, but he scored the crucial first and was largely responsible for the third. Besides that, his pace on the break completely dominated the run of the game. Thrilling stuff.