Leicester City 0-0 Newcastle United - 30/01/10 - Post match reaction from p25

[Jayson]

[The Prophet]

Not and awful performance, we didn't because of Hughton, he bottled it big time. Relentless Notts Forest finally drop points, your playing a side low on confidence after four consecutive defeats, so he sets up with two defensive midfielders, one natural winger and one striker. We had no pace to get in behind, it was very rare to see a player take someone on and we looked clueless at times.

 

On another worrying note the defence have seemed to go back to the mode they were in last season, as in drop off, drop off, someone stick a foot in for fucks sake. There were a couple of times players just wandered through without so much as an attempt of a tackle from the near by defender.

 

Harper 7 - Didn't have much to do, but did well when called into action.

 

Taylor 5 - Poor defensive performance, just lets players drift past him at times. Not bad going forward, knocked the odd decent ball into the box.

Williamson 6 - Steady away for the most part but makes some silly, uneeded challanges.

Colo 6 - Alright, still gets muscled off the ball far too easyily.

Van Aanholt 7 - Our best player going forward, overlepped well and whipped some good balls in, bit shakey defensively at times.

 

Routledge 7 - Bit isolated early one but looked more threatening as the game went one, took his man on and whipped some decent balls into the area.

Smith 5 - Was even playing? Offered very little in the middle.

Butt 6 - Did OK, nothing flash but tried to get forward and link up play later on.

Guthrie 4 - Pretty dreadful performance from someone you usually expect better of.

Nolan 4 - See Guthrie. In fairness he did at least try to get in the box but all in all poor perormance for me.

 

Carroll 5 - Looked promising early on, winning most of his ariel battles but offered very little as an attacking threat.

 

Pancrate 6 - Not bad, offered some width and certianly posed more of a threat than Guthrie, not that took a lot.

Ranger 4 - Absolute tosh, got in the way when he wasn't aimlessly dithering on the ege of the box.

 

[eddco]

4-5-1 against 10 men  

 

Hughton really ballsed this one up like!  

 

[dcmk]

Solano did better than i thought he would.

[LoveItIfWeBeatU]

Diabolical performance.

 

Jonas and Lovenkrands both got 'knocks' against Crystal Palace. I assume they weren't fit to play (it's the only reasonable explanation as to why they didn't come on). That being the case, they shouldn't have been on the bench.

 

Our strikers blow hot (well warm) and cold from one game to the next. Ranger kept going for the same ball as Carroll.

 

Midfield were awful. We are the un-Entertainers.

[Parsley]

Can't have too many complaints about the result. We got exactly what Hughton's abysmal squad selection merited and Leicester probably deserved to win on the balance of play.

 

Harper - 7: That daft throw put aside, he was pretty faultless.

 

Taylor - 6.5: Don't think all the criticism he gets is warranted. He was carrying us forward almost single-handedly in the last 10 minutes.

Colo - 7: Decent.

Williamson - 7: Impressive. Looks quite slow but very solid otherwise.

Van Aarholt - 6.5: Going forward, he showed real signs of quality - two decent efforts on goal and a lethal cross for Nolan that should have been turned home. That said, I think he struggled to find a balance between attack and defence; he was caught out of position on a few occasions, and with Guthrie offering little defensively, we may well have suffered as a result.

 

Routledge - 6.5: Bright, lively, adventurous. It's refreshing to see someone other than Jonas or Jose actually run at a man. Some clever touches and a decent delivery on the whole. Thought he faded a tad when he was put on the left but I think he's going to be a real success here.

Butt - 4: Just woeful. Constantly gave away possession, constantly caught watching butterflies or some shit on the ball and he can't shoot for anything.

Smith - 5: Marginally better than Butt, but still very sluggish.

Guthrie - 5.5: Some nice passes and touches obscured by a pretty anonymous display in all fairness. Disappointing, but perhaps inevitable given where he was played.

 

Carroll: 5: Awful. No movement, no flair, no effort either. Just because he is tall does not mean that Carroll is automatically a good target man. He wins headers, sure, but they go nowhere and his hold-up play is pretty poor for a guy his size. I've not seen much of late to see why he should be starting ahead of Ranger.

Nolan - 5: Did little, and when a chance finally came his way, he fluffed it.

 

Subs:

 

Ranger - 6: Did more in 20-25 mins than Carroll did in 90.

Pancrate - 6: Showed the real need for width in this side. When Fabrice came on, Taylor was gifted far more time on the ball which was crucial in maintaining pressure towards the end.

 

[ScottishMagpie]

Look on the bright side folks.....  at least it's only Cardiff at St James on Friday neet. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh hang on........

[Pilko]

Harper 6

 

R.Taylor 6

Coloccini 6

Williamson 6.5

van Aanholt 7

 

Guthrie 5

Butt 5.5

Smith 5

Routledge 6

 

Nolan 5.5

Carroll 5

 

Subs:

 

Ranger 6.5

Pancrate 6

 

Hughton 3

 

[Guest Geordiekev]

Not and awful performance, we didn't because of Hughton, he bottled it big time. Relentless Notts Forest finally drop points, your playing a side low on confidence after four consecutive defeats, so he sets up with two defensive midfielders, one natural winger and one striker. We had no pace to get in behind, it was very rare to see a player take someone on and we looked clueless at times.

 

On another worrying note the defence have seemed to go back to the mode they were in last season, as in drop off, drop off, someone stick a foot in for f***s sake. There were a couple of times players just wandered through without so much as an attempt of a tackle from the near by defender.

 

Harper 7 - Didn't have much to do, but did well when called into action.

 

Taylor 5 - Poor defensive performance, just lets players drift past him at times. Not bad going forward, knocked the odd decent ball into the box.

Williamson 6 - Steady away for the most part but makes some silly, uneeded challanges.

Colo 6 - Alright, still gets muscled off the ball far too easyily.

Van Aanholt 7 - Our best player going forward, overlepped well and whipped some good balls in, bit shakey defensively at times.

 

Routledge 7 - Bit isolated early one but looked more threatening as the game went one, took his man on and whipped some decent balls into the area.

Smith 5 - Was even playing? Offered very little in the middle.

Butt 6 - Did OK, nothing flash but tried to get forward and link up play later on.

Guthrie 4 - Pretty dreadful performance from someone you usually expect better of.

Nolan 4 - See Guthrie. In fairness he did at least try to get in the box but all in all poor perormance for me.

 

Carroll 5 - Looked promising early on, winning most of his ariel battles but offered very little as an attacking threat.

 

Pancrate 6 - Not bad, offered some width and certianly posed more of a threat than Guthrie, not that took a lot.

Ranger 4 - Absolute tosh, got in the way when he wasn't aimlessly dithering on the ege of the box.

 

 

Caroll (5): Offered little as an attacking threat? (5) whats his role?

Ranger(4): got in the way when he wasn't aimlessly dithering on the ege of the box.   The way I saw it was he was the biggest threat on goal the entire 90 mins, at least he knew what direction he was shooting towards.

 

[Guest BooBoo]

Harper 7

R Taylor 6

Van Dutch 7

Colo 7

Williamson 7

Routledge 6

Guthrie 4

Butt 4

Nolan 4

Smith 3

Carrol 4

 

Pancrate 5

Ranger 4

[Guest Milburnthedog]

We're awful in an awful league. There is little quality in out side, virtually no pace and no creativity. Be worried IF we go up. Ashley will want £200m which no one will give him and he'll sell the 'better' players and try to run us on loans and players coming to the end of their careers.

 

I'm gutted with the Club and can see no improvement.

 

For the first time in 20+yrs I deliberately missed the match (V Palace) as I don't want to give Ashley any more cash (I gave up my ST as a protest last season and go match to match). I'll not be there on Friday and it breaks my heart to even say that.

 

 

[The Prophet]

Not and awful performance, we didn't because of Hughton, he bottled it big time. Relentless Notts Forest finally drop points, your playing a side low on confidence after four consecutive defeats, so he sets up with two defensive midfielders, one natural winger and one striker. We had no pace to get in behind, it was very rare to see a player take someone on and we looked clueless at times.

 

On another worrying note the defence have seemed to go back to the mode they were in last season, as in drop off, drop off, someone stick a foot in for f***s sake. There were a couple of times players just wandered through without so much as an attempt of a tackle from the near by defender.

 

Harper 7 - Didn't have much to do, but did well when called into action.

 

Taylor 5 - Poor defensive performance, just lets players drift past him at times. Not bad going forward, knocked the odd decent ball into the box.

Williamson 6 - Steady away for the most part but makes some silly, uneeded challanges.

Colo 6 - Alright, still gets muscled off the ball far too easyily.

Van Aanholt 7 - Our best player going forward, overlepped well and whipped some good balls in, bit shakey defensively at times.

 

Routledge 7 - Bit isolated early one but looked more threatening as the game went one, took his man on and whipped some decent balls into the area.

Smith 5 - Was even playing? Offered very little in the middle.

Butt 6 - Did OK, nothing flash but tried to get forward and link up play later on.

Guthrie 4 - Pretty dreadful performance from someone you usually expect better of.

Nolan 4 - See Guthrie. In fairness he did at least try to get in the box but all in all poor perormance for me.

 

Carroll 5 - Looked promising early on, winning most of his ariel battles but offered very little as an attacking threat.

 

Pancrate 6 - Not bad, offered some width and certianly posed more of a threat than Guthrie, not that took a lot.

Ranger 4 - Absolute tosh, got in the way when he wasn't aimlessly dithering on the ege of the box.

 

 

Caroll (5): Offered little as an attacking threat? (5) whats his role?

Ranger(4): got in the way when he wasn't aimlessly dithering on the ege of the box.   The way I saw it was he was the biggest threat on goal the entire 90 mins, at least he knew what direction he was shooting towards.

 

 

They were both pretty shite, gave Carroll a five on the basis he caused problems earlier on with his flick ons. Ranger got in the way of an attack at least twice, at one point Pancrate was darting into the box and Ranger just stood and got in his way. His best contriution was scoring a goal when he was a good two or three yards offside.

[Jayson]

Look on the bright side folks.....  at least it's only Cardiff at St James on Friday neet. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh hang on........

 

And Swansea right below them soon following that.

 

No need to worry though, we're only consistantly performing badly recently. But much earlier in the season we did the same thing & were winning games back then. So its all fine.

[cp40]

Good point in my opinion, keeps us on target.

[Guest BooBoo]

We were really that much better in games at Sheff Utd, Preston or Cardiff? On those nights we just took our chance or had a lucky break. We're not in a false position but we must be one of the poorest footballing sides ever to top a league.

[johnnypd]

Harper 7 - couple of good saves, an excellent clearance too

R Taylor 4 - awful in defence and when passing it out from the back. couldve cost us a couple of goals had leicester been more clinical. much improved once pancrate came on and got in good positions, but delivery was usually poor

Colo 7 - solid as usual, probably our best

Williamson 7 - solid, but looked unconfident when someone ran at him

van Aarnholt 6 - made some good runs forward but complicated things too much, made a crucial block, looked quite nervous and unsteady while defending

Routledge 6 - our most inventive player by far, opened them up a few times but drifted out of the game at times. couldve done better with that one chance.

Guthrie 4 - typical Guthrie, no drive or guts, thinks he is better than he is.

Butt 4.5 - poor, didn't help much when we were under the cosh despite having an extra man. poor on the ball. looked better in the final 10 minutes apart from a comedy shot.

Nolan 3 - didn't realise he was playing for most the match. apart from a run or two and a couple of neat passes in the opening 5 minutes he offered nothing.

Smith 3 - awful player.

Carroll 4 - laughable at times and, after one or two promising headers early on, was terrible. he messed up quite a few attacks with his clumsy control. doesn't look like a goal threat or a good link player. should be rested/dropped.

 

Pancrate 6 - brought the ball forward welland gave us balance. he or jonas shouldve been on half an hour earlier.

Ranger 6 - held the ball up well, poor header on goal though, and shouldve stayed on onside for his disallowed goal. we looked far better when he came on though.

[Tsunami]

If we continue to play like this we will lose in the Play-Offs. That was awful again; no creativity, poor passing & no goal threat.

[The Prophet]

If we continue to play like this we will lose in the Play-Offs. That was awful again; no creativity, poor passing & no goal threat.

 

Pretty bog standard away performance from us, minus the goal of course.

[Neil]

Thought Van Aaaaaaahhh or whatever he's called looked your best player by a country mile.

[Guest BooBoo]

Thought Van Aaaaaaahhh or whatever he's called looked your best player by a country mile.

 

Looked decent going forward. Its hard to really enthuse about him, knowing he's only here as a short term stopgap.

[QBG]

Thought Van Aaaaaaahhh or whatever he's called looked your best player by a country mile.

 

He was. Can't believe the low ratings he's got from some people on here.

[STM]

Thought Van Aaaaaaahhh or whatever he's called looked your best player by a country mile.

 

Looked decent going forward. Its hard to really enthuse about him, knowing he's only here as a short term stopgap.

 

Nothing to say we won't try and sign him in the future though. Not quite sure whether he will be part of their plans either.

[Shak]

Pretty pleased with the new players, all of them looked like they'll be useful additions to the squad.

 

2 points tossed away due to woeful management though, getting a point is pretty decent considering we were outplayed the whole game long.

[Tsunami]

If we continue to play like this we will lose in the Play-Offs. That was awful again; no creativity, poor passing & no goal threat.

 

Pretty bog standard away performance from us, minus the goal of course.

 

We are getting worse as the season goes on. Without the Jose & Jonas link up we were slow & predictable. Yes, we had new players but we couldn't dictate a game against 10 men.

[ChrisMcQuillan]

If we continue to play like this we will lose in the Play-Offs. That was awful again; no creativity, poor passing & no goal threat.

 

Pretty bog standard away performance from us, minus the goal of course.

 

We are getting worse as the season goes on. Without the Jose & Jonas link up we were slow & predictable. Yes, we had new players but we couldn't dictate a game against 10 men.

 

Had Jonas and Jose been playing we'd have won that, I have no doubt.

 

But it goes to show that we need that on the other wing.  Simpson and Routledge might have the ability to form a similar partnership over time.

 

But we need a driving force in the middle.  Smith - Butt - Nolan is having a laugh.  Their top speed COMBINED is slower than Lovenkrands.  We need Smith - Guthrie at the bare minimum, but preferably a new quality signing there.

 

The problem is not the quality of our strikers, imo.  Looking at Carroll against WBA, you can see what he can do.  Lovenkrands too.  The problem is CLEARLY the midfield.  We have a strong backline even without Taylor, Enrique and Simpson playing as was evidenced by the clean sheet today.  The problem is that our midfield don't have the physical athleticism to run enough, and we hoof difficult balls up to our strikers who huff and puff and get tired. 

 

Routledge and Jonas are good enough, but we need to shore up that centre.  How Butt can still be considered for a starting XI is absolutely beyond me on today's performance.  Smith and Nolan not far behind him.  I can tolerate one of Smith and Nolan playing, but they have to have a decent foil for them.  Right now, we don't have that.