There was no shame in losing to a Leicester side who look set to be this season’s Burnley, and for the game to be decided by a couple of ‘if only’ moments was, for me at least, an indication that David Wagner must be doing something right.
Wagner’s men will not face many sterner tests than they did last night.
In the final analysis, the Foxes were worthy winners but I’m not sure the gulf in class was as devastating as some have suggested. The margins, for all of Leicester’s supposed superiority, were still fine.
Sure, they were better than us in the key moments, which is why they won the game, but I’d suggest a team that’s able to bring Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Wilfred Ndidi, and Jamie Vardy on from the bench should be better than us.
If anything, it begs the question, how the hell did they manage to get relegated in the first place?
The ‘if only’ moments were obvious. If only Jack Stacey hadn’t misplaced a relatively simple pass to Gabriel Sara; if only Christian Fassnacht hadn’t leaned on Stephy Mavididi in the box; if only Kenny McLean’s shot had been an inch lower.
But games are full of those moments and are decided by them. The trick is to come out of the right side and so far this season we’ve just about managed it.
Not so last night against a team that player-for-player was a little bit better than us.
And, of course, against the good sides, you’re tested and pushed to your limit. You’re not given carte blanche to do all of the things that you’re good at and Leicester, particularly in the first half, didn’t allow us to hit that relentless rhythm that at times sees us overwhelm our opponents.
It takes a little more than that to unpick a Premier League defence, which is essentially what we were up against last night. Guile and invention are also needed, qualities that we don’t readily associate with this group – at least not in a plentiful supply.
It didn’t help that – for all the right reasons – Wagner opted to play an extra midfielder in the shape of Liam Gibbs, which left Ashley Barnes ploughing the lone furrow of a solo striker.
While it denied the Foxes the freedom in midfield that they enjoyed last Friday night last Southampton, and so served its purpose, Barnes was restricted to few touches and for most of the first half cut a forlorn, frustrated figure (even more so as he trudged off later on with what sounded like a worrying knee ligament injury).
That was the tactical trade-off though and had City gone in at half-time level, Wagner would probably have considered it a worthy one.
But back to those fine margins. The stray pass from Stacey and equally stray arm from Fassnacht undid a lot of the good work.
From thereon in it was always going to be a struggle with the ongoing risk that with Norwich pushing for an equaliser the Foxes would have increasingly open spaces to work in in an attacking sense.
And so it came to pass, but not before the champions-elect had been given a thorough examination by the Canaries in the second half.
While the football was more staccato than we have been used to, partly because Sara and McLean were not allowed to dictate the tempo, the desire, and appetite to chase, close down, and harry were undimmed, and through sheer effort, they took themselves to within just the diameter of a crossbar from pulling level.
Shane Duffy too can consider himself unlucky not to have notched when his close-range header was parried away by Mads Hermansen.
Unfortunately, it was the closest we would get to a goal and there was a horrible inevitability that having survived two scares, Leicester’s quality would generate chances at the other end. Vardy missed one when he should have scored by virtue of a ghastly first touch but not so Kacey McAteer when Dewsbury-Hall put one on a plate for him.
And that was pretty much it.
What is worth noting though is that last night, Wagner’s substitutions had a positive impact on the game last night – not something that’s been the case too often this season.
Barnes struggled but, in similar circumstances, Adam Idah made some headway against two outstanding centre-backs. Przemysław Płacheta – a half-time replacement for the ineffective Jon Rowe – also caused problems for the Foxes with his pace, and even Onel Hernandez, on for Fassnacht, was able to provide the usual energy but unusually some quality balls into the box.
Alas, quality in the final third was sporadic and was ultimately the difference between the two teams.
But it wasn’t all bad. In fact, on a disappointing night, there were still enough positives to suggest that our decent start to the season is more than a six-game wonder.
We have to just hope that Barnes’ knee injury isn’t as bad as first feared because without him our striking options are paper-thin. Time will tell.
Still 39 games to go, folks. Let’s not get too judgemental too soon.
Unless they have a terrible run of injuries or simply become complacent for too long Leicester look nailed on for promotion.
Based on last night we are surely in with a shout of one of the other promotion spots. The difference is that Leicester already have a squad that’s got a chance of staying up, and is likely to be strengthened – that’s how far ahead of the rest they are. We certainly don’t, and I doubt if any of the other contenders (including the other two relegated) have either.
Excellent piece Gary.
To be honest I thought we deserved a point last night.
That Leicester were perhaps slightly better than us, I would agree but not by the amount the Sky boys would have you believe.
Their first goal was a moment of madness from Fassnacht, just look at Gabriel Sara’s face🤬not one city player contested it. Only Paddy Crerand commentating on Man U in the same circumstances would have said it was never a penalty.
Their second goal was a breakaway when we were going for it, which initially I was convinced was offside, it wasn’t but by a hair’s breadth.
How many saves did Angus have to make ? whereas Mads Hermanson produced a worldy from Shane Duffy and looked excellent most of the evening save his pass to Kenny McClean, and how unlucky was The Mayor with that shot ?
The worry now is that we are without Josh Sargent, Jon Rowe’s scoring form has understandably dried up and Ashley Barnes could have knee ligaments problems and I am still not convinced DW has total faith in Adam Idah.
That leaves us woefully short up front.
I know most of my fellow supporters would disagree strongly with this, yes that includes you Marty, but I would tell Adam Idah he is in the team until the next International Break/Total Waste of Time and just see what he can do. This stop start cannot help him one bit.
Plymouth on Saturday is a big game (arn’t they all !!) we need a good result to get this game out of our system.
It really would be a typical ACN moment if it was Plymouth 1 (Mumba) Norwich 0. I bl**dy hope not💚💛
Good summary – there’s a lot to be pleased about. The pressing much better, in Stacy we have some one good at defending and decent going forward and Duffy looks more solid than recent players in that position.
My concern for all the better play is again no end product – people are bemoaning Barnes possible injury. Let’s hope he’s OK but have watched him closely last 3 games, in my opinion he has done very little. Oh and Kenny did well again last night and I didn’t expect to say that two matches running.
I feel that unless we unearth a finisher we will finish outside the playoffs but with a good platform to build on next year. Perhaps try Rowe and Hwang down the middle?
Hi Gary
It seems a never ending list of hiccups and poor decision making last night.
Leicester really tried to bully Sara, Rowe last night and the Ref was slow to react more tolerant in the tackling I understand but both City players were targeted early on by Leicester and not a word said.
Swings and roundabout maybe on the injury front but I disagree with giving Idah carte blanch as being our only front line choice – he still hasn’t proved he has the skills to lead the line as a solo striker.
Will Plymouth be an ACN moment for Mumba and Early? Let’s just hope not.
Fair sum up Mr G , as per usual when City are on the TV I turn the sound down for the supposed experts no matter who the opposition are they get the favorable comments. Leicester are the media darlings at the moment, and will get the rub of the green more than most.
Could have been a different outcome, had Kenny’s shot been lower and Duffy’s header was just missed instead . Also had we denied them the freedom to use a keeper as a sweeper for long periods, standing back allowing him the freedom to pick his passes, I am sure if Sargent was on that would have been all together different.
I am worried that the lack of getting in another striker could now haunt us, instead we have to rely on one, who hardly knows how to score, and the other who has not played a full game in anger on these shores. You said paper thin, take it you mean Rizla Papers ?
There might be one who could do a job in freebies market
The 2nd goal was really odds on to happen, at that point that killed it off, Yet we were not disgraced and I feel showed enough to hope we could be hanging around the top six. only concern is scoring. They certainly had the measure of Rowe making him almost ineffective, also from the opening minutes I thought they were going to maim Sara, at least 4 fouls in as many minutes.
Plymouth is not going to be easy, so hope all have recovered from a really hard shift
First Norwich game this season I have been able to see. First half was boring, Leicester slightly better. Second half Norwich dominated, obviously because Norwich was chasing a goal. Duffy had a great chance to score, but Hermansen made brilliant close range save. Also Leicester missed a great scoring chance, dont remember which one of their players had an easy header to half empty net but somehow missed it. If I compare this Leicester game to the one they played against Soton, it looked to me that the game against Norwich was so called off game for them. It didnt look like the same team much. Some way Norwich playing is hard to watch, its kind of Burnley but more like Burnley cover team. Duffy and Gibson are incredibly slow, especially Duffy. Stacey as a new Aarons is painful.
Billy Sharp scored a hat trick last night against Teemus Minnesota. All Billys goals came from close range, typical poacher goals. Teemu scored 1 and assisted 1, both were great. What Billy Sharp does not yet understand is that in a jogging league like mls is, you dont play so hard and try to score ugly goals like that. With that attitude he will blow the whole mls bubble to pieces, is someone going to pay 100 million to buy him? Dont think so. The good thing is that he shows what a complete garbage league MLS is. Same time Messi was playing, got injured during the first half. His substitute Finland national team group/bench player Robert Taylor scored 2 and assisted 1. Both his goals were great, just as it should be in a show/joke league. Harlem Globetrotters were great also, especially to people who dont understand sports much.
Is it possible to have an uplifting defeat at home against a team that started only one place above us? If it is, this was it.
For my money, you have once again summed up the match superbly. I had the rare pleasure of a seat in the City Stand and saw it exactly as you did.
Much to be encouraged by, though of course a shame to lose.
On a side note (both teams did it) does anyone else’s skin crawl at the scenario that plays out from goal kicks these days? Some weird trooping of the guard with two centre half’s either side of a keeper, the now inevitable moment when the player on the ball stops and waits for the attacker to ‘press’ before a sideways pass or six. Sometimes it eventually ‘beats the press’ and the ball moves into midfield (hurrah) or, someone under pressure coughs it up or spoons one away from danger.
Sorry to whinge but I struggle with the fits and starts nature of the game now. There is some real quality to watch, but we do endure some s*** between.
And, yes, ’90s football and before lacked much of the current quality on offer, but between the moments of quality we did get to enjoy blood, guts, thunder etc. e.g. stuff happened.
(Feel free to bar me GG, even when I start off intending to be positive I play myself into danger and gripe)
Haha… no-one’s getting barred for passing valid comment on MFW, Trev. In fact, there are 6000 fellow cynics in the River End who I suspect will agree with every word you say on the 2023 version of passing the ball out from the back 🙂
Brilliant as ever Gary, especially the point regarding the second Leicester goal. It felt inevitable. :/
A very good match report as usual Gary. We certainly gave it a go. The second half performance was brave and relentless in its enery and endeavour.
McLean had what I consider one of his best games for the club and the organisation and effort were first class.
The injury to Barnes has cast a huge shadow over the season as has the Sargent mishap and its difficult to see a way forward without these 2.
The less said about that preening tart with the whistle the better.
A momentary lapse of reason. That’s the only way I can explain Fassnachts ‘ tackle ‘ in the box. The fotmob ratings had the Leicester keeper as man of the match, and I agree with them. Our early season goal rush has dried up so please let Barnes be just a niggle .
Had there been VAR, I’m sure that the second goal would have been ruled out.
To be so close to a team in this league which had (apparently) some 75m worth of talent on the subs bench, has to mean that something is working…
And how strange that in recent seasons we’ve all been moaning at the lack of centre back cover , and this season lady luck decides to crock our forwards!
O T B C
John, for me that three lettered unmentionable system is not wanted in the champ (or anywhere for that matter). I’d prefer to take my chances with the on field officials thank you.