Silenced by the Rams

Derby County 2 - 1 Leicester City

I said before the game that this was close to a "must win" game for Leicester. It was certainly a "mustn't lose" game but lose it they did. Two defensive errors in the first half cost City dearly. First, St. Ledger allowed Richard Keogh to out-muscle him in the 16th minute and head home the opening goal. Just before half time, Chris Martin escaped the attentions of Michael Keane to double the Rams advantage. Pearson changed things at half-time but it was too little, too late. Schlupp replaced Wellens, who had comfortably been the best City player in the first half. In my view, Drinkwater had a shocking game and should have been the man to make way. In the 62nd minute, Schlupp gave the visitors hope with a thunderous strike from the edge of the box. It wasn't enough and Derby held on to claim all three points and end a run of 8 games without a victory.

Leicester have now won just 1 of their last 9 league games, securing just 6 points from a possible 27. Nobody in the Championship has a worse record over that period. With a 2 week International break before their next game, the pressure on manager Nigel Pearson couldn't be greater. Whilst I still think it would be a mistake to get rid of him now, it wouldn't surprise me to see a new man in charge of City's next game against Millwall on Good Friday. City's big players are completely out of form - Nugent, Wood and Knockaert to name just 3, are not performing at the level that is expected of them. In the last 9 games, those 3 players have scored just 2 goals between them. In the previous 9 games, those 3 players managed 12 goals (Wood was only signed for the last 4 of these fixtures!) How do you explain such a dramatic collapse in form? Well, I'm afraid that most people start by pointing the finger at the manager.