No Defence For Recent Away Run

Tonight's 3-3 draw at Blackpool epitomised Leicester City's performances on the road over the last two months. City have conceded 19 goals in 8 away games since the start of February, with 14 coming in the last 4 games. This will be hard to accept for a manager who was known as a no-nonsense centre half and who built a very solid defensive unit during his last spell in charge of the Foxes. The manager has been scathing in his criticism of the defence in recent weeks and has shuffled the pack regularly. As yet, he has been unable to find a successful formula. If Pearson is still in charge over the summer, defenders will certainly be top of the shopping list.

The most frustrating aspect is that, going forward, Leicester look like an excellent side. Beckford now has 14 goals this season and is starting to fulfill his potential, forging a great partnership with Nugent. Marshall is an exciting prospect - a wonder goal at Chelsea on Sunday and a fabulous cross with his first touch tonight, which lead to Beckford's second goal. Danns looks dynamic in the centre of midfield and Drinkwater's performances so far are promising. The nucleus of a good team is emerging and Pearson will get it right. Throwing the baby out with the bathwater, by starting all over again with new management and a new squad, would be an unmitigated disaster.

Thai Small Fry at Roman's Empire

Leicester City put on a brave show at Stamford Bridge this afternoon, eventually losing 5-2 to their big spending Premier League opponents. The Foxes never recovered from conceding two goals in the opening 20 minutes and, when Torres added a third in the 67th minute, Leicester could have been facing a rout. To their credit, City persevered and were rewarded with two late goals. Danns, who was comfortably Leicester's best player, ran at the Chelsea defence and fired against the post. Beckford was alert to smash home the reboud. Ben Marshall doubled Leicester's tally with 12 minutes remaining on the clock, scoring a 30 yard thunderbolt into the top corner, a goal that any of Chelsea's stars would have been delighted to score. Unfortunately, Torres second of the game was sandwiched between these two Leicester goals and kept Chelsea's two goal cushion. This prevented City from putting their hosts under any real, sustained pressure.

You only had to examine the substitutes bench to see the gulf in class between the two squads. On Chelsea's bench; Drogba, Malouda, Lampard, Essien, Ferreira, Luis and Hilario. Leicester's bench was made up of; Smith, Peltier, Kennedy, Schlupp, Hopper, Howard and Marshall. In Championship terms, Leicester have spent big money this season. By Chelsea's standards, the Thai investment looks like a drop in the blue ocean. Leicester's owners will have to open a few more Duty Free outlets before they can dream about Leicester City competing in the Premiership. The big question now is, if Leicester fail to reach the play-offs this season, will the Thais have the stomach to keep pouring their cash into a bottomless pit. Furthermore, will they continue to trust Pearson as the man to fulfill their ambition...

Super Sub Schlupp overshadows Beckford's Brace

Jermaine Beckford scored two important goals to help secure victory for Leicester City against Birmingham City this evening. Leicester were 1-0  down after the visitors were awarded a dubious penalty in the 20th minute. The officials had a poor game all round and serious questions must be asked about promoting referees from the lower leagues at such a crucial stage of the Championship season. Beckford scored the equaliser less than 15 minutes later and Leicester were on top for the remainder of the game. Jeff Schlupp came off the bench in the second half and gave the Foxes the lead 10 minutes from time. A second goal from Beckford secured all 3 points in injury time.

Leicester have won 5 and drawn 1 of their last 6 games at home and are back within 6 points of a play-off place. The victory just about keeps the league season alive and will give the team confidence leading into Sunday's trip to Stamford Bridge in the FA Cup Quarter Final. What price two trips to Wembley before the season is over? At this stage, Leicester fans would settle for 1. A few more league victories, notably against play-off rivals Blackpool and Hull in the next two games, and the Foxes may get greedy.

Royal Sobriety Performance

This afternoon's 3-1 defeat to the Royals was arguably Leicester's most disappointing performance of the season. Foxes fans have clocked up 500 miles in 4 days this week, with trips to Bristol City and Reading. They have seen their team clock up 6 goals against, put 0 points on the board and turn in two weak, lacklustre performances. The league season is effectively over and next Sunday's trip to Chelsea offers the players a last chance to give the fans something to cheer about this season. After that cup tie, Pearson must turn his attention to recruiting new players for the next campaign and introduce some of the Academy players to the first team squad. Calls for Pearson to be sacked are ludicrous. Leicester have swapped their manager year in year out for a decade and must strive for continuity if they are to have any hope of achieving anything in the next few seasons.

As for today's game, goals from Leigertwood, Church and Roberts gave the home side a 3-0 lead before Danns pulled back a consolation for Leicester in the 90th minute. City were thoroughly outplayed , particularly in the first half. Howard and Bamba replaced Beckford and Kennedy at half-time and, although Leicester were marginally better in the second period, they never looked like getting anything out of the game. Pearson was clearly angry in his post match interview on BBC Radio Leicester and fans can expect a few team changes for Tuesday night's home game against Birmingham.

2 steps forward, 3 steps back...

Two away 3-2 defeats in the space of three weeks, against lower ranked opposition, may well cost Leicester dear in the season's final analysis. Trips to Watford and Bristol City should have offered the Foxes the opportunity to close the gap on the teams sitting in the play-off places. Instead, City are still seven points adrift of sixth place and running out of opportunities to close the gap. A trip to 3rd placed Reading, who have won their last seven Championship fixtures, is a difficult proposition this Saturday. However, as well as the 3-2 disappointments, Leicester have put in impressive away performances at Southampton, Norwich and Derby of late. City fans know to expect the unexpected and another win is certainly not beyond them.

Leicester March On!

Leicester secured their first back to back league wins for a calendar year, with a 2-0 home victory over local rivals Coventry City this afternoon. The result means that Leicester have won 7 and drawn 1 of their last 10 games in all competitions, a clear sign that City still have a small chance of achieving 6th place this season. If they can repeat that form in the next ten league games, Leicester will be sitting on 70 points with 3 games of the season remaining. Over the previous 5 seasons, the average points tally for the team finishing in 6th place has been 72.8 points. With a staggering 7 further Championship fixtures this month, Leicester's 'March' towards the play-offs will either strengthen or unravel by the time they visit Peterborough on the 31st. With away trips to 3rd place Reading and 4th place Blackpool in that period, sandwiching an FA Cup Quarter Final Tie at Birmingham or Chelsea, it will not be an easy task.

Today's game should have been a straightforward victory, although Leicester made it difficult for themselves. Danns missed a 7th minute penalty before Nugent nudged the home side in front just 4 minutes later. Leicester squandered a host of chances during the remainder of the first half, against a poor Coventry team, and should have been more comfortable at the break. Beckford finally extended the lead on the hour mark before City conceded a penalty less than 20 minutes from time. Schmeichel pulled off a brilliant save to deny the visitors and kept a well deserved clean sheet. Konchesky was sent off for Leicester late on and the Foxes may well consider an appeal, particularly with 8 games in the next 28 days. Leicester close the gap on their play off rivals to 7 points and, with a visit to 21st placed Bristol City on Tuesday night, they will be hoping to reduce that defecit even further...

Dyer and Danns deliver derby delight!

It was certainly a game of two halves at Pride Park this evening. Leicester were completely dominant in the first half, creating a host of chances and could have killed the game off by half time. City took the lead in the sixteenth minute after breaking from their own half. Dyer raced past the Derby right back and crossed to the far post. Neil Danns arrived late and volleyed the cross into the net - an excellent goal. Danns continued to threaten throughout the first half, hitting the post and forcing Fielding into another important save. City should have pushed home their advantage and the game should have been won by the break.


In the second half, Derby seemed revitalised and threatened to score an undeserved equaliser. The home team dominated possession in the second period and, with a 1-0 lead, Leicester City were never entirely comfortable. Despite this, Leicester hit the bar twice and the post once in the second period and had opportunites to finish the game in a more comfortable fashion. Leicester had 16 shots to Deby's 8, with 10 shots on target over the course of the game. For an away performance, against local rivals, it would be hard to argue that the victory wasn't well deserved. With the next two fixtures against teams sitting in 23rd and 20th place respectively, City must win both to feel optimistic about their chances in the final 12 games.

'High risk' Foxes too dangerous for Canaries!

There was certainly an extra edge to this afternoon's fifth round FA Cup tie between the Cities of Norwich and Leicester. The home side made a ludicrous decision, backed by the FA, to refuse Leicester their 15% ticket allocation. As a result, Leicester took just 2400 fans, instead of the 4200 fans that they were entitled to take under FA rules. Norwich justified their decision by arguing that Leicester fans were "high risk." Not only does this taint the good name of Leicester fans but also flies in the face of common sense. The Foxes took 8000 fans to Nottingham Forest, their fiercest local rivals, just weeks ago and there was no trouble at all. Clearly, Norwich's decision was based upon their own selfish intent to fill the ground with home supporters. The FA should never have allowed this to happen and should be ashamed of not insisting that their rules were adhered to.

The atmosphere was electric and you could have been forgiven for thinking that Leicester were the home team. The Foxes fans made up for the ticketing debacle by outsinging their opponents and the team certainly outperformed the Canaries. To come away from home against a competent Premiership team and secure 56% possession in the game speaks volumes. Danns and Wellens, who have shown patchy form of late, dominated the midfield. In addition, Morgan and Kennedy came in to the defence, replacing Mills and Konchesky and performed admirably. On today's evidence, they will be hard to dislodge from the starting line-up for Thursday's trip to Derby.

Leicester scored the opener after 5 minutes, from their fourth corner of the game. Marshall crossed to the near post and St. Ledger headed past the Norwich keeper. Leicester continued to dominate and will be disappointed that they were not leading at half time. Schmeichel fouled Bennett to concede a penalty in the 23rd minute. The Dane pulled off a good save but Hoolahan sliced the rebound into the net. Leicester continued to press in the second half and Nugent scored an excellent goal 19 minutes from time to send the Foxes into the Quarter Finals. Leicester fans could be forgiven for wanting to be underdogs again in the next round - Liverpool away perhaps? After all, Leicester v Wycombe in the Quarter Final 11 years ago didn't exactly go to plan...

Watford Win Despite David’s Double!

This was comfortably Leicester’s most disappointing result and performance of the season so far. On the back of a good display against high flying Cardiff, City were looking for their first back to back league victories since February 2011. Watford played a simple, direct style of football that Leicester’s back four, assembled at a cost of approximately £8 million, failed to deal with adequately. As a result, they conceded two sloppy goals in the first half and were forced to change personnel at half time. Peltier was replaced, St. Ledger was moved to right back and Morgan was brought on from the bench to play at centre back. Despite this reshuffle, Leicester still conceded a third goal in the second half and subsequently lost the game 3-2.

Frustratingly, Leicester had been 2-1 ahead, less than 20 minutes into the game, after two outstanding strikes from David Nugent.  First he cut in from the left to curl a right footed strike into the bottom corner. Just seven minutes later, he fired a fierce volley into the top corner, from outside the penalty area – an effort which must be a contender for goal of the season. Leicester dominated possession, created more chances and had more efforts on target than the home side. Despite this, they conspired to lose the game by giving away cheap free kicks and surrendering possession in dangerous areas. It has been the story of their season to date.

To have any chance of reaching the play offs, Leicester need to win 10 and draw 3 of their remaining 15 games – a completely unrealistic ambition given their results of late. Knocking the Canaries off their perch in the FA Cup this Saturday offers Leicester their final opportunity to extend any realistic, competitive interest in this season. Given their unpredictable form, it would be unwise to bet against them!

Super Gally goes ballistic, Cardiff are atrocious!

Two blistering strikes from Paul Gallagher gave Leicester a deserved home win over a surprisingly poor Cardiff side. The visiting team, sitting 4th in the Championship table, didn't manage a single shot on target, from open play, during the whole game. It was clear from the outset that Cardiff had come for a draw, as they sat with at least 10 men behind the ball for the entire first half. A clumsy challenge from Vuckic on Wellens gave City a penalty kick shortly before half time. Gallagher thumped the spot kick past David Marshall, who didn't bother to move. St. Ledger, Konchesky and Gallagher all had further chances in the first half, meaning that a 1-0 deficit flattered Cardiff at half time.

Leicester failed to pass the ball as competently in the second half and surrendered possession too easily. However, Cardiff were simply not good enough to capitalise and Leicester looked comfortable throughout. Gallagher curled a beautiful free kick into the corner in the 71st minute to give the home side breathing space. A dubious penalty was awarded to the visitors 13 minutes from time, after an apparent push in the penalty area. Whittingham despatched the resulting kick but it was a goal that Cardiff scarcely deserved. The Welsh team never looked like finding the equaliser and Leicester were full value for their first home win in 5 games and deservedly ended Cardiff's 9 game unbeaten run. After this win, City sneak into the top half of the Championship. A win at Watford on Tuesday night and Leicester will be dreaming of that elusive 6th place once more!