I thought it was a pretty grim game played in atrocious conditions. Wow, was it windy!!
The two teams were pretty evenly matched & you could see why Leicester have the best defense in the division. Their big, tall defenders manage to cut out most crosses with their eyes shut.
Thomas looked dangerous, particularly in the last 20 minutes. If only he could have found that final ball. We played some neat, one touch football at times but it always seemed to break down as we got near the Leicester penalty area. We defended well, apart from the goal, & particular mention must go to Paddy who excelled on his return to Leicester, despite attracting some undeserved abuse from the home crowd. Not sure what Boogy & Moo2 were thinking about when they scored, but if just one of them had challenged Clemence he would never have scored. Weaver got a good hand on the header but could not push it past the post. I thought he should have done better.
Great equaliser from Paddy & we even had a chance to win it, when Varney hit row Z. Give the whole team credit for battling back & fighting on to the 94th minute. Holland & Semedo worked especially hard in midfield. It wasn't very pretty to watch most of the time but we deserved our point. All the teams in this division are so evenly matched, apart from WBA who seem to have that extra touch of class, that it is going to go down to the final game. I am still not convinced that we have enough to even make the play offs. Only 3 points from successive games against teams like Hull, Norwich & Leicester is a very poor return. There is a long way to go & a lot can change. But with our limited financial resources it is difficult to see where the players who can make a difference are going to come from.
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On Thomas, Steve Brown on commentary kept saying it was obvious that he had the beating of the full back, but we just didn't get the ball to him enough in the final third / him get himself in the final third, to do some real damage.
Are we starting to look a bit 'one trick' with Iwelumo ? I like the big guy, he works his nuts off, but against back fours like Leicester, are we playing into their hands relying on a lump up front ?
I cannot fault Iwelumo at all for his performances this season but we must find either a striker with pace to run the channels or a striker who can finish better, as teams in this league know exactly how to handle the Big Man.
I actually think we're an exceptional team when we play to feet, unfortunately the rest of the league knows this and pressurise our occasionally iffy back four to such an extent that they are forced to hoof it long. Consequently when we hoof it long we become 'one trick'.
We look far more dangerous when we play the quick 1-2s through our midfield, as we did impressively 2 or 3 times today. One move in particular, starting from Powell under pressure at full back went through 5 or 6 players with a succession of flicks & first time passes & ended with Thomas bursting into the penalty area (and being crowded out). Arsenal would have been proud of that move. We need to get our wide men forward more often & more quickly. They end up being forced far too deep to help cover our rather dodgy full backs.
I think it is an overall lack of confidence in our back 4 that leads to us playing the way we do far too often, with our midfield as a whole sitting far too deep. Fortune was substituted quite early on today & went straight down the tunnel. Hope it is not anything too serious. Boogy is a decent attacking full back but a disaster waiting to happen at centre half!!
A draw was a fair result but its always disappointing to conceded a late goal. It was a shocking game of football with both sides cancelling each other out, the standard of the Championship this year is absolutely abysmal.
Leicester are one of the worst teams I've seen this season (home and away) and today we just about matched them. With the mistakes they made in the first half, a better team would have been 3-0 up.
I'm starting to seriously worry that our season is about to peter out because our away form has dried up and with West Brom, Wolves, Bristol City etc to come at home, things are looking worrying. Hope I'm wrong but today was rubbish.....
We have only lost 3 from 13 away games all season (Stoke, Wolves, West Brom) and in our last seven away games we have lost one, drawn two and won four!!! We have the 3rd best away record in the league (after Watford and, incredibly, Burnley).
Battling 1-1 draws away from home with our current injuries (Toddy, Reid, Ambrose, Thatcher, Basey) and suspensions (Mills, Sodje) are very creditable and once Pards freshens the squad up in January with (I reckon) four new players (two permanents and two loans) then we will be much, much stronger.
I reckon this will be our strongest team in January (if Sodje goes and leaving Reid out of the equation till February)...
Weaver
NEW SIGNING - Fortune - NEW SIGNING - Powell
Zheng - Semedo - Holland - Thomas
Iwelumo - NEW SIGNING
I reckon Pards will be tempted to have Semedo and Holland in the middle of the park as a real bulwark and get a new striker in to play more 4-4-2 in the second half of the season.
What price Sheringham coming in January?
Please no.
If we had one other forward who could put away chances we would get out of this league.
West Brom have players up front *and* in the middle who can *all* score goals. Bar ZZ we have no-one else in midfield who can and only Big Chris, now and again, up front.
The wide men don't chip in with enough either.
Unfortunately this defence is always going to let in goals. You'd need 10 million quid+ to stop that rot.
pretty much sums up my opinion.
at least we seemed to be up for the battle in an absolute dire game of football.
We have only lost 3 from 13 away games all season (Stoke, Wolves, West Brom) and in our last seven away games we have lost one, drawn two and won four!!!
That's all very well but the two draws and defeat have been our last three games and the performances, bar patches against West brom, have been average at best.
[quote][cite]Posted By: Ormiston Addick[/cite]
What price Sheringham coming in January?[/quote]
Me get a grip!? Is he even getting in the Colchester team?
Squad isnt strong enough, lack of quality up front and rarely look like keeping a clean sheet.
Was watching Goals on Sunday this morning and they flashed up the Championship table this time last year. With our points total we would be well outside the play offs.
You can put positive spin on it and say we have just come out of two away games undefeated but there was nothing in that 180 minutes that convinces me we are good enough this year unless we strengthen, especially up front.
Not happy with the players we are being linked with either, Mclean at Peterbro, would have thought Pardew would have learned his lesson with Varney and Mcleod.
Leicesters 'time to go' song... Song of the season :)
if he doesn't score another overhead kick tomorrow, i'll say definately
Our biggest problem is not the average 1 goal we concede in a game but the average 1 goal we score.
We just don't score enough.
Could we get either of Earnshaw or Nugent on loan he is not even listed as part of Portsmouth's first team squad.
Or creative midfielders for that matter?
Brian Howard at Barnsley is the top scoring midfielder at the moment, anyone remember him.
Reports are that harry wants to swap Nugent for Lita and reading are going fort he Cardiff guy. Hopefully we have tapped up who we want already and they are just waiting for 12.01 tonight, but don't hold your breath
What would people make of either of the following vaguely realistic loans / signings. Jason Roberts or Marlon Harewood ? (neither the most natural of finishers, but both physical, experienced, and quick) Just a thought...
PS. Thanks to everyone who's posted on-line during matches I couldn't make; nerve-jangling but essential when stuck overseas!
Me get a grip!? Is he even getting in the Colchester team?[/quote]
Even at 41 Sheringham could play a useful role coming off the bench and playing the role that was really meant for Todorov. I would rather have him for the rest of this season than bring in another untried kid from the lower leagues.
Sheringham is playing regularly for Colchester, he has started two of their last three games, although he has only scored three goals in 10 starts this season with another six sub appearances.
Given that Pards tried to sign him last season in January and Curbs would not release him from the Spammers I think its a move that might happen given Todorov is out for the year.