So I called the score correctly, where the truth is that I was really fearing a severe beating.
Did I lie convincingly in the preview?
Maybe not.
Ultimately, I think we need to remember that Leicester haven’t just gone second in the league at this past middling stage of the season for no reason.
They’re a very good side; hard working, skillful with good goalscorers and are well organised by a very good manager in Brendan Rodgers.
Am I blowing them up too much?
Possibly so, but it’s only because I think Leicester is exactly the club that I aspire us to be.
The “little” club that doesn’t deserve to be in the top 4.
But sticks it to them.
It’s what I want us to do.
Be honest, how many of us expected to win this game today?
I didn’t by a long shot and the first half hour or so went pretty much to script and we went two down far too easily.
We seemed to lack any confidence with Jack Grealish being out and I know I keep banging on about it, but I thought our defence was shown up for what it is. Poor.
Don’t ask me to go into specifics, because I’m sick of saying it.
That said, our midfield was horrendous yet again.
How long can Dean Smith keep playing Barkley, when he just looks so off his game?
I’ve seen comments suggesting that McGinn’s game suffers when Barkley plays and it makes sense, as I can’t remember the last time the Scot had a decent game either.
The point is, as soon as Barkley went off, we looked better.
Ramsay is not your action man type that Barkley is, but he just got involved and it’s what we were lacking.
It was the same with Trezeguet; he just played.
We cannot go on playing Barkley because he’s costing us.
And if Smith doesn’t see it, he’s going to seriously get marked down as intransigent amongst the fans.
Did Leicester back off?
I’m inclined to think they did somewhat, but also like to believe that we did put them under some real pressure late on.
Certainly Rodgers seemed happy to go a lot deeper and defend the game, but I wouldn’t say Leicester were at ease with it.
We still looked dangerous on occasion.
I’ve seen arguments that say we’re not going to qualify for Europe and we’re not going to get relegated either.
Which means we ought to give the younger lads a chance.
Having seen one of Leicester’s players, who looked like he was about 14, I have some sympathy with this.
In fact, I’m going to put a poll up about it.
A large part of me wants us to go all out for a place in Europe.
But if we are to do that, I don’t see there’s any chance that any of the kids will get the slightest look in.
I’ve never been a big fan of playing the kids, but it seems to me, this is as good a chance as Smith will ever get.
Not that I see it happening for one minute.
The manager seems massively reluctant to bring experienced players on, let alone kids.
So all in all, probably a better result than expected.
Leeds up next then.
At least we’re away.
I bloody give up 🙁
I thought I’d cracked it then, with “ol” being the common denominator.
Posted off another laptop and a phone, with a different email and only had to approve the details the first time, as you’d expect.
OLL, I think it’s just you and me who are put into moderation. I have tried posting on my phone, tablet, laptop and even my works computer with different names and email addresses. It’s a chore to have to keep typing name and email address every time. It’s probably pointless posting when a game is on because by the time your post is ‘unmoderated’ it will have been followed up by several other posts so mostly unread!
It seems technology has failed us.
Oh, sorry Holte, that was me trying stuff.
I’m honestly at a loss.
Thanks for trying Badger.
In my years of playing and managing amateur football I came across one player who wore the smallest drop-in shin-pads and he folded his socks over the top of the pads and back down to his ankles. The pads hung away from his legs. I asked him why. He said he suffered from shin-splints and the inside edge of the pad made his leg sore when properly positioned. So I am not sure Jack has not suffered this complaint before, it might explain the oddity with his pads.
OLL – I seem to recall him suffering from shin splints in the past.
My all knowing grandson pronounced it was shin splints on Saturday – heaven only knows from what dark corner of social media he got that from!
That was actually doing the rounds on Friday, Hitch.
I’d heard about it, but didn’t expect it to be true, hence me not mentioning it in the preview.
Badger, did you send me a PM about this?
It’s confirmed that Grealish is out tomorrow. Also if you haven’t already watched it, there is an interesting interview with Andy Gray on the Claret & Blue podcast which i saw on Youtube!