. We couldn't have looked worse at centre back had Rio played. We missed Dunne! . Harry again played a ridiculously narrow midfield. . Barton had one of his worst games whilst Fer had his best game for us so far. . Kranjcar showed some wonderful skill but was very immobile. . Henry again proved his worth. . Austin in the right place to finish again. . This team has spirit!! . I prefer Vargas on the right, where he can link up with Isla and he can find more space. . If I were a Leicester fan, I'd be disappointed not to get something from that game. . Our spirit drove us on and it needed to, as we hardly attacked down the sides at all. . We MUST have more pace going forward. . We looked much better when we moved the ball quicker. Overall, their defending was slightly worse than ours and we managed to snatch a huge win. The atmosphere was superb and LR is becoming a fortress, which is absolutely vital!! I'd just like to see more pace out wide! An amazing 51 attempts on goal in the game, but I feel that was more to do with both teams defending so poorly other than anything else. Player ratings and comments: Green - 6 - Made a couple of good saves, but made some dodgy decisions to come out for crosses. Suspect kicking at times. Isla - 6 - Tried to get forward when he could, but didn't have much to link up with. Onuoha - 4 - Very poor. Looked SO rusty and there was always a huge gap between him and Caulker. Did make a couple of good tackles towards the end. Seemed strangely lethargic! Caulker - 7 - Very good in the air, but questionable positioning at times. Did well for the first goal. Yun - 6 - Steady, but could have got forward more to give more width. Kranjcar - 6 - Some lovely skill, but very immobile and left Isla very exposed at times. Our only prospect of creativity at the moment. Barton - 5 - One of his worst games, although it was a superb delivery for Charlie's header leading to Fer's goal. Gave the ball away too much and was off the pace, forever chasing shadows. Henry - 7 - Solid as ever. Vital!! Fer - 8 - His best game for us. I don't like him on the left, but he won almost every header, cut inside to great effect, showed some wonderful skill and worked harder than before too. Scored the vital 2nd goal. Vargas - 6 - Nothing much came off for him and I'd prefer to see him on the right to link up with Isla and find more space. His runs were a constant threat though. Austin - 7 - Not one of his better games, but he scored again and that's good enough for me! Subs: Traore - 6 - Apart from one poor clearance he did well coming on for Yun, is calm on the ball and won some big headers. Mutch - 5 - Did nothing other than make an extra player in midfield. Not convinced at all about him. Constantly gave the ball away. Hoilett - N/A - Only on for a couple of minutes, but even then, he went on the attack with his first touch. We miss him on the flank. 3 huge points and we simply must keep on winning at home against those around us, regardless of the team selection and performance. Thoughts?
You got it about right I though Caulker was superb - even deciding to play centre forward mid way through the first half Especially considering that none of the others in the back 4 had their best day Joey as poor as I've seen him Mutch needs game time Fer looking good but needs five seconds of foot shuffling before deciding what he's going to do so maybe the middle is not for him EVERYBODY looked like they wanted to score
As well as Fer, I thought that was by far the best Caulker has played for us. I did not understand replacing Vargas with Mutch (who offered nothing in his short time on the pitch). Surely, we would have been better moving Vargas to the right & either Niko or Fer playing between the midfield & Austin? Still, we held on in a game full of excitement but not so high on quality. My head must be aching today as it is telling me that we MIGHT avoid defeat on Tuesday!
Col...how can you say that...we had a fantastic new winger on in the first half, not seen him before...down the left wing, great cross across the box for the o.g. Think his name was Corker or Caulker or something like that..that boy has potential as a winger...
I'll agree with that 100% Col, because as I think you and others may have spotted, I was a little merry by the time I got to the ground yesterday, and my critical faculties were not at their sharpest. Apologies for any inappropriate behaviour. Continued the good cheer after the game, a great day out, got home about 10.30 and fell into a coma in front of MOTD. Perfect. Thanks to all who met the Leicester lads for your openness and hospitality. They continued the bonding with a bunch of German R's fans in the C & S after the game and enjoyed the QPR experience, despite the result. Apparently it was a miracle that Schlupp, or whatever he's called, scored for them as he hasn't had a shot on target all year.
Little tough on Onuoha and Vargas, a 6 and 7 for me but spot on for the rest and I thought the Green save at 1-1 saved the game for us, so he can have 7 too
I'd agree with most of that, Col. Another odd line-up from HR with no width or pace, but we showed a spirit and will to win that has been totally absent away from home. Barton had a poor game overall, but made a great cross for the second goal. Onuoha looked totally lost, but thankfully Caulker had one of his best games for us. He does tend to drop off too much though. Some good saves from Green, but he just doesn't fill me with confidence. I'd just about go along with Fer as MOM, although I thought Krancjar was worth more than a 6. If we can show the same kind of spirit in our away games, we'll be ok.
Thanks Col! Agree with much of that. I thought Green was very good to day, he made a very good and important save at 1- 1 and his handling was error free as far as I recall. A huge improvement on last week and MOM with Fer for me from our lot (though Vardy was probably MOM). I thought we missed Sandro's huge and mobile presence in front of our back 4 today, especially when strangely without him Henry seemed missing from that area a lot today, playing further forward, and Barton seemed off the pace when they countered -not his best game for us I agree, he wasn't all over the pitch like he has been, but he delivered some great passes. We missed Dunne too, though I reckon he would have had a torrid time too taking care of Vardy's speed, particularly of thought. Niko didn't look to be back to the form he showed early season, hope he jest needs another game or two. It was good to see Fer do so well, his best game yet for us I think. A lot still needs improving, our defending against teams like Leicester is very poor.
Imo the Green save at 1-1 was hit straight at him and we're very fortunate that Vardy didn't finish better.
Good summary of the match Col Re: Green - 6 - Made a couple of good saves, but made some dodgy decisions to come out for crosses. Suspect kicking at times. I think Rob Green was perhaps worth a 7. I believe that some of that "suspect kicking" occurred when he was put under pressure with unnecessary back passes. Was it at all wet yesterday, because Green was favouring to punch, rather than catch the ball, as Joe Hart was also today. I also noticed some players slipping a bit, or was that down to pitch watering?
Looked low and hard low down to his right from the angle I saw it on the TV, but I didn't see it from behind or in front. The English commentators were raving on about it
I thought he could have caught a couple that he punched. The weather was dry all day. Straight at him I thought.
No inappropriate behaviour that I could see mate. Very drunk behaviour and an admission that you hadn't really been watching the first half, but hey, each to their own.
Cheers Col haven't seen any football yet was it a good match overall? Barton ... No surprises there on your report ... He hasn't got it on the pitch IMO and will take a lot to get me to change my mind Henry ... well yes a player IMO you can put your mortgage on
Barton didn't play well yesterday, but he is very much worth his place based on earlier performances imo. Henry went missing at times.
Good ratings again Col, Fer for me was man of the match by a mile yesterday. Really good game, and is beginning to show exactly why he's a Dutch international. Thought krancjar was the worst player on the pitch closely followed by Ned. Never doubted niko's quality on the ball, creativity and delivery, but he's simply too slow and not once did he track a runner. Gives away a lot of silly free kicks simply because of his lack of pace as well. I'm personally of the opinion that he gets away with it a bit because he's a bit of a fans favourite, but that might just be me. Spot on about Ned, left far too many gaps. I think he's the type of player who would benefit from a long standing partnership with someone such as Caulker however, who also had a really good game.
I think it was a case of Henry having to cover far too much ground as Barton was so far off the pace. Spot on.
