Derby realised that he won't put a tackle in today and so their midfield passed through him at every opportunity - he shirked god knows how many tackles today and was the same Tuesday night. Other players are slated and dropped or sent out on loan so why does one get away with it? If you're not performing or even trying then you deserve to be dropped - simple as that
I'm quite gutted they scored. Another clean sheet and another year without Derby scoring would've been great. Greedy?
Yeah a little tedious giving the Rams a battering everytime we play them.....fun though! Sitting very nicely in 3rd position with a very healthy goal difference worth an extra point in itself
I don't think King played that badly. He wasn't involved in any of the goals but neither do I remember him giving the ball away particularly. James did look quite good when he came on but I haven't seen enough to convince to drop King. I don't really understand this mentality with some Leicester fans. Even when we get a result, they got on to certainly players backs. I've heard both Nugent and Waggy criticised this season and both were great today. Waggy looked like Rooney in the first 25 minutes, setting up one, scoring another, hitting the bar and that great overhead kick which produced a fine save. Nugent is well on course to get 20+ goals this season that people said he wasn't capable of getting. King always seems a favourite for the bashers too, but he's a player that is willing to get back and is a threat too. If I had to criticise anyone today it would Knockhaert - his decision making at times is poor and he's a bit selfish at times - but I wouldn't call for him to be dropped because he's a talented lad. I'm really looking forward to the rest of this season, I think Waggy and Nuge could become a potent force.
King's problem is that he goes on holiday during games and doesn't seem to put in tackles or get on the ball. He and Drinkwater both fell off the pace during our bad spell, they were both over run.
I wouldn't blame the central midfielders for our "bad spell". Truth is, I knew we'd stop putting the pressure on when we went 2-0 up, I don't think it was anything Derby did particularly. The pressing all round was outstanding in the first 25 minutes (King and Drinkwater included) but it's pretty exhausting playing like that for 90 minutes - the 2-0 lead allowed us to stand off them and let them do the work and looked to catch them on the break. It worked, but a couple of wasted break opportunities made us all nervy for a little while! Bringing on Nugent and Marshall added fresh energy and allowed us to press again. Basically, when we played in first gear, they couldn't live with us. If we'd played at full potential for 90 minutes we'd have scored six again - at least.
Pearson said best performance of season, ive seen better 90 minutes, Hull for example, even Blackpool.
I'm not getting onto anybody's backs - merely stated the act that king has been a passenger for the last few games, at the start of the season when he was coming on from th bench he looked hungry, was putting tackles in and chasing the ball - now he seems to be going through the motions and the game seems to drift by him, he looks complacent - got my place back in the first team so doesn't have to try? Might even be carrying a slight niggling injury? Who knows but against a better side yesterday's result might have resulted in a loss after being 2-0 up and seemingly walking it - Derbys midfield recognised king won't put a challenge in and passed everything through him. We looked more solid when James came on - maybe a game or 2 on the bench might get that hunger back into Kingy.
As I said above, King played as well as anyone in the first 25 minutes, then we stood back. I think to say we would have lost against a better side is unfair. Derby aren't a terrible side and we beat them while playing 50-60% of the game in third or fourth gear. Playing as we did in the first 25% minutes, no side in this division would live with us. Shame we can't do that away from home! As I said about James, I haven't seen enough from him to justify dropping King just yet. We'll see if Pearson agrees next week.
lads... we won 4-1. In a 4-4-2 you cannot have a 'passive' CM and win 4-1. The fact you didnt notice him shows he did the basics right.
But in the 30-40 minutes or so when we were not playing well King wasn't playing well (like he was in the beginning and end of the game). During that period we conceded one and looked like we could concede another. Overall he was decent, but that phase could have cost us the game. He let their centre mids have the ball and didn't press enough.
Also how bad is Derby's kit please log in to view this image Its like a sponsor shirt with a Derby badge thrown on it. The sponsor is miles too big and too far up the kit Shameful
