Post by leicesterlass on Jan 18, 2007 17:36:39 GMT -1
What a night - absolutely amazing, just a shame there was a cruel twist which left more than a bitter taste in the mouth.
Firstly a note about the fans, one of the best atmosphere's I've experienced following City - standing and singing non-stop for the 90 minutes.
That was the most passion I've seen from a Leicester team (and crowd) since the O'Neill days - and how fitting that a legend from that era, Mr Leicester City Steve Walsh was there to witness it. He got absolutely mobbed on the concourse at half-time as well as a few chants of, "He's here, he's there, he's every fucking where, Stevie Walsh, Stevie Walsh!"
We started off really well and positively, perhaps overly so which left us tired for the second half. But great finish from Matty Fryatt, has been looking increasingly sharp and up for it in the past few weeks and I was so pleased for him to get a goal (not just because I had £5 on him fgs!) hopefully that's the catalyst for bigger and better things.
Fulham's first goal completely against the run of play, comical defending from our boys again I'm afraid and McBride didn't think twice about tucking away the cross quite neatly.
Then McAuley's goal - cracking header at the back stick for his first goal for the club, much credit to Levi Porter for whipping in the vicious cross though.
2-1 up at half-time, and a much deserved lead at that.
Then we came flying out of the blocks once more for the second half, top quality finish from Wesolowski to send us away fans into raptures and a premature chorus of "Que Sera Sera, whatever will be, will be, we're going to Wembley, Que Sera Sera!"
So how would we react - 2 goals up against a Premiership team?
The answer to that is to self destruct. And the little aeroplane 'Vincenzo Montella' had more than a starring role in the comeback.
His first goal came from poor defending (again) - we should've been alerted when he hit the post but failed to clear the lines and bang, back of the net and back to 3-2.
Then some more woeful defending saw a 5'7" striker score a header
Why do Leicester always do this to us?
Rob then brought on Danny Cadamarteri
"Du du du Danny Cadamarteri,
Du du du, he only took night nurse!" (conga)
The last 15 minutes was really good stuff, end to end, open, flowing football and I think we edged it slightly.
Then the cruel cruel twist that never seems to be too far away from a Leicester game.
Wayne Routledge outsmarted 3 of our players only for the linesman to wave his flag for a Fulham free kick but the ref waved play on (and rightly so) and our defence was static, leaving Routledge the easiest of chances to make it 4-3 and finally bring the 8,000 home fans to life.
A really gutting way for the game to end but I was extremely proud of the lads, fair enough we defended poorly but that could be a case of Championship defenders coming up against Premiership opposition - and one of those opposition being Vincenzo Montella. For us to score 5 goals against Premiership opposition in 180 minutes of football is heartening for me, let's hope we can keep this attacking style up, as well as the fans keeping up the good, loyal support.
Player ratings to wrap it up:
Henderson - 5 - Pretty poor to be honest. Most of the goals came from loose and lacklustre defending/marking in front of him but felt he could have done more with a few of Fulham's efforts. His kicking was extremely suspect. Has started to throw more often though. Mediocre/poor game for him.
McAuley - 8 - Continues to impress. Fancy seeing him and Kisnorbo together in the middle for a decent run in the side. Dominant in the air both upfront and at the back and his distribution was sound, even under pressure.
Kisnorbo - 7 - We saw the good, the bad and the ugly of him last night. Generally tidy, unhurried and efficient but was caught out for a couple of the goals. Not sure he and McCarthy have the understanding required.
McCarthy - 5 - Very poor game. Doubt he could make the step up to premiership if required. Too prone to drift off his man, didn't compete in the air. Bags of guts and determination but he just makes too many mistakes. Haven't been impressed with him this season and last night he so often had to be covered by Kisnorbo it was a joke. Not up to it, I'm afraid.
Maybury - 7 - Good. Prone to giving the ball away now and then but otherwise I thought he had a good game defensively. Won a lot of interceptions.
Hughes - 8 - Could so easily have given him 9 for this. He ran and ran and ran. All he lacked was a little bit of quality on some of the balls he whipped in. Always looks a better player against premiership teams as gets a little bit more space. Looked hungry and competitive. Always a threat. Ran himself in to the ground and was nackered when he had to be withdrawn.
Williams - 7 - Contributed well. Helped out at the back as well as pulling strings in the middle. Would have scored higher if he hadn't dissappeared with 15/20 minutes to go. Perhaps lacks a little fitness.
Tiatto - 7 - Again, good. Looked up for it. No frills but very busy and I thought he gave us a bit of an edge for the first 20 minutes.
Porter - 7 - Busy and always wanting the ball. Starting to believe that Porter really can be a quality player. He just lacked a bit of quality to his balls in to the box. Also, sometimes by the time he had the ball he had 2 players on him. Seemed to link well with Fryatt, which is encouraging. Occasionally tried to do too much... but you have to accept that from wingers. Good game and I can only see him getting better.
Hume - 7 - Again. Good, hungry, competitive. Same as ever with Hume. Fryatt overshadowed him a little but their linkplay from the end of last season was back in evidence tonight.
Fryatt - 10 - I'm actually going to give the lad a 10. He did it all last night. Strong when asked to hold the ball up.. rarely gave possession away, linked well particularly with Hume and Porter. Full of running, looked to shoot on sight. Looks full of confidence now. Some of that sharpness was back, particularly start of second half, before I felt he tired a little. He also played his part in winning me some money.
Subs:
Stearman - 6 - Not bad, not great. Injected a bit of much needed energy at the time but distribution a little wayward.
Cadamarteri - 6 - The quality is there with the first touch etc... his balls in weren't very good though. Perhaps harsh to judge on this cameo. He needs to get fitter.. then we could have a player on our hands.
Wesolowski - 7 - Feel he's got more to give... but hustled and bustled, shot when invited to... just felt he tired far too easily and drifted well out of the game at the end. That said, he hasn't played a lot of football since his injuries.
Ref - 6 - Felt at times he was a bit of a homer (particularly when they were behind) but to be honest, we didn't help ourselves at times.
Our fans - 10
Them: Only seemed to play when behind.. Special mention - Montella. If they can get him really fit and playing regularly, they've got a hell of a classy player.
Dayout - 9 - Saw some good attacking football from the boys in blue, great loud atmosphere from our lot, anticipation of MM is rife, had a good laugh with my mates and saw Steve Walsh. Would've been 10 had we gone through.
Firstly a note about the fans, one of the best atmosphere's I've experienced following City - standing and singing non-stop for the 90 minutes.
That was the most passion I've seen from a Leicester team (and crowd) since the O'Neill days - and how fitting that a legend from that era, Mr Leicester City Steve Walsh was there to witness it. He got absolutely mobbed on the concourse at half-time as well as a few chants of, "He's here, he's there, he's every fucking where, Stevie Walsh, Stevie Walsh!"
We started off really well and positively, perhaps overly so which left us tired for the second half. But great finish from Matty Fryatt, has been looking increasingly sharp and up for it in the past few weeks and I was so pleased for him to get a goal (not just because I had £5 on him fgs!) hopefully that's the catalyst for bigger and better things.
Fulham's first goal completely against the run of play, comical defending from our boys again I'm afraid and McBride didn't think twice about tucking away the cross quite neatly.
Then McAuley's goal - cracking header at the back stick for his first goal for the club, much credit to Levi Porter for whipping in the vicious cross though.
2-1 up at half-time, and a much deserved lead at that.
Then we came flying out of the blocks once more for the second half, top quality finish from Wesolowski to send us away fans into raptures and a premature chorus of "Que Sera Sera, whatever will be, will be, we're going to Wembley, Que Sera Sera!"
So how would we react - 2 goals up against a Premiership team?
The answer to that is to self destruct. And the little aeroplane 'Vincenzo Montella' had more than a starring role in the comeback.
His first goal came from poor defending (again) - we should've been alerted when he hit the post but failed to clear the lines and bang, back of the net and back to 3-2.
Then some more woeful defending saw a 5'7" striker score a header
Why do Leicester always do this to us?
Rob then brought on Danny Cadamarteri
"Du du du Danny Cadamarteri,
Du du du, he only took night nurse!" (conga)
The last 15 minutes was really good stuff, end to end, open, flowing football and I think we edged it slightly.
Then the cruel cruel twist that never seems to be too far away from a Leicester game.
Wayne Routledge outsmarted 3 of our players only for the linesman to wave his flag for a Fulham free kick but the ref waved play on (and rightly so) and our defence was static, leaving Routledge the easiest of chances to make it 4-3 and finally bring the 8,000 home fans to life.
A really gutting way for the game to end but I was extremely proud of the lads, fair enough we defended poorly but that could be a case of Championship defenders coming up against Premiership opposition - and one of those opposition being Vincenzo Montella. For us to score 5 goals against Premiership opposition in 180 minutes of football is heartening for me, let's hope we can keep this attacking style up, as well as the fans keeping up the good, loyal support.
Player ratings to wrap it up:
Henderson - 5 - Pretty poor to be honest. Most of the goals came from loose and lacklustre defending/marking in front of him but felt he could have done more with a few of Fulham's efforts. His kicking was extremely suspect. Has started to throw more often though. Mediocre/poor game for him.
McAuley - 8 - Continues to impress. Fancy seeing him and Kisnorbo together in the middle for a decent run in the side. Dominant in the air both upfront and at the back and his distribution was sound, even under pressure.
Kisnorbo - 7 - We saw the good, the bad and the ugly of him last night. Generally tidy, unhurried and efficient but was caught out for a couple of the goals. Not sure he and McCarthy have the understanding required.
McCarthy - 5 - Very poor game. Doubt he could make the step up to premiership if required. Too prone to drift off his man, didn't compete in the air. Bags of guts and determination but he just makes too many mistakes. Haven't been impressed with him this season and last night he so often had to be covered by Kisnorbo it was a joke. Not up to it, I'm afraid.
Maybury - 7 - Good. Prone to giving the ball away now and then but otherwise I thought he had a good game defensively. Won a lot of interceptions.
Hughes - 8 - Could so easily have given him 9 for this. He ran and ran and ran. All he lacked was a little bit of quality on some of the balls he whipped in. Always looks a better player against premiership teams as gets a little bit more space. Looked hungry and competitive. Always a threat. Ran himself in to the ground and was nackered when he had to be withdrawn.
Williams - 7 - Contributed well. Helped out at the back as well as pulling strings in the middle. Would have scored higher if he hadn't dissappeared with 15/20 minutes to go. Perhaps lacks a little fitness.
Tiatto - 7 - Again, good. Looked up for it. No frills but very busy and I thought he gave us a bit of an edge for the first 20 minutes.
Porter - 7 - Busy and always wanting the ball. Starting to believe that Porter really can be a quality player. He just lacked a bit of quality to his balls in to the box. Also, sometimes by the time he had the ball he had 2 players on him. Seemed to link well with Fryatt, which is encouraging. Occasionally tried to do too much... but you have to accept that from wingers. Good game and I can only see him getting better.
Hume - 7 - Again. Good, hungry, competitive. Same as ever with Hume. Fryatt overshadowed him a little but their linkplay from the end of last season was back in evidence tonight.
Fryatt - 10 - I'm actually going to give the lad a 10. He did it all last night. Strong when asked to hold the ball up.. rarely gave possession away, linked well particularly with Hume and Porter. Full of running, looked to shoot on sight. Looks full of confidence now. Some of that sharpness was back, particularly start of second half, before I felt he tired a little. He also played his part in winning me some money.
Subs:
Stearman - 6 - Not bad, not great. Injected a bit of much needed energy at the time but distribution a little wayward.
Cadamarteri - 6 - The quality is there with the first touch etc... his balls in weren't very good though. Perhaps harsh to judge on this cameo. He needs to get fitter.. then we could have a player on our hands.
Wesolowski - 7 - Feel he's got more to give... but hustled and bustled, shot when invited to... just felt he tired far too easily and drifted well out of the game at the end. That said, he hasn't played a lot of football since his injuries.
Ref - 6 - Felt at times he was a bit of a homer (particularly when they were behind) but to be honest, we didn't help ourselves at times.
Our fans - 10
Them: Only seemed to play when behind.. Special mention - Montella. If they can get him really fit and playing regularly, they've got a hell of a classy player.
Dayout - 9 - Saw some good attacking football from the boys in blue, great loud atmosphere from our lot, anticipation of MM is rife, had a good laugh with my mates and saw Steve Walsh. Would've been 10 had we gone through.
)
