FoxHole

Leicester City 1 Stoke City 1, Saturday 29 September 2007

Stoke came into this match with some good form behind them. And it showed very early on, forcing me to start the nail biting after just 2 minutes and 20 seconds. We certainly played much better than we did against QPR, but it was frustrating to watch. At times we looked good, but then seemed to mess it up at that crucial moment. An inconsistent defence didn’t help matters, and we paid the price when Stoke took the lead.

Megson’s decision to play Cort and DeVries, leaving Fryatt and Hume on the bench, wasn’t exactly popular. The bloke behind me was clearly not happy and made sure all around him knew. In fact he became so critical I wondered why he bothered to stay for the second half.

But maybe he was psychic rather than stupid. Hume and Fryatt were brought on immediately after the break and Fryatt hit a superb equaliser almost straight away. With the scores level we always looked the more likely to score again, but sadly our efforts came to nothing.

This was a frustrating match and it showed we will still have plenty of room for improvement. However, it was better than our last home performance. Mind you, I doubt even a team made up of Samuel Eto and Thierry Henry (like this one) would have satisfied the bloke behind me.

Aston Villa 0 Leicester City 1, Wednesday 26 September (CC3)

Talk about a nervous last fifteen minutes. This was a real nail biter, firstly because we were beating a premier league team, and secondly, because we appear to have a pretty poor record of letting in late goals.

But Walshie said on the radio that we were stronger in defence, and much better organised. It clearly worked. We endured a fair bit of pressure yet the Villa breakthrough never materialised. And just when I was expecting extra time, a quick City move puts Fryatt through to score. Time for me to dance around the kitchen.

But then a long wait for the final whistle. It’s always the way when you have a one-goal lead. Time slows and not a TARDIS in site. Good job we were only playing Villa and not an army of Daleks.

According to a report in the Leicester Mercury, Martin is backing Megson to galvanize our team into thinking they can beat Villa. I assume he means “stimulate into action” rather than “cover with a protective zinc coating”, but Martin O’Neill always did have a way with words. Mind you, I hope our defenders do a better job of protecting the goal than they did at Charlton.

Charlton Athletic 2 Leicester City 0 Saturday 22 September 2007

A nagging doubt is making an appearance somewhere in the back of my head. We could just pretend that we were playing a team who until recently were in the Premier league and look set to make an immediate return. But there can be no escaping the fact that our performances have not been good enough.

On paper we have some useful players, but so far there are few (if any) signs of working as a team. According to Steve Walsh (and he should know) we defended badly during the first half . Indeed, the Radio Leicester commentary from the Valley was quite depressing. I didn’t even realise Carl Cort was playing until some 30 or minutes had gone. When you factor in the performances against Forest (nowhere near good enough) and QPR (mediocre) then you can see where these doubts arise.

I don’t fancy him, and I’m not going to talk about him.

Nottingham Forest 2 Leicester City 3, Tuesday 18 September (CC2)

Radio Leicester were describing our second half performance as dire, Steve Walsh even suggesting he should be playing again, when out of certain defeat we secure victory. It really is a funny old game.

Indeed, a few minutes earlier I’d pretty much expected a Forest win after a Hume header went over the bar to chalk up yet another shot off target. Nothing was going right for us. Worse - we seemed to be playing like we did in the original game before it was abandoned. Allowing Forest a free goal to restore the lead they had in the first match is one thing (and a genuinely sporting gesture), but playing the same rubbish football is surely taking things too far.

Yet stating the bloody obvious, it’s goals that win matches. Whether by luck or design, Megson secured his first win for Leicester and our first victory at the City ground for years.

And there I was expecting to be writing today about how the league cup is a mickey mouse competition unless you actually win it.

Next stop Villa Park.

I predict a victory!

Leicester City 1 Queens Park Rangers 1, Saturday 15 September 2007 

At least it was a nice sunny day (in fact, that’s three home games on the trot wearing shorts and sun cream). But oh what a sinking feeling at the final whistle…

City started brightly enough. In fact QPR, playing in their Dennis the menace kit, were camped in their own half for the first fifteen minutes or so. Leicester played some good football, actually passing the ball instead of booting the thing up the pitch and hoping for the best. But QPR defended so solidly that City seemed to get frustrated, and as this happened so the football deteriorated.

Even so, Leicester still dominated the match, and a Hume penalty was just the lift we needed to take control, or at least that should have been the plan. But we started defending deeply, allowing QPR to get right back into the game. The inevitable happened about nine minutes from the end, giving us little chance to recover.  But we did come very close in injury time when from another passing move we hit the crossbar. (Yes, when we pass we play good football and create chances. It isn’t rocket science!).

Luckily the result didn’t spoil our evening, largely on account of a beer festival and a glam rock tribute band. Marc Bolan lives!

When it comes to football it seems everyone has a view. Indeed, pundits make a very good living out of it (get in free to all the big games and say whatever you like as long as it sounds important). I changed channels after the final whistle last night so here is my own contribution to punditry:

Another refreshingly good display by England and another fine performance by Emile Heskey. It looks like the reserves are doing what the so-called stars should have done some time ago. Gareth Barry was excellent. Give me Owen to Rooney any day.

So the new manager is Gary Megson. His double promotion success from this division with West Brom was followed by his relegation result with Forest. If he is still manager at the end of the season then I guess we will have done well.