The blog is moving

This is just a short note to say that foxblogger is moving. It can now be found at foxblogger.wordpress.com.

For those of you who subscribe using RSS aggregators like Google Reader, the new blog feed is - http://foxblogger.wordpress.com/feed/

A new post, "Wasted Chances", is available at the new site. Thanks for reading.

Match Preview – Queens Park Rangers

It’s difficult to see how the QPR that visited the Walkers Stadium in April could be more different than the side which will take on the Foxes on Saturday. Just over five months ago Neil Warnock’s team arrived having failed to win any of their last dozen games on the road. The R’s had shipped 25 goals in that time, scoring only eight themselves, and had the lowest percentage of shots on target in the Championship (47.51%).

Now Leicester face an entirely different proposition. Rangers are the only undefeated side left in the Championship. They have scored the most goals (17), conceded the fewest (2), and have kept the most clean sheets (5). Worse still, unlike Tuesday’s visitors, QPR are untroubled by an extensive injury list to their top creative talents.

Perhaps there are some similarities that can be drawn from the City side that crushed QPR 4-0 in April. The Foxes went into that game on the back of four straight league defeats, and had averaged just 1.3 points per game since they had beaten QPR at Loftus Road in October ‘09. This time, the Foxes are recovering from what is still (in terms of points won) a poor start to the campaign.

The spine of that April team remains the same too. Seven of the 11 who put City’s promotion push back on track that day started on Tuesday night. Five of QPR’s starters that day made the first eleven at Ipswich. Carl Ikeme, who played his final game for QPR in April’s thrashing, is likely to start for the Foxes instead.

Recent history between the two sides has been quite even. Both teams have four wins in meetings since 2004, there have also been a further two draws. What is also evenly matched is the desire of both sides to attack. Each has 50 attempts on target, a feat bettered by no other Championship side.

Confidence is high and the bookies have City as slight favourites, but only just.

Match Preview - Cardiff City

It’s unsurprising that the main talking point from the weekend for Leicester fans has been City’s failure to take all three points at Coventry. A stream of chances were not converted, and the result leaves the Foxes still looking for their first win ahead of back to back meetings with the Championship’s top two.

City’s lowly league position is false in many ways, not least because the Foxes have created chances. Indeed, their total of 40 shots on target is the highest in the Championship. Leicester’s forwards have been accurate too, 57.97% of their attempts on goal have hit the target. This is the best accuracy rating in the division. But, as I recall writing at a similar stage last season, testing the keeper and beating him are two very different things. What City have failed to manage thus far is to convert anywhere near the amount of scoring opportunities required to put them in the promotion picture.

Of Leicester’s 69 attempts on goal just four have found the net, a chance conversion rate of 5.8%. This does not compare favourably with Cardiff City, who have netted 11 times from 55 attempts, a Championship topping conversion rate of 20%.

More worryingly for City, the Bluebirds have the meanest defence in the league. The Cardiff City backline has been breached just twice. And if City want to take points from Tuesday’s game they will have to start brightly, Cardiff’s second half record reads P5 W5 D0 L0 F7 A0.

Looking at the City ranks it’s clear than for most confidence is not an issue for some. Lloyd Dyer, Steve Howard and Dany N’Guessan are all attempting strikes on goal every 30 minutes or less. By contrast, Paul Gallagher has spent 96 minutes on the pitch in league games and hasn’t recorded a single shot. Matty Fryatt (one of five attempts on target) still seems rusty, but Andy King with two goals from four attempts is looking deadly.

But despite talk of goals, this fixture hasn’t produce that many over the years. The last four meetings between Leicester and Cardiff at the Walkers stadium have produced just two goals, and Cardiff have only scored four goals in their last six visits to the Walkers. Recent form, however, suggests those records aren’t going to be reliable indicators to the result.

Match Preview - Coventry City

To put it politely, we’re all less than pleased that City are still chasing their first league win in September. For a long time it has been difficult to pinpoint why Leicester’s start under Paulo Sousa has felt quite as unfulfilling as it has. Following a bit of research it is now clear exactly why – Leicester City are the only team in the Championship yet to take the lead in a league match. Not only have we yet to see a win, Foxes fans have yet to witness even so much as a theoretical three points on a live league table. No wonder it feels so gloomy.

On the whole, what looked like tough set of opening fixtures is for the moment looking rather different. Only one of the four sides City have faced so far currently sits in the top half. In contrast only one of the five sides City meet in September currently lies any lower than 8th, making the task of finding the first win look even more daunting.

The Foxes are only five short of 2500 league goals away from home, but just 3 league goals so far makes this look a rather distant landmark. At present none of City’s league strikes have come in the first half, a habit which has carried over from last season. In 2009/10 City failed to score in the opening 45 minutes of 26 league games, including their first five Championship matches.

City have never won at the Richo Arena, and their last five trips to Coventry have yielded four points. Not since Micky Adams has a Leicester manager travelled back up the M69 with a win. If you’re thinking of backing City to get their 5th draw in their last 6 trips to Coventry, bear in mind that its now 12 matches since City match away from home has finished all-square.

It is possible to scrape together some positives from the past. City faced the Sky Blues in the first game after Milan Mandarić had been officially unveiled as the new Foxes owner. City, under Rob Kelly, won 3-0. And Kelley’s predecessor Craig Levein got his first win as Leicester manager against Coventry, also a 3-0 victory.

I’m sure Paulo Sousa would settle for that.

Just a thought...

It has been well publicised that this is City’s worst start to a league campaign since 1994. Then as now, City faced a less than forgiving set of fixtures; Kevin Keegan’s Newcastle, the eventual Champions Blackburn Rovers, a Nottingham Forest side which would finish 3rd and a QPR side that ended the season in 8th.

Everyone hoped for a better start from Paulo Sousa’s side, but it’s interesting to compare his record with the man some dreamers hope might replace him.

Here are Martin O’Neil’s first seven league games in charge of Leicester.

Grimsby Town (a) – 2-2
Millwall (a) – 1-1
Stoke City (a) – 0-1
Sunderland (h) – 0-0
Luton Town (h) – 1-1
Portsmouth (a) – 1-2
Port Vale (h) – 1-1

Had these fixtures taken place at the start of the season City would have been joint bottom, spared 24th spot by virtue of scoring six goals.

Fans famously called for O’Neil’s head after fifteen league matches in which his side had accrued a total of three wins and two clean sheets. In the context of the four seasons that followed those protests look extremely foolish now.

This isn’t to say that Paulo Sousa is the next O’Neil, just that managers deserve time to impose their ideas on the side. Sousa’s attempt to create a more fluid City line-up is a worthy cause, even if ironically O’Neil spent his early days moving City away from Mark McGhee’s passing game towards a more direct approach.

In short, even the best take their time. Let’s worry about the table in October.

Two Weeks Off

Like many City fans my opening to the season has been interrupted by a well-earned holiday. Some might be able to switch off completely, but I gripped my smartphone tightly (although not too tightly) as free WiFi hotspots delivered precious snippets of Foxes news. It appears that I have missed an awful lot.

On the pitch City have slumped to their worst start for 16 years. If that doesn’t sound bad enough, tell your friends that this is Leicester’s worst start in the second tier since 1919/20.

I recorded the Reading game and watched an all too often lifeless performance, disguised by a late rally that made City look unfortunate losers. The Leicester City Football Forum immediately following the match made for an entertaining listen. I lost count of the number of fans calling for Sousa’s head. A notion which seems utterly ridiculous at this stage of the season.

The Foxes are through to 3rd Round of the League Cup and face the prospect of two trips to Fratton Park in four days. There has, as far as I can tell, not been much rejoicing.

Off the pitch things have been far more interesting. The club have managed another PR gaffe in their handling of the Fosse Boys. First it seemed the well-meaning supporters group were being denied entry to the stadium following complaints from fellow fans. Then the issue circled more around what was deemed to be “persistent standing”, an act banned it all sections of the ground but an acknowledged reality in the away end and the area immediately surrounding Lee Jobber.

Of course health and safety rules mean the club can’t be seen to condone standing, but nor can they look as if they are picking on a genuinely positive group of fans in the hope of choking off the Fosse Boys movement before it reaches a critical mass (and enforcing rules around “persistent standing” becomes impractical not to mention expensive). The two sides are now in dialogue. An improved atmosphere at the Walkers is in everyone’s interest and we can only hope the matter is handled in a more tactful manner than the ham-fisted approach we have witnessed so far.

There was some more positive news in the transfer market. City came close to fetching their £1.5m price tag for DJ Campbell, a very respectable achievement given they were dealing with a player eager to leave and who, thanks to his expensive and expiring contact, held all the aces. The return of Martyn Waghorn to the Walkers Stadium has raised spirits, and the addition of Yuki Abe looks a good one.

Despite the new signings, fairly basic questions still remain about the takeover. Questions like; How much did the consortium pay for the club? How big a shareholding does Milan Mandarić own in the new consortium? And who are the other members of the consortium? The existence of shadowy figures only leads to suspicion.

Meanwhile the fixtures come thick and fast - seven games in 22 days. City’s outlook on the season will be much better defined by the evening of the 2nd October. Sixteen years ago the Foxes started with one draw and five defeats before getting their first win of the season at home to Spurs. In 1919/20, City’s first win came in game five. All I know is that I much prefer statistics which involve Leicester City winning.

Match Preview: Reading

Two sides that have made less than impressive starts chase their first win on Sky TV. Leicester welcome the cameras to the Walkers Stadium for the first time this season. Already the Foxes are scheduled to appear four times on TV before the end of November. That’s well on the way to matching last season’s 10 appearances on the box, in which the Foxes won four, drew three and lost three.

The conventional wisdom is that TV games lead to lower attendances. That wasn’t the case in 2009/10. Last season’s average attendance across all 22 home league matches (including the playoffs) was 23,943, the City matches on TV had average gates of 25,216. That said, City’s sluggish start could lead to a diminished turnout.

Reading have taken seven points from their last three visits to the Walkers Stadium. Of the current Championship crop only Burnley and Preston (three consecutive league wins at the Walkers) can better the Royals recent record.

But the history between the two sides is short. The only side in the Championship the City have faced fewer times than Reading (15 matches in all competitions) is Scunthorpe (8 matches).

Despite this, the Foxes will want to get even after last season’s result. Reading snatched all three points at the Walkers thanks to a late penalty. The Berkshire side were the side awarded 11 spot kicks last season, more than any other Championship team.

Before the season SkyBet offered 11/2 that this match would bring Paulo Sousa’s first league win. I wonder how much the manager would give for his first victory now?

Match Preview: Leeds Utd

I was there.

I was there when Harry Kewell made it Leicester 0-6 Leeds the last time these two sides met in the League Cup.

If there was ever a match to leave early it was that one, but I stayed until the end to witness City’s biggest cup defeat at home. I'm like that.

Annoyingly I wasn’t there for the happier recent cup meetings with Leeds. Two goals in the last two minutes snatched victory from the jaws of defeat in Round 4 of the 98/99 season. I also missed the 4-2 win on penalties at the same stage of the competition in 1999. When things like that happen it makes every fan question whether they are an omen. For those of you interested in tracking such things the excellent Doing The 92 website helps in showing just how (un)fortunate you are.

For what it’s worth Leicester feature in another part of the Leeds United record book. City suffered an 8-0 defeat at Elland Road in April 1934. It remains Leeds United’s biggest ever home league win.

But Elland Road hasn’t been so intimidating in recent years. The Foxes have won on five of their last 10 visits and have scored at least once in each of those games. A goal for Leeds however, will be the clubs 200th against the Foxes in all competitions.

Is this the end for Matty Fryatt?

The absence of Matty Fryatt from today’s squad has surprised quite a few City fans. As City failed to find the back of the net in their first home game it came as no surprise that some chose to criticise Paulo Sousa's decision to leave Leicester's top scorer of the last decade on the bench.

After Fryatt's jaw found itself subject to the business end of Brian Stock’s shoulder the former Walsall man missed almost all of City's charge to the playoffs. In that time the Foxes have chosen to move away from the 4-4-2 which suited Fryatt and instead played a 4-3-3/4-5-1. Under Sousa this has been refined further to a 4-2-3-1, with Oakley and Wellens anchoring the midfield and Steve Howard operating as a lone front man.

With the return of DJ Campbell to the ranks and the signing of Frank Moussa, Leicester have the players to make this system work. Dyer and Campbell, Moussa and N’Guessean are able to cover sufficient ground to tend to defensive duties when City don't have the ball, but quickly become active forward players when the Foxes are in possession. With Steve Howard leading the line as the preferred striker and Leon Crncic his preferred replacement, this leaves Fryatt without a role. He lacks the mobility to shift the wide players or the aerial ability to replace Howard.

Fryatt operates best on the shoulder of the last defender. He has the uncanny knack of finding space in the penalty area. But for all his goals, Fryatt’s game is lacking in precisely the areas he needs to excel under Sousa. He makes, as Sousa might say, poor decisions. He dribbles when he should spread the play, makes runs down blind alleys and takes forever to look up and assess the options with the ball at his feet.

The opening 45 minutes at Crystal Palace really, ahem, crystallised these points. Fryatt’s control let him down, slowing the play to a standstill. Having allowed defenders to get behind the ball he was left with a series of unappetising options. More often than not, he gave the ball away.

If City are to stick with 4-2-3-1 Fryatt might not be long for the Walkers Stadium.

Match Preview: Burnley

One of the great things about football is its capacity for surprise. It’s also one of the perils of running a blog based largely on historical statistics: past form does not equal future performance. In the case of Burnley vs. Leicester, one can only hope that this is true. Those looking for reasons as to why this will be the must see fixture of the weekend, look away now.

The last eight matches between Burnley and Leicester have produced seven goals. There have been two goalless draws followed by five consecutive 1-0 scorelines. The last meeting between the two sides finished a comparative goalfest, a 1-1 draw. Ian Hume scored City’s equaliser in that match; he is the only Leicester player to have scored against Burnley in the last eight matches between the sides.

Incidentally, that draw was the first time both teams had scored in the same match since 2003. The last time both teams scored more than one goal in the same game was in December 1982. If you’re looking to place a bet, I strongly advise you to look at the over/under markets.

With goals at a premium we might not witness this on Saturday, but the next goal from either Burnley or Leicester will be the 300th in matches between the two sides.

As it stands fans are likely to see more cards than goals. The match official, Mr G Eltringham, has dished out eight yellow and two red cards in his first three games this season. This will be only his second match officiating at Championship level.

But here’s one fact to cling to, there hasn’t been a goalless draw at Turf Moor since 22nd November 2008. Mind you, if it is a stalemate at least the Foxes will avoid equalling their worst start to the season since 2001/02 and their worst start in the second tier since 1949/50.

How long do City have to get it right?

Foxes midfielder Ritchie Wellens made some interesting comments in yesterday’s Leicester Mercury. Asked about the sides’ performances he said,

"I still don't think we have reached our peak, I think we can play a lot, lot more. Sometimes it is just too easy to pump the ball up to Steve Howard or hit the channels.

"I think we have more in the locker because we have good players who can play.

"I think in the next five or six games you will see that. The first couple of games are tough but after five or six the quality will come through."

Do City have that long to shape up? Certainly. No season is lost in the first half a dozen games. But if Sousa’s style fails to make an immediate impact on City’s form (perfectly possible, and should I add, understandable) how long will it before aspirational talk of building for next season takes precedence over the current campaign?

There are quite a few examples of sides making poor starts in the Championship but still forging successful campaigns. It’s easy to forget that Nottingham Forest won just seven points from the opening eight matches last season.

Oft cited examples of recovery come in the shape of Sunderland and Crystal Palace. The former lost the opening four matches of the 2006/07 season and struggled to 17th place after 16 games. Despite being 14 points adrift of leaders, the Black Cats went on to win the title.

First impressions were also deceiving in 2004/05, Sunderland took five points from their first six fixtures but went on to win the division by seven points.

Crystal Palace twice made improbable runs for the playoffs in recent seasons. In 2007/08 the Eagles had managed just two wins from their first 16 games and were 11 points adrift of the playoffs in 23rd place. They finished 6th regardless.

Palace also made the playoffs despite opening the 2003/04 season with just 22 points from 22 games. The Eagles were 3rd bottom, 13 points off 6th, but recovered with an incredible run and secured a famous promotion through the playoffs.

They were not alone that year. Ipswich made the playoffs after beginning the campaign with just two points from their opening six matches. A start which had put them 9 points adrift of the top six.

Unfortunately for fans witnessing their sides make poor starts, the successful revivals are all too rare. Often sides leave themselves with too much to do. Last season’s hopefuls were Reading, who dragged themselves from the relegation places and made an admirable dash for 6th. But in truth, an 18 point gap (as it was in late January) was an insurmountable one, and the Royals finished seven points behind 6th placed Blackpool.

By contrast Ian Holloway’s side were never more than six points off the playoff picture, which made their end of season run (19 points from their final eight fixtures) a successful one.

Several clubs have overcome similar deficits to reach the playoffs. Preston managed to overcome seven and eight point gaps in 2004/05 and 2005/06 respectively. Derby and Hull both recovered from six points behind the playoff places, the former in 2004/05 and the latter in their promotion season, 2007/08.

That said, it’s never really been Leicester’s style to stage a miracle run to promotion. Almost every single Leicester side which has made the playoffs (or has been promoted automatically) since the war has not dropped out of the top half of the table after August.

The one exception to this was 1982/83, where the club climbed from 15th place on the 27th November to snatch 3rd place and the final promotion spot from Fulham. 1982/83 was also the last season in which City were promoted having lost on the opening day.

Paulo Sousa’s side clearly have time to get things right. And there have been positive signs if not points on the board. But if after the clocks go back City are more than two wins from the top six, it’ll be hope more than experience that keeps the playoff flame burning.

See Also:
How Important Is August?
When Should We Be Worried?

Stalemate

Foxes fans present at Tuesday’s Carling Cup victory over Macclesfield, the highest scoring competitive match at the Walkers Stadium, will not have expected today’s encounter fail to produce goals. Nevertheless Leicester and Middlesbrough played out the Championship’s first goalless draw of the season and the 8th stalemate between the two sides.

This was Paulo Sousa’s 18th goalless draw as a manager in the English game and the 24th 0-0 to be played out at the Walkers Stadium. Leicester haven’t managed to go an entire season without a goalless draw since 1999/00.

Meanwhile, Middlesbrough have yet to score at the Walkers in three attempts, two of these matches have finished scoreless.

In non goalless draw related news, Steve Howard made his 100th appearance for the Foxes today. Of the current squad only Matt Oakley, Andy King, Matty Fryatt and Jack Hobbs have featured in more games.

Next week City travel to Burnley. The last eight meetings between the two sides have produced just seven goals. Burnley haven’t scored more than one goal against City in the last 13 meetings between the two sides. The last meeting in which both sides more than one goal came in December 1982. So, 5-4 anyone?

Match Preview – Middlesbrough

It can’t have been much fun being a Middlesbrough fan over the last few years. Last season the club finished in 11th position. Hardly catastrophic perhaps, but put yourself in the position of a ‘Boro fan. The last time you saw your club finish lower was when a final day win at home to Newcastle was just enough to see your boys avoid relegation to the third tier in the 1989/90 season. You’ve just watched your club sack a manager who (at the time) had taken your club to 4th in the league, just one point off top spot and averaging 1.77 points per game. You see him replaced by a new boss who builds on these foundations by winning 9 of your remaining 32 league matches at a rate of 1.19 points per game. This is form which, if it had been replicated over the whole season, would have seen you finish 16th. You spend the summer investing in new players, you’re one of the few teams in the division able to spend money. You head to your first home game full of opening day optimism. Your side takes the lead, those title odds don’t look so silly any more, the misery and years of decline at the club could be coming to an end…and then you lose 3-1.

So where do things need to improve for Strachan’s side? Perhaps more than anything else they need to improve in the big games. 'Boro won just two of their 20 matches against Championship teams who finished above them last season. The side didn't win a single game against the top six, taking just two points from a possible 36.

Its been a while since ‘Boro beat the Foxes too, eight years in fact, and even then Leicester had to do the work for the home side courtesy of a 35-yard own goal from Frank Sinclair. The Foxes were one of four teams to do the double over the Teessiders last season.

But Strachan can point to some good signs. His team won 27 points on the road in 2009/10, a very decent return. In addition his side can have few complaints with referees. ‘Boro won 10 penalties last season and conceded just 3. Only Reading (11) won more spot kicks last term.

On The Day – 14th August 1998

Frank Sinclair completed his move from Chelsea to Leicester for what was then a club record fee of £2.55m. Exactly one year later he would score for his former club in the dying seconds to deny City their second win of the 1999/00 season. It finished Leicester 2-2 Chelsea.

Attack and Defense

City have scored six goals and conceded as many in just two matches. At the start of last season it took Nigel Pearson’s side five matches to net six goals and eight games to concede the same number. Meanwhile Paulo Sousa’s Swansea took six games to score six goals and five matches to let in as many. In short, this is not what we expected.

In light of this goal bonanza it’s worth marking the following points of reference for anyone thinking City might be on for a record breaking season up front or at the back. The record number of league goals scored by City in a single season came in 1956/57 when the Foxes scored 109 times. City thoroughly deserved their promotion that year, but the harsh realities of their first season back in the top division led to Leicester shipping more goals than in any season before or since, 112 in total.

In modern times, the 2008/09 promotion campaign (84 goals) is the closest City have come to the record, and even that is only the club's 13th highest scoring season. Meanwhile the 83 goals shipped in the 1990/91 campaign is the club’s worst record in recent history. Coincidentally in both the 1957/58 and the 1990/91 seasons the Foxes avoided relegation thanks to 1-0 victories in their final match.

But two records were broken last night. The match contained seven goals, a new high for a competitive game at the Walkers Stadium. Sadly the record was broken in front of a crowd on just 6,142, the lowest for a competitive match at City’s new home.

Leicester and the League Cup

It’s now more than ten years since Martin O’Neil’s Leicester side lifted the League Cup. Since then City’s record in the competition has seen few shocks, but a few memorable cup nights.

Macclesfield fans looking for evidence of a surprise this evening need to go back to 1st November 2000 to find the last time Leicester lost a League Cup match to a side from a lower division. That night Peter Taylor’s City were dumped out of the competition in the 3rd Round by Crystal Palace, a side who on the night sat 23rd in what was then Division One. Following that shock City have faced 10 clubs from a lower division in the League Cup and progressed in every single tie.

Perhaps surprisingly tonight’s League Cup home tie will only be Leicester’s 9th in 11 seasons. The Foxes have won four and lost four League Cup ties on home soil in that time. On the road City have played 16 games, winning 10.

Since winning the competition the furthest Leicester have progressed is the last 16. City fans hoping for a cup run will not be surprised at the Foxes one win in six against teams from a higher division. Matty Fryatt’s winner at Aston Villa in 2007 was the only occasion since 2000 that City have shocked Premier League opposition

This is not to say Leicester’s League Cup exploits have not been entertaining. Narrow defeats at Fulham and Chelsea and an extra-time exit at the hands of Aston Villa in particular have been standout moments from the last 10 years. These high-scoring encounters (3-2, 4-3 and 2-3 respectively) have in part contributed to an impressive average of 3.04 goals per City League Cup match.

What has been of more concern for the competition as a whole is the lacklustre attendances in the early rounds. Sadly City’s record here mirrors that of the nation. 7,386 watched City’s last 1st Round League Cup tie at home to Stockport in 2008. The last time Macclesfield visited the Walkers Stadium in the 1st Round of the 2006/07 season just 6,298 showed up. A 2nd Round home tie with Blackpool attracted 7,386 in 2005 and at the same stage in 2004 the 3-2 extra-time defeat to Preston was watched by 6,751.

It wasn’t always like this. The 2nd Round second leg game against Crystal Palace in 1999 attracted 12,762 and in the next round 13,701 saw the Foxes beat Grimsby 2-0. A year earlier 13,480 watched the 2nd Round first leg match with Chesterfield. It’s hard not to think that £12 ticket prices for games which used to be included in the season ticket is part of the reason for the declining crowds. Perhaps the club takes in more ticket revenue this way, but I wonder if City would have done better in League Cup ties at home if the players had been backed by a decent crowd.

My Question for Paulo Sousa

As anyone who has listened to BBC Radio Leicester over the last week will surely be aware, Paulo Sousa will be appearing on the Football Forum tonight. You’ll be able to listen to it on the BBC Leicester website from 6 p.m.

Since I’ll be on a train when the Football Forum is broadcast I thought I’d post a question online in the hope it might be read out. Regardless of whether it actually does, I’m looking forward to hearing from the man himself. It should be a very interesting hour.

My question:

Paulo, much has been made of the playing style of the two sides you have managed in England thus far. I want to ask you about the approach you take when your side is in the lead.

During your spell at QPR the side dropped 9 points from winning positions. Likewise at Swansea last season the team dropped 18 points after leading in league games. In addition, 8 of the 37 goals Swansea conceded last term came in the last five minutes.

Over the coming weeks and months I’m looking forward to seeing Leicester create plenty of chances and score goals. After watching the second half performance at Crystal Palace I’m confident we have the players to do just that.

But how will Leicester approach the game after taking the lead? Will Leicester under your management attempt to hold what they have, or will we try to put teams to the sword?

Great City Fightbacks

It's now 15 years since Leicester won an opening day match on the road. At half time in yesterday's match I struggled to remember City overturning big deficits to win points away from home. The last time the Foxes recovered from 2-0 down on the road was a 2-2 draw at Watford in 2005. I think I'm right in saying the last time City took a point after being 3 goals behind was the 4-4 draw at Aston Villa in the 1994/95 season, Leicester having been 4-1 behind with around 12 minutes to go.

So great comebacks on the road have been few and far between. But hope is at hand. Losing on the opening day hasn't stopped City promotion campaigns in the past.

Between the wars the Foxes managed this twice. In the 1924/25 season City lost 1-0 at Manchester United and were beaten four times in their opening seven matches. Despite the dismal start, Leicester went on to take the Division Two title by two points from the Red Devils after losing just one game from the beginning of December to the end of the season.

The opening day of the 1936/37 season saw City go down to a 2-1 defeat at home to Blackpool. The Foxes started the season with six defeats in their first ten matches but still went on to take the title.

More recently Leicester lost 1-0 at home to Cardiff City to begin the 1970/71 campaign. However, it proved to be one of only two home defeats all season. The Foxes went unbeaten for the rest of the season following their only other home loss on the 16th January 1971 to secure promotion.

Perhaps City's best recovery came in the 1982/83 season. Charlton were the visitors to Filbert Street on the opening day and took all three points courtesy of a 2-1 win. Leicester lost four of their opening seven games that year and by the end of November found themselves in 15th position with just 20 points.

On the 19th February 1983 the Foxes suffered their 12th defeat if the season. It was a result that left them in 6th place, 12 points adrift of 3rd placed Fulham. But that defeat would prove to be City's last of the season and on the final day a goalless draw at home to relegated Burnley was enough to secure promotion after Fulham went down to a 1-0 defeat at Derby.

Of Leicester's 12 successful promotion campaigns, four came after opening day defeats. After yesterday's second half performance, there's still hope that this season can be a positive one too.

Match Preview – Crystal Palace

If you had to pick an away trip for the first game of the season, you could do a lot worse than Crystal Palace. Selhurst Park is no longer the fortress it once was, with successive managers failing to capture satisfactory home form.

In 2005/06 the Eagles won 13 matches and took 45 points at home. Since then their points return from home fixtures has read 39, 36, 35 and last season, 29.

In 2005/06 Palace scored 39 league goals at home. In the following seasons they have managed 33, 31, 26 and 24. Only Swansea and Plymouth scored fewer at home than the Eagles in 2009/10.

If the above has failed to convince you of how poor Crystal Palace were at home last season then the fact that 10 Championship sides, including Leicester, left Selhurst Park with all three points should do the trick. Only Plymouth and Peterborough lost more games at home last term.

Leicester have won seven league matches at Selhurst Park, but last season’s victory was the club’s first since 1998. The match was also notable from a statistical point of view as City retained 64% of the possession, the highest share they would control in the whole on the 2009/10 season.

It was the sort of ball retention that Paulo Sousa will be hoping his side can recreate on a regular basis this season. Sousa’s own record at Selhurst Park is encouraging too. In just his third game in charge of QPR his side claimed a goalless draw, then his Swansea team took a 1-0 win last season.

One point to note is that the game will be overseen by Mr K A Woolmer who awarded 4 penalties last season in the Championship, all of them for the home side.

As the season begins every supporter has high hopes. These are both clubs who have experience in reaching the playoffs. Crystal Palace (17) are the only team to have played in more Championship playoff matches than Leicester (14). But it seems like only one of these clubs has any realistic hope of reaching the playoffs this year. Leicester should have enough to get Paulo Sousa off to a perfect start.

On This Day – August 7th 1999

A last minute own-goal from Frank Sinclair saw City lose their opening day match at Arsenal 2-1. City had taken the lead through a 57th minute strike from Tony Cottee, only for Denis Bergkamp to equalize eight minutes later and Sinclair’s misdirected clearance to cost City the points. It would turn out to be Sinclair’s first of two last ditch own goals in a week, meaning City started the 99/00 campaign with four points from a possible nine instead of seven.

Away Days – Can Leicester do enough on the road?

The start of the 2010/11 season will be something of a novelty for Leicester fans. Only twice in the last 10 seasons have the Foxes started the campaign away from home. More worryingly, both of those matches ended in limp defeats. The opening day of the 2005/06 season saw a 4-1 thumping at Sheffield United. This was followed by a 2-0 surrender at Luton Town to begin the 2006/07 season.

Despite my prattling on about how Leicester didn’t win a single away match by more than one goal last season, City’s away form was by no means as desperate as that statistic suggests. Indeed, 31 points away from home in the Championship is a very respectable total.

The Foxes certainly have some favourite hunting grounds. City have won five of their last seven trips to Oakwell and five of their last 10 visits to Elland Road and Vicarage Road.

Elsewhere however, points are not so easy to come by.

City have fared poorly in recent derby encounters. The Foxes have won only two of their last nine visits to Pride Park and none of their last five matches at Coventry. Most depressingly of all Leicester haven’t collected three points at the City Ground since 1972, amassing 13 trips without a win since.

It’s not just locally that City have struggled. Leicester’s last winning goalscorer at Carrow Road was Emile Heskey in 1995, five matches ago. City have no wins in five attempts at Bramall Lane, just one win in 9 away visits to Hull City, and a pathetic return of one win in 14 league matches at Portman Road.

Of the current 23 Championship grounds to which Leicester will travel this season, City have won on their last visit at 6 of them. Last season six away wins was good enough to see Blackpool promoted to the top flight through the playoffs, but we have to go all the way back to 1994/95 to find another side (Bolton Wanderers, 5 wins) for whom such average away form was sufficient for a successful promotion campaign.

Leicester are likely to need a strong return from their away fixtures to make the playoffs. To do so it looks as though they’re going to need to overcome a few bogey grounds.

The Blagger's Guide to the Championship

Excited yet? If you just can’t get enough Championship previews, allow Foxblogger to present another one. Below are some vital statistics on every Championship club. Enjoy!

Barnsley
Teams are often accused of raising their game against quality opponents, only to throw points away against beatable opposition. Barnsley were last season’s main offenders in this department, winning 32 points against teams in the top half, but only 22 against teams in the bottom half.

Bristol City
Ashton Gate was the place to see goals last season. A total of 72 were scored. Matches included 4-2 and 5-3 home wins over Preston North End and Barnsley but also saw 6-0 and 5-2 defeats at the hands of Cardiff City and Doncaster Rovers.

Burnley
Despite a good start, Burnley were unable to maintain their momentum and eventually conceded 82 goals in their only Premier League campaign. Only Derby County (89) have conceded more goals in a 38-game Premier league season. Some work for Brian Laws to do at the back, then.

Cardiff City
Of the sides that didn’t get promoted, Cardiff managed the most away wins (10). One of these was a 6-0 demolition of Bristol City, the biggest away win in the Championship since Southampton beat Wolves at Molineux by the same score in March 2007. City also hit the woodwork on 27 occasions, more than any other Championship side last season.

Coventry City
Coventry are nothing if not tediously predictable. In the last four seasons the Sky Blues have collected 54, 54, 53 and 56 points. At home they have won 8 matches in each of the last three seasons, scoring 27, 26 and 25 goals in the process. Coventry have also failed to achieve a positive goal difference in any of the last six seasons.

Crystal Palace
Palace neither soared to dizzying statistical heights nor stooped to depressing mathematical lows, but in Alan Lee they did have a player who was substituted 22 times. No Championship played was replaced more often, though Radoslaw Majewski and Paul Anderson of Nottingham Forest both were substituted as often.

Derby County
42 players were used by Derby manager Nigel Clough last season, more than any other Championship side. Only 5 outfield players started more than 30 games and just one, Robbie Savage, managed to appear in every league game.

Doncaster Rovers
Rovers’ were last season’s nice guys, committing just 405 fouls (8.8 per game) and receiving only 39 yellow cards. Perhaps the loss of Ritchie Wellens had something to do with it…

Hull City
Since 13th December 2008 Hull City have won just 7 of 60 league matches. In that time they’ve scored 49 goals and conceded 114. If any team need to remember how to win it’s the Tigers.

Ipswich Town
Roy Keane’s side drew more matches than any other Championship side last season, 20 in all. 11 of them finished 1-1, a feat only ‘bettered’ by Crystal Palace for whom 12 games finished one each. Eight draws came in Ipswich’s dismal start to the season -14 matches without a win would prove to be the longest such run of the Championship campaign. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Ipswich only won half of the matches in which they kept a clean sheet, a Championship low in 2009/10.

Leeds United
United finally achieved promotion from League One at the third attempt despite only winning seven on their final 19 league games. In fact if the season had started on 1st February, Leeds would have finished 10th. Leeds will need to recover their form from 2009 (P46 W32 D8 L6 F83 A31 Pts104) to ensure they make an impact in the Championship.

Leicester City
No side was safer with a one-goal lead than Leicester in 2009/10. City won 14 games by a single goal, more than any other Championship side. More worryingly, they failed to win a single away match by more than a one goal last season.

Middlesbrough
Gordon Strachan’s side might be favourites for the title, but they’ll need to do much better against sides in the top 10 to merit that backing. Last season Boro’ won just two of their 20 matches against teams that finished above them, and won only two points against the top six all season.

Millwall
The Lions recovered from 9th position on Boxing Day 2009 to almost snatch an automatic promotion place to the Championship. In the second half of the season Millwall won 52 points, losing only 3 games and conceding just 15 goals. Few should be looking forward to a trip to the New Den.

Norwich City
Another side in the winning habit is Norwich. Their 29 wins in 2009/10 was the highest win total in League One since Luton Town’s promotion in 2004/05. By comparison, Leicester managed 27 wins when they ran away with League One in 2008/09.

Nottingham Forest
Billy Davies’ side were ruthless at home, especially against sides in the bottom half. Forest won 11 of their 12 home matches against sides who finished in the wrong half of the table, scoring 29 and conceding just 7. These wins contributed to Forest’s 19 matches without defeat (a run which coincided with 12 successive home wins and 8 consecutive home clean sheets), the longest such sequence since Reading’s 33-match unbeaten run in 2005/06. Forest also had the season’s longest undefeated away run (13 matches).

Portsmouth
Pompey only won 18 points at home last season, the lowest total in the Premier League last season. Portsmouth also lost the most games by a single goal (13) and suffered more 1-0 defeats (7) than any other Premier league club.

Preston North End
Preston fans haven’t seen their side relegated in 18 seasons. PNE are the Championship’s longest serving tenants and have failed to gain promotion through the play-offs four times in the last 10 years, twice having made it to the final.

Queens Park Rangers
Between 30th September and 5th April QPR didn’t manage a single clean sheet in 17 away games, the worst such run since Colchester United and Southampton both conceded goals in 21 consecutive away matches in 2007/08. During QPR’s barren away spell they failed to score on 9 occasions. Whatever else Neil Warnock needs to improve, Rangers’ away form certainly needs some work.

Reading
The Royals were last season’s late bloomers, winning 40 points from their final 20 games having taken just 23 points from their first 26 matches. If they continue in that sort of form the will be in danger of breaking their own Championship points record (106).

Scunthorpe United
The Iron conceded 84 goals last season, the most for a side avoiding relegation from the Championship since Barnsley’s net rippled 85 times in 2006/07. On 13 occasions (11 away from home) Scunthorpe conceded 3 or more goals. Thanks to their lax defending Scunthorpe matches averaged 3.17 goals per game, the highest in the Championship. Conceding 11 penalties (another Championship high) and having 7 players dismissed (a record shared with QPR) can’t have helped much.

Sheffield United
Kevin Blackwell’s men committed 627 fouls and received 86 yellow cards, the former was the highest foul count in the Championship in 2009/10.

Swansea City
With just 40 goals to their name, Swansea’s strike record was the worst in the Championship. Just 7.43% of Swansea’s attempts on goal found the net, the lowest chance conversion rate in the division. Matches at The Liberty Stadium averaged a measly 1.43 goals per game.

Watford
Hornets fans should know better than to leave a game early, 16 goals (12.4%) in Watford matches last season came in the last 5 minutes.

Oxford Utd 1-1 Leicester City

A 74th minute strike from James Constable was enough to deny Leicester victory in the Foxes’ latest friendly. Constable’s left-foot finish from 10 yards cancelled out an excellent 25-yard free kick from DJ Campbell in an entertaining game at the Kassam Stadium

This time next month City will have three league games under their belt, and this match provided encouraging signs for the travelling Leicester fans. City started in a familiar 4-4-2 but less recognisable was the sight of DJ Campbell on the left wing, with Lloyd Dyer stationed on the right. The inside-out wingers almost provided instant results. On five minutes Dyer cut inside his marker to fire a left-foot shot off the far post.

Nicky Adams, once again at right-back, was given ample opportunity to break forward, allowing in turn Dyer to come inside without City sacrificing width. The fruits of this policy nearly paid off as Dyer latched on to a Howard header on 18 minutes, only to timidly nod the ball into the arms of Clarke.

On 25 minutes it was Campbell’s turn to shine. Largely out of the game until this point, he casually curled a 25-yeard free-kick over the wall and past the despairing grasp of Clarke. But despite his goal, it was clear Campbell was not enjoying his time on the left wing. Almost immediately following his goal Campbell switched to the right flank and enjoyed a much more productive half.

Throughout the first period City were keeping the ball nicely, playing passes from the back and rarely resorting to the long ball. Indeed, such was the strength of City’s passing start that Steve Howard barely got a look in. His main contribution to the half was to block a goalbound Andy King shot after Matty Fryatt had snatched the ball on the halfway line. Fryatt too was subdued, failing to deliver a telling finish despite a number of opportunities. His tame first time shot from 6 yards on the half-hour mark typified his afternoon.

Meanwhile the back line looked solid for the opening 45 minutes, only Jack Hobbs’ spooned clearance over the bar seven minutes before half time made Chris Weale sweat.

After half-time, a much different match played out. City were on the back foot early, as Chris Weale lost out in an aerial challenge and, having failed to win a free-kick, could only watch as the ball was struck wide with the goal gaping.

The comfortable possession football was replaced with a much more careless regard for the ball. In fairness, some of this was down to the much-improved pressing from the home side. But all too often City players found themselves caught in possession, struggling to find the same options that had been available in the first half.

Meanwhile the policy of allowing Nicky Adams the freedom to find the opposition touchline as often as his own inevitably caught the former Bury man out of position on occasions. In Adams’ defence it was Tom Parkes, a centre-half filling in at left-back after coming on for the excellent Bruno Berner, who was guilty of positional indiscipline for Oxford’s equaliser.

City still had chances to win it. Lloyd Dyer, having swapped flanks for the third time, was put through by Fryatt only to see his shot tipped wide. Fryatt too forced a corner after Clarke could only parry his diving header behind.

It was the sort of friendly after which managers and fans alike are keen to point out the result doesn’t matter, but as the Paulo Sousa pre-season Petri dish moves on to Peterborough expect further experimentation.

When should we be worried?

It’s fair to say that expectations at Leicester haven’t been as high as this in a good few seasons. Paulo Sousa will be expected to get results quickly and the fixtures list does him no favours at all.

City face two home fixtures in August against fellow promotion contenders and trips to two of the relegated Premier League sides in the first four away games. They’ll also have early trips to Coventry and Norwich, places they haven’t won since 2003 and 1995 respectively. Indeed, so long ago was Leicester’s last win at Norwich that it contained Emile Heskey’s first ever senior goal.

Below is a table showing Leicester’s fixtures and the last result in each match* together with a projected league table position based on last season's results. To use a golfing term, this is par for the season. To put it another way, let’s not get too worried if City aren’t in the top 10 at the end of October.



*For the purpose of this exercise I’ve taken the regular season results against Cardiff City from 2009/10.

Note: To see a full version on this spreadsheet click here.

Is the Manager of the Month Award Really Cursed?

Football has many wonderful aphorisms which fans can call upon when poor play besets their team. “You’re always vulnerable when you’ve just scored” and “We always concede late goals” are two of my particular favourites.

In fact to call them aphorisms is a touch misleading, aphorisms are supposed to point towards a general truth. Most matches are not filled with late winners and equalisers, nor are most goals responded to in kind by the opposition in seconds – football is all the more exciting because these occurrences are rare and noteworthy.

The Manager of the Month Award is another facet of the game which has its own received wisdom – winners of the award promptly go on to lose their next match. Leicester fans will be acutely aware if this quirk. Four Leicester managers have won a total of eight Manager of the Month Awards between them since 1996. Martin O'Neil (3), Peter Taylor (1) and Rob Kelly (1) all failed to win their next match. Nigel Pearson won just one match immediately following his three Manager of the Month Awards at the club.

So far the 'curse' theory is looking quite convincing, but a wider canvas gives a rather different picture.

Since the 2004/05 a total of 54 Manager of the Month awards have been made in the Championship. Their recipients have gone on in their next league fixture to win 21, draw 11 and lose 22.

If there is a curse, it doesn't seem to be affecting anyone else too badly. That's just typical of Leicester, isn't it?

Paulo Sousa: What to expect

Despite reaching their highest league position since 1983 Swansea fans had very little to cheer about last season, literally. Paulo Sousa’s side scored just 21 league goals at the Liberty Stadium last term meaning your average Swansea season ticket holder paid approximately £17.86 for each home goal.

Infuriatingly, Swansea fans could have covered the cost of their season ticket by backing boredom. Last season the Swans featured in a yawn inducing 10 goalless draws. Savvy punters, by placing £10 on every Swansea match failing to trouble the scoreboard, could have waked away with a profit of £390 come May.

Is this what we have to look forward to?

The case for the defence is that Sousa had very little in terms of attacking talent. Swansea were definitely left with a Jason Scotland sized hole at the heart of attack, and his replacements never looked like filling the gap. Darren Pratley, a midfielder, was the club’s top scorer with seven league goals.

Further, it wasn’t as if Leicester set the scoring charts alight last season. Away from home the two sides shared almost identical records. The Foxes took two extra points and scored two more than Swansea, Sousa's side conceded two fewer.

What Swansea needed but never got was that little extra killer instinct. Leicester won 14 games by a single goal and drew 13 matches; Swansea won 11 matches by the odd goal and drew 18. The gap between the two teams come the end of the season was seven points. Put simply, four more Swansea goals in the regular season could have seen Leicester playing Forest in the play-offs and Sousa’s side making the short trip to Cardiff.

Financial restraints certainly made it difficult for Sousa to improve his squad’s toothless attack. Indeed in the transfer market it’s hard to make too many concrete judgements about Sousa’s capabilities. The only transfer fee he paid was to Southampton to make Nathan Dyer’s loan move a permanent one. I’m sure there are few Swansea fans who would disagree with the wisdom of that decision, but given that his predecessor had brought Dyer to the club in the first place we can hardly praise the Portuguese boss for Craig Shakespearian scouting.

In the loan market Shefki Kuqi’s goals brought vital wins at Crystal Palace, Watford and Derby, but he didn’t exactly set the Championship alight. Craig Beattie managed 3 goals in a dozen starts and a further 11 substitute appearances. But these are the chances you take with the loan market, sometimes they take off spectacularly (Mark Davis, Jack Hobbs, Martyn Waghorn) and sometimes they don’t (Ryan McGivern, Astrit Ajdarevic).

What we can expect is possession football and lots of it. Swansea had the majority of possession in 32 (70%) of their league matches last season. By contrast Leicester managed this in only 18 (39%) of their Championship games.

So in summary, Foxes fans will see more of the ball, but possibly less of it in the net and would probably do well to hedge bets on a few goalless draws. Let’s get that promotion bandwagon rolling.

Moving On

When Gary Megson departed the Walkers Stadium for Bolton Wanderers a friend remarked that it felt like being “dumped by a fat bird”. Nigel Pearson’s departure gives rise to the same feelings of rejection, but this time it’s like being dumped in favour of a woman out of form and lamenting the depreciation of her best assets. Whatever Nigel Pearson sees in Hull is a mystery to the rest of us, but it’s never worth staying in a relationship if one partner doesn’t have the heart for it.

So let’s remember the good times.

Nigel Pearson has been Leicester best manager in a decade. In terms of victories, his win ratio of 51.4% makes him City’s most successful manager of all time.

Pearson led the Foxes to their first win of any division in 29 years and presided over the clubs longest unbeaten league run of 23 matches. Had penalties at Cardiff played out differently, he might have been the first club manager to lead a side from English football’s third tier to the top flight in successive seasons since Joe Royle.

In his first season, Pearson’s side scored more league goals (84) than any other team in the top 4 divisions. Their march to the title was built on the back of 27 wins, 19 clean sheets and just four defeats.

Last season Leicester became experts in grinding out results when it mattered, wining more matches by a single goal (14) than any other Championship side. The Foxes didn’t lose any of the 24 matches in which the scored first and managed an eight match unbeaten run in the second tier for the first time since 2002/03.

Better still, City got into the habit of scoring late. Under Pearson, City scored 26 league goals in the last 10 minutes, conceding only 14.

The winning mentality was fostered by a group of successful signings. Jack Hobbs, Chris Weale and Bruno Berner are much celebrated but Michael Morrison, Aleksander Tunchev, David Martin and Kerrea Gilbert also deserve a mention. Going forward Lloyd Dyer injected pace into a side sorely lacking it in 2007/08 and loan signings like Martyn Waghorn and Mark Davies proved that Pearson and his backroom staff had an eye for creative talent.

It wasn’t all roses of course. Robbie Neilson and Ryan McGivern remain unconvincing whilst Astrit Ajdarevic managed just 68 minutes of first team action, but these were the exceptions and not the rule.

Best of all, Pearson managed to do what seven previous City manages had failed to do, get the best out of Matty Fryatt. Before Pearson, Fryatt had managed 11 goals in 81 league appearances fro Leicester. Under the guidance of the new man, Fryatt netted 38 times in 75 league games. It has been a remarkable turnaround.

Whatever the reasons for Pearson’s departure there’s no doubt the club is in a far healthier condition thanks to his work. The feelings of disappointment are strong, and they’ll be even harder to digest if rumours about the breakdown of Pearson’s contract negotiations are true. But his record deserves respect, and for that reason I’ll find it difficult to jeer when Hull City visit the Walkers on 16th October.

The End of the Pearson Era?

There are rumours all over the internet regarding the future of Nigel Pearson and a possible move to Hull City.

Throughout the day the reaction has mimicked the Kübler-Ross model; denial (“Hull City are broke!”, “Leicester are a bigger club” etc.), anger (I’ve seen two Judas posts on Twitter already), bargaining (at least, we hope some of this is going on behind the scenes…), depression (“Oh God, John Gregory is going to apply for the job again isn’t he!?”) and finally, acceptance.

Well we’re not quite at acceptance yet, but reading the runes of the days reporting does not look good. Leicester have neither confirmed nor denied the reports, which usually means there is at least a modicum of truth behind the reports.

I’d certainly group myself with other fans who see this as a strange sideways move, if not a step down for Pearson in his managerial career if indeed it does come to pass. But neither City or Hull will have much if any money to spend in the summer, and if personal relations between the Chairman and Nigel Pearson really have broken down, then the move doesn’t seem as strange in that context.

However if anyone wants some straws to grasp at if not exactly clutch, here’s another way today could be panning out. We know Pearson, whose contract is due to expire next year, has been negotiating a new deal for some time. It’s not beyond the realms of possibility that Nigel is looking at his options elsewhere in order to get an improved deal at the Walkers. Only today the Leicester Mercury published a gushing piece on just how good Steve Walsh, City’s head of recruitment, has been at unearthing new talent in the free transfer and loan markets, the timing of which seems just a little too perfect. If this is a play to get Pearson and his backroom staff an improved deal you’d have to admire the chutzpah – we’re all buying it.

We’ll find out one way or the other soon enough.

Is this Leicester City’s worst ever team?

At a time when City appear to be back on the up it feels like we can look back on hard times and raise a smile at some of the agonies our club has put Foxes fans through.

I’m sure everyone reading this will have their own ideas of their worst Leicester City team, but I’m not interested in cherry picking from different eras, for the purposes of this post the team must have started together.

With this in mind, allow me to present my case for Leicester’s worst ever team. My criteria for this ‘worst team’ follows five rules.

1) It must offer shocking value for money;
2) Any established fan favourites must be passed their best;
3) It should include at least one player who fans have forgotten ever played for the club;
4) Preferably, it should be placed in a setting where failure is almost guaranteed;
5) Few team members, if any, should go on to achieve success elsewhere having played in this side.

The team I have selected featured much of Leicester’s most overpriced talent. Some of my favourites include;

Ade Akinbiyi - £5m
Matt Jones - £3m
Darren Eadie - £3m
Trevor Benjamin - £1.5m

Indeed, the 16 players in the squad that day cost a combined total of £21.75m. To put it in terms of today’s money, that’s nearly 14 DJ Campbell’s.

The line-up included a couple of notable fan favourites. Matt Elliot was the leading light amongst them, but his slide in form was beginning to take shape by the time this match took place whilst Tim Flowers and Andy Impy were not the same players they had been under Martin O’Neil.

The squad’s complete unknown was Kevin Ellison. Ellison played the only six minutes of his Leicester City and indeed Premier League career in this match, coming on as a substitute for Dean Sturridge. Ellison had plucked from the obscurity of Altrincham by Peter Taylor for £50,000. Within nine months he had been shipped to Stockport for a similar fee.

So who did this hopeless collection of expensive underachievers and old boys play? City’s opponents on 17th March 2001 were running away with the league for the second season running. Already 17 points clear, Manchester United’s title surge had been built on an almost impeccable record at Old Trafford.

So how do you break down a side which at that point in the season had conceded just 7 goals at home? Few, I imagine, would respond with Dean Sturridge and Ade Akinbiyi, a pair who between then would furnish City with 17 goals in 69 league starts. The BBC match report finds Ade in good form. Our correspondent notes “for all United's pressure, Leicester should have snatched the lead when Ade Akinbiyi headed over the bar when well-played from a Darren Eadie cross.” Sigh.

Whilst few would pair Sturridge and Akinbiyi as their dream City strikers fewer still would rely on service to the front two coming from a midfield which included Junior Lewis, Matt Jones and Damien Delaney. Jones in particular would prove an albatross around Leicester’s neck. City won just three of their 16 Premier League games in which the Welshman started, Wales at the time fared little better. Junior Lewis’ four wins in 15 Premier League starts for Leicester in 00/01 was equally uninspiring.

At the other end, the United strikers were looking forward to firing shots Simon Royce, who would keep a meagre three clean sheets in 16 starts for Leicester that season. In front of him the defence included former Oxford United man Phil Gilchrist: a centre-back renowned for wearing his collar up like Eric Cantona, but with a first touch more akin to Eric Odhiambo. This would be his final game for the Foxes.

Amazingly the side held out at the Theatre of Dreams for 88 minutes, even surviving the 70th minute introduction of Trevor Benjamin for Akinbiyi for a surprising 17 minutes. Inevitably the torrent of United pressure finally told, and goals from Solskjaer (via a Dwight Yorke deflection) and Silvestre restored sanity to the footballing world.

So did any of this bunch go on to finer things?

Royce and Rowett moved to Charlton, which was at least the Premier League I suppose. Gilchrist too played top flight football with West Brom. Steve Guppy had an injury blighted spell with Celtic and Akinbiyi eventually found himself in the MLS.

In short then, no.

So there you have it, my pick for the worst Leicester team ever. I’d love to know yours.

The lineup in full; Royce, Rowett, Elliott, Gilchrist, Impey, Eadie, Junior Lewis, Jones (Guppy, 89), Delaney, Akinbiyi (Benjamin, 70), Sturridge (Ellison, 84)
Subs not used: Flowers, Oakes.

For those of you who are interested, here’s the BBC match report.

DJ Campbell, a £1.5m man?

The Leicester Mercury is reporting that Leicester City have set an asking price of £1.5m for striker DJ Campbell.

DJ, who has played much more like a Dudley at the Walkers Stadium since signing for £1.6m from Birmingham in 2007, has proved one of the most frustrating players to wear a City shirt in recent years.

Campbell has scored 5 goals in 3 seasons for the Foxes (22 starts, 25 appearances as a sub) but, infuriatingly, has netted 23 goals in 43 starts in loan spells at Blackpool and Derby.

That DJ doesn't enjoy life in Leicester is clear, after all he showed no signs of improvement when Ian Holloway first got his hands on him at Leicester before deciding to bring him to Blackpool. City ought to get as much as they can for the former Brentford man, but is the asking price just a tad on the optimistic side?

In the last few seasons Joe Mattock has left for £1.2m, Ian Hume made his way to Barnsley for the same price. Indeed the last player City sold for more than DJ’s current asking price was David Connelly who signed for Wigan in 2005 at a cost of £2m.

It doesn’t seem like Campbell has much of a future at City, but I’d be shocked if the club gets a seven figure sub for him. Blackpool might have some cash, but £1.5m will buy you a far better striker than DJ.

The race for the play-offs

After yesterdays excellent result against fellow play-off chasers, Leicester’s promotion push looks destined to extend the Foxes’ season for the first time since 1995/96.

But as any Foxes fan should know, there will be sides who hit form at just the right time to steal that play-off spot from any team that takes its foot off the gas. I say Foxes fans should know this because this is exactly what Leicester did in 1995/96. On 20th March 1996 Martin O’Neil’s men were 10th, four points behind 6th placed Ipswich. But following a run which brought seven wins and 22 points from their final 10 league matches, City finished 5th. We all know what followed.

This time however, it’s different. City hold a seven point cushion on 7th place and a game in hand over Ian Holloway’s Blackpool. In short, a play-off place is Leicester’s to lose.

How likely is it that Leicester will hold on to their play-off spot? The past five seasons seem to point in City’s favour, 15 of the last 20 teams to hold a play-off position at this stage of the season have managed to remain in the top six. But there are some horror stories too…

2008/09 – Cardiff City

Cardiff City have gained a very unwanted reputation as end of season bottlers. Last season provided perhaps the best example yet of Cardiff’s inability to close the deal.

The Bluebirds had been in the play-off positions since 30th November and on Easter Monday 2009 lay 4th, eight points clear of 7th place. Dave Jones’ side then proceeded to take just one point from their final 4 games, including a 6-0 defeat to Preston, the team who went on to replace Cardiff in the play-offs on goals scored.

2007/08 – Plymouth Argyle, Charlton Athletic

After 36 games both Plymouth and Charlton were occupying playoff positions, but the Pilgrims took just 9 points from their final 10 matches and Charlton managed a return of just 8 points from 30. Unsurprisingly such pitiful end of season form (relegated Leicester took 12 points from their final 10 games) was not enough to maintain their league position. Plymouth and Charlton finished the season in 10th and 11th respectively.

That said, the race for the play-offs has also proven to be quite sedate in other years. In the 2005/06 season the sides who occupied the play-off positions on 2nd January did so for the rest of the season with the exception of just one weekend. That year automatic promotion, play-off and relegation places were settled with 3 games of the season remaining. That would be nice, wouldn’t it?

Sheffield Wednesday 2-0 Leicester City

Leon Clarke’s brace, his first in 12 months, secured a comfortable victory for the Owls against a lacklustre City side. Clarke, who had placed the penultimate nail in Leicester’s 2008 relegation coffin with the third goal of Wednesday’s 3-1 win at the Walkers, ensured another miserable afternoon for the Foxes.

Clarke’s first, a sweetly struck drive from 12 yards gave the home side a 6th minute lead. City failed to heed a first minute warning when Chris Weale was tested from a similar angle. This time the City keeper could do nothing as Clarke’s strike fizzed into the roof of the net.

City were one game short of a nine match unbeaten run, a record which would have been their best at Championship level since 2002/03. But the Foxes never looked likely to snatch even a share of the spoils.

Nigel Pearson’s unchanged eleven were barely recognisable as the side that had thumped Forest just seven days earlier. Martyn Waghorn has proven fruitful on the road with five of his seven goals coming away from home, but the Sunderland loanee found himself in the pocket of Darren Purse all afternoon. Championship player of the month Paul Gallagher provided little and was eventually substituted. The midfield trio of Oakley, Wellens and King failed establish any authority on the game.

What attacking flair City did show came down the left. Lloyd Dyer made a nuisance of himself in the first half, getting in behind the Wednesday backline to create chances for Gallagher and Waghorn, the latter forcing an excellent save from Wednesday keeper Lee Grant. But there the few signs of encouragement ended. Weale left the pitch on the half hour with a wound sustained in a collision with Marcus Tudgay.

In the second half City resorted to artless hoofs from deep. Wayne Brown led this industrial approach from the back, bypassing the midfield in favour of 40-yard balls that did not make up for in accuracy what they lacked in imagination.

By the time a forward whose attributes suited this tactic took the field in the shape of Steve Howard, Clarke had grabbed his second. City needlessly gave the ball away and Clarke provided a neat near-post finish from Jermaine Johnson’s low cross.

Late on Dyer produced an excellent save from Grant, but even this did not spark a late rally in front of the Foxes’ sizeable travelling support. City were dead and buried.