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.

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.