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.

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.

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.