It's Character Forming

This is exactly how I saw it. Aside from the penalty (which was self-inflicted) Leicester created virtually nothing in the first half, it was a chess game with neither side wanting to be caught out. We were very careful in how we pressed them, you could see they wanted to draw our players forward and we deliberately held back and engaged with them carefully. They were pretty similar in their approach, hence why Gunn was often taking his time before playing it out. I thought we did well in playing out through their press and the patient approach often worked, personally I would have persevered with Rowe longer as he'd have thrived later on when space opened up. A chess game is not so exciting for fans, but when two of the top teams in a division play each other it often happens. Really it was one piece of stupidity towards the end of the half that was the difference between the teams.

Wow that's really interesting - if you discount their actual goals, their xG was 0.33 ! And people say we were conservative in our approach !

Thanks, this is useful. I agree that the penalty will be 0.76 and their 2nd goal surely was up at around 0.5 or more, so that accounts for their superiority. I've thought about the fact that this basically means saying "well, if you discount their actual goals, then their expected goals were less than ours....". But the reality is the penalty was out of the blue and clumsily conceded, the xG of the chance if Fassnacht doesn't push him over would have been fairly low I'm guessing. And the 2nd goal was a classic sucker punch when you've been pushing for a goal for a long period, if it had been a draw at that point it's never going to happen like that. Given their press and the quality of their defence, I wonder if we should have put Rowe on the bench to come on when they were tired ? Hard to bench someone who's been scoring a goal per game but with hindsight it would have been the right thing to do.

I think a lot of the reaction is overly harsh. Yes it was a cagey game, but that's not unusual between two of the top teams in the division, and it was equally true the other direction. Also, Leicester are counter-attack experts, so if you play a gung-ho approach against them, you're asking for trouble. It's all very well saying "let the opposition worry about us" but if you're playing the best team in the division, which IMO we were, and you play the same approach as you do every week, you're likely to come a cropper. Many of us had made the comment that our previous formation left us too open in the middle and I think it is a good thing that Wagner recognised this and made a sensible adjustment. I thought the first half was very even, and going in 0-0 at the half would have been a very fair reflection, the fact is it was a silly challenge by Fassnacht and that was the difference between the teams. In the second half it was a different game due to them being ahead, and I thought we did a good job of applying pressure without leaving ourselves too open to a sucker punch 2nd goal until near the end. I thought it was a pretty clear pen on Giannoulis, not as open & shut as the Fassnacht one, but still a clear foul inside the box. That seems to be the way it's going this season. Also McLean's shot was the best chance of the game, incredibly narrow margin that he didn't score. So we were I thought unfortunate not to have levelled the game during that spell of pressure. Yes they did get a second goal near the end on the counter attack, although I thought it was offside, but really that gave them a flattering scoreline. So what did we learn from the game ? We absolutely are missing Serg. Hwang looked bright when he came on and against a lesser team he could add something when he's had time to bed in. Rowe need to adapt to being a marked man. Based on last night I think we are comfortably good enough for a playoff spot and when things start to click a bit better, we could still be in contention for the top 2 IMO.

I can rarely remember a game in the 2nd tier when we were in the top 4 and the feeling going into a game on this MB was so completely negative as this one. I do agree, like @Jim Smith I think we're too open in the middle. Living in Nottingham I know quite a few Leicester fans and a couple of them have reminded me that our 3-1 win at their old stadium was one of the best away performances they've seen, that was a Wes masterclass. So, never say die...

I can't make the game in person unfortunately. You might want to say which part of the ground it is and where someone will need to collect it from ?

People need to remember Alan Sugar's prune juice analogy. When you're in the Prem, you get masses of money, but it's just like prune juice - it passes straight through and the club doesn't get to keep it.

Given it's 2nd playing away at the team in 4th, a respectful attitude on both sides is to be expected.

I wonder if this thread is being influenced by our home game vs Burnley last season ? We were certainly architects of our own downfall that day, with Krul at the peak of his "passing out from the back direct to an attacker" phase. They were clearly the better team, but we definitely made it very easy for them.

Got to be the "Oh No..." one when Klose equalised. BTW I'm aware that sooner or later they will beat us, unless they go out of business first. But that will always be a hilarious quote to hear.

I've not seen Leicester yet this season, but for them it's promising that they could "do a Burnley", having shipped out the players who last season clearly couldn't be bothered (some of whom were at the end of their contracts) and Vardy still very much a threat at Champs level. So it will be a good measure of where we're up to.

Phew. Important to be able to grind out results like that .

Need this cmon boys!

I remember it well, Hucks at his best!

Scandalous ! PS I thought the Czech government had decided Czechia is acceptable as the short form for "the Czech Republic" ?

except being caught offside of course* *in-joke for those who followed the early part of this thread.

He's unrecognizable from last year's player. Literally so in my case on Saturday, which was my first game of the season - I am still getting to grips with our new personnel and didn't recognise him (no chance on hearing the announcement of who the subs were being in the middle of the City fans !). TBF his run down the left and exquisitely weighted pass for Idah for the 4th goal are not what we've been used to see from him before now, and after last night I'm hoping he'll continue to be quite the revelation.

Sadly I can't make this one as I'll be flying over the Atlantic at kick off time, I've been to see City play at Rotherham quite a few times. We must start as favourites, but I'm sure Wagner will make sure we don't underestimate them. I remember a tough 2-1 win under Farke when Emi was fouled non-stop. Also one time they provoked Grabban into punching one of their players, and with 10-men for the last 60 minutes we ended up coming away with a point. Also years back I was taken by a local friend among the home supporters in the family enclosure and that was quite an experience, I had to keep my City allegiance very quiet. The away fans get an entire end of the ground and the yellow colours of our fans are a really impressive sight taking up the entire end, which normally I don't get to see.

Just checked the bbc live text and saw this

For me, we've a lot of players who could do with game time and I'm very comfortable with us fielding a starting 11 made up from them, I think even in the Champs that's pretty normal nowadays.

Assuming Rowe doesn't play (I suppose it's possible he could come on as a sub, although I'd prefer not) that means his scoring run will be restricted to the first five games of the season...

Did anyone else notice the rainbow behind the ground in the 2nd half ? Rather pretty I thought 😀.

LOL yes I can still vividly remember his total lack of mobility.

Good one ! Fave for me is Jordan Rhodes, I can't remember a loan player who was so fully part of the squad but never signed permanently. Honourable mention for Dani Pacheco who made a great impact in a short time not just for that goal vs the scum. Disappointments are a long list, but a certain B. Gilmour comes immediately to mind... not often a loan player coming in has my non-City supporting friends saying what a good loan he'll be for us and then contribute so poorly.

By now my understanding is that promotion odds are 100% driven by punters who are betting, and the bookies juggle the odds so they will always make money. Only one team can win the title so if Team X wins the title, punters who have backed all the other teams will lose their money and the bookies just need to make sure what they'll payout on Team X will be covered by the losing bets on every other Team plus a nice profit margin. If people started to put money onTeam X then the odds will shorten, and vice versa. The bookies won't be too bothered about who are the "favourites", they have to set opening odds which will require a bit of thought at their end, but then once punters start to bet, it's all down to where the money is going. I'd imagine the Championship betting is heavily influenced by fan betting in the UK, unlike say the Prem. So the odds right now say more about how fans are feeling than anything else and clearly binner fans are getting very excited after no real success for longer than most of us can remember.