Leicester

[ZLF 271]

What a stroke of luck - Drury got injured.

City started well (and the ref made his first mistake) when Dublin had a shot tipped over early one and it seemed the crowd had the desired response.  However Leicester played their way into the game and were starting to boss the midfield.  To be honest they deserved their lead,  which was an atrociously defended set peice where three yellow shirts went up and lost to their centre back whose header seemed to go through camps hands, albeit from close range.

However Safri was starting to have an impact and was wresting midfield control back.  No he was not at his best and seems to be lacking match fitness but he showed Etuhu and Robinson what we have been missing by snapping into tackles and pressurising their midfield into mistake, rather than us being on the receiving end.

It was this, rather than the move back to 442, which brought us a victory - no better demonstrated than with the second goal when Safri won a 50/50 ball (the sort we havent won for too many cames) and he strode forward before laying a simple pass which earnie finished perfectly.

The next best thing to come out of this game was Lee Camp.  He started nervously,  his kicking was erratic and I still question his role in the goal, but as the game went one he began commanding his box in way that we have missed - and it seemed to benefit the back 4.  Hopefully that will help with set pieces in coming games - the one today should shame Etuhu, Shax and Dublin.

The whole team played better against better opponents than Hull but whether this was because of the crowd or the players being fired up is hard to know - but for me the turning point was the introduction of Saffers.

With Thorne not poor but not great and Hux better (but not my MOTM) the whole shape improved.

 

Roll on sat....