With pressure mounting and fan anger slowly turning into disinterest, did Marti Cifuentes deliver on his promise to change things and bring more academy players in, or was this team assembled by dice rolls and names from a hat?
Ben Nelson got his first start of the season in a shuffled backline, Luke Thomas and Caleb Okoli deployed as the fullbacks. Jannik Vestergaard took over the captain’s armband to offer a steady, senior head alongside Nelson.
Oliver Skipp came in for Boubakary Soumare and thankfully Jordan James overcame his back injury that saw him substituted against Blackburn. Striker roulette favoured Julian Carranza again, for reasons unknown to the crowd.
Jordan Ayew was this week’s left winger, it’s hard to tell if it was a tactical move or just to counter potential tired legs. Or was Marti just disappointed with Mavididi’s end product? It wasn’t quite the chaos line-up that was rumoured pre-match but it didn’t scream goals and creative output either. In a show of unity and togetherness, there was an all hands in huddle before kick off.
If any neutrals opted to watch this instead of the other Championship offerings or the Champions League, commiserations to them. Hopefully somebody woke them up and reminded them other sporting events were available. Or anything, really. The King Power crowd certainly had a ‘here in body, mind elsewhere’ vibe. It was a strange atmosphere.
The rendition of the Last Post and the Poppy Tifo was well observed but the crowd had been pretty sparse until kick off and even then the empty seats were still noticeable. A lot of people appeared to have opted out of a rainy evening at the King Power, maybe Bonfire Night plans seemed more appealing. Those inside didn’t turn to toxic venom from minute one, which was a little surprising given how Saturday concluded.
The play certainly wasn’t the reason the crowd were calmer, we didn’t start more positively than any other game recently. But at times you could have heard a pin drop. Chants didn’t really catch off and the first half was dominated for a time by concern for a fan taken ill in the family stand. The rest of the game had a lot of people trying their hand at turning their Tifo paper into paper airplanes, the game just playing out as a back drop.
It all felt a little passive. Which is largely what Leicester City players were serving up on the pitch too. Middlesbrough didn’t fare much better but at times, it was hard to tell who was supposed to be the home team. The penalty that the away side gifted us in the dying stages of the first half was not deserved, but it felt like something we so desperately needed that nobody cared. Maybe the much needed win was possible, the performance wasn’t good but it would be something to build on.
Anybody who watched the Wrexham game, the Portsmouth game or the Blackburn game, knew what was coming in the second half though. Leicester were slow, passive in their approach.
We got our first outing of Asmir Begovic, with Stolarczyk injured in the first half. He made a great save when Vestergaard had a nightmare of a moment but then found himself in no man’s land for the equaliser.
As Luke Ayling headed the ball in the 96th minute (of 5 minutes added time), everything played out in slow motion. It felt like hours watching the ball sail into the net before the Boro players wheeled off in emphatic celebration, the small away end rightly enjoying the last minute equaliser.
Nothing about it felt surprising, players wandering around, not putting in a foot, the same defensive issues and having tried to hang on to a 1-0 lead. Something that’s not felt comfortable all season.
Benny steps up
Pre-season, a lot of hope was put into the Ben Nelson bucket. After his promising loan at Oxford last year, getting some valuable Championship experience, we all hoped he’d be a regular at centre back this season. His lack of involvement once fit was surprising and yet again seemed to contradict the cry of wanting to use the academy players.
On a night where there were so few positives, perhaps starting with one is naive but Nelson was great. As much as it’s a positive, it feels like a ‘here’s what you could have had for multiple games before this!’ moment, which is pretty damning for Cifuentes. He’s not explained why Nelson’s time has been limited to date.
Nelson should keep his spot on Saturday. His partnership next to Vestergaard felt more solid than anything else we’ve seen so far. Vestergaard may divide opinions but at this level he is one of our more competent defenders, even with the risk of his oil-tanker speed turns and some of his mistakes.
Both have a calmness on the ball and in possession. Nelson likely needs that more senior figure alongside him for at least another season while he grows. Wout Faes would add an additional level of chaos that one team can’t sustain if you’re also going to play Okoli at right-back. Okoli could be a partner to Nelson long-term but it feels risky for right now.
Okoli didn’t look comfortable for portions of the game. One particularly risky back pass almost eluded Jakub Stolarczyk. You could also hold him accountable for marking, or not, Ayling for the equaliser. Some of the other players were reluctant to include him in the passing game, limiting his ability to effectively impact the right wing in attack. Not that we had much attacking prowess throughout.
Attack? What attack
Carranza won this game’s lottery of which striker to play that definitely won’t score. Despite how ineffective he was against Blackburn as well. It’s tough to know what he’s serving up in training because we’re not really seeing anything during matches. His anticipation and movement aren’t great, he doesn’t look adept at holding the ball up or setting up his colleagues and he’s shot shy.
Several occasions where he just needed to pull the trigger or turn and he backed away from it, trying to pass or just finding himself on the floor. We’ve long said that Patson Daka looks stronger in a two, perhaps Carranza is the same. But when he drifts outside of the box, there weren’t many bodies stepping in to take over and fill that void. Players who did venture forward and look to cross had no real targets.
We’ve been reliant on moments of brilliance from the likes of Fatawu. He’s struggled in recent games, a combination of trying too hard and also the opposition knowing exactly what he’s going to do. James tries to help him and there’s something between them that could work if they had others on the pitch who could support and make runs. Jordan Ayew on the wing was about as impactful as you’d expect, no speed, occasional free-kicks and sometimes drifting in.
Leicester had six shots total, just two on target. Our xG in the second half was 0.03. the total across the game was only 1.47 and the penalty accounts for about 0.79. For a home side, we only managed 37% possession and what we did when we did have the ball never felt like it had momentum, so many sideways or backwards passes.
From SK1, you could see how deep we were sat up for large portions of the game. We were slow on the ball, indecisive. Several times we watched players stand on the ball ignoring the likes of James or Fatawu stood in space, only to pass to a defender.
If there’s any discourse about us being close to a win and that counting as positive progress, these stats and the lack of shots to test Brynn dispel that myth.
Passive passengers
What’s that red, flashing alarm sound? It’s our performances looking somehow worse with each game. There’s no sense of improvement or taking positive steps. You could argue that defensively we were slightly more solid but when you’re undone so late into a game, it doesn’t really matter. There’s a lack of conviction to see anything through.
The bright sparks were so few and far between, Nelson was great but was never going to contribute to the attacking problem. James continued to work really hard, making runs his teammates didn’t pick up on and trying to thread through passes. It’s hard not to bemoan the Ramsey injury, his runs feel like a missing part. Alongside a striker who can bring something to the team. Daka’s substitution didn’t change the vibe.
The problems weren’t just the lack of attack but also how we managed the game. Players like Skipp felt like passengers, offering next to nothing. In the dying throes of the game we had players walking, not running to get to their man or the ball. Players trying to play it into the corner to immediately be dispossessed. Set pieces that didn’t clear the first man. And to be getting in trouble for time wasting at home is embarrassing. Begovic punished for holding onto the ball for more than 8 seconds.
The sense of panic that it would be so very Leicester to concede a corner from that moment was actually just a prelude to the even bigger banter moment. Conceding with basically the last meaningful kick of the game to ten men.
There’s a whole heap of memes you could insert here. A lot of our players appeared to be enacting several of them. The moment of toxic anger came but even then it felt half hearted, a portion of the crowd had already departed which limited the boos. This was one of the lowest league attendances for a while too, fan malaise growing.
A win was much needed and while we were just one or two kicks away from one, it wouldn’t have been a deserved win. It would have felt like papering over the enormous cracks. Though for the players like Nelson, James and Fatawu who continue to try to do something, the confidence boost wouldn’t have hurt them.
There’s just one match left before the next international break and it’s impossible not to look at Cifuentes’ position. The players, the squad are a huge problem but if he cannot find the right selection amongst them, or the right words to get them doing something, anything, he’s as ineffective as they are. Patience is wearing thin for what he says versus what we’re seeing.
The Fosse Way 
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