Was I looking forward to the game? No.
That feeling of travelling to watch Leicester City, whether at home or away, left me some time ago.
Was I intrigued? Yes!
Intrigued to see what Kingy had learned from last week against Charlton.
Intrigued to see which of the new signings he’d start and how they’d perform.
Intrigued to see whether another week with these players meant we’d see a change in the style of play.
So, I considered it worth the trip to Birmingham.
Anyway, if by chance the guy with my ticket didn’t make it, I had an alternative afternoon planned which would involve hostelries in the Jewellery Quarter and a visit to a Desi pub. Contingency planning… something our club knows nothing about.
As it happens, I didn’t need to use my back-up plan. I’ve been to St Andrews many times, and sometimes with a Bluenose mate, sitting amongst the home fans. I realised that yesterday was the first time I’ve stood in the Gil Merrick Stand (or the Railway End) since January 2014 when Riyad Mahrez came on for his second Leicester appearance in place of Lloyd Dyer, who left the field in a huff, possibly because in that moment he saw the future. How times have changed compared to that title-winning season in the Championship.
The good news is that Leicester City looked different both in personnel and the way they played.
Asmir Begovic was in for Jakub Stolarczyk, and both Jamaal Lascelles and Joe Aribo started. And after a hapless performance by Ayew last week, our other ‘number 9’ Patson Daka, started. I looked at the Birmingham line-up and none of the names meant anything to me other than Jay Stansfield.
The bad news is we were badly let down by two of our most experienced players.
The game was only three minutes old when Ricardo made the most appalling error, dallying on the ball and trying to play it God knows where. The pacey Ibrahim Osman nipped in, raced away and slotted it under Begovic. It’s sad to see Ricardo struggling the way he is this season.
After that catastrophic start, Leicester started to get a grip of the game. We were dictating play, and looked organised and, well, we looked okay. Not outstandingly good, but being okay is an improvement on what we’ve seen in recent weeks. Play was fluid, a bit more direct, the whole of the midfield was getting involved, Aribo was imposing, and our guys on the flanks were seeing more of the ball. And Daka was running around a lot. It was better from Leicester, and Chris Davies saying that our stunning equaliser from Abdul Fatawu was against the run of play isn’t right. We were doing okay!
After we equalised Birmingham rallied and created a bit of pressure but Lascelles, combining with Ben Nelson to actually marshal a back four, looked decent. Although we may have got the benefit of the doubt over Birmingham’s offside goal.
Then, with the game well balanced at just over 30 minutes in, Bobby De Cordova-Reid got himself sent off. Even from the back of the Gil Merrick Stand, some 60 yards plus away, it didn’t look a pretty challenge, but the criminal part of it was that it was unnecessary. If possible, he should be fined by the club. Not just for being sent off, but for gross stupidity. He made a challenge that looked off the ground, out of control, on the halfway line, by the touchline, when Osman didn’t really have anywhere to go. It’s not Sunday morning football.
But at least we made it into half-time at 1-1. There was work rate, organisation and some resolve from the Leicester players. Birmingham weren’t great in midfield, but when they attacked, they looked sharp and got numbers forward. And remember those balls that Youri Tielemans and James Maddison used to play through the defensive lines from just outside the box? Well, Chris Davies has his players using that ball a lot.
In the second half, with Harry Winks on for Stephy Mavididi, we were definitely on the back foot. Personally, if King had wanted Winks on for more in midfield, my preference would have been to lose Daka and not Mavididi. He’d done pretty well first half and having him and Fatawu playing narrower up front would have given us more of a threat.
As the second half progressed, not much was happening towards the end the Leicester fans were based, and pressure was mounting up the other end, but defensively we were looking pretty resolute.
Then Marvin Ducksch played one of those balls through the lines, Stansfield picked it up, and delivered a great finish past Begovic. A goal which proved the difference between the two sides. But it’s not just there that the difference ends. The finish was of the kind that neither Daka nor Ayew could produce. Effectively the real difference was that Birmingham had a centre forward. We don’t.
After that Leicester made a series of substitutions with Olabade Aluko coming on in the 71st minute, and then Divine Mukasa, Dujuan Richards and Jordan Ayew all coming on in the 77th minute in an attempt for Leicester to ‘chase the game’… but we never did.
Aluko looked confident, both in attacking the ball and having it at his feet, and in view of the performances of our full backs, we should really be finding a starting place for him. Neither Mukasa or Richards really had much time to show what they could do and were largely peripheral. Ayew was Ayew. I was happy with what I saw from Lascelles, and on this showing, Aribo looks a useful addition.
I’m intrigued to see what will happen against the Saints.
The Fosse Way 