Well that was good wasn’t it?!? Welcome back to last season’s Everton. We’ve missed you.
Now my preview mentioned that Young Boys had won their last seven games at home in Europe and were doing well. I predicted that they would probably have the lead for the second leg. How wrong was I? On a plastic pitch that would apparently cause us problems we streamed forward again and again, and, on another night with a little more experience, could have had 8. We’ll obviously settle for four!
Of course the details of the game can be looked into further but we were either all there or saw it on telly – Stones was unlucky to be sent off really but will learn from it and the rest for the second leg isn’t the worst thing in the world. Lukaku though was the absolute star of the show, being back to his marauding best and really looking hungry for goals alongside Mirallas and Barkley.
The one thing (sorry) that I’ll say is that games like this, when it’s end-to-end and the opposition have under-estimated you slightly, will be completely different to games against the likes of Leicester who will flood midfield and defence and wait for us to try and get through them. We’ve seen this before in the home games against the likes of Hull and West Brom. Do we have the creativity to get through as opposed to simply being quick on the break?
So onto next weekend for which I have asked a Leicester City-supporting friend of mine to assist with. Take it away Leo:
Leicester travel to Goodison after a turbulent couple of weeks has seen them lose a key home game to Palace, the manager grab an opponent round the throat, the manager sacked, the manager re-instated, then the team exiting the FA cup in a feeble manner at the hands of a struggling Aston Villa side.
Leicester have basically come up just short in all departments this season. They haven’t been beaten by more than 2 goals in any game but such are the fine margins in the top division they have tasted defeat 16 times in 25 league games. The biggest disappointment for LCFC fans will have been the key men from last year’s championship winning team have all failed to make the step up – players such as captain Wes Morgan, midfielder Danny Drinkwater and strikers Jamie Vardy and David Nugent have all been found lacking this season. Of last year’s team only big centre half Marcin Wasilewski and young Algerian winger Riyad Mahrez have looked comfortable enough at this level with pacy left winger Jeff Schlupp showing good form in patches.
Leicester have paid the price for not signing enough players with that vital Premiership experience – recent signing Robert Huth and the fit again Matthew Upson may have made a big difference had they been in the team from August. New striker Andrej Kramaric looks to have that touch of quality needed up front but again his signing looks to be too late to save the foxes from relegation.
Leicester enter this fixture having lost 4 games in a row. Their away form has been poor – after winning at Stoke in September, they lost the next 7 away league games before a win at Hull, a draw at Liverpool and a win in the cup at Tottenham revived them but the poor away from has returned with recent losses at Old Trafford, Arsenal and Villa. Only once this season have Leicester gained anything away from home after they have gone behind (2-2 at Liverpool after being 2-0 down) so if Everton score first it will probably be game over. Leicester’s 2 away league wins were both backs to the wall 1-0 victories at Stoke and Hull.
Much will depend on manager Nigel Pearson’s approach to the game – despite poor results this season, about 2/3rds of Leicester fans were still backing their manager but there was a significant downturn in support for Pearson following the negative approach to the Villa game. Leicester have started the last 2 games with 5 at the back – expect that to continue at Goodison so that Huth and Upson can be accommodated.
The main threats from Leicester will be from the wide men – the trickery of Mahrez and the pace of Schlupp have troubled numerous defences although the end product has not always matched the build-up play – if the service to the dangerous Kramaric is better, Leicester will be in with a chance. Leicester’s main weaknesses have been their inability to defend set pieces and their bad habit of giving possession away very easily in midfield.
For Leicester fans, Everton away is one of those games that 9 times out of 10 will be a defeat but you feel as a lower half team there is always the chance of getting something at Goodison, even if the table, the form , the stats, etc. all point to a 2-0/2-1 home win.
Come on Leicester! (“Boooo” – Ed)