fosse posse 
09-04-2024 23:56
09-04-2024 23:56
Match Report: Millwall 1 - 0 Leicester City
Recap
Leicester City fell to Millwall at the Den on Tuesday evening by a score of 1-0. The first half ended goalless and, honestly, chanceless. Ryan Longman scored a world to give the Lions the lead as the Foxes didn’t generate any threat at all until the final ten minutes and couldn’t find a way through.
That was brutal. For 80 minutes, the performance was worse than any we’ve put in this year. xG may suggest that City deserved more from the match, but in this case, xG would be a dirty liar. The Foxes were held completely at bay for the majority of the match and the hosts looked more likely to score a second than we did to equalise. It wasn’t until the last 10 minutes of the match that the chances started coming, but we left it too late and got what we deserved.
Ricardo was the standout player today for Leicester. I use the definite article because, not only was he our best player, but he was the only one who looked like unlocking the packed defence. Vardy was anonymous, Mavididi was shackled, Ndidi and KDH were out of position and had minimal impact, and Yunus’ decision-making with the final ball let him down. I’m sure that manager Enzo Maresca had some well-considered tactical reason for swapping Dewsbury-Hall and Ndidi, but he should probably drink until he forgets whatever possesses him to do that. Neither player is as effective in inverted roles. Ndidi’s bread and butter is the far-post cross and he’s much better with his right foot. KDH couldn’t impose himself with the severely left-footed Yunus occupying the same spaces. Here’s hoping we don’t see that wrinkle ever again.
The defeat leaves the Foxes on 88 points from 41 matches. We remain top as Leeds could only draw against Sunderland today and Ipswich did not play. We are one point ahead of both chasers and have a game in hand on Leeds. We travel to Home Park for an away match against Plymouth Argyle on Friday and then host West Bromwich Albion the following Saturday. The one silver lining.
Lineups
Leicester City: Mads Hermansen, Ricardo Pereira, Wout Faes, Jannik Vestergaard, Callum Doyle (James Justin 73’), Wilfred Ndidi (Dennis Praet 73’), Harry Winks (Patson Daka 88’), Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Yunus Akgun (Abdul Fatawu 62’), Stephy Mavididi, Jamie Vardy (C) (Kelechi Iheanacho 73’)
Millwall: Matija Sarkic, Jake Cooper, Japhet Tanganga, Dan McNamara, Ryan Leonard, George Saville, Billy Mitchell, George Honeyman, Ryan Longman, Michael Obafemi, Zian Fleming Key Moments and Notes
1’- Close! Ndidi is called for a very soft foul directly from the opening kickoff. The free kick is whipped into the area and Longman gets a head to it. Fortunately, his effort is easily gathered by Hermansen.
3’- The home fans are furious at referee Sunny Gill for missing a pretty blatant handball from Faes. Gill struggled mightily when he was in charge of our win against Sunderland, so this may be a recurring theme.
6’- With Yunus on the right, Enzo Maresca has swapped KDH to the right with Wilfred Ndidi lining up on the left. Dewsbury-Hall hasn’t had the same impact on this side in the past, but he lays a beautiful ball into Vardy’s path. The former England man hits it first time, but it doesn’t have the power to beat the keeper.
9’- Honeyman goes into the book for clattering Yunus much to the anger of the Millwall supporters. I assume they’re just complaining for the sake of complaining because it was a pretty cynical foul.
16’- The match started at a blistering pace but it’s slowed down since, which presumably suits the Leicester manager. There haven’t been many chances, but you get the sense they’re coming.
25’- Ricardo wins a huge challenge against Honeyman in midfield to start a Leicester attack. Yunus does well to pick up the ball and run with it, but he tries to thread a ball through to Ndidi when Vardy may have been the better option. The Millwall man fell awkwardly on his shoulder and required treatment. He’s immediately tackled by Ricardo and this time it’s a foul. Ouch.
It wasn’t exactly like this, but it wasn’t far from it either.
39’- It’s scrappy out there. It’s a windy night in Bermondsey, making every long ball an adventure.
43’- Close! Leonard is given way too much time to pick out a cross and he finds Cooper unmarked at the far post. The big defender should do better as there’s not much power. Easy save for Hermansen.
45’- The Foxes win their 4th corner of the half and almost concede from it. The kick is cleared and Obafemi is off to the races. He finds Longman on the right and for some reason, he takes a touch rather than shooting. He chose...poorly. Doyle gets back and clears.
HALF-TIME: Millwall 0 - 0 Leicester City 46’- No changes for the Foxes at the half. I’d be surprised if Maresca gives this group more than 10 minutes to take control of the match.
49’- Honeyman is down again and City put the ball out of play so he can receive treatment. It looks like a clash of elbows. He’s going to be sore tonight.
55’- Cooper does well to get down to block Yunus’ shot. That was going in.
59’- GOAL! Faes loses the ball deep in the Millwall half and the Lions break. Ryan Longman turns Winks inside out and gives Hermansen no chance with a shot just inside the top corner at the far post. 62’- Abdul Fatawu comes on for Yunus, a move that approximately everyone saw coming.
64’- Close! Fatawu finds Ricardo’s run into the area. He tries to slide it across the face of the goal, but Sarkic collects between Ndidi and Vardy.
67’- Close! Obafemi beats Faes all ends up and is through on goal. He has ages to pick out his pass, but he picks out Hermansen’s arms which probably wasn’t what he was after.
69’- For some reason, KDH is still on the right with Ndidi on the left. It’s not working.
72’- As if on cue, Ndidi stands up a beauty of a cross to the far post, but Fatawu heads over.
73’- Triple-change for the Foxes as James Justin, Dennis Praet, and Kelechi Iheanacho are on for Doyle, Ndidi, and Vardy. Like-for-like in each case. Dewsbury-Hall finally switches to the left side.
81’- Close! Praet finds Ricardo’s run into the box and he forces a good save from the keeper. Not only the best Leicester chance of the night but maybe the first.
89’- Patson Daka is on for Winks.
90’- SEVEN minutes of added time will be played.
92’- Close! Fatawu beats the entire Millwall defence and crosses to Iheanacho. The keeper is nowhere to be seen, but Mitchell clears it off the line.
96’- Close! Praet gets behind the defence and stands up a cross to the near post. Daka gets there first, but he gets the angles about as wrong as you can. The goal is the other way, Patson...
FULL TIME: Millwall 1 - 0 Leicester City
Leicester City fell to Millwall at the Den on Tuesday evening by a score of 1-0. The first half ended goalless and, honestly, chanceless. Ryan Longman scored a world to give the Lions the lead as the Foxes didn’t generate any threat at all until the final ten minutes and couldn’t find a way through.
That was brutal. For 80 minutes, the performance was worse than any we’ve put in this year. xG may suggest that City deserved more from the match, but in this case, xG would be a dirty liar. The Foxes were held completely at bay for the majority of the match and the hosts looked more likely to score a second than we did to equalise. It wasn’t until the last 10 minutes of the match that the chances started coming, but we left it too late and got what we deserved.
Ricardo was the standout player today for Leicester. I use the definite article because, not only was he our best player, but he was the only one who looked like unlocking the packed defence. Vardy was anonymous, Mavididi was shackled, Ndidi and KDH were out of position and had minimal impact, and Yunus’ decision-making with the final ball let him down. I’m sure that manager Enzo Maresca had some well-considered tactical reason for swapping Dewsbury-Hall and Ndidi, but he should probably drink until he forgets whatever possesses him to do that. Neither player is as effective in inverted roles. Ndidi’s bread and butter is the far-post cross and he’s much better with his right foot. KDH couldn’t impose himself with the severely left-footed Yunus occupying the same spaces. Here’s hoping we don’t see that wrinkle ever again.
The defeat leaves the Foxes on 88 points from 41 matches. We remain top as Leeds could only draw against Sunderland today and Ipswich did not play. We are one point ahead of both chasers and have a game in hand on Leeds. We travel to Home Park for an away match against Plymouth Argyle on Friday and then host West Bromwich Albion the following Saturday. The one silver lining.
Lineups
Leicester City: Mads Hermansen, Ricardo Pereira, Wout Faes, Jannik Vestergaard, Callum Doyle (James Justin 73’), Wilfred Ndidi (Dennis Praet 73’), Harry Winks (Patson Daka 88’), Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Yunus Akgun (Abdul Fatawu 62’), Stephy Mavididi, Jamie Vardy (C) (Kelechi Iheanacho 73’)
Millwall: Matija Sarkic, Jake Cooper, Japhet Tanganga, Dan McNamara, Ryan Leonard, George Saville, Billy Mitchell, George Honeyman, Ryan Longman, Michael Obafemi, Zian Fleming Key Moments and Notes
1’- Close! Ndidi is called for a very soft foul directly from the opening kickoff. The free kick is whipped into the area and Longman gets a head to it. Fortunately, his effort is easily gathered by Hermansen.
3’- The home fans are furious at referee Sunny Gill for missing a pretty blatant handball from Faes. Gill struggled mightily when he was in charge of our win against Sunderland, so this may be a recurring theme.
6’- With Yunus on the right, Enzo Maresca has swapped KDH to the right with Wilfred Ndidi lining up on the left. Dewsbury-Hall hasn’t had the same impact on this side in the past, but he lays a beautiful ball into Vardy’s path. The former England man hits it first time, but it doesn’t have the power to beat the keeper.
9’- Honeyman goes into the book for clattering Yunus much to the anger of the Millwall supporters. I assume they’re just complaining for the sake of complaining because it was a pretty cynical foul.
16’- The match started at a blistering pace but it’s slowed down since, which presumably suits the Leicester manager. There haven’t been many chances, but you get the sense they’re coming.
25’- Ricardo wins a huge challenge against Honeyman in midfield to start a Leicester attack. Yunus does well to pick up the ball and run with it, but he tries to thread a ball through to Ndidi when Vardy may have been the better option. The Millwall man fell awkwardly on his shoulder and required treatment. He’s immediately tackled by Ricardo and this time it’s a foul. Ouch.
It wasn’t exactly like this, but it wasn’t far from it either.
39’- It’s scrappy out there. It’s a windy night in Bermondsey, making every long ball an adventure.
43’- Close! Leonard is given way too much time to pick out a cross and he finds Cooper unmarked at the far post. The big defender should do better as there’s not much power. Easy save for Hermansen.
45’- The Foxes win their 4th corner of the half and almost concede from it. The kick is cleared and Obafemi is off to the races. He finds Longman on the right and for some reason, he takes a touch rather than shooting. He chose...poorly. Doyle gets back and clears.
HALF-TIME: Millwall 0 - 0 Leicester City 46’- No changes for the Foxes at the half. I’d be surprised if Maresca gives this group more than 10 minutes to take control of the match.
49’- Honeyman is down again and City put the ball out of play so he can receive treatment. It looks like a clash of elbows. He’s going to be sore tonight.
55’- Cooper does well to get down to block Yunus’ shot. That was going in.
59’- GOAL! Faes loses the ball deep in the Millwall half and the Lions break. Ryan Longman turns Winks inside out and gives Hermansen no chance with a shot just inside the top corner at the far post. 62’- Abdul Fatawu comes on for Yunus, a move that approximately everyone saw coming.
64’- Close! Fatawu finds Ricardo’s run into the area. He tries to slide it across the face of the goal, but Sarkic collects between Ndidi and Vardy.
67’- Close! Obafemi beats Faes all ends up and is through on goal. He has ages to pick out his pass, but he picks out Hermansen’s arms which probably wasn’t what he was after.
69’- For some reason, KDH is still on the right with Ndidi on the left. It’s not working.
72’- As if on cue, Ndidi stands up a beauty of a cross to the far post, but Fatawu heads over.
73’- Triple-change for the Foxes as James Justin, Dennis Praet, and Kelechi Iheanacho are on for Doyle, Ndidi, and Vardy. Like-for-like in each case. Dewsbury-Hall finally switches to the left side.
81’- Close! Praet finds Ricardo’s run into the box and he forces a good save from the keeper. Not only the best Leicester chance of the night but maybe the first.
89’- Patson Daka is on for Winks.
90’- SEVEN minutes of added time will be played.
92’- Close! Fatawu beats the entire Millwall defence and crosses to Iheanacho. The keeper is nowhere to be seen, but Mitchell clears it off the line.
96’- Close! Praet gets behind the defence and stands up a cross to the near post. Daka gets there first, but he gets the angles about as wrong as you can. The goal is the other way, Patson...
FULL TIME: Millwall 1 - 0 Leicester City