fosse posse 
12-04-2024 23:56
12-04-2024 23:56
Match Report: Plymouth Argyle 1 - 0 Leicester City
Recap
Leicester City somehow contrived to lose this evening’s match at Plymouth Argyle by a score of 1-0. The hosts scored with their first shot of the match, and their only shot on target of the half, on 20 minutes. In spite of dominating in every way imaginable except for one very important way, the Foxes failed to find the back of the net.
The Foxes were by no means great today, but they were more than good enough to win on most nights. There’s no way this won’t come across as disrespectful, but for 20 minutes, this Plymouth side was the worst I’d seen in the Championship and they weren’t that much better after that. The Foxes had all of the ball, 13 corners to none, 17 shots to five, but we lost and that’s all that matters.
The wingers were the only ones to cover themselves with any glory today. Everyone else looked nervous and sloppy. That includes Winks and KDH, both of whom are normally the picture of composure. Then there’s the elephant in the room: Daka couldn’t finish today. He suffered an off day when we couldn’t afford it and no amount of talk about “work rate” will make up for it.
I really don’t know what to say. We had chances. We had, if not sitters, then at least very good chances. Most of the time, we put ‘em wide. The problem here is obvious: We’re not finishing, and our opponents are. Starting with the defeat to Middlesbrough on 17 February, we’ve scored 11 and conceded 14 in the league. Our xG/xGA is 16/8.4. In fact, in the league, we have not “lost” a match in terms of xG since Coventry on 13 January.
Obviously, xG is no substitute for real wins and losses, but it’s usually a very good indicator and I cannot emphasize enough how absolutely mad it is that we have an 11-goal difference in net goals vs. expected net goals over a 10-match span. Why is it happening? Is it nerves? Luck? Refereeing? Whatever it is, we have to fix it.
The defeat leaves the Foxes on 88 points from 42 matches played. We remain top of the table on goal differential, but the game in hand is gone. There are four to play, three teams in contention, and two spots to play for. The remaining fixtures are:
West Bromwich Albion: 20 April Southampton: 23 April@Preston North End: 29 April Blackburn Rovers: 4 May
If the price to pay to the Football gods for all of #lcfc ‘s success is a Championship play-off final defeat to bloody Coventry City, so be it, I wouldn’t change a thing. But this woeful collapse is tough to endure. — Arlo White (@arlowhite) April 12, 2024
Hey Arlo, your account has been hacked.
Lineups
Leicester City: Mads Hermansen, Ricardo Pereira (C), Wout Faes, Jannik Vestergaard, James Justin, Wilfred Ndidi (Dennis Praet 51’), Harry Winks, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Abdul Fatawu, Stephy Mavididi, Patson Daka (Jamie Vardy 67’)
Plymouth Argyle: Michael Cooper, Dan Scarr, Brendan Galloway, Julio Pleguezuelo , Adam Randell, Adam Forshaw, Mickel Miller, Bali Mumba, Ryan Hardie, Mustapha Bundu, Morgan Whitaker Key Moments and Notes
1’- We’re off at Home Park. We don’t play here often, but it’s seldom good when we do. We haven’t won here since before I was in high school. Scratch that; we haven’t won here since before when my father was in high school.
6’- Close! Fatawu cuts and fires in a dangerous ball that Cooper can only parry. He does manage to get it to safety. It’ll go down as a shot and a save, but I’m pretty sure Fatawu was trying to cross the ball there.
8’- Daka finds a beautiful finish from a KDH through ball, but the flag is up for offside. I don’t think this one is Patson’s fault; I think Dewsbury-Hall should have played him in a little earlier. 10’- Close! Pereira plays a 1-2 with Wilf and gets a powerful shot off from close range. Cooper does well to block it. It gets cycled back to Fatawu, who tries the far post cross to Mavididi. The winger heads back towards goal but the defence is wise to it.
15’- Close? Mavididi tries his “cut in and curl it” and gets the first part right, but not enough of the second. It’s a yard wide and I think Cooper had it covered. It’s all Leicester right now.
20’- GOAL! A fortunate deflection from a Leicester attack gives the hosts a chance to break. Forshaw spreads it wide to Bundu who has a long way to go to get to the ball, but he does and takes on Faes. The Belgian invites him to cut inside, so he does and beats Hermansen at the far post. It is impossible for a goal to be more “against the run of play” than this one. 29’- Cooper nearly gives one back. He’s entirely too casual with the ball at his feet and Daka bears down on him. The ball cannons off the Zambia striker and over the net. It could have gone anywhere.
39’- Big penalty shout for Leicester. KDH tears into the box and gets between Pleguezuelo and the ball. It starts sort of shoulder-to-shoulder but the defender continues the challenge and goes through Dewsbury-Hall. I’ll just say that’s probably a foul anywhere else on the pitch.
45’- Four minutes of time will be added on. The Foxes could really use an equaliser here.
HALF TIME: Plymouth Argyle 1 - 0 Leicester City 51’- Maresca is not playing tonight. He sends on Dennis Praet for Ndidi. Wilf didn’t really do much wrong, but he is on a yellow.
54’- Close! Fatawu beats his man and tears into the box. He cuts it back for Daka who is only two yards out, but his flick goes across the face of the goal and out for a goal kick.
58’- Close! A magnificent ball over the top finds Mavididi. He tries a left-footed shot that turns into a beautiful cross, but Daka can’t quite get to it.
60’- Close! Mavididi’s near post cross finds Praet, but he heads over from close range.
64’- The Foxes have had 8 corners tonight and created precisely nothing from them. I can’t help but think the word is out that you can give away set pieces to Leicester all night without fear of retribution. 67’- Close? Not really. A Plymouth defender chests the ball down to Daka all alone 2 yards from the goal. He winds up with his left boot and scuffs it a mile wide from close range. That’s his last contribution as Jamie Vardy comes on to face Argyle for the first time in his career.
71’- Close! For Plymouth, for a change. Vestergaard tries to shepherd a ball out for a goal kick but gets it wrong. The ball gets squared for Whitaker, who gets a very weak effort on target. Hermansen saves easily.
74’- A Faes cross rolls to Mavididi on the left side of the penalty spot. His first-time effort is tame, allowing Cooper to claim it.
75’- There’s a sense of panic as the Foxes are trying overly difficult passes and getting it all kinds of wrong. Winks’ through ball for Fatawu has far too much on it and goes behind for a goal kick.
80’- Faes gives the ball away and Mumba is in...or would be, if he weren’t well offside. Given that he was allowed to carry on when a good 3 yards off.
82’- Another penalty shout, and again, it’s Pleguezuelo on Dewsbury-Hall. Again, the defender wipes out the Leicester man but again, the referee determined that KDH was looking for it. I think it’s the right call.
87’- Winks tries a ball over the top for Mavididi to chase, but it’s through to Cooper. That was never going to come off.
90’- The commentators are going on about how giving Waine a yellow card for going in studs-first on Winks’ shin is a “poor decision.” Sigh. Five minutes of time to be played.
90’+3- Mavididi launches a beautiful inswinging cross towards the far post that just evades both Ricardo and Vardy. That about sums it up. One suspects that Enzo’s message to his team is very different from what was said during the press conference. One hopes, at least.
FULL TIME: Plymouth Argyle 1 - 0 Leicester City
Leicester City somehow contrived to lose this evening’s match at Plymouth Argyle by a score of 1-0. The hosts scored with their first shot of the match, and their only shot on target of the half, on 20 minutes. In spite of dominating in every way imaginable except for one very important way, the Foxes failed to find the back of the net.
The Foxes were by no means great today, but they were more than good enough to win on most nights. There’s no way this won’t come across as disrespectful, but for 20 minutes, this Plymouth side was the worst I’d seen in the Championship and they weren’t that much better after that. The Foxes had all of the ball, 13 corners to none, 17 shots to five, but we lost and that’s all that matters.
The wingers were the only ones to cover themselves with any glory today. Everyone else looked nervous and sloppy. That includes Winks and KDH, both of whom are normally the picture of composure. Then there’s the elephant in the room: Daka couldn’t finish today. He suffered an off day when we couldn’t afford it and no amount of talk about “work rate” will make up for it.
I really don’t know what to say. We had chances. We had, if not sitters, then at least very good chances. Most of the time, we put ‘em wide. The problem here is obvious: We’re not finishing, and our opponents are. Starting with the defeat to Middlesbrough on 17 February, we’ve scored 11 and conceded 14 in the league. Our xG/xGA is 16/8.4. In fact, in the league, we have not “lost” a match in terms of xG since Coventry on 13 January.
Obviously, xG is no substitute for real wins and losses, but it’s usually a very good indicator and I cannot emphasize enough how absolutely mad it is that we have an 11-goal difference in net goals vs. expected net goals over a 10-match span. Why is it happening? Is it nerves? Luck? Refereeing? Whatever it is, we have to fix it.
The defeat leaves the Foxes on 88 points from 42 matches played. We remain top of the table on goal differential, but the game in hand is gone. There are four to play, three teams in contention, and two spots to play for. The remaining fixtures are:
West Bromwich Albion: 20 April Southampton: 23 April@Preston North End: 29 April Blackburn Rovers: 4 May
If the price to pay to the Football gods for all of #lcfc ‘s success is a Championship play-off final defeat to bloody Coventry City, so be it, I wouldn’t change a thing. But this woeful collapse is tough to endure. — Arlo White (@arlowhite) April 12, 2024
Hey Arlo, your account has been hacked.
Lineups
Leicester City: Mads Hermansen, Ricardo Pereira (C), Wout Faes, Jannik Vestergaard, James Justin, Wilfred Ndidi (Dennis Praet 51’), Harry Winks, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Abdul Fatawu, Stephy Mavididi, Patson Daka (Jamie Vardy 67’)
Plymouth Argyle: Michael Cooper, Dan Scarr, Brendan Galloway, Julio Pleguezuelo , Adam Randell, Adam Forshaw, Mickel Miller, Bali Mumba, Ryan Hardie, Mustapha Bundu, Morgan Whitaker Key Moments and Notes
1’- We’re off at Home Park. We don’t play here often, but it’s seldom good when we do. We haven’t won here since before I was in high school. Scratch that; we haven’t won here since before when my father was in high school.
6’- Close! Fatawu cuts and fires in a dangerous ball that Cooper can only parry. He does manage to get it to safety. It’ll go down as a shot and a save, but I’m pretty sure Fatawu was trying to cross the ball there.
8’- Daka finds a beautiful finish from a KDH through ball, but the flag is up for offside. I don’t think this one is Patson’s fault; I think Dewsbury-Hall should have played him in a little earlier. 10’- Close! Pereira plays a 1-2 with Wilf and gets a powerful shot off from close range. Cooper does well to block it. It gets cycled back to Fatawu, who tries the far post cross to Mavididi. The winger heads back towards goal but the defence is wise to it.
15’- Close? Mavididi tries his “cut in and curl it” and gets the first part right, but not enough of the second. It’s a yard wide and I think Cooper had it covered. It’s all Leicester right now.
20’- GOAL! A fortunate deflection from a Leicester attack gives the hosts a chance to break. Forshaw spreads it wide to Bundu who has a long way to go to get to the ball, but he does and takes on Faes. The Belgian invites him to cut inside, so he does and beats Hermansen at the far post. It is impossible for a goal to be more “against the run of play” than this one. 29’- Cooper nearly gives one back. He’s entirely too casual with the ball at his feet and Daka bears down on him. The ball cannons off the Zambia striker and over the net. It could have gone anywhere.
39’- Big penalty shout for Leicester. KDH tears into the box and gets between Pleguezuelo and the ball. It starts sort of shoulder-to-shoulder but the defender continues the challenge and goes through Dewsbury-Hall. I’ll just say that’s probably a foul anywhere else on the pitch.
45’- Four minutes of time will be added on. The Foxes could really use an equaliser here.
HALF TIME: Plymouth Argyle 1 - 0 Leicester City 51’- Maresca is not playing tonight. He sends on Dennis Praet for Ndidi. Wilf didn’t really do much wrong, but he is on a yellow.
54’- Close! Fatawu beats his man and tears into the box. He cuts it back for Daka who is only two yards out, but his flick goes across the face of the goal and out for a goal kick.
58’- Close! A magnificent ball over the top finds Mavididi. He tries a left-footed shot that turns into a beautiful cross, but Daka can’t quite get to it.
60’- Close! Mavididi’s near post cross finds Praet, but he heads over from close range.
64’- The Foxes have had 8 corners tonight and created precisely nothing from them. I can’t help but think the word is out that you can give away set pieces to Leicester all night without fear of retribution. 67’- Close? Not really. A Plymouth defender chests the ball down to Daka all alone 2 yards from the goal. He winds up with his left boot and scuffs it a mile wide from close range. That’s his last contribution as Jamie Vardy comes on to face Argyle for the first time in his career.
71’- Close! For Plymouth, for a change. Vestergaard tries to shepherd a ball out for a goal kick but gets it wrong. The ball gets squared for Whitaker, who gets a very weak effort on target. Hermansen saves easily.
74’- A Faes cross rolls to Mavididi on the left side of the penalty spot. His first-time effort is tame, allowing Cooper to claim it.
75’- There’s a sense of panic as the Foxes are trying overly difficult passes and getting it all kinds of wrong. Winks’ through ball for Fatawu has far too much on it and goes behind for a goal kick.
80’- Faes gives the ball away and Mumba is in...or would be, if he weren’t well offside. Given that he was allowed to carry on when a good 3 yards off.
82’- Another penalty shout, and again, it’s Pleguezuelo on Dewsbury-Hall. Again, the defender wipes out the Leicester man but again, the referee determined that KDH was looking for it. I think it’s the right call.
87’- Winks tries a ball over the top for Mavididi to chase, but it’s through to Cooper. That was never going to come off.
90’- The commentators are going on about how giving Waine a yellow card for going in studs-first on Winks’ shin is a “poor decision.” Sigh. Five minutes of time to be played.
90’+3- Mavididi launches a beautiful inswinging cross towards the far post that just evades both Ricardo and Vardy. That about sums it up. One suspects that Enzo’s message to his team is very different from what was said during the press conference. One hopes, at least.
FULL TIME: Plymouth Argyle 1 - 0 Leicester City