It never rains but it pours
It is never boring at Leicester City. Since the last game before the international break – a goalless draw against Watford - further significant financial losses were announced (which could result in yet another PSR charge). The club has also courted controversy over its decision to force fans to make decisions on season ticket renewals before the outcome of the relegation battle is known.
If that wasn’t enough, the leading scorer and the Foxes best player this season, Jordan James, limped off playing for Wales in a World Cup qualifier making him a doubt for the game against the team from Lancashire. Added to that is the fact that a number of players will be late back in the East Midlands following international appearances.
On a more positive note, the Opta supercomputer has predicted that City will escape relegation, but only just. With or without James, and in the end he was absent from the squad, if Leicester couldn’t beat Preston – a club whose recent poor form has all but ended their chances of a top six place - then they probably don’t deserve to stay up.
More agony
The Foxes’ effort couldn’t be faulted on Friday but events – a lack of quality, bad luck and some dreadful refereeing – conspired against them. They started brightly and scored early on – a tap-in for Patson Daka – after an ill-directed pass back. For most of the first half, the home side dominated possession but never really looked like adding to their lead.
The game was transformed in a ten-minute spell towards the end of the first half. On 38 minutes, Andrew Moran was left unmarked and his hooked shot hit the bar and bounced down over the line. Seven minutes later, a Preston corner found Ben Whiteman unmarked at the far post and his looping header drifted agonisingly over Jakub Stolarczyk’s head as he stood in no-man’s land.
In the second half, Preston’s tactics were clear. Protect their lead at any cost. To this end, they wasted time, slowed the game down and repeatedly fouled Leicester’s forward players. To their credit, the Foxes surged forward at every opportunity and their equaliser - a second goal for Daka – was deserved. They could even have won it in stoppage time when a Harry Winks shot was deflected agonisingly wide.
I don’t blame the Lancashire team – limited as they are – for adopting spoiling tactics. I do, however, blame the referee Ben Speedie (no, me neither!) for being oblivious to these tactics. Yes, he did add some of the time on at the end and he did book several players from the away side. Too often, however, he let Preston players off, either by failing to produce yellow cards or by not giving free kicks for obvious fouls. Patson Daka and Abdul Fatawu got precious little protection from the officials.
The pièce de resistance of what was a laughably inept second half performance from the official was the failure to produce a red card when Patson Daka was hauled down by Jordan Storey when through on goal. The ball did fall to Oliver Skipp who failed to convert the chance, but there is a strong case for saying that Speedie should have then produced the red card. Instead, he proffered a yellow only. This is equivalent to rewarding the Preston defender for getting a foul wrong.
Man of the Match
A cynic might think that – given the poor season he has had – if Patson Daka is named man of the match, his teammates must have been appalling. In actual fact, though, the Zambian striker had a very good game. His two goals were the icing on the cake. Both came from defensive mistakes but he took both with aplomb. In addition to that, he didn’t give Preston defenders a moment of piece, harrying them throughout and linking play well. Could his return to form be Leicester’s saviour this season? We shall see.