Thought i'd give a little match report of my own.
So yeah, we played Leicester in the u21 league. They'd already been a bit of a bogey team this season for us on a couple of occasions and they'd won their last four in a row in this competition so I was a little sceptical about how we'd fare today as it was a relatively patched together team. As an eleven playing together it was very inexperienced and Leicester were physically huge compared to us, plus they had Knockeart playing, a highly experienced first teamer and Jack Barmby who has had a fair bit of pro football too.
We started off pretty nervy really. The first twenty minutes were cagey as fuck and they could have scored. Glendon was in his first game back after a little injury lay off and he was sloppy, Ntcham was caught in possession a few times and Manu Garcia, making his first starting debut at this level as he's only just turned 17, was outmuscled. Plummer at centre back who's not played much this year looked a little at odds with our possession football and we had Intima on the right making only his second appearance all year - dunno where he'd been. Injured? Either way, it was a relatively new XI and the rustiness was to be expected really.
Knockaert looked a class above most for the first twenty minutes. He was sharper, more confident and combined with Barmby and their massive number ten really well. Then Barker woke up... after that we took control of the first half.
Barker and Angelino were, as ever, great down the left. Linking well, overlapping each other and basically being a fucking handful. Barker had already span and ran about 40 yards up the pitch twice, outmuscling their huge right back in the process, causing all manner of problems before he created the first goal laying the ball off to the overlapping Angelino before he walloped into the roof of the net over the keeper. Second goal was typically Barker. He got the ball just inside the edge of the area on the left hand side and i'm not kidding, I knew he'd score the second he got the ball. Quick step-over, knocked the ball to the left and drilled it across the keeper into the far corner. He scores SO many goals that way with his 'weaker' foot in that exact same amnner and its basically impossible to stop. Zaba wouldn't get near him 9/10. Not many would.
I'm not having the physique thing regarding Barker too by the way, there's no way he's too lightweight. I took this photo of the game today -
Barker's over on the left. Knockaert for Leicester is no 10 on the right. He's played two full seasons in the championship and is currently a premier league player - Barker is arguably bigger than him. Their RB, number 2, was fucking huge. Man mountain. Barker out-muscled him with his lower centre of gravity on repeated occasions. He's a strong lad, lightning quick and getting bigger too. He'll have no problems physically and I wouldn't be surprised if he developed a Bale-esque physique. He's set in a similar way.
Anyway...back to the game. We dominated the first half but I was a little surprised to see Barker go off at half-time. First game back after an injury so I guess it was precautionary. This meant a shuffling of the pack and James Horsfield came on at right-back, meaning Ash Smith-Brown was shunted over to left-back, where he was as steady and as competent as ever, with Angelino pushing up to take Barker's place. It basically then became the Angelino showHe was everywhere. He kept doing a Pedro at Barca, being on the shoulder of the last man and Pozo (who had a pretty decent game and looked much better when he was able to get the ball and turn and run at people instead of when he was asked to do the no. 9 stuff),Garcia and Ntcham growing into the game meant he kept getting behind the defence as they picked him out.
His second goal was marvellous. Seriously top class stuff. Pozo floated a chipped the ball over to him and from about 12/13 yards out to the left of the goal he ridiculously calmly volleyed it with the side of his foot an passed it into the far corner. Technically brilliant stuff, seriously - its something you'd expect Hazard to do. He also hit the post bursting forward and drilling it from the edge of the left hand corner of the area, and had another disallowed with a thunderous drive from the same place that was given offside. His third was a counter attack where he got the ball on the half way line, ran straight towards the goal and finished it like Aguero would in a one-on-one. Couldn't quite get over how good his finishing was - better than the vast amount of strikers i've ever seen and it was quite interesting to see Leicester's Lithuanian international striker, Stankevičius (cheers Wikipedia for the spelling...) absolutely bottle easier chances than the ones Angelino took with sheer composure.
We tired towards the end which was to be expected and they scored two on the break but we deserved the victory in the end as we could have had a few more and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was by no means perfect but it was a good game and a good performance.
Onto the individuals I was impressed, as ever, by Maffeo. He was playing CB and against some bloke about 5 inches taller yet never shirked a challenge and considering he's a RB, definitely, the maturity and leadership he shows is pretty astounding at times. Another that I think is destined for the first team as height aside he has no flaws. He's stronger defensively than Angelino and reads the game so well. Gunn made a fucking incredible save too at one point. One of the best i've seen in person. He's yet another great prospect. 6'5, a great natural shot-stopper and strong in the air and ten times better with the ball at his feet than Hart is. Intima was a little rusty but I liked his effort. He's quick and nimble and put in a really honest shift - first time id properly seen him really. Garcia really grew into the game and he's a lovely little player, I think he'd be happy with his first full debut at this level. Ntcham too played pretty well after a sloppy start. He's a strong lad and he drove forward really well at times.
Overall I really, really enjoyed it. Not perfect, no, but Leicester are good and this was a team full of players who hadn't played together and with some coming back from injury and they did really well.
