Frustrated…angry…and that’s just David Moyes

By CandH blogger Allen Cummings 

David Moyes cut a frustrated and  angry figure as he stood alone on the King Power touchline last night – particularly in the first 45 minutes.

Like the rest of us he could barely believe what he was seeing from the 10 outfield players he’d sent to do a job. Judging by the team selection and shape, the game plan was to frustrate and contain Leicester as best as possible.

But that required both energy and application from his players to make it work. Moyes got neither. Any plan is only as strong as its weakest link – and for 45 minutes last night there were weak links all over the pitch.

The first rule of survival, we are regularly told by the so-called ‘experts’ is for players to win their individual battles. We lost the lot as far as I could see.

We’ve known for ages we lack pace – which coincidentally Leicester have in abundance – so to compensate for that we needed players to read the game better, be constantly aware of where the threats were and how they were developing.

Far too often we had players ball-watching, being pulled around all over the place, dragged into areas they didn’t need to be, thus abandoning the compact shape we needed to stifle the danger. To add to that we constantly gave the ball away cheaply, repeatedly putting ourselves under renewed pressure.

We can talk all we like about the board, the manager, the stadium – all the side issues that frankly at the moment are an unwanted distraction.

Right now it’s the team and the players that matter most. For 45 minutes, even an eternal optimist like me, was contemplating life in the Championship. But with the introduction of Michail Antonio, and to a lesser extent Pablo Fornals, the mood changed.

We suddenly had some fire and commitment in our bellies. At 2-1 it was game on at last. There were a couple of frantic Leicester clearances, plus an Antonio flick that didn’t quite evade Schmeichel’s outstretched leg, otherwise it could so easily have been 2-2.

Individually, I still believe we have the players good enough to see us to safety…. Rice, Diop, Ogbonna, Cresswell, Antonio and Haller together, Fornals, Anderson when he returns, are the equal of anything the likes of Norwich, Bournemouth, Watford and Villa have.

Hopefully at least one other addition, maybe two, can be recruited before the transfer window closes, to bolster the squad and take us safely over the finishing line. It’s far too early to give up.

Yes it’s going to be difficult, but it isn’t going to be any easier for the other teams around us. We wouldn’t want or expect Moyes and the players to throw in the towel already  – so why should we?