Battlefield analogies work to describe some situations brilliantly but others with less aplomb; a riot scenario works well, a christening less so. The general idea, really, is to describe an air of horrified confusion as everyone looks blindly, desperate for hope, leadership and a way out.
Now, I’m not going to compare Leicester’s first-half performance to a war-zone, despite Matt Mills possessing the positional sense of a shell-shock victim. However, there was the ever-present sense that the freshly-assembled squad was labouring around with absolutely no idea as to what they were meant to be doing, tirelessly pursued by a hard-working and very capable Barnsley side. Arms were waved, tirades aimed, looks of exasperation swapped as a pathetic first half display was met with ringing boos from the travelling faithful as the culprits trudged down the tunnel.
Much of the blame for this must lie with the manager Sven Goran-Eriksson. Neither player nor fan seems to know which formation Leicester started the game with; guesses ranged from 4-5-1 to 4-1-4-1 to 4-3-3 (a bloke in the toilet also loudly insisted it was a diamond 4-4-2). Either way, the team played as if they had been handed blindfolds and bells and told to do the rest.
In comparison, Keith Hill set his Barnsley team out in a straight, no nonsense 4-4-2 formation, and, thanks to the precise and industrious work of the lightning-haired Richie Perkins and his midfield partner Danny Drinkwater, they should perhaps have taken a bigger advantage into the break after Jacob Butterfield’s opening header. Andy Grey in particular was wasteful, flashing a glaring header wide of the post when it seemed easier to score.
Barnsley’s task was made easier by a lacklustre defensive display by the away team, with Mills and Pantsil in particular allowing the red attackers to cut swathes through the Leicester back-line. The Foxes’ defenders were hardly helped by a midfield that was neither far enough back to indulge in defensive duties nor forward enough to take part in attacks. Were it not for the impressively switched-on Sol Bamba things could have been a lot worse for the visitors.
The big Ivorian’s day was not made easier by the perennially uncertain record signing Matt Mills, whose inability to head, run, tackle or position himself correctly once again made him a constant liability at the back. It was very cruel of Reading to sell Leicester the constantly confused Matthew Mills rather than the Matt Mills who was the best defender in the Championship last season. Barnsley meanwhile comfortably saw the half out with little to trouble their back-line apart from a few long-range efforts from new Foxes’ striker Jermaine Beckford.
Barnsley did’t set out as 4,4,2 it was 4,2,3,1
its David Perkins, not Richie…
but apart from that, it was a good read..