#ibelieve?

Consistency the key for Championship success

A lack of consistency has been Leicester's downfall this season

Another defeat to a lower league side emphasises Leicester City's biggest problem this season: winning against struggling sides.  The Foxes have been beaten by five of the bottom eight teams in the Championship (including losing both home and away against Barnsley, Bristol City and Millwall), a record which is completely baffling, considering that Leicester have beaten five of the eight teams above them (including home and away wins against automatic promotion contenders Southampton).   Had Leicester drawn those five games lost against lower league opposition (or simply won two of those five), they would still be firmly in contention to make the play-offs.

The old cliché rings true here – the table does not lie.  When at their best, Leicester have played some truly wonderful football this season.  But they have also been outclassed by other teams in the Championship.  Regular changes to the team have failed to yield a consistently strong line-up.  There are areas of concern in several places, and even if Nigel Pearson somehow pulls off a miracle in the last three games of the season, he will surely spend most of the summer rebuilding in order to create the consistency similar to that he during his first spell in charge.

Clubs cannot buy success at Championship level.  One only needs to look at the teams in promotion contention this season.  Reading sold two of their key players in the summer (Matt Mills and Shane Long) and the Royals are now top of the league, looking the favourites to be crowned champions in three weeks' time.  Nigel Atkins has stuck with roughly the same Southampton team crowned champions of League One, and look likely to secure back-to-back promotions (as Norwich City did last year).  Birmingham, Blackpool and West Ham were all relegated from the Premier League last season, and so, if anything, have had to consolidate having lost key players, but still maintained a strong core to rebuild from.  Leicester City, on the other hand, spent millions this summer, and their team, looks completely different from last season and look destined to finish outside the play-off places as they did in 2011.  It is difficult for the team to be consistent on the pitch when the club is not consistent off the pitch.

Whatever happens during the final three games this season, Nigel Pearson is still a fan favourite.  He enjoyed two very successful seasons with Leicester, and the club not parted ways with the manager, they would more than likely be in a better position than they are now.  But it is very important that the owners give Pearson another season to bring the belief back to the King Power Stadium.  This team is capable of reaching the Premier League, but it must become stable before it achieves real success.

Leicester City 0 Portsmouth 1 - 19th March 2011

Leicester’s hopes of reaching the play-offs were dealt another blow this afternoon after losing at home to an in-form Portsmouth side.

David Nugent scored the only goal of the game in the after Leicester failed to deal properly with a long throw in.

Paul Gallagher and Yakubu squandered good chances for the Foxes in the second-half as Sven-Goran Eriksson’s men fell to a fourth defeat in six league games, leaving their promotion hopes hanging by a thread.

Eriksson introduced Jeffrey Bruma back into the starting eleven in replace of Miguel Vitor as his side looked to extract revenge on Portsmouth, who head beaten Leicester 6-1 at Fratton Park earlier in the season.

The first chance of the game did fall to Leicester when Yakubu headed just wide from Paul Gallagher’s cross into the penalty area.

But it was the visitors who looked the sharper of the two sides during the opening stages and were ahead after thirteen minutes when Sol Bamba’s poor defensive header fell directly into the path of David Nugent who found the net with a volley through a crowd of players.

The goal was a sloppy one for Leicester to concede, and Eriksson will have been disappointed to see his side undone by another set piece.

The former England striker was again at the heart of another Portsmouth attack moments later after breaking down the right wing before firing a low cross into the penalty area; however, Yuki Abe was alert to smother the ball behind for a corner.

At the other end, goalkeeper Jamie Ashdown pulled off a superb save to deny Sol Bamba’s towering header from a Paul Gallagher corner.

Leicester then began to put pressure on the Pompey defence after good work from Richie Wellens and Yakubu teed up Paul Gallagher on the edge of the box, but his effort flew just wide of the post.

Andy King had a glorious opportunity to net for the Foxes when Kyle Naughton picked the midfielder out with a fine cross, but the Welshman failed to trouble Jamie Ashdown with an unmarked header.

The home side looked likely to score at the end of the first-half but whilst Leicester’s build-up play was positive, there never seemed to be an end product to trouble Ashdown.

The second-half was one of few clear cut chances but the Foxes should have been level when Jeffrey Bruma’s superb long ball behind the Portsmouth defence fell to Paul Gallagher who found himself one-on-one with the goalkeeper, but Jamie Ashdown did well to quickly close him down and block his low shot.

Eriksson introduced Lloyd Dyer and Martyn Waghorn on in quick succession but it was Portsmouth who looked more likely to score as they caught Leicester on the counter-attack through Dave Kitson who did well to escape Sol Bamba, and his pull back gave Jonathon Hogg the opportunity to set up Joel Ward, but the substitute inexplicably fired wide from six yards.

With less than ten minutes to go, Yakubu fired over from a good position before Kyle Naughton’s thunderous strike from distance was well-saved by Jamie Ashdown at the near post.

Leicester continued to come close in attack but when Jeffrey Bruma’s fine ball in across the face of goal escaped both Ben Mee and Lloyd Dyer, it seemed as if it simply was not their day.

The final whistle indicated a second consecutive home loss for the Foxes, and while Sven’s men remain just five points outside the play-offs, they slipped to eleventh place in the Championship with just eight games remaining.

Man of the Match – Dave Kitson