Post Match report for the Leicester game - Sunday, 13th December 2020
PREMIER LEAGUE 20/21: Leicester v Brighton - 13/12/20, P12.
ALBION APPEAR ADRIFT AND AMBLING AIMLESSLY
RESULT: 3-0 . (h-t 3-0) . SHAPE: 4-4-2 but altered during transitions.
VENUE: King Power stadium, Leicester - sixth away match of twelve fixtures to date . Sunday 7:15pm k-o.
Match played under regional Tier 3 coronavirus restrictions with no fans allowed.
BUILD UP: it was a busy weekend for Prem contests amid the usual hectic December schedule prior to Xmas & New Year.
Seagulls were holding almost a permanent place in the bottom six and needed something additional on the festive wish list to mere stocking fillers.
WEATHER: wet & windy . KIT: yellow away colours.
GRAHAM POTTER expounded at length to media his philosophy and all round good-guy approach to representing our city at elite level.
He made changes from two disappointing games at the Amex, in terms of putting the ball into the net from open play.
Burn, Jahanbakhsh and Maupay were elevated to start. Webster and Connolly sat among substitutes, while Lamptey was missing altogether.
TEAM . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Ryan
. . . 34 Veltman, 3 White, 5 Dunk, 33 Burn
. 16 Jahanbakhsh, 8 Bissouma, 13 Gross, 20 March
. . . . . . . . . 9 Maupay . . . . . . . 18 Welbeck
BENCH: 23 Steele, 4 Webster, 17 Alzate (55), 10 Mac Allister (72), 24 Propper, 11 Trossard, 7 Connolly (62).
GOALS: 1-0 - 27 . Locals open their account with a soft shot, deflected in build up but not stopped by Ryan.
2-0 - 41 . City extend their lead following lengthy VAR check for o/s but expose failings of BHA defending.
3-0 - 44 . Albion are again all ends up, when hosts open a struggling can of worms like ripping through rumpled tin foil.
INCIDENTS: 25 - Foxes hit inside of an upright .
YELLOWS: 60 - Burn.
SUBS: 55 - Alzate for Jahanbakhsh . 62 - Connolly for Welbeck . 72 - Mac Allister for Bissouma.
SYNOPSIS: hosts took an early and in many respects a tame lead during inclement conditions, making everything that much harder for visitors to get something here.
The away outfit attempted to be fluid in shape but another proverbial Potter mix & match system with narrow, play centrally, mentality was mainly a means of offering more free gifts off wings to quality attacking opponents.
The break came as relief from a further drubbing.
Potter realised he had been too easily outflanked and soon put on a midfielder to replace a hapless front runner.
City sat on their three goal cushion, practicing defensive/offensive routines for Europa League ties in knockout phases ahead.
Seagulls eventually played out the ninety plus minutes; going through motions, learning on the job, accumulating appearance time and hoping to get up to speed from continuous negative experiences.
NUMBERS: poss 54%-46%, on target 6-4, off target 9-8, corners 9-5, fouls 9-11, yellows 2-1, subs 3-3.
CONCLUSION: it is going to be a basic numbers game after turn of the year, to exactly what degree being decided by the three worst clubs in this division.
How much slack remains in the rope, in order to achieve a 40 points target asap, is yet to be determined in January.
The Prem is unforgiving if players do not make it tough for opposition to play football.
FS
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