Leicester City Fan View: Foxes have lost direction and fight

Losing to Millwall wasn’t entirely unexpected and it certainly wasn’t undeserved, it just sums up our season. It’s once again the manner we lost in that’s left a bitter taste. It was another performance that raised more questions and answered absolutely none.

We’ve been a team lacking confidence for more than just a few weeks, but even those players who’d managed to look a little more assured have now lost their way. There’s been no plan B for Claudio Ranieri for a long time either. This was unfortunately reinforced once again yesterday with some debatable substitutions and decisions.

At a time that the Foxes should have been capitalising in the game, fitness levels and Millwall going down to ten men, we failed. That red card inspired the home side to find some extra energy and fight and for us? We looked worse as the minutes ticked by. It’s not the first time of course that Leicester have failed to capitalise against ten men.

Our record for earning victories or points if not already winning when our opposition have a men sent off must be poor. We simply seem to enjoy making things harder for ourselves. We didn’t push harder or even look to try and take advantage of it. It was the perfect moment to throw on some fresh legs from the bench and we simply didn’t do anything quickly enough.

Yesterday was particularly infuriating as you had to feel that prior to kick-off, there were some places open for grabs in the line-up that’ll face Sevilla on Wednesday night. The team that started are those who’ve found their chances limited for one reason or another. So it was their chance to put on a show. Yet so few of the players out there grabbed the chance to stake their claim.

It had been a stable first half where we looked to be on top, the main issue being our lack of threat going forward; again. The second half was entirely different though. Those who did look more up for it, still garnered critics for not being able to find one of our players in the box, despite nobody really getting into the box or making an effort.

[READ MORE: FA Cup humiliation for Leicester]

I don’t envy the Italian in having to select eleven names for our Champions League game. Few truly deserve it right now and with the Spanish side a good attacking threat, you have to worry for us out there.

I may still remain conflicted on what to do about Ranieri’s position, but it’s getting harder to defend him at the same time. Yes, our players should be shouldering a lot of this criticism and displaying more, but his tactics cannot be ignored.

Take yesterday’s substitutions for example. Ahmed Musa was struggling, the same as we failed to give him many opportunities to turn on the pace. He was becoming the sole focus of abuse for many of the away fans, but he was not substituted.

The first to make way was Bartosz Kaputska. The young Pole had actually been one of the brighter players out there, delivering some fantastic balls and crosses in. He made way for Marc Albrighton; which may not have been so frowned upon had we anybody on the pitch for the winger to cross a ball into.

The Italian’s hand was forced with one substitution after Molla Wague, in his first outing for the Foxes, dislocated his shoulder in an otherwise innocuous collision. It’s the kind of luck that just isn’t going our way right now, coupled with us entirely lacking in making our own luck too.

It was frustrating as we’d only just got Wague fit and it would have been interesting to see him get ninety minutes. The early signs looked ok, he’s certainly got a presence and a raw energy. The final substitution posed Ranieri with a choice. Which of our two big names to bring on; Jamie Vardy or Riyad Mahrez.

It was the England striker who got the nod, joy to the ears of Millwall fans who still had plenty of abuse to shower him with. You wonder how the League One side would have dealt with the Algerian on a good day and he may have given us the solo magic we so desperately needed. Either way, why neither of them were already on, the minute we had the numerical advantage is beyond me.

It was a game made up of moments that summarise our season so aptly. Shinji Okazaki will no doubt be haunted by his failure to convert at short-range, as will those of us behind the goal. Wague’s injury being another and the way we allowed Millwall to cut us open and score in the dying minutes of the game.

In truth, we never looked likely to score and with the home side and while a replay wasn’t what any of us wanted, it’s a worry to think about how yet another negative loss is going to harm us further. Ask any fan, none of us have an answer on how to fix things.

Some of us have more hope or faith in it turning it around. It certainly doesn’t look like those in charge have answers at this current moment. Something has to give and you fear that with Ranieri being the only change we can make, our owners may feel it’s a choice they now have to make.

Insult was added to injury for travelling fans at the end of the game when Millwall fans decided to not only invade the pitch but focus their energy on trying to get to the away end, souring things somewhat.

The mood had lightened on the train back, fans singing and trying to be humorous about our current state with chants of “We’re gonna score in April”. All avoiding talking about our real worries of course; that it’s difficult to see where the next goal or win is coming from.