Gary Megson continued the trend of Leicester managers failing to their first game in charge. It could, and should have been a win though, against a poor QPR side....

QPR came with the intention of stifling and frustrating Leicester, and and for the most part they succeeded.

Leicester created very few chances in the first half, DJ Campbell was guilty of missing the best when his shot was cleared off the line shortly before the interval. At the other end a QPR player hit the post follwing a free kick from the left. 

Things improved slightly in the second half, but Leicester, despite continuing to dominate possession. still struggled to create openings. It looked like we'd need some good fortune, and it came after DJ Campbell was fouled in the area when there was no real danger. Iain Hume stepped up to take the penalty and calmly gave Leicester the lead.

One of my reservations about the appointment of Gary Magson as manager is his history of negative tactics, the habit of trying to hang on to 1-0 leads rather than trying to kill teams off. It looks like it's something he'll continue at Leicester. It's a tactic I don't like even when it does work - I'd rather try to beat teams comfortably than defend a slender lead .

Leicester were on top, when Megson made two negative substitutions. DJ Campbell - who wasn't having a great game, but could cause problems with his pace, was taken off, and replaced by a full back in James Chambers. Iain Hume, who had been having a good game playing on the right, replaced Campbell alongside Carl Cort. While I have no problem with replacing Campbell, and moving Hume further forward, why bring a right back on when there was a proper right winger on the bench?

A few minutes later Kishishev came on for Levi Porter, again, a defensively minded substitution.
With two relatively unadventurous central midfielders in the team, most of the creativity came from the wide players. The substitutions took this away, and effectively said to QPR that we were just going to sit back and defend the lead, and invited them to attack us.
So I can't say I was surprised when QPR did equalised, although I wasn't expecting such a good goal. Leigertwood's thirty yard effort with ten minutes left was a moment of quality in an otherwise dull game. Both teams could have snatched a late winner, with Fulop saving from Nardiello, then a Clemence shot from distance hit the bar.

On the balance of play Leicester shold have won the game, but didn't have enough guile in the final third of the field to create the chances required.

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Teams:
Leicester: Fulop, N'Gotty, Kisnorbo, McAuley, Sheehan, Hume, Clemence (c), Wesolowski, Porter (Kishishev 78), Campbell (Chambers 73), Cort (De Vries 90). Subs not used: Henderson, Newton.

QPR: Camp, Cullip, Stewart, Rehman, Barker, Rowlands, Leigertwood, Bolder (Ephraim 71), Moore, Blackstock, Sahar (Nardiello 45). Subs not used: Bignot, Cole, Curtis.


Stats:

Shots on target: Leicester 6, QPR 6
Shots off target: Leicester 5, QPR 2
Corners: Leicester 5, QPR 4