Extra-Time Talking Points: Goalscoring Opportunities & Leicester’s Perspective
- Former Leicester City stars Tony Cottee, Steve Walsh and Gerry Taggart reflect on Sunday’s defeat by Burnley
- The Extra-Time panel felt the Foxes created plenty of goalscoring opportunities at Turf Moor
- Cottee provided some perspective following the frustrating loss in Lancashire
- Walsh believes expectations are now ‘really, really high’ for City
The former Leicester trio all expressed their frustrations after City were edged 2-1 by the Clarets at Turf Moor on Sunday, despite taking the lead through Academy graduate Harvey Barnes.
On the agenda on Monday’s show was an analysis of that match, as well as a look ahead to the midweek fixture against the Hammers, who City beat last month at London Stadium courtesy of goals from Kelechi Iheanacho and Demarai Gray.
Frustrated Foxes
Gerry Taggart said: “It was frustrating and disappointing. When you look at the chances created throughout the game, then Leicester did pretty well in phases. They’re not quite at the level that they have been earlier in the season. I still can’t get my head around the save Nick Pope made from Dennis Praet. He’s a big lad, but he showed agility to get down and tip it round the post.”
Burnley’s ‘keeper the difference
Steve Walsh said: “Nick Pope was the difference and you can understand why he got the Man of the Match award. Frustrated is the word to use. It was a good opportunity to go into the West Ham game with a good win under your belt and it should have been, really, but we didn’t take our chances. We weren’t clinical enough.”
City’s opportunities
Tony Cottee said: “When I saw the highlights, all I saw was Leicester chances. Jamie Vardy had a penalty saved and they could have had two other penalties as well, so it’s so frustrating. Sometimes, you have these games where you’re so on top and you have chance after chance and then they get two chances and score two goals.”
Shots on goal
Gerry Taggart said: “The biggest problem for a manager is when you’re not creating chances and on any given day, games like Aston Villa when Ørjan Nyland was in inspired form and Nick Pope for Burnley on Sunday, that can happen – the ball just will not go in the back of the net. Against Burnley, there were chances created and shots on goal.”
Blue Army expectations
Steve Walsh said: “Expectations are really, really high at the moment. When you get into a position where you’re still in two cup competitions and third in the Premier League – and there’s no real damage to that league position – the expectations from the fans are high. The games now that are coming up are ones what you’d expect Leicester to win, but it doesn’t happen like that in football.”
Leicester’s perspective
Tony Cottee said: “You have to put things in perspective because Leicester are still 11 points clear of fifth place and six points above Chelsea. If you’re going to have a bad spell in the season, you don’t want to do it at the end when it’s so crucial. If you’re going to hit a dip in form, just after Christmas is the best time because you’ve still got time to recover and pick the points up.”