|
Gilbert the Filbert - The Webzine for Leicester City Supporters.
|
||
|---|---|---|
|
|
||
|
|
The Last Waltz……. in Vienna Peter Gilbert 28.9.00 Leicester City 1 Red Star Belgrade 3 So there we all were at East Midlands Airport complete with a bit of money, our passports our tickets and a sick note from our doctor. It’s important on occasions like this to keep a low profile. Don’t flaunt it, just mingle and keep out of the way of any camera crews assigned to record the happy scene. Up up and away we go into the air over the sea and soon Europe stretched below us like a giant patchwork, the enormity of our football team’s achievements suddenly became apparent as we glided through the clouds; we were playing in a tournament over all this lot. We were a couple of thousand strong as were transported to the ground through the beautiful Alpine scenery until we happened upon Vienna and were dropped off for a little look around the City of a Thousand Dreams. A City of music and romance and we waltzed in the bandstand in the beautiful parks and gardens and forgot all about Stan and his West Midland words. The ground itself held 18,000 and we were outnumbered by the far from friendly Yugoslavs, who aparantly had bottled one of our number earlier. It was a mild night weatherwise but there the mildness ended, I have to say I found the Red Star fans horrendously provocative, they had wild dark eyes and looked utterly ruthless and desperate. The situation was not helped when some of our number began to chant about NATO bombings etc. Inside the ground security was pathetic and RS fired flares at us to which we replied with shouts and gestures. The police were nowhere to be seen sadly and really the situation threatened to get out of hand and I for one felt ready to protect my corner in the event of activity. I can fully understand now how football crowds get swept along with the emotion of it all. For what it’s worth the ground was half empty and the pitch looked beautiful although tension for right and wrong reasons was the overbearing emotion.
We kicked off and quickly lost possession with RS immediately going for the quick break tactic. On the first tackle they were gesturing to the ref. for a booking after quite impressive diving. When we chanted they booed and sadly they also booed our black players, no political correctness here. After 13 mins. we won a corner which Izzett delivered lazily. It was half cleared but RS gained possession and broke forward while our players scampered after them. We didn’t learn , and on 25 mins. Guppy took a really pathetic free kick, RS broke away with the ball with Sav in hot pursuit. He won the ball back but gave it away again in midfield, this time it was returned with interest into the back of our net before we had time to regroup. At this level you just can’t afford to lose the ball from your own corners and free kicks ; you will be punished, they were waiting to spring the trap on us. After that slap in the face we began to regain our composure and we gained possession of the ball for longer periods. Izzett put Eadie through who shot pitifully wide from 8 yards out. Then Guppy made his first real contribution and crossed to Eadie who closed his eyes and let the ball hit his head, almost flinching away, but he still managed to hit the bar and the rebound eluded him. Izzett had a good shot well saved and Impey shot just wide, we were definitely on the ascendancy. On 42 mins. another good cross from Guppy saw the effervescent Savage leap at the ball and miss but it fell kindly to Izzett who stabbed it home from close range and so we went in at half time on the up in a big way.
I don’t know what happened at half time, whether something was slipped in the City’s tea but we didn’t really play at all in the second half and constantly giving the ball away allowed two more quick breakaway goals and saw us finished off. When we were 2-1 down we wriggled for a while but soon we were a spent force and looked bedraggled ,clueless and quite seriously outclassed. If we could have scored at this time we might have nicked it on away goals but it wasn’t to be and in the end we were lucky to keep it at 3-1.
Depressing really, after the long journey, the intimidation, the diving, the cheating and the flare attacks to simply have to watch our side humbled on the grass. The subs. that came on; Cresswell, Gunnlauggsson and Davidson were not able to make any impact and in the end they appeared to be saving tired legs for our next Premiership match on Sunday. We ended the game with Elliott up front looking the most potent of our strikers which speaks volumes really. Our best centre forward cannot even be guaranteed to have watched it on TV. And after all this we still had to run the gauntlet with the massed ranks of disgruntled Yugo’s who frankly were a disgraceful bunch of people. Oh well back to the drawing board. Any good strikers looking for a free transfer? Player Performance
Flowers: Took a bit of a peppering, made some good saves, can’t be blamed - not called up for England Squad. Rowett: Showed a lack of awareness, ball watching and wandering. Elliott: Showed some real classy touches. Taggart: His thuggish tactics on the night left him vulnerable, however he was mercilessly provoked and taunted. He became wild and cumbersome. Impey: Did a couple of good things. Guppy: Frustrating, made a couple of good crosses but was anonymous largely. Gave the ball away very cheaply. Lennon: Was he playing? Izzett: Inspirational but not supported. Savage: Always in the thick of the action. Akinbiyi: Did his best, I suppose. Eadie: Tried hard.
Subs: Cresswell: Did nothing and even made that look difficult. Gunnlaugsson: I think he touched it……once. Davidson: Looks at ease.
Our usual solid defence let us down, they lost organization and awareness. Midfield was where the ball was given away. Forwards were ineffective, at this level chances must be taken. We were inhibited and played with no joy or optimism when confronted with cynicism. |
|