U23s lose at home to Leicester City

There is also a report in the Liverpool Echo about the game.

If you did go fill us in about the game.

What did you make of Gibson? He is the lad from Newcastle who is very highly rated. Also Sambou a striker who was bought last year from Coventry I think?

I think it was Sambou who failed to jump with the man at the far post when we conceded.

Nobody deserves such treatment, do unto others

I have a feeling that Niasse will go nowhere till deadline day then it'll be another loan.

I was thinking away games where the whole of the first team squad don't normally travel.

Did he not travel to Africa or the Netherlands?

I wonder what happened to that 16-year-old Dutch striker, Joshua Zirkzee?

Venue must have been a late announcement as like others I thought it was either at FF or Goodison, lucky for me it was in Southport. Lovely evening, pitch in good condition and a decent crowd for Southport.

4-2-3-1 formation with Beni & Walsh the "2". Leicester's physicality and energy seemed to put us off our game, especially in the first half. Apart from Leicester's goal there was nothing much of note in the first half, lots of frenetic footie and not a lot of quality.

First half - Walsh did his usual midfield general but not a lot worked for him. Beni had one particularly impressive mazy run stopped at the edge of the box. Kenny was unusually quiet by his standards and frankly would not have impressed any of the watching grown-ups. Connolly at CB seemed to struggle with Leicester's physical approach, Gibson alongside looked like the kind of lad you pay big bucks for what is he 17 ? not a big lad but he's got something about him.

Throughout the first half I noticed this slightly older, physically stronger looking sub warming up constantly. He also showed great enthusiasm during the half-time kick about shaking everyone's hand before the second half kicked off. He genuinely looked happy to be there and it was nice to see. Turns out its Jose Baxter.

Second half was a lot brighter, Unsie had obviously had a word and we were constantly attacking with a lot more purpose and shape. Walsh had a cracking free kick from 25 yards tipped over. The substitutions made a big difference.

Those that left: Donkor - disappointing, did very little of note and lost possession. Evans - has rarely impressed me and was disappointing too. Walsh - was really starting to run the game at the time he was taken off.

Connolly moved into central mid, Feeney slotted in alongside Gibson (that pairing looked solid), Jones added 'presence' on the right of midfield, put himself about and this brought Kenny into the game more and Baxter seemed to have a roaming role. Connolly moving into mid gave Beni more free rein too.

Despite constant attacking and coming close on many occasions, Baxter coming closest, we couldn't score.

Other mentions:

Gray in goal stayed on his line too much for my liking. didn't command his box.
Charsley - got booked midway through the 1st half slightly below par thereafter.
Sambou - first time I've seen him and based on what I saw he is way off the 1st team.

We were nowhere near as good as we were in the corresponding fixture last year (3-1), we just couldn't overcome their energy and physicality. The ref allowed them to get away with lots of 'dirty football' which threw us off our game.

Niasse would have been a lot more effective than Sambou, MoM, Beni, Jones and Kenny on the right works well, left mid / attacking mid - hope to see Baxter start.

Leicester had no 'names' in their team, though are coached by the aptly named Steve Beaglehole.