Dean Smith again decided to make changes to his line-up and surprisingly finding a place in the starting eleven to Dennis Praet, who has not featured from start in any games so far under the interim regime.
To also see a team away to Fulham being without Wilfred Ndidi or Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall in a midfield role made it difficult for Leicester from start with little or no special momentum as this experimental approach makes little or no sence.
Leicester looked unbalanced and out of controll from the start of the game with Fulham taking full command and of course then tragic to see the first goal scored from Willian after just 10 minutes. A massive blunder from Daniel Iversen, who has been so steady in his previous performances, made this day one not to remember.
The game was not one dominated by Fulham, but they were more clinical even without Mitrovic on top and Pereira in midfield, other players had a chance to show their worth and they fought Leicester totally out of controll. Alves Morais striked after 18 minutes and when Cairney scored after 44 minutes, Leicester were 3-0 down at half time.
Harvey Barnes and Jamie Vardy both had brilliant chances to score, but the end product was not at all in place during these first 45 minutes.
Dean Smith made one change at half time, taking off Dennis Preat and bringing on Tetê, in what made sence, but it shows a team and management that has little or no faith in their own decision making, as one of the key moves in front of the game was to play Dennis Praet and he was the one taken off, and then you understand that a master plan had totally crashed.
The change was positive, but still errors were made and after a few minutes of 2nd half, Leicester were 4-0 down after a second goal from Cairney. Leicester never gave up and all credit to players who fought a fight of despair, and credit to Maddison for his assist and Barnes for scoring Leicester’s first goal in the game after 59 minutes.
This was a crazy day at Craven Cottage as Leicester were rewarded a penalty after 66 minutes, Jamie Vardy making a run and taken down and correct to see him getting a penalty. Vardy himself took the penalty, but it all went wrong as Leno made the correct decision and saved a terrible shot from JV.
Then just minutes after Willian was given space to make a shot from distance and on this day Daniel Iversen showed his faults as the ball went in behind him, and it was suddenly Fulham that had a 5-1 lead. Fulham do have their weapons in two speedy full backs who can run the field up and down, and today they showed how effective it can be.
Dean Smith made his changes during 2nd half and gave Dewsbury-Hall, Thomas and Daka all minutes as well as Ndidi, and those changes gave the team a bit more fuel, which resulted in a late push for more goals. One more penalty, this time James Maddison made no mistake and Leicester were one goal closer.
Harvey Barnes scored Leicester’s third in the 89th minute after a mistake in the Fulham defence giving Patson Daka a chance to fight for the ball, and passing it on to Barnes, finding the net.
With this disappointing result over 90 minutes, and a very sloppy performance, 2nd half shows that there are still a fighting spirit among players and hopefully magic can happen in the games left of the season, but to see the performance today you feel really down and cannot really understand how it was possible to score 3 goals away and not get any points.
With Everton and Forest performing magic and winning their games against Brighton and Southampton, they both climbed above Leicester and at this very moment the relegation treath is close.
- Positives
- Scoring three goals away from home
- Not giving up winning 2nd half 3-2
- James Maddison scoring from his penalty
- Dean Smith making changes in the team that looked to improve the performance
- Harvey Barnes scoring two
- Negatives
- Again not at the station when the train is leaving
- Lost momentum in the gameplan as it certainly did not work
- Soumare again involved in situations that lost us the game, cannot be trusted in games like this
- Not playing Ndidi from start and no balance in a midfield that is in change from game to game
- No master plan and too much changes to the team as no pattern is found
- Kristiansen looks tired and not used to pressure of this type
- Tactical erros by the management as central defenders are exposed with no shield in front
Player Ratings: Iversen 4, Castagne 4, Kristiansen 4, Soyuncu 5, Faes 4, Soumare 4, Tielemans 3, Barnes 6, Maddison 6, Vardy 4, Praet 4 Subs: Ndidi, Daka, Tetê 5, Dewsbury-Hall, Thomas
- Leicester City, Man of the Match
- Harvey Barnes
Match Stats (H/A)
- Possession: 57 / 43
- Corners: 2 / 7
- Shots on target: 7 / 9
- Fouls: 13 / 15
TCF - FILBERT WAY 
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