FAN REPORT – City go to Hull and Back

Leicester met Hull City at the KC Stadium in the last 16 of the Capital One Cup. This time last season this was a Premier League fixture, but Hull suffered relegation, ultimately as a result of Leicester’s great escape. 
The teams came out to some atmospheric music and lighting effects from the flood lights, it was a little farcical if I’m honest, but it seemed to get the crowd going. Claudio Ranieri made the inevitable changes to the team that beat Palace at the weekend, with Ben Chilwell making his debut in a competitive match. Vardy, Mahrez and Drinkwater were on the bench as a bit of an insurance policy. 
The Foxes started well and went close in the first minute as Okazaki had a shot from distance that flashed wide of Jakupovics’ goal. After that though, it was all Hull, Leicester were second best in every sense. We were simply bullied out of the game. Chilwell struggled to contain Diame down the wing, but in fairness to him he isn’t a left back and he eventually settled well, particularly later on. 
All the hype over Inler when he signed has long gone. His performances for Leicester certainly don’t match that of his international appearances of late. Questions were raised by many fans over his capabilities and whether his heart is actually in it. He was weak on the ball, his passes wayward and his desire to go in search of the ball was lacking. Certainly not the qualities of an international captain. Benalouane however was superb and really bossed the back line, won some great tackles and challenged well in the air against some big opposition. 
Hull were unfortunate not to be at least 1 goal up at half time. The second half was just as bad until the substitutions of Vardy, Drinkwater and Mahrez, for Okazaki, Dodoo and Kramaric gave City a boost. However, they never really threatened until the final minutes when Mahrez had a shot blocked which went for a corner.
Extra time commenced and the substitutions combined to carve out a goal completely against the run of play. Drinkwater fed Vardy through whose shot was saved, but Mahrez finished coolly from the rebound. 
The Tigers didn’t give up though and found themselves level in the final minute of the first half of extra time. Hull carved City open with Akpom curling a shot into the bottom right corner which Schwarzer saved, but only pushed the ball out to Hernandez who tucked the ball home. Schwarzer should have done much better to get the ball clear and this is a trait of his we’ve seen many times. He struggles to gather balls at the first attempt which cost us dearly in games last season. 
The match went to penalties and Leicester were fortunate to get that far. Mahrez stepped up first and his shot was saved superbly by Jakupovic. From there on in, both Hull and City converted the rest of their penalties for Hull to win 5-4 and no one can say they didn’t deserve it. 
Fans will say, ‘we can concentrate on the league now’ but it is disappointing as I think this is a competition we could have gone on to win, particularly as Arsenal and Chelsea also crashed out. I don’t blame Ranieri for making the changes as that team should have been more than capable to win. It now re-enforces his stance on the players he is picking for the league games. Benalouane did himself no harm tonight, Albrighton worked hard but there was no one there for his end product, such as Ulloa. The rest really have a lot to do if they are to topple any of the starting 11 from the league matches. 
Man of the Match – Yohan Benalouane 
Moan of the Match – Gokhan Inler. Lots of fans were not impressed tonight.