I like to try and be fair on the team as much as I can. If we have a bad result, losing at home to West Brom for example, I’ll still give out good ratings if I thought the performance deserved more. That doesn’t mean that I’ll always be looking on the bright side, however.
Two penalties, one which Wes Morgan admitted probably shouldn't have been and one in the 94th minute, stood between Leicester City and a third consecutive loss to opposition who are, frankly, not that good.
We were poor across the whole pitch and I can’t see a way that switching Danny Drinkwater in for King or Amartey would have changed that result. It’s not time to panic, but we needed points from this run and it might be time to try another way of getting them.
Ron-Robert Zieler - 6
Not much he could do for either goal. His kicking is no more accurate than Kasper’s but he doesn’t have anything like the Dane’s booming leg.
Danny Simpson - 6
Had his hands full defensively, but probably the the most consistent member the back four out there. Not to blame for either of the goals.
Wes Morgan - 6
Middlesborough came into the game as the league’s joint lowest scorers, playing a striker who couldn’t find the net with a map. Still, they probably should have marked him at some point. Bonus point for winning penalties.
977 – Alvaro Negredo’s strike against Leicester has ended a run of 977 minutes without a Premier League goal for Middlesbrough. Opener.
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) November 26, 2016
Robert Huth - 5
Morgan might not have got close to Negredo for the first, but he was at least in the penalty area. I’m not sure Huth was for either goal. He was poor on the ball all day as well.
Christian Fuchs - 5
Lost track of Negredo while simultaneously playing him onside for the second goal. In this system, his primary job is defending and he didn’t do that well enough. Coincidentally, he was also bad at attacking this time.
Riyad Mahrez - 6
It might be time for an official apology. Mahrez wasn’t great at any point in this match, but he did score a penalty. His 4th in a row since certain idiotic writers suggested he wasn’t any good at it.
Daniel Amartey - 6
Asked to play the ‘Drinkwater role’, the young midfielder led the midfield in touches and passes. That’s probably something we should avoid from now on. Shouldered the defensive load well, however, leading the game in tackles.
They played with 4-3-3 but with more players in the middle. We played just with two and we suffered a lot - Ranieri, who planned to introduce Matty James just before Boro’s 2nd goal, admits it was hard for his midfielders
Andy King - 5
I’m pretty sure I’ve seen photos that prove King did play in this one. My memory isn’t bringing anything up though. With Drinky out, the team was down to one player with more than a few months experience in midfield and he didn’t step up when needed.
Marc Albrighton - 5
Some turnaround from Brugge, where the winger was dangerous throughout. I’m not sure he did anything that threatened the Watford goal all game long.
Shinji Okazaki - 6
Shinji is 5’9, slight and not even a great jumper. Someone should probably point this out to his team. He nearly added his second bicycle kick of the year, but 99% of the time, there’s nothing he can do with high long balls. Please stop it.
Jamie Vardy - 5
I still like the player, I still think he has a lot to offer, but it’s time to try someone else for a bit. In 64 minutes, he managed 9 touches. His replacement had 10 in 26.
I'm backing him 100%. You should see him in training – he smashes them in from all over the place - teammate Danny Simpson hasn’t lost the faith
Islam Slimani - 6
Not hugely impressive, but hopefully he’s just knocking a bit of rust off. Did score a pressure penalty at the end, and this team needs him to bring some goals.
Ahmed Musa - 6
Played 23 minutes and got off as many shots as anyone else. He wasn’t good exactly, but he did at least look like he was capable of doing something good.
Demarai Gray - 5
Just 15 minutes and 6 touches wasn’t much of a chance to make an impact. 100% pass completion is hard to argue with, but 5 passes of little to no impact won't get you ratings.
This game was just bad, start to finish. Man of the Match is Riyad Mahrez, but only because I feel guilty for being too quick to damn him before.