No finger of blame at Kasper Schmeichel, says Leicester City team-mate Zak Whitbread
Leicester City defender Zak Whitbread said there will be no finger-pointing after a mix-up between him and goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel during the draw with Barnsley.
Schmeichel's wayward pass to Whitbread fell straight at the feet of Barnsley's James O'Brian in Saturday's Championship match, and it led to Stephen Dawson firing home for the visitors to make it 1-1.
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Leicester City goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel
A second goal from Reuben Noble-Lazarus made it 2-1 to Barnsley going into half-time.
A last-ditch strike from substitute Jamie Vardy, courtesy of a knock-down header from Whitbread, snatched a late point for City.
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But despite Schmeichel's costly first-half error, Whitbread said it will not be a case of lumping the blame on to the City goalkeeper.
"We won't point fingers," said the 28-year-old centre-back.
"It isn't just one player's mistake. If someone makes a mistake, the rest of the team will take the weight with them.
"Kasper has been top-drawer this season and a small error like that will not affect him.
"He is a strong character. His kicking is one of the best in the world, so no-one is going to get on to him for that."
The point sees City slip down to fifth in the Championship table, but they sit just four points off the automatic promotion places.
Whitbread admitted that City should be beating sides like Barnsley.
"Yes, we should, but they are not always the easiest," he said. "I always say the big games look after themselves.
"No disrespect to Barnsley, but they haven't been on the best of runs. Fair play to them, they came and did what they had to do to get a result.
"They stopped our style of play and mixed things up. It worked for them, but we should have done more to counter that."
Whitbread added that it was vital, after taking the early lead through Anthony Knockaert, that City had maintained the pressure on their opponents.
"In games like that, when you go a goal up early, you really need to keep your foot on the pedal and keep dictating the game, keeping the tempo and the standards in which we started the game," he said.
"To come away not beaten is a positive but, in the dressing room afterwards, it didn't feel like we got a last-minute equaliser. That is credit to the lads, because we want to win every game.
"At home, we have set high standards and we want to maintain them. A couple of decisions didn't go our way and we could have had a couple of penalties. There were a few scrambles in the box.
"Credit to the lads that we didn't stop and that is a sign of a good team, when you don't get beat and get a last-minute equaliser.
"That could be a big point for us at the end of the season."
Leicester City's under-18s face a stiff test in the FA Youth Cup tonight (7.0) when they take on Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park.
City face a Rovers team that reached the final last season, and academy director Jon Rudkin is not expecting it to be easy.
He said: "It is a good competition and every team wants to win it. We know how difficult it will be"
Comments
by acullingham
Wednesday, December 12 2012, 11:51PM
“Joe Hart is the best keeper in England and he makes mistakes.It's what keepers do. It's what humans do. To err is human. The mistakes, if you could call them that, are at the other end of the pitch. 17 shots on target and 2 goals just isn't good enough. Cardiff had 4 shots on target in their last game and scored all 4. We need ruthless forwards and we need Kasper to carry on being the best goalie in the division.”
by ash1967
Tuesday, December 11 2012, 9:34PM
“Forevafox, your right keepers mistakes do cost you goals, but also points.
kaspar sometimes loses his head like the superman impression to give palace their opening goal and that mistake on Saturday.
But arguably he has kept us in a lot of games ie Bolton where he made some fantastic saves and many more so I can forgive him and I sure he has learned from it”
by Foreverafox
Tuesday, December 11 2012, 5:07PM
“Team game...can't blame Kasper.
Keepers make mistakes and when they do it results in conceding a goal.
Striker puts one wide and it's just ooooooh!”
by FoxUlike
Tuesday, December 11 2012, 12:01PM
“Well my finger was pointing at Kasper.
"If it doubt, put it in Row Z, son" as they used to say in the olden days.
He's a brilliant keeper. But his mistake cost us the game. No point glossing over the issue.”
by dobranich
Tuesday, December 11 2012, 11:49AM
“Things happen in sport the good cancels out the bad with that guy”
by ash1967
Tuesday, December 11 2012, 10:24AM
“We can't blame anybody for Saturday, we now need to move on to the next game, Millwall which be a tough game, they will not be pushovers has they have up until Saturday played well and they will want to put there 3-0 loss to Ipswich behind them, a MASSIVE game for both clubs”
by LCFC_Dave15
Tuesday, December 11 2012, 9:33AM
“Well done Zak, you are a good team mate. The whole team were not themselves on Sat, Zak is right for everyone to shoulder the blame. Its nice to see him defending Kasper, this shows the team spirit we have. Well said Zak.”