<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Leicester manager Craig Shakespeare insisted he was satisfied with a point despite watching his team squander a two-goal lead when they drew 2-2 at Crystal Palace.<\/p>\n
He also dismissed suggestions they became distracted by the prospect of Tuesday’s Champions League fixture against Atletico Madrid.<\/p>\n
Leicester appeared comfortable when Jamie Vardy’s second-half finish doubled the advantage built by Robert Huth’s early header. <\/p>\n
Unconvincing defending then led to Yohan Cabaye scoring Palace’s first goal, before Christian Benteke headed the hosts level having leapt highest when heavily leaning on Yohan Benalouane.<\/p>\n
Twelth-placed Leicester next host Atletico hoping to overcome a one-goal deficit from the first leg of their European quarter-final, but when asked if they had become distracted after going two up, Shakespeare responded: “No.<\/p>\n
“There is a tinge of disappointment, especially when you go two up away from home. (But) we should be pleased with a point, probably.<\/p>\n
“We could have seen it out if we’d stayed in the lead a bit longer, but they asked a lot of questions of us with their aerial threat.”<\/p>\n
Benalouane was substituted as a precaution after suffering with cramp, but with Wes Morgan also a doubt and Huth suspended for Tuesday’s fixture, Shakespeare dismissed concerns their defensive options are thin.<\/p>\n
“I’m assured it was just cramp,” said the 53-year-old. “Cramp can turn into a pull, so it was just a precaution. He’s walking at the moment. We’ll get it looked at. They’re in for a recovery session and we’ll assess it then.<\/p>\n
“It looked better (on Friday for Morgan). He trained with the group for the whole session. I hope he joins in with the rest of the group (on Sunday).<\/p>\n
“It’s a big ask for him because it’s a difficult injury to get over, in terms of the power and spring for a centre-back. But we’ll give him every opportunity and, with the medical staff, we’ll see what their feelings are and we’ll make a decision.”<\/p>\n
The point took Palace, who have five wins and a draw from their past seven games, up to 15th in the Premier League and seven points clear of the bottom three.<\/p>\n
They had looked at severe risk of relegation but manager Sam Allardyce – who recruited Shakespeare to his coaching team while England manager – has inspired such an improvement that survival looks a near certainty.<\/p>\n
“When you finish a game with a point having been 2-0 down, you have to be incredibly satisfied,” said Allardyce, 62.<\/p>\n
“It kept our run going, showing just how good we are at the moment. The mental side showed by coming back to get back to 2-2. <\/p>\n
“I’m pleased with Benteke, with his game coming on and the goals coming back. Cabaye, too. We are a threat. We can score goals. It’s a fantastic point.<\/p>\n
“(Leicester) have a chance (against Atletico). They’re playing very well at the moment. They turned Sevilla over.”<\/p>\n
Source: PA<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\t\tPlease enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus.<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n From Football.co.uk<\/a>
Leicester manager Craig Shakespeare insisted he was satisfied with a point despite watching his team squander a two-goal lead when they drew 2-2 at Crystal Palace. He also dismissed suggestions they became distracted by the prospect of Tuesday’s Champions League fixture against Atletico Madrid. Leicester appeared comfortable when Jamie Vardy’s second-half finish doubled the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":58746,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[85],"tags":[371,30,120,80,188],"class_list":["post-4361","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-premier-league","tag-football-news","tag-news","tag-south-africa-today-sport","tag-sport","tag-sport-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4361","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4361"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4361\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4361"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4361"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4361"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n
South Africa Today Sport \u2013 Sport News Football<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
![\n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n <\/p>\nLeicester manager Craig Shakespeare insisted he was satisfied with a point despite watching his team squander a two-goal lead when they drew 2-2 at Crystal Palace.<\/p>\nHe also dismissed suggestions they became distracted by the prospect of Tuesday’s Champions League fixture against Atletico Madrid.<\/p>\n Leicester appeared comfortable when Jamie Vardy’s second-half finish doubled the advantage built by Robert Huth’s early header. <\/p>\nUnconvincing defending then led to Yohan Cabaye scoring Palace’s first goal, before Christian Benteke headed the hosts level having leapt highest when heavily leaning on Yohan Benalouane.<\/p>\nTwelth-placed Leicester next host Atletico hoping to overcome a one-goal deficit from the first leg of their European quarter-final, but when asked if they had become distracted after going two up, Shakespeare responded: “No.<\/p>\n“There is a tinge of disappointment, especially when you go two up away from home. (But) we should be pleased with a point, probably.<\/p>\n“We could have seen it out if we’d stayed in the lead a bit longer, but they asked a lot of questions of us with their aerial threat.”<\/p>\nBenalouane was substituted as a precaution after suffering with cramp, but with Wes Morgan also a doubt and Huth suspended for Tuesday’s fixture, Shakespeare dismissed concerns their defensive options are thin.<\/p>\n“I’m assured it was just cramp,” said the 53-year-old. “Cramp can turn into a pull, so it was just a precaution. He’s walking at the moment. We’ll get it looked at. They’re in for a recovery session and we’ll assess it then.<\/p>\n“It looked better (on Friday for Morgan). He trained with the group for the whole session. I hope he joins in with the rest of the group (on Sunday).<\/p>\n“It’s a big ask for him because it’s a difficult injury to get over, in terms of the power and spring for a centre-back. But we’ll give him every opportunity and, with the medical staff, we’ll see what their feelings are and we’ll make a decision.”<\/p>\nThe point took Palace, who have five wins and a draw from their past seven games, up to 15th in the Premier League and seven points clear of the bottom three.<\/p>\nThey had looked at severe risk of relegation but manager Sam Allardyce – who recruited Shakespeare to his coaching team while England manager – has inspired such an improvement that survival looks a near certainty.<\/p>\n“When you finish a game with a point having been 2-0 down, you have to be incredibly satisfied,” said Allardyce, 62.<\/p>\n“It kept our run going, showing just how good we are at the moment. The mental side showed by coming back to get back to 2-2. <\/p>\n“I’m pleased with Benteke, with his game coming on and the goals coming back. Cabaye, too. We are a threat. We can score goals. It’s a fantastic point.<\/p>\n“(Leicester) have a chance (against Atletico). They’re playing very well at the moment. They turned Sevilla over.”<\/p>\nSource: PA<\/p>\n <\/p>\n\n\t\tPlease enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus.<\/a><\/p><\/div>\nFrom Football.co.uk<\/a>\nSouth Africa Today Sport \u2013 Sport News Football<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Leicester manager Craig Shakespeare insisted he was satisfied with a point despite watching his team squander a two-goal lead when they drew 2-2 at Crystal Palace. He also dismissed suggestions they became distracted by the prospect of Tuesday’s Champions League fixture against Atletico Madrid. Leicester appeared comfortable when Jamie Vardy’s second-half finish doubled the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":58746,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[85],"tags":[371,30,120,80,188],"class_list":["post-4361","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-premier-league","tag-football-news","tag-news","tag-south-africa-today-sport","tag-sport","tag-sport-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4361","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4361"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4361\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4361"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4361"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4361"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}](\"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/3ceb12022187d83bfdbffd5307286f1c.jpg\"){kind=link}