Leicester City (Home) Tuesday January 1st

[johnh]

If we don't get a decent striker in the January window then we will be four or five places lower in the league than we are now by end of February..  There are four or five teams only a couple of points behind us.  We desperately need a striker, 17 attempts on goal today but only ONE on target.  We are creating chances but no one seems to know where the goal is.  Silva doesn't help by changing everything up-front for every game (except Walcott and that is another problem).

[Bailey]

Another frustrating day.

I thought we were very good first half, bar Gomes starting a little lazily, everyone was firing. Walcott and Richarlison was bright, DCL working hard, Kenny staking a claim and Gueye providing a masterclass in midfield with only Gylfi not getting on the ball enough.

The team that came out in the second half were imposters. Richarlison completely disinterested, Siggy even more anonymous, Walcott was probably playing but Im not sure. Gana went from a world beater to not making a pub side. Keane made a stupid rookie mistake I thought he had got over and he was then more jittery as the game went on. Kenny looked like he ran out of fitness. DCL wasnt a factor either.

Even considering the above, we still looked the most likely before they scored. We still dont create enough good chances but we were controlling the game again, just not as dominantly as we did in the first half.

I have now watched enough of DCL to fairly confidently say that he shouldnt be starting more games. He is a pain in the arse for defenders but he isnt a threat and we struggle to create anything of note when he plays and he has no presence in the box other than winning the odd header. It doesnt help him that those behind him all flick in an out of different wavelengths.

Having played with both Kenny and Coleman, Walcott has absolutely no relationship with any other player.

Finally I am also not a fan of the "lets chuck a striker on and go 442" when chasing a game. It doesn't work, instead of creating width and sustaining pressure, we do the opposite and leave a massive hole in midfield and end up with 4 or 5 players around the edges of the box but still only 1 or 2 actually in the middle. 

 

[Gwlad]

We never looked close to scoring from corners.

[nogs]

1 minute ago, Aidan said:

Once again us conceding as we have been is not the sole responsibility of the defence. 

I'm not saying he's a fantastic defender - I'm saying pointing the finger at him like that isn'tttt very fair. Yes he made a mistake but he's made a lot less than most this season. Suppose you want Pickford gone too? He's made countless.

I'm not just pointing the finger at him. I don't think Walcott is good enough, I just said I don't rate Zouma either, we have a big problem at right back, I spent most of last season complaining about Schneiderlin, Tosun should never have been signed, Richarlison and Bernard are yet to show enough consistency, individually I like what Gana, Gomes and Sigurdsson offer but it doesn't work as a midfield unit... want me to go on? You won't find me on the Keane thread day in day out calling for his head, but when he fucks up like that I reserve my right to voice my opinion that he is not the quality we require and should be replaced as soon as possible. 

[Finn balor]

Souness coining it in on sky. One chance he had to comment on

[markjazzbassist]

2 minutes ago, Gwlad all over said:

We never looked close to scoring from corners.

we must have the worst ratio of converting corners.  we get about 10 a match and we convert maybe 1 in 100.

[Bailey]

The other, and probably most concerning thing for me, is how easily and quickly we lost our heads when chasing the game. This was typified by Gana and Kenny but many others just gifted the ball back to the opposition time and time again when a simple touch or simple pass was on. There was no-one getting at the players telling them to calm down just everyone wide eyed and shitting themselves.

[nogs]

8 minutes ago, Finn balor said:

We need a right back right winger a box to box midfielder and two strikers. Niasse and Tosun I would get rid of and I’d give DCL another season

We're desperate for a proper leader at CB. Since Jags went over the hill we've had no one organising and it shows. 

[Finn balor]

I know people say January is a rough window but I think we should invest heavily if possible and try and get targets in and steal a march on the summer market. That would give the new buys time to acclimatise and be ready for the new season. If we are targeting a certain type of player i.e the level below the top tier they might not be involved in the champs league later rounds and there is no World Cup or Euro’s to play for

[Gwlad]

Bournemouth Watford and West Ham Brighton tomorrow. We'll go a minimum of one place further down the table.

[Sev]

20 minutes ago, markjazzbassist said:

we must have the worst ratio of converting corners.  we get about 10 a match and we convert maybe 1 in 100.

There was a time where we were among the most dangerous teams on corners and free kicks. Us getting a corner in overtime made opponents piss their pants. Those times are definitely over. We look quite anonymous now... and somewhat predicable, making it easy to score or at least getting chances against us. Man, this almost makes me cry.

[Finn balor]

I’m getting that horrible indifferent feeling about watching us again 

[Hafnia]

6 minutes ago, Finn balor said:

I’m getting that horrible indifferent feeling about watching us again 

I'm getting that horrible feeling watching a manager seemingly lose his way... rabbit in headlights. 

[Hafnia]

1 hour ago, nogs said:

We're desperate for a proper leader at CB. Since Jags went over the hill we've had no one organising and it shows. 

Agreed. Lacking leadership in the spine of the team. 

I would let Gomes go... for me he seems to lack bottle. We need a no nonsense personality in there. 

[Gwlad]

Gomes likely won't want to sign permanently anyway the way things are going.

[Bailey]

5 minutes ago, hafnia said:

I'm getting that horrible feeling watching a manager seemingly lose his way... rabbit in headlights. 

How has he lost his way? 

We largely dominated Leicester at 0-0 before conceding a goal from a stupid mistake by a player whom he has improved massively. 

With the players available, I am not sure there is much more he could have done to set the team up better. The players then have to go out and execute those instructions which they did, again up to 0-0. 

Unfortunately after that we lost our composure because of the run we are on which is exacerbated by our most composed player being unable to play 90 minutes. We are desperate for another midfielder to come in and share the load.

[Hafnia]

Just now, Bailey said:

How has he lost his way? 

We largely dominated Leicester at 0-0 before conceding a goal from a stupid mistake by a player whom he has improved massively. 

With the players available, I am not sure there is much more he could have done to set the team up better. The players then have to go out and execute those instructions which they did, again up to 0-0. 

Unfortunately after that we lost our composure because of the run we are on which is exacerbated by our most composed player being unable to play 90 minutes. We are desperate for another midfielder to come in and share the load.

Dominated?  Leicester were poor and beat us playing conservative football.

What's his formation or team? Why is he just throwing random teams together... he was bringing Davies on before they scored... Walcott was on the pitch! Bernie did more in 5 minutes than he did in 70.

Since the derby we have looked shaky and unsettled. That's down to him. 

The defence look disjointed and half asleep.. he's changing centre halves all the time. 

[Finn balor]

11 minutes ago, hafnia said:

Agreed. Lacking leadership in the spine of the team. 

I would let Gomes go... for me he seems to lack bottle. We need a no nonsense personality in there. 

One thing he doesn’t lack is bottle. Always available for a pass, never goes hiding. We need a balls out maurader, box to box. For me we get that that allows others to play their game

[pete0]

2 hours ago, nogs said:

I'm really looking forward to Pete coming on and telling us all how shit Gana has been this game. 

Too hungover for this one. Can see someone on my Facebook has cut their season ticket in half that I never missed much. Another friend said it's the worst performance of the season. 

Just watched the post game interview and Marco looks very nervous (has done for the last 2 months but today especially he seemed in the verge of a breakdown), reminds me of Zola when he was at West Ham and the pressure made him lose his hair. He needs help and ASAP otherwise it's gonna be Martinez all over again. 

[Bailey]

1 minute ago, hafnia said:

Dominated?  Leicester were poor and beat us playing conservative football.

What's his formation or team? Why is he just throwing random teams together... he was bringing Davies on before they scored... Walcott was on the pitch! Bernie did more in 5 minutes than he did in 70.

Since the derby we have looked shaky and unsettled. That's down to him. 

The defence look disjointed and half asleep.. he's changing centre halves all the time. 

Leicester got lucky. We gifted them a goal, lets not carried away FFS.

He has tried 5 at the back, probably due to the schedule and injuries to but it hasnt worked. His preferred formation is clearly 4-2-3-1. 

Davies was coming on to go like for like with Gomes because Gomes was flagging and probably carrying a knock and he had just been booked. We werent as in control as we were in the first half but we were the most likely to score at that point so it was a case of being patient and keep probing. When we conceded that plan changed and he probably did what most people on here wanted by taking off a midfielder and bringing on an attacker. Personally I would have stuck with Davies and switched DCL and Walcott for Tosun and Bernard, bringing Niasse into the piece later in the game (if he was on the bench).

We havent looked the same team, I agree. It was a big loss which took a lot out of the players and since then the games have come thick and fast with no time to regroup. Changing formations clearly hasnt helped but we dont have a back up for Gana so I can see why he went that way, even if I dont agree with it.

The defence has looked solid IMO. They created almost no chances at 0-0 today, Brighton didnt do much, Burnley had a couple but again, they certainly arent leaky.

Some fans just need to get a grip of themselves a little, stop panicking and take a deep breath. Talk of selling Pickford, not trying to sign Gomes is God knows what else you come up with next is just madness.

[barryj]

1 hour ago, memmaclub2 said:

Lookman had a start a few games back and he was anonymous. 

He’s only allowed one start after those quality sub performances! 

[pete0]

5 minutes ago, barryj said:

He’s only allowed one start after those quality sub performances! 

He was miles behind against a very poor Newcastle side. Don't think it was a poor performance more that he's just not at this level yet. Loan to the championship and playing 90 minutes every week would have been best for him. 

[nogs]

16 minutes ago, Bailey said:

 

The defence has looked solid IMO. They created almost no chances at 0-0 today, Brighton didnt do much, Burnley had a couple but again, they certainly arent leaky. 

Bailey, the defence is anything but solid. No clean sheets in 8, a series of individual errors throughout that run. We're not conceding because we're unlucky, we're conceding because there's a nervousness and fragility there. 

[johnh]

37 minutes ago, hafnia said:

Dominated?  Leicester were poor and beat us playing conservative football.

What's his formation or team? Why is he just throwing random teams together... he was bringing Davies on before they scored... Walcott was on the pitch! Bernie did more in 5 minutes than he did in 70.

Since the derby we have looked shaky and unsettled. That's down to him. 

The defence look disjointed and half asleep.. he's changing centre halves all the time. 

This 100%.

[Wiggytop]

We have lost our mojo, up to the Liverpool game we always looked like getting a result, since then our confidence just looks shot, we need a leader on the pitch, there's no one to get the team going when we go a goal behind, and we seem to be hell bent on gifting teams a goal.

Marco really needs to prove his ability and get the best team out on Saturday, get a good win and build some confidence.

Player wise for me today, Walcott was awful, ran into dead ends too many times, Gomes unrecognisable, seems to be carrying a knock from the Watford and Newcastle games. Kenny earns his place, better balls in to the box compared to Coleman and a couple of good strong tackles, did get caught out a couple of times though, needs more game time. Richarlison had a poor game, took a couple of heavy knocks, but fell over far to easy at other times, and seems to have forgotten how to run at defences. The rest average.

[Bailey]

7 minutes ago, nogs said:

Bailey, the defence is anything but solid. No clean sheets in 8, a series of individual errors throughout that run. We're not conceding because we're unlucky, we're conceding because there's a nervousness and fragility there. 

Spurs aside, are we conceding lots of chances? Is Pickford making save after save? Are we getting stuffed week in week out? No we are not. Our defensive set up is good, better than it has been for yonks but we are still conceding silly goals mainly as a result of individual errors. Silva cant do anything about that.

Nervousness and fragility comes from not winning games and if we actually started taking our chances and generally being more clinical we might actually win some games rather the opposition just needing 1 goal to win or draw.

[seve]

Stating the obvious, the soft underbelly is there for everyone to see.

All these individual mistakes we are getting punished heavily for.

We were so slow to build today no pace no urgency no one busting a gut for the cause.

But the last thing we need is a change of manager if nothing else we must have learnt that over the last few years, he has only had 21 games and 6 months.

But the pundits and others saying they are tired dont make me laugh, mind you after today not much would.

We all know were we need to strengthen, give this bloke 2 to 3 years before you judge him imo. 

[pete0]

19 minutes ago, Bailey said:

Spurs aside, are we conceding lots of chances? Is Pickford making save after save? Are we getting stuffed week in week out? No we are not. Our defensive set up is good, better than it has been for yonks but we are still conceding silly goals mainly as a result of individual errors. Silva cant do anything about that.

Nervousness and fragility comes from not winning games and if we actually started taking our chances and generally being more clinical we might actually win some games rather the opposition just needing 1 goal to win or draw.

It's not the quantity but the quality of the chances we give away. Teams know if they wait they will get an easy opportunity to score against us, they don't have to work for it or try and force it. 

[Bailey]

22 minutes ago, pete0 said:

It's not the quantity but the quality of the chances we give away. Teams know if they wait they will get an easy opportunity to score against us, they don't have to work for it or try and force it. 

I dont agree and even if I did that doesnt support that we have a poor defence. Leicester werent even pressing us when that mistake came, Brighton got lucky from the ball hitting Gomes and it going to their man 4 yards out, Burnley was a goal mouth scramble which could have gone anywhere and even Liverpool was a complete howler. Newcastle had a couple of chances late on when we were chasing the game but not many otherwise and Watford did nothing for 45 mins before ripping us apart in the 2nd. Less said about City and Spurs the better though!

I just dont buy into us being a poor defensive side. Silva has made mistakes for sure, and we do take some risks, risks that would be accepted a lot more if we were scoring goals, but we are light years ahead of where we were this time last year in terms of performances. The problem is that whilst last year we picked up points we didnt deserve, this year we are dropping points we do deserve.

[nogs]

1 hour ago, Bailey said:

Spurs aside, are we conceding lots of chances? Is Pickford making save after save? Are we getting stuffed week in week out? No we are not. Our defensive set up is good, better than it has been for yonks but we are still conceding silly goals mainly as a result of individual errors. Silva cant do anything about that.

Nervousness and fragility comes from not winning games and if we actually started taking our chances and generally being more clinical we might actually win some games rather the opposition just needing 1 goal to win or draw.

Good teams are as interested in stopping other teams scoring as they are scoring themselves. Just ask any Liverpool fan the difference that makes. Defensive set up is pointless if the players you are putting out there consistentky fuck up and concede soft goals. That then comes down to one of two things, either the players aren't good enough or they aren't being coached well enough. The jury is out on which it is, but right now we are nowhere near good enough defensively.