Post Match Leicester 0 Manchester United 2

[Payne74]

The post-lockdown form table is pretty grim reading. We're in 15th with only the relegation deadbeats and Palace below us. Had an inkling that certain teams and players wouldn't take to empty stadia - Arsenal/Luiz were ones I expected - us not so much until the evidence of the first three games back started making me feel queasy.

Ah well, third highest finish in my almost 60 years of watching City, with what I see as essentially Claude's team, an achievement albeit crushingly disappointing. The injuries were surely a part of this, as damaging this season as our lack of them in 15/16 were the key to our success.

I can't see next season's CL or EL being much of a hot ticket in the shadow of Covid - the concern for me is who of our "stars" might be prised away because we've failed to deliver. Apart from the crocked Ricardo, I don't see any of them being in much demand if current form is the yardstick.

Ndidi, Maddison, Chilwell, Soyuncu

 

[fitz]

Don't get me wrong, I'm hugely disappointed we have missed out on CL and irrespective of injuries etc, we shouldn't have let the points gap slip like we did.

However, can anyone honestly say we have a better squad than Chelsea or Man Utd (obviously no where near Man City or Liverpool)?

We can look great on our day, but realistically, we're not one of the 4th best teams in the country.

Defence, midfield and striker is there but none of our wide players would get near a starting 11 of any of the final top 4 and they'd probably struggle to make the bench.

The same could be said in other seasons for many positions. 1997-2000, 2016 for example. We put ourselves above where we should have achieved. This season like 2016 we gave ourselves a great start but unlike then we either shat our pants or (as the manager admits) accept we're little Leicester who should be happy where we are. We got into 1st place at one point under Taylor.....didn't work out too well.

 

[M17TT C]

I'm not sure any of our midfield would either. Ndidi is good but gives the ball away far too often. I'd take Pulisic or Fernandez or De Bruyne or Mahrez over Maddiosn. Choudhury and Praet would get nowhere near those teams. And neither would the Tielemans we've seen since January.

I think you're right but I'd say the midfield do have age on their side and have potential to be better or more consistent.

Certainly Wilf, Youri and Maddison imo are all great prospects and would interest the top 4 but none of the others.

I'd honestly be surprised if Hamza could get in any other PL team though, never a PL player.

 

[Lako42]

Pffft.

I’m not going to say much about today. There is a good argument either way for trying to keep it tight or going for them.

Let’s get this right. The second half of this season is inexcusable. There is no acceptable mitigation to be offered for this. We were 14 points clear of 5th. We’ve ended up 4 points adrift of 4th.

As early as the Everton home game we stopped pressing aggressively and getting the ball quickly enough. I can’t be bothered looking but I’d not be surprised if that coincides with Brenda’s big new contract. I was desperate to keep hold of him at the time. If only I knew....

As well as the transition to a more passive style, we have bent over every time we’ve played a club whose reputation we’ve been scared of. Even when we were playing well. This, a club that won the league and got off on proving the pundits wrong. That feels a lot longer than 4 years ago this evening. What has happened to our culture?

Tonight I don’t care if the manager walks. Trying to be rational, we’ve qualified for Europe and finished in our 5th highest ever position. And yet I can’t enjoy it. It feels like failure. It is failure. Rodgers is on very thin ice with me next season.

The first hint that he hasn’t learnt from this - a cowardly performance against a big club, a lack of aggression against anyone, a lack if any demonstration that we can play ugly when necessary - then he goes for me. I don’t care if it’s only game 3. The credit in the bank is gone.

I’m very, very angry.

Spot on

 

[Brown Nose]

The main point I'll make on this match is that I was bored watching it. Bored. So much at stake and so important for the short term future of the club and I was checking the other match scores and keeping an eye on the cricket. There is something seriously wrong there.

I've hated every moment of this fake, nonsensical pretend football over the last few weeks. I'm pleased it's over. I'll always consider it probably my worst ever football experience. It's been beyond relegations. It's been the equivalent of shagging a blow up doll. How do you come back from that?

The team selection was wrong. The formation was wrong. The changes were wrong. The tempo was wrong. The attitude was wrong. I don't blame one player for any of that. They clearly all did their best with what they were asked to do.

BR ****ed it up. He was outsmarted by a shambles of a manager in the opposite dug out who had totally shagged out players and no clue what to do if they didn't score.

It was all so obvious and inevitable and sad.

 

[lesterboy]

Not sure if you’re aware of this but your posts so far suggest you’re a proper dickhead.

Sarah? Is that you? If not you sound just like my gf is uncanny

 

[Micky]

The main point I'll make on this match is that I was bored watching it. Bored. So much at stake and so important for the short term future of the club and I was checking the other match scores and keeping an eye on the cricket. There is something seriously wrong there.

I've hated every moment of this fake, nonsensical pretend football over the last few weeks. I'm pleased it's over. I'll always consider it probably my worst ever football experience. It's been beyond relegations. It's been the equivalent of shagging a blow up doll. How do you come back from that?

The team selection was wrong. The formation was wrong. The changes were wrong. The tempo was wrong. The attitude was wrong. I don't blame one player for any of that. They clearly all did their best with what they were asked to do.

BR ****ed it up. He was outsmarted by a shambles of a manager in the opposite dug out who had totally shagged out players and no clue what to do if they didn't score.

It was all so obvious and inevitable and sad.

With all due respect BN, you are not a PL manager. Your opinions are interesting but do you seriously think you could have set us up more effectively? Out of interest, what would you have done?

 

[FOX Franks]

Sarah? Is that you? If not you sound just like my gf is uncanny

Thank god you’ve pulled it back with that!

 

[M17TT C]

The set up worked perfectly, we just didn't have the quality of players to execute it properly.

If we played like we did against Spurs we would have be caught out in exactly the same way and the same lot would have crucified BR for that.

We prevented them from having many clear chances but a lack of quality gave them a penalty and that was it.

We simply do not have the attacking strength - Barnes & Perez almost annoymous when they came on, even Hurst was more of a threat than either of them even though he was only on a couple of mins.

 

[lesterboy]

Post lock down has been disappointing to say the least, however the league table doesn't lie. We have not finished in the top 4 because we haven't been good enough to do so. We don't have the same quality in terms of squad, youth system, management, finances and as importantly we are not as big a name.
That said we have over achieved for a number of seasons and have broken into the top 8 top 6 possibly. We need to have a good transfer window and push on again next season to establish ourselves as a top 8 top 6 team. Even the likes of man City with all their money took time to get where they are. Liverpool were seen as a top 6 team until recently.

 

[Payne74]

The sad thing was us falling to finish in the top 4 was inevitable, we just looked beat from the restart and at no point did I see Leicester winning any game. I really hope we can shake off the negativity and find our MOJO before the new season begins.

 

[fitz]

Other than finals i don't think I've watched anyone in the Euro thing for years....it's a bit shit tbh, hence the champions league place for the winner being introduced.

I've just googled the Euro Cup trophy.....looks familiar

 

[Brown Nose]

With all due respect BN, you are not a PL manager. Your opinions are interesting but do you seriously think you could have set us up more effectively? Out of interest, what would you have done?

This is what I put in the pre match thread:

"We can play 7 of the 11 that will be remembered as our strongest team this season.

We can play them in the positions that worked best. So we should. 4-1-4-1.

We then include the best options available for the other four positions and ensure nobody is out of their natural position.

We must play three in midfield as controlling this area will decide the match and we cannot afford to be outnumbered.

Schmeichel, Justin, Morgan, Evans, Thomas, Ndidi, Praet, Tielemans, Perez, Vardy, Barnes

We then must play high tempo football moving the ball quickly and commit to it. If we fail this way, so be it. But don't fail by over complicating it or being scared.

It's obvious what the right thing to do is. I can also guarantee that BR will not do this."

And this is what I said in the match thread when I heard the team news:

"****"

 

[homer]

Barnes & Perez almost annoymous when they came on, even Hurst was more of a threat than either of them even though he was only on a couple of mins.

Barnes got 17 minutes FFS, coming on when we were one down and playing in utter desperation to score two ****ing goals. And you’re complaining that he was anonymous?

We knew at half time that we absolutely had to win this game, and therefore had to score. So we keep Choudhury on chasing his tail instead of bringing on an attacking threat like Barnes, and when we do finally take him off we ****ing put Praet on

Ludicrous ****wittery of the very highest order

We HAD to win, and therefore HAD to score. We didn’t even ****ing try

 

[Miles Away]

The set up worked perfectly, we just didn't have the quality of players to execute it properly.

If we played like we did against Spurs we would have be caught out in exactly the same way and the same lot would have crucified BR for that.

We prevented them from having many clear chances but a lack of quality gave them a penalty and that was it.

We simply do not have the attacking strength - Barnes & Perez almost annoymous when they came on, even Hurst was more of a threat than either of them even though he was only on a couple of mins.

does beg the question of why we setup like we did against Spurs.

 

[Miles Away]

Barnes got 17 minutes FFS, coming on when we were one down and playing in utter desperation to score two ****ing goals. And you’re complaining that he was anonymous?

We knew at half time that we absolutely had to win this game, and therefore had to score. So we keep Choudhury on chasing his tail instead of bringing on an attacking threat like Barnes, and when we do finally take him off we ****ing put Praet on

Ludicrous ****wittery of the very highest order

We HAD to win, and therefore HAD to score. We didn’t even ****ing try

This is it.

 

[M17TT C]

Barnes got 17 minutes FFS, coming on when we were one down and playing in utter desperation to score two ****ing goals. And you’re complaining that he was anonymous?

We knew at half time that we absolutely had to win this game, and therefore had to score. So we keep Choudhury on chasing his tail instead of bringing on an attacking threat like Barnes, and when we do finally take him off we ****ing put Praet on

Ludicrous ****wittery of the very highest order

We HAD to win, and therefore HAD to score. We didn’t even ****ing try

Gray was on for the same amount of time and had much more of an impact.

It's not Barnes' fault we lost the game at all but all he did was fluff a shot and that was it.

Perez kicked it out for a goal kick once and that was it.

Not their fault we lost but it is a fact they offered nothing to the game.

Even Hurst made more of a presence than both of them combined and he was only on for 5 mins.

Not their fault they arent good enough but none of our wide players are if we want to improve next season.

 

[M17TT C]

does beg the question of why we setup like we did against Spurs.

If we had a bit better finishing and Loris did play a blinder it could have been very different.

 

[FOX Franks]

If we had a bit better finishing and Loris did play a blinder it could have been very different.

Well... not really, cos we missed out by 4 points...

 

[M17TT C]

Barnes got 17 minutes FFS, coming on when we were one down and playing in utter desperation to score two ****ing goals. And you’re complaining that he was anonymous?

We knew at half time that we absolutely had to win this game, and therefore had to score. So we keep Choudhury on chasing his tail instead of bringing on an attacking threat like Barnes, and when we do finally take him off we ****ing put Praet on

Ludicrous ****wittery of the very highest order

We HAD to win, and therefore HAD to score. We didn’t even ****ing try

Also Praet had to come on then as leaving Wilf as the only CM would have been even more ****wittery.

It should have been Perez for Hamza instead of Nachos.