Post Match Leicester 1 - Southampton 2

[Jeff]

The bloke in front of me clearly only goes to games so he can have a drink. 10 minutes into the match he joined his wife and kids in the stand. Then he left for half time on 40 minutes. He returned 20 (TWENTY) minutes into the second half.

 

[LeeCovFox]

I think that we've been sussed out. No more easy games now me reckons.

I think that’s right. We’ve struggled against Everton, Norwich, Man City, Liverpool and Southampton recently. All press high and we don’t have the passers or the movement to play around the high press. On the occasions we do get beyond the press we give the ball away because we panic and/or lose patience and try to play killer balls which rarely come off even if you’re brilliant.

And yet we persist. We’ve largely been brilliant this season and when our style works it’s wonderful to watch. But we need another way of playing - unless we find Man City-like funds and play fantasy football.

It’s also worth noting that we are due a reversion to the mean. For all the derision statistical measurement in football gets from the ‘I WATCH THE GAME WITH MY OWN EYES’ brigade, things like xG are only a numerical expression of actual events on the pitch.

For months the underlying numbers have suggested we’re a little above where we ought to be (they also foresaw Southampton’s climb) and we might just be seeing a bit of normality. Fortunately, normality will still be enough to see us comfortable into the top four come May.

 

[fox58]

Did he say where the stats came from?

The stats I've got say he gave the ball away 22 times in the whole match. He made 58 passes, 36 of them went to a team mate.

He said stats came a from a Rob Tanner tweet

 

[LeeCovFox]

Apart from our all round appalling display, I am genuinely worried VAR may be the death of live football. You can't actually celebrate anything until it's been VAR'd. Just doesn't feel like football anymore.

Agree with this, and I supported bringing it in. The stoppages are too long and it takes the edge off the emotion. It something which makes watching a game in person worse, but watching one on tv more entertaining. Unfortunately the latter group is more valued.

Refs getting decisions wrong was never that much of a problem. They got >95% correct which is very good given the pace of the game. I don’t know who was asking for perfection. It wasn’t anybody I’ve ever spoken to. **** it off.

 

[Weeble]

Wilf holds things together and frees up others. Unless Hamz settles quickly we're going to find the next few weeks really tricky... Burnley, Hammers, Chelsea then Wolves. Lots to lose.

 

[Miles Away]

Perhaps Mendy should start

 

[Lako42]

Perhaps Mendy should start

He's probably more of an out and out DM than Hamza.

It feels like Hamza is more of a nuisance when able to hunt around the midfield, he should almost be further up the pitch winning the ball and releasing to Madders etc.

 

[H T B]

Some go on about VAR, but it’s giving the correct decisions.
A part of the game that is pissing me off is the pull back or cynical tackle about the half way line, to stop the opposition breaking away.
Start issuing red cards for this blatant cheating and it may just curb it.
First time Saints did it, player got a yellow card, after that ref just gave a free kick.
(I’m not trying to make excuses for the defeat, as Saints deserved their win)

 

[fitz]

Does anyone else think playing Barnes as much as we do can't do any good for the lad's confidence? Needs a rest or a fake injury for a bit IMO.

 

[Payne74]

Playing Barnes & Chiwell down the left offers nothing we don't score or create goals & defensively it's very weak how many sides playing Leicester attack down our left flank, I agree with Fitz give Barnes a break or play a proper LB & not that clown Chiwell, there's a decent player in Barnes but not there at the moment.

 

[Miles Away]

To BNs earlier point we’ve too many nice boys who can deal with losing.

Badly missing a complete bastard who ****ing hated losing.

Roy Keane the player would have ripped the likes of Chilwell and Maddison to shreds.

 

[H T B]

Time for Brendan to earn his corn

 

[alex]

Disappointing trip. Worst I’ve seen us play for a while.. boy we miss N’Didi.

 

[City Fan]

Well I’ve gone ahead and cashed out my top 4 bet, because if we continue to play like that we’ll be dropping quicker than Perez when he gets touched.

Absolutely fecking awful. The scoreline flattered us - they should have had 6 or 7 but for a couple of worldie saves from Kasper and being unlucky with the woodwork. As bad as anything we saw under Puel, arguable even than Puel’s last game against Palace.

Praet was our best player, so obviously Brendan takes him off. Perez and Barnes totally dreadful. I wince every time I see Perez pull out of tackles, and he spends most of the game on the floor. The whole back four were dreadful, none more so than Chilwell who was just diabolical.

Justin, Mendy, Iheanacho, Albrighton to start the next game. Sod the formation, just get them all in.

 

[popillius]

We need to have more options. At the moment, because we can't rely on Chilwell, Barnes, Gray, Perez, Mendy and a few others to put in a proper shift, it makes changing the formation or shuffling the pack in-play just too hit and miss. The difficulty is of course, that buying good players in January will be exceptionally expensive and a lot of those available will want guarantees of regular football. I think it's probably time to start looking a little closer to home in players like Justin and Iheanacho but to do that we need to be able to tinker a little with the personnel and this brings us full circle in the Catch 22. I have deliberately left Albrighton's name out of this because he most certainly can be trusted, (as can Fuchs most of the time to be fair) and I think it's very odd he hasn't been given the nod over Barnes or Gray more this season.

There is no doubt we need a winger to take the pressure off Barnes and give him more time to hone his craft but I also think we need a striker who may offer us a different dimension to use as a second or third option. I wouldn't be surprised to see another attacking midfielder to compliment Maddison for when we want to change things up and go after a game either; I'm not sure Praet or Tielemans offer us this option, neither to Ndidi or Choudhury. One thing is for sure though; I would be searching up and down the leagues of every nation to find a half-decent left back if I were part of the scouting network, if only to have the option to play a flat back four which Chilwell can never be trusted to give us. The biggest worry for me is the drop off in form of Tielemans. I posted during a game earlier in the season about having seen very few if any players in a Leicester shirt more technically gifted than Tielemans and I still think he is an exceptionally talented player but why has his form fallen off a cliff? I hope it's to do with fatigue because if it isn't, then attitude and mindset must play a part and this is much harder to cure.

It's been a great season so far so dissecting it too much is a bit daft but then, so am I so here we are.

 

[H T B]

Let’s not chuck the baby out with the bath water.
Some over reaction from some, me thinks

 

[Lako42]

It's been a great season so far so dissecting it too much is a bit daft but then, so am I so here we are.

Not as daft as the useless wankers in the KOP who thought it perfectly reasonable to boo the team at the end of the game.

Absolute ****tards

 

[City Fan]

Not as daft as the useless wankers in the KOP who thought it perfectly reasonable to boo the team at the end of the game.

Absolute ****tards

If only they’d have left early...

 

[Lako42]

If only they’d have left early...

If only they wouldnt bother turning up at all.

 

[Feriol]

Performances have been struggling for nearly 2 months now. Time for Brendan to earn his money and arrest the decline before it becomes a big problem.