Norwich City (Home)

[Hazzman]

Back to 4-3-3 tomorrow for me. Gally for Oakley, Waggy/Dyer for Vassell.

Just keep the ball, we'll score.

 

[Graz]

Back to 4-3-3 tomorrow for me. Gally for Oakley, Waggy/Dyer for Vassell.

Just keep the ball, we'll score.

Same for me. But definetely Dyer and not Waghorn.

Waghorn is not a winger!

I quite liked the diamond against QPR, but think it was just to try and cope with them rather than a switch that Sven will stick with.

Think we'll get a few goals in this one. 3 or 4-1.

 

[Profondo Rosso]

Disagree with both of you strongly. Definitely keep Vassell in and have Waghorn and Dyer on the bench. Dropping Vassell for the Cardiff game was a huge mistake.

Honestly, I think Vassell does a extremely underrated job, he holds the ball up better than I've seen anyone at Leicester do for years and a hell of a lot of our counter attacks happen because of the way he does so.

 

[Hazzman]

I agree on Vassell's job but he looked shattered against QPR. King put him half-in on goal but he just didnt have the legs to go after the ball.

 

[Han]

Disagree with both of you strongly. Definitely keep Vassell in and have Waghorn and Dyer on the bench. Dropping Vassell for the Cardiff game was a huge mistake.

Honestly, I think Vassell does a extremely underrated job, he holds the ball up better than I've seen anyone at Leicester do for years and a hell of a lot of our counter attacks happen because of the way he does so.

He also looks like he causes problems for the defence every time he gets the ball. He's similar to Yakubu, in the sense that he should probably be more involved in games but when he gets the ball he is very good with it. Against Coventry he was brilliant.

From what I saw of the QPR game (online), Vassell playing centrally gave Yakubu the chance to drop off and get involved more, usually to good effect. It'll be interesting to see if Sven sticks with this strategy, or reverts back to playing with wingers.

Both are undroppable in my opinion.

 

[Profondo Rosso]

Disagree, I think Vassell does get involved in games a lot, but like Abe it's mostly off the ball work and covering for the more attacking players.

Goes back to what homer was saying imo. Abe-King-Wellens and Vassell-Yakubu-Gallagher was working so well before we changed it and the reason why was because they all do different jobs compliment each other so well.

King and Wellens have been far superior players this season to last (and have also dropped off in recent weeks when Abe was dropped) because Abe does the "donkey work" (for want of a better term) for them and allows them much more attacking freedom. Gallagher has been a much superior player this season to last because Vassell does a similar thing, they no longer have so much defensive work to do as they did last season, which clearly isn't their strong point, or preferred gameplan anyway (especially Gallagher).

I'm not a tactical theorist so I'm not going to come up with ideas about what system or style we should play, but just going from what I see Abe and Vassell both offer King/Wellens and Yakubu/Gallagher far more attacking freedom and both are by far and away our two most underrated players this season.

When we drop Vassell or Abe (or both in case of the Cardiff game) we seem to lose all balance in the side. Dyer and Waghorn do not offer the same thing than Vassell does, they are too similar types of players to Yakubu, players who like to take opponents on and play off the last defender, not hard-working players who hold the ball up selflessly for the team in the way Vassell does.

Think I'd rather see Yakubu or Gallagher dropped above Vassell, because Dyer and Waghorn can do parts of their jobs (albeit not to the same level) whereas we don't have another selfless forward who covers our other attackers and holds the ball up for them to the what Vassell does.

All my opinion and probably laced in lazy armchair tactical theorisation of course.

 

[Han]

You may have mistoook my "should be more involved comment" (or I explaained badly, more like!). I get the off the ball stuff and agree on the Abe subject. Without him, the midfield three just doesn't seem to work. The Abe-Wllens-King combo was the strongest, and most consistent element of our team before it was changed.

I've been impressed by Vassell's all-round game to be honest. His defending is as good as his attacking.

 

[Profondo Rosso]

Fair enough.

 

[Doggie_muz]

I agree on Vassell's job but he looked shattered against QPR. King put him half-in on goal but he just didnt have the legs to go after the ball.

I thought quite a lot of them looked shattered on Saturday - genuinely not criticising them as I thought we were excellent on the whole, but I did get the feeling that a few of them are waning.

In particular, I thought Vassell, King and Oakley looked short of energy in the second half.

That said, I'd personally just make the one change, taking Oakley out for Dyer or Gally. Back four looked pretty good (I think full back is Mee's best position and I think Bruma and Bamba complement each other well), midfield trio of King, Wellens and Abe should return, as should a forward trio of some composition.

 

[Graz]

A lot of people seem to be saying Oakley out for Gallagher...

Gallagher wouldn't work as a replacement for Oakley in that system though. If you mean revert to 4-3-3, fair enough. But Gally couldn't play anywhere other than the point of the diamond in the formation from Saturday, and I think King wouldn't either.

If we play the diamond, it seems we have to play Oakley.

 

[Real Sharapova]

Dear Sven

It's my first midweek home game in yonks as I have to stay overnight. A win would be nice please.

Cheers

RS.

 

[Redditch Fox]

A lot of people seem to be saying Oakley out for Gallagher...

Gallagher wouldn't work as a replacement for Oakley in that system though. If you mean revert to 4-3-3, fair enough. But Gally couldn't play anywhere other than the point of the diamond in the formation from Saturday, and I think King wouldn't either.

If we play the diamond, it seems we have to play Oakley.

Surely we must revert to at least starting in the 4-3-3 formation which served us so well.

There is no question that we played well at QPR but at the end of the day we lost - and that was partly because we lost concentration and possibly some energy at the end. I think its clear from this thread that people have picked up that some of the key players look tired so bringing back Gallagher (and possible Dyer being given adecent amount of time in the game) may help to correct this - although I suspect that a couple of wins and everyone will look more energised.

 

[alex]

Get behind the bloody team....Cheer them on you fecks....

 

[Hazzman]

If we play the diamond, it seems we have to play Oakley.

Not really, you'd ask King to play one side with Gallagher at the top of the diamond.

 

[spionfox]

If we play the diamond, it seems we have to play Oakley.

Not really, you'd ask King to play one side with Gallagher at the top of the diamond.

Diamonds are forever,
They are all I need to please me,
They can stimulate and tease me,

 

[Leesoh]

It's going to be bloody freezing tomorrow night, so it's a nailed on certainty it's going to be boring, and we'll end up losing.

 

[cazlcfc]

Get behind the bloody team....Cheer them on you fecks....

 

[Blue Maniac]

Weve got a few players due a goal eg Yak Vas Sol King Abi
i think 2 of them will score in a 2-1 win...onwards and upwards

Titmuss?

 

[kanefire166]

We absolutely need to win this game - and they don't, so we have a more than decent chance.

what a crock of shit of course they need to win , the biggest load of shit i have heard on here

 

[Miles Away]

We absolutely need to win this game - and they don't, so we have a more than decent chance.

what a crock of shit of course they need to win , the biggest load of shit i have heard on here

You don't read much on here then?