Less t’ think about? (Leicester H match thread Friday 24/11)
Yes Ndidi I have returned!
To celebrate, plus because I usually incorporate a football song anyway, this thread has the classic Summer Nights from Grease…
Weller, Keller, Weller, Huth!
Tell me Moyes, tell me Moyes was it love at first sight?
Tell me Moyes, tell me Moyes did we put up a fight?
Whether we did against Watford or not, we need to Puel our resources, Ulloa united front and Mendy our ways. Above all remember… Mahrez in haste, repent at Leicester
With both Hamer n Simpson in the squad we face, our board has done its best to even things out…
Verdict Vardyct – Musa win game. Chances? Slimani to none
To celebrate, plus because I usually incorporate a football song anyway, this thread has the classic Summer Nights from Grease…
Weller, Keller, Weller, Huth!
Tell me Moyes, tell me Moyes was it love at first sight?
Tell me Moyes, tell me Moyes did we put up a fight?
Whether we did against Watford or not, we need to Puel our resources, Ulloa united front and Mendy our ways. Above all remember… Mahrez in haste, repent at Leicester
With both Hamer n Simpson in the squad we face, our board has done its best to even things out…
This discussion has been closed.
Comments
If so must win
Simply put, with the run of games we have up to Christmas we need all 3 points here
Who starts....no idea
Think Hart, Kouyate, Carroll and Noble should be dropped and all the others should/could be dropped
What I'd lie to see (I think)
Hart
Zaba - Reid - Ogbonna - Cresswell
Arnie - Lanzini - Rice - Masuaka
Ayew- Carroll
Assume for this that Hernandez & Antonio are still injured for this
Carroll needs a partner and Ayew is the only one who will get close to him and make runs off him
Lanzini is a bit lightweight in midfield but let's be honest Noble, Kouyate and Obiang are all in horrible form and are offering pretty much zero protection so why not at least put a player who can actual pass in the middle. Same for rice he can do the simples things and can't do any worse than the current 3
Masuaka needs to play infront of Cresswell both because he helps out defending and he actually has the ability to take people on
I thought Arnie was our best offensive player yesterday and actually did track back so think he should keep his spot on the right wing
Option A:
--------- Adrian ---------
Zab - Reid - Ogb - Cress
----- Rice -- Noble ----
Antonio -------- Masuaku
----- Sakho - Ayew ------
Subs: Hart, Pask, Kouyate, Fernandes, Lanzini, Arnie, Martinez
Option B:
--------- Adrian -------
Zab - Reid - Ogb - Cres
Kouyate - Rice - Noble
Lanzini --------- Masuaku
--------- Sakho -------
Subs: Hart, Pask, Obiang, Fernandes, Antonio, Ayew, Martinez
I've made the assumption that Antonio is fit or fit enough to at least be on the bench. Also made the assumption Chicharito is not fully fit.
I really want to drop Obiang Kouyate and Noble but seeing as our midfield is being overran already, if we dropped all of those 3 it's a recipe for disaster as we don't have any other holding players other than Rice. Out of the three, Obiang seems to be the worst at the moment with Kouyate marginally better and Noble marginally better than that.
Antonio
Reid
Ogbonna
Cresswell
Noble
Obiang
Kouyate
Lanzini
Carroll
Sakho
All players who played regularly in the season we finished 7th. All could realistically line up this Friday. Other than a new RB and winter, it’s the same players. Obviously we’ve lost Payet.
Just can’t believe how far they’ve all fallen in just over a year.
Hart
Zabaleta - Rice - Reid - Masuaku
Fernandes - Noble
Arnautovic - Antonio - Lanzini
Ayew
I would like to see: Adrian; Zabaleta Reid Ogbonna Cresswell; Arnautovic Rice Lanzini Masuaku; Ayew; Hernandez
Won 1 away from home (against Swansea, result 1-2, and one of those was an OG)
Drawn 3 away from home, (scoring 0 v Bournemouth, 1 v Huddersfield and 2 v Stoke)
At home,
Won 2 matches (v Brighton + Everton, both 2-0)
Lost 3 (Chelsea, Liverpool, Man City)
Drawn 1 (with WBA, 1-1)
They aren't that great. I think we can get at least a point from this game.
So what's the solution? 4 defensive midfielders?
I want to see a change in the way we operate, I don't want to sit with 3 weak defensive midfielders and not keep the ball. Lanzini works hard, and can pick up the ball and drive forward with it, which is something none of our other central midfielders have seemed capable of.
Unfortunately Arnie and Lanzini don't offer that defensive side. We got done down the wings again, that's a constant theme this season.
The playing of Cresswell and Masuaku on the left has often been touted.
While Zab and Antonio (assuming he can be bothered) is probably the solution on the right.
But then no Lanzini / Arnie / Ayew....
- Play 2 midfielders instead of 3. But still ensure the lineup is balanced. We shouldn't go gung ho. The weakest CM/DM for me is Obiang so I'd drop him.
- Play Rice - he can't be much worse and has a bit more athleticism.
- Since I recommend playing 2 CM's rather than 3, I'd recommend usiing Masuaku as the new man on the pitch to play as a left midfielder/winger. He'll stretch teams and change our momentum to put us on the front foot (similar to what Antonio does when he bombs down the wing). Masuaku has better positional sense imo to support Cresswell.
So a midfield that looks like:
-------- Noble - Rice -------
Antonio ----------- Masuaku
As I said Antonio and Masuaku should stretch teams to get us out of our box defending. It's still fairly attacking but it's not gung ho like playing Lanzini in a CM role with 3-4 attackers ahead of him! If that midfield is tiring or starting to look like it's being overran Moyes should make the change earlier even if it is at the very start of the second half. I.e. Go a bit more defensive and bring on Kouyate or Lanzini for Antonio (but this obviously depends on factors like the score, who is looking tired/not playing well/how the tactics are working).
When I say we need more energy, it doesn’t mean pick 11 Duracell bunnies. Nobes has been far better than both Obiang and Kouyate this season.
I don’t overly rate Fernandes but he has fresh, younger legs. Masuaku, Antonio, Ayew and, to a degree, Lanzini, will give us a bit more pace.
Noble needs to just sit in front of the back four, almost like an advanced 3rd CB. Fernandes gets up and down and then we use the front 4 to try and get us in behind.
Collins Reid Ogbonna
Byram Obiang Noble Masuaku
Lanzini
Sakho Martinez
Zabaleta - Reid - Ogbonna - Creswell
Arnautovic - Lanzini - Obiang - Rice - Masuaku
Sakho
This is what I want to see for the Leicester game.
Bunging in kids who get trounced by Derby U2s isn't going to win us PL games.
Moyes isn't going to come to this conclusion until the players are good enough rather than just enthusiastic. He has been working with the kids for 2 weeks. If he thought they were good enough, he'd have played them last match when we were down to bare bones in senior players.
Mind you it must be embarrassing to be beaten by some under 2s Mrs G