Leicester City v West Ham, Sun 13th Feb 16:30 SKY.

MrsGrey

We seem to be redressing the balance in terms of injury time winners, compared to injury time losers.

Might just be perception - I haven't checked my facts.

( Pours another glass of red and wonders where Aslef is... ;-). )

claretandbluesky

My view In summary.

Just as against Watford we failed to create anything of a threat on goal.
Bowen & Rice carried the team in this match as in previous ones.
Moyes Subs were too late
Dawson's was handball and I would have been indignant had that been given against us.
Diop did well considering he got such a late call and has appeared low on confidence.

Hamstew

But it's not handball is it? It hit him on the sleeve and that's the rule isn't it?

claretandbluesky

On the still it looked a little bit more arm than sleeve. I think VAR didn't want change the ref's decision but had the ref called handball I don't think VAR would have changed it in a million years. It also looks like the Ref didn't even have a view of it, I think he went on the position of Dawson's head which was luckily dipped.

After watching that decision each club should extend their shirt sleeves by two inch's.

Pearces_Left_Foot

Leicester only had two shots on target all game we had three , I thought we were doing ok until the penalty which gave them a big boost for the 2nd half . Ref let Leicester get away with a lot of fouls , we were poor in the 2nd half but stayed in the game and got a point in a match a few years ago we would have lost . I think we will finish outside the top 4 but might sneak into europa again

Hamstew

It's 50/50 on the skin and shirt for me. It's not clear and obvious so can't really be ruled out. You could argue if your arms are out rather than down then the sleeves could roll up a bit. I get Leicester can feel hard done by but they should know at defend the corner.

CleverTrevor

Johnson had definitely got to start in place of Coufal in the next game for me!

BubblesNeverDies

MrsGrey said:

We seem to be redressing the balance in terms of injury time winners, compared to injury time losers.

Might just be perception - I haven't checked my facts.

( Pours another glass of red and wonders where Aslef is... ;-). )

MrsGrey, would that be a Greek red, and if so would you recommend it?

Fortuneseeker

Watching the game amongst the Leicester fans was amusing! 😬 As you would expect every challenge regardless of them actually being fouls should have gone to the home team. We should have pushed for a second goal in the first half as there was no way they were going to be as bad in the 2nd half which proved to be the case. I reckon Bowen had a bad cut on his leg. Antonio is really struggling, he is out of energy through playing too much recently & we don’t have any replacement. Soucek doesn’t get on
the end of crosses as we don’t do many but he does still get back to help the defence. Full backs situation needs looking at. Midfield busy but didn’t create much. Diop had a decent game. Hopefully we can hang in there but we will need a lot to fall in our favour as the team did toil a bit today versus a side missing key players and low on confidence.

OutcastLondoner

I want to see Diop play midfield one day. I think he could do it. Not as a particularly stylish midfielder I think he could be a bit like Soucek.

OldCastleSwift

Just watched the goals again.

1. Bowen's goal was so good. The run, the touch and the finish were top class.
2. What was Cresswell thinking? It gets worse every time you see it.
3. Cresswell again getting beaten at the back stick. Coufal didn't do enough against Barnes, and I think if Zouma was playing he'd have headed the cross away before it got to Ricardo (maybe a bit harsh on Diop)
4. Good corner, lucky contact. VAR call could have gone either way so I think we got a bit fortunate.

Hamstew

Wish I hadn't stayed up to watch motd. Shocking analysis

Lukerz

Thought Diop was good yesterday. Credit where it’s due. I think he did a couple of really proactive things in the first half where he was decisive & showed good intent. Think I only remember him doing one thing wrong where he dribbled out & gave the ball away.

Expat_Hammer

Hamstew said:

Wish I hadn't stayed up to watch motd. Shocking analysis

Stop moaning Ham, you only had to see the highlights. I watched the whole game

IronHerb

Fair result. Didn't think it was as bad as some make out. We were pretty comfortable in the first 35 minutes. Didn't create enough chances, although that is made more difficult with a static striker. Their penalty came at a good time for them, on the stroke of half time, which gave them the impetus in the second half.
Coufal was poor but Barnes can make you look that way when he's on form, and yesterday he was. Diop was my MOTM for us with Bowen not far behind. Rice played deeper which affected us going forward.
Overall it was a better performance than against Watford but with Leicester coming on to us it probably suited us more.

Lukerz

The performance was better than it has been in recent weeks. I thought we looked a bit more like our old selves in the first half, albeit we rested on our laurels instead of really trying to kill the game. It all came down to that moment of madness from Cresswell which changed the entire game. I think if we go in 1-0 up we don’t end up scrambling for a point in the last minute.

Lukerz

Soucek for me is just a bit off the pace but then I look at how much football this guy has played over the last 2 years & how much running he does per game & it’s hardly surprising.

I’d like to see us try a slightly different front four for Newcastle. I think having Antonio as an option from the bench for a couple of games could be handy:

Vlasic - Lanzini - Benrahma
Bowen

IronHerb

Totally agree with benching Antonio and playing a combination of Fornals, Lanzini, Benrahma and Vlasic behind Bowen.

OutcastLondoner

I hate Bowen up front. Maybe Vlasic can play there. The one thing he’s shown is energy so maybe he can just be a nuisance to create space for others.

alderz

Whichever one it is, it requires a different style of build up play. When Antonio is there we like to knock balls into him to hold up, or behind for him to chase. I think none of those 4 are really capable of holding the ball up alone and waiting for support, so we would need to approach it differently.

OldCastleSwift

Fab
Johnson Dawson Zouma Cresswell
Rice Kral
Bowen Soucek Benrahma
Vlasic

Because why not.

Soucek as a target man effectively, with the other three buzzing around him. Kral as the sitting midfielder, Rice with the license to carry the ball forward.

IronHerb

But I feel we have changed our approach. Antonio made two runs yesterday which were the first for quite a while to my recollection. We try and play the ball in short to him but he is pretty much incapable in controlling the ball or knowing what to do with it should he get possession. We would need to stop playing the high ball up field to the striker for sure but we would improve our possession figures considerably and by that token be in a position to create more.

OldCastleSwift

We made the False 9 work last season when we had Lingard. On paper Vlasic should be able to play that role, but he's just not brave enough on or off the ball, IMO. Shame, because he seems to have the physical attributes (he reminds me of Aguero in that respect), but just isn't mentally strong/confident enough from what I've seen.

OutcastLondoner

I'm not sure we did make it work with Lingard tbh. We beat Wolves but Antonio had started that game and we were on top already. Then we beat Leicester 3-2 but Leicester suited us as it was a very open game where we could use pace. Then we lost to Newcastle and Chelsea. Antonio was back after that.

ASLEFshrugged

Apparently Vlasic has played striker 13 times in 269 appearances although only four times since 2015. Last time was 12 July 2020 against Rubin Kazan in the Russian Premier

nychammer66

At the risk of incurring the ire of many on this board, how about yarmo? That might surprise and confuse the opposition.

claretandbluesky

It's like many on here are now suggesting we need another striker! why didn't anyone mention it in January?

PrestonHammer

I was going to but I thought someone else would.

IronHerb

I knew someone else would.

jay_in_cpt

Possibly would stick with Diop, think he deserves to start after his performance on Sunday, save the disgraced Zouma for another time IMO.