Team V Swansea

We seem to be lacking confidence at the moment. The wave we rode early on that was left over from last season is well and truly gone now. We seem to fear getting caught up in a relegation battle, that fear is preventing us playing to our potential, which in turns means we're not getting results, so we will end up in a relegation battle! A self fulfilling prophecy. I don't believe fitness levels are an issue, it's more like sluggish thinking from lacking self belief. We've been here before of course (end of 2012-13 season). We need to stop the negative thinking and start playing with the freedom we saw against bigger clubs than Swansea.

Swansea were good today though. Should be looking at a top ten finish if they play like that regularly. But we were well below par too, so it made it look like there was a gulf between the two sides which I don't think exists.

 

Think you will be okay this season but can't understand why you sit back and defend in away games - when we went 1-0 up you started attacking and looked far more dangerous. We scored the second against the run of play when you looked more likely to equalise!

Don't worry lads, you'll be fine - deffo three teams worse than you this season!

 

That was ****e, again.

So glad we're at home next week. It's looking like a 'must win'.

Swansea didn't really impress me too much so it's infuriating to watch them just waltz through our defence twice.

The difference between the sides is that their two chances fell to Bony, whereas we couldn't get Ulloa anywhere near their goal.

Last week's game should have been enough to suggest that he's not capable of playing without support. We're wasting a really good player because we can't ever feed him.


Drinkwater, Mahrez and Moore were awful.

 

This is all that's allowing me to sleep at night now

I think relegation is nailed on for Sunderland, QPR and Burnley.

 

I shouldn't sleep too soundly if I were you.

 

Far too early to be calling anyone as nailed on for relegation
Look at Sunderland last season. They were dead and buried with a handful of games remaining started to win and. Confidence soared We will see long long way to go Our home form/results are going to be pivotal

 

If I had to say anything was nailed on right now (and it is still early days) I'd struggle to see past us, QPR and Burnley. Even the average teams like West Brom and Sunderland look streets ahead of us

 

The way we play in away games is to break with pace so you do wonder if we are better to start with Vardy up top rather than Ulloa who just could not get involved and seemed to be playing oddly at LM for the last 20 mins

 

Like everyone else on this thread I am starting to get a little concerned after recent performances. After the run of poor results we are starting to look nervous and tentative and are making opponents look better than they actually are. Those squandered 2 points against Burnley are now starting to bite. We seem to have lost that early season intensity and are not closing opponents down as quickly as we did. A passing team like Swansea will hurt you if you don't press quickly and as a team. We have become ponderous at the back, and I have to admit when Moore and Morgan are passing the ball between themselves I'm just waiting for one of them to give it away. Neither of them looks comfortable on the ball. It might make the possession stats look good but it just gives opponents time to regroup. And what was Moore thinking of for their second goal? Why not attack Bony and try to block the shot rather than back off onto the goal line? And before anyone says 'well he's only young', that guy is an under 21 international. At the other end of the pitch we aren't creating goalscoring chances for our main striker (Ulloa). If we look back at where he gets his goals from in open play most have been classic strikers' goals coming from balls out wide - Schlupp against Arsenal, Konchesky against Stoke and Vardy against Man Utd. Yesterday we didn't get a single decent ball at pace into the box for him to attack, so he ended up spending most of his time wandering across the front line trying to close down 4 defenders. Not very productive use of his talent! In my opinion it's no use playing Vardy down the left. We know he's got pace to burn, but he's always going to have to check back onto his right foot to get a ball into the box, and that gives the defender time to get in the block. Why not play him down the right side where he can get the ball in without breaking stride, like he did against Man Utd. Same goes for down the left side, whether it's Schlupp or Mahrez. Actually Mahrez looked a bit lightweight yesterday and was too easily eased off the ball, and his final delivery can leave a lot to be desired. But we should be looking to stretch the play wide so we can beat full backs and try to draw central defenders out of position to make room for Leo. Drinkwater looked totally lost. Last season he bossed the midfield with James and everything good usually came from or through him. Yesterday he was played too deep and had absolutely no other genuine midfielder to link up with and was often left isolated with opponents all around him. It's almost like the other players didn't want to offer themselves in case they then ended up isolated and lost the ball. He needs to play further forward so he can influence proceedings. Nugent was anonymous again. He is never going to score goals and his game is based on closing down quickly and winning the ball. Yesterday he didn't really do either, so maybe needs to make way for King, who is probably one of our most composed finishers and has the all round vision to take up decent positions.

Like most fans I try to come up with what I think the best starting line up is. Last season we could have gone out with 3 or 4 permutations and any of them would have been good enough to win a game. This season it's far more difficult and the best team might mean leaving out what are considered to be our better individuals. When we are on a winless run the next game gets ever more tense and difficult to win, but the one against West Brom is probably our biggest for some time. Whoever starts the game needs to go in there without fear and be prepared to make a contribution. The most important thing is that we need to use home advantage and get the crowd behind the team. The way to do that is to up the intensity, get at the opposition early but maintain composure when we have the ball. Are we good enough to do it? Thoughts, please.

 

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I´m p***ed off, that goes without saying, but I´m on the side of `we´re going through our **** period & we´ll start to pick up any time soon.´
I think we all knew we wouldn´t get things our own way most of this season but I still believe there are atleast 3 worse team than us in the prem... maybe abit of wishful thinking some may say, but ha ho.
I had the radio on yesterday, TALK SPORT, & Collymore said at HT we never had a shoot at goal all 1st half & we sat far to deep giving Swansea far to much of the ball, which was very worrying. & of the goals, well abit more bad defending, so I understand.
I don´t know, are we playing the wrong formation ? Are we to worried about letting in goals ? Is our DEF nervous & with that making mistakes ? Do we not know our best XI ? One thing is for sure we need to get over this **** asp.


"LEICESTER FOREVER"

 

Still in South Wales ... at a place called Ystradgynlais about 15 miles from Swansea ... decided to combine the game with a Halloween party weekend at the in-laws ... needless to say the Halloween weekend is proving far more enjoyable than the footie!

BucksFox makes some excellent points ... my two pennyworth for what it's worth ...

You need to change the record Nigel ... apart from Chelsea (where we looked very dangerous) we have approached Stoke, Palace, Newcastle and Swansea in the same way - containment with the hope of nicking a goal on the break ... it worked at Stoke, it hasn't since and we need to change the approach and try to win games from the outset ... our first meaningful ball into the box was a poor cross from Mahrez around the half-hour mark ffs!

On individuals:

Drinkwater - not sure what has happened here but currently he just does not look up to it - Cambiasso (perhaps not surprisingly) looked far better when he came on - also Andy King must start the next game - he nearly got us a goal at the end and gave us far more going forward

Nugent - neither a forward nor a midfield player ... and now should start be starting

De Laet - woeful in possession s**te distribution - at fault for the second goal - Simpson needs a start

Konchesky - exposed yesterday far too often and again not good in possession (although sometimes down to options)

Ulloa - looked dangerous at times but should not be out wide ... huge irony that the best cross put in was BY him ... Kings header ....

Vardy wasted playing wide left ... Schlupp would have been better yesterday against Rangel and Vardy would have been better through the middle playing off Ulloa

Finally a word for Swansea - they were good - Bony caused Wes and Liam more problems than any other forward we have come up against - immensely strong and we couldn't get near him ... Sigurdsson real class - currently we have nobody with his guile, vision and ingenuity. As a side very good in possession - I'm just really pissed off that we did not give them a far tougher game by having a real go from the outset -
they'll be fine this season ... I'm now worried about us because we are in a rut - we look like a completely different group to the players that played so well against Arsenal and Man United.

 

Ah, you're up the lovely Swansea valley then. You could pop in to Craig-Y-Nos castle or visit the Dan-Yr-Ogof showcaves...

 

You all will be fine. These up and downs happen for every team over the course of the season. You got a good point total so far which is what matters. There are a good 5 or 6 teams that are worse than you so you shall be fine.

 

Based on yesterday and the previous few performances I'd say 5/6 teams in league one are worse than us

 

I think you getting confused with Konchesky

De Laet looks a liability one minute and world class the next

 

He coped with Montero well in the first 20 minutes or so but as an attacking thread imo I thought he didn't offer a great deal .

 

What on Earth have you been smoking? World class?!

He looked decent defensively yesterday, he coped with Montero just fine but he's the Lloyd Dyer of right backs. All pace, no ability.

I would be surprised if he made more than 5 successful passes yesterday.

 

Going forward De Laet has done very well this season

Defensively he has been very hit and miss

I accept world class isnt the right word but he looks a decent right back one minute and useless the next. Danny Simpson deserves a chance now