Team V Newcastle

Gray embarrasing performance
Barnes struggled again
Morgan cant be beaten that easy

Only plus side great to see Marc Albrighton back

 

Very disappointing. Its ok playing with possession and moving a side around if there is some incisive cut and thrust at the end of it. We lacked that. Its great seeing Chilwell galloping down the wing but sometimes I think he would be better off releasing Barnes sooner as they both just end up in the same spot. Nothing down our right and gray was pretty anonymous. Great to see Albrighton back though to give us more options.

 

I felt for Gray, he tried to make something happen early and I felt he was fouled when through down the wing. After that he was pretty much ignored by the team as they constantly went left to Chilwell who can’t rememer which team he is playing for judging by the fact he ends up running backwards most of the time.
Not sure what Rodgers though sitting and doing f all about it for 70 minutes would achieve

 

Spot on from Brendan

In fairness to Newcastle they defended really well and didnt allow Tielemans to get on the ball

 

I have never seen anyone give the ball away as much as Chilwell did last night.
Barnes was awful.....never in the game.
Morgan was our best player.

 

I feel for Gray as well - is playing in an unfamiliar position and not getting the ball at all but still gets blasted for his performances. Both Ndidi and Maddison had poor games but the kid still gets the blame.

We were so one dimensional in this game as well - all we ended up doing was play down the left where Barnes and Chilwell were taken care of by the Newcastle defence. Was telling that Chillwell had more touches then both Ricardo and Gray combined.

 

Chilwell is so frustrating, bombs forward, get scared and turns back to pass to Maguire every time! Takes all the momentum out of the move.
I said the other day on the back of the 4 wins that I felt it was the natural honeymoon period (even Puel got 4 in a row early doors) and it is two early to hail Rodgers as a new tactical mastermind. We beat Fulham and Huddersfield as they were absolutely ****e, not this level at all. He still hasn’t got a clue how to unlock a defence like Newcastle

 

Gray gets more blame as he has been poor all season. His doesn't create chances for team mates which is his job as a winger. Newcastle done a job on us last night. Pure and simple and we lacked the quality to break them down. Going forward our only decent outlet last night was Ricardo. Problem bringing Albrighton on was he put in a few great crosses but the problem is our forwards aren't going to beat there defenders in the air

And Gray and Maddison was embarrassing at points watching their pathetic attempts at tackles and challenging for headers. They need to sort themselves out in the sense

We need to bring in 1 or 2 wingers in the summer as Albrighton aside, atm none of them are good enough to start every week

 

Chilwell didn't have his best game, going forward he held the ball too long and lost it too often when he should have released Barnes early. Barnes has had a few bad games, he had 1 great run doing the game other then that wasn't involved at all

Rondon is a handful who Wes dealt with. The goal was poor to give away, Gray not tracking his man leaving Ricardo 2 on 1 and Morgan shouldn't be beaten like that by Perez

Since Chilwell get that injury he hasn't come back the same player

 

On Gray he has been badly used and managed since we signed him. During the title winning season Mahrez and Albrighton had the shirts and rightly so. The title defence when we lacked spark Gray always did well when coming off the bench but he wasn't given enough starts that season. He looked a really exciting talent when he did play. Shakey didn't really play him much either and Puel put a lot of faith in Gray which wasn't rewarded. Of the younger players Gray is probably the only player Puel didn't improve along with Iheanacho who Puel basically destroyed.

Gray atm isnt ready to start every week. He hasnt delivered with consistent performances, goals or assists to suggest otherwise. He is a talent and Brendan Rodgers has managed players like in before in Raheem Sterling and Scott Sinclair.

The season is nearly over now so we aren't going to see much changes between now and the end so hopefully over the summer for next season Gray finally manages to kick on because I think in 12 months time if we are saying the same things about him then it will be time to move him on

 

Agree with you about Gray. He is fine coming off the bench for the last 20 minutes, but he isn't a 90 minute player.

 

We lack the guile and movement to break down a packed defence. I wouldn't be surprised if we did better in our remaining fixtures against teams who attack us and give us space to counter-attack.

We are still a very young and inexperienced side and did play some very nice and quick inter-passing during the last quarter of the game, but in the end we lacked either the movement from the forwardmost player to get into a position he could be reached, or the pass itself lacked quality. Maguire massively overhit a couple of passes inside their full back meant for Ricardo that went for a goal kick.

The other thing I found frustrating was how poorly Chilwell and Barnes linked up. When Chilwell got the ball wide and moved forward with it, Barnes moved to the centre forward position and took his defender with him thus crowding the edge of the penalty area and filling the space that Maddison/Tilemans needed to work in, when he would have been better staying out wide and trying to work an opening with Chilwell. They need to watch how Man City handle the same situation.

It's a shame Ghezzal wasn't on the bench last night. With things not working for the starting eleven it would have been good to see Rodgers give Gray a run out on the left side and see how he linked up with Chilwell, and also give Ghezzal some time on the right.

 

I agree with you pretty much completely here.

An issue to add as well is that he hasn't had a settled playing position this season either - been used as a striker, LW, AM and RW so has had no chance to develop any consistency.

Also if he is going to play then he actually needs to be involved with the play as well - in the last game we did pretty much nothing down the right flank which must have been disheartening given how we weren't faring well down the left. With Albrighton back, maybe he will play on the right and then that flank will feature in Rodgers's plans.

 

Again thats a poor excuse. Playing as a winger is playing as a winger. Winger who play on the opposite side (right footer on left winger) should score more while when they play on their natural side they should get more assists with it easier to cross the ball

Gray hasnt done either. He comes inside too much congesting Maddison and Tielemans space and Gray cant play central. He doesnt have the awareness or quality on the ball to play there

My issue with Gray is he plays for himself before the team. Thats why he will be a scapegoat whenever he doesnt play well

Does he have the ability? Yes (thats the annoying thing) has he ever shown an acceptable run of form? Nowhere near

 

Gray is at his best when he is direct. If he plays more like Lloyd Dyer he will do well. He isnt good enough on the ball to come inside and play like Mahrez could

 

If what you are saying about playing of the wings is true then why are there so few wingers that play on both wing? It is almost as if theory is different to practice...

Also how exactly is Gray playing for himself when he has not getting been the ball? Isn't coming inside and trying to get into the game better then just standing on the wing doing nothing because we almost exclusively attacked down the left hand side?

I hate how we always put blame on individuals as if football isn't a team game - Maddison, Barnes and Chillwell had the bulk of the ball and were awful vs Newcastle but they are the current golden boys for whatever reason so only the normal scapegoat of Gray gets the blame for not doing enough.

 

The game that stands out more then ever that Grays plays forn himself was the Peterborough game last season. He was shooting at every opportunity when better passes was on and when he had a shot and Diabate put the rebound in. Gray was sulking rather then being happy we scored

Gray doesnt work hard enough off the ball and before you compare that to Mahrez. Mahrez got away with it by delivering up the other end.

Wingers get the play on their preferred wing by playing well over a period of games. Gray hasnt done that to warrant playing on a certain wing.

As for why Barnes, Maddison and Chilwell dont get the same level of criticism

Chilwell alongside Ricardo have been our best players this season

Maddison has 7 goals and 7 assists in his debut season (more then double Gray’s best return)

Barnes is local lad making his breakthough in the Premier League and has been much better then Gray since he came into the team

Gray has played alot more games then Chilwell who has made alot of progress in his game this season

And much much more games then Maddison and Barnes

 

I think there’s a fine line between being selfish and just trying too hard and I think Gray is the latter. At the time of that game you refer to he’d never really had a run in the side and obviously we all may perceive things differently but I see a young lad who is desperate to make an impression to the point he tries to do too much

 

So one game last season is the reason you don't like Gray? Could it be possible that he might have grown up and matured after that incident? Are there any instances this season?

Isn't Gray moving inside and looking for the ball vs Newcastle an example of working hard and good off the ball behaviour as the ball isn't going to him so he is making himself available where the ball is?

What has Barnes done to warrant playing on the left wing? Kid has the most shots without a goal in the Premier League and spends most of his time trying to dribble past defenders instead of passing but that isn't considered selfish? Before you start, I have nothing against the kid but keep bringing him up because the amount of double standards comparing him to Gray is ridiculous - there has to come a point where being a local lad can't protect him from flak.

As for Chillwell and Maddison, them playing well all season shouldn't protect them from the fact that they were terrible in that one game vs Newcastle - but it obviously does.

It will be sad if we end up driving Gray away with this attitude towards him - it took the likes of Mahrez until his mid 20s to reach his potential but we are writing off a 22 year old already.

 

That game was used as an example not the reason. And no Gray hasnt matured since

Gray moving inside was a bad move. Got nothing to do with him working hard or not. He is a winger. He cant play as a 10. Doesnt have the right attributes for it.

Your making out the left wing is some sort of holy grail. Now Albrighton is back I wouldnt have Gray in the team. He is now direct competition with Barnes

As for Chilwell and Maddison not why are people going to get on the back for 1 bad game?

Mahrez showed us something from day 1 and within 18 was the best player in the league

As for “this attitude driving Gray away” his performances have warranted his criticism. And if he doesnt improve and leaves its called football. Players move on. Better players have left Leicester then Gray in the past and we survived

Gray has to start performing. He has been here 3 1/2 years. There is no excuses left now. Being young is a poor excuses for someone turning out poor performances week in and week out. For someone of Grays ability he needs to be doing much much better

Barnes has been here 5 mins. Its utter ridiculous to judge Barnes the same as Gray. If in 3 1/2 Barnes has progressed at the same rate as Gray then he will get the same criticism.