Off Topic The General Chat Thread.

It's only fans of those 'perennial' PL clubs which are never good enough to make the EL, who denigrate it (plus fans of any clubs already in the CL, of course.) I think fans of all the rest of the teams in the lower leagues would give their right arm for their club to bag an EL place.

 

Another 3 points and a satisfying win. two different halves with the first half an hour where we were sublime. Second half with conceding that early one it was different and shows we can play a solid defensive game as well. All in all very satisfying especially with the schedule we have.

 

As complete a performance as I’ve see first half, second half was set with the early goal but at least we showed out gritty side to grind it out. We weren’t exactly troubled by them. Not sure we will ever have had 3 such defensive subs as Amartey, Mendy and Choudhury
Surprised Nacho didn’t get some time as he can’t play Thursday.

 

Has there been any news on Maddison’s injury yet?

 

No ... but think he just jarred his whole left leg when his attempted shot was blocked. Should be OK if that's the case.

Ricardo Pereira showed just why we missed him last seasin today. Classy display finding space for a shot so many times in that first half.

Luke Thomas had his best game so far.

Great stuff currently.

 

So, after the same number of games we have the same points as last season, 49. We only added another 13. Don't see us slipping so badly this season.

 

There seems to be a resilience and determination in this current side that wasn't there last season. We've had some real problems with injuries this season but everyone who has come in has stepped up to the plate and given confident and competent performances so that the depth in the squad has greatly improved. The one concern is Maddison. If he is out then we suffer a lack of creativity, although Tielemans can push forward and do a reasonable job. Plus we get a better delivery from corners and free kicks.

 

If Maddison is out for a few games, I would rather play Under just behind Vardy, as I feel Tielemans offers a lot more to the team slightly further back.

 

Same - or Perez or Ihenacho

 

Perez does his best work just behind the striker I reckon. He's ineffective out wide and doesn't seem to have enough presence/strength to play up front. Behind the striker he's got a good habit of finding pockets of space and plays nice through balls to Vardy, Barnes or whoever.

 

I think he’s the best back up to Maddison in that position

 

Definitely!

 

Isn't Perez injured as well though?

Maddison confirmed out for tomorrow. It never just rains does it!

 

Seeing a specialist doesn’t sound great for upcoming games with.....it is where Perez has looked best so we need him back.

Ricardo unavailable until Jan, Soyuncu out for about 3 month as well as Praet, Castagne and Ndidi with two separate injuries each meaning 3 months out each, Justin out until next year probably, Evans is basically needing a stick to get around at times, Vardy out on two occasions, Fofana will be a couple of months by the time he is back, Perez a few weeks and Maddison out for the second time now as well......only really Schmeichel, Barnes and Tielemans haven’t been out!
Wtf are Liverpool crying about in comparison to that!

 

Has to be the worst performance under Brenda ... can't think of a single player that came out with any credit. Truly awful.

 

Definitely up there but there been some shockers (for the many many quality performances I will add). As I have said before, my frustration with Brendan is when we lose, we don’t half do it in style (performance wise). Rarely do we lose having genuinely come up against a goalie having the game of his life or a well work frame of the goal!
Given how threadbare the squad is, success was never on the cards here so having the midweeks back is probably a blessing. It’s the team selection that is more frustrating as we neither played the strongest in one game to try and win and left ourselves weak enough to not lay a glove on them but still put a lot of minutes on key players. Would have been better to put the kids out from last Thursday surely if we weren’t taking it seriously!
For me, if we come out like we did against Villa and get a great result against Arsenal, I’ll be over it. It’s the risk of it de-railing the season that is a concern.

 

It didn't work playing Tielemans in the number 10 role. He was never in the game until we made the subs and he dropped back in to his more familiar role. He makes us tick, so keep him in his best position.

 

Under was better when he moved centrally too ... was too easy for them to double up on him out wide ...

Hindsight is a wonderful thing but I was thinking we should have gone strongest from the outset then subbed off the key players ... anyway ... not playing Thursday's will obviously have recuperation benefits... so every cloud and all that.

 

On to the premier League again and some real selection problems. I didn't watch the Europa league game due to working and knowing the result before I got home so... Does Tavares come in for selection ? We will have a lack of creativity behind Vardy so don't know if its a two up front with Kelechi or Tavares comes in. Certainly hope its not a back 5 at home and think Thomas, Evans, Cags and Castagne a good back four with Ricardo on the right instead of Albrighton. We all know Vardy has a sensational record against The Gunners so hopefully that continues if he can get the service.

 

I thought Tavares did ok when he came on. Some nice touches and moved well off the ball. Wasn't quite sure what position he was playing, but then again it looked like Barnes had a free role when he came on. Not sure that was planned, or we completely lost our shape!!!

I would play Under just behind Vardy tomorrow, as he has a bit of trickery and always looks forward.

I would go with:

Kasper
Castagne
Evans
Soyuncu
Thomas
Ricardo
Ndidi
Tielemans
Barnes
Under
Vardy

I'll give Brenda a ring now