Leicester 1- Liverpool 2 post match thread.

[inckley fox]

I must admit I'm quite surprised to see some of the praise for Maddison, who I thought was inconsistent in his distribution, fragile in possession, weak in the challenge.

 

I was impressed by Mendy and Ndidi who really grew into the game. Ghezzal did well enough. Chilwell had a poor start but a fine second half. Kasper sorted us out on a few occasions. Morgan had his flaws but I thought he showed that he's not finished yet, and his distribution at times was better than some are saying. It was mainly along the deck, and the completion rate must have been competitive.

 

I'd have questions over how we motivate our players in the pre-match pep talk, possibly even over the intensity of our warm-up. Plus, needless to say, Gray hasn't quite clicked in the central attacking role, though I have no qualms over the effort he put in.

 

I can also understand most of Puel's decision-making. Iheanacho has had a disappointing start to the campaign, even if he did do reasonably well when he came on today, so it was an opportunity to shake things up. Ghezzal justified his selection. Pereira is, in theory, a right back so it makes sense to drop him in there, though he needs to man up a bit in that role. Very good going forward, mind. 

 

As for subs, I thought the Iheanacho change worked, and I had no objection to the logic of the other changes (e.g. bringing Amartey on so Pereira could push forward, which nearly paid dividends). In retrospect, the Okazaki change didn't work out because he struggled to get any foothold in the game, though hindsight is a fine thing and I can understand why Puel made that particular call at the time.

[SheppyFox]

I think we’ll win our next 11 league games. 

[vanity]

3 hours ago, coolhandfox said:

Good effort by the boys....

 

Strange substitution, taking off Gray and Maddison for two players who struggle to find a blue shirts.

 

Even stranger selection of Gray up top over Nacho.

 

Nice football in the middle third, but no cutting edge, could’nt see us scoring without the mistake. Seem happy to sit deep even with 10 mins to go.

 

Club has massively under recruited in attacking areas! 

As harmless as nacho has looked when given starts at striker in the Prem this season, I don't think it is think that strange. A very poor signing, and bc of the cost we continue to keep trying to get him going instead of investing in strikers who can actually help us. 

 

Hard for me to say what Nacho brings to the table as a striker. He seems ordinary in every facet of the game. We are going to struggle to score the entire season without a striker who actually fits this system, even when Vards comes back. 

 

Overall we were pretty great, save for how porous and uncertain we looked defensively at times early on. Pereira can play a great attacking game, but I think he is going to be targeted out wide a fair bit by the other team's wings, and Morgan isn't quick enough to rotate when Pereira gets beaten, that isn't his game, and if he compensates with his positioning, then we leave the middle open and get ripped a new one. And if Morgan is starting over Evans at this point, there is a great chance Evans is simply done as a CB at the Prem level, and we need Caglar to get up to speed quickly.

[CosbehFox]

Roberto Firmino, five fouls. Debatedly I’d say it was around seven but no yellow card and continued to throw tackles from behind like he did to Maguire. 

 

He’s the same every game. 

 

At times the ref allowed Liverpool to control the tempo. Milner was a ****ing joke on kicking balls away and that late lunge proved it exactly 

[CosbehFox]

5 minutes ago, Cardiff_Fox said:

Roberto Firmino, five fouls. Debatedly I’d say it was around seven but no yellow card and continued to throw tackles from behind like he did to Maguire. 

 

He’s the same every game. 

 

At times the ref allowed Liverpool to control the tempo. Milner was a ****ing joke on kicking balls away and that late lunge proved it exactly 

And who can forgot the pathetic dive he did aswell

[surrifox]

6 minutes ago, Cardiff_Fox said:

Roberto Firmino, five fouls. Debatedly I’d say it was around seven but no yellow card and continued to throw tackles from behind like he did to Maguire. 

 

He’s the same every game. 

 

At times the ref allowed Liverpool to control the tempo. Milner was a ****ing joke on kicking balls away and that late lunge proved it exactly 

That firmino - what an ugly cvnt 

[Great Boos Up]

The discipline and skill it took to gift Liverpool the points whilst ensuring it looked like we were making a go of it; thus ensuring Spurs won't sit top was remarkable.

[foxinsox]

10 minutes ago, vanity said:

As harmless as nacho has looked when given starts at striker in the Prem this season, I don't think it is think that strange. A very poor signing, and bc of the cost we continue to keep trying to get him going instead of investing in strikers who can actually help us. 

 

Hard for me to say what Nacho brings to the table as a striker. He seems ordinary in every facet of the game. We are going to struggle to score the entire season without a striker who actually fits this system, even when Vards comes back. 

 

Overall we were pretty great, save for how porous and uncertain we looked defensively at times early on. Pereira can play a great attacking game, but I think he is going to be targeted out wide a fair bit by the other team's wings, and Morgan isn't quick enough to rotate when Pereira gets beaten, that isn't his game, and if he compensates with his positioning, then we leave the middle open and get ripped a new one. And if Morgan is starting over Evans at this point, there is a great chance Evans is simply done as a CB at the Prem level, and we need Caglar to get up to speed quickly.

Nacho is a good finisher, indeed quite the goal poacher we need, but patchy and yet to really work out a partnership, though there were glimpses of this with Vardy at the end of last season.

 

We also do not have a lot of choice but to use him until the January transfer window! I hope Puels scouts are intensively searching, his signings so far seem to be pretty good, though we are yet to see our new Centrebacks.

[Paddy_D]

Got away with it against Wolves (just!) and Southampton but the slow start cost us today.  If we can sort that out, reckon we’ll do well.

[Guest ttfn]

38 minutes ago, Cardiff_Fox said:

Roberto Firmino, five fouls. Debatedly I’d say it was around seven but no yellow card and continued to throw tackles from behind like he did to Maguire. 

 

He’s the same every game. 

 

At times the ref allowed Liverpool to control the tempo. Milner was a ****ing joke on kicking balls away and that late lunge proved it exactly 

Winds me up no end. How are referees not clamping down on this?

[dannythefox]

Happy with the performance but we must start quicker. Also Maddison needs to be more selfish in front of goal he had 3 chances today as picked to try play someone in. Mendy quality again get Vardy back and we’ll be fine.

[SheppyFox]

33 minutes ago, surrifox said:

That firmino - what an ugly cvnt 

He reminds me of Gok.

[Bossman Blessed It]

For absolutely years we've hoped for a lucky break against the bigger teams, often outplayed and showing a clear difference in class between the opposition and ourselves. We started slowly, but the energy and incisiveness we showed was incredibly positive. It's clear that if we were as clinical as Liverpool, we would have beaten them today. Puel's project is taking real shape and I think everyone saw today what he's trying to build here.  

[foxinsocks]

Liverpool attacked in numbers... that suggests high fitness levels.

Maybe we need more fitness... to start at pace...and attack in numbers

Mendy madison and ricardo are estsblished... great.

But lord we need a second centre forward.  Without vardy we have no edge .... they are expensive. ..dont we have anyone in u23s? Rashford got a chance at 19

I like gray but he has to step up this season. ... energy... and tackling back were good v man u...but he must keep it up

 

[Raj]

Ineacho just isn't going to cut it is he???

Edited 1 September 2018 by Raj

[Arkie Bennett]

56 minutes ago, surrifox said:

That firmino - what an ugly cvnt 

Not quite as ugly as Henderson. Now he's really hideous.

[Countryfox]

8 minutes ago, Arkie Bennett said:

Not quite as ugly as Henderson. Now he's really hideous.

Shaqiri looks like a cross between an fookin ugly troll and a demented circus dwarf ...  the nasty little b@stard spent all his time trying to block our passing down the left between Maguire and Chilwell ...   little cvnt.      

[Foxaholic ME]

7 hours ago, AylestoneRaider said:

We played well - created good chances for Maddison, Gray etc. I think that’s an unbelievably negative response to what I’ve just watched. Not saying we dominated, but fully deserved a point against a very good Liverpool side. I don’t think many teams will play that well against them this season.

Agree  if  not satisfied with performance as opposed to result perhaps  people would be 

[Blue ROI]

Could have been so much more today.

 

After the usual slow start we got to grips with the game and it was just our misfortune that they went 2-0 up. Had it stayed 1-0 at half time we might have got the win. The slow starts need to be addressed. We looked in awe of Liverpool in the first quarter of the game.

 

Kasper could have done better for the 2nd goal but he was quite good other than that.

 

Out the field as said earlier Chilwell,Maddison,Mendy, and Ghezzal did well. The latter 2 have been a revelation given they were nobody's idea of starting 11 players before the start of the season.

 

We dominated the 2nd half and made them look very ordinary. Passed the ball around well but end product was lacking. The shortcomings up front will hurt us if not addressed.

 

Overall an encouraging performance which given their strength is more than acceptable but a lost opportunity. It's early days for us yet though. Bit like the early days of our 2014/15 return. We've a couple of games that we are well capable of getting something out of.

[Ricey]

I felt quite deflated after the match, despite the good performance. I think that was down to the slow start and baffling subs. They are issues that just won't shift and show no signs of shifting.

 

The slow starts are the most frustrating. You can see how good we are when we play with intensity, but it takes an event in the game, usually a goal conceded, before we kick into life. That blame falls directly at Puel's door, no one can argue with that.

 

I really like what Puel is trying to do, but it feels as if he's deficiencies are doing a lot of the other good work that he is doing.

 

It'll be really interesting to see how we get on over the next few matches with Vardy back, especially as they include a few fixtures that we've struggled with in recent years.

Edited 1 September 2018 by Ricey

[Foxaholic ME]

17 minutes ago, Foxaholic ME said:

Agree  if  not satisfied with performance as opposed to result perhaps  people would be   better  off  at home

 

[Foxaholic ME]

18 minutes ago, Foxaholic ME said:

Agree  if  not satisfied with performance as opposed to result perhaps  people would be   better  off at  home

 

[Guest]

2 minutes ago, Ricey said:

I felt quite deflated after the match, despite the good performance. I think that was down to the slow start and baffling subs. They are issues that just won't shift and show no signs of shifting.

 

The slow starts are the most frustrating. You can see how good we are when we play with intensity, but it takes an event in the game, usually a goal conceded, before we kick into life. That blame falls directly at Puel's door, no one can argue with that.

 

I really like what Puel is trying to do, but it feels as if he's deficiencies are doing a lot of the other good work that he is doing.

 

It'll be really interesting to see how we get on over the next few matches with Vardy back, especially as they include a few fixtures that we've struggled with in recent years.

To be fair I doubt his pre-match instructions are "go out there nice and slow lads, I want you to give them the first goal and we'll see where it takes us". If it takes a goal for the players to switch on and start moving for each other that's not entirely his fault. He gets visibly wound up on the touchline when we aren't playing with intensity

[OhYesNdidi]

6 minutes ago, Ricey said:

I felt quite deflated after the match, despite the good performance. I think that was down to the slow start and baffling subs. They are issues that just won't shift and show no signs of shifting.

 

The slow starts are the most frustrating. You can see how good we are when we play with intensity, but it takes an event in the game, usually a goal conceded, before we kick into life. That blame falls directly at Puel's door, no one can argue with that.

 

I really like what Puel is trying to do, but it feels as if he's deficiencies are doing a lot of the other good work that he is doing.

 

It'll be really interesting to see how we get on over the next few matches with Vardy back, especially as they include a few fixtures that we've struggled with in recent years.

I can’t imagine puels telling the players to start slowly, players have to take some responsibility for their slow starts.

[Ric Flair]

I still can't get my head around the Maddison substitution, why not have stuck Iborra on and got crosses in? I'm struggling to take to Puel with shit like that.