Fulham 1 - 1 Leicester Post Match Thread

[Jacnah]

55 minutes ago, Ric Flair said:

Out of interest, do fans genuinely think Puel is underachieving with this squad? Would a replacement making a better fist of it? I think Puel is doing ok, my criticism of him relates to his team selections and how he's put together an unbalanced squad but we are about where we should be subject to us not going on a horror run as we approach a tough December and January. 

IMHO he's not under achieving from a big picture preservative - far from it. Hes transforming the squad (something Claudio and shakey abjectly failed at) he's prepared to bring youth through, we are just a single point off being 6th - the best of the rest - and we are in the quarter finals of the 'what ever the hell its called this year' cup. If that's under achieving then bring it on!!

 

What i don't understand is why he can't get consistent performances from the players. Its a complex business with many contributing factors for sure, but when they play the way he seems to want them to do its fast flowing and attractive.They definitely aren't doing that enough at the moment and it becomes unattractive slow and frustrating - anybody who watches him on the touchline can see he is frustrated with that as well

Edited 6 December 2018 by Jacnah

[Ted Maul]

1 hour ago, foxinsocks said:

I have critised jim for his lack of leadership... i dont think he inspires the players or the fans

We lost our much-loved chairman in horrific circumstances less than 6 weeks ago and he's led us through it unbeaten with total class. Say what you like about his tactics, but to say he lacks leadership is nonsense- we could have fallen apart as a club.

[Dames]

48 minutes ago, Ric Flair said:

Out of interest, do fans genuinely think Puel is underachieving with this squad? Would a replacement making a better fist of it? I think Puel is doing ok, my criticism of him relates to his team selections and how he's put together an unbalanced squad but we are about where we should be subject to us not going on a horror run as we approach a tough December and January. 

I think the position in the league really skews things. As someone has mentioned outside the top 6 most teams have been inconsistent and there was a big opportunity for us to capitalise on that and build some momentum and put a good run together. My main criticisms are the same as yours, the strange changes from game to game, the lack of quality up front, the fact is every CM we have is a CDM type player, very unbalanced squad that doesn't fit the formation he's trying to play.

 

If there was just a little consistency to his decisions we really could have built some momentum but at the minute the team changes game to game and it shows, we've looked disjointed for many games now. The league position papers over the cracks a little I don't think anybody can come away and say they've really enjoyed the football we've played this season.

 

He's stubborn in the way he has to constantly tinkers with the lineups but not the formation. We don't have the players for this 4-2-3-1 formation at the moment but he's trying to shoehorn everybody in instead of picking a settled team.

[Ric Flair]

1 minute ago, Jacnah said:

IMHO he's not under achieving from a big picture preservative - far from it. Hes transforming the squad (something Claudio and shakey abjectly failed at) he's prepared to bring youth through, we are just a single point off being 6th - the best of the rest - and we are in the quarter finals of the 'what ever the hell its called this year' cup. If that's under achieving then bring it on!!

 

What i don't understand is why he can't get consistent performances from the players. Its a complex business with many contributing factors for sure, but when they play the way he seems to want them to do its fast flowing and attractive.They definitely aren't doing that enough at the moment and it becomes unattractive slow and frustrating - anybody who watches him on the touchline can see he is frustrated with that as well

I suppose some would say, the points total to be in 6th right now really isn't that impressive so its masking a league full of dross. I know it's a results business and if we got 6th, nobody would really care how fewer points we had, the same if we won the cup but in the mean time you are left feeling aggravated as a Leicester fan. It's not enjoyable but I wonder if that's a mindset from us after what we've been through in the last few years.

[Ric Flair]

1 minute ago, Dames said:

I think the position in the league really skews things. As someone has mentioned outside the top 6 most teams have been inconsistent and there was a big opportunity for us to capitalise on that and build some momentum and put a good run together. My main criticisms are the same as yours, the strange changes from game to game, the lack of quality up front, the fact is every CM we have is a CDM type player, very unbalanced squad that doesn't fit the formation he's trying to play.

 

If there was just a little consistency to his decisions we really could have built some momentum but at the minute the team changes game to game and it shows, we've looked disjointed for many games now. The league position papers over the cracks a little I don't think anybody can come away and say they've really enjoyed the football we've played this season.

 

He's stubborn in the way he has to constantly tinkers with the lineups but not the formation. We don't have the players for this 4-2-3-1 formation at the moment but he's trying to shoehorn everybody in instead of picking a settled team.

Spot on

[Jacnah]

1 hour ago, foxinsocks said:

I have critised jim for his lack of leadership... i dont think he inspires the players or the fans

Can you define what you mean by leadership? What qualities would you, as a fan, at either a game or via media coverage, use as evidence of good or bad to leadership? 

 

Not a dig - just a question?

[Jacnah]

4 minutes ago, Ric Flair said:

I suppose some would say, the points total to be in 6th right now really isn't that impressive so its masking a league full of dross. I know it's a results business and if we got 6th, nobody would really care how fewer points we had, the same if we won the cup but in the mean time you are left feeling aggravated as a Leicester fan. It's not enjoyable but I wonder if that's a mindset from us after what we've been through in the last few years.

I cant see how that couldn't be a contributing factor. We all had such a high that anything that follows might seem an anti climax. I think that's perfectly natural and I'm sure non of us would trade it for all the tea in china :-)

[Haywood_6]

Last night is the sort of game you have to win if you want to stand any chance of finishing 7th. Otherwise forget it. That was hard to watch last night, we seem to just pass the ball around with no purpose, and then lose it way too often. Soyuncu had a decent game but he got done like a kipper for their goal. I don't think Iheanacho is the long term replacement for vardy, he just doesn't do enough. There was a slight improvement when okazaki came on, his energy and close control helped make a difference and we actually tried to play some sharp and incisive football in the final third which led to our goal. 

 

[LCCFox96]

1 hour ago, AKCJ said:

Everyone has tough games in December. you play a quarter of the league in that time and there's only a handful of genuinely easy games for sides like us.

 

Further reason for optimism is whilst we have three tough games in that run, at least two of them are at home. Other teams around us have 3 away games over the festive period to our two, whilst Bournemouth are on the road 4 times.

 

Plus, we don't actually play anyone around us whereas they all play at least once against one another. Something has to give there and if we are able to pick up some points, that will hopefully be to our benefit.

 

I'm hopeful we can get something out of all of the games bar City which will be very tough. We've beaten Spurs a few times in recent years and even Chelsea are prone to the odd sloppy performance, albeit they usually grind something out.

Edited 6 December 2018 by LCCFox96

[Nick]

30 minutes ago, FoxNotFox said:

I ain't 'glory hunting', I just get p*ssed off when we play below par football.

 

I'm a fan, I'm fickle and I get emotional - I'll make no bones about that but neither do I feel the need to berate myself for it. I have to balance a desire for us to win every single game we play (home or away, at Man City or Fulham) with as-much-as-I-can-manage-it pragmatic realism. Yes, a point away from home whilst playing badly can be put into context... but it can't make me feel it wasn't a chance missed and feel good about the performance.

[Nick]

27 minutes ago, Dames said:

I think the position in the league really skews things. As someone has mentioned outside the top 6 most teams have been inconsistent and there was a big opportunity for us to capitalise on that and build some momentum and put a good run together. My main criticisms are the same as yours, the strange changes from game to game, the lack of quality up front, the fact is every CM we have is a CDM type player, very unbalanced squad that doesn't fit the formation he's trying to play.

 

If there was just a little consistency to his decisions we really could have built some momentum but at the minute the team changes game to game and it shows, we've looked disjointed for many games now. The league position papers over the cracks a little I don't think anybody can come away and say they've really enjoyed the football we've played this season.

 

He's stubborn in the way he has to constantly tinkers with the lineups but not the formation. We don't have the players for this 4-2-3-1 formation at the moment but he's trying to shoehorn everybody in instead of picking a settled team.

[turtmcfly]

33 minutes ago, Dames said:

I think the position in the league really skews things. As someone has mentioned outside the top 6 most teams have been inconsistent and there was a big opportunity for us to capitalise on that and build some momentum and put a good run together. My main criticisms are the same as yours, the strange changes from game to game, the lack of quality up front, the fact is every CM we have is a CDM type player, very unbalanced squad that doesn't fit the formation he's trying to play.

 

If there was just a little consistency to his decisions we really could have built some momentum but at the minute the team changes game to game and it shows, we've looked disjointed for many games now. The league position papers over the cracks a little I don't think anybody can come away and say they've really enjoyed the football we've played this season.

 

He's stubborn in the way he has to constantly tinkers with the lineups but not the formation. We don't have the players for this 4-2-3-1 formation at the moment but he's trying to shoehorn everybody in instead of picking a settled team.

 

I'd be interested to see a list of the 'tinkerings' that have occurred which you know were Puel's choice, as opposed to those with were forced upon him by injuries/suspensions/international duties/aftermath of the helicopter incident.

 

 

 

[Babylon]

Puel has not bought a single one of our CM's yet he's to blame for the fact they are all CDM's. 

 

He isnt working on unlimited budgets budgets and can't force our players who don't want to go, or who the club wrongly invested in just recently. He also can't just keep loading the squad with CM's.

[lcfcsnow]

He's consistent

[LinekersApples]

we haven't lost in ages 

[kingfox]

As I've said many times on here this season, we are nothing more than an inconsistent mid table team right now, I just wish more fans would realise this.

 

This squad isn't as good as some fans make out, this squad isn't good enough to challenge top six. Last night many were moaning over team selection, I wasn't surprised to see him change things last night, the majority of teams in the league made changes for this round of midweek games, it's a busy schedule, Spurs should be our priority, plus we do have injuries to key players.

 

If last night proved anything, it proved that our squad depth is shit. Simpson wouldn't even be in the side if Amartey wasn't out with a long term injury. Fans have been wanting Soyuncu to start but he proved that he probably isn't ready yet. Diabate is a very raw talent who desperately needs a loan spell somewhere. Iheanacho was yet again a lazy cvnt.

 

Despite all this, is the football we've seen over the course of this season actually that bad?

 

At the back end of last season things were a hell lot worse, we were creating nothing in games, having no shots on target and the football was sleep inducing. This season though we are actually creating chances, we are actually having shots on target, we have seen improvements here and there but as I said at the start of this post, we are incredibly inconsistent and that is going to be the norm for the rest of the season imo.

 

Nobody is pulling away for that sixth spot this year, even though I don't think we're good enough, we are in touching distance.

 

Things could be a whole lot worse, yet some fans react like we're in a crisis 

[mancunianfox]

There was also some truely awful stuff in most of the midweek games too, not just at Craven Cottage. I think some people think the premier league is a lot better than it actually is too.

[kingfox]

1 hour ago, Dames said:

He's stubborn in the way he has to constantly tinkers with the lineups but not the formation. We don't have the players for this 4-2-3-1 formation at the moment but he's trying to shoehorn everybody in instead of picking a settled team.

How is he meant to pick a settled team when we have at least one injury problem every week?

 

Amartey long term injury.

Maguire's been out for a few weeks.

Evans gets a chance, 3 clean sheets in 4 games with him in the side, then gets injured.

Ghezzal out for a few weeks.

Vardy in and out with constant niggling problems.

 

We've also had a few suspensions this season which hasn't helped matters.

 

He has been forced to change things most weeks.

 

On paper our strongest starting 11 is pretty damn good; however he hasn't been able to field our strongest side because every week we seem to come across a new problem, whether it's another injury or a suspension.

 

That's not his fault  

[Clarkey123]

13 hours ago, seanfox778 said:

Would’ve took that before the game. 

Why would you take that before the game? They are the bottom side in the league with the most goals conceded? we should be beating teams like this if we want to challenge for Europa league 

Edited 6 December 2018 by Clarkey123

[tobymitch]

I don’t post on here and don’t go to every game, I watch around 15 games each season. I was fortunate to go last night and sit 10 yards from our dug out, there’s no way Claude set us up conservatively or to just sit in. My observations are based on last nights game not the season as a whole. I don’t like having a go at young players but Kelechi offered no movement last night, there was no option to play balls into the channels, and when we had it wide he made no effort to move toward either post. This was a massive source of frustration on our bench and it made it hard to play counter attacking football, which I’m convinced they wanted to do in the first half. Claude isn’t my favourite but he’s got problems with the inconsistencies of gray and Kelechi, it’s not just how he’s setting up it’s a lack of quality in the final third and from speaking to certain people after,  the club are well aware of where we’re short. After last night my opinion is to leave off Claude, he’s limited in certain areas but we’re 9th in the league, there’s no way that squad should be any higher than that.

[FoxNotFox]

20 minutes ago, kingfox said:

This squad isn't as good as some fans make out, this squad isn't good enough to challenge top six.

From my perspective, I'm not sure there are any fans that think that.

 

There's a difference between knowing where we are in the order of things, knowing that 'best of the rest' is what we're aiming for, and being dissatisfied with the performance players put it for one particular match. As I said elsewhere, it's an emotional response (certainly for me) watching us play. If people are voicing that emotion here then that's fine by me, but I don't take it to mean that they're incapable of being objective too. You blow off steam, you cool down and you take your seat for the next game.  

[Clarkey123]

Made ‘AK47’ and odoi actually look like premier league premiers last night. Horrible game to watch 

[Clarkey123]

13 hours ago, GeorgeTheFox said:

Is it worth giving Silva another go? We have a serious problem that none of our midfielders are able to pass. I know Silva has been disappointing but might be worth a go. Frustrating game but happy that we are tough to beat

Thought Mendy was arguably our best player last night has a range of passing unfortunently ndidi seems to offer very little going forward and creating chances 

[Blue ROI]

I've had doubts about Claude since the start of 2018 but he has addressed certain issues. Defence has been better overall that the 2nd half of last season. Bournemouth was the only one to be angry about. Arsenal just overpowered us in the 2nd half.

 

Men-didi isn't the best midfield pairing but we do have Maddison ahead of them at least. Up front is where the problem is though. Nachoman has 4 months ahead of him to rescue his time at Leicester. I doubt any of the 'big 4' leagues will sell a striker to us without a fight but come the summer it's gonna be the primary objective for us.

 

Claude has done alright in other areas. He can't sort out every issue all at once. Has to be done piece by piece.

 

There has been a rebuild necessary since the Atletico Madrid games in 2017 and it could have been a lot worse. Had Maddison controlled the ball a bit better late on we could be sitting in 6th this morning.

 

With everyone back we can make a push for 7th place yet.

 

[Fightforever]

10 hours ago, vanity said:

Most likely you're right. But there is room for optimism.

 

I mean, we are 6th in goals allowed, 8th in goals scored. We have such a young squad that there is the potential for real improvement that might make us more consistent. Plus we may have some new players in January who can help make a difference. And we are a goal today away from being alone in 6th, which is a position we could quite possibly have defended if we had picked up points against the lesser lights, teams like West Ham and Brighton and Fulham.

 

Our issue is we cannot score goals -- frankly, I think we miss Riyad dearly. We need a goal-scorer in January. Have to get one. If we get one, and/or a DM who can pass well, we don't profile as being too far from competing for Europe. At least it gives us something more to root for than just staying up. 

I agree with you we miss mahrez very badly. We need to recall barnes and try him out imo because in a january window bringing a winger that can win games is going to be quite expensive seeing as we are also in need of a DM that can pick a pass and defend. But whether the club do this is another matter entirely.