Wilfred Ndidi

[Sampson]

Problem is 4-2-3-1 gets the best out of Barnes and Maddison over 4-1-4-1. This is the issue - on Ndidi’s thread you’ll get people criticising us for not playing 4141 to get the best out of him, on the Maddison thread you’ll get people criticising us for not playing 4231 to get the best out of him and on the Daka thread you’ll get people criticising us for not playing 2 up front to get the best out of him.

 

I’m not sure your defensive midfielder is the player to build the side around and hamper other players to get the best out of.

[Cincinnati Fox]

If he could pass he would not still be playing for us.

Never going to be a ball player, get over it.

have to have other midfielders who can play 

[lcfc sheff]

We need a bigger strong mendy not ndidi anymore, I hope I’m proved wrong and he returns to form but he’s looked to be on a downwards spiral since his injuries 

[RumbleFox]

There’s really only one solution to this ongoing problem. 

[Lambert09]

4 hours ago, Sampson said:

Problem is 4-2-3-1 gets the best out of Barnes and Maddison over 4-1-4-1. This is the issue - on Ndidi’s thread you’ll get people criticising us for not playing 4141 to get the best out of him, on the Maddison thread you’ll get people criticising us for not playing 4231 to get the best out of him and on the Daka thread you’ll get people criticising us for not playing 2 up front to get the best out of him.

 

I’m not sure your defensive midfielder is the player to build the side around and hamper other players to get the best out of.

And that’s why we simply need to play the best players for each system. 

 

Want to match up with brentford, that’s fine bench wilf and start praet or soumare. 

 

no point playing square players in round holes… unless they are the best we’ve got for that job. For me, wilf simply wasn’t. 
 

Madders on the rw, while isn’t ideal… he is still better than the alternatives. 

 

I think we can comfortably play a 4231 with wilf though as there’s is a need for his combativeness. It’s just the 6atb feeling that I really hate.  It felt like he gave the ball away more than he won it on sunday.

 

The thing is, I just have lost faith in him. I genuinely think he looks leggy, and reactive and has done for a while. Really hope it’s just a lack of match sharpness 

Edited 9 August 2022 by Lambert09

[norwichfox]

14 hours ago, RumbleFox said:

There’s really only one solution to this ongoing problem. 

But will Ndidi be allowed to wear a different shirt?

[Deeg67]

21 hours ago, Dan LCFC said:

This entirely. You've got to accept with Ndidi that he does have weaknesses in his game but he also has some real strengths and why do we not play to those?

 

 

Because we have a manager among the worst in football at playing to his players' strengths.

[RumbleFox]

2 hours ago, norwichfox said:

But will Ndidi be allowed to wear a different shirt?

Never 

[ARM1968]

Wilfred has been off it since the master coach, Rodgers, decided to make him a better player. You’d have to be an utter moron not to see what that decision has done to the lads game. Put him back where he was and just let him be the DM destroyer he was. If it ain’t broke, don’t break it. 

[sm1]

1 hour ago, Deeg67 said:

Because we have a manager among the worst in football at playing to his players' strengths.

True. Without Barnes for the next few weeks, we should've played the 442 diamond. Ndidi playing purely as a DM, Maddison as the CAM and Daka/Nacho playing alongside Vardy. 

[FoxyLeon]

On 08/08/2022 at 13:09, Sampson said:

His blocks of red don't mean more of a set position, they mean he's there more often, the more dark red means more freedom and moving around the pitch more.

 

Seems to me in 19/20 he was more stuck in position more than recent seasons and had less freedom if anything as he's clearly stuck over on the right hand side of the pitch far more and ventures across the width of the pitch far less than he has in the past 2 seasons. The heat maps seem to show he's been granted more freedom not less.

 

This extra 'freedom' is the problem though. I've highlighted the two major issues in the side that is causing Ndidi so much issues, I am sure you can find my post made at least 18 months ago, claiming this, and claiming that it wouldn't be long before we blame Ndidi for our failings. Although, we seem to blame all 25 of the squad these days, highlighting the problem is Rodgers.

 

Double Pivot System:        DMF         DMF

                                                    10

 

4-3-3 with two 8's:                       DMF

                                             8               8

 

So as you can see above, by playing a double pivot system, Ndidi's starting position is naturally wider and the number 10, which is generally Maddison, is the one who adopts a central position instead. This is why as we saw against Brentford for the second goal, there was a gaping big hole after Dasilva cut inside Amartey. In the first half we played more of a 5-1-3-1 system, with KDH/Tielemans/Maddison all playing advanced of Ndidi, who stayed very central. Whilst it was very boring, and we created absolutely nothing (A set piece and a Worldie are not 'creating chances') it remained very solid and I can rarely recall Ndidi getting caught out and he was able to play centrally like the old days.

 

Now here's the second problem....Tielemans. His lack of mobility highlights Ndidi's flaws even further. The reason Ndidi's heatmap over the last two years shows him covering a much larger amount of ground is escalated further by Youri's inability to get around the pitch. I remember seeing times before KDH came into the team than Ndidi was actually pressing up front along with our striker. Tielemans is just so easy to bypass, the amount of times he gets caught out by a simple one two is just more proof of him being nowhere near the player he thinks he is. Remember when he used to last just 60 minutes and would come off? Well I think there lies the problem, he's limiting his game to last for 90 and as a result he's nowhere near the player we had before. 

 

I will add one final point, there's no need to start Ndidi at home against Brentford. There's really no need. It's not a knock on Ndidi, in most games he is really our most key midfielder, but we shouldn't need him in a game where we're dominating the ball at home against a much weaker side. 

[weller54]

What's happened to this guy?

Taken a huge backward step in form over the last 12 months or so.

He's sloppy with his passing and so inconsistent.

Mendy is a better option right now IMO.

[Cecchini1976]

28 minutes ago, weller54 said:

What's happened to this guy?

Taken a huge backward step in form over the last 12 months or so.

He's sloppy with his passing and so inconsistent.

Mendy is a better option right now IMO.

Think it is down to all the injurys in the last 12 months, just takes time

to get up to speed

[Paninistickers]

On 11/08/2022 at 14:46, FoxyLeon said:

 

This extra 'freedom' is the problem though. I've highlighted the two major issues in the side that is causing Ndidi so much issues, I am sure you can find my post made at least 18 months ago, claiming this, and claiming that it wouldn't be long before we blame Ndidi for our failings. Although, we seem to blame all 25 of the squad these days, highlighting the problem is Rodgers.

 

Double Pivot System:        DMF         DMF

                                                    10

 

4-3-3 with two 8's:                       DMF

                                             8               8

 

So as you can see above, by playing a double pivot system, Ndidi's starting position is naturally wider and the number 10, which is generally Maddison, is the one who adopts a central position instead. This is why as we saw against Brentford for the second goal, there was a gaping big hole after Dasilva cut inside Amartey. In the first half we played more of a 5-1-3-1 system, with KDH/Tielemans/Maddison all playing advanced of Ndidi, who stayed very central. Whilst it was very boring, and we created absolutely nothing (A set piece and a Worldie are not 'creating chances') it remained very solid and I can rarely recall Ndidi getting caught out and he was able to play centrally like the old days.

 

Now here's the second problem....Tielemans. His lack of mobility highlights Ndidi's flaws even further. The reason Ndidi's heatmap over the last two years shows him covering a much larger amount of ground is escalated further by Youri's inability to get around the pitch. I remember seeing times before KDH came into the team than Ndidi was actually pressing up front along with our striker. Tielemans is just so easy to bypass, the amount of times he gets caught out by a simple one two is just more proof of him being nowhere near the player he thinks he is. Remember when he used to last just 60 minutes and would come off? Well I think there lies the problem, he's limiting his game to last for 90 and as a result he's nowhere near the player we had before. 

 

I will add one final point, there's no need to start Ndidi at home against Brentford. There's really no need. It's not a knock on Ndidi, in most games he is really our most key midfielder, but we shouldn't need him in a game where we're dominating the ball at home against a much weaker side. 

Fascinating post. Thanks. 

 

I have a slight difference on the wilf v Brentford point. Wilf helped us establish a 2-0 foothold. Only then,.I'd have brought him.off for Mendy. 

 

Defensive player doest equate to defensive  strategy (something the manager doesn't seem to agree with). Mendy would've helped us dominate the ball - without doing much attacking -  and so suck the life out of Brentford. Mendy also helps when defenders are under pressure from a teammgoing at it at 2-0 by giving them an inside pass option, as papy can/will receive and recycle the ball when marked and in tight spaces. 

[Sampson]

He gets his game as an anchorman in front of a back 4 and is still no better.

 

I just don’t see it. He was brilliant for us for his first 3 seasons or so, and I’ll always love him as a player for what he’s done for us, but it just feels like because of that will people keep blaming the system and making excuses for him and never just admit he’s been poor for us for a long, long time now, regardless of the system.

[SheppyFox]

🤔 maybe there is a reason we lost Kante so quick but no proper clubs want Ndidi?

[tsintskaro]

He is crap

get rid 

[lcfc sheff]

The ndidi of old is long gone 

[lcfc043]

Utter crap footballer. 

[SafewayFox]

28 minutes ago, Sampson said:

He gets his game as an anchorman in front of a back 4 and is still no better.

 

I just don’t see it. He was brilliant for us for his first 3 seasons or so, and I’ll always love him as a player for what he’s done for us, but it just feels like because of that will people keep blaming the system and making excuses for him and never just admit he’s been poor for us for a long, long time now, regardless of the system.

I think all those injuries have caught up with him.

 

Everything he does now seems a yard off it, he used to have those Inspector Gadget like legs that seemed to cleverly knick the ball off players.

 

A shell of the beast he once was.

[honeybradger]

I thought he was good for the first 60 minutes? Was at fault for the goal but apart from that was a decent performance. Maybe i'm missing something.

[Tom12345]

21 minutes ago, lcfc043 said:

Utter crap footballer. 

A complete liability these days. Always runs next to or in line with the opposition player making it virtually impossible for Evans or Amartey to pass to him, meaning that the ball has to go backwards or predictably sideway to the LB or RB. Today, interestingly Justin would go inside to form a 2 man defensive midfield when the ball is in our half to compensate for Ndidi’s handicap, and this worked first half as Barnes could drop back to receive the ball lower down the pitch on the left and did his things.  But as soon as we scored we forgotten to play again and Ndidi’s handicap cover was blown over and we could hardly string two passes together in central midfield. After Barnes and Perez were subbed off, we also had nothing from the sides. Tielemans is now just waiting to leave anyway so he could not do anything.

 

He recovered the ball ok today but his handicap to our going forward and creativity is just not worth it. He costed us the first goal and as for the second goal he lost the ball after his poor positioning to receive the pass from Tielemans and then poor control.

 

But he will continue to play. Rodgers will play him no matter what, even though we have better players in Mendy, Praet or even Nachos for Christ sake who can play better.

Edited 20 August 2022 by Tom12345

[Viktor-LCFC]

Are Ndidi and Amartey roommates?.

[Sly]

12 minutes ago, honeybradger said:

I thought he was good for the first 60 minutes? Was at fault for the goal but apart from that was a decent performance. Maybe i'm missing something.

He’s missing something! 
 

Generally our players when he try’s to pass the ball. 

[fuchsntf]

He’s shot…

Not that he can’t comeback,but he needs to be stood- down for awhile..

Mendy,Praet…maybe another set up without DM…