Leicester 1-1 Brighton - Post Match Thread

[sacreblueits442]

1 hour ago, st albans fox said:

sadly there isn’t an answer ……..some fans think they have paid their money and that means they can make their feelings known in that way  - hopefully the coach puts it into perspective for those younger players ….

 

....they might also agree with JJ, and see the disapproval as the tactics the manager chose to put in place, as opposed to a personal attack!!!

[Pliskin]

I actually thought we were wank for the 90. 
 

A few spells of half decent play, Daka showed his predator like skills with his goal, but he was clearly injured or not fit from the off….. 

 

I could reel off players who had absolute stinkers but this ones on Rodgers. 
 

Ive often berated us for our hideous lack of movement off the football, and I like to think this can be coached into most players. Brighton’s movement off the ball was far better than ours, even without being completely threatening they move around off the ball really well…. 
 

So why don’t we do it? Why do we have players stood static waiting for space to magically appear.

 

Today was a shit show yet again, no ideas off the ball and a complete lacking of energy and aggression. 
 

Rodgers needs to rip up his current tactics book and have a long hard think about what he wants to do, rather than suggesting we’re a bunch of over achievers, how about inspiring the team once in a while.

 

However there is something, we’re still managing to produce something despite being largely awful this season, so it proves this team is full of talent.

[smudgerfox]

Of course I accept that the club is at a historical high and therefore it seems absurd to many people to criticise, club, team or manager. I accept that Brighton are good and no-one should be expecting us to beat them. I also think we severely underrated our Europa League opponents - with many talking about sealing qualification on game 3 and easing the involvement of first teamers thereafter. I hate it when we dismiss teams who we know little about or who historically have been below us in English football. We shouldn’t be that kind  of club.I agree that the injuries have been severely debilitating, particularly in defence. I even accept that given the urgent need for a Prem experienced defender Vestergaard was a reasonable bet whom no-one could have anticipated being so poor. 

BUT - I really have come to conclude that our coach does not have the skills to progress us from where we are now. He overrates the importance of tactical and positional changes at the expense of natural, instinctive simplicity.
 

He’s looking for players  to fit his system, rather than finding a system to fit the players at his disposal. The club signs expensive players with proven excellence in one role and he tries to play them in another (Perez, Soumare) . His defensive organisation is not PL standard, neither are his set piece defending or his attacking set pieces. He seems unable to do anything about any of these issues. 
 

His insistence on doing everything in his very singular way means that players who don’t fit. get frozen out to the extremities of the squad sometimes out of it altogether - Mendy , Praet, Ihenacho, Perez, Amartey, Hamza. They are only resurrected when all the options have run out. 
 

What impressed about Brighton today was their calm efficiency, their clear and obviously smart organisation and their sheer pragmatism devoted to getting a result …in these regards they were everything that we were not..

 

 

[Saxondale]

Can’t be bothered to analyse this properly, but we just looked a bit gutless today.

[st albans fox]

55 minutes ago, sacreblueits442 said:

....they might also agree with JJ, and see the disapproval as the tactics the manager chose to put in place, as opposed to a personal attack!!!

But JJ said that the players didn’t adhere to the managers tactics and dropped too deep - so those younger players will not feel great about being bood on the back of that ???

[ian__marshall]

Thought we looked by far the most comfortable team up until our goal. As soon as we scored we reverted to our usual approach in these situations of sitting back and inviting pressure on to us. Have no idea what the logic is. Hamberg must have thought all his Christmas' had come at once. Straight away you saw the instruction from Brighton to push the full backs up and overload the wide areas. Rather than counter the threat by instructing our wide men to push up and occupy the space in behind, he pulled both players leaving Daka isolated which in turn made it hard for us to push out as everytime Daka received the ball on the half way line he had absolutely no support. Brighton just doubled up on him to win the ball back and went again, rinse and repeat.

 

Credit to Brighton they're a decent side, very well organised and technically decent, but to play out the last 12 minutes in a 5-4-1 at home was criminal. As good as they are I'd only ever expect us to play that sort of formation if we were one up against Man City/Real Madrid/PSG/Bayern, etc, in the second leg of a CL semi final, not BHA. 

 

Not looking forward to our run of fixtures next month, think we're in for a difficult time. 

Edited 23 January 2022 by ian__marshall

[MalletFox]

32 minutes ago, Saxondale said:

Can’t be bothered to analyse this properly, but we just looked a bit gutless today.

And legless

[Dan LCFC]

I genuinely don't know what goes through his head. How can he possibly miss how bad we are literally every time we play that system? They couldn't keep the ball, or go forward, because the bodies weren't actually there. It was the same against Spurs we just happened to be pretty effective in front of goal that night and kept somehow clearing their chances off the line. We can't defend well with five anyway and with five we're forced into doing more defending. We capitulated at Liverpool with it, we were largely crap against Spurs with it, we've totally caved in today with it. If we played it every game we'd be in the relegation mix.

 

Rodgers just isn't an attacking manager at this point. He once was upon a time but that Rodgers has long gone. We lack confidence, conviction and organisation and they all start with him. I mean I can't imagine their confidence was exactly beaming after being told they'd peaked. They were set up to fail in the second half.

 

The only other side note is I think Potter has a few flaws along similar lines. After the way they battered us late on I found it bizarre how passive they were in the first half, just waited to go behind which is something we've been guilty of. Wasn't actually a dissimilar game to the one at their place with the roles reversed.

 

What a drab season. God knows how boring it would be if it wasn't following the behind closed doors period. We all knew deep down once we got back into grounds it'd be an absolute drab fest though lets be honest  

[SemperEadem]

4 minutes ago, MalletFox said:

And legless

Thought similar. 

[Beechey]

For the first time in ages, I didn’t feel nervous when were defending, until he changed system that is. Changing to that system so early, with only a one goal lead was a recipe for disaster.

 

Rodgers of two years ago has us continue attacking and score more goals to win the game, rather than dropping so deep we are basically playing within our own box for 40 minutes. Where is the old Rodgers?

Edited 23 January 2022 by Beechey

[Genesis1]

6 hours ago, kingfox said:

Not sure if I’m going off football or just in a current depressive state.

 

This team under Rodgers gives me no enjoyment anymore, I never feel motivated to watch us nowadays than I used to.

 

The constant naivety, negativity, watching this team struggle to keep hold of the ball, inviting pressure on ourselves. 
 

It’s a never ending cycle we can’t seem to stamp out, I apologise for the depressive post, but this is how I’ve felt for a while now.

I totally agree with your post, I think I'll be ok watching the European games as they have a different feel to them but these games are depressing. I'm constantly having regular bowel movements every time the opposition get a corner or a free-kick and it's not a pleasant way to live.

[sacreblueits442]

24 minutes ago, st albans fox said:

But JJ said that the players didn’t adhere to the managers tactics and dropped too deep - so those younger players will not feel great about being bood on the back of that ???

....I listened to his interview and on Radio Leicester and all he said was that he was not happy that the team dropped into a back five ("going into our shell") and dropping so deep!!!

Nothing about it being a contradiction to the managers orders. He did allude to the team looking at one or two players, to bring the confidence to the team, so I would suggest Youri and Madders being the ones.

[Wymsey]

Does Rodgers want his future to be at the club?

He's got everything at his disposal here, and he can only blame himself.

Edited 23 January 2022 by Wymsey

[st albans fox]

6 minutes ago, sacreblueits442 said:

....I listened to his interview and on Radio Leicester and all he said was that he was not happy that the team dropped into a back five ("going into our shell") and dropping so deep!!!

Nothing about it being a contradiction to the managers orders. He did allude to the team looking at one or two players, to bring the confidence to the team, so I would suggest Youri and Madders being the ones.

It’s already been said that rodgers mouthed 3-5-2 to them when there was a break after Marc came on - that was a bit sh1t too because half the team didn’t seem to know what the shape should be until there was a further break in play. 

[MattFox]

14 minutes ago, Wymsey said:

Does Rodgers want his future to be at the club?

He's got everything at his disposal here, and he can only blame himself.

Seems to just be going through the motions 

 

Don’t get the impression he wants to be here long term

[The boy Linacre]

4 hours ago, leicesterseddon said:

Rodgers lost us two points by shitting the bed (again) and closing up shop far too early and inviting pressure. 
 

To do this against a top side would still have been foolhardy, but at least you could forgive it on the grounds of pragmatism. 
 

To do it at home against mid-table fodder displays a worrying lack of ambition and lack of faith in the side. 

Totally agree.

Still think Brendan is the right man.  But it was totally at his door we didn't win today.

We WERE the better side in the first half and 1-0 up should have gone in search of the 2nd.  We sat back as we seem to do so often recently and then 10 or 15 mins later he took off Barnes & Lookman and so we had no outlet or release.

Then to say in interview:

"“It was a fair result, and we lost the ball too easily, which led to their goal,”  Would that be because we had nobody to get the ball out to as a threat going forward last 15?

He dropped them in it and then this comment hung them out to dry.  Got to say with a bit of luck we could have had 6 pts from these 2 games IF we had a bit of belief and we would have something to really build on in the league.  Just make sure we finish in the top half now & we make a fist of it in one of the cups, don't go through the motions and all play for the badge!!!

[southfox66]

Is alot of negative comments here but what more could we do today, we are two top strikers down, three defenders down, our best defensive player Ndidi away, pass the starting 11 we are struggling. If we had a full strength side we would easily have 6 points from the last two games.

 

From my point of view the conference league should be our main focus this season as it is our best opportunity of Europa league football next season. 

[FOXSE]

10 minutes ago, southfox66 said:

Is alot of negative comments here but what more could we do today, we are two top strikers down, three defenders down, our best defensive player Ndidi away, pass the starting 11 we are struggling. If we had a full strength side we would easily have 6 points from the last two games.

 

From my point of view the conference league should be our main focus this season as it is our best opportunity of Europa league football next season. 

Castagne Evans fofana Ricardo is arguable our first choice defence, with ndidi sat in front of them. With a front two of vardy and Iheanacho.

 

Tielemans, maddison and KDH, would be the only outfield starters from today, potentially. 

[smudgerfox]

2 minutes ago, southfox66 said:

Is alot of negative comments here but what more could we do today, we are two top strikers down, three defenders down, our best defensive player Ndidi away, pass the starting 11 we are struggling. If we had a full strength side we would easily have 6 points from the last two games.

 

 

Are you surprised that NDidi and Ihenacho are at the African Cup? Because if you are you must be the only person in Britain who is. These were absences which should have been anticipated and planned for. And why is Vardy injured and out for such an extended period?  Through playing too long while injured. At his age injuries are to be expected and we need more cover than two strikers - one of whom is involved in Afcon. In terms of Afcon we have been lucky - all three PL squadders could have expected to go further in the competition than they have. We’ve also not played as much as we could have done while they’ve been away.  We undoubtedly miss Evans and Forfana as any team would but let’s not exaggerate the difficulties  - some of them are entirely of our own making. 

[ozleicester]

Great to see JJ back and in form
Disapointing Puel ball game.
Daka looks good, but needs to look at Vards videos to see what "pressuring a defender or keeper" actually means
Soumare doesnt cut it yet.

edit
oh and hallelujah... defenders on the posts for corners
 

 

Edited 24 January 2022 by ozleicester

[Chelmofox]

Well, i enjoyed today for 50 minutes or so. Nothing beats listening to my 10 year old singing 'and after allllll, your my Dewsbury hall' and having the elderly chap in front turn round looking completely confused!'

 

We bossed most of the first half, they kept losing the ball and we were pressing lots. However, it felt like we were stuttering and lacking the confidence to just have a go. We should have been 1 up at half time. Funny how against Spurs we took pretty much the first chance that came our way. We had something like 11 shots in the first half. Should have made it count.

 

After the goal, not so much fun. Brighton are a decent team and were able to change things around. Missed Danny John-Jules Welbeck's goal at the time but it had been coming. A few corking saves by Schmeichel. Flat, leggy, wrong shape etc.

 

Shout out to Amartey from me. I thought he was not only great but kept that danish lump far away from the line up (speaking of Vesty, whos idea was it to have him a as the 'feature' of today's programme ). JJ getting through 90 mins a plus and I loved his interview where he hold his hand up for the equaliser. Midfield pretty meh from me today.  The Defence not the biggest problem.

 

I'm pro Brendan but his tactics lost 2 points today. Saying that, part of me thinks this Brighton team could draw 1-1 with the 82 Brazil team. No excuses from here though. A mini break, and Iheanacho / Ndidi back to strengthen things up, and with these it's not like he doesn't have options. People think Brendan is looking at the next gig, but those boos would have hurt. Odd they got no mention on Match of the Day! 

Edited 24 January 2022 by jamesp26

[Bptiger]

What a load of crap , the goal came about because we refuse to clear the ball when under pressure, cags could of pumped it down the line but instead gave it to Thomas who was under pressure he lost the ball and they scored. When are we ever going to learn just to knock it down the line . 
also YOURI was f****** terrible again today he played nearly everything backwards , he provided nothing going forward , think he needs a real kick up the arse . We had enough chances to win that game but we just panic when in good positions . 

[st albans fox]

5 hours ago, Bptiger said:

What a load of crap , the goal came about because we refuse to clear the ball when under pressure, cags could of pumped it down the line but instead gave it to Thomas who was under pressure he lost the ball and they scored. When are we ever going to learn just to knock it down the line . 
also YOURI was f****** terrible again today he played nearly everything backwards , he provided nothing going forward , think he needs a real kick up the arse . We had enough chances to win that game but we just panic when in good positions . 

We cleared plenty more long yesterday than we usually do but there was little point as it just came straight back because of our shape.  Daka isnt as cute as vards either (nor does he have his fear factor with defenders) 

[Guest Chocolate Teapot]

Why we changed to a midfield diamond after we scored is beyond me. It allowed them to get  foothold in the game and Barnes was anonymous. To then change it ten minutes later to something more incoherent was stupid too. All strikes me as a manager that is massively overthinking it.

[Steve Earle]

16 minutes ago, Chocolate Teapot said:

Why we changed to a midfield diamond after we scored is beyond me. It allowed them to get  foothold in the game and Barnes was anonymous. To then change it ten minutes later to something more incoherent was stupid too. All strikes me as a manager that is massively overthinking it.

This. I've not criticised Rodgers on here before, but yesterday was all on him. 

 

Hopefully he'll use the break for a re-set and we'll have that strong finish to the season that he's talked about. No reason we can't give both cups a good go.

 

I'm still pro-Rodgers. The very best would have struggled with the hand he's been dealt this season.

Edited 24 January 2022 by Steve Earle