Tactics Under Maresca

[filbertway]

Take that smugness about loving 8000 passes and beating teams who are worth abtou a 20th of your squad

 

Imagine playing a team youre not miles better than every week.

 

Where are you?

 

[lozzyblue fox]

Crap

[Lillehamring]

1 hour ago, Ric Flair said:

There's a collective lack of ruthlessness, I think that does come from the environment the manager creates. I hope he can change this and encourage, demand and lead our team in to finishing off tight games or games that there's real jeopardy in.

 

To walk away from the two games against Ipswich and Leeds having had them both in thr 3 games absolutely on the ropes and not win 1 of them is galling.

 

I am truly devastated tonight, we were so so good for the majority of the game in everything except finishing. I hope Enzo and players pick themselves up and go and get the 7 wins we may still need to get over the line.

 

The only team that stops us getting promoted is ourselves, which sums us up.

The problem is though, our finishing is wildly inconsistent - we missed sitters tonight and against boro, but we're averaging 2 goals a game.

 

Why we have these weird bad games I don't know, but I don't think it's a reflection of what is happening on the training field - i think it's just bad judgement on the day - i think in the heat of the action players just make bad calls.

 

I'd almost argue that it's not really a problem in general, i think it's more that these games seem to stand out because for one reason or another they tend to be in games we end up losing or dropping points.

 

For example - Hull we were woeful and got punished by a defelected goal, tonight, two deflected goals, boro a worldie free kick and so on.   So we tend to focus on the missed chances, but as a team we actually have the 2nd highest shot conversion rate in the league and only villa and newcastle have higher rates in the PL.

[bluefox1]

Sorry ezo but tonight loss starts with you.

You pick the team and ask them to play your formation.

Your subs are poor (mcateer) no albrighton.

You still persist playing out from the back which invites the opposition to come straight back at us.

Yes you are still learning to be in managment but your tactics have been worked out and in the pl we will be torn to pieces.

[lozzyblue fox]

1 minute ago, bluefox1 said:

Sorry ezo but tonight loss starts with you.

You pick the team and ask them to play your formation.

Your subs are poor (mcateer) no albrighton.

You still persist playing out from the back which invites the opposition to come straight back at us.

Yes you are still learning to be in managment but your tactics have been worked out and in the pl we will be torn to pieces.

Unfortunately can not see us going up after blowing such a point advantage.

Teams now know how to play us, Unfortunately Enzo insist on playing the same way.

No plan be and we play keep possession round the back.

How many goals have we conceded in the final 15 mins this season from winning positions.

[Lillehamring]

44 minutes ago, Sambiasso said:

Using the experienced players you have on the bench. Albrighton for the 2nd game in a row would have had more impact than KM, Praet an experienced international and Coady a captain and leader on the pitch.

 

Not for the first time the players looked knackered and Enzo didn't make the changes required.

To be fair though, when he made the changes we were 1-0 up and looking the most likely to score - mavi and daka looked knackered and that's probably why they blew their chances.

So he chose a like for like swap to see if fresh legs could be more productive in front of goal, to get at their tyring defenders.

 

It was the natural choice.

 

Bringing on praet or coady would have reeked of shutting up shop with 10+ minutes to go - the game was not heading that way.

 

Unfortunately, we immediately concede and the momentum shifts.

 

But at the time there was nothing to indicate that leeds were going to get a goal, let alone three - they'd only managed 1 shot on target at that point, 10 minutes before he made the changes.

 

I think the subs were right, but they should have come 10 minutes earlier, straight after the daka miss.

[STUHILL]

Totally disagree. 

Enzo was almost flawless tonight in his approach. 

We outplayed Leeds for 80minutes and bar a ridiculous offside decision or the unthinkable misses from our players, we are walking away with 3 or 4-0 statement win.

He has been at fault before, but officials and ridiculous missed chances cost us dearly tonight. Not to mention 2 deflected goals for them.   

 

[coolhandfox]

Think people underestimate the rebuild that's still need, both in playing staff and mentality.

 

Neither happen over night.

 

Only objective is promotion.

[Lillehamring]

3 minutes ago, lozzyblue fox said:

Unfortunately can not see us going up after blowing such a point advantage.

Teams now know how to play us, Unfortunately Enzo insist on playing the same way.

No plan be and we play keep possession round the back.

How many goals have we conceded in the final 15 mins this season from winning positions.

Well if leeds knew 'how to play us' they had a funny way of showing it - realistically they could have been 4-0 down before they'd even managed a shot on target.

 

You talk like we were out played and out thought, but the reality is: one bad call, two bad misses and two deflected goals.

 

And as for your final question: it's happened in six games: the two ipswich games, sheffield, the 1st boro game, tonight and (understandably) the coventry game.  Three draws and three  losses from 34 matches - it's almost like teams just need to turn up! 

 

[bluefox1]

1 minute ago, STUHILL said:

Totally disagree. 

Enzo was almost flawless tonight in his approach. 

We outplayed Leeds for 80minutes and bar a ridiculous offside decision or the unthinkable misses from our players, we are walking away with 3 or 4-0 statement win.

He has been at fault before, but officials and ridiculous missed chances cost us dearly tonight. Not to mention 2 deflected goals for them.   

 

So we were better than leeds (WHO WON).

WHO HIT THE DESTRUCTION BUTTON (WE DID).

so they had luck but they made their own luck.

The chasing teams are hungry to win games but we are just trying to stroll through games.

Ezo where are plan b,c or any letter in the alphabet as plan a dosent work the time.

[peterborofox]

Right subs probably but too late. Otherwise the team let him down by not finishing chances. Lets get it right, Leeds should have been put away. He's not to blame for that. 

[StriderHiryu]

Overreaction? On FoxesTalk?! Not like this place to be guilty of that is it?

 

Played them off the park for 80 minutes, could and should have been 3 or 4 up, then completely wet the bed and lost what seemed like an unlosable game.

 

It doesn't matter how you setup, who you pick or how you play. You've got to take your chances when they come your way.

 

One of the most horrible defeats we've had for a while, hopefully we bounce back against QPR. I hope the players are absolutely seething at that game, they've totally thrown it away. Use this as our Arsenal 2016 moment.

[Scotch]

39 minutes ago, Fox92 said:

Loser mentality. Results are always on the manager.

 

And he should have changed it earlier. Opposition made subs that changed the game, again.

 

Of course we should have been 3 up before they scored, but it’s a concern it’s not the first time it’s happened. And it’s a concern it’s another big game we haven’t won.

Yet, less than a month ago, you were playing down Enzo's role in our success and crediting superior players, facilities, budget and even luck to our wins... ofcourse, all of these things DO play a part in our success this season but you can't say so when we are winning then put it ALL on the manager when we lose. Refs and individual errors cost us tonight, pure and simple. 

[cruzFOX]

Yes yes this is our Arsenal moment.

players owe to themselves and us to show us they are not weak! Right now they are weak - if the opposition presses them they crumble that is weak. We are both ruthless and we need to be that. Finish our chances and suppress the other team. 

[mod hero]

Please stop bringing Macateer on, he’s doing more harm than good. He literally doesn’t do any of the basics well. Every leicester fan can see that Albrighton trumps him on work rate, Desire, energy coming off the bench. 
 

Id be tempted to start Albrighton instead of Fatawu at this point as well. He’s been honking for weeks.

[Rigga]

Wrong subs… as usual…

did t take our plentiful chances…as usual.

it’s Lcfc.. 

never do things the easy way…

 

Don’t care where we finish this season..

have enjoyed winning games of football..

whatever league, doesnt matter..

 

[STUHILL]

18 minutes ago, bluefox1 said:

So we were better than leeds (WHO WON).

WHO HIT THE DESTRUCTION BUTTON (WE DID).

so they had luck but they made their own luck.

The chasing teams are hungry to win games but we are just trying to stroll through games.

Ezo where are plan b,c or any letter in the alphabet as plan a dosent work the time.

Yes, we were the better team.

Yes, once they equalised we didn't handle it well. 2 deflected goals followed. 

They got lucky with the two deflections and I don't think made their own luck in this particular game as they were outplayed. We had the opposite, no luck. 

I didn't see any attempt to stroll through tonight's game. I saw a hatful of missed chances that came about due to our attacking intent. 

Plan A was working great, and should have had us 2-0 at the very least due to a shocking offside call. Plan A has us top of the league, and if you look closer, you will see many changes Enzo makes before and during games. 

 

Painful way to lose a game, but despite the anger and raw emotion, Enzo did very little wrong tonight. Players have to take these chances. 

[Lambert09]

I think this is the problem we would have if we go up, we aren’t defensively strong enough in this system and we aren’t clinical enough. So in games where we get less chances and have more pressure on us…. well it’s not going to be pretty for us. 

 

We just fold too easily i’m lost for words really 

[STUHILL]

1 minute ago, Lambert09 said:

I think this is the problem we would have if we go up, we aren’t defensively strong enough in this system and we aren’t clinical enough. So in games where we get less chances and have more pressure on us…. well it’s not going to be pretty for us. 

 

We just fold too easily i’m lost for words really 

Back 4 not good enough? Can his system work if we upgrade 2 or 3 of those 4 OR is it more to do with the team as a whole not defending well enough and perhaps we should be looking at a top defensive midfielder in the previous Ndidi style? 

 

I do agree we remain weak defensively, despite all our success this season. I am just not sure exactly why and how we can fix it in the Summer. 

[Soar Fox]

Flat track bullies aren’t we. 

[Lambert09]

12 minutes ago, STUHILL said:

Back 4 not good enough? Can his system work if we upgrade 2 or 3 of those 4 OR is it more to do with the team as a whole not defending well enough and perhaps we should be looking at a top defensive midfielder in the previous Ndidi style? 

 

I do agree we remain weak defensively, despite all our success this season. I am just not sure exactly why and how we can fix it in the Summer. 

I personally think it’s more the system then the players. Because at this level they are obviously more than good enough yet the better teams are still scoring fairly easily. 

 

We’ve improved massively at the dark arts and the effort levels have increased. But the actual standard of cutting out chances is still not good enough. I don’t know if this will make sense but we defend to attack. What i mean by that, is we don’t defend to just get pressure off. Which sometimes you have to do. Our midfielders when trying to make a tackle aren’t necessarily trying to just stop the attack, they are looking to nick a ball away and counter. Now that’s not always a bad thing. But when you’re trying to shut a game down, smash them off the ball and hoof it anywhere. That’s my take. 
 

There was a large number of little half arsed clearances around our box today, because we are thinking more about trying to keep the ball. It just invites pressure and in football if you invite it, you get punished. 

 

It was a good performance today and yet we’ve crumbled again and It felt inevitable. 

 

Between giving the ball away trying to play out and not getting the basics of defending right, I just think it’s going to hard. I think what enzo does is great, but I also think he will always be better suited to a top side than a bottom half. I want to be wrong I really do, but I’m not sure how his system works when we aren’t the best side on the pitch. 

[Dr The Singh]

Tactics good, execution shit

[Dan LCFC]

His subs weren't great but the problem is I don't see what the obvious moves are. I don't think our depth is quite as great as we imagine while our XI is obviously excellent. There aren't great like for like options without a substantial drop off. I'm finding it hard to go mad at him over this - that second half is truly up there with the most bizarre I've watched. One of the best halves of the season and we've come out of it ****ing losing 3-0!

[STUHILL]

2 minutes ago, Lambert09 said:

There was a large number of little half arsed clearances around our box today, because we are thinking more about trying to keep the ball. It just invites pressure and in football if you invite it, you get punished.

This is quite noticeable at times, and we see a defender under pressure but rather than play a longer ball down the channel with a reasonable chance of us getting onto it, a shorter pass into the centre towards a player closely marked is more often than not the decision made. 

 

I can totally see why that is done, and when it works in regards to building an attack, it is pretty sensational to watch. However, as you have said, you need a really high calibre of players to win against the better teams playing in this way. 

 

On the flip side, Enzo hasn't even had a full season with us yet, and no doubt we will sign a handful of players in the Summer if we do get promoted and those will likely be starters. It also feels like we are building a clear identity at the club on how we want to play, and the players have often commented on how much they enjoy this style.

 

If Enzo can make us harder to beat, perhaps with a higher calibre couple of defenders and a top defensive midfielder, and we will continue to create chances at the rate we do, then I think we will be able to stay clear of relegation if promoted next season.

 

Brighton and De Zerbi are a good example of this, albeit further along in their development. 

[Gamble92]

2 hours ago, filbertway said:

Take that smugness about loving 8000 passes and beating teams who are worth abtou a 20th of your squad

 

Imagine playing a team youre not miles better than every week.

 

Where are you?

 

Still dominating and being a bit unlucky actually.