Post match: Cobblers 0-1 Foxes (friendly)

[Lako42]

My prediction is yet more boring, slow, deluded football this season. 

 

Just what I didn't want to see. 

 

Oh well

[Beachyboy]

I'd say sure it was a bit dull, but the main thing I took from it, Was Northampton for large parts of the game didn't wanna press us, leaving a slow tempo. It needed someone to dribble and commit players. Marcal had a go at it when he was on, Castagne a couple times. An Daka, Praet, Vardy, Souttar and maybe Nacho had chances. We also looked like we were trying to get the ball back quickly after losing it, which was a big problem last season getting caught in transition. As others have said, not much you can take from this far too earlier to judge either way.

Edited 15 July 2023 by Beachyboy

[Beachyboy]

4 minutes ago, Lako42 said:

My prediction is yet more boring, slow, deluded football this season. 

 

Just what I didn't want to see. 

 

Oh well

The times we were actually pressed maybe 2 or 3 times in the game we played threw it, not everyone we play will just sit back, I'd be suprised if Coventry played like that.

Edited 15 July 2023 by Beachyboy

[Angus Scott]

I thought we were decent in midfield & defence but the forwards were woeful. We desperately need some pace, strength & flair up front, things that none of our 3 strikers possess

[James_lcfc]

Yes it was a friendly against a very poor side but;

Winks has peaked my optimism. Very balanced and comfortable on the turn. Looked hungry too.

IF we get this ‘keeper who looks like he can play off both feet and pass between the lines, we may be onto something with Winks.

 

He could regularly be in the position to start attacks. The issue is where does he go in those situations - The other midfield options are really poor in my opinion. 
 

Bit more work in the transfer market though and we could be dangerous next year.

 

Been a while since I’ve felt any sort of optimism so that was nice to write!

[sacreblueits442]

55 minutes ago, CrispinLA in Texas said:

We have a striker problem at the moment, Vardy still can't score and Daka.... same as before.

Our only hope is Nacho 🤷

 

...seemed to be trying too hard, he needed to just keep it simple and play people in!!!

 He was trying back heels and just doing himself no favours.

  He has a very important role to play this season if we keep him on and he did not show many reason for Maresca to put his faith in him.

[Sir Shep]

So pleased that after a couple of pre season games with rusty players and a new coaching team that people are writing us off, chuffing marvellous FFS. 

[Daggers]

Things everyone on FT can agree on:

1. It was a friendly

[Free Falling Foxes]

47 minutes ago, tom27111 said:

Players didn't even have names on shirts. 

 

Don't think you can read too much in to it

I see what you did there.

[Guest Kopfkino]

Genuinely have some of lowest football iq fans in the world 

[Jimbo]

3 minutes ago, Sir Shep said:

So pleased that after a couple of pre season games with rusty players and a new coaching team that people are writing us off, chuffing marvellous FFS. 

It's always the same. We were pretty lack lackluster 8 years ago in pre season, people soon forgot about it 9nor 10 months later

 

It's literally the 2nd game we've played with a squad still full of players that don't know where or who they'll be playing for in September, playing under a manager who's been here for a few weeks and trying to completely change the philosophy drummed into the players over the last 3 or 4 years after suffering relegation. 

 

All things considered today's performance wasn't that bad

[snoopy87]

The thing I like most about Winks today was the obvious foul to stop the break. You know the sort, what they call the dark arts, obvious what he's doing without it looking obvious. We've needed that 

[MrsJohnMurphy]

1 hour ago, Whys it always me said:

They were Sunday league. 
 

We barely had a sniff, we were shit from start to finish and if Enzo doesn’t know what he needs with 3 weeks to go we are in trouble. 
 

We play like that against Coventry and we get bummed. 
 

I'm glad you enjoyed a 1-0 win against the dog and duck though. 

Another one soon too be added to the list I reckon 

[Big_Nige]

1 hour ago, Lillehamring said:

Which is exactly how Wes Morgan used to play the ball.  He was under no pressure which i guess makes life easier, but equally there was no need to rush, especially as we seemed to be trying to slow the game down, last half hour - remember how bad we were at holding out late in games?

Bit of a horses for courses comment that. Wes Morgan was a brilliant defender at what he was asked to do. Defend. Wes Morgan as a ball playing centreback, he had his limitations. 
 

Obviously they’ll be time in games that we’ll need to slow the play down, and take the sting out of it. But starting quick attacks when the opponent is out of shape will be paramount for Maresca-ball to work at times. I like Iversen as a keeper, if he’d have played the majority of games last season I believe we’d have stayed up, but our new manager has a clear footballing identity and a keeper who is very comfortable with the ball at his feet, breaking the lines and starting attacks is a key part of his tactics

[foxes_rule1978]

5 minutes ago, snoopy87 said:

The thing I like most about Winks today was the obvious foul to stop the break. You know the sort, what they call the dark arts, obvious what he's doing without it looking obvious. We've needed that 

Man City are pretty much masters of it so it wouldn’t surprise me if we did start to use it more 

[Beachyboy]

5 minutes ago, snoopy87 said:

The thing I like most about Winks today was the obvious foul to stop the break. You know the sort, what they call the dark arts, obvious what he's doing without it looking obvious. We've needed that 

You are right at the time I thought ah it's just a late tackle, but upon reflection he knew he couldn't win the ball there. We didn't have enough of that previously. The one that sticks in my head is Newcastles winner in maybe April 22, when Youri should of done that on the halfway line.

[westernpark]

Winks was the best thing about today. I don’t like passing football, but I believe Maresca is intelligent enough to not insist on this style the whole time. Good to see Iversen do well, I hope it’s him and the new guy battling it out for number 1. Send Jakub on loan, keep Smithies and just do our best to get rid of Ward.

[Matt]

Before I start i've made my comments about seeing sparks and positives about today, that includes style and how we played.

 

My concerns and reservation regarding slow, turgid, possession for possession sake are still very much there though. What can I say, the last 2 years has scarred me. PTSD.

 

But for those talking about uncultured or low IQ fans, that is exactly the football snobbery I have spoke of in the last season or 2.

[brockmyster]

Only properly caught first half and I'm sure all of the below has been pointed out by others already but;

 

Thought winks looked classy, obviously against a weaker opposition, but completely understand why Enzo got him in and he should come alive in that role. The other new boy, Coady, was just as good, proper leader at the back and I'm hoping his organisation will keep the other centre backs calm and under control, bit like Evans a few years back before he was made of paper mache.

 

One thing I noticed Coady do a lot was his studs on the ball, it's a big feature of Brighton's play, trying to draw a press out. Whilst Northampton didn't look too interested in it, I think this will come very handy against better sides pulling them in for him to just play around them to Ricardo or Winks. He's also not afraid to try a long switch of play, which I can see winding a lot of people up over the season when they don't come off 😂

 

Definitely lacking for some form or creativity moving forward though. Thought we looked comfortable passing it through the first third and moving it quickly but it really slowed come the other end of pitch. Really shows how much Youri and Maddison were the ones who opened defences up. 

 

All in all seems alright so far, a few more faces in could see this all click. I do still think we'll start a little slow perhaps, but as long as we chip off enough points for when it does click into gear we could just be alright!

[foxfanazer]

38 minutes ago, Lako42 said:

My prediction is yet more boring, slow, deluded football this season. 

 

Just what I didn't want to see. 

 

Oh well

You know just because you're predicting it, it doesn't make it reality? You're getting upset over something that you've made up

[winteriscoming]

I do think there needs to be a bit of context. First pre season game and although it wasn’t the greatest performance we won. Give Maresca a chance. It’s a friendly. We aren’t suddenly going to become Man City of the championship. 

[inckley fox]

1 hour ago, tom27111 said:

So we just sack managers every 3 months?

 

Like I said, I'm not convinced by Maresca but what else do we do? 

 

Alex Ferguson should've been sacked by Man Utd, but wasn't...

 

Yes, that's an extreme, but let's see what happens.

 

I'm mainly saying this because some people are furios we didn't spank Northampton Town 10-0

It's not a case of what I, or you, or anyone else thinks. We've fired three managers in the past decade-and-a-half, two under these owners, within 10 games of the start of a season. Another, again under these owners, was fired 15 games into a season. Across two regimes, Allen, Sousa and Sven (all more experienced as managers than Maresca) were fired - in 9th, 13th and 24th place - because it didn't look like they were going to deliver on an extremely optimistic attempt at reaching the FLC play-offs. 

 

And only one club, as far as I can see, has been automatically promoted from this league, and only one more promoted, out of 45 teams over that time period, when they've been as low as 12th at Xmas. None of them had anything near our wage budget. And I can't see too many examples, if any, of newly-relegated clubs who are in that sort of predicament sticking with their manager.

 

So why would Maresca, with a clear objective of promotion - and at a club which appears to be prioritising short-termism rather than team-building, get to Xmas in 12th position? Especially given his lack of experience, and the current and perfectly justifiable sense of uncertainty about the competency of our owners? Add to that the fact that we last came up with a team-building manager who played the opposite sort of football (a style which later went on to win us the league,) and the fact that our current board have been on a spectacular streak of screwing stuff up, and you'll forgive me for not gushing with confidence that an under-performing Maresca would make it to Xmas!

 

Edit: if you look at when LCFC last stuck with managers in the second tier who started the season in charge and were as low as 12th at Xmas, you're talking about Kelly, then Levein, and before that Pleat. It's not a case of being negative, nor am I saying that it'd necessarily be right to fire said manager, I'm just saying that history says that we would definitely fire him by that point.

Edited 15 July 2023 by inckley fox

[Ginger_Filbert]

Wow, coming into this thread was a mistake. 
 

We must have the most narrow minded, miserable fans in the country. 

[Lillehamring]

1 hour ago, Finnegan said:

It's obviously preseason and I can't say I ever put too much stock in it. 

 

Some obvious pros, I like in theory the system and how the team will no doubt play one day. I love the use of very aggressive centre mids to break the lines and get in to the channels. Winks makes a huge difference, Ricardo is well suited to his role, it's fun to watch when it works. 

 

But also some cons, the manager seems extremely committed to this shape despite having tragically little personnel for it. It doesn't suit the forwards we have and not only can we probably not afford to replace them all, we arguably shouldn't want to. 

 

We also definitely will need some extra midfielders. If a team is relying on Wilfred Ndidi to be one of its major attacking weapons, it's gonna have a bad time. I actually think Soumare and KDH in those roles together, left and right, would be electric and a big part to how I saw a 352 working when I suggested it a few months ago. But if Soumare is off or the manager just doesn't like him, it's another hole. 

 

We'll also be absolutely fvcked if Winks gets a knock. We were significantly worse as soon as he went off. Yes it's preseason and everyone is still learning but it's obvious we're going to be very reliant on him, making him a smart signing. 

 

Overall I'm optimistic for a the long term but probably increasingly anxious for the short term. If a stubbornness to stick to a perceived shape regardless of the tools available to him is a feature of Maresca then I can see why it went wrong at Parma. 

 

He's going to need to be backed properly in the next few weeks and I'm not sure I see it happening. 

 

Winks does seem key, but i think it's an unfair comment about how we played without him  - i still think we created quite a good number of chances and had it not been out of position ndidi and daka we might have even got a couple more goals.  That said, if he should get a serious injury, it's going to be much tougher, as i though he looked really good.

[Rain King]

3 hours ago, tom27111 said:

I met Top