Leeds post match thread - 0-1 loss

[HybridFox]

Farke used all 5 subs. We were faffing around over 2 (probably too late as well)

[jim5000]

Maybe he thought that a youth team graduate in his first season (few months really), returning from an injury, wasn't going to provide the edge we needed to change the match.

 

Maybe Mcateer isn't quite 100% fit and was on the bench incase we were crusing with 10 minutes to go, to get some minutes into him. But not really an option if we were chasing the game.

[jim5000]

Just now, HybridFox said:

Farke used all 5 subs. We were faffing around over 2 (probably too late as well)

 

TBF to everyone, 2 subs is a joke really. It was what Rodgers did on the opening day against Brentford last season (well, Rodger's made 0 or 1) and it pissed me off there.

 

the only thing in Enzo's defence - I don't think we had to many game changing options on the bench

[sacreblueits442]

1 hour ago, lennybhoy said:

For Casadei...replace with Soyunchu,Vesty,Kels,Hazma (believe it or not ) and numerous other players who have been slated on here.

Casadei is a kid and one thing is sure ,he tried tonight.

We lost and actually probably deserved a draw ,get over it,we have been very lucky up to now.

Hopefully Enzo learns lots from tonight.

...he has been off it for the majority of the games he has played for us!!!

A yard off the pace, failing to be strong enough to protect the ball and slow. Leed's Rightback was 17 years old, up against Mavididi.

[fuchsntf]

1 hour ago, jim5000 said:

Did you not see that free-kick from Justin on 96 minutes - our last attacking kick of the game and he ballooned it over everyone in the box straight out of play

Enzo is to blame..he built him up in pre-match

like commentators curse…

[foxes_rule1978]

Well two games lost, enzo out I say isn’t that how you be a fan these days 

[fuchsntf]

1 hour ago, Bptiger said:

Let’s face it when u play this keep ball and it includes playing back more than going forward , ur not going to create much , if we could only pass the ball forward like we do going backwards we might score more , even in the second half when we went forward there was very little movement up front they just stand still in the a line , maybe the manager needs to put more work into going forward 

Now that would confuse the opposition

[Metal Lover]

Well if we could have subbed Casadei for Ndidi maybe

 

[Supergray22]

We seem to have slipped back into the habit of starting slowly again in each half. Maybe that is in part due to the hectic schedule but we did look a bit lacklustre today in the first ten minutes of each half. To be fair we were able to come back into the game but in the final third  we didn’t always seem willing to take risks or able to get enough bodies into dangerous positions. Some credit to Leeds though who looked really up for it.  Overall though we weren’t that bad and did create enough chances to come away with something tonight. Still a good night under the lights though despite the disappointing scoreline. 

[fuchsntf]

1 hour ago, Mee-9 said:

I think it is fair to criticise Enzo for that.

 

Bringing Hamza on to try and crowd and already overcrowded midfield.

 

Not bringing McAteer on when Fatawu and Mavididi looked disinterested. 
 

Was screaming out for someone to play centrally with a striker and for KDH to move more advanced.

 

He knew what Leeds would bring, yet seemed to go with the same game plan and we just hit brick walls through that.

 

Maresca 3/10 tonight. Poor. We’d been better counter attacking all night.

It’s the master of cunning plans..

Draw your rivals,into the idea,you have weaknesses to be exposed,give them the odd victory, Then standback & watch them burn out..

If Leeds keep up these last few games pace,upto Christmas will suprise me. I thought Hull looked more threatening & with purpose. Leeds took the moment tonight,& because of their badgering looked good tonight,they were more eager  to

pick up 2nd ball. Their doubling up on our wingers 2nd half,and defending that area just around the penalty box,after a poor goal from our point,won them the day & plaudits, but again as mentioned in another post,they will stay the same,whereas I believe our percervieringway and steady progress,will in the end bring the better harvest..

[sacreblueits442]

2 hours ago, Claridge said:

I don’t understand why he doesn’t play another strikers when wilf isn’t available. Nacho would be better than  Casadei 

...there is discipline and work rate required to play the #8 role, but Nacho does not suit the role!!!

[fuchsntf]

1 hour ago, stu said:

Leeds probably edged it, but let’s not go overboard in thinking they were special.

We nullified their main attacking threat in the transition, which everyone was concerned about and they scored a lucky set piece goal.

 

We defended brilliantly, but we ran out of ideas going forward in the second half. The wingers had the fullbacks on toast. Fatawu’s shot goes in and it’s a different story.

 

Never going to win them all, just annoying losing to Leeds with their delusional fans believing they are something special based on past glories before the majority of them were born.

Ahh yes nice to see those Yorkshire tykes,celebrate and still believe they are the chosen ones on course for heady hights..

We milked it a bit last Week but we have built in chkpoints.

A fox wins more times the day,by not blundering into joys of excitement,because he confuses the pack once,but cunningly rummages around the fields,spreading false trails until he knows the way to chickencoup is open & unprotected,while hounds bray and are preoccupied far too early of pawing success. They like hearing their own bark & bellowing too much..

[StriderHiryu]

Depending on how you like your analysis. First up a video:

 

 

Now for my written analysis, I first want to present the Sofa Score ratings. These ratings are generated by stats, so whilst they don't always pass the eye test, other times they do take subjectivity out of the equation and make player analysis a bit more objective, and it's going to be useful for my critique.

 

 

• The game panned out how I expected it to in the pre-match, Leeds looking to win the ball from us high up the pitch to kill us on the fast transition.
  • This was notable from kick-off where Ampadu and Kamara pushed right up onto our double pivot, with the strikers and wingers going man-for-man on our backline.
  • I said pre-match that if we could exploit Ampadu and Kamara we would win, but I feel like they got the upper hand in this game, especially bullying Casadei, who I will get onto in a second. If football is a war, it's the midfield battle where it's won and lost, and I feel those two won the battle overall.
• The first 5 minutes were all Leeds, forcing us into hurried and sloppy passes and turning the ball over. Piroe having an excellent opportunity. The warning signs were there.
• However, Leicester grew into the game and after riding out the storm started to take control of the game.
  • In the first half Leeds could not deal with our wingers, with both Fatawu and Mavididi looking lethal.
  • Where they did do a good job was to block the runs of our 8's and Vardy, which meant a lot of the time one winger had to cross to the other winger. You can still score goals like this (it's a common Man City pattern of play), but we aren't so good at it yet.
  • Fatawu was one of our best players all game, his rating is deserved. He beat his man throughout, put dangerous balls into the box and had that amazing strike against the crossbar.
  • Justin, Ricardo and Faes did in the end do a decent job of recovery tackles on Summerville, Rutter and James, but these 3 were getting the ball too often during the match.
• I think we edged the first half overall, but it was a 50/50 game.
  • Leeds still looked really threatening on the transition, but luckily our defenders all made good recovery runs when needed.
  • Faes was the one that looked like he might make a mistake, but got away with it.
• Where we lost this game was at the start of the second half. Leeds pressed again but doubled up on Mavididi and Fatawu. Neither winger saw the ball for that first 15 minutes. This meant we lost our outlets, and we couldn't get going at all. Casadei turning over the ball a lot. He should have been subbed much earlier.
• The game changed after they scored, but we need to understand it's because Leeds changed their plan. After deservedly getting the goal after a superb start to the second half, they did what we did to Southampton and encouraged us onto them to hit us on the break.
• Maresca made a great and important substitution, Choudhury for Casadei, but Ricardo pushed up to be the second 8. Choudhury did well with ball recoveries, and Ricardo was way more effective at keeping the ball moving. Our wingers started to see the ball again, and we started to get control of the game.
• That said, other than the KDH chance right at the end, we didn't really test Meslier, and that's got to be the biggest disappointment. I think it shows that with our current injuries, we can't change the game too much with subs. Iheanacho was worse than Vardy IMO, and we didn't have Akgun or Ndidi to use. Maybe McAteer could have come on, but both wingers played well, so other than coming on as an 8, I don't see how much of a difference that would make.
  • That said, Farke made 5 subs and we only made two. And their energy helped them run that high press throughout most of the game.

 

I am disappointed with the result, but I think the performance was OK. Unlike the Sunderland game, we did manage to get control of the game despite having a lethal press against us, and weren't just pumping it long. Leeds' goal came from a corner, not because of a fast transition, although they got the corner from a transition. Casadei was poor, but I'm not going to dig him out. We did say missing Ndidi could be an issue in this one, and so it turned out to be. Praet is also injured, who might have been playing there too.

 

Before the game I said that of all of the teams in the division, the one best suited to beat us was Leeds, and tonight proved why. Their style is the best counter against us, Liverpool have beaten us twice playing this way, Sunderland really made it tough for us and Leeds beat us tonight. But here's the thing, if you want to get good enough to beat teams playing this way, you have to practice playing that way for a while against such teams first. It's understandable that sometimes it will go wrong over 46 games, and it's up to the team and manager to learn from this setback.

 

One thing you could say is that if the opposition is coming at you like this from minute one, why not go long a little bit just to settle into the game? This I do agree with to an extent. We scored after 30 seconds against Southampton by doing what Leeds did to us. At the start of the game, when everyone is cold, it can be good to take your time a bit and get everyone a few touches before settling into your controlled possession. But somehow I don't think this will ever be the Enzo way!

 

Overall you have to say well played to Leeds and Daniel Farke. He was brave with his tactics and made key adjustments at halftime and then after going one-up. He also made good subs to keep his team fresh and keep us from scoring. We were pretty soundly beaten, but 13 wins and 2 losses... overall it's going well. I don't think many other teams can play this way. Ipswich might be a better team than Leeds (or even us!), but they don't play such a German style press as Leeds do. I for one look forward to the return fixture!

[fuchsntf]

2 hours ago, deano1 said:

Can't help but think yet again vardy offering nothing surely it's time to give daka a try or start with nacho impossible do any worse vardy been woeful yet again but manager keeps starting him like playing with ten men 

The idea of Vardy & Nacho,is rotation, plus Nacho had taken a hit last game.

why he hasn’t used Daka,is remains baffling for me….Enzo will have his reasons,and it’s no game changer,that puts doubts on Enzo’s competence

[fuchsntf]

2 hours ago, STUHILL said:

Our silly walking football??  That's me done for tonight! 

Walk tall,walk straight, and with wingers, & Winks look the world right  in the eye…

[Dan LCFC]

Worst performance of the season by a mile. Deserved result. Don't have any long term concerns beyond hoping Ndidi is back soon but it wasn't very good. We've wobbled a bit in the last couple of games so I'm not entirely shocked.

[ozleicester]

Always vulnerable after half tome

[ozleicester]

2 hours ago, fuchsntf said:

Walk tall,walk straight, and with wingers, & Winks look the world right  in the eye…

The stronger the wood the better the Fatawu

[fuchsntf]

2 hours ago, StriderHiryu said:

Depending on how you like your analysis. First up a video:

 

 

Now for my written analysis, I first want to present the Sofa Score ratings. These ratings are generated by stats, so whilst they don't always pass the eye test, other times they do take subjectivity out of the equation and make player analysis a bit more objective, and it's going to be useful for my critique.

 

 

• The game panned out how I expected it to in the pre-match, Leeds looking to win the ball from us high up the pitch to kill us on the fast transition.
  • This was notable from kick-off where Ampadu and Kamara pushed right up onto our double pivot, with the strikers and wingers going man-for-man on our backline.
  • I said pre-match that if we could exploit Ampadu and Kamara we would win, but I feel like they got the upper hand in this game, especially bullying Casadei, who I will get onto in a second. If football is a war, it's the midfield battle where it's won and lost, and I feel those two won the battle overall.
• The first 5 minutes were all Leeds, forcing us into hurried and sloppy passes and turning the ball over. Piroe having an excellent opportunity. The warning signs were there.
• However, Leicester grew into the game and after riding out the storm started to take control of the game.
  • In the first half Leeds could not deal with our wingers, with both Fatawu and Mavididi looking lethal.
  • Where they did do a good job was to block the runs of our 8's and Vardy, which meant a lot of the time one winger had to cross to the other winger. You can still score goals like this (it's a common Man City pattern of play), but we aren't so good at it yet.
  • Fatawu was one of our best players all game, his rating is deserved. He beat his man throughout, put dangerous balls into the box and had that amazing strike against the crossbar.
  • Justin, Ricardo and Faes did in the end do a decent job of recovery tackles on Summerville, Rutter and James, but these 3 were getting the ball too often during the match.
• I think we edged the first half overall, but it was a 50/50 game.
  • Leeds still looked really threatening on the transition, but luckily our defenders all made good recovery runs when needed.
  • Faes was the one that looked like he might make a mistake, but got away with it.
• Where we lost this game was at the start of the second half. Leeds pressed again but doubled up on Mavididi and Fatawu. Neither winger saw the ball for that first 15 minutes. This meant we lost our outlets, and we couldn't get going at all. Casadei turning over the ball a lot. He should have been subbed much earlier.
• The game changed after they scored, but we need to understand it's because Leeds changed their plan. After deservedly getting the goal after a superb start to the second half, they did what we did to Southampton and encouraged us onto them to hit us on the break.
• Maresca made a great and important substitution, Choudhury for Casadei, but Ricardo pushed up to be the second 8. Choudhury did well with ball recoveries, and Ricardo was way more effective at keeping the ball moving. Our wingers started to see the ball again, and we started to get control of the game.
• That said, other than the KDH chance right at the end, we didn't really test Meslier, and that's got to be the biggest disappointment. I think it shows that with our current injuries, we can't change the game too much with subs. Iheanacho was worse than Vardy IMO, and we didn't have Akgun or Ndidi to use. Maybe McAteer could have come on, but both wingers played well, so other than coming on as an 8, I don't see how much of a difference that would make.
  • That said, Farke made 5 subs and we only made two. And their energy helped them run that high press throughout most of the game.

 

I am disappointed with the result, but I think the performance was OK. Unlike the Sunderland game, we did manage to get control of the game despite having a lethal press against us, and weren't just pumping it long. Leeds' goal came from a corner, not because of a fast transition, although they got the corner from a transition. Casadei was poor, but I'm not going to dig him out. We did say missing Ndidi could be an issue in this one, and so it turned out to be. Praet is also injured, who might have been playing there too.

 

Before the game I said that of all of the teams in the division, the one best suited to beat us was Leeds, and tonight proved why. Their style is the best counter against us, Liverpool have beaten us twice playing this way, Sunderland really made it tough for us and Leeds beat us tonight. But here's the thing, if you want to get good enough to beat teams playing this way, you have to practice playing that way for a while against such teams first. It's understandable that sometimes it will go wrong over 46 games, and it's up to the team and manager to learn from this setback.

 

One thing you could say is that if the opposition is coming at you like this from minute one, why not go long a little bit just to settle into the game? This I do agree with to an extent. We scored after 30 seconds against Southampton by doing what Leeds did to us. At the start of the game, when everyone is cold, it can be good to take your time a bit and get everyone a few touches before settling into your controlled possession. But somehow I don't think this will ever be the Enzo way!

 

Overall you have to say well played to Leeds and Daniel Farke. He was brave with his tactics and made key adjustments at halftime and then after going one-up. He also made good subs to keep his team fresh and keep us from scoring. We were pretty soundly beaten, but 13 wins and 2 losses... overall it's going well. I don't think many other teams can play this way. Ipswich might be a better team than Leeds (or even us!), but they don't play such a German style press as Leeds do.

i for one look forward to the return fixture!

Nothing special,if they are not in the mix,at the EOS, or simply too far off to make a difference..

Despite last night, & maybe more dropped points over the next  2 months, we shouldn’t  underestimate our own team

and growth…We seem more desperate to find holes in our own make up,we forget our opponents potential struggles

I didn’t see last night again despite loss,there was any change in taking the initiative, nor Leeds confirming that 2nd- 3rd spot as their own.

 

If we suddenly lose our equaliberism gained,and start to stutter,we have a different ball game,but I am more than confident,our squad is stronger than its “NOW” this weekend being given credit for, its just not unbeatable.

[Royston.]

Piss poor. Leeds just better and hungrier.

 

 

[Old Fox]

I think the game was tight and where in games like QPR and Sunderland where we could easily have drawn last night we did not get the rub. I do believe what last night demonstrated is the gulf to Prem even more because a number of players are not good enough to play this football against bottom half prem teams as they will be games we need to win - I know we are not there yet and this season is all about promotion but an evolvement of a team needing just 3 or 4 starters will be needed - I do not see 7 or 8 Prem starters yet and the gulf in full back, attacking midfielders and strikers will cost big money - the worry for me is the lack of threat as Enzo has made us more solid but we do lack creativity - it’s one game and we probably deserved a draw but January will be important !!

[Tom12345]

7 hours ago, Stinkenzo said:

One of the flattest performances of the season and only 2 subs made?

We have been flat all season. This is a test against a proper opposition, a team that came down with us last season from the EPL. We are far from reaching what Enzo would want to be competitive in the EPL. If we play like this with our suicidal passing from the back we will be punished big time next year. Having said that it is a process as Enzo said and hopefully this helps give us a better perspective.

[LCFCJohn]

The problem remains, if there is one team that could win 13 of the first 14 games and still end up in the play offs, it’d be Leicester. As a club, we are literally either sublime or ridiculous and often flip flopping between the two within the same season. We don’t seem to have a middle ground! I wouldn’t change it to being a boring nothing club mind!

 

Now I’m not saying that’ll be the case this season, but this is a wake up call and makes those saying we will win every game, we are the only team in this league and be up by Christmas blah blah look very silly and premature.

 

The team looked like they thought they just had to turn up and believed the hype whereas Leeds wanted it more. Some very poor performances and from Enzo as well who demonstrated no alternative plan.

 

Since the last international break, despite the wins continuing until last night, we haven’t looked as comfortable as between the September and October breaks. I think we will benefit from this coming break after the Boro game, get a couple back, namely Ndidi. A break for some such as Ricardo, Justin and Winks who are having to put a lot of minutes in.

 

Lets hope it is a catalyse for another big winning run like Hull was 

[Deeg67]

Two best sides in the league, and it'll be a surprise if they aren't  the two automatically promoted in the end.  Frankly 13 wins in 14 probably flattered us a little, but there's no shame in losing a tight match to a strong opponent.

[smudgerfox]

5 hours ago, jim5000 said:

. Fatawu repeatidly crossed it deep to Mavididi who was at the back post. Whether it was intentional or not is another question (), but Mavididi was at the back post far more times than Vardy or Nacho were on the 6 yard line.

The wingers were crossing it to one another - true. But to the back post? Not so much. Usually to a position roughly ten yards beyond the back post. Which means the cross needs to be nigh on perfect (it usually wasn’t) and the strike at the other end of the cross likewise (which it wasn’t). In fact I can only remember one instance when the cross was good enough to allow a  first time strike at all and Fatawu screwed the volley.

 

At times what really happened was that one winger would get into a dangerous position say eight to ten yards out, then put a slow cross out to their opposite number,  ten to twelve yards out on the other side, giving the Leeds defence time to reset. Why? There were just too few options in and around the six yard box where a cross is more likely to create a goal.