Morgan signalled bench for 3 man midfield

[cc_star]

Great performance Vs Porto, reminiscent of last season's title win, in so much as we did the business & then defended with our lives.

 

Now, obviously Porto started slower than they would've wanted and didn't really get into the game until about 60mins, but when they did they were looking increasingly dangerous through to the final whistle

 

In Morgan's post-match interview to BT Sport, he said that he'd signalled to the bench that we needed to switch to 3 men in the middle as the defence needed a bit more protection in front of them

 

Now, you don't need to be a tactical genius to know that sacrificing a forward to go 5 across the middle helps a team out defensively, but I thought it was interesting that this came from Morgan in the first instance and not Ranieri/management team.

 

Thoughts?

[Bryn]

It should have happened a lot earlier. If the bench were adamant they wanted to stay 442 I'd gave considered bringing on Okazaki but I think Vardy and Slimani were spent way before they came off. 

[Guest CityFan 06]

It's something which I think should be implemented for our PL away games. I think we'd be more solid with a three man midfield, and we've got options to do that. Obviously the only issue there is that we won't have a second striker as such.

[TJB-fox]

He's a good skipper. Just because he isn't screaming and bawling at the other players like 'proper captains' like Roy Keane etc according to people on here, doesn't mean he isn't leading by example. He clearly commands respect from the players on the pitch and the staff off it.

[AKCJ]

20 minutes ago, cc_star said:

Great performance Vs Porto, reminiscent of last season's title win, in so much as we did the business & then defended with our lives.

 

Now, obviously Porto started slower than they would've wanted and didn't really get into the game until about 60mins, but when they did they were looking increasingly dangerous through to the final whistle

 

In Morgan's post-match interview to BT Sport, he said that he'd signalled to the bench that we needed to switch to 3 men in the middle as the defence needed a bit more protection in front of them

 

Now, you don't need to be a tactical genius to know that sacrificing a forward to go 5 across the middle helps a team out defensively, but I thought it was interesting that this came from Morgan in the first instance and not Ranieri/management team.

 

Thoughts?

Morgan is the captain, he should be relaying information like that to the bench.

 

It's different to be in a game when you're being run over than to watch a game where a team is being run over.

[kingfox]

Surprised @WesMorganGod didn't pick this up, thought he was Wes' biggest fan.

[Finnegan]

14 minutes ago, AKCJ said:

Morgan is the captain, he should be relaying information like that to the bench.

 

It's different to be in a game when you're being run over than to watch a game where a team is being run over.

 

This.

 

The captain should be part of the management team on match days.

 

I'd expect dialogue between skipper and gaffer frankly.

[desertfox2]

That's why he's Captain Morgan.

[ealingfox]

Absolutely bizarre if Ranieri hadn't noticed we were crying out for it and wasn't intending to do it. Was bloody obvious to me in the Kop from the 60 minute mark. No idea why he wanted to keep both Vardy and Slimani on when neither had seen much of the game in the 2nd half.

[The_77]

I was waiting for this change to be made earlier and wondered why we waited to make a sub while the game really turned in Porto's favor, but all's well that ends well. I do agree that any captain should be part of the management team, as @Finnegan wrote, and Wes has really shown himself to be one a helluva leader.

[Arriba Los Zorros]

to be fair it became even worse when we went to a 3-man midfield as it allowed them to start penning us back....

[Nick]

I think it's a clear sign that Ranieri has lost the players and should be sacked.

 

It's not like he'd have asked Morgan to communicate that to him during the second half.

 

Disgraceful.

 

For the love of Christ.....

[crazyleicester]

Captains should have a say in things but unfortunately we dont have the options there with Mendy injured and Matty James hasnt played for a year or so. Ironically someone like Inler could come on and sure things up as thats his game.

 

No offence to King although it will sound offensive  He doesnt give us much and really never has. Im not anti-King but if I bring him off the bench to play in a 451 it would be with a view to ticking things over simply in midfield and more likely him getting into the box and him nicking a goal. There is more chance of him being helpful in the oppos box than the middle of the park or defensively. When he came on yesterday he did what he does in so many games. Basically, he was anonymous. Again I dont want it to sound like I hate the bloke as I dont but genuinely if he was not one that came through the ranks I think we would have got shot of him. He offers very little and I cant remember him making a single tackle or block in his short spell on the pitch.

 

BTW I would rather we bought Musa on as LM and switched Albrighton centrally for the last 10-15. At least Musa ran around like a madman and Albrighton was throwing himself into challenges and probably helped us gain 3 points as it was his challenge that deflected off of his body and onto the post late on.

 

I think we were also a bit naive yesterday as we kept on giving the ball away. Someone like even Okazaki for 10-15 mins would IMO been more useful but we need to learn to keep the ball better as we were inviting pressure from a very average Porto side.

[ScouseFox]

13 minutes ago, ealingfox said:

Absolutely bizarre if Ranieri hadn't noticed we were crying out for it and wasn't intending to do it. Was bloody obvious to me in the Kop from the 60 minute mark. No idea why he wanted to keep both Vardy and Slimani on when neither had seen much of the game in the 2nd half.

can see the theory behind it but as we saw when king did come on we dropped even deeper and they looked even more all over us. 

 

also a hugely risky strategy to "shut up shop" with over half an hour to go. what if we'd taken vardy/slim off for king to sure up the midfield and then they'd scored a few minutes later? then we'd have to spend 30 minutes hanging onto a draw because we wouldn't have it in us to go back up the other end without our two strikers. we'd have been fu cked. 

[Captain...]

I think Ranieri was being very "European" with his substitutions, we were winning by a single goal, he appeared to be saving his substitutions to kill off the game in the last 10 minutes, unfortunately every substitution seemed to be for the player next to the bench. It didn't kill any time or momentum.

 

Fair play to Morgan for taking the initiative and getting a change made, but 451 could have backfired as we just invited pressure on to us. It didn't, but I would rather see us freshen things up around 60 minutes, bring on Gray for Mahrez or Shinji for Slimani and give them something else to think about, but we surrendered all attacking threat late on.

[Col city fan]

It was clear to see (I think I even wrote in the match thread) it was gonna be interesting to see how we got on when Porto finally started pushing on. You could see it happening with around 20 ish mins left (maybe a bit longer). Well done Wes cos we did tighten up and we held out.

Personally, I still don't think we played particularly well last night really. We keep on looking shaky near the latter ends of games. It was almost exactly the same at home to Swansea. Apart from Brugges and Burnley, we're not looking as convincing at taking leads in games and hanging onto them. Not like we did last season. When we scored last season near the end, the oppositions never looked like replying.

[Manwell Pablo]

I've got to say nothing I saw from the 4-5-1 suggested it was any better than the 4-4-2. They should of scored and had a penalty after we switched, proper invited it on.  

[Manwell Pablo]

4 minutes ago, Col city fan said:

It was clear to see (I think I even wrote in the match thread) it was gonna be interesting to see how we got on when Porto finally started pushing on. You could see it happening with around 20 ish mins left (maybe a bit longer). Well done Wes cos we did tighten up and we held out.

Personally, I still don't think we played particularly well last night really. We keep on looking shaky near the latter ends of games. It was almost exactly the same at home to Swansea. Apart from Brugges and Burnley, we're not looking as convincing at taking leads in games and hanging onto them. Not like we did last season. When we scored last season near the end, the oppositions never looked like replying.

 

I thought we played well first 45 Col, final ball was missing too often though.

 

Second half, I agree. Bit of a different story. 

[Leeds Fox]

1 hour ago, crazyleicester said:

Captains should have a say in things but unfortunately we dont have the options there with Mendy injured and Matty James hasnt played for a year or so. Ironically someone like Inler could come on and sure things up as thats his game.

 

No offence to King although it will sound offensive  He doesnt give us much and really never has. Im not anti-King but if I bring him off the bench to play in a 451 it would be with a view to ticking things over simply in midfield and more likely him getting into the box and him nicking a goal. There is more chance of him being helpful in the oppos box than the middle of the park or defensively. When he came on yesterday he did what he does in so many games. Basically, he was anonymous. Again I dont want it to sound like I hate the bloke as I dont but genuinely if he was not one that came through the ranks I think we would have got shot of him. He offers very little and I cant remember him making a single tackle or block in his short spell on the pitch.

 

BTW I would rather we bought Musa on as LM and switched Albrighton centrally for the last 10-15. At least Musa ran around like a madman and Albrighton was throwing himself into challenges and probably helped us gain 3 points as it was his challenge that deflected off of his body and onto the post late on.

 

I think we were also a bit naive yesterday as we kept on giving the ball away. Someone like even Okazaki for 10-15 mins would IMO been more useful but we need to learn to keep the ball better as we were inviting pressure from a very average Porto side.

So many times I've seen King appear to do nothing. The thing is, he's an extremely clever footballer and a few times during games I've focused on him for short periods. He reads the game so well that he takes a player out of play before the oppo can even attemp the pass. He will cut off a pass before it's been made. I'm not saying he's the best central midfielder, but tackles and interceptions aren't the only way to quantify a players ability. King does a whole lot of nothing, but he does it extremely well. 

[Ric Flair]

16 minutes ago, Col city fan said:

It was clear to see (I think I even wrote in the match thread) it was gonna be interesting to see how we got on when Porto finally started pushing on. You could see it happening with around 20 ish mins left (maybe a bit longer). Well done Wes cos we did tighten up and we held out.

Personally, I still don't think we played particularly well last night really. We keep on looking shaky near the latter ends of games. It was almost exactly the same at home to Swansea. Apart from Brugges and Burnley, we're not looking as convincing at taking leads in games and hanging onto them. Not like we did last season. When we scored last season near the end, the oppositions never looked like replying.

There were times at the back end of last season that we invited teams to try and equalise in the closing stages, Newcastle, Palace and Southampton being particularly horrible. 1-0 wins tend to be like that to be honest though, if you're protecting the lead it's very rare you're still attacking with aplomb at the end but I do get your point a little. I don't think we're near the level we were last season yet and as Manwell says our final ball right now is pretty disgusting. I am getting sick of seeing Albrighton make a hash of a fairly simple clip in to the box for the oncoming attackers to plant in the net. He did it twice in the opening 20 minutes vs Man Utd that honestly could have completely changed the direction of the game and again last night early in the 2nd half he had one where we were in acres of space. Hopefully this improves as it's part of the fine margins we're seeing go against us away from home.

[foxinsocks]

Problem was we put king on and it made no diff... coz we just cant slow down and pass it round

[Trav Le Bleu]

I have no problem with the Captain communicating with the manager, quiet pleased to see it really, because Wes, being actually on the pitch a talking with players, gets a more immediate view of what's happening and should be able to suggest when and how we make changes. Besides, who's to say Ranieri doesn't say pre-match, "Wes, this is what we're going to do, but if you want to change anything let me know, that's why you're my captain."?

 

[crazyleicester]

51 minutes ago, Leeds Fox said:

So many times I've seen King appear to do nothing. The thing is, he's an extremely clever footballer and a few times during games I've focused on him for short periods. He reads the game so well that he takes a player out of play before the oppo can even attemp the pass. He will cut off a pass before it's been made. I'm not saying he's the best central midfielder, but tackles and interceptions aren't the only way to quantify a players ability. King does a whole lot of nothing, but he does it extremely well. 

I cant think of any player in our team that is so anonymous when he plays. I understand football quite well and unfortunately doing nothing as a central midfielder isnt part of the game. If you dont tackle, dont get on the ball to pass it and dont make interceptions, all you are doing is filling space and allowing passes to pass you by. When Kingy comes on when we are drawing or even losing by one, instantly I feel we now have a goal scoring midfielder on the pitch. To me his best attribute is timing of runs into the box and he does have that instinct at being in the right place at the right time. Thats where we can use him. However, when we are defending a lead like yesterday I dont think he is the man to give us energy and protection. As I mentioned earlier, Id rather we had some energy full unselfish 2nd striker like Musa or Okazaki coming on to run at their defenders and closing down the wings as we have some chance of hurrying the oppo and winning the ball. It was so frustrating that they were allowed to lump the ball from deep yesterday and we didnt have any pressure late on until Musa came on for about 2 mins.

[ozvaldo]

Most of us have been saying all season to have 3 in midfield since the loss of Kante.  - Not just against the European clubs, but in the Premier League too.  
 

(I say "all season" - I'm aware that it's still extremely early days).

 

I hope we start to see 3 midfielders more often in the league too.  

Good decision by Wes - just surprised this didn't happen a lot earlier, and that Claudio didn't make the change without the signal.  

[Col city fan]

43 minutes ago, crazyleicester said:

I cant think of any player in our team that is so anonymous when he plays. I understand football quite well and unfortunately doing nothing as a central midfielder isnt part of the game. If you dont tackle, dont get on the ball to pass it and dont make interceptions, all you are doing is filling space and allowing passes to pass you by. When Kingy comes on when we are drawing or even losing by one, instantly I feel we now have a goal scoring midfielder on the pitch. To me his best attribute is timing of runs into the box and he does have that instinct at being in the right place at the right time. Thats where we can use him. However, when we are defending a lead like yesterday I dont think he is the man to give us energy and protection. As I mentioned earlier, Id rather we had some energy full unselfish 2nd striker like Musa or Okazaki coming on to run at their defenders and closing down the wings as we have some chance of hurrying the oppo and winning the ball. It was so frustrating that they were allowed to lump the ball from deep yesterday and we didnt have any pressure late on until Musa came on for about 2 mins.

King has always been an enigma really. One of my favorite seasons over recent years was the League 1 season, especially cos I went to loads of away games and we nearly always won.

King shone that season. He was nearly ever present and scored some really important goals. When he has time, he's an intelligent footballer who can spray it around, or keep it short when he needs to. He's also a goal threat. Probably our only central midfielder who is capable of scoring a few goals.

But.....in the Prem you just don't get time. Long gone are the days of those central midfielders who can just coordinate games from the middle of the park. Even the likes of Glenn Hoddle nowadays would just be pressed so quickly and wouldn't have the athleticism to do what he used to do so well.

With the fitter players, the sports science, the money, the athleticism and all that has come quicker, more agile midfielders (like Silva, Mahrez etc) who are so nimble on their feet that they have the ability to really influence games. I can't really think of a Hoddle type player these days. Nor a Pirlo, nor a Gary Mac. King kinda fits into this mould (though not as good, obviously). His ability is his vision and his range of passing etc but he's just not built for the modern game. He's neither particularly quick, nor strong, nor agile (in the Silva mould). So he doesn't fit into any 'type' of modern footballer really. Is he an attacking midfielder? A defensive midfielder, or a box to box midfielder. The problem I think, for King, is that he's not obviously any of these. And I think that's why various managers have used him (he's not a BAD player), but only used him when we are short of players more obviously able to play in a certain position.

That was longer than I meant but I know what I'm trying to say, if no one else does!