StriderHiryu

This new set piece coach needs to be shot!

Hopefully it doesn't come across like that. Honestly it's "fine". In fact it feels like a pre-season friendly in every sense of the word. But I would say that this time last season, some games with Maresca in charge looked quite exciting, seeing the clear patterns of play. Today it feels more like "hopeful cross into the box". With Enzo we got pumped 4-0 by Liverpool, but in the first 20 looked amazing. And we took those patterns of play and style into the season a few weeks later when it started.

Yep I agree! We have to bring in a CAM with some forward / creative quality. KDH had 12 goals 14 assists last season!

To be fair, this is preseason, many players don't even have a full 90 minutes in their legs yet. Many basic passes going astray. A 433 can absolutely work! It's just that I feel we aren't getting the best out of certain players in this style, which was proven last season. This is an Italian Serie B team. We have the better players and team. In my mind we should dicatate and attack the game, but this setup feels more like playing say against Bournemouth where it's a bit more 50/50.

That's as part of the press yeah. But if you look at the position of the midfield 3 together, they are usually quite close together to hunt in packs. Their job in such a system is to turn the ball over and feed it to the wide players. Winks of the 3 is the one that drops, but the other two have pushed up high to start the press and support Daka at times.

He's not playing attacking midfield . This is a Liverpool style 433. 3 workman like midfielders so the full backs can push high. Look how high Justin is getting at times. On paper it could work with more familiarity, but Liverpool have Robertson and Trent. We have an injury prone Ricardo and a right footed left back. Maybe Kristiansen would improve it. That workman like midfield plus ineffective fullbacks is why this team looks about as much fun to watch as paint drying.

So far this looks like almost the same players, but a massively worse tactical setup from last season. Because Ricardo is not inverting: Can't control the game as much because possesion is more evenly spread. Mads can't push up as an auxilary centreback to get invovled in the build-up, one of his strongest attributes We can't make as many chances because we don't have a spare man to find to allow the 8's to drift between the lines We aren't able to shift Palermo from one side to the other so our wingers are 1v1 against a defender. It improved a lot after 30 minutes, but for me this is just a worse version of the tactics from last season!

Since the drinks break at about 30 minutes we've looked OK. Controlling the game and making some chances. Had a nice move with JJ playing it to Mavididi in the inside half space channel for the dinked cross to Ndidi. One of Maresca's moves from last season.

Correct. Fullbacks pushing high, workman like midfield. Very boring to watch so far.

He played as a 10 in his youth career (U18s).

In the era of 5 subs and high pressing, players who are starters and finishers is a thing. Seems like we brought him for exactly that, play 30 minutes a match till he's pushing for a starting berth. McAteer I think would also fit into this category, though whether he wants that or the club want to cash in we don't know. Alves I think could also be great as an option in the last 30 to drive at defences, but given his age and lack of experience would probably benefit from starting every week in the Championship instead.

They appointed Roberto De Zerbi and have signed some interesting players like Hojberg and Greenwood (yuck). Will be interesting to see how he does there, PSG are dominant but after that anyone can surge up the league. It might also be like Italy where players that are OK here end up being amazing over there, see Pulisic, Tomori, Abraham, etc.

They'll want 25-30M for him. IMO it would be worth it. Him or O'Riley are the most like for like players to KDH. Both at good ages too.

It’s common for players to sign an extension but then go out on loan. KDH did it when he went to Luton. I echo the sentiments above in that Kasey is a useful player. His performance in the friendly typified him; hard working, busy on the pitch and had end product, even if technically he’s got work to do. I can see why Enzo loved him last season too. Players that give you everything and put their body on the line make a big difference in a relegation scrap. But that said I think and Ben Nelson after one more year on loan will truly be ready. Nelson has the higher ceiling but in the modern high intensity game with 5 subs, McAteer has value.

For a bit of perspective: Ipswich signed Hutchinson for 22M Palace signing Sarr for 12M Brighton signed Yakubah Minteh for 35M Man City "signed" Savio for 25M Bournemouth signed Sinistiera for 24M West Ham signed Luis Guilherme for 25M Villa re-signed Jaden Phillogene for 13M (but his actual cost was 18M but they got a discount because they had a sell on clause) If you put all that into perspective, the Nelson deal seems pretty fair. He's got a great relationship with out manager too, he is likely to be motivated because of that, and Cooper will know the qualities of the player. Overall seems like a decent deal. The proof is in the pudding though, as we all know!

That January window looking disastrous. Tete flopped and has just gone to Greece. Souttar is championship standard at best and Kristiansen hates the club. Oh and Leeds pulled the plug on Jack Harrison after we let Albrighton go. Incredible window 🤦‍♂️

Nelson’s a decent player. Not good enough for a champions league team, maybe not even European places, but easily mid table with potential to grow.

There’s no conundrum, after spending years to finally find a player good enough to be the Mahrez replacement, we’re changing to a system that doesn’t need one

Yep, playing Fatawu at wing back is why he didn't look that great at Sporting. Yes he could do a job there, but as we saw last season, you want him running at his man over and over. He can terrify any opponent, even Premier League defences. I'm hoping that is the change he's going to make and he only started Fatawu for balance. But being linked with Soule... it feels like him and Mavididi would be the 10's, so Fatawu would still be left wing back. Luke Thomas was available yesterday but used as LCB instead of LWB. I agree with this. From game one under Enzo the team looked extremely well coached, with a very clear identity and patterns of play already in place. It's a fact that Cooper is not as good as Maresca, and whilst we all knew that, it's a shame that he changed so much. He might claim he hasn't, but he's changed the role of two of our best players last season in Ricardo and Fatawu. Overall though, it's still early days and the match did not feature Vestergaard, Vardy or Faes. Kristiansen was also unavailable.

Some very early tactical analysis here:

Here's Neel and I's attempt to deconstruct Steve Cooper's tactics for Leicester. Please note that it's very early days, so much could change, and our interpretation of things could be wildly off: Offensive Play When we attack, we nominally start in a 3412, but positions of many of the players change rapidly. One of Mavididi or Daka comes from a forward position like a false 9 to drop into midfield, whereas the other forward stays up. At the same time the CAM, McAteer today pushes forwards into the box. Winks is the one pulling the strings. Mavididi I think looks good in this more central / forward position. Looks like a key player for us this season. Daka did pretty well IMO at dropping in and spinning. Mavididi the same, but Daka is doing it more often. Fatawu played at wing back / left wing, but IMO was wasted in this position, killing his natural game. Coady is playing in the middle of the 3 and looked good on the ball. The use of this player was very similar to last season. The use of McAteer is interesting... I wonder if the reason we are after Soule is because he would occupy in attack the spaces McAteer did today, IE a CAM / 10 that drifts wide and is expected to carry a goal threat. Our CBs did not push up to support the attack like they did under Enzo. They were in general a lot more defensively positioned. In general it looks like we are quite fluid in possesion with players swapping the spaces they are occupying, and trying to drag the opposition out of the spaces they start in. To me it doesn't look anywhere near as polished as the early pre-season games under Enzo, but it's early days. Defensive Play Out of possesion we setup in a very compact 442 block: The space between back line and forward was great. Look how compressed we are in the shot above. Teams will find it hard to play through two banks of 4. Our passing out from the back was poor today. Ward's distrbution was poor, Okoli didn't look great. A bit worrying. We looked vulnerable on transition. Shrewsbury probably should have scored by playing a long ball in behing one our wing backs. Overall Thoughts We looked to be a bit more direct with vertical transitions rather than passing the opponent to death. We were not as obsessed with passing teams to death and having total control. We saw a lot more rotation between players and the spaces they occupied. Players seemed unclear as to what to do, they often stood in the same positions as one another. Whilst offensively we looked good on transition, we looked a but vulnerable the other way. This was true last season too though!

Danny Ward assist king

Me reading the names at the start of the game:

When we attack, there's a few patterns of play we are trying. One of Mavididi or Daka comes from a forward position like a false 9 to drop into midfield, whereas the other forward stays up. At the same time the CAM, McAteer today pushes forwards into the box. Winks is the one pulling the strings. Mavididi I think looks good in this more central / forward position. Daka doing pretty well IMo at dropping in and spinning. Mavididi the same, but Daka is doing it more often. Fatawu IMO wasted in this position, killing his natural game. Thomas looks lost as to what he's supposed to do. Coady is playing in the middle of the 3 and looked good on the ball. The use of McAteer is interesting... I wonder if the reason we are after Soule is because he would occupy in attack the spaces McAteer is today. In general it looks like we are quite fluid in possesion with players swapping the spaces they are occupying, and trying to drag the opposition out of the spaces they start in. To me it doesn't look anywhere near as polished as the early pre-season games under Enzo, but it's early days.