StriderHiryu

Asking the real questions!

There's a great paragraph in that article: The past decade has largely been a reaction to the extreme domination of possession prompted by the Guardiola model, and has largely involved pressing harder or more efficiently. If they want the ball, we have to work out better ways of winning it back. The clashes between Guardiola and Jürgen Klopp have been regular manifestations of that dynamic. Both have themselves evolved, Guardiola becoming more direct, and Klopp turning down the heavy‑metal football to something a little more possession-based. That's a really good summary of the last 3-4 years of the top level tactics being used. Man City won the treble last season and many say it's because with Haaland they embraced a bit of chaos in the otherwise super organised Guardiola system. Man City also recruited a few players with serious physical presence so they could do direct at times, and also to handle teams that went direct against them a bit better. We have seen multiple times that we are prepared to mix it too. We have a preferred style, but we are getting better at making the right decisions at the right time. Overall, if you compare the way we played in game 1 to the first half against Ipswich, the improvement in our team is phenomenal. How far this team can go I don't know, but IMo the ceiling is very high with Maresca in charge. It doesn't mean we will achieve it but for example with the tactical setup Farke uses at Leeds, they might get promoted but I don't see them ever getting into Europe or winning a trophy. With Maresca's system, I believe we could win a European trophy. It doesn't mean we will do it, but I feel it's possible.

Benjamin Bloom has one of the best You Tube channels for the Championship and is also an Ipswich fan. Interesting to hear his thoughts about Leicester at the end of the video, basically saying he felt Leicester are the best team in possession that Ipswich have faced all season and that the difference in Leicester between game 1 and now is markable.

Chaplin was their best player IMO, he was quite impressive. The way Ipswich play is to bomb both full backs on to provide the width, so their wide men in Chaplin and Burns end up playing in half spaces. The reason they score so many goals is that when they attack, they often do so with 6 players, compared to our 5. The downside is on the turnover that leaves them with 4 which is one reason why our transitions looked so dangerous. The big change I saw was that second half they doubled up on Mavididi and Fatawu and negated both. That should have meant that our 8's got more time and space on the ball, and for me that's where the points were dropped. Ndidi and KDH were tiring, and their replacements didn't do the job. There's a lot more to say about it. But IMO I felt like even though they made changes, we let them back into the game more than them outplaying us. The game got scrappy and Ipswich were more direct and physical to disrupt our rhythm, which worked because we lost control. But sloppy passing I felt was out biggest downfall, other than the penalty shout which should have been given, our passing through the lines was crap in the second half and we didn't test them enough. Overall I would have taken a point before the game, but after that first 45 I am disappointed we didn't finish them off.

About him - have you seen him play many matches? He’s a striker destined for the Premier League in much the same way Daka was. His story is quite unusual in that he’s not been professional for long at all but clearly is naturally gifted (see what I did there). If we sign a striker (and we might) they need to match the pressing and workrate of Daka with the linkup play of Iheanacho, the finishing of Vardy, but also need the technique and ability to play in traffic like Winks. What characteristics does Orban have? I will say that I sign him in every Football Manager play through because he’s incredible in that game! The only striker in Europe that does all of the above that maybe we could sign is Evanilson at Porto. Ironically there is a Danish striker that does all of the above buys Hojlund of Man United.

Yeah that’s definitely true. I think my worry comes from AFCON, meaning we lose some players for up to 6 weeks. When Ndidi is not playing, we perform badly! When him and KDH are rested it’s even worse. But we need to rest and rotate them to manage their workload. Squad players need to step up for the next two. After that I think we will sign someone for the 8 position.

I’m worried about this and the Huddersfield game. The lack of rest time between games is going to take its toll and players from the bench clearly aren’t as good as our starters. When we rotated players against Wednesday we put in a poor performance. It wouldn’t surprise me if we drop more points. That said I feel the only way to get the best out of players like Yunus, Casadei and Cannon is to give them a run in the team. Daka got given a run and his performances speak for themselves.

Pressing triggers / who to press. It looked like Ndidi was on Morsy and did a great job on him. Casadei less so… It might also be because of what foot Ipswich’s midfield uses. Luongo was rested for them, but he’s left footed.

We lost control of the game in the second half. The subs were the main reason... our best pressing players are Daka, KDH and Ndidi. So replacing all three meant our pressing wasn't as good, and meant that we lost control. If you look at the volume of chances Ipswich created in the second half, they deserved something from the game. I think we need (and will) another number 8, because the replacement 8's for KDH and Ndidi significantly weaken the team. Today I think Enzo should have put Hamza on in Ricardo's position and move Riccy up to be an 8 instead of either Casadei or Yunus.

A good result but feels like points dropped. If we were more clinical in the final third we'd have won this game.

In terms of the gameplan, it's working brilliantly. For a lot of that half, Ipswich looked like they were chasing shadows. We were playing out of their press beautifully and made some really dangerous moves. My only criticism is that I feel like we should have scored another goal to put daylight between us. At 1-0 the game is still in the balance and a mistake or good set piece can always net a goal for them. However, overall this is first against second and we look miles better than them. They are still the story of this Championship season given the resources they have available compared to us, but regardless the team is looking really impressive. Some of our play is a joy to watch.

Regarding JJ, he is the player that drops out when we play multiple times a week. My theory is that is being done to keep him injury free. I think this has been mentioned a few times on the official LCFC stream.

I know what you mean, his ability to play in pressure is very good. He's also playing on the wing in a lot of these clips, but I suspect that's from drifting out wide. We know Enzo likes really technical football. Ndidi has really impressed me this season, but if he wasn't staying on and / or we wanted someone to push him, such a player would have to be very technical and able to play under pressure. That's why this player and the Danish lad we've been linked with (and O'Reily) all seem pretty plausible. In the Premier League I could also see Enzo trying a player like this or even KDH in the Winks role if he gets injured. Look at Man City this season... when Rodri and Stones aren't playing they are so easy to disrupt.

MPH hired as new head of scouting in my book!

Ok it harsh of me to say that, but I scoured a few Norwegian videos of other / similar players who say a similar thing! They are saying that Albert (and others) need to leave the Norweigan league because they won't develop because the overall level is low. But Norweigan foxes please forgive me! For reference, Celtic signed Odin Holm from that league last season and has been castigated by Brendan Rodgers of all people for "needing to do more": https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/brendan-rodgers-gives-celtic-player-071300374.html At Gronbaek's club, there's a player called Patrick Berg who I really rate, but he tried a move to France and it didn't work out. The league seems a bit hit and miss. At the same club as Gronbaek, there's also an exciting Cameroon striker called Faris Moumbagna who is 23. IMO he looks like someone that could make a big impact in the Championship. For midfielders there's also another player we maybe should take a look at who has the most incredible name: Jakob Napoleon (!) Romasaas. He's only 18 but looks very promising. That we are in for Gronbaek and not Romasass probably shows that we want a player who can make an impact now. We thought Casadei could, but he clearly needs a bit more time to develop.

The difference and risk here is that Gronbaek actually plays in the Norweigan league, not the Danish Superleague. Hermansesn was signed from Brondby and as we have seen has been fantastic. Kristiansen didn't work out but IMO he looked no worse than Thomas (though perhaps you could say looked no better either) and went to Serie A in a team doing well. What's the standard like in Norway? There are some good teams, but as you will see from some of the clips below, some grounds and teams look amateur level at best! That said, the league does have a good record at producing talented players that have proven themselves elsewhere. Haaland, Datro Fofana, Vetlesen, Boniface, Mannsverk, Petter Hauge and Mvuka are players you may have heard of that went to big clubs and have done alright for themselves. In terms of there being interest, 100% you could see why there would be, because let's take a look at his stats: And now let's compare his stats to one of our most important players: I'm sure Enzo has asked the scouting department to identify players that fit the KDH mould and the data will have brought up Albert Grønbæk Erlykke of Bodo/Glimt. He was signed from the Danish league, so it's also possible the scouts had been following him back then too. Mannsverk went to Ajax for 6M Euros, And even Datro Fofana went for "only" 12M Euro to Chelsea. So in terms of overall value, Scandinavian players score highly. They are also fluent in English, and are used to playing in cold and wet conditions. So if @Sly thinks there is something in this, it's pretty easy to understand why. To be honest given the position we are in the league, spending 10M Euro on a very promising attacking number 8 with a high celing and resale value sounds like a pretty obvious thing to do. I always pictured James McAtee playing for us next year and I can't see Sheffield United staying up. But hey we could always sign him and this guy, and it seems like we can sign this player now.

Attacking number 8 by the looks of it. Along with Gronbaek this is another attacking 8 we’ve been linked with, so fair to say it’s a position we see as being key in next season’s squad. Given Praet and Ndidi are out of contract and Casadei is on loan, I guess that’s not a surprise. This guy looks pretty good at playing in tight spaces, something we know Maresca values in his team.

Elite coaching. Doesn’t matter who the opposition is, that’s as good as it gets!

I agree that I can't ever see Daka being good enough to be the starting number 9 at a club competing for the Champions League, whereas Arsene Wenger literally tried to sign Vardy who declined the offer. But to be the starting number 9 in the Premier League I feel like in the right system he would be good enough because... Thanks to his age and physicality, he can add value to any front foot team. Be careful when writing players off... Dominic Solanke is the second top scorer in the Premier League this season, making a mockery of players like Hojlund, Nunez and Jackson. The right player in the right system can thrive, see Winks and Vestergaard. IMO the Man United striker actually looks very good, he is just playing for a team in turmoil which is why he looked amazing for Atalanta but can't buy a league goal for the Mancs. I have thought for a while that if we got promoted we would sign another striker from Europe. Someone who can finish, press and link up play and is very technical. But who out there fits that profile that we could realistically sign? Maybe that's one for Ric to give his opinion on, as I can't think of many. Could we sign Gimenez from PSV? Marcos Leonardo from Santos? Evanilson from Porto? I'm not convinced as I think these players go to bigger teams than Leicester. Finally, when we return to the Premier League, there won't be many teams that park the bus against us. Almost all the teams press high these days, with the exception of West Ham, so we might not even need a striker with elite link-up play.

We are, but that expectation came from him being the player we chased all summer. Players like Hermansen, Winks, Mavididi who are all key players this season were signed without much fuss. Even Fatawu was comparatively pain free. It made it feel like Casadei was coming to be one of the best players in the Championship and an integral part of our promotion push.

Yep I would agree! It's first world problems and again, look at the apathy Man City fans sometimes have. We are the Championship version of that. I would agree and disagree with you here. I think we were doing the same thing throughout the game, but we put more effort into it in the second half. Did you see the positions that KDH and Ndidi took at the start of the game versus at 60 minutes? Against low block teams, Maresca stars with them on the "wrong side" IE Ndidi is right footed but plays on the left hand side and vice versa. That's because he is trying to get the opposition used to sending our players down their weaker side whilst they are mentally alert. Then at 60 minutes, he swaps them over so that now they are fatigued and lose some concentration, we are at our most dangerous. We scored with our first attack once these two were swapped over. If we can get the lead early, great! But Enzo time and again stresses patience. It's like baking bread, it takes a while for the yeast to kick in and for the bread to rise! Replace this game with the Preston one. Bristol. Watford. It's the same pattern over and over and it's working.

Further to this, Enzo has said "sometimes we need to keep the ball for 4 minutes before attacking." That might sound mental, but this is exactly the sort of game he is talking about. Prevent them from building up any momentum, get their fans jittery and quiet. Make their players frustrated so when they jump, they don't do it collectively so we can pick them off by playing through the press. But as per your point, and evidenced in the Southampton game, winning the ball high up the pitch to force Ipswich back is the best possible way to start the game!

I'd expect a big reaction from them after today's loss, but Leeds gave us the perfect blueprint in how to beat them, and we were able to give some players extra minutes to recover in today's game. We want to start fast and aggressively target Sam Morsley when he receives the ball. At times, they build up their play with just a back 2, which means that the high press could be absolutely deadly. At the same time, Ipswich themselves press hard and will put our back 3 and keeper under immense pressure. But that can work into our favour because if we play out of their press, then there are gaps all over the place to exploit. It all points to a high-scoring and explosive game, similar to the Southampton one. On paper, we should win because both teams attempt to play a similar style, but we are better man for man than them across the pitch. But a vociferous crowd on Boxing Day could make things tough, so won't take anything for granted. Based on current form I think we will win, but this is a game where we have to put in a good display. If we play like we did in some of the first 10 games of the season, that won't be good enough.