StriderHiryu

I don't agree with your tactical take. Just because you lose a game, doesn't mean the tactics were wrong. In-game management I do agree with though! 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!

Stats confirm a pretty comprehensive loss. I don't think we were terrible, but it's a shame that after going behind, we never really tested their keeper till right at the end. I feel like we lost the game in the first 15 minutes of the second half. Too lethargic and wingers isolated during that spell. We only got going because Leeds got ahead and switched to player the counter attack. I think we really missed Ndidi tonight, Casadei not quite ready for these big matches yet.

My summary of that half: Great game to watch, end-to-end stuff at times, a good old-fashioned battle of two styles, and two good teams on display. I'm pretty pleased with our performance, we weathered the storm and started taking control. Instead of just continuing to pump the ball long like we did against Sunderland, we are keeping to our style and trying to play it through the gaps and around the corners. We've had some excellent moves as a result and both the wingers, plus Winks have been great. Faes, Justin and Ricardo defensively have been on it. This feels like a 50/50 game to me and could go either way and it's a fantastic test. Even if we lose this one, this is huge for learning how to play against teams like this, and the Premier League is full of them. It's why Brighton get such good results, they can play against anyone, give them a good game and often times embarrass them because they are good at this kind of style. Certainly not for the faint-hearted though!

He's such a good coach from a tactical standpoint, the guy is seriously going to go places. It's why his style is so effective. Leeds have blown away a lot more teams than us this season, but have also had stupid losses too. Their style can be more exciting and deadly, but has that element of jeopardy about it. Maresca's style controls the game, choking the opponent out like in an MMA fight. I can understand why sometimes it can be boring to watch for people, but if the opponent doesn't have any chances, they can't score a goal. If the opponents are defending all game, it's hard to concentrate for 90 minutes plus stoppages. Football really is that simple at times. Of course we need to execute the game plan correctly, but knowing the amount of detail Enzo goes into, all players will be drilled and will know exactly what they need to do.

I can't help but think of Enzo as M.Bison when being asked about this game:

Good Twitter thread, similar points to the ones I've made, but more detail on specific player duels. A good read!

We've been lucky not to have conceded at least one goal like that, because we have turned it over a few times. TBH this also happens with Man City, and their "cheat code" is Kyle Walker, for the reasons you've given. The problem is that Leeds have Dan James who is one of the fastest players in the league. Summerville, Rutter and Gnotto are also among the faster players in this division. The game comes down to how well we pass through that Leeds press, if we aren't sloppy and go through them, we will make chances ourselves, as evidenced by that Southampton game. But too many brain farts or sloppy passes and they will be in.

Great article in the Athletic today about the role of Vestergaard: https://theathletic.com/5006019/2023/10/30/vestergaard-leicester-flying-start/ Specifically it mentions the recent tactical shift we saw used against teams that park the bus, when we push Ricardo up further to support the attack: With the opportunity to commit more men forward after the dismissal, Choudhury made way for Ricardo Pereira, and Leicester attacked the back five with six. “We worked on it in the international break,” said Maresca. “Another way to attack a line of five.” Instead of joining Winks in the double pivot, Pereira jumped straight into the attacking line, while the right midfielder dropped behind the striker, as below. There are also instances where Casadei pushed up to make a second striker, with Ricardo playing in the 8 spot that Casadei left. With the opposition down to 10 men, or teams that have no intent to attack at all, it's something we can get away with. But we won't use these tactics in either of the next two games, as Leeds and Boro like to play football!

This does appear to be the way as they’ve used their 442 shape in those away games. I’d be surprised if they went that way against us given the Sunderland game, but it’s not impossible. Farke has won the Championship twice and knows what it takes to get up. They’ve made a good start overall, they are just unlucky that there are two freakishly good teams in the division this season. Them and Southampton look shoe-ins for the playoffs. However, to make up the points on 1st and 2nd seems too hard already. They could beat us twice and Ipswich again and still not do it.

Great point. I definitely take our change in shape for granted as Southampton were the team that showed us what happens when the shape transition isn’t fast enough. Coventry game aside, not many teams have genuinely created chances against us. The big chances against us are all the same; a sloppy pass or turnover into a fast transition. But my point is that Leeds are the best team in the division at taking those chances, with a large number of goals coming from their wide players.

I think the tiredness stems from lackadaisical passing. Our high press wasn’t so effective, but this wasn’t a game where it was needed as much. QPR were happy for us to have the ball! I was expecting a lot more rotation, but in retrospect I think Enzo got it right. QPR were a much sterner test than imagined and had we made 5/6 changes, we’d have had even less fluency. But it seems inevitable that very soon we are going to see a game where the opposition outworks us, and it will be down to physical condition. Losing Ndidi was quite a blow.

Leicester City vs Leeds United Pre-Match Preview ^ Leeds lined up in a 4231 against Huddersfield (and Southampton). Notice that Joel Piroe actually plays as a number 10 for them, with Rutter as their main striker, though the two sometimes interchange. ^ Interestingly, they went 442 against Stoke, a match that they lost. ^ The average position of Leeds players against Southampton. A fairly classical 4231 shape, though it looked like they were trying to target Ryan Manning, Southampton's inverted fullback, in this match. ^ A look at Leeds results and xG / xGA across all games. Some notable ones are that they beat Ipswich, but stats wise were a bit lucky. They lost to Stoke but deserved to win, and were fairly comprehensively beaten by Southampton. Thoughts and Analysis Leeds tend to play 4231, though occasionally play 442. Managed by Daniel Farke, their style of play is stereotypically modern German in style: Reliant on Possession Use width, primarily from their full-backs that bomb on. Rely on quick transitions, with lots of verticality with passing through the centre of the pitch. Gegenpressing when out of possession to turn the ball over high up the pitch. Leeds are one of the most Jekyll and Hyde teams in the division. On their day unplayable, on their off-days, they don't look like they know how to play! Their forward options are fantastic, and an argument could be made to say they are better than ours. Piroe, Rutter, James and Summerville have been starting recently, but they also have Gnotto (Everton bid 30M for him in the summer) and an out of form Patrick Bamford on the bench. All of their forwards are incredibly rapid. Summerville and Gnoto are skilful and can beat their man. Any sloppy passes that are stolen by their forwards will transition into attacking positions at breakneck speed, and they have better quality than Sunderland. Both James and Summerville scored twice each against Huddersfield. Rutter has been a revelation for them this season. He and Piroe often interchange and his high workrate plus technical quality have stood out. This is a player we might have to go man-to-man with when defending. They have a solid double-pivot of Glen Kamara (has played in a Europa League final) and Ethan Ampadu (plays for Wales, ex-Chelsea, European experience). These two aren't the best on the ball, but are solid and have good ball winning stats. This is an area where I think we will have a lot of success. Southampton were able to play through and around their midfield, and on paper Winks, KDH and Ricardo should be better than these two. I think Ndidi is a big miss though. Defensively and between the sticks, Leeds are really suspect, as shown in their last Premier League era. They've already made quite a few comical errors and are often caught ball-watching. Their goalkeepers are good with their feet, but flap at the ball a lot. If we test their keeper, we can score. Look at the Southampton game where Meslier makes a meal of both of Adam Armstrong's goals. This game is hard to call. If I had to pick one team in the Championship that are best suited to beat us, it's Leeds. Not only is their squad quality high, but they play the best counter-style to ours: high-pressing, fast transitions with FAST and skilful players in wide areas. They also have been given the optimal gameplan to follow by looking at the Sunderland game. Do what they did, do it better, and you can get something against us, maybe all 3 points. But all that said, you can't ignore that already this season they have had several poor performances, including a few where they don't seem to have turned up in at all. The Southampton game is also very telling, where they were soundly beaten, and that was when Russel Martin was under extreme pressure. In the end they have 53% of the ball, but that is mainly based on the second half when they were already 3-0 down and Southampton were seeing the game out. In the last two games the biggest area of concern I have has been our sloppy passing. Teams aren't making chances against us, we are giving chances away to them. If we do that in this match, we will pay! However, even if it happens once or even twice, Leeds are a team that will give you chances themselves and we have a lot of quality up top too. But given that Leeds are away from home and there is less emphasis on them to win, plus their vocal away support, this could really suit them and more than any other game, this is one where I could see us dropping points. It would better suit us to play them away than at home. The key duel is most likely going to be James Justin against Summerville, as I expect JJ to play at right back for this one to deal with him. I would personally put Faes in too, who is faster than Coady or Souttar to deal with Dan James, who is less skilful, but one of the fastest players in the division. In fact for that reason, perhaps Faes will deal with Summerville instead of JJ. Finally, Leeds will 100% target Winks and Ricardo man-for-man as all teams seem to do against us now. Piroe and Rutter I expect will pay these a lot of attention. However, as Southampton showed, if we beat that press, their team opens up, and that's something we can exploit.

Leicester City vs Leeds United Pre-Match Preview ^ Leeds lined up in a 4231 against Huddersfield (and Southampton). Notice that Joel Piroe actually plays as a number 10 for them, with Rutter as their main striker, though the two sometimes interchange. ^ Interestingly, they went 442 against Stoke, a match that they lost. ^ The average position of Leeds players against Southampton. A fairly classical 4231 shape, though it looked like they were trying to target Ryan Manning, Southampton's inverted fullback, in this match. ^ A look at Leeds results and xG / xGA across all games. Some notable ones are that they beat Ipswich, but stats wise were a bit lucky. They lost to Stoke but deserved to win, and were fairly comprehensively beaten by Southampton. Thoughts and Analysis Leeds tend to play 4231, though occasionally play 442. Managed by Daniel Farke, their style of play is stereotypically modern German in style: Reliant on Possession Use width, primarily from their full-backs that bomb on. Rely on quick transitions, with lots of verticality with passing through the centre of the pitch. Gegenpressing when out of possession to turn the ball over high up the pitch. Leeds are one of the most Jekyll and Hyde teams in the division. On their day unplayable, on their off-days, they don't look like they know how to play! Their forward options are fantastic, and an argument could be made to say they are better than ours. Piroe, Rutter, James and Summerville have been starting recently, but they also have Gnotto (Everton bid 30M for him in the summer) and an out of form Patrick Bamford on the bench. All of their forwards are incredibly rapid. Summerville and Gnoto are skilful and can beat their man. Any sloppy passes that are stolen by their forwards will transition into attacking positions at breakneck speed, and they have better quality than Sunderland. Both James and Summerville scored twice each against Huddersfield. Rutter has been a revelation for them this season. He and Piroe often interchange and his high workrate plus technical quality have stood out. This is a player we might have to go man-to-man with when defending. They have a solid double-pivot of Glen Kamara (has played in a Europa League final) and Ethan Ampadu (plays for Wales, ex-Chelsea, European experience). These two aren't the best on the ball, but are solid and have good ball winning stats. This is an area where I think we will have a lot of success. Southampton were able to play through and around their midfield, and on paper Winks, KDH and Ricardo should be better than these two. I think Ndidi is a big miss though. Defensively and between the sticks, Leeds are really suspect, as shown in their last Premier League era. They've already made quite a few comical errors and are often caught ball-watching. Their goalkeepers are good with their feet, but flap at the ball a lot. If we test their keeper, we can score. Look at the Southampton game where Meslier makes a meal of both of Adam Armstrong's goals. This game is hard to call. If I had to pick one team in the Championship that are best suited to beat us, it's Leeds. Not only is their squad quality high, but they play the best counter-style to ours: high-pressing, fast transitions with FAST and skilful players in wide areas. They also have been given the optimal gameplan to follow by looking at the Sunderland game. Do what they did, do it better, and you can get something against us, maybe all 3 points. But all that said, you can't ignore that already this season they have had several poor performances, including a few where they don't seem to have turned up in at all. The Southampton game is also very telling, where they were soundly beaten, and that was when Russel Martin was under extreme pressure. In the end they have 53% of the ball, but that is mainly based on the second half when they were already 3-0 down and Southampton were seeing the game out. In the last two games the biggest area of concern I have has been our sloppy passing. Teams aren't making chances against us, we are giving chances away to them. If we do that in this match, we will pay! However, even if it happens once or even twice, Leeds are a team that will give you chances themselves and we have a lot of quality up top too. But given that Leeds are away from home and there is less emphasis on them to win, plus their vocal away support, this could really suit them and more than any other game, this is one where I could see us dropping points. It would better suit us to play them away than at home. The key duel is most likely going to be James Justin against Summerville, as I expect JJ to play at right back for this one to deal with him. I would personally put Faes in too, who is faster than Coady or Souttar to deal with Dan James, who is less skilful, but one of the fastest players in the division. In fact for that reason, perhaps Faes will deal with Summerville instead of JJ. Finally, Leeds will 100% target Winks and Ricardo man-for-man as all teams seem to do against us now. Piroe and Rutter I expect will pay these a lot of attention. However, as Southampton showed, if we beat that press, their team opens up, and that's something we can exploit.

Awesome segment on Fatawu on Football Daily today. If my link doesn't do it, go to 29:37 for his breakdown. Some very interesting takeaways: His passes into the box per 90 (2.5) are at "elite" levels (Trent Alexander-Arnold, Odegaard) Wins the ball back at Sadio Mane levels Completing 3.5 dribbles a game with over 50% success. Carries the ball into the box 2.5 times a game. (Also elite) To summarise, his underlying numbers are already exciting and on paper he has elite level potential.

Queens Park Rangers 1 - 2 Leicester City Leicester went surprisingly strong for this one, with Winks, Vardy and Vestergaard all starting. Coady for Faes and Choudhury for Ricardo were the two biggest changes. JJ returned to his usual position. Leicester controlled the game throughout and dictated most of the play, but sloppy passing gave QPR chances, who had a go when they turned over the ball. I felt we were complacent in this one and just expected to win. After going ahead, it felt like the floodgates would open, but we were really lackadaisical. It was notable that Maresca sent out the team early in the second half, I think he will have got into them at half time. At the start of the second half, QPR made a tactical change and tried to press the game high up the pitch. However, this backfired. More gaps started appearing at the back, and this led to Fatwu getting in and resulting in the sending off incident. The sending off changed the game. QPR just sat in deep and did not try to attack, entirely understandable. This made it harder for us to score as those gaps no longer appeared. Maresca moved Casasdei up to be a second striker after the sending off, but he was not that effectual. He tried to use his physical strength to help win the second ball. Iheanacho came on at 79 minutes, the first time we had him and Vardy on the pitch at the same time. They were on the pitch for all of 4 minutes, as Winks scored on 80, and as a result, Maresca reverted back to our 433 / 3241 with McAteer coming on as an 8, and Albrighton on for Fatawu. Against Leeds it will be interesting to see if Casadei keeps his place. He had an average game, but Leeds are a top team and I feel like we need more from him against them. McAteer or Yunus (if he's back) might feature instead of him. If he plays like he did against Sunderland, it won't be a problem though. What a goal the winner was! It's been notable that since the last international break, Winks has been pushing up more and taking more shots. With the way we play, he will get time and space in those positions, and with a finish like that, I can see Winks bagging a few more by the end of the season. Overall a laboured win, but one of those wins that marks out champions, grinding out a win. I find it interesting how even though we were chasing the win, ultimately after going 2-1 up, 17 more minutes were played, showing that we had quite a while left to get that goal. In fact, this has been a hallmark of our season, with only Casadei's winner against Cardiff feeling like a last-gasp winner. The one word of caution is that we might be getting complacent. It's totally understandable why this might be the base, and we've got a great manager that isn't afraid to get stuck into the players and make sure they don't feel comfortable!

I do, mainly because of his age (27). Premier League teams these days don't like signing players that old because they have little to no resale value, even though he's clearly in the prime of his career. When I see Winks play I can understand both why he got 10 England caps, but also why he fell out of favour at Spurs. The Italian managers' style didn't suit him, but even the way Poch setup I can see why someone with Winks' skill set would struggle after a while. He's probably not quite good at the elite level for an attacking 8 in a 433, or combative enough to play as a double pivot or sole CDM. The role that suits hm the best is to be a Regista, like Pirlo for that amazing Ancelotti Milan team or the role Jorginho played for Sarri's Napoli and Chelsa. Our current system is ideal for two players in our team; Vestergaard and Winks. Harry looks like he is loving it here and I can see why! The team keeps winning, the fans love him, and most importantly, he plays a role in which he can excel in. In football anything could happen, but the teams I could see needing a player like this are probably just 2; Man City and Brighton. Maybe Arsenal too, but like Man City, he's not going to be a first team player, he will be a squad option.

I have to say well done to the fanbase and Foxes Talk for recognising how good Winks is. That might sound really condescending, but we have a habbit of not appreciating players on here that are good, but don't affect the top end of the pitch. In Wink's case you could argue that "all he does is pass is sideways and back." But of course that isn't the case at all! Last season a lot of people were saying that Mendy deserved a chance. Winks plays like a combination of Mendy and Tielemans for me, taking the best elements of each. I have a feeling he will be here for 4-5 seasons, and am looking forwards to seeing him cement himself as being a top player for us.

Not a surprise, but QPR weren't bad at all today. Their players did not play like those that had downed tools, though perhaps they were playing knowing that Ainsworth was on his way after the match? We were the better team, but this was a case of "team with less resources battles bravely and puts up a good fight, but is undone by quality." Something you could say about us in quite a few games we've had against Man City for example.

Mavididi ends the QPR match with a goal and an assist, so on paper that sounds great. But he needs to work on the things that make Fatawu so good. Countless times across the last 3 or 4 matches, Fatawu receives the ball, jinks past his man and gets into the box and puts in a really dangerous ball. I am not surprised at all that he's got a player sent off, because he was embarrassing QPR all day. I feel like Mavididi has it in his skillset to do a very similar thing, but he turns back way more often that Fatawu. He needs to be more direct! Not every run Fatawu comes off, but more times than not, something happens. For a 19 year old, it's incredibly impressive and we simply must sign him up. I think it's inevitable we do!

I'll do a good one for this game. Should be an intriguing match!

What a guy!

Yeah 100% this, he’s been getting up to and shooting from that position multiple times in recent games. Pretty much everyone on here has said how surprised they’ve been with his quality. The passing is immaculate, as is his ability to turn inside tight spaces and receive it under pressure. But this was something else! Exquisite technique under pressure. Might as well hand him the fans player of the season award now!

Maybe it's just me but I love this kind of commentary even if it's massively biased! It's totally authentic and in the moment, and what football is all about. I prefer it to the usual Sky bollocks tbh!

Sign him up! Beats his man for fun, every single game. He is so, so dangerous. It's funny, after years of not having a quality winger on the right-hand side, now if anything I feel like the other side is the problem!