StriderHiryu

Has anyone seen Yaya Toure and Wilfred Ndidi in the same room, at the same time? Case closed.

I've said it before and will say it again, in terms of coaching Maresca is elite. Elite I tell you! Forget the tactics or squad management for a second, coaching at it's most basic level is the ability to improve the individual. We are seeing Wilf do things that no one could ever imagine, and he's doing it consistently. Really, really impressive both from the player and coach.

Might have felt like a boring game, but 90% of teams that come to the KP this season are going to do what Big Nige just did, stuck 11 men behind the ball and pray. We had an xG of over 2 and dominated the game and were unlucky not to win by more. I was disappointed with Bristol to be honest, of all the teams we've played so far I've felt like they made the least effort to make it a game so far, only really daring to attack when behind and chasing the game. Huddersfield and Rotherham were way more daring!

I disagree that we need that specific type of player, it’s more that Maddison is and was a complete baller. If we go up I could see us signing McAtee from Man City who is probably the most realistic similar replacement. He’s more of a box to box 8 than free roaming 10. We’ve got the goal now. It’s always tough to break down 11 men behind the ball!

Watching it on a Bristol stream and their commentator just said “and of course Jamie Vardy has run all of the way up to the Bristol City fans to remind them of his name” in the most dour voice possible 🤣🤣🤣

The improvement in Ndidi’s attacking play is crazy. You’d never have thought it preseason.

This is the most exciting player we’ve signed since Maddison. Could watch him all day! A real flair player. McAteer might be the better all round player but boy can this guy beat his man.

This is the point. Southampton and Norwich played pretty open so the chances and spaces were there. When a team puts 11 behind the ball it doesn't matter who you are, it's not going to be easy. You are going to see this type of game every week at the KP!

Proof of attack versus defence. Though we’ve not worked their keeper enough yet.

This is the deepest block we’ve seen all season. Frequently all 11 Bristol City players are in their own third. Very much attack versus defence. They’ve come for 0-0! Decision making in the final third has been poor but Bristol are getting tired. We look sharper than against Hull in my opinion. This has late winners written all over it. I hope so anyway. Fatawu looks exciting, Mavididi getting the ball a lot too.

Beaten to it! I like that he's calling out the home fans. Hopefully they are a bit more patient.

It's noticeable how already our fans aren't getting as irate when we hold the ball for so long, compared to Southampton whom the fans were audibly booing. It's because we have already seen the positive side of the style of play Maresca has brought here. It will still take a bit longer for the home fans to be totally won over, but the away fans are already on the pulse!

Leicester City vs Bristol City Pre-Match: The return of Big Nige! What can we look forward to in the match on Saturday? Here's a quick preview of the game. ^ Their record so far. Their possession has bounced around from domination to dominated, but the thing that stands out for me is that they have won the xG battle in all but two games, often times quite comfortably. That's the sort of underlying data that is indicative of a very good team. FYI, Leicester were similar in that earlier in the season we were winning, but the data showed we were getting lucky, though this has shifted since the Rotherham game. Bristol City have the 3rd best defence in the league, though haven't scored that many goals. However, the xG suggests they were a bit unlucky in that department, so the recent 4-1 pasting of Plymouth was probably overdue: ^ An impressive performance here, is that Matty James or Cesc Fabregas in the middle for them?! ^ This was a cup game so plenty of changes for both teams, but a close game and Bristol looked good going forwards in this one with some nice moves. Perhaps a bit suspect defensively in this one. ^ Here are the average pitch positions for Plymouth on the left and Norwich in the middle and Hull on the right. We can see they are play a 4231 with the full backs pushing high up the pitch to create the width. Matty James is at the heart of everything they do, pulling the strings in the middle of the park. They press up top and play a high line. The Hull game is very interesting. They only had 39% possession, but had an xG of 3.6 and if you look at their average pitch position, were higher up than in some games where they had 60% possession! Strengths Very organised and well-drilled A very strong defence. I don't think we will get a gifted goal like Southampton were dishing out. Fluid passing between the lines and comfortable in possession. Proven manager with great pedigree as this level Weaknesses Seem vulnerable on the transition. Gaps behind the full backs if they turn over the ball Midfielders are slow Seem a bit wasteful up front, needing more chances to score than they would ideally like Summary They are a good team, in good form, so will present a challenge. I don't think they have a single player that would get into our starting XI, so the quality difference should massively favour us. A lot of teams this season have dared to play man-to-man against us, but I'm not sure if they will, just because I feel it would be a mistake given their slower midfielders and it didn't work out too well for Norwich. Against Hull despite not having possession, they still played their game and had a go at them, so I think we will see them try to do the same here. I'd have us down as favourites, but I have us down as favourites against everyone in the division, home or away. We have the best squad and, recently, the best underlying metrics too. But anything can happen on the day, as we found out against Hull! We have Liverpool away midweek, so we might rotate some players with that game in mind, OR we might play our weaker team against Liverpool.

Leicester City vs Bristol City Pre-Match: The return of Big Nige! What can we look forward to in the match on Saturday? Here's a quick preview of the game. ^ Their record so far. Their possession has bounced around from domination to dominated, but the thing that stands out for me is that they have won the xG battle in all but two games, often times quite comfortably. That's the sort of underlying data that is indicative of a very good team. FYI, Leicester were similar in that earlier in the season we were winning, but the data showed we were getting lucky, though this has shifted since the Rotherham game. Bristol City have the 3rd best defence in the league, though haven't scored that many goals. However, the xG suggests they were a bit unlucky in that department, so the recent 4-1 pasting of Plymouth was probably overdue: ^ An impressive performance here, is that Matty James or Cesc Fabregas in the middle for them?! ^ This was a cup game so plenty of changes for both teams, but a close game and Bristol looked good going forwards in this one with some nice moves. Perhaps a bit suspect defensively in this one. ^ Here are the average pitch positions for Plymouth on the left and Norwich in the middle and Hull on the right. We can see they are play a 4231 with the full backs pushing high up the pitch to create the width. Matty James is at the heart of everything they do, pulling the strings in the middle of the park. They press up top and play a high line. The Hull game is very interesting. They only had 39% possession, but had an xG of 3.6 and if you look at their average pitch position, were higher up than in some games where they had 60% possession! Strengths Very organised and well-drilled A very strong defence. I don't think we will get a gifted goal like Southampton were dishing out. Fluid passing between the lines and comfortable in possession. Proven manager with great pedigree as this level Weaknesses Seem vulnerable on the transition. Gaps behind the full backs if they turn over the ball Midfielders are slow Seem a bit wasteful up front, needing more chances to score than they would ideally like Summary They are a good team, in good form, so will present a challenge. I don't think they have a single player that would get into our starting XI, so the quality difference should massively favour us. A lot of teams this season have dared to play man-to-man against us, but I'm not sure if they will, just because I feel it would be a mistake given their slower midfielders and it didn't work out too well for Norwich. Against Hull despite not having possession, they still played their game and had a go at them, so I think we will see them try to do the same here. I'd have us down as favourites, but I have us down as favourites against everyone in the division, home or away. We have the best squad and, recently, the best underlying metrics too. But anything can happen on the day, as we found out against Hull! We have Liverpool away midweek, so we might rotate some players with that game in mind, OR we might play our weaker team against Liverpool.

@Aleksz thanks for sharing! That's a top account to follow, I will add it to my list. We could make a whole list of some of our attacking patterns of play. There are also some we haven't seen yet, which I am expecting to see later in the season, from the Man City coaching manual.