Tom12345

Defensively we were solid but there was no attacking urgency in our plays, probably as a result of the tactics and formation employed and the players selected. Hamza is a good player but he is still very defensively minded, so whenever he got the ball, he seemed to always look for a “safe” pass to make first. That is fine I suppose if he was our only DM, but he operated more up front with Ndidi playing as the second DM further back. Not his fault. But when you add Ndidi and Chilwell (who is still more defensively minded than preferred), attacking plays fell apart too quickly when the chances of defensively minded players getting the ball increased and they passed backwards or chose to wait. Further, Ndidi didnt have too much to do on the day, probably helped by Hamza, but that further raises the question why we needed 2 DMs?

Puel Ball Mark Ii

I know I shouldn’t, but I can’t help but think that I will be somewhat happier than usual if Vardy scores a goal against Man Utd on a counter out pacing Maguire along the way.

I agree. To me he is world class and it is a big shame that Southgate does not utilise him properly leading to his decision to not join. He is better than Kane in my opinion for England. In fact, I think Son is more suited and better for the Spurs than Kane is. They are obviously experts, but it seems to me there is an unreasonable obsession with Kane that overrides what is best for the team. For example, the insistence on playing Kane for Spurs in the ECL finals last year was crazy, when he was not fully fit and the team flourished without him.

Yeah, I thought he looked alright and I have been looking forward to seeing him develop as a player. He certainly looked better than Ghezzal. A shame but if he is out only on loan then he can still come back stronger.

This clip is awesome! Cags is a real gem. Funny how I heard a commentator mentioned the other day that Cags is more of a no non-sense defender (implying that he is safety first and boot it up sort of defender like Huth). He clearly needs to see the clip.

I think you sum it up quite well. He doesn’t get enough of the ball but when he does he often look dangerous. As you also said, he is just not getting much from Chilwell and he may be more effective if he is allowed to drift around a bit more like he was allowed to at WBA. He did get one useful ball during this game (from Maddison) and he got a good shot on target forcing a good save (guess it is the one you mentioned). If you remember the second part of last season, when we were quite boring at times playing a lot of sideway and backward passes, he was still able to be a spark on the left leaving us on the edge of our seats at times, but he did that a lot of times without Chilwell’s help. I still recall how a few of us here wondered if Chilwell deliberately ignored him. But imagine if Ricardo can play on the left and does all his great runs up and down the left together with Barnes (just like what he does with Albrighton). I believe he would be much more effective. Given the reality though that Chilwell will be played by Rodgers, it is better that Barnes can be given more room to roam around.

Good cameo performance. Sharp. Surprised me really. Hopefully Rodgers will work wonders on him.

We comment on football and our views on football players here. See forum guidelines. If you have anger or obsession issues, go seek some help. And yes, I like Barnes as a player. I like to think many other fans do too and quite a few of us want to see more of him. If he plays regularly for a seaon and he performs badly, I would equally comment on other things he needs to work on or what is good for the team. Today, he may not have touched the ball many times, and that is a real issue that needs to be solved, but I dont think he did poorly when he did have the ball and I dont think he did have “foot power” issue as shown last week. Meanwhile, I dont see you be comment fairly on Maddison either. How did you think he played today? Like Kevin De Bruyne or Eden Hazard? And also yes, I have a real favourite player - one that I have never criticised including when there were a few doubters last year. Jamie Vardy. I also rarely criticised Fuchs because I think he is great and no one overhypes him.

Interesting comment about Tielemans. He was indeed better today especially after the goal but I think you are right that the formation suits him more. As for your comment on Barnes, it is not just this game. From what I observed, it has been the same since he came back last season. I think Chilwell generally does not connect well with the left winger ahead of him (whoever that is) and Barnes suffers from that a lot. I also think he is more suited nearer to the middle instead of the left side. Perhaps Rodgers should get him to drop back a bit and work out a better way to get him on the ball more. On Ndidi - you have a point but he did manage to get the ball out. By the way, he seems to be better on the ball this season! May he keep improving.

And Albrighton did well enough to justify it. Someone said here the other day that everytime a new manager was appointed Albrighton gets dropped but then would realise what a gem Albrighton is. So true.

The ref would have to think it is a potential red card offense before it will be reviewed. I guess he thought it was unintentional follow through.

Ndidi did his work quietly but well today. Pereira was indeed awesome! If not for Vardy’s 18/10 performance, he would in my view be next in line. I hope he stays around for a long time despite interests in him.

Yeah, that’s what I have read as well. I think we are excellent on the right side with Ricardo and Albrighton. Imagine we have the same prowess on the left. Chilwell tends to sit back these days and pass backwards and he does not connect well with Barnes. Hope he can learn more from Fuchs before he retires.

Indeed. Great controlled performance. Fuchs was great too when he came on. I would like to thinkt that had he started we would have been even better going forward. Thought Chilwell did ok, and he made a great pass to Vardy, but otherwise did not do much going forward and was out of position a few times. I think Fuchs would also bring Barnes into the game a bit more. By the way, I also really like Ricardo and Albrighton on the other side. They were running havoc down the right side. Much more effective than Ricardo / Perez.