Lillehamring

You mean literally our 1st, 3rd and 4th games with a new manager , new system and half a new team? Of course they weren't tactical masterclasses - as enzo said around this time (maybe even later): we're 20% of the way into learning the new system. And learning it, mind, not mastering it, learning it - i'd be surprised if, even now, he's taught them 100% of his system, certainly we are a long way from mastering it. There has to be a point where you take a step back and say 'credit where credit's due' - it's not great but it's working and sometimes, when it works, it's just terrific this is how it's done properly - the nacho goal is a slow steady build up, seems like it's going nowhere and then... Bam! a quick incisive attacking move, and then the final goal shows how we can break up an opposition attack and counter through a body of defenders.

And yet it seems to be hard to find a thread that doesn't accuse our current way of playing to be boring or slow, or unpleasant to watch or not entertaining. What bothers me is that, as you do here, these posts often seem to also accuse of not creating enough chances/scoring enough goals - and yet we rank highly in both categories. At the end of the day we have to keep in mind that, with only a couple of exceptions, the pace of our games is dictated by the attitude of the opposition. put simply, it's impossible to play high octane football when teams sit so deep our back four spend most of the game inside or close to the oppositions half. It just can't happen.

Well, i'm guessing Plymouth is the go to for most cornish football fans, can't be much fun be Truro fan.

Some more random club stats. Jannik Vestergaard needs one more 'live' touch to reach 2000 for the season. Patson Daka has touched the ball twice this season - neither touch was in the attacking third. Of all players who have attempted 6 or more take-ons, the highest success rate (66.7%) is shared between Winks and Faes, Ndidi is the worst with just 4 successful from 18 attempts (22.2%) Per 90 minutes Mads carries the ball progressively 122.6 yards, james justin carries the ball 119.9 yards. Nacho has attempted 15 aerial duels, he has won just 3 - only yunus and praet have a worse %

Callum Doyle still has the fifth highest progressive passing distance in the squad

Rumour here was that a sale for doyle was agreed in principal but not doable at the time, in time...or some such issue. So we just took him on loan to make sure we got him in the squad. I'm sure someone knows this better than me.

But the point is that this doesn't mean there is a problem with the system, it just means that unlike these other teams we're not so reliant on our strikers to score. Those figures show that vardy and nacho are performing as well as the other strikers (relative to their xg) but just not producing as much, but we have, as a team, similar or better xG. those top 3 for xG are also responsible for 44, 39 & 34% of their teams' goals, vardy has contributed only 17% of our goals, nacho 15 - and yet we are the 2nd highest scorers in the league. Personally i don't rate vards and nacho in this system, but not for a lack of goals, but just through their lack of quality in the build up.

I think the vast majority of games where we are losing or drawing he has either encouraged a much higher press and/or made substitutions that have brought goals. There are more games where we've adjusted and got a break through than there are games where the system has rewarded us with early success. A question for those people talking about his having one idea or being stubborn or lacking a plan B - do you really think we've won all these games late just because the opponents are tired - no, it's because he's adjusted the way we play.

The same Dyche whose team have conceded 20 goals from 15 games---

And yet last season's turgid shite didn't seem to put people off... Fans will keep going as long as we are winning - regardless of the style of football. This losing possession at the back that you also speak of - it's a myth, we've conceded a couple of goals yes, but otherwise, we barely misplace a pass - hermansen's short and medium passing is 99.3% and 98.1% -that's 706 passes attempted, 696 passes completed - 10 misplaced passes all season, 1 every other game.

Don't think that's quite so old for a defender though, plenty of time for him to develop.

That seems to have resolved itself... <<<Deal done.

I would suggest that it's a combination of things, starting and dominated by the fact that teams are predominantly sitting deep, having enough men back to make the final third very congested, even to be able to double up on our wingers. Beyond that we have to remember that not only is this a new way of playing for most of them, they're also still getting used to the way their teammates are playing. Finally, i think there seems to be a safety first policy when we are leading - enzo seems to feel that with a 1 goal lead you're more likely to preserve that by not letting your opponent have the ball, and more likely to surrender it if you take a risk and lose possession in an advanced position.

Not saying that it didn't happen, i'm just saying that without context it's impossible to know what enzo's motivation was - whether it is a reasonable reaction or a disconcerting one. It happened when we were trying to kill the game against a form team who had suddenly come to life and were chasing a result - as such, i'm inclined to see the worthiness of approving of such an action. Sadly, a TV watcher, I live in Norway now. I didn't have the english commentary for this game as it was shown on TV here. Regardless of your feeling towards stats, when someone posts that our wingers are being told not to dribble or that they are being restrained from attacking, it's impossible not to quote some basic statistics that shows that the opposite is in fact the case. If Richmond feels that this is the case, fair enough, that's his reading of the game, but sometimes what we feel is happening isn't necessarily the reality. The stats i quoted were not intangible things like xG, they were figures that show how many times they make progressive carries per game compared to other players, and both mavididi and fatawu were in the top percentile for this.

This is unfair, or at least not backed up statistically: Of players who have played at least 200 minutes, fatawu ranks 7th on progressive carries per 90 (5th if you adjust that to players with over 300 miutes), and mavididi ranks 12th (or 9th) - their progressive passing on the other hand is amongst the lowest in the squad, but this is the same for almost all the top progrresive ball carrriers. Given how advanced they play, the majority of the time when they aren't able to carry the ball and have to pass, the pass will simply have to go back - there is seldom anyone ahead of them. Yes, it would be nice to see them perhaps play sidewards, but even that becomes a risky pass given where the defenders are. The whole 'enzo clapping the back pass' thing is wholly without context - there's is nothing to say that he wasn't simply approving a sensible recirculation of passing, rather than applauding a player lacking any interest in advancing the ball. At that stage in the game the urgency of pushing for a second was lower than the urgency of not allowing the opposition to have possession.

73.4% of Leicester City fans disagree with this statement.

Most fans on here were still doubting it 4 or 5 games into the season! A few probably still are.

Yes, true - but pace alone isn't enough to warrant a starting or even back up slot - maresca has mentioned several times that JJs right footedness is a problem. Doyle also played at a time when we were still in the very early stages of playing the system, when people were still aghast at vestergaard playing and terrified that it was his lack of pace that was going to cause us problems. Doyle has only played 676 misutes in the league, so i don't think we've really seen enough to judge him by (i know some fans can't see beyond the poor game he had against Hull) and i don't know if he's specially slow, even if he's not as quick as justin. Anyway, it just seems to me that there's more limiting his future in the side than guaranteeing it. I'm sure you won't be shocked if doyle goes straight back in, and that kind of sums it up for me, that that outcome seems inevitable.

I think it's easy to mistake the commitment he has to his idea as a being one-dimensional stubbornness - the reality of the system is that it is not an absolute plan, but a basis for numerous alternative ways of playing - basically, if the opposition do this, we do this, if they do that we do that. It is of course impossible to predict how it will work if we get promoted, but there is evidence from other teams to suggest that when it works - it really works. I think a lot of people are basing a worry on how poorly burnley are playing, but i think we have a far superior core of a team to what they had and a better infrastructure and recruitment reach than they had - so i'd rather look at a team like brighton who are showing you don't need a team of superstars to get it to work. For me, i'm prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt and to believe we're playing how we're playing right now because that is the best way to win games in the championship, in the PL it will certainly require a different approach and we have to believe that he is already thinking about the best way to play his system against that kind of opponent.

Good to see justin getting some confidence back, but i think it's fair to say he's no more than a placeholder till we sign Doyle and doyle's back up. After that, i don't see a place for him in this system anymore than for thomas and kristiansen - purely from a tactical perspective.

I doubt that'll happen, but i wouldn't mind seeing McAteer in the middle - seems to have a nose for goal right now and adds some height, whilst having a better touch and range of passing than nacho or vardy.

Generally speaking, yes. But that is a sort of conditional situation - the question becomes not: can he play, but: should he play. The games where he's been on the bench have all been close games - do you really want to bring on a player who is not match fit, has not played the system in a real match, will be required to cover a lot of ground, and potentially have to defend with his back to the wall - in those situations? It's a question of what is best for the player and for the team, and i'm sure enzo wants to use him, but is infinitely sensible about when is best to do so.

This is true, but i don't feel it's a tactical issue, more a personnel issue. Clearly, with all the rebuild required, having vardy and nacho as your main strikers at this level, it was probably felt that this wasn't an area that needed strengthening (yes, cannon was brought in but perhaps not seen as an immediate option up front). Unfortunately, it's proven that neither vardy or nacho can thrive in this system. I doubt that they'll make any changes in january as, whilst it isn't a great situation, it's not costing us, as we're still scoring plenty of goals, and i assume they'll prefer to sign a striker if and when we get promoted. Though it does feel like cannon might get more time this season than was likely when he was brought in.

I made no conjecture on this issue, just querying your claim that he isn't being coached

But he's talking about general play, when our backline is sitting on the halfway line - which tends to be the norm against most of these teams. If we hurry attacks in that situation the defenders are caught out of position, defensively. The scenario surrounding the winks goal was a situation where the 'system' doesn't apply. The system is for general play - the winks goal was just what teams do in that situation - there's no tactics, it's purely down to individual decision making and application.