Bablemikey

We’ve been there & done that already.

I remain sceptical that leaving the EU will deliver me a free unicorn that s**ts gold bars. Equally, I remain sceptical that replacing a manager that is executing a long term strategy to elevate the club to a sustainable high position to gamble that another man may have us play “like we used to” and win the next game is a good idea. I take the view that the long term strategic approach is better and any finish above 12th is OK, and above 10th is great for now. Let us not forget that we lost 20 goals & 20 assists from the team when Mahrez moved on. That’s a big hole to fill.

What's that all about then? Sharted?

Well there you go, I’ve lived a sheltered life and have never given the Sardine the credit it truly deserves. I feel like a f****in’ a**h**e now.

What’s with the odd jumping analogies? Are sardines famed for their jumping or something? Souness said something similarly odd last night too, “jumping like a badger” or something like that. Wish I could remember precisely what it was but it struck me as odd at the time. ?

He might turn out to be one of our worst signings ever. But he’s only played a handful of times for crying out loud, it’s just ridiculous to be judging & condemning him already! I’ve seen occasional flashes of potential & Maddison reckons he’s incredibly skilful in training but whether he can adapt to the team & the Premier League & grow into the player we all want him to be we are very unlikely to see in the short term. And the same can be said for many of our other players too. Unfortunately many here will find that hard to tolerate & will be frustrated by it but I believe that is the way we are going about building the future until we can attract the very top talent.

It does seem inconceivable that the ref didn’t see it, he looked to be in a great position, so I’d love to hear why he did not deem it to be an offence.

Not sure you grasped the point I was making. We are not fishing in the same pond as the top teams at this time. We are not attracting the kind of talent that those teams do. Therefore we may find we need to pay over the odds to get players, and that those players may be more of a risk. lets not forget though that we are only a few games into this season & that for several of the players it is their first time in the Premiership. Let’s see where we stand after a season or two before writing them off.

Maybe a club that can’t attract the level of player they really want & have settle for players they can get but are much more of a gamble.

Beaten by a much better side tonight who, when they started playing to their potential, tore us apart. Our season will not be defined by the games against the top 6 so I’m not going to read to much into these fixtures. 3 at the back and Mads in traditional 10 role worked well initially I thought. I’d like to see that against West Ham.

Wengers’ always had a sneaking admiration for us

We are not competing with Arsenal for league places this season therefore I would rest Maguire. I don’t think he’s looked his best since the World Cup. However I’m sure the sports science team can measure his physical condition and maybe certain aspects of his mental condition too and can make an informed judgement on his levels of fatigue.

Creative movement in the final third. Quality alternative striker to Vardy. Greater coherence in back four. Faster movement of ball.

Is that true, or is that really just unsubstantiated internet rumour and speculation?

Lots of folks here feel that Morgan should've been subbed off for Evans. Now I've never felt that Evans was a particularly outstanding centre back, even in his prime, and I doubt he's any better than Morgan at this point in his career so maybe, just maybe, the management felt that risking a second yellow with Morgan represented less of a risk in terms of conceding a second goal than replacing him with Evans. Lets see how he does at Arsenal, I'm hoping he proves me wrong, has a magnificent game, and forms a solid partnership with Maguire for the entire season.

?the idea that subbing off Morgan for Evans is any kind of upgrade! Richarleson would have absolutely annihilated him.

I think some expectations need to be realigned here. We are a team in transition. We are still rebuilding a squad/team, we have a large number of young players and players new to the league. We will be inconsistent. We will be frustrating, but we will show times when we look excellent. Do not expect us to be challenging the top 6. Do not expect us to mature this season or maybe even next. Understand that this is a long term project.

Not too much between the sides today & could’ve gone either way. Sending of killed i5 for us when were in the ascendancy. I though Maddison was a luxury we couldn’t afford when we went down to ten men & would’ve had Iborra on to strengthen our defence looking to hold out for a point. i saw a lot of movement from Nacho coming deep for the ball but very little creative movement from Vardy and we reall need to work at moving opposition defenders around a lot more if we want to use Maddison’s creativity.

Hopefully Gray & Albrighton brighten things up for us.

Just let’s try to get in behind in the wide areas where there’s space & get the bloody defence turned. Everything is being played in front of them so far. Saw Iheanacho make such a run but the ball was way too late & short. Easy meat for the defence.

Need some intensity & a lot more movement up front to pull the defenders around. Way too pedestrian through midfield.

Gray to start second half

To be fair though it did come to him on his bad foot - both of them!

Bit of good fortune for their first goal where Maguire got a foot to the ball only for it to fall perfectly into Manes path. Madison let Firmino go for the second. Crazy goalkeeping led to our goal. Other than that there was lots to be encouraged by from our young & still very much work-in-progress side. I think we could learn a bit from the movement of the Liverpool front players who found space between the lines really well.

On the bench so I would not be surprised to see him make an appearance.