N'golo hammy being 'managed'

[HighPeakFox]

You need to follow that statement up with a counter argument gingerrfox. I will then tell you whether YOU know football or not.

 

You didn't help your cause by picking Drinky twice

[GingerrrFox]

You need to follow that statement up with a counter argument gingerrfox. I will then tell you whether YOU know football or not.

Have you seen Amartey play in central midfield for Leicester City? No you have not. So how can you state categorically that he's not ready to play for us in that position?

You are using positional awareness as a full back as a reason for not being good enough to play in the middle of the park. The 2 have no crossover, knowing where to be at the right time in midfield is completely different from being in the right place as a right back.

Playing as a central midfielder in a 4-4-2 requires you to be combative and aggressive with and without the ball, make forward runs as a box to box player whilst also working to cover the back 4. Surging through the middle with the ball and looking to play through balls to players in the attacking third. As a full back you have to be disciplined in staying goal side to the opposition winger, hold the line with the rest of the defence, not get caught out up field and overlap your winger when the time is right. They are entirely different positions in a tactical sense.

If Robert Huth was played out of position as a right back would that have any relevance to how he might play as a centre back? No it wouldn't because the two are not the same. Amartey did a job there because he's athletic enough to pull it off, his athletic ability got him through that game.

Amartey completed 35/46 passes on Saturday compared to Drinkwater's 61/76. This is an important stat because as a full back you have two options, make a pass inside or play down the line. As a central midfielder you will always have a pass on in any direction. It is much harder to keep and retain the ball in a wide position as you have less options around you. Yet Amartey only misplaced 11 passes. Hardly wasteful with the ball is it?

[Len Finsbury]

Enter Sir Andy of King.

 

He's a solid Leicester player who is more than capable of standing in for Kante against WBA.

 

I often wonder whether people don't favour him because we didn't buy him.

 

 

 

*Andy, you have a shit game after I've championed you and I'll find you!

[Gerard]

You need to follow that statement up with a counter argument gingerrfox. I will then tell you whether YOU know football or not.

FWIW I agree with your view. I have high hopes for Amartey but he looked a level below everyone else on the pitch. He's come from a lower standard of football to a foreign country and is only 21 years of age. I'm sure he'll be an excellent player for us down the line but on the evidence of Saturday he won't offer much this season.

Amartey was NOT good enough on Saturday. Full back or centre midfield he is not ready for us yet. If you watched the match carefully v Norwich you will have seen the number of times Morgan covered for him when he was out of position. Plus the number of aimless passes he made. He wasn't comfortable on the ball and needs time to acclimatise.

[MC Prussian]

FWIW I agree with your view. I have high hopes for Amartey but he looked a level below everyone else on the pitch. He's come from a lower standard of football to a foreign country and is only 21 years of age. I'm sure he'll be an excellent player for us down the line but on the evidence of Saturday he won't offer much this season.

Amartey was NOT good enough on Saturday. Full back or centre midfield he is not ready for us yet. If you watched the match carefully v Norwich you will have seen the number of times Morgan covered for him when he was out of position. Plus the number of aimless passes he made. He wasn't comfortable on the ball and needs time to acclimatise.

 

I think all that criticism aimed at Amartey is rather harsh, seeing that he was played out of position. Not to say he can't cover at right-back, but after Saturday's game, I think he shouldn't. His natural position is centre-back, but he's worked his way up the pitch to central (defensive) midfield. I'd rather want to watch him play in the middle over a certain period of time rather than slagging him off on the basis of pretty much zilch.

[Mythyaar]

Gingerrfox, you can manipulate stats all you like. Indeed you did with the Drinkwater stat as based on %s his ratio of completions was far higher (as was nr of passes). Apart from two decent headers in the game, how many tackles or interceptions did Amartey make in the whole game? Crucial for any midfielser , particularly a holding one, I think you'll agree?

[MC Prussian]

And with that comment you'd still seriously champion Inler?

And in the last two skills you'd mention I'd guess he's been as good as anyone in the club for years.

Fairer criticisms might be his tracking of people and his tendency, in some circumstances, to play the ball safe rather than take risks.

But then he still played a small part in our winning move Saturday and I'm not sure that keeping the ball more isn't what's needed it we're going to make further progress.

Either way I don't see Inler showing signs of passing and retaining the ball particularly well. In fact I'd say he made quite alarming mistakes in most of his appearances.

If you believe Ranieri, then King will start.

 

But Ranieri has orchestrated the guessing game pretty well so far, always taking pressure off his players. We're still in for the title as it seems and have a pretty rugged outfit in West Brom visiting next - a side that comes with a lot of physical strength in the center.

I'm not sure whether King's the answer for that kind of game as he has neither the power nor the presence on the field to stifle them, but I'll let the manager decide, could well be that King miraculously is at the right spot at the right time again in the box, something he does very well.

 

Either way, I'll be happy as long as the performance is right - and I do believe the majority of our squad have somewhat to make up for what was a rather dire affair against Norwich.

[GingerrrFox]

Gingerrfox, you can manipulate stats all you like. Indeed you did with the Drinkwater stat as based on %s his ratio of completions was far higher (as was nr of passes). Apart from two decent headers in the game, how many tackles or interceptions did Amartey make in the whole game? Crucial for any midfielser , particularly a holding one, I think you'll agree?

Do you want to know how many tackles Drinkwater made on Saturday? 0. Do you want to know how many he attempted? 0.

Amartey made 1 tackle. He attempted 1 tackle. By your simple logic Drinkwater is clearly a poor midfielder.

[MC Prussian]

Gingerrfox, you can manipulate stats all you like. Indeed you did with the Drinkwater stat as based on %s his ratio of completions was far higher (as was nr of passes). Apart from two decent headers in the game, how many tackles or interceptions did Amartey make in the whole game? Crucial for any midfielser , particularly a holding one, I think you'll agree?

Mythy, Amartey wasn't playing as a midfielder, he was our one and only right-back in the game. So the comparison stops there. The challenges for a defender are different to those of a central midfielder, so I don't see why you still persist on going this one-way road?

 

Or would you try make assumptions about a Ferrari based on the stats of a BMW?

[4everfox]

Posted Today, 03:27 PM

N’Golo Kante has been ruled out of Leicester’s next two matches as he recovers from the hamstring problem which forced him off against Norwich on Saturday.

Claudio Ranieri admitted ‘extraordinary’ Kante would be missed but insisted Andy King will provide excellent cover in midfield.

Kante has been one of the stars of Leicester’s rise to title-challengers – featuring in every Premier League game this season to date – but will be absent from the home match against West Bromwich Albion and trip to Watford.‘We lose him for the next two matches. I hope only two,’ said Ranieri. ‘It's a little painful his hamstring. He suffered during all the season and now we want to give him some rest. Two matches and he can restart.

‘All the season he had a problem to the other leg and now this time the new leg. Maybe he made a compensation and charged too much on the other leg.

‘He has been extraordinary but I am very confident. We play King and every time he was excellent.

‘Let me now play and then I will tell you what I will lose (from Kante). N'Golo recovers a lot of balls but not only this, he starts the counter attack and makes the last ball.

‘I am very confident Drinky and Kingy could be the same, they are doing very well. King has another style of football, he doesn’t make the same. He has to do his job not the Kante job.’

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New leg?

[TJB-fox]

Forget about Kante for the next 2 then. Nobody will directly replace him for quality or style, so no point trying to compare King Inler or Amartey to him. Hope King comes in and plays HIS OWN GAME, not trying to replicate Kante's like some on here want him to. We've been successful before Kante and we can be successful without him. Need to trust the team to dig in without him and trust Andy King (most likely to start imo), a man who has never let our club down. Bring on the baggies!

[Vardinio'sCat]

 Anything but Kingy is a risk, imho. King and DD works pretty well, as we know from earlier in the season.

 

Still worried about set pieces though. 3 up when we are defending corners, perhaps?

[filbertway]

I hope that last comment is a joke. Kante out is massive, if anything we need a holder alongside DD, like Inler. Kings an ok sub, but not fit to lace Kante's boots. I'm worried his loss has come just at the wrong  time, with spurs next 2 tough, we could pull away.

 

About West Brom at home being one of our easier fixtures this season? Nah. I really do believe that West Brom at home is one of our easier fixtures this season.

 

As people have said, King and Inler are okay. If we lost Kanté or Drinky for the rest of the season we'd be massively hampered. If you expect King or Inler could come in and perform as well as the other 2 have in the system we play then you're extremely optimistic.

 

The only position I think we have good cover in is probably the wing (Gray, Schlupp). Maybe the full back positions as they have such a limited role. Possibly CB now we have Amartey, but I wouldn't want to be counting on Was for an elongated period of games.

 

There's a huge difference between being adequate for a game or 2 and being needed to contribute meaningfully for several (not specifically several) games.