weller54 Posted 15 March 2016 Share Posted 15 March 2016 Our performance against WBA was a million times better than last night, looked like an entirely different team playing. But we dropped 2 points in that game (somehow!).. I think we'll play better away from home in the final run in, think the expectations at home are beginning to have an effect on the players. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ric Flair Posted 15 March 2016 Share Posted 15 March 2016 Drinkwater was one of the reasons we struggled to play fluently yesterday. Every time he got the ball it did t come off, stray passes, poor control just general bad day at the office. No biggy given how good he is and has been for us but it really took a Herculean effort from Kante to do his work work as well last night. We will need to be a touch more fluid against Palace on Saturday but I've no doubt we will be. What a goal by Okazaki, the faith in keeping him in the XI paid off as it would have been easy to start Ulloa given his record against Newcastle or to have gone with Mahrez behind Vardy and Schlupp out wide. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisFilter Posted 15 March 2016 Share Posted 15 March 2016 Christ on a bike some of you are negative. It's embarrassing. I hope the players don't read this shit. Wasn't an amazing performance but we managed the game well and won. Onwards! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artursteppe Posted 15 March 2016 Share Posted 15 March 2016 Drinkwater was one of the reasons we struggled to play fluently yesterday. Every time he got the ball it did t come off, stray passes, poor control just general bad day at the office. No biggy given how good he is and has been for us but it really took a Herculean effort from Kante to do his work work as well last night. We will need to be a touch more fluid against Palace on Saturday but I've no doubt we will be. What a goal by Okazaki, the faith in keeping him in the XI paid off as it would have been easy to start Ulloa given his record against Newcastle or to have gone with Mahrez behind Vardy and Schlupp out wide. This! Spot on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trelleh Posted 15 March 2016 Share Posted 15 March 2016 Love walking around work when we're everyone's conversation topic. People I never talk to suddenly want to clean my boots.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foxfanazer Posted 15 March 2016 Share Posted 15 March 2016 Can't believe some of you are complaining about the performance. We're at the business end of the season now and teams will want to ruin our party. We're under immense pressure yet we keep rolling off the wins unlike Man City and Arsenal who are stumbling. Some people are only happy when they're moaning, i get that, but if you can't enjoy this season I don't think football is for you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foxxed Posted 15 March 2016 Share Posted 15 March 2016 Think we played better than the Norwich game? (I did, bit I also had a fair bit to drink though) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whetstonefox Posted 15 March 2016 Share Posted 15 March 2016 There was a lot of nervous energy about last night, we made poor use of the ball and every challenge seemed to end up with them having the ball until Kante mopped up. Squeaky bum time has arrived, not only for us. if we can beat palace on Saturday imagine the pressure on Tottenham on Sunday knowing they have to win against an in form Bournemouth. Even if we don't the pressure will still be on them and that can sap energy out of you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shen Posted 15 March 2016 Share Posted 15 March 2016 Can't believe some of you are complaining about the performance. We're at the business end of the season now and teams will want to ruin our party. We're under immense pressure yet we keep rolling off the wins unlike Man City and Arsenal who are stumbling. Some people are only happy when they're moaning, i get that, but if you can't enjoy this season I don't think football is for you Spot on. It wasn't pretty, it was nervewracking at times in the second half, but getting the results is all that counts right now. I couldn't give a toss if the oppo missed 5 penalties and hit the woodwork 6 times while we score an own goal, as long as we get the 3 points. We had arguably one of the best attacking displays this year against WBA but ended up with a point. In our predicament, I know which one I prefer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foxfanazer Posted 15 March 2016 Share Posted 15 March 2016 Spot on. It wasn't pretty, it was nervewracking at times in the second half, but getting the results is all that counts right now. I couldn't give a toss if the oppo missed 5 penalties and hit the woodwork 6 times while we score an own goal, as long as we get the 3 points.To me it didn't feel like we were hanging on. Don't know if it's because I'd had a few beers but thought we saw the game out well Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluetintedspecs Posted 15 March 2016 Share Posted 15 March 2016 Come on guys have a word with yourselves! Yes we were not at our scintillating best but as others have stated, 3 points, clean sheet and 5 points clear at the top. Grinding out results when not at your best is the stuff of champions elect. Hissy fit petty bickering amongst ourselves in what is a momentous and potentially historic season is the stuff of CHUMPS! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazzy_Jeff Posted 15 March 2016 Share Posted 15 March 2016 Come on guys have a word with yourselves! Yes we were not at our scintillating best but as others have stated, 3 points, clean sheet and 5 points clear at the top. Grinding out results when not at your best is the stuff of champions elect. Hissy fit petty bickering amongst ourselves in what is a momentous and potentially historic season is the stuff of CHUMPS! This. We are potentially 5 wins away from making history. Lets get behind the team and push them over the line. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foxfanazer Posted 15 March 2016 Share Posted 15 March 2016 Come on guys have a word with yourselves! Yes we were not at our scintillating best but as others have stated, 3 points, clean sheet and 5 points clear at the top. Grinding out results when not at your best is the stuff of champions elect. Hissy fit petty bickering amongst ourselves in what is a momentous and potentially historic season is the stuff of CHUMPS! Exactly! We've played our football this season imo, now it's just a matter of getting those 3 points however they come. Think how many titles United won winning these sort of games Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LC/FC Posted 15 March 2016 Share Posted 15 March 2016 Thing is with our setup Claudio and the backroom staff usually have everything all prepared the week in advance of the opposition. But clearly with a new manager that preparation becomes moot as it's an unknown quantity. We have info on McClaren's Newcastle but not Benitez's Newcastle. And so as an unknown quantity our team has had to adapt more on the fly rather than have an effective plan to neutralise. But even still, despite playing a team that was obviously more up for it than under the previous regime we still managed to grind out the win by being solid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain... Posted 15 March 2016 Share Posted 15 March 2016 In case some of you have forgotten Newcastle were also trying to not lose the game and had a clear plan, 4231, which was affectively a back 6 and 4 attacking players. The holding midfielders made sure we had no space in midfield and the front 4 were full of energy at the start of the first and second halves, faded badly in both halves. Newcastle set-up to stop us playing, we found our way through and took that chance other than that it turned into a very scrappy game with few clear cut chances, and those chances were generally snatched at. End of the first half we were well on top, but they came out fired up for the second half and put us on the back foot, but we soon realised we were comfortable with everything they were throwing at us, and very nearly got a few quick breaks in. They didn't come off, but there was no need to over commit men forwards, if we stayed organised at the back Newcastle didn't look like scoring and in the end we saw it out fairly comfortably. Not a classic performance, but 3 awesome points, the only concern is that is 4 games (in which we have taken 10 points) we haven't been at our best, and arguably our most fluid performance was the draw with West Brom. Another below par performance at Palace might mean some tinkering required during the international break before our tougher run in. I do wonder if we should get Vardy dropping deeper at times, defenders know how we like to use him, if he drops and they follow him it disrupts the back four and gives him the chance to get on the ball. We could also see a repeat of that West Brom goal a trick he nearly repeated vs Watford, drop deep lay the ball off and spin in behind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shen Posted 15 March 2016 Share Posted 15 March 2016 Of course the three points were welcome and many would say the means justified the end but, to me, we sold ourselves short - and for no reason I could see. Attacking-wise I would tend to agree that we were off, particularly in the second half, but it was comforting to see how superbly organised we are at the back. Townsend and Janmaat could have been sending in far more crosses than they did, but for some reason or other tried to get by Fuchs every time. But I think the thought of the title is really testing the players' mental resolve. Everyone and their dog is harping on about it and it's being bigged up as the biggest sensation in Premier League history. Simpson admitted the other day that friends keep texting him with updates whenever the rivals are messing up, but he doesn't want to know about it. Yet it will affect him whether he likes it or not, just like his teammates. While I don't think we played defensive on purpose, some were far less convinced in their runs and execution in that second-half. It's probably partly down to the natural caution knowing we were in the lead and din't need to push and partly down to Ranieri insisting that we stay solid at the back. As long as we get away with it, there shouldn't be a problem. We showed against WBA that once we're forced to go forward, we will throw the kitchen sink, but I don't think we'll see the relentless pouring forward any more this season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fox Ulike Posted 15 March 2016 Share Posted 15 March 2016 Yes it was a poor game but Newcastle must take the blame for this. They seemed relatively content to lose 1-0. At no point did they commit lots of players forward to get an equaliser, even though they were behind for most of the game. Rafa didn’t want to lost 3-0 or 4-0 in his first game, and so decided it was better to take a narrow defeat than really push for an equaliser which could have seen them hit on the break and potentially a big defeat. This is what happens when teams go away to Arsenal, Man City etc. Grubby 1-0 victories against teams who are too scared to full attack, even when losing, for fear of getting hammered. We really should look at this as a compliment that Newcastle were too scared of Vardy/Mahrez on the break to commit lots of players forward. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain... Posted 15 March 2016 Share Posted 15 March 2016 Yes it was a poor game but Newcastle must take the blame for this. They seemed relatively content to lose 1-0. At no point did they commit lots of players forward to get an equaliser, even though they were behind for most of the game. Rafa didn’t want to lost 3-0 or 4-0 in his first game, and so decided it was better to take a narrow defeat than really push for an equaliser which could have seen them hit on the break and potentially a big defeat. This is what happens when teams go away to Arsenal, Man City etc. Grubby 1-0 victories against teams who are too scared to full attack, even when losing, for fear of getting hammered. We really should look at this as a compliment that Newcastle were too scared of Vardy/Mahrez on the break to commit lots of players forward. Rafa threw on attacking player after attacking player, taking off their holding midfielders to push for a goal, but I think it was clear in his one training session he worked on being solid at the back so they were still attacking with the cluelessness of a McLaren team away form home. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shen Posted 15 March 2016 Share Posted 15 March 2016 I do wonder if we should get Vardy dropping deeper at times, defenders know how we like to use him, if he drops and they follow him it disrupts the back four and gives him the chance to get on the ball. We could also see a repeat of that West Brom goal a trick he nearly repeated vs Watford, drop deep lay the ball off and spin in behind. He's done it a few times these last four games, but either the final ball to him hasn't been good enough or the backline simply hasn't been high enough to give him ample space to run in behind and finish convincingly. We should also not forget that he has two assists (yesterday and Norwich) while being 'subpar' so he still manages to create and contribute despite it. But I agree with your sentiment that we should vary things a bit more. I would like Ranieri to make a slight change (tweak formation, swap one or two players) in our starting lineup because the opposition will know everything about our players and formation now. Norwich, Watford and Newcastle have all done a pretty good job of shutting us down, partly because we don't keep them guessing. It's great Ranieri adjusts things during games, but we've gotten away with it a bit lately and I'd rather he was proactive rather than relying on his reaction. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shen Posted 15 March 2016 Share Posted 15 March 2016 Yes it was a poor game but Newcastle must take the blame for this. They seemed relatively content to lose 1-0. At no point did they commit lots of players forward to get an equaliser, even though they were behind for most of the game. Rafa didn’t want to lost 3-0 or 4-0 in his first game, and so decided it was better to take a narrow defeat than really push for an equaliser which could have seen them hit on the break and potentially a big defeat. This is what happens when teams go away to Arsenal, Man City etc. Grubby 1-0 victories against teams who are too scared to full attack, even when losing, for fear of getting hammered. We really should look at this as a compliment that Newcastle were too scared of Vardy/Mahrez on the break to commit lots of players forward. Don't agree with this. They pressed and stifled us even in our own half, but their ineptitude or lack of confidence in the final third, be it finishing or delivery, was their downfall. Perez firing wide twice, Mitrovic getting tackled by his teammate when though on goal, Mitrovic laying it off despite getting a fine ball and being in space, Janmaat's blocked shot (which sure looked like it was ending up in our net). They had a good few openings when you tally them up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Countryfox Posted 15 March 2016 Share Posted 15 March 2016 THREE POINTS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foxfanazer Posted 15 March 2016 Share Posted 15 March 2016 So funny when Sissoko took out Mitrovic just as he was about to pull the trigger. I was really surprised how bad Sissoko was Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shen Posted 15 March 2016 Share Posted 15 March 2016 So funny when Sissoko took out Mitrovic just as he was about to pull the trigger. I was really surprised how bad Sissoko was Didn't think he was that bad actually. He was far more useful and had much more end product than Perez, Shelvey or Mitrovic. Wijnaldum impressed me throughout, wouldn't look out of place in a good side. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lloydwasmylife Posted 15 March 2016 Share Posted 15 March 2016 He's done it a few times these last four games, but either the final ball to him hasn't been good enough or the backline simply hasn't been high enough to give him ample space to run in behind and finish convincingly. We should also not forget that he has two assists (yesterday and Norwich) while being 'subpar' so he still manages to create and contribute despite it. But I agree with your sentiment that we should vary things a bit more. I would like Ranieri to make a slight change (tweak formation, swap one or two players) in our starting lineup because the opposition will know everything about our players and formation now. Norwich, Watford and Newcastle have all done a pretty good job of shutting us down, partly because we don't keep them guessing. It's great Ranieri adjusts things during games, but we've gotten away with it a bit lately and I'd rather he was proactive rather than relying on his reaction. But what change does he make? Schlupp for albrighton? Gray for shinji and play riyad as no10? No many managers are going to make changes as long as we're still picking up three points most games Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain... Posted 15 March 2016 Share Posted 15 March 2016 But what change does he make? Schlupp for albrighton? Gray for shinji and play riyad as no10? No many managers are going to make changes as long as we're still picking up three points most games 3-5-2 Everyone loves 3-5-2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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