Monsell1976 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! Always a good sign, when a team plays like us last night and wins.I have no doubts nerves are becoming a factor, but Claudio is managing it well, and we are closing out scrappy games. I would be gutted if we fell away now, but no matter what happens, what a season to remember. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shen 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 Ulloa for Okazaki is an obvious one as he brings something different, Mahrez in the middle, Schlupp out left, King and to a lesser extent Inler for Drinky. Or even start with a 5-3-2. He has many decent options. Seeing as he makes a lot of these changes during games already which contribute heavily to our wins (Norwich and Watford being perfect examples), I don't see why he wouldn't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest CityFan 06 Posted 15 March 2016 Share Posted 15 March 2016 Very important win last night to continue the momentum at the top of the league. Lovely finish from Okazaki, and I thought he played well overall. Newcastle had a lot of the ball in the second half, and that's understandable given the scoreline, they played some decent stuff at times. Yesterday showed again what great character this team has, to grind out narrow but important wins in our search for the title. Watford (a) and Norwich (h) were the same, we are showing the abilities of how to win each game in various ways. Whether it be a close 1-0 or 2-1, or a 3-0 victory - the players still find a way of winning which is a sign of a classy team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
canafox Posted 15 March 2016 Share Posted 15 March 2016 Watching Ranieri get the crowd going was absolutely priceless. He was going wild! I must admit... Newcastle looked better under Rafa, but none of us should be surprised that we took this one down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arriba Los Zorros 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. This. Always good to play on the shoulder but with Shinji able to do the same, some variety would not go amiss Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest CityFan 06 Posted 15 March 2016 Share Posted 15 March 2016 I was fairly impressed with Newcastle's Wijnaldum I have to say. Looked good in the midfield. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mancunianfox Posted 15 March 2016 Share Posted 15 March 2016 Norwich, Watford and Newcastle have all done a pretty good job of shutting us down, partly because we don't keep them guessing. Not really considering we took 9 points out of a possible 9 in those three games and kept clean sheets in all them. Hope the rest of our opponents do 'a pretty good job of shutting us down' too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
americanfox Posted 15 March 2016 Share Posted 15 March 2016 Have a word with yourself. It wasn't scintillating football but it was still good enough to come away with a goal (from an overhead kick no less) and a clean sheet against Premier League opposition taking us 5 points clear at the top of aforementioned league. And like others have said we were only really threatened on a handful of occasions. Save your overstated abuse for a legitimately shit performance and not just a sub par but match winning one. How cute. Of course, if we were to drop points, how easily this message will turn. Glad we haven't really, yet. It's so easy to call this "the performance of champions" (knock on wood), but to just stream roll over any concerns isn't right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fox Ulike Posted 15 March 2016 Share Posted 15 March 2016 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. He changed the personel but the strategy didn't appear to change. Look at average positions from BBC website. Newcastle set up not to concede. Fairly bizarre that they sat as deep as us all night, even though they were behind for the majority of the game... Look at Jack Colback's (no 4) and Lascelles (15) positions. They're worried about Mahrez all night. This shows the secondary value of a player like Mahrez - even when he's quiet he takes TWO opposition players out of the game, creating the space for others elsewhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharpe's Fox Posted 15 March 2016 Share Posted 15 March 2016 How cute. Of course, if we were to drop points, how easily this message will turn. Glad we haven't really, yet. It's so easy to call this "the performance of champions" (knock on wood), but to just stream roll over any concerns isn't right. "If we were to drop points" i'd still be our best season ever but obviously you'd be outraged if we didn't take our rightful place on the top of the pile. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
filbertway Posted 15 March 2016 Share Posted 15 March 2016 "If we were to drop points" i'd still be our best season ever but obviously you'd be outraged if we didn't take our rightful place on the top of the pile. Why does it have to be outrage. Why can't it just be people raising valid concerns and holding a balanced view regardless of the result? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
americanfox Posted 15 March 2016 Share Posted 15 March 2016 "If we were to drop points" i'd still be our best season ever but obviously you'd be outraged if we didn't take our rightful place on the top of the pile. So you'd be okay with us averaging 1 PPG for the rest of the season, yeah? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain... Posted 15 March 2016 Share Posted 15 March 2016 He changed the personel but the strategy didn't appear to change. Look at average positions from BBC website. Newcastle set up not to concede. Fairly bizarre that they sat as deep as us all night, even though they were behind for the majority of the game... Look at Jack Colback's (no 4) and Lascelles (15) positions. They're worried about Mahrez all night. This shows the secondary value of a player like Mahrez - even when he's quiet he takes TWO opposition players out of the game, creating the space for others elsewhere. I'm not saying the players threw everything at us, but your statement that Rafa just didn't want to lose to heavily and was happy with 1-0 is contradicted by his subs where he put on a winger in Townsend, an attacking mid/striker De Jong (admittedly he is one of the worst players to ever play in the PL) and a striker in Doumbia, taking off both central mids who had sat deep all game and Perez. He tried to force the game in last 15-20 minutes but the players weren't good enough to create anything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MPH Posted 15 March 2016 Share Posted 15 March 2016 It was a great win. The reason we are top of the league is because we are playing to our strengths. Meaning Mahrez and Vardy. If Vardy isnt scoring he is still creating space for others and taking defenders with him. Now we don't have several 'world class match winners' who on their day, when they can be bothered can turn a game on a sixpence with a bit of skill like some of the so called 'big teams' do. So, when the pressure comes it makes it that bit harder for us. But what we do have are some bloody good players who put in a ton of effort and we can still get results. That's pretty much what happened last night. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kristianity77 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. Gotten away with it? We've come out of them 270 minutes without conceding a goal, and scoring 3, and getting 9 points. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guy Posted 15 March 2016 Share Posted 15 March 2016 Yes, these sort of 'on a hiding to nothing' games have to be won if we're to do the unthinkable of course! The only star performers yesterday were Kante, Huth and Shinji with his spectacular goal:-) It's now interesting to note how we're now only narrowly winning against teams in the bottom half compared to how we've played against the big guns of late when taking three points. Many pundits have been predicting we would find it harder against the teams similar in stature to us and who we were expected to be in and around in the league table this season - the Newcastles, West Broms and Watfords.! On that token, next up are a team horribly out of form, Palace....another game which you sense will be a tight, cagey affair! All still fairytale stuff nonetheless. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shen Posted 15 March 2016 Share Posted 15 March 2016 Not really considering we took 9 points out of a possible 9 in those three games and kept clean sheets in all them. Hope the rest of our opponents do 'a pretty good job of shutting us down' too. Gotten away with it? We've come out of them 270 minutes without conceding a goal, and scoring 3, and getting 9 points. Considering how we demolished Newcastle the last time we played them and how many chances we created against Norwich and Watford earlier in the season, then yes, they definitely shut us down far better. We've improved defensively too, but all three of them had decent openings and chances. Luckily for us they all showed some truly inept finishing. You only need to watch the WBA game to realise that one or two moments of quality is enough to peg us back. I wouldn't kid myself into thinking we've been convincing lately. I don't think many could have complained had we gotten draws against Norwich, Watford and Newcastle based on our performances... ? On paper, you're absolutely right. Nine points, three clean sheets. It's not been pretty, but it'll do. Long may it continue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heskey2011 Posted 15 March 2016 Share Posted 15 March 2016 Anyobe else enjoying a Glory boner? Your own or a friends. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Webbo Posted 15 March 2016 Share Posted 15 March 2016 Everyone's glad we won, we all appreciate that that's how it's going to be until the end of the season but do we have to pretend it was a great performance or else be considered moaning or negative? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stretch1965 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 He probably had shinji in a 1-0 scorecast and had to take drastic measures Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpinneyHillRanger Posted 15 March 2016 Share Posted 15 March 2016 1-0 is a great scoreline. We have more goals but the great thing is we just close down the match professionally like a good old fashioned italion team. If it's 0-0 we would certainly create more chances. Yesterday in the 2nd half we controlled it perfectly. Kasper didn't have a save to make Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foxxed Posted 15 March 2016 Share Posted 15 March 2016 We ground out a 1 nil victory. Hopefully we'll play more exciting football on Saturday. Let's move on chaps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ithuriel Posted 15 March 2016 Share Posted 15 March 2016 The Newcastle game was a nervy, lacking, grinding win that was one of the poorest games I've seen this season but with what the team has achieved this season thus far, no one can really complain and I do not think any truly are. Was saying in the pub before the game Monday night that I'm so glad I renewed my season ticket on the morning of the fateful West Ham match last season when we looked doomed because I have witnessed one of the greatest seasons of football I have ever seen as a Leicester supporter. Seen us during the play off final years, the top 10 finishes and League cup finals and the last few stunning seasons but this one is topping them all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarshallForEngland Posted 15 March 2016 Share Posted 15 March 2016 In the Championship-winning season it was the 1-0 wins (Leeds, QPR twice, Bournemouth etc) that made me sure we were going to win the league. It's alright tonking teams by 2 or 3 goals when they try to outplay us and fail, but to find a new way of winning the game when the opposition are making things incredibly tight is a different skill. There are many types of good performance, and for me the one against Newcastle was good, just not in the obvious way of out-footballing and embarrassing the other team. We defended very well for the most part (there will be chances in every game) and we were clever at the end with how we saw the game out. I thought we looked extremely professional and I wouldn't say it was anything like the horror show some people are making out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raw Dykes Posted 15 March 2016 Share Posted 15 March 2016 I'm over the moon with the result, but the performance was poor. Was a bit worried about the new manager effect - could have been a banana skin. We haven't been at our best lately, although I thought the performance against WBA was very good. Thankfully, though, we are picking up the points, and that's the main thing, especially at the business end of the season. I thought Newcastle looked a lot better than they have been. That was pretty much inevitable, though, as McLaren is a pisspoor manager who was stealing a living. I think they'll probably stay up if they carry on improving. I did think we closed out the game very well. I never really got the feeling that Newcastle would equalise towards the end. They say the mark of champions is winning when not playing well, and we've certainly been doing that recently. I do think we need start playing better before the end of the season, if only to prevent me, and I'm sure many of us, having heart problems. I reckon we'll be better at Palace. It's an away game, which I think suits us better, and their league form is pretty bad. There'll be more opportunities to counter and less chance we'll need to break their defence down. They also have a decent gap below them to the relegation zone, so they're in no real danger at the moment - certainly less to play for than Norwich or Newcastle had. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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