Replacement for Mendy

[Babylon]

11 minutes ago, ClaphamFox said:

He looked pretty damn good on the left wing on Saturday - his natural position and the one he apparently played in most for CSKA. I'd love to see him start there on Saturday.

Don't get me wrong, he was great going forward.... He also left acres of space he was playing almost like another striker at times, several times it nearly cost us as they could just waltz down that side. I think that was one of the reasons he didn't get on earlier.

 

To get the best of of him I'd want him higher up the pitch and in a formation that doesn't leave us quite so exposed.

[Ric Flair]

1 minute ago, Babylon said:

Don't get me wrong, he was great going forward.... He also left acres of space he was playing almost like another striker at times, several times it nearly cost us as they could just waltz down that side. I think that was one of the reasons he didn't get on earlier.

 

To get the best of of him I'd want him higher up the pitch and in a formation that doesn't leave us quite so exposed.

3 in the middle might work.

[goose2010]

3 minutes ago, Ric Flair said:

3 in the middle might work.

I agree but you put 3 in the middle you lose Shinji and the energy he brings to the team is irreplaceable currently.

[Collymore]

Andy King on his day is so capable of holding his own in there. I remember times where he has been MOTD and you think if you could just get consistent with it he'd be a word beater.... 

 

 

[mikey54]

Jan Kirchhoff (Sunderland) - saw him several times last season, had a great game against us up at their place. Good defensive midfielder and covers as a centre back as well. Apparently had a slight knock so hasn't featured yet this season

[fuchsntf]

11 minutes ago, goose2010 said:

I agree but you put 3 in the middle you lose Shinji and the energy he brings to the team is irreplaceable currently.

Put Shinji there, hes played there hefore for Mainz...

[Collymore]

7 minutes ago, mikey54 said:

Jan Kirchhoff (Sunderland) - saw him several times last season, had a great game against us up at their place. Good defensive midfielder and covers as a centre back as well. Apparently had a slight knock so hasn't featured yet this season

My Sunderland supporting friend raves about him. Didn't he have a shocker on his debut?

[goose2010]

8 minutes ago, fuchsntf said:

Put Shinji there, hes played there hefore for Mainz...

that's what we play then really as Shinji plays behind Vardy anyway.

[RoyFox]

16 minutes ago, mikey54 said:

Jan Kirchhoff (Sunderland) - saw him several times last season, had a great game against us up at their place. Good defensive midfielder and covers as a centre back as well. Apparently had a slight knock so hasn't featured yet this season

Agreed, I really rate him, plays like Nzonzi.

[Charl91]

16 minutes ago, Collymore said:

Andy King on his day is so capable of holding his own in there. I remember times where he has been MOTD and you think if you could just get consistent with it he'd be a word beater.... 

 

 

I don't remember any times that he's been Match of the Day   Though I also didn't know he was a word beater.

 

In all seriousness, I don't think King is good enough. When he's on the top of his game, we can get away with playing him (or if he comes later into the game as a sub, with fresh legs), but too many times he just goes missing and has no real impact on the game.

[psychonaut]

49 minutes ago, Babylon said:

Ranieri has said a few things now that make me think there is going to be a change to the shape / tactics. Can't remember when it was exactly or the precise quote. But he seemed to say that we'd look at how we start the season, how the players fit together and tweak things to make it work. He was very good at spotting issues last season and his tactical / shape changes always worked a treat. So perhaps he'll take his time to see what does / doesn't work and change the shape to suit rather than change the players. He said after the game on Sat "“Yes, of course (it was 4-4-2). Sooner or later we change something, but everyone knows this is our shape, everyone knows the movement and that is much better.” Hard to know what he means because of his English, but it does seem to suggest us looking at something else.

 

Mendy played in a 3 last year, so is probably more suited to that... and Musa doesn't seem to fit the system other than being a Vards replacement. So a tweak to the shape could mean you get to include both of them and make it work as a unit.

 

I started a thread the other day based on exactly this. I agree adapting to 4-3-3 would accommodate Musa, Mendy and perhaps Amartey and even Kapustka. Although like Ric mentioned it should then make it even more of a priority to bring another CM if Ranieri is possibly thinking this way. (I'm almost now certain he is taking into account the above quote and all the other little pointers).

[Nod.E]

23 hours ago, Grewks said:

 

See Hull.

 

Consistency is the key at this level...Danny was the best midfielder on both sides against hull, and he was certainly our best against Arsenal.

 

King just isn't good enough for a side looking to challenge towards the top of the table.

Don't get me wrong because I rate Danny, but he was poor at Hull while Clucas for them had a fantastic game. He wasn't close to being the best midfielder that day.

[RastaDog]

43 minutes ago, goose2010 said:

I agree but you put 3 in the middle you lose Shinji and the energy he brings to the team is irreplaceable currently.

It's a balancing act. I can see a shape change looming just because of the players we have available at the the moment, but it does mean some hard choices up front and out wide. 

 

If we have a couple of defensively minded midfielders on the field then we maybe loose one of our wingers - and our speed and width have always been an asset. If we play Shinji behind a couple of strikers then again we need to think about wide men. So then you start thinking along the lines of 5 at the back and attacking wing-backs...we've just lost what made us such special last year. We were able to play as we did last year because of Kante. We can't replace him like-for-like obviously so maybe there's going to be a need to reshape, or maybe not. 

 

As I say, a balancing act.

[Gerard]

3 hours ago, tsintskaro said:

 

Just watch a game 

Its all clear about King,Mendy still has time to show himself

But its obvious he cant tackle 

 

I'd like to know what Mendy does?

 

He doesn't win many tackles or interceptions. 

He doesn't drive forward or create anything with the ball.

 

Yes his ball retention is good but at this level you need something more to your game, he seems a tidy player but also a bit of a nothing player to me so far.

[Ashley]

1 minute ago, Gerard said:

 

I'd like to know what Mendy does?

 

He doesn't win many tackles or interceptions. 

He doesn't drive forward or create anything with the ball.

 

Yes his ball retention is good but at this level you need something more to your game, he seems a tidy player but also a bit of a nothing player to me so far.

 

 

WUM alert. 

[foxy boxing]

do we actually need a replacement or just wait for him to be fit again and have king or amartey or someone else play if we buy someone else then we are limiting the chances of mendy being able to hold down a first team place, we still need a kante type midfielder who can get the ball back and distribute it to the other players

[smr]

I don't think Mendy had a great game yesterday by any means, he needs to do more, put himself about a bit more and ask for the ball - make more interceptions etc. Then again he's still new to the club/squad etc. and it was his first game infront of a home crowd - so he might have been a bit nervous.

 

I'm not asking him to be Kante because he isn't, but he's definitely a lot better than what he showed us yesterday, he must be. Hopefully the injury isn't serious and he makes a full and quick recovery.

 

When Kingy came on it seemed to re-energize the players and we played more pressing football, upping the tempo a fair bit. Could probably have done with Musa and Kingy starting the match tbh, I'd rather start Musa than Shinji.

[MPH]

3 hours ago, st albans fox said:

drinks could play a more holding role if we bought a more creative player who can get up and down (with good acceleration) 

 

 

There wouldn't be enough bite in the tackle for me if we did this..

[smr]

If you look at Drinkwater last season he made quite a lot of runs on the counter and very effective ones at that as well, he knows how to pick a pass on the counter as well as the long overhead balls to Vardy etc. I think we'd need someone else to play a more dm position than him because he's too effective going forwards.

[sdb]

Must be going mad as I thought Mendy looked fairly good on Saturday. Any news on how long he's out for?

[GaelicFox]

This thread 

 

 

[tsintskaro]

32 minutes ago, Gerard said:

I'd like to know what Mendy does?

 

Passes i suppose

but against Arsenal he only made 13 in 50 minutes 

Dont know why Ranieri  did not concentrate on more defence minded midfielder 

He already had Drinky,who makes passes and the guy to makes opponents passes stop,was obviously leaving

[AjcW]

38 minutes ago, sdb said:

Must be going mad as I thought Mendy looked fairly good on Saturday. Any news on how long he's out for?

Until the end of time if you read this thread... 

[Trav Le Bleu]

So do we even know if he will miss any games yet?

[WigstonWanderer]

Thought Mendy looked OK at times, but at others I got the impression he didn't want the ball. For example at throw ins. Actually, the whole team seemed a bit shy at thow ins. No one seemed to be making themselves available, leading to immediate loss of possession.